Crafty Actors

Then Jesus spoke to the multitude and to His disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. Matthew 23 1-3 (New American Standard Bible)

As Christians most of us have heard “Oh, I don’t go to church.  Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites.”  I have to agree there are many hypocritical people in the church.  Where else would you find them?  The word hypocrite is a word that comes from the ancient Greek stage that is defined as ‘an actor under an assumed character-a stage player.’  It is true there have been people within the church who have injured its good name by their hypocritical actions and I have no defense for it.  In fact, I am ashamed of the many actions people have taken in the name of Christ that have hurt others and were totally opposed to His heart and teaching.

Jesus hates hypocrisy. He was constantly reproaching the scribes and Pharisees for it.  Unfortunately our sin nature still persists and is revealed through some Christians as the opposite of Christ presenting arrogance, judgment and mistrust of God’s goodness.  Jesus is in no way like that and never has been!    

In the church and on the stage of life there will always be crafty actors who say ‘Do as I say and not as I do.’ As His followers Jesus tells us to let our lives radiate with brilliancy before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).  We do that by loving God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength (Luke 10:27).  The Church isn’t broken but it is imperfect.  Even so it will never lose its power (Matthew 16:18).  Speaking of hypocrisy in the church the Christian leader, Michael Green, has to say of it; “You cannot get away from it.  From now on your lot is cast with the Christian church.  Where it is corrupt, purge it.  Where it is slack, enliven it.  Where it is right, follow it.”* 

*Michael Green, Avoiding Jesus: answers for skeptics, cynics and the curious, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2004-2005, 185

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Honor of it

How precious is Thy loving kindness, O God!  Psalms 36:7 (New American Standard Bible)

Have you ever tried to make someone love you?  It’s impossible. They would either loathe the attempt to overcome their will or might fake it to avoid unpleasant consequences.  “I’ll make you love me” is coercion.  Love comes out of respect and reaches its zenith when it is given willingly. 

There would be no glory for God to program unwitting persons to worship Him when they did not have the choice to say no. It would just be performance.  The act of choice is one of love’s defining features.  

We would not know of the fullness of God’s awesome love either had He no reason to demonstrate it.  That demonstration to us through the cross was undeniably an overwhelming display of loving kindness that defies logic or invention.  He is worthy of our praise and it is all the more breathtaking when we return it from our hearts.  That’s the honor of it.  We love Him because He first loved us (1^st John 4:19).

Ken       

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com©

Monkey Business

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you not as the world gives, do I give you.  Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.  John 14:27 (New American Standard Bible)

Have you ever heard of a monkey trap? It’s a cage or bottle containing food with a hole large enough to allow the monkey to fit his hand into but not large enough to allow him to withdraw his fist while holding the food.  When the person who set the trap approaches, the monkey screams and tries to get away but will not let go of the food and remains trapped.  

A monkey trap can be anything that snares us through fear and mistrust, hindering the experience of blessing God has for us.  This is why Jesus said He offers abundant life.  Fear is one of the thieves that steal our peace and freedom in Christ. Jesus says He will carry the burden of any load or loss and what He gives us to carry will be light indeed (Matthew 11:28-30). 

God bids us to come to Him and place all our burdens on His Son, Christ Jesus, and instead of being troubled and fearful to be calm and at peace.  Turning loose of what is in the monkey trap liberates us. That is why we gain more when we turn loose of less.  Fear not, for He is with you.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

This is Truth

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify of the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”  John 18:37 (New International Version)

Imagine the scene; a young rabbi in Israel is detained by local authorities and subjected to an illegal trial.  Roman law in Israel prohibits the Jews from executing anyone without Roman permission so the Jewish leaders push this young man onto the provincial governor, Pontius Pilate, hoping he will send him to the cross.

But Pilate is disturbed by the whole scenario.  As he interrogates Rabbi Jesus he hears Him speaking boldly of what is true.  The Procurator’s response is skepticism.  We can imagine the look of resignation as he sighs and asks Jesus “What is truth?”  He was at the crossroads of a historic decision, one that would shake the world for years to come.  He decides to wash his hands of the situation and send the rabbi to the cross.  Pilate would be able to go about his business and the Roman Peace would be secure within his province.  Perhaps he even went to his grave without having realized the Glory and Truth that had stood before him in that hour.

In America we hear so much of Christ’s truth that in retrospect it can seem humdrum.  But when we stop to consider the truth of what is in Jesus and who He is, a light of understanding begins to dawn.  A stirring of heart and mind begins to seek Him with abandon.  We see what Truth really is and that this same Truth who once stood humbled before a Roman ruler is at this moment exalted above all things (Philippians 2:9).  Yes, everyone on the side of truth will listen to Jesus. In doing so all who do can be empowered this day to live an abundant life in that truth.

