Tag: John 3:16-17

Thanksgiving Bonus

Studying the prayers of people in Scripture over the past few months has shown us the importance of slowing down to thank God. In our culture, we’re prone to filling up those moments meant for pausing with way too much activity. Thanksgiving is almost here but, before you start shopping, cooking, baking, hosting, or eating, take some time to put on the brakes and do what the holiday was designed for: giving thanks. 

While I have many things that I’m thankful for this year, I want to turn my attention to just a few. Will you join me in drawing near to God and thanking Him for some of these rich blessings?

1. The Gift of God’s Faithfulness: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, NIV) In April of 2020, God blessed me with the opportunity to write Extraordinary Prayer. At the time I agreed to do it, I had plenty of time to write due to the COVID lockdown. However, three months later, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and put on hospice. Before I finished writing it, she went home to heaven. Words can’t express my gratefulness to God for enabling me to balance caring for my mom with writing the study and bringing it to completion. And on top of that, He’s given me tremendous joy as I’ve taught through different sessions and studied it with others this fall.

2. The Hope of Eternity with God: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17, NIV) These verses have become so familiar that we may have lost sight of their significance. I’m thankful that God showed us mercy by sending His son to pay the price for our sins so that we can be with Him forever. It’s comforting knowing God’s plan isn’t to condemn us, but to save us. Attending to two funerals recently and having both my parents deceased makes me even more aware of how fleeting our time on earth is. I’m truly grateful that this life isn’t the end of the story.

3. The Gift of the Holy Spirit: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be  in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:16-18, 26, NIV) I’m grateful for God’s continual presence in my life through the gift of the Holy Spirit. What a comfort it is knowing I have a counselor and guide who gives me access to God’s power at all times. Although my earthly parents are now in heaven, I thank God that He doesn’t leave me as an orphan.

4. The Gift of Peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27, NIV) In a world filled with chaos and discord, I’m grateful for peace that isn’t dependent upon circumstances. Because God is faithful and trustworthy, I can have peace that defies logic. I am confident of His goodness and know that He wants only what is good for me. So even when I don’t understand why He’s allowing hardships or difficulties, I can find peace in Him. That’s a rare gift in our world today.

5. The Gift of Christian Fellowship: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6, NIV) What an incredible gift and blessing it is to walk beside others in faith. Over the past year I’ve experienced numerous hard, sad, difficult moments, but I’ve also received an abundance of love, support, and encouragement from godly friends and family. In addition to that, I’ve had the joy of serving with some incredible people who have sharpened my faith and helped me to continue growing in my walk with Jesus. God surrounded me with amazing support as I wrote Extraordinary Prayer. If you have a copy of the book, you can see many of their names written in the acknowledgements.

What fills you with gratitude right now? Don’t let the bustle of the holiday cause you to miss what it’s really all about. Take five minutes and tell God how you feel. Let Rend Collective’s “Counting Every Blessing” put words to your prayer. Click here to listen.

The GOAT Week 13: True Christianity

We’re closing in on our final two posts for the Greatest Sermon of All Time. This week we’ll explore Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:13-23 that uses three contrasting pairs to illustrate signs of true Christianity.

The Wide and Narrow Roads

Jesus starts by comparing two paths in life. He says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)

Using the analogy of two roads for our lives, Jesus describes the first as the broad road of destruction. This route is easy to find because we’re born on it and will die on it unless we choose to get off. The wide road is like an eight-lane freeway that’s packed with drivers who don’t know or want a different route. This road is deceptive; it seems and feels right because everyone is moving in the same direction, but it’s leading to a terrible destination. The book of Proverbs describes it this way: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12, NIV).

Conversely, the narrow road requires difficult choices to deny ourselves and surrender our will to God. This road is harder but better because it leads to life. Here’s a harsh truth that is also good news: all roads lead to hell except the one that goes through Jesus. He says this clearly in John 10:9: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” He reiterates it in John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives means daily choosing to walk through the narrow gate. This path is open to anyone who decides to follow Him. It leads to an abundant, fulfilling life that’s unlike anything we can find on the wide road. Are you walking the narrow road?

True and False Prophets

In the next section, Jesus continues to address the essence of true Christianity:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15-20, NIV)

Using the analogy of fruit growing on vines or trees, Jesus illustrates that true Christianity produces a fruitful life. If we don’t see any evidence of Jesus in someone’s life, it may be that He’s not there. Conversely, true disciples display specific attributes: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT)

When we consider the teachers we listen to, it’s important to evaluate the content of their messages and the fruit of their lives, not just the allure of attractive personalities or pretty words. Do the teachers you follow preach Jesus as the only way? Do they preach the Bible without mixing it with other philosophies? Are their lives consistent with the teachings of the Bible? Do they live full of grace and truth? Are the sermons, podcasts, books, and social media feeds you follow biblically sound?

