Why did Jesus Willingly Go to the Cross?

Jesus went willingly to the cross for JOY. "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross..." Hebrews 12:2.

What JOY drew Jesus to the Cross?

• The JOY of PLEASING His Father. "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again" John 10:17. It was the joy of the Son to fulfill the Father's eternal plan of redemption. It was Jesus' joy to do so WILLINGLY, that is, He passionately WANTED to go to the cross for His Father's pleasure and love. Have you ever known love so deep and constant that it gave joy in the doing of difficult and demanding tasks?
• The JOY of RETURNING to HIS GLORY. "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" John 17:5. In His earthly life as also man, Jesus' preexistent glory was veiled. There were no fiery cherubim flying overhead repeating the 3-fold "Holy!" (see John 12:41). He appeared as your average Jewish male with no distinguishing outward marks of greatness. But after the cross, Jesus would be restored to the Father's right hand in heaven-shaking glory as His majestic deity once again took away the breath of angels.
• The JOY of REDEEMING GOD-REJECTING SINNERS. "...When His soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring ; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall and be satisfied..." Isaiah 53:10-11. The joy of hearing His Father declare rebel sinners "not guilty" drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of seeing self-absorbed Satan-followers become worshipers of His Father drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of setting captives to drunkennes, adultery, gluttony, gossip, and sloth FREE drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of a CHURCH to act as His body on the earth for the forwarding of the gospel drew Jesus to the cross. And the joy of one day wiping away every tear from the eyes of His persecuted, hated, and tempted saints drew Jesus to the cross.

Jesus went to the cross WILLINGLY for the Father, for the restoration of His own glory, and for YOU and ME. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Abiding - Part 2

In order to ABIDE in Christ there are several basic truths that we must understand and be sure of. Here are perhaps the TWO most important:

1. Jesus is the VINE. "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). Israel was pictured in the Old Testament as the vine of God's planting (e.g. Jeremiah 2:21), but the nation became a wild vine and deserted the LORD and never produced the fruit she was chosen and equipped for. Jesus, however, is the true vine, He is the TRUE ISRAEL, the Son of God who pleased the LORD and produced fruit in all He did.

As the VINE, Jesus is the SOURCE OF LIFE for His branches, His people. Life for us as His people, His disciples, comes ONLY from Him. If we want to please God, to bear fruit for Him, to live life with His strength and wisdom, that fruit and life and strength can ONLY come from Jesus. HE is the VINE. FROM Him comes all we need.

2. We are the BRANCHES. "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). Branches live and grow and produce fruit ONLY as they DRAW LIFE from the vine. Knowing that we are the branches teaches us that our posture is always to be one of DEPENDENCE or RECEIVING. We NEVER have the source of spiritual life and fruit in ourselves. We look away to the VINE for life. And we must make our goal each day to stay connected to Jesus, our Source. This is why the Scriptures tell us that we live by "faith."

These two truths may seem so simple and obvious that they do not need to be emphasized. However, our problems are usually the result of moving away from the BASICS. How often have you depended on yourself or your friends or family or money or smarts instead of Jesus? How often have you only looked to Jesus in desperation AFTER exhausting yourself in looking everywhere else?

A fruitful life is simple: He is the Vine, We are the Branches. He gives, We receive.

Abiding - Part 1

In John 15 Jesus shares an allegory with His disciples which is perhaps the most glorious picture in Scripture of what it means to have an intimate relationship with Him.

The key word expressing this relationship is "ABIDE" or "REMAIN" (vv.4,5,6,7, etc).

To picture this to His disciples, Jesus uses the allegory of a grape vine and its branches and fruit. The vine supplies life to the branches so that fruit can be produced. This "connection" of branch to vine is a picture of the relationship a believer is to have with Jesus.

• This is a REAL connection. That is, the believer is really connected to Jesus. This is not just a concept, it is a spiritual reality, just as real as a physical branch is connected to and part of the vine.
• This is a VITAL connection. That is, life flows in this connection. The branch has no life of its own except that which comes from the vine. Abide and live. Stop abiding and die.
• This is a PERSONAL connection. The branch and vine represent real people: Jesus and believers; Jesus and you and me. This connecton involves RELATIONSHIP.
• This is a PURPOSEFUL connection. Branches are connected to a living relationship to the vine IN ORDER TO bear fruit. We are connected to Jesus for fruitbearing. This is why we will see that fruitbearing becomes evidence of who is and who is not a real branch.
• This is a CONSTANT connection. This is what "abide" or "remain" means: you stay there, you don't move around, you don't seek other connections in the place of this one. You seek to stay in the place where this relationship can draw life and bear fruit.

