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In God We Trust?

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2 John 5-6 And now I beg you, lady (Cyria), not as if I were issuing a new charge (injunction or command), but [simply recalling to your mind] the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it].

It sounds so simple to obey the command to love. But in reality it’s easy to love the people we like or that love and like us. The difficult people not so much. I’ve been pastoring for over 30 years and I have had the “blessing” of being on the receiving end of all of the above. Practicing this command hasn’t gotten any easier but I can say that the Lord has given me some tools to help cope with the pain that comes from rejection, hurt, criticism and pain. What are some of those tools?

  1. Become like Jesus. That’s a simple but profound truth. It’s been said you can’t become an overcomer till you have been given something to overcome. The same is true of becoming like Jesus. If I am going to “become” then I will need to face the challenges that do not look or sound like Jesus. When I am challenged I am learning to see that as an opportunity to become like Jesus. In other words, I lean into the pain. John 4 states that Jesus had need to go to Samaria. Samaritans hated Jews. Thus you can infer from this passage that Jesus had need to be rejected. He knew He would grow through it.
  2. Pray to see the person or difficult situation as Jesus sees them (or it). In the Book of Genesis God goes looking for Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam tells the Lord that he had hidden himself because he was afraid; and I was naked. The Lord wisely asks, Who told you that you were naked? The enemy, the accuser of the brothers, is in the full-time business of reminding all of us that we are naked. God on the other hand covers our sins, nakedness, shame, and guilt.
  3. Release the person from your expectations. One of the weirdest passages in the Bible is found in John 2:24: But Jesus [for His part] did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all [men];…How can Jesus, Who loves all people perfectly, not trust them? 1 Corinthian 13:7 states that Love always trusts. I asked the Lord about this and He gave me a great answer. He reminded me of my children when they were toddlers. He asked, Robert did you love your children when they were toddlers? I said, Absolutely Lord! He asked, Would you have trusted them to drive your car? I answered, Absolutely not! He asked, Did you love your children less because you didn’t trust them to drive the car? His point was made. Jesus loves, and He always trusts – yet He has realistic expectations of what we are and are not capable of doing and being.

Chuck Swindoll author of, Make Up Your Mind, writes that: In the 1960s a teacher was given a roster showing the actual I.Q. test scores of the students of one class, and for another class a roster in which the I.Q. column had been (mistakenly) filled in with the students’ locker numbers. The teacher assumed that the locker numbers were the actual I.Q.s of the students when the rosters were posted at the beginning of the semester. After a year it was discovered that in the first class the students with high actual I.Q. scores had performed better than those with low ones. But in the second class the students with higher locker numbers scored significantly higher than those with lower locker numbers!

When we shift our focus, and expectations from others onto Jesus, He empowers us to do all the above. Which really is all about trust. Who do you trust? Isn’t it funny that we have trouble trusting Jesus and others? Yet, we trust ourselves – more than them – to protect us from being harmed or hurt. We say we Love Him. If love always trusts then our focus will need to shift from us – onto Him.

Rosh Hashana – Feast of Trumpets and What It Means for Christians

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Happy New Year! (From the Jewish Year 5783 to 5784) – From God, the Father.

Rosh Hashana, in Hebrew means head or beginning of the year, and marks the start of God’s new year as outlined in the Old Testament. Also known as the Feast of Trumpets, it is one of the seven appointed festivals prescribed by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 23 and ushers in God’s process of renewal for the Jewish people.

The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) – which is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – are the 10 Days of Awe, or the 10 Days of Repentance. During this period the Jewish people were expected to thoroughly examine their hearts and their standing before God; to repent and to give and seek forgiveness in preparation for receiving God’s forgiveness on Yom Kippur. According to Jewish tradition, the sincerity of one’s repentance and turning to God during these 10 days was instrumental in tipping the Lord’s judgment scale in their favor for the coming year. So, for Jews, God’s forgiveness on Yom Kippur was considered a temporary achievement. In order to keep your place in the Book of Life the process had to be repeated year-after-year.

While the importance of Rosh Hashana, the 10 Days of Awe, and the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament is God’s means of providing a process for his people to achieve and receive forgiveness and right standing can’t be understated, how should Christians view this today? Since we live under the New Covenant does this feature of Mosaic Law apply to us at all?

As a technical matter, no it doesn’t, because as Christians we no longer live under the Law. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Gal 3:13) God, through Christ, provided a once-for-all way to forgiveness and reconciliation, “…He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us…” (Col 2:14). In fact, Paul specifically reminds us in Colossians 2:16: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” In other words, our concern is no longer festivals and rituals to improve our fallen condition. Our sole focus is faith in the work of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:1-10 summarizes our much-transformed and improved circumstance nicely: For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’ First, He said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then He said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

So, since these festival days don’t serve the same purpose for Christians that they once did for the Jews, then how should we commemorate these days? By recognizing how God literally fulfilled his Jeremiah 31:34 promise to us: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” What can be more worthy of celebration than that?

What our God, through Christ, has done in providing a perfect and permanent means for our reconciliation should overwhelm us and fill us with unending gratitude.

For today, let’s meditate on God’s incredible goodness, let’s thank Him and acknowledge the absolute supremacy of Christ as our Savior and High Priest, and ask Him to help us be more like Him. Let’s challenge ourselves and our church family to seek a deeper relationship and a more active, empowered, Spirit-filled walk. Let’s pray against the spirit of complacency and for a new (kainos – recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn) spiritual awakening and revival. Amen!?

A brother in Christ