Remember No More

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."  Hebrews 8:12

I have been blessed to help with VBS for a good number of years, I've determined teaching first and second graders is good medicine for my faith. This year was like previous years, the week went by very fast, I got very tired, and as usual it seemed I learned more from the children, than they learned from me. 

One of the evenings during the Bible study time, Pastor John was sharing the gospel with the children by using colored helium balloons. Each colored balloon represented a part of the message, and one of the balloons, the black one, not surprisingly stood for sin. As John held the black balloon and explained how sin keeps us from heaven and blocks us from seeing God, a young boy leaned over to his teacher and quietly said, I think he should just let that black balloon go. I was so blessed that this little guy was in a simple way grasping the heart of the gospel. This boy had a healthy dislike for the darkness and ruin of sin and would have liked to see it just float away. Of course it may not be easy to let go of sin, but by Jesus' blood (red balloon), the curse of sin is done away with, and our sins are remembered no more. 

What a sweet reminder for us all, there is no need to be bound by sin any longer, as we let go of sin to cling to Christ, the crippling affect of sin floats off like a helium balloon.

Steadfast Immovable

1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore be my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

A pastor friend told me a story about a time in his life where he was a little too obsessed with the Lakers basketball club.  He said it was so bad that one season when they had been eliminated from the playoffs, he let his emotions get the best of him and he took his Lakers jersey, hung it over his balcony, and set it ablaze.  I was amazed at what a basketball game could do to the emotions of a very mild mannered guy.....you will never guess who, and I will never tell you!
I enjoy watching sports and I have my favorite teams, and there were times in my life when I let how my teams were fairing affect my emotions.  Now, I never got to the point of burning a jersey, but the Dodger victories or defeats did affect my mood.  With the baseball season being 162 games, you can imagine the daily mood swings!  If I hadn't grown out of it, then I would be very upset this year with the way the Dodgers are playing.
I hope you don't let sports dictate your moods, but I wonder if there is something else that might push your buttons?  We can say that our season has 365 games, with some days that are winners, and some days that are real losers.  We ought not allow the circumstances of each day to have too much control of our attitudes.
The strength of our walk with the Lord is what brings stability to our lives.  With the Lord we have foundational constants, and in them we find stability.  Jesus' love for us will never change, His grace, mercy and care are unfailing.  In Christ you have salvation, whether it's a good day or a miserable day.  You are assured of going to heaven on sunny days and on rainy days.  The best way to remain steadfast and immovable in these shaky days is being grounded in the unwavering truth of who we are in Christ!

Growing Up

Ephesians 4:14  "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting"

I remember the first and only time I ran away from home.  I don't recall what I was unhappy about, but there was some injustice that had occurred that led my eight year-old mind to decide to run away.  I was kind enough to go into the kitchen and announce to my mother my intention to leave home.  Her reaction took me by surprise and helped me grow up some.  I think I expected an apology, or perhaps her coercing me to stay.  Instead my mother looked at me and said she would miss me, and was sorry I felt I couldn't stay under such harsh parenting.  She then gave me a brown bag with some cookies and a kiss goodbye.
I felt determined never to return; spent the afternoon in a local field, ate my cookies, got cold, and went back home to find it was dinner time and there was a place at the table set for me.  My mom welcomed me with a hug and never said anything about my rebellion in my attempt to run off.  My mother didn't need to say anything, in her wisdom she knew there had been a lesson taught and her lecture would not have added to what was learned.
As an eight year-old I grew up some that day and learned I'm not always right, and I can't always get my way.  I learned that I ought not manipulate or threaten to get my way.  The wisdom of my loving mom broke a bit of pride, and that is always a good thing.
God does not want spoiled children.  He wants us to grow up and mature and to toughen up, so we might stand for Him in a tough world.  God loves us so much that He disciplines us, and He cares for us so much that He won't let us call the shots and get our own way all the time.  If you are under God's loving discipline, rejoice and submit, He's growing you up for His good purposes and glory!

Ready To Forgive

Psalm 86:5 "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

I can still see the nun standing in front of the chalk board, the board was green and the chalk she used was yellow.  She was giving our fourth grade class a brief theology lesson on God's forgiveness.  She drew a large circle on the board, then turned the yellow chalk stick flat on the board and quickly colored in the circle.  The lesson had begun.