Scripture provides several descriptions of false teachers, including this one written by Paul to encourage Timothy, a young pastor he was mentoring: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 4:2-4, NIV) 

The teachers we follow shape our thoughts about God and His Word. They should be challenging us and sharpening our faith, not just telling us what feels good or flows with current trends in our culture. It’s vital that we’re reading the Bible on our own and not just letting teachers we like interpret it for us. How are the people you follow influencing your faith?

True and False Disciples

In His next comparison, Jesus addresses false disciples:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV)

In this section, Jesus emphasizes that true Christianity is based on the gospel, not on good works. The will of the Father is that all people would know Him (John 3:16-17). There’s a myth some people believe that we’ll stand at the gates of heaven and present Jesus with a list of our good works in hopes of gaining entry. This is not rooted in truth. False disciples believe good works earn God’s favor. True disciples know they are accepted by God only through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Regardless of our “good” or “bad” behavior, the Bible tells us: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24 NIV) Are you trying to “do” for God to earn His favor, or do you believe the gospel and rest in His grace?

Jesus’ words in these passages are direct and may feel jarring, but they are rooted in love. He raises the bar on how we’re called to live, but He walks beside us  and helps us every step of the way.

Celebrate the greatest preacher of all time by listening to “My Jesus” by Anne Wilson. Click here to watch her music video.

This post is based on Tyler Scott’s sermon “The GOAT Part 12” at CPC Danville. Click here to watch.

Changing Your Lens

I started dabbling in photography when my kids were little. Because I’m always trying to take the perfect picture, I notice details like color, texture, angle, and lighting. After taking so many photos over the years, I’ve learned that the same shot can be stunning or lackluster–it all depends on the lighting and perspective. A subtle shift can change the quality of a photo dramatically. I find this same principle with life circumstances. We can filter hardships through the light of our expectations and be disappointed, or through the light of God’s divine plan and be hopeful.

It’s challenging to cast difficult times in a positive light–usually we see them as “bad” and rail against the unfairness of having to endure them. Although they seem like interruptions to the way life is “supposed” to unfold, hardships provide rich opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. They’re only limited by our willingness to shift our perspective. When we begin to view difficult circumstances through a biblical lens, we start seeing that dim lighting is just hiding the good that can come from them.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this comes from the life of Joseph recorded in Genesis 37-50. We’ve spent the past few months looking at his story, but there’s one last angle that’s worth highlighting.  You probably remember that after being sold by his jealous brothers to slave traders, he finds himself in a series of unfortunate circumstances. Eventually he experiences a stunning reversal and becomes second in command of Egypt. In this position, he’s tasked with ensuring the crops produced during seven years of plenty are stored to prepare for seven subsequent years of famine.

Meanwhile, Joseph’s family in Canaan experiences the ravages of the food shortage and heads to Egypt. His ten older brothers appear before him to buy grain and, “Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.” (Genesis 42:8, NIV)

After several interactions with them over time, Joseph can’t restrain himself any longer and proclaims, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’” (Genesis 45:4b-7, NIV)

Rather than spewing anger at them for selling him into slavery and inflicting years of misery upon him, he reassures them. Joseph sees the big picture and realizes that God, in His sovereignty, used him to save his family and many others from starving to death during the famine. Later, he reiterates this to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20, NIV)

Reading that leads me to think of someone else who endured hardship for the good of many: Jesus. Just as Joseph tumbled downward from his privileged position as Jacob’s favorite son to a lowly slave, Jesus left the glory of heaven to become a lowly man: “[Jesus] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:7, NIV)

Joseph endured the humiliation of being falsely accused and punished for a crime he didn’t commit.  In the same way, Jesus was falsely accused and received punishment for the sins of all humankind: “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8, NIV)

Scripture explains the purpose behind this: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4, NIV)

Joseph traveled a broken road, but he saw how his painful circumstances led to ultimate good—the saving of many lives. Like him, Jesus’ suffering led to an even greater good–the saving of humankind. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17, NIV)

God allowed His son to walk a painful path for the sake of ultimate good, triumphing over evil, death, and sin. Kelly Minter explains “evil exists in the world…At the same time we find a parallel track of God’s goodness and redemption, not running in place of evil, but somehow running alongside it, with God ultimately having His way with evil in the end.” (p. 199) Choosing to look at the hardships we endure through the light of eternity helps us to see how they can be used for His glory and our good.