Lord, help me be not only a beholder or hearer of Your words but strengthen me to be a doer of Your truth.  Amen.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com©

A God-Forsaken Place

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (New American Standard Bible)

What was it that set the death of Jesus of Nazareth apart from others who had been executed throughout history?  Was it the physical pain and suffering He bore?  No, His physical sufferings do not bring us to the heart of the cross.  Many before Him had died excruciatingly painful deaths and some even more agonizing.  Was it his mental suffering?  Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothes at the foot of the cross (John 19:24), He was abandoned by His followers (Matthew 26:56), and mocked by the priests and soldiers (Matthew 27:42, 43, Luke 23:36).  Even his mental state, as anguished as it was, cannot approach the heart and mystery of the cross.

The heart of the matter resides in Him being forsaken of God at that moment and what that meant.  Jesus fulfilled Psalm 22:1 when He cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”  He felt cut off because He was cut off.  The perfect man became a curse.  At that moment God laid all the sins of the generations onto His perfect sacrifice, Christ the Lamb of God.  The One who had always known fellowship with His Father cried out when His Father had to look the other way.  Somehow at that moment God put the curse of our sin on Christ as He hung on the cross making Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God (2^nd Corinthians 5:21).  We were cursed because of our sin and, in modern day vernacular, Jesus took the bullet.

He knew it would end this way when He set his face toward Jerusalem.  He could have easily gone the other way.  It was in this God-forsaken place that the greatest good for humanity was finished (John 19:30).  We cannot discount the physical pain and suffering our Lord endured in those final hours.  They were indeed horrendous.  But in those hours Christ broke the power of sin and opened up a highway directly into God’s presence by becoming our curse.  The heart of the cross is in what God laid upon His Son.  One would think it would be done in better circumstances yet Christ accomplished our redemption not in the Temple or any synagogue but by being hung on a cross in a God-forsaken place.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com©

It Doesn't Take an Einstein

And he said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”  Luke 10:18 (New American Standard Bible)

Albert Einstein is credited with defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time.  So it would seem with Satan.  He never stops assailing the works of God even though he was created and appointed as one of the mighty guardian cherubim in the inner circle of God’s presence, blameless and perfect in wisdom and beauty (Ezekiel 28:15) and ought to know better.  Every move he makes against God is wisely and perfectly countered bringing good from evil.  He brought Job from ashes to twofold riches and honor (Job 42:10).  When Satan thought he’d ended God’s plan for human redemption by killing Christ on the cross God raised His only begotten Son from the dead (Matt. 28:6, Mark 16:6, Luke 24:6, John 20:14).  When Satan thought he’d scattered the early church from Jerusalem God used it to move those believers into areas of outreach to Jews within the region (Acts 11:19).  When he moved to destroy European Jewry during World War II God raised up the state of Israel.  From the beginning God has been called Eloheim, the Almighty One. 

The power of Christ is the only power within the universe with authority enough to beat Satan at his own game.  In every effort Satan has employed against God and His Christ he has fallen like lightning before God’s holiness and matchless perfection.  He will never triumph and in the end will be cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of this world’s governments (Revelation 20:10).  Satan is doing the same thing over and over in his attempt to defeat God expecting a different outcome each time.  Now that’s insane and it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure that one out.

Glory to God forevermore.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Ultimate Seal

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance to the view of redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.  Ephesians 1:13, 14 (New American Standard Bible)

I spent nearly ten years working in the air freight and trucking (dry goods) industries.  

One thing that was necessary when any container or trailer was shipped was not only to be locked but sealed with a numbered security strip. That seal showed the shipment was a deposit of guarantee by our company until the freight was received by the customer.

When we hear and believe we are at that instant ‘sealed’ with the Holy Spirit of promise.  Sealing represents security, authentication, approval and identification of ownership.  The seal is done in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the instrument of the seal.  It is a deposit guaranteeing our own inheritance in God through His Son.  But it is more than a pledge as a pledge can be altered or even ignored; the seal of the Spirit is a guarantee of more to come.  In essence the deposit of the Holy Spirit is a little bit of heaven with a guarantee of much more that He will give to us in the eons to come.

Because of this, believers acquire every spiritual blessing including election, predestination, adoption, grace, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of the mystery of His will, and inheritance.  We remain God’s possession and delight to the praise of His glory. Being sealed by the Holy Spirit is a secure and precious privilege.  It is not done by human means but by Christ Jesus as His Ultimate Seal of love and power.  In its security and approval we are now and will remain God’s shining glory for eternity.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com