Reminders from the Three Crosses 

Last Sunday morning I arrived at the church building to find a bag hanging on the door. It wasn’t one of those we have received in the past which contained advertisements or promotional materials. No, this bag contained what was apparently intended to be an anonymous gift. Inside was what looked like a nice handcrafted creation made from wood. It was three crosses attached to a base. It even had a small placard with the name of our church on it. As I checked out the video from our security cameras, I didn’t recognize the person who had left it there. I don’t know if this was a generous deed done solely for our church or if this individual was doing this for other churches too. If the person happens to be reading this, let me just say, “Thank you!” Your handiwork was on prominent display on a table just inside the church door that morning.

            The reminder of the three crosses is very appropriate during this season leading up to Easter. We rightfully focus on the middle cross, the one on which Jesus was crucified. We are grateful that He was willing to suffer and die as the sacrifice for our sins. However, let’s not forget about the other two crosses and what they represent. Those two criminals who were crucified on either side of Jesus can depict us and our attitude toward Him. We have all sinned and are guilty of death. Yet those two fellow-sufferers with Jesus displayed very different spirits when it came to their situation and their view of Him. Which one best represents us?

On the one side, you have the criminal who joined in with the crowd who were ridiculing Jesus. He mockingly encouraged Jesus to save Himself if He really was the Christ. But just in case there was any truth to Jesus’ claim, he added, “… and save us”. He was actually only concerned about himself. He showed no remorse about what he had done. He exhibited no true faith in Jesus.

That attitude still describes a number of people today. They reject Jesus and His claim to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. He is Someone to make fun of. They may try to cover their bases at times just in case they are wrong, but they don’t really believe, don’t accept the truth, and aren’t seeking any kind of real relationship with Jesus. It is all about themselves and what they want. They choose to die in their sin rather than accept the free gift of life in Jesus.

On the other side of Jesus, there is likewise a criminal. He is just as guilty as the other person. However, this man is willing to confess that he is getting what he deserves. He is guilty and he knows it. Additionally, he recognizes that there is something different about Jesus. He sees that He hadn’t done anything deserving of death. He calls out to Jesus with some degree of faith, “Lord remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Jesus let the man know that his prayer had been heard and would be answered.

Have we responded to Jesus in a similar fashion? We all need to recognize our guilt before the sinless Son of God. We need to confess our sin and repent. We need to call out to the Lord and trust Him as the only One who can save us. It doesn’t require a seminary degree nor does it have to involve a host of complicated religious rites. This criminal shows us that we simply need to have a repentant spirit and reach out to Jesus in faith.

Which cross portrays you and your relationship to Jesus today?

 

Always Depend on the Lord’s Help 

Recently my wife and I went to see a couple of our young grandsons play soccer. On this Saturday morning in early March, we didn’t think much about protecting ourselves from the sun. The thought of applying sunscreen didn’t even enter my mind, and if it had, I would have rejected the idea as being unnecessary. After all, it was still officially wintertime. Additionally, the morning had begun quite cloudy and even slightly cool. However, as we sat out at the soccer field later, the sunshine burst through the overcast skies. I could feel the intense heat on my skin. I tried to move around and protect myself as best I could but still ended up with a slight sunburn.

Normally I am very cautious about applying sunscreen in order to avoid getting burned – maybe overly-cautious. Nevertheless on this occasion I was overconfident in my assessment of the situation and ended up paying the price for my miscalculation.

Sometimes we do the same thing in relation to the Lord. We are thankful that He is our protector and our strength. I love those verses in the Bible that remind us of that truth. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped” (Psalm 28:7). We often depend on the Son to screen us from the spiritual and physical dangers around us. We pray, we lean on Him, and we expectantly look for His assistance. However, sometimes we are guilty of taking His protection for granted or else thinking this particular situation is such that we can handle it ourselves. We may not see our need to apply His promises of protection and help in these circumstances. It doesn’t look too tough. We think we have got this. But then we end up getting “burned”.

The people of Israel experienced that at times. They were so dependent on God when they approached the fortified city of Jericho. Those walls were an obstacle they couldn’t overcome in their own strength. But as they marched around those walls in faith and obedience to God, He knocked down those walls and opened the way for His people to win a great victory over their enemies. Nevertheless, it was immediately after that impressive incident that the Israelites faltered. When they faced their next battle, it didn’t appear to be very hard. Therefore they didn’t pray and trust God for help. They were so confident that they didn’t even send their full army to take care of the matter. They just sent a small representation of their troops to handle the situation. And what happened? They got burned. They lost.

Granted, there were factors involved in that situation the Israelites didn’t know about. One of their own people had sinned and brought God’s disfavor. However, if they had prayed and trusted God for help at the beginning, they would have discovered that problem instead of confidently marching ahead in their own strength resulting in a defeat.

Let’s not do the same thing. Let’s always try to keep in mind our dependence on the Lord. No matter how big or little the challenge may seem, we still need Him to be with us. Let’s not take His presence and protection for granted. We can’t see the full picture. We don’t know when the circumstances might unexpectantly change. We may not be aware of the tough temptation or powerful enemy hiding around the next corner. Let’s not get cocky about our ability to handle things on our own. We need to go through all of life with that constant awareness that is expressed in the old song, “I need Thee every hour.”

            Let’s be sure that we are trusting the Lord to be our shield and strength today.            

 

Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Obey God 

After my eye doctor’s office closed a while back, I had been intending for some time to find a new ophthalmologist. Even after having one recommended to me by a church member recently, I still hadn’t made the phone call to set it up. Then one day I suddenly noticed some unusual activity in my right eye. I was experiencing occasional streaks or flashes of light, along with a couple of those distracting “floaters”. A little research revealed that those could be symptoms of a torn or detached retina. That prospect motivated me to make the contact with the ophthalmologist that I had been putting off. When they heard my symptoms, they also sounded somewhat concerned and scheduled an appointment for the same day. Thankfully, it turned out not to be anything serious but just one of the typical incidents that can occur as we get older.