And Jesus makes "abiding" a COMMAND, "Abide in Me and I in you" v.4. That is, if we are a believer, a disciple, we are always to be abiding. If we are not abiding we are sinning. This abiding should always define our relationship with Jesus.

What does it mean to ABIDE in Jesus? I.E., HOW do we do it? Thankfully, Jesus tells us and we will look at this in coming blogs.

Wow! God Answers Prayer

What promises God gives for those who keep on asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer (Matthew 7:7). If you are like me, you can pray, THINKING that you are trusting God to answer, but never really expecting to SEE an answer.

Recently we have been praying for China in conjunction with the Olympics in Beijing. We were even wearing the gray wrist bands circulated by Voice of the Martyrs with "Pray for China" engraved. But our whole thinking in our praying was, "Lord, do your work IN China, giving grace to your persecuted people to be bold and courageous in their witness to Christ."

After a few days of praying I received an email from a friend who knew of a young female entering the university in our town. She needed a place to stay for a couple of nights until registration and the dorms opened. As things worked out, we had her stay in our home and thoroughly enjoyed the time with her. We hope to continue to get to know her and have her in our home during the school year. We also had some times to begin sharing Christ with her. She seemed very receptive. The young lady was fresh in the US from mainland CHINA.

However, the "DUH!" for us came a couple of days after we had hosted her. My wife looked at her "Pray for China" wrist band and a light suddenly went on, "Oh, our guest was Chinese, and we've been praying for the gospel to go forth in China! He has brought China to us! Praise the Lord!"

Praise the Lord indeed! Another lesson in the foolishness of putting the sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient prayer-answering God in a BOX. Perhaps we should begin to pray like this, "And Lord, answer this request in your own sovereign way and give me eyes to see when you do it."

The Importance of Calling to Mind

In the Book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah is pouring out the bitterness and pain of his heart to the LORD as he observes and experiences God's judgement on His people. In chapter 3 he says he is "filled with bitteness" and cowering "in the ashes". His soul is "bereft of peace" and he has "forgotten what happiness is." He has reached the end of his endurance and his hope has perished (vv.15-18).

Ever feel like that? You probably have NOT experienced the life and hope shattering devastation that Jeremiah endured, but you have probably been in bitter places, humbled by your own failure to the emotional ash heap. You no doubt know what it is to have sinned away God's peace and what it is to feel like your future is black with NO light at the end of the tunnel.

Jeremiah gives us in vv.21-24 the biblical solution to our personal times of darkness and despair:

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him."

"But this I call to mind..." When everything around me is dark; when my failures have thrown me into the ashes, when all that I cherished is being shaken...like Jeremiah I need to "call to mind" the CHARACTER and COVENANT of the LORD. My character will fail. His won't. There will be times when I will not keep my commitment to Christ. He will NEVER break His covenant and commitment to me.

Instead of sniffing in the putrid fumes of my failure, I must CHOOSE to turn my thoughts, my memory, my heart towards my Lord. I must drink in the purifying air of the CROSS. I must plug in the IV of His promises to me in Christ. When I call to mind His steadfast or unfailing love...I have hope. He WON'T stop loving me. I am His purchased possession. His mercy to me will be INFINITELY great tomorrow morning, none depleted by my foolish actions or thoughts or words.

In fact I must CHOOSE to call this to mind: this awesome LORD is "my portion"! That is, HE is what I have been given as a Christian. I have gotten HIM! He has given HIMSELF to me. My portion is not just blessings from God but the BLESSING GOD HIMSELF.

Next time you are wallowing in the mire of your own making, CALL these things to MIND. Call HIM to mind.

WHERE Does a Lavish Love Come From?

The lavish love of Mary shown for Jesus in anointing Him with a year's wages worth of precious ointment did not just show up that evening, six days before Jesus' crucifixion. It was NOT the result of a sudden emotional surge. She was not into impressing the gathered guests. WHERE did it come from?

