"To Him be glory forever": the Bible

Showing posts with label the Bible. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Setting The Tone For The Day

The first thing on my list of “things to get done” today was to go to my study to read the Bible and pray. By itself that is not unusual. Reading the Bible and praying are the first things on my list on the majority of days that are workdays. Some days the pattern is different, often due to the particular demands of the day. The exceptions always seem justified at the time, but so often as those days unfold the decision shows itself to have been unwise. I may have been pressed for time and shifted prayer to a more convenient part of the day, and something happens that shows me that moving prayer that day was a poor choice.

So today I went to my study and checked the app on my phone to see what the Bible reading was going to be. Lamentations 1. Certainly not a place in the Bible where we would turn if we were looking for something quick and inspiring, something to make us feel good. But God’s word, from beginning to end, is filled with truth that we need to hear, and Lamentations is no exception. As I read and prayed I lingered over the first part of verse 18, which says:

“The LORD is in the right,

For I have rebelled against his word.”

Ouch! That verse describes sin in a nutshell. God has revealed His truth and I have rebelled against it. My rebellion wasn’t just a one-time thing but happened over and over. In His mercy God’s revealed truth also included His Son Jesus, as my Savior. I still rebel but also know that my place with Jesus is sure and unfailing.

Reading the Bible and praying early in my day isn’t important so that I can cross it off my list and be what the Jesus Storybook Bible calls one of the “super extra holy people.” It is important because it prepares me to be a better servant of my Savior and Lord as the day unfolds. I don’t know what the day will bring but I believe that He most certainly does. If I want to serve him well in whatever may come I’ve found that it is essential for me to be grounded as His child.

And as I write, late on a Wednesday afternoon, what has the day brought? Reading with the boys while they ate breakfast. Some administrative work for our congregation. Editing of this coming Sunday’s sermon, from James3:13-18. All of those things were expected. I also had brief conversations with two different men who were hitchhiking to the next town. Another man who I have had mostly casual contact with in the past few years decided that today was the day to take advantage of an open invitation I’d given him He came over and we spent an hour talking about the story of Abraham and a few other things.

Jesus is a wonderful and beautiful Savior. He is a kind and loving Lord. It is a privilege to know Him in these ways and to live each day as His servant. Experience has taught me, especially as a pastor but even before then, that some time in the Bible and prayer are essential to serving Him well as the day unfolds.

And now, a half hour after writing the last paragraph, I’m reminded of the wisdom in beginning the day with the Bible and prayer. One of the men I saw earlier today came to the house, needing a meal and some face masks. I was able to give him both, and also pray with him. Just one more reason to thank the Lord for setting the tone for the day first thing.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

The Anvil Of Scripture

One of the books I am currently reading is an excellent work about being a pastor. As I was soaking up the wisdom from Albert Martin, a man who’s served as a pastor for around 50 years, I read these words:

“Regarding this issue, we must have our thinking hammered out on the anvil of Scripture.”

I read that sentence several times, not because of the particular issue Martin was discussing, but because they state a truth that is pretty much applicable for virtually every issue of the Christian life. Our thinking must be shaped by the instruction of God through the words of the Bible, and not in some other way or through some other standard.

The picture I found online of a blacksmith at work illustrates Martin’s point. The anvil represents God’s word, the solid and unchanging standard, that God, the Master Blacksmith, uses to shape us for His purposes and His glory. Sometimes that shaping is effortless, but many are the times when heat and hammering are the only ways to bring about the desired result.

Sometimes our thinking changes easily. I can think back to my own conversion and see things that changed nearly effortlessly. And I can also look back and see things that have changed only under great effort, with lots of resistance on my part. And given that the Christian life is one of continual growth and change, from the moment of conversion until that time our Savior calls us home, there is change going on right now that must happen in agreement with God’s word in order for it to be pleasing to Him.

The idea of being hammered on an anvil doesn’t sound very much like fun. But it is an act of love by God to do so. He loves us and does what is needed to conform us to the truth of His word, rather than let us go off adrift in some other direction.

It’s good for us to regularly read our Bibles and give serious, prayerful thought to what God is speaking to us through it. There will be times when His truth will confront us. Those are the times we need to dig deeper and be shaped by the truth of the anvil of Scripture, to our good and for God’s glory.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Testimonial

I went to the dentist yesterday for an exam and to have my teeth cleaned. After the work was done the hygienist went over a list of recommendations for the ongoing care of my teeth. For the most part I knew what to expect, as my dentist has recommended for at least two years that I get several crowns repaired. Last on the list was the recommendation that I wear a mouth guard at night.

To say I didn't take this recommendation well would be an understatement, as I basically told the hygienist that it was ridiculous. (I'll confess that at this moment I was being unfair to the hygienist, who did an excellent job with my teeth, and who, for as much as I understand of her responsibilities at the dentist's office, always does excellent work.)

Anyhow, in my push-back on the mouth guard idea I "asked" for some sort of objective evidence concerning it's benefit for my teeth. Among the responses I heard back was this: that she herself uses one. Unconvinced, I made an appointment to get a filling taken care of and left the office.

