Thursday, April 28, 2011

Influence That Is a One-Way Street

"Therefore, thus says the Lord, 'If you return, then I will restore you - before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them'" (Jeremiah 15:19)

Jeremiah was having a rough time of it as God's prophet, beloved! It seemed to him that Jehovah was being unduly long-suffering with His people and for himself, he had lost the fire of his calling. He had suffered great abuse at the hands of those to whom he took the word of the Lord and he was weary with the effort. What was joyful to him at the first had become a burden. In this glorious invitation from the heart of God to His servant, we discover a wondrous promise for ourselves today.

First of all, Jeremiah was urged to "return" to the Lord in his role as God's spokesman to His chosen people. Before God he would once again "stand" and receive the word from Him that His people needed so desperately to hear. Where else can we find a word for the people whom we would reach today, beloved, but from the heart of the One who loves them and sacrificed His only begotten Son for our sins?

Then, Jeremiah needed to "extract the precious from the worthless." What a tremendous need in our own lives daily! What foolish believer is there who would claim never to have imagined "worthless" thoughts or to have impulsively uttered "worthless" words? Whenever we do so, as Jeremiah had done here in his anger, we need to separate out the "precious" - our love for God and His unfailing grace in our lives - and let that be our motivation for faithful service. We deal with the "worthless" by repenting of it and casting it aside, never to pick it up again.

Finally, Jeremiah needed to see his labor in speaking for God as a "one-way street." He could not afford to allow those to whom he carried the word of the Lord to influence his thinking and his behavior. His was the role of being the influence and not of being influenced himself! That is precisely what Jesus meant when He said that we as believers are the "light of the world" and the "salt of the earth." It is we who must influence others with the truth of God's Word. And while serving God in this way, we must not allow our thinking and our behavior to become tainted by the attitudes and actions of the world around us.

Is your life in this world a "one-way street," beloved? Do you stand before God to receive His word for people and carry it faithfully to them? Is yours an influential lifestyle? Are you diligent to "extract the precious from the worthless" in presenting unto God a pure heart and unto people a steadfast example? Make your life today a "one-way street"!

Ron

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Cell Phone in My Pocket

"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16)

My children are very important to me, beloved, as are my grandchildren and, for that matter, my entire extended family! Bev and I are blessed by God to be a part of a wonderful family and they are such a vital part of our lives. Earlier today I was relaxing in my recliner when the thought occurred to me that I was not sure where my cell phone was. I reached down to my front pocket and, thankfully, there it was. My immediate thought was - "Good! Just in case one of the kids might call!"

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we as Christians were as interested in staying in tune with the Spirit of God as we are in keeping in touch with our family members? Naturally the one does not exclude the other, but should we not exert as much energy connecting with the Holy Spirit within us as we do staying in touch with loved ones from whom we may be separated by distance?

Clearly in the words of the Apostle Paul to the saints in Rome it is the desire of the Spirit of God to stay in touch with us! It is He who bears witness with our spirit, He who initiates the relationship and ever seeks to keep it strong. It is He who wants to keep us in the most intimate contact with our heavenly Father and it is He who will go to any length necessary to remind us of that need within our lives. And the good news is, beloved, you don't need a cell phone to stay in touch with Him! Nor do you need to send him a "friend request" on Face Book. He's right there within your spirit, ever longing to commune with you in the most glorious way possible.

So stay in touch with the kids and grandkids, by all means! But by all means as well, stay in touch with the Spirit of the living God. He has things to tell you and to show you that you absolutely won't believe!

Ron

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Now As I Was Saying...

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Oops! It seems that I recall just a couple of weeks ago wrapping up my devotional thoughts with the words - "But that's another subject for another day! Maybe next week..." Then the following week we were off spoiling our grandchildren rotten, so I ended up writing about the joys of being a grandpa. Thus, "maybe next week" never became a reality. Finishing the thought that I began two weeks ago, then, is the focus of this week's devotional!

First of all, let me suggest that you scroll down and re-read the entry for March 31st entitled "Sin Imputed or Sin Imparted?" When you have done that, then you will recall that God in His wondrous mercy "imputed" or charged to the account of the Lord Jesus Christ our very sinfulness. Though He did not become a sinner Himself, He did bear our guilt and shame vicariously to the cross of Calvary and paid the full price of God's holy justness, forever satisfying the demand of the Father's holiness.

But that was only one-half of the transaction, beloved, and the second half is not only the focus of this week's thoughts but is a truth most glorious! By imputing our sinfulness to the sinless Christ, God made it possible for us to have "imputed" or charged to our account the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Very simply, He did not deserve our guilt and shame, but received it anyway and bore the awful wrath of holy God in our place. Likewise, we did not deserve His righteousness and the approval of holy God, but received it anyway and became members of God's divine family.

Charles Wesley, prompted by the wonder of this divine transaction of pure grace, felt compelled to write of that wonder as it unfolded to his own heart and mind. We should all be able to identify fully as believers today with Wesley's amazement and loving response to God's grace as found in the following lyrics to a beloved hymn written in 1738. Here are the words of the 3rd stanza which describe beautifully the sacrifice made by the Son of God and also the impact of that sacrifice on the life of every true believer:

He left His Father's throne above - so free, so infinite His grace -
Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race;
'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!


As a result, beloved, you and I are forever free from the dread of sin and its eternal consequences. Wesley went on in the final stanza to describe for us the resulting "grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:2).

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine;
Bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

As Wesley himself has put it, beloved - "'Tis mercy all!" To that we can only add "Amen and amen!"

Ron

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Joy of Being a Grandpa

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate" (Psalm 127:3-5)

I have been reminded recently of the humorous statement that says: "If I had known that grandchildren were so much fun, I would have had them first!" Our oldest daughter has just come down from Virginia for a visit, bringing with her our youngest daughter and her three children who are visiting from California. Not only are Bev and I enjoying spending time with our daughters again and seeing them together, but we are reveling in the pleasure of being "Bebe" and "Pop" to three of our nine grandchildren. If parenting is a wonderful gift from God, beloved, and certainly the psalmist made it clear that it is, then being a grandparent is the icing on top of the cake!

In the verses above the psalmist declared boldly that when it comes to children "blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." I have never met a granddad or grandmom who was not immensely proud of their grandkids, and I can assure you that Bev and I do nothing at all to change that statistic! Tomorrow we are to travel back to Virginia with our daughters and three grandchildren to spend time with our son and his family as well. For the first time in quite a long time we will be together with all three of our children and all nine of our grandchildren! So you can see that to Bev and me, children are definitely a gift of the Lord.

Today I had the pleasure of taking these three grandkids to a driving range and letting them do what they have wanted to do since they arrived - hit golf balls! When we got home, I had to make a quick run to the recycling center to drop off some accumulated cardboard. Only the youngest and oldest wanted to make that trip with me, so off we went. On the way back home, I listened intently as they sang to each other in the back seat. And what were they singing? The books of the Bible in sequential order! Both Old and New Testament books and they did not miss a single one. Want to know if this old grandfather-preacher was proud? You know it! What is such a blessing to my heart, beloved, is the knowledge that my grandchildren, not only these three, but all nine of them, are being raised in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The psalmist said here that parents will have no reason to be ashamed, even in the presence of their enemies. Our children are not only fully committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but they are clearly training our grandchildren to know Him personally and to love and serve Him as well.

So this week's blog is a little bit more on the personal side, I know, but I just wanted to share my heart with you, not so much as a preacher, but as a father and grandfather who is so very thankful for the blessings of God. For Bev and I, our "quiver" is full and we could not possibly be happier. To God be the glory!

Ron