• It came from a GRATEFUL heart. Mary had seen Jesus raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. She was in the home that evening of the anointing of one Simon, apparently a former leper, whom Jesus had healed. She had heard many stories of Jesus' amazing works throughout Israel as he sat in her home during His visits to Bethany. O, what Jesus had done for Lazarus and Simon and Mary and so many others! Gratitude flowed like a river at flood stage from her heart.
• It came from KNOWING Jesus. It was Mary who sat at Jesus' feet soaking up His unmatched teaching in Luke 10:38-42. She devoted herself to being His disciple in every way possible. His words had soaked into her soul and transformed her. She believed. And as her personal and experiential knowledge of Christ increased, so did her love. And on this night her love overflowed in a lavishness that saw no limit to its expression.

Friends, it is the will of God for this same kind of lavish love to flow from our hearts (Romans 12:1). It is this kind of love that gives irrefutable evidence that we are indeed Christ's transformed ones. It is this kind of love that makes obedience and sacrifice a joy, not an intolerable burden. It is this love that sees our greatest sacrifices as pitiful responses to His immense love and grace and character.

Does this kind of love flow towards the Savior from YOUR heart?

• Are you regularly amazed and overwhelmed at the grace of Christ to die as SIN for your sin?
• Are you growing in the KNOWLEDGE of Christ from the intake of His Word and from daily obedience to Him as Lord?
• Do you cry to Him for a greater, purer flow of love from your heart towards Him and others?

It is NO CLICHE to say, "To KNOW Him is to LOVE Him."

If you find your love for Jesus choked off...go to Him in desperate prayer, asking for His Spirit to break the dam of love in your heart. Go back to the Word with an eye looking for Jesus EVERYWHERE. Ponder deeply the biblical truths of His substitute sacrificial death for YOU.

A Beautiful Thing

In Mark 14:3-9 a woman (John tells us it is Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha) anoints Jesus with a precious ointment. This ointment was worth a year's wages (v.5)! Perhaps it was a family heirloom or security for old age. In just a few moments time it is all poured out on Jesus. Though those standing by call it a WASTE (v.4), Jesus calls it "a beautiful thing" (v.6).

Why was this anointing "beautiful"?

• Because it was LAVISH. It was VERY COSTLY (v.3). Mary gave the BEST that she had for Jesus. No leftovers, not the everyday stuff used for normal guests would suffice. Only the BEST she had. This kind of lavishness is beautiful.
• Because it was ALL POURED OUT on Jesus. Once the slender neck on this exquisite jar was broken to release its contents - ALL of its contents was poured on Jesus' head and feet. By this Mary showed the ultimate value that she placed on Jesus. There was no one else, nothing else in her life that was important enough to merit this once in a lifetime anointing - except Jesus.
• Because it DISREGARDED WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT if only it might pour its love on Jesus. Mary must have known she would face criticism for this unusual and lavish expression of love. The scolding came fast and furiously from those nearby, lead by Judas the disciple, betrayer, and thief. She wiped Jesus' feet with her hair - an amazingly HUMBLE act. I have read that a Jewish woman's hair was her glory. Mary humbles her glory, her pride, to wipe the FEET of her Lord.
• Because, as Jesus says in v.8, "she has anointed my body beforehand for burial." This act of lavish love was beautiful because it was sovereignly designed to prepare Jesus for His supreme act of sacrifice on the cross as the final and ultimate Lamb of God. While those around were planning his murder (vv.1-2), criticizing the one who loves Him (vv.3-9), and betraying Him (vv.10-11), Mary was "doing what she could" and spending her most precious possession to prepare Him for the cross.

How BEAUTIFUL is YOUR LOVE for Jesus?

• What has it cost you?
• Has it been lavish enough to draw criticism?

"O Lord, may our love for YOU, the BEAUTIFUL ONE, become more and more beautiful."

A Faith We Can Live By - Part 6

Faith works. That is the consistent teaching of Scripture. That is, though we are responsible to exercise faith in obedience to God's command (Acts 16:31), faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). And the salvation that comes by this graciously given faith that we exercise shows itself by our works.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10.