I thought about the words we exchanged as I drove home, particularly her supporting the need for a mouth guard through her own use of one. It occurred to me that that kind of recommendation was a testimonial from personal experience, in combination with her professional experience. And next came the realization that in my present vocation, I would, and do, the exact same thing, all the time.

As a pastor, everything I do in the key parts of my calling has to do with the Bible. Be it preaching, visiting in homes, hospitals and nursing homes, teaching or counseling, everything is grounded in the Bible.

I open it and read it during worship. I study it and explain it, hoping to apply it's truth to whomever I am with at the moment. I read it and pray it with those I visit and counsel. I read it and pray it for myself and with my family. I encourage others to take up, read, ponder and apply its words for themselves.

Last Monday evening we kicked off another year of our community youth ministry, and I'll close this post with the same words I used in teaching the children that night, as my own testimonial, if you will, although the words are the Lord's:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Glasses

Once upon a time I had 20/20 vision. Then in my later 30's I began needing glasses to read. It wasn't a big deal. I got some inexpensive glasses and put them on to read. Over time I needed to get stronger reading glasses but my vision for distance was fine. Or so I thought. Around the time I turned 50 I got an eye exam that showed trouble seeing things both near and far, and so it was time for bifocals.

Wearing bifocals was an eye-opening experience. It took some time for me to figure out how to read with them without driving myself crazy. But the changes I noticed with distance vision were more dramatic. It turned out that things in the distance were much clearer and crisper through my bifocals than I had thought. My impression had been that my distance vision was fine but wearing bifocals proved that wasn't the case at all.

Living life as a Christian can be a bit like my experience with my vision before I had bifocals. I thought I was seeing things clearly, but I really wasn't. We can live each day and think that we are doing things in ways that are pleasing to God, and then we find out that there is a big blind spot in our life. We come to find out that we drifted off course, and that we're continuing to drift farther away each day.

This all came to mind recently when I was reading Psalm 7 and got to verse 8, which says:

"The Lord judges the peoples;

judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me."

The Psalmist is in the midst of a conflict with someone else and asking God to be his judge, basically in comparison to this other person. But that isn't the way that God acts as judge. God's standard isn't how we compare to other people but how we measure up to the guidelines He has given for us. And by those standards everyone of us falls woefully short. Our own righteousness, or own sense of integrity, will carry no weight with God.

When we read our Bibles and seek for God to be our teacher we find that God's word works like my bifocals, showing us things the way that they really are, and not as we seem to think that they are. And that means that by faith in Jesus as my Savior I can read the words of the Psalmist and know how far I am from God's standards, and yet…

…and yet know that I can come before God confidently as my judge, because the righteousness that I do have is a gift from Jesus. On the cross He took all of the things I have ever done that were offensive to God, replacing them with His perfect standing before God.

He did this for you, He did this for me, and He did this for everyone who calls on Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Amen.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Don't take my word for it…

If things work out I'll get my hair cut this week. When he is finished the barber will get out a small mirror that I can use to look at the job he has done. If I hold to form when he does this I'll say something like this: "You're a professional. I don’t need to look at it. I trust you." The reality is that he either will cut it well, as he has in the past, or he will have botched it. If he does the latter my looking in a mirror won’t make any difference, and I'll find someone else to cut it next time. He cuts hair. I don't. I trust him to do his job and to do it well, without involving me with the details.

This came to mind as my wife came home from the dentist last Friday. The dentisit had a camera so that, if desired, she could see what he did that day. Thinking of my upcoming visit there I had the same thoughts as when I visit the barber: "You're the professional, so I trust you to do the job you have trained for."

But this morning it came to mind that my attitude of "trusting the professional" isn't always best. I serve as pastor of the Jicarilla Apache Reformed Church and one of the things we do nearly every time we gather for worship is a congregational prayer of confession of sin. Then after the prayer I read some words from the Bible that are intended to provide the assurance of forgiveness. They are words that speak of God's forgiveness of those who have sinned and who have then turned back towards Him in faith.

Words that convey the assurance of forgiveness are found throughout the Old and New Testaments. This morning I read John 8:34-36. Next Sunday, on Easter, I'll read Psalm 32:3-5. Last Sunday it was Psalm 130:3-4. The point of reading God's words of forgiveness is that while I may be the church professional, no one is forgiven on my say so. The only one who forgives sin is God, and so as the barber uses a mirror to show me my haircut I use God's word to show people God's forgiving work in their lives.

When it comes to understanding God, his nature and character, His attributes, His ways of working in the world, His purposes…virtually anything involving God that we could imagine, it would be easy to do one of two things. The first is to understand those things through our imagination, what we think that they should be, or would be, if God had left it up to us to decide. And the second is to believe what others have to say, perhaps on the strength of their learning, the force of their personality or their role in life.

But perhaps the harder way, and the truly much better way, is to look into the Bible and see what God Himself has to say about the matter at hand.

God promises to forgive His people, and He promises them so much more, but don’t take my word for it. Take His.