Paul gives us similar encouragement in the New Testament: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV) How timely that my next series of posts will focus on this incredible truth using Megan Fate Marshman’s Meant for Good: The Adventure of Trusting God and His Plans for You. I hope you’ll join me.

Until then, let Elevation Worship’s song “See a Victory” remind you to view your circumstances through the light of God’s goodness. 

Kelly Minter, Finding God Faithful: A Study on the Life of Joseph, Lifeway Press, 2019.

To learn about other parallels between Joseph and Jesus, click here.

Image by Jonas Svidras from Pixabay.

A Different Kind of Christmas

Tears welled up in my eyes as I rounded the corner onto my street and spied my front porch. Two small Christmas trees with twinkling lights stood on either side of the door, replacing fall pumpkins that had been there when I left. Pulling into the driveway, I felt physically and emotionally depleted. The previous five days had been consumed with sifting through the contents of my childhood home–44 years worth of our family’s belongings. Decorating for Christmas had been the last thing on my mind.

Losing my mom to cancer in October has created a significant life shift for me. After dealing with the initial shock and grief of her passing, my siblings and I focused our energy on planning a family graveside service and an online celebration of her life. Once those events passed, the dread of dealing with her affairs and belongings became a reality. So, as my neighbors hung lights on their houses and brought trees inside to decorate, I began meeting my sister daily to clean out our mom’s house. The project drained me and required all of the time and energy I would normally focus on preparing for Christmas.  I didn’t realize how depleted I was until the end of that first week when I arrived home and saw the Christmas trees outside our door. My husband had ushered in the holiday cheer I couldn’t seem to find on my own. The sight of the twinkling trees brought comfort and tears of gratitude in the midst of heavy grief. 

Later, as we decorated the tree inside, the contrasting events of the week overwhelmed me, and the tears started flowing again. Soon, I was crying too hard to hang ornaments. Abandoning the tree, I sank onto the couch, laid my head on my husband’s chest and sobbed. It had been tricky balancing my grief, sorting the belongings in my childhood home, and launching into the Christmas season without my mom. In the background, I was also lamenting how COVID-19 would change the holidays by preventing gatherings with other family members and friends.

Grieving is hard and tiring work. And even if you didn’t lose a loved one this year, it’s likely you’re mourning a loss related to 2020’s pandemic and all of the ripple effects it has caused. So, it may not feel like there’s much to celebrate this Christmas. And yet, as much as we love the gatherings, gifts, decorations, and celebrations, they aren’t the heart of the season. They’re just the signposts of it. At the center of the Christmas is Jesus, God in the flesh who came to dwell among us.

This year is going to look different for many of us. For me, it will be my first Christmas Eve and Christmas day without my mom or extended family at the table with us. And it will also be the first time in 27 years that my husband and I don’t travel to see the other side of our family, thanks to COVID-19.  We have a lot to grieve, but we still have hope. It all goes back to that baby born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. 

Throughout this month I’ve been reading a daily advent devotional that is keeping me tethered to truth. Each entry includes Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that highlight specific aspects of Jesus. The book focuses on the prophecies Christ fulfilled and the blessings we receive because of Him. It’s reminding me there’s still hope and joy for us, even in 2020. So, whether you’re enjoying all the trappings of the season or hurting deeply this Christmas, Jesus’ birth deserves celebrating. Here are a few truths that have especially encouraged me recently:

-Jesus brings light into our world that no darkness can overcome (not even a pandemic or a loss you’re experiencing): “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)

-Jesus came to seek those who have no purpose or direction: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

-Jesus became a man and died for us, so we can be cleansed from sin and have access to God Almighty: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

-Jesus came to defeat the devil: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8b)

-Jesus came to bring us victory over death: “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:21-26)

-Jesus came to show us perfect love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17, NIV)

-Jesus assures us future glory despite our present suffering: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us… What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:18 & 31-32)

-Jesus gives us peace unlike any peace the world offers. Because of Him, we have nothing to fear: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

This year some of the jollier Christmas songs aren’t resonating with me very well. But when I heard “Behold Him” by Francesca Battistelli, I discovered one that captures my feelings perfectly. I hope it encourages you today too.

*The devotional I’ve been reading is Advent 2020 Jesus Christ is Born created by shereadstruth.com.

*All Scriptures quoted from the New International Version.