She described the filled in circle as our souls when we were born, dark and black (or yellow), from original sin.  After we were baptized as babies original sin was washed away, and she took an eraser and wiped away the chalk from the circle.  She picked up the chalk and began to name sins that would be typical of fourth graders, and with each sin named, she would put a large yellow dot in the circle soul.  I remember a sort of collective cringe of conviction from the class with the naming of each sin, and very soon the soul was dark once again.

We were taught that we needed God's forgiveness, and that His forgiveness was conditional and depended upon works of penance.  We were given a large number of things to do to earn forgiveness.  The list included going to confession, saying the rosary, special prayers to saints, wearing medals, novenas, mass on first Fridays, and much more.  If enough of these works of penance were accomplished, perhaps God might be ready to forgive.  The nun's theology was off, and sadly it set us poor fourth graders on a treadmill of doing works that we could never ever do enough of, to earn forgiveness.

When I came to salvation in Christ, the liberty of living under God's grace was made so very clear to me in His word.  What wonderful freedom once I began to understand that God is ready and willing to forgive me.  Jesus has already completed the work needed for the forgiveness of sins, I just need to receive His gracious gift of salvation.  What weight is lifted knowing that God's willingness to forgive is apart from any works that I do, because I know I could never do enough.

Please don't be separated from the Lord.  I don't care how dark and yellow your soul might be, in Jesus you can be forgiven.  There is no need for you to have to prove your worthiness or win His favor.  Through Jesus God is ready to forgive.

Death Abolished

"but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (II Timothy 1:10).

Through sin came death.  By the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, death has been abolished.  To abolish means to deprive of force, influence, or power, to render inactive or inoperative.  Hallelujah!  Jesus is alive and death is abolished!

I love it!  Death, man's great enemy rendered inoperative by the Gospel of Jesus, what Easter joy!  Without Christ, death ought to be feared.  The world pictures death as a threatening figure in a black robe with skeleton hands holding a sickle, looking to harvest souls away from life.  With Christ, everything changes, especially death.  Matthew Henry described death as 'a kindly messenger coming to bid us to the Father'.

Have you received salvation in Jesus?  Could there be a better day to receive eternal life than Resurrection Sunday?  Why not bend your knee to His Lordship today?  Happy Easter...Jesus is risen...death is abolished!

Honoring Our King

"And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified."

Jesus was mocked the day of His crucifixion, he was laughed at spat upon and scorned.  The mocking of Jesus didn't stop on Good Friday, sadly it has continued even to this current generation.  

The very sins that Jesus died for are today encouraged and openly paraded about.  To speak out against these sins is considered legalistic or even hateful.  Christians today are pressured into the false notion that to love the sinner is to accept their sin.  It is unfortunate that much of the church has bought into this notion, believing it reflects love and grace, when in fact true love warns of sin, and acceptance of sin mocks the cross of Christ.

The cross was ugly, brutal, and fatal, because sin is ugly, brutal, and fatal.  Our message of love to the world is to turn from the death of sin, to life in Christ.  May our lives honor Jesus in the midst of a mocking world, as we stand for His truth.

Thinking Of You

"....and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."  Psalm 40:5

The thought of someone thinking about you all the time could be good or bad, it could be really sweet or kind of creepy.  If your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend told you that they thought of you all the time, I'm sure you'd smile and feel warm and fuzzy.  If someone you didn't know, or hardly knew, told you they thought about you all the time, I doubt you'd smile and most likely you'd be scared.
Of course the difference in how you might feel about someone thinking about you, would depend on who they are, and how well you know them.
In Psalm 40, David says that he can't even number the thoughts that God has about him, and it doesn't creep him out, in fact it brings him encouragement and comfort.  There might be some who would panic in knowing that God was thinking about them all the time, but David rejoices in such knowledge.  It speaks of the type of relationship he had with the Lord and how well he knew his God.
I'm with David, I love the fact that the Lord thinks about me all the time.  I know Him, and in the cross He has proven His love for me, so I'm totally blessed that He thinks about me all the time.
In this rough and tumble world where we get bruised and battered, it's easy to feel forgotten.  That is why it's important to stop and remember how much the Lord loves you.  I doubt there are refrigerators in heaven, but if there were refrigerators in heaven, God would have one, and picture of you would be on it!  He really does think about you all the time, and oh how much He loves you.