Therefore, in all of our talk about trusting in the God who gives life to the dead and believing in order that we might become what God has willed and promised and having a faith that squarely faces the facts and growing strong in our faith by giving glory to God...in ALL of this we must remember that faith is NOT a PASSIVE thing that we just wait to be given or that we think the Spirit will somehow exercise for us. Nor must we think that a passive believing is full or genuine faith. Faith WORKS!

• Faith WORKS by OBEDIENCE to the Word of God because it believes that God's Way is best.
• Faith WORKS by standing up to thoughts that have haunted and crippled my walk with Christ and telling them the truth as it is in Jesus.
• Faith WORKS by holding onto God's PROMISES in the dark because it is convinced that God is fully able to do what He has promised.
• Faith WORKS by stepping through walls of the fear of man to witness to family and friends when I may be rejected for doing so.
• Faith WORKS by choosing to do the next thing I ought to do when I feel like taking a nap.
• Faith WORKS by loving that unlovable guy at church who is a human porcupine.
• Faith WORKS by making commitments to hospitality when a quiet, uncleaned house would be so much more comfortable.
• Faith WORKS by getting up 15 minutes earlier tomorrow to spend a little time in the Word of God seeking the OBJECT of saving and sanctifying faith.
• Faith WORKS by receiving a rebuke from my spouse or friend that is hard to take and thanking them for it.
• Faith WORKS by fasting in order to pray for missions when food is my dearest friend.
• Faith WORKS by submitting to the leaders in my local church because God tells me to, and refusing to criticize them or second guess them but rather to encourage and pray for them.

All these and a million other ways are ways that FAITH WORKS. This working faith and ONLY this working faith is a faith that we can live by.

A Faith We Can Live By - Part 5

Romans 4:20 (ESV) says of the faith of Abraham, the great biblical example of our faith, that "he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God..."

Worship is essential to strong faith. Giving glory to God, i.e. acknowledging that He is able to do what He has promised (v.21) is necessary for our faith to remain and grow strong. Why is this?

• True worship focuses in the right direction: Godward. He is the object of faith and faith can only exist with HIM in our sight. Worship directs us away from ourselves.
• True worship REMINDS us of what God has done in the past, thus keeping in mind His faithfulness. His past faithfulness is the foundation for faith in His present promise-keeping.
• True worship breaks through the clouds of unbelief to the bright, shining greatness of God as it acknowledges who He is according to His Word.

So...when you are struggling with a shaky faith...it is time to WORSHIP. Just begin to give thanks to God for His character and praise Him for past faithfulness and the sureness of His present faithfulness. You will find that your shaky or failing faith will be renewed and strengthened by giving Him the glory that He rightfully deserves.

After all, unbelief ROBS God of the glory that is due His name.

A Faith We Can Live By - Part 4

Paul writes this of Abraham's faith: "He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb" (Romans 4:19).

The faith that Abraham was justified by and which we are justified and sanctified by is NOT AFRAID to FACE the FACTS of our situation. It is not frightened by the REALITY of what we see. Faith is not seeking to convince yourself that things are not as bad as they seem. Faith is not "positive thinking" in the face of negative circumstances. Faith looks DIRECTLY into the face of the humanly impossible and says, "God is able to do what he promised" v.21. It CAN look straight at what would normally discourage and depress because of the GREATER FACT that faith keeps a tight hold of: God is ABLE.

Things aren't as bad as they seem? No, they are probably WORSE! We see only the tip of most troublesome icebergs. There are a thousand more things that can go wrong than I ever see, no matter how complete a list I think I have made. Brother and sister: it not only can be worse, it IS worse...from a human resource point of view. But bad, worse, or even catastrophic, God is on His heavenly throne (Psalm 11:4). If He said He will do it, HE WILL.

In fact, God receives greater glory in His mighty deliverances when we have not labored to reduce the odds against us in our minds. Let the full reality of what is against you be considered. Then, as faith always does, Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

He is ABLE to do what He has promised.

A Faith we can LIVE by - Part 3

The faith of Abraham which we share as his "faith family" believes in the God who "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" Romans 4:17. This faith also against failed human hope but in confidently expecting God-given hope TRUSTs God (v.18).

But there's more about this faith.

