Month: October 2014

Just 5 Words

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New-Birth-missionary-baptiiThe sentence consisted of five brief words.  They were common words and each by itself was powerless; however when the five were woven together in a sentence, they communicated an extraordinary truth.

To someone who was as religious as he was the words were startling.  He most likely had excelled at his bar mitzvah.  If his rabbi had graded him, he probably was at the head of the class and an A+ student.

But Nicodemus had the rug pulled out from under him when Jesus said these five words:  “You must be born again.”  Even though he was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, and a religious person, Jesus said Nicodemus still needed to experience the new birth.

The new birth is much like your physical birth:  Whatever you need is provided, the pain of the process is felt by another, and someone else does the work.

There is one major difference.  When you were born the first time, you had no choice in the matter; however, the choice is yours when you think of your second birth.

The power, the effort, and the pain of your second birth are not yours, but the choice is:  “For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).”

Your new birth is by God’s power, according to God’s plan, and for God’s purpose.  Notice how John expresses this: “To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins. If God loved us as much as that, surely we, in our turn, should love each other (I John 4:9-11)!”

Let me leave you with three questions to keep you thinking:

  • Have you experienced the real love of God?
  • Do people see it you?
  • Do you share it with others?

A Good Shepherd and a Roaring Lion

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Look at the noun and the adjective. God describes himself as more than a shepherd. He added the descriptive tag “good” to His chosen name of shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd.

If you live the nomadic life and sheep and goats are a part of your daily existence, you know much more about shepherds than most people. Central Asia, West Africa, the Middle East and Israel are regions of the world that know the importance of a good shepherd.

And that’s an important point. God could have said: “I’m the Shepherd,” but He didn’t. He also did not describe Himself as being a so-so shepherd or a little above average shepherd. He said He is the Good Shepherd, and He means GOOD is every sense of the word.

Notice the use of the analogy in Scripture:
• The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23:10)
• We are your people, the sheep of your flock (Psalm 79:13).
• We are His people and the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3).
• I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11).

The people to whom Jesus spoke were people who knew the job description of a shepherd: It is the job of the shepherd to:
• Find a sheep when it is lost.
• Carry a sheep when it has fallen and is injured.
• Rescue a sheep that is about to drown because its wet wool is dragging him down like an anchor.
• Doctor a sheep when it is sick.

The prophet Isaiah (53:6) explains why sheep need a shepherd: “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Any time you stray from the way of the Shepherd, there is the potential of danger. Peter said you need to, “Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (I Peter 5:8).”

I’ll close with Paul’s benediction to the Hebrews (13:20-21): “Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen.”

How Good is God?

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Experiencing_God's_GoodnessJust how good is God? The Psalmist wrote: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him (34:8)!”

You answer the question of God’s goodness every time you take a sip of your favorite drink or a bite of your favorite food. God designed you with a need to eat, but He also blessed you with taste buds.

Without the thousands of taste buds on your tongue, eating would be boring and mundane. In His wisdom and goodness, God gifted you with the ability to distinguish between food that is sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Without taste buds, food would just be yuck that you have to eat to live.

Richard Strauss has said: “Because God is Himself the highest and greatest good, He is also the source and fountain of all other good. He does good things. He extends His goodness to others. It is His nature to be kind, generous, and benevolent, to demonstrate good will toward men, and to take great pleasure in making them happy. Because God is good, He wants us to have what we need for our happiness and He sees that it is available to us. Every good thing we now enjoy or ever hope to enjoy flows from Him, and no good thing has ever existed or ever will exist that does not come from His good hand.”

I hope you pause today to find the goodness of God in the small things of your life, and here’s a kid’s song to get you started: God is so good.

Are You a “Phobe” or a “Phile?”

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lovehateAn old adage is: Actions speak louder than words. With this in mind, do your actions define you as a bibliophobe or a bibliophile? Let me clarify these terms:
• A bibliophobe is a person who has a fear, hatred, or distrust of books.
• A bibliophile is a person who has a love for books and is prone to collecting them.

Considering your actions in regard to books, are you “phobe” or a “phile?” Do you love books, or do you hate them?

Whenever I see the prefix of these words, the first thing I think of is the word Bible, and the Bible is a collection of 66 books—Genesis to Revelation.

How do your actions define your relationship with the Bible? Are you a “phobe” or are you a “phile?” Do you read it or neglect it or do you heed it and respect it?

When I consider some of the statements found in the Psalms, I’m certain the writer was a “phile” and not a “phobe.” He describes Scripture as being more desirable than gold and he even says that it is sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10; 118:103).

If you are a “phile,” you use the Bible as a lamp to your feet and a light to your path to guide you. If, however, you are a “phobe,” you may stumble through life in a state of perpetual darkness.

I encourage you to read Psalm 1 to see the start contrast of a “phile” and a “phobe.”