This faith by which we are justified and by which we are progressively sanctified (made into the likeness of the Lord Jesus' character) is necessary to BECOME what God has promised and willed for us.

"In hope he believed against hope, that HE SHOULD BECOME the father of many nations, as he had been told" (v.18).

What God has promised us in His Word can only BECOME a reality in our lives when we choose to BELIEVE Him. If I am stalled in the process of sanctification, at least one problem, and possibly the greatest problem, is UNBELIEF. God's work in us is always through the open door of faith. The great question is: Do I TRUST Him?

It is difficult to BELIEVE Him if:

• ...My focus is on myself. BECOMING faith can only exist and can only grow when my focus is on the ONLY legitimate OBJECT of faith: GOD. The moment I start looking at myself and my failures and my lousy track record: faith dies.
• ...I neglect God's WORD. Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The WORTHY OBJECT of faith exalts Himself as supremely trustworthy and gives grippable handles for faith in His Word. Open the BOOK and feed your starving faith.
• ...I focus on my FAITH. If I allow myself to start evaluating my faith, any that did exist will die. "Am I believing STRONGly enough?" "Is my faith sincere?" NEVER focus on your faith...focus on the OBJECT of saving and sanctifying faith and watch your trust grow.

As I look to Jesus, the OBJECT of faith, God will work in me what He has willed and promised. I must BELIEVE in order to BECOME what God has promised.

One more thing: faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8,9) of God. Ask for it. And then look to the GIVER. In the looking will come the answer.

A Faith We Can Live By - Part 2

The faith of Abraham through which he was justified by God and lived before God was a faith that trusted in the One who "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" Romans 4:17. This is our faith as his children of faith. We, too, trust in a God who can create in us clean hearts and godly desires and sacrificial love and wisdom from above WHERE NONE EXISTS.

But there is MORE to this faith we live by. It is also a faith that believes "in hope against hope" v.18. There are two hopes here. The first hope has its source in GOD. The second hope has its source in human ability. Remember that BIBLICAL HOPE is "confident expectation." It is a confident expectation that God will do good to me and for me and in me all the days of my life and unto eternity. This hope rests in the unchangable character of God and the completed work of Christ and the expressed PROMISES of God in His Word.

Human hope, however, has its limits. Abraham's hope of a human heir (a son) through whom the promise of God would be fulfilled was beyond its limit when he was nearly 100 and his wife nearly 90. They were beyond child-bearing age. Human hope was nil.

But against all human hope Abraham still believed because he looked away from his old body and Sarah's old body and found hope in the PROMISE of God ("I will make of you a great nation..." Genesis 12) and the GOD of promise. He was "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised" v.21. And so he had hope for a future that humanly COULD NOT be and in the present BELIEVED.

Is your faith failing because you are searching in frustration to find a source of HUMAN HOPE? Perhaps you are looking:

• To find love within your cold, self-absorbed heart, or
• To become successful in ministry by your efforts or slick strategies, or
• To overcome a habit that has successfully resisted years of prayer and discipline, or
• To find the determination to obey in an area where you've always put it off until next week, or
• For some reason, any reason, to believe that your life will be different next month or next year.

What do you need? You need to LOOK AWAY from yourself and your resources and your track record and your emotions and the evaluations of others and find HOPE in the PROMISES OF GOD and the GOD OF PROMISES.

With HIM there are the infinite resources of the Almighty, All-Knowing, Everywhere-present, Giving-His-Only-Son-Loving God. And when HE says:

• I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19), or
• I will give you an abundance of needed wisdom (James 1:5), or
• I will give you power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7), or
• I will give you My Spirit so that you can overcome sinful habits (Luke 11:13), or
• I will clear the way before you so that you can always know and do My will (Proverbs 3:6), or
• I will pursue you with unfailing love all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6)...

HE MEANS IT. Rise in the God-given HOPE expressed in His promises and TRUST HIM for RIGHT NOW.

I cannot trust God now if I don't believe that He has guaranteed a good future for me. He HAS promised that (Jeremiah 29:11)...so, in the strength of that HOPE, TRUST HIM today for every humanly impossible situation and problem.

A Faith we can LIVE by: Part 1

The faith that we are justified by we live by. In Romans 4 we are given a wonderful description of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all who believe.

FIRST of all, the faith we are justified by and subsequently LIVE by...

• BELIEVES in the God who "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" v.18.

Faith is not looking into ourselves, taking stock of what gifts or determination or faith in ourselves we have, and then asking God to increase these things so that we can meet the demands of the day. Faith is rather looking AWAY from ourselves, knowing that IN ourselves we are EMPTY of all that is good and spiritual and strong and loving and wise and TRUSTING in the God who "calls into existence the things that do not exist." God doesn't need a slightly loving heart to work with. God doesn't need a somewhat strong mind to be able to increase its strength. God can CREATE a loving heart, a compassionate heart, a willing spirit, a disciplined will OUT OF NOTHING, just like He does when He saves us.

Our Father can CREATE from nothing in us passions like His. He can give wisdom to us when there is NONE in our minds to draw from.

He simply wants us to BELIEVE in Him to be this kind of God for us. And when He creates in us what was not there, He gets the glory.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God..." Psalm 51:10

Want a Revelation of God?

In 1 Samuel 3:21 we are told, "And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD."

This was at the beginning of the prophet Samuel's ministry, while he was still a young boy serving in the tabernacle under the compromising Eli. God spoke to him, apparently sometimes verbally. The Lord spoke to Samuel and then Samuel spoke to others on His behalf. People knew that God had raised up a prophet among them because Samuel's "words from the Lord" came true (v.19).

However, the point I want to call attention to is that the way the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel was by His "word." He spoke to him personally, directly, and in detail.

God STILL speaks to His servants, His children, personally, directly, and in detail. It is not primarily VERBAL words that He uses in our day (though we won't argue that this is impossible. Rather I will say that if God chooses to speak to someone verbally, it will be words that are in total agreement with the written Word, that add no new revelation, and that glorify Christ). God speaks to us in our day through His written Word. He REVEALS Himself to us in our day through His written Word.

Where do you learn that our God is the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Where do you find that our God "keeps covenant and steadfast love" (Deuteronomy 7:9)? Where else do you learn that God is a holy God who declares rebellious sinners "not guilty" through the sufficient substitutionary sacrifice of His Son? How can you know that God loves YOU and has a place prepared for you in His eternal presence? Where can you hear God tell you that His mission in this world is YOUR mission in this world and that it involves the search and rescue of Satan-held sinners into the Kingdom of Christ? Where can you find God's will for who you should marry? ALL, and ONLY ALL these revelations from God come via His written, finished, inerrant, sufficient WORD!

My point is that if you are really hungry for a deeper, fresh revelation of God from God...your need is not to find the next conference with "anointed prophets" or the latest spin-master's best-selling How-to book, or to fast your way into a "higher-life" experience...your need and my need is to go to the book, GOD'S BOOK, the Bible. Open it in faith, depending on God the Spirit who inspired its writing, and begin with hungry heart to read. In these never-changing words God's speaks, He REVEALS Himself. He WILL reveal Himself to you: personally, directly, and in detail.

Ask Him to: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Your law" Psalm 119:18.

"Lord, may we seek fresh revelations of You in the place where you have promised it...Your glorious Word."

How to Avoid Being a Plastic Saint

In Mark 12:38-40 Jesus warns his disciples to "beware" the scribes. They like to DRESS like religious leaders (long robes), they like the TITLES of religious leaders (greetings in the market place), and they like the POSITION of the religious elite (best seats in the synagogues and feasts). But under the robes and behind the titles and in spite of the position they were in bondage to GREED (devour widow's houses) and the IMPRESSIVE PRAYER SYNDROME (for a pretense make long prayers).

This deeply entrenched religious play-acting (HYPOCRISY) was COSTLY: "They will receive the greater condemnation" v.40. God hates those who play the part of PLASTIC SAINT and in the process teach others to do the same. One day they will hear His fearful, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).

How can we AVOID becoming PLASTIC SAINTS?

• CHOOSE our MODELS wisely. Jesus is the real thing. "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45. When choosing who we will model our lives after as disciples, we must use the "JESUS RULER." He alone is the measurement of real spirituality. This is why the leaders of the church are to be tested by character qualities that measure up to Jesus (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1). Many run after the eloquent or the charismatic or the handsome when they should be looking not for gifts but the FRUIT of the Spirit, the Jesus Ruler measurement: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.
• Live for an AUDIENCE of ONE. The scribes and pharisees did what they did to be seen of men (Matthew 23:5). Who am I living to PLEASE? If it is others, the plastic is thickening. Colossians 3:23: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."
• LABOR hard to be WHO YOU ARE. Be honest and open before the Lord and before others, EVEN in church. Am I struggling? "Fine" is a plastic answer. Is temptation winning the battle over me? To be with my fellow church members and not to share my battle and to ask for specific prayer is plastic. Am I struggling with someone who has offended me? "That's ok" will pile up the plastic. Make it easy for others to be honest and vulnerable around you and one way to do that is by being that way with them...even if they don't know how to handle it. But in the honesty and vulnerability don't infect others with unbelief and a critical spirit or with gossip.

May the Lord of the saints who are perfect in their standing and IMPERFECT in their walk grant you and me to be the real thing, knowing that we are accepted in the Beloved One now and forever.

The Giving that Pleases Jesus

It was Tuesday before the crucifixion. Jesus is in the Temple. He has been responding to the Scribal challenges in a way that has left them devastated. He has just warned His disciples to beware of or avoid the Scribes due to their hypocrisy. They try to look the part of authentic religious leaders with their long lily-white robes and their show-stopping prayers, but Jesus says they "devour widows houses" and "for a pretense make long prayers" (Mark 12:40). Jesus wants His disciples to be the REAL thing, not to follow in the Scribe's waxy steps.

At this point Mark writes that Jesus sat down in the Court of the Women where the offering boxes were (Mark 12:41). This is where the daily "giving show" took place. 13 inverted trumpet shaped offering receptacles lined the wall (?), each marked for the particular type of offering to be collected there (6 of them were marked for "freewill" offerings).

Mark tells us that Jesus saw "many rich people put in large sums" (v.41). These were the stars of the "giving show." You can just hear the dozens of denarius coins clank into the trumpets. Wow! do these guys LOVE God! Look at how much they give. However, we tend to be easily impressed when it comes to giving. Many clanks = much love, right? Wrong.

Jesus wasn't impressed. He didn't CONDEMN the rich givers. They were rich, they SHOULD give large sums. The giver, however, that caught Jesus' eye was a poor widow. Apparently widows could be spotted by their clothing just like the rich. This widow probably made her way to the trumpets under the radar of everyone present...but Jesus. Her offering? A totally UNIMPRESSIVE 2 lepta (2 small copper coins). Their worth? No one seems to know for sure...perhaps a few cents in modern equivalence. They were small and they were thin and someone has written that this amount was the SMALLEST legal offering accepted.

With this in mind, the comment of Jesus to His disciples is mind-boggling. "This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box" v.43. Wait a minute! We HEARD the clanking of the rich offerings. We couldn't even hear the slightest tinkle of this old ladies coins.

Jesus then tells them why this poor widow's offering was more than all the clanking coins of the rich. "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had, all she had to live on" (v.44).

This is why the widow's giving caught Jesus' eye. She gave it all. She had nothing left. She had 2 coins...could have kept one for herself...that's still an eye-popping 50% offering! But no...in they BOTH went. She had nothing left to trust in but God Himself. When she prayed later on, "Lord, give me my daily bread today" SHE MEANT IT!

The rich? They had plenty left over to trust in and lean on and feel confident over. If you have a million denarii and give 200, you still have 999,980 left! That's alot of daily bread!

Do you give like the rich or the widow?

• It's not how much you begin with but how much you have left.
• It's not the amount given but whether there is SACRIFICE involved.
• It's not giving by FEAR: fear that if I give too much I may not have enough left to cover unforseen emergencies.
• It's giving by LOVE: for Him who gave everything He had on the cross for ME.
• It's giving by FAITH: faith that my Father in Heaven really means to supply my daily bread regardless of how much is left in the checking account.

God makes great use out of small sacrifices. This widow's two small copper coins were immortalized in this gospel as an encouragement for all the disciples of Jesus to be sacrificial givers, like the widow, like Jesus...leaving it all in the offering box, leaving it all on the cross...

What are YOU leaving?