That is often how we deal with certain issues in our lives. We may be aware of a need but procrastinate about taking any action until there is a crisis. We tend to do the same thing in connection with spiritual needs and our relationship with God. We know, even if we have pushed it back to the far corner of our mind, that spiritual issues exist which need our attention. We often try to ignore it or forget about it. We assure ourselves that one day soon we will call on God or take whatever step may be required in order to start getting the matter resolved. But we keep waiting, making excuses, and holding off on taking action. However, then a crisis occurs. Maybe it involves sickness, a financial setback, the death of a loved one, or some other difficult or unexpected challenge. It might not even be solely a personal crisis, but an incident that affects our whole society, nation, or world in general – a pandemic, a war, an economic crisis. Suddenly we get motivated to reach out to God. We attend that church service we had been avoiding. We voice the prayer we should have said long before now. We start thinking more about eternity and about the condition of our souls.

On the one hand, it is good to take those actions when we are faced with an emergency, a sudden hardship, or some unexpected turning point in life. Maybe God is using that experience to shake us up and get us moving. However, we need to make sure that we are not just voicing “foxhole prayers” or taking insincere actions that we will forget about as soon as the crisis is over. I have witnessed too many incidents of people seeking God and His help with their problem only to forsake Him again when the issue gets resolved.

The best course of action is not to wait for the crisis before doing what needs to be done, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). If we haven’t trusted Jesus as our Savior, receiving the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life, we shouldn’t risk putting that off another day. There is too much at stake, including our eternal destiny. However, even believers need to take this word of caution to heart. Let’s not ignore God when He is calling us to some step of obedience in following Him. Don’t keep putting it off. There are times to pray and wait for God’s direction and timing. But there are also times to act now and move forward in faith.

Let’s not wait for a crisis to give us the needed kick in the pants to get going. Let’s take whatever step we need to take today in following Jesus and His will for us.

 

Choosing to Face Our Fears 

During the recent Winter Olympics, I heard an odd fact about one of the German ski jumpers. It seems that he suffers from a severe fear of heights. While there are a number of people who share that particular phobia, there are probably not too many of them who choose to regularly hurl themselves off the edge of a high hill. The announcers said that this skier had a therapist whom he had to constantly consult in order to help him deal with his fear. It made me wonder how he first got into ski jumping in light of his condition. Why not pick some other sport to compete in? Even if he liked to ski, he could do cross-country or some other version in which he could keep himself closer to the ground. Whatever his motivation, he can be admired for facing his fears in order to pursue a sport that must be very important to him.

We are all called upon to confront our fears at times. However, often it involves dealing with challenges that we cannot avoid, such as sickness, financial struggles, death, and other common experiences in life. We don’t really have a choice about whether or not we go through the ordeal. It is simply a matter of how we do it – often having to choose between fear or faith. But what about when we do have a choice? That ski jumper wasn’t being forced to jump off those hills. He chose that activity for himself. There was something that took such priority in his life that he was willing to put himself through the experience of having to encounter that which he was so afraid of. Do we ever find ourselves in that position?

Sometimes God calls us to do things that bring us on a collision course with one of the fears in our lives. One of my greatest challenges was when I became aware that the Lord was calling me to be a preacher. I suffered from another one of those common phobias – the fear of public speaking. I would go to any lengths in school to avoid having to give any kind of oral report. I would rather have written five lengthy essays than to have to stand before a group to deliver one brief oral presentation. Yet I knew what God was wanting me to do. It was a struggle, but my love for the Lord and my desire to please Him ultimately led me to choose to follow His will rather than let my fears direct my path. And I can say that after over forty years of speaking almost every Sunday in a public setting that God has been faithful to enable me to do what He called me to do. The fear, or at least the preference not to speak publicly or to choose writing over speaking, may still be there. However, the Lord is with me and helps me to face my fears.

As we seek to faithfully follow the Lord, we will come face-to-face with other fears at times – the fear of rejection, the fear of losing friends, the fear of what other people think of us, and many others. In some cases, we could avoid putting ourselves in those positions if we unwisely chose to keep quiet about our faith, not insist on doing the right thing, compromise on truth, or not be committed to living a godly life. However, if we are going to please the Lord, we have to do what He calls us to, climb that hill, take the leap of obedience to God, and face those fears.

Hopefully, following God’s will and purpose for us is such a priority in our lives that we are willing to confront whatever it is we may fear.     

 

God Does Not Contradict Himself 

My wife’s recent interaction with our cable provider reinforced the notorious reputation such businesses have for making it difficult for their customers to make changes in their service. First my wife explored our options online and attempted to handle the matter herself on the company’s website. However, after several mixed messages we were left uncertain whether the desired transaction had been completed or not. The next day, she spoke to a representative in person at their local store. There she was presented with totally different information from what she had received from the website. Finally, she chatted with another person online, ending up with a resolution, but one that was still different from the previous ones we had been given. It is confusing and frustrating when different sources from the same company are telling you different things.

Thankfully, the Lord is consistent and unchanging when it comes to truth. Although we do have different sources of divine revelation, they all faithfully coincide and support one another. The original manuscripts of the Bible are a unique, divinely-inspired, authoritative revelation of God’s will. However, Jesus – the Son of God and the express image of His Father – states that He did not come to destroy God’s Word but to fulfill it. Nothing He said or did contradicted that written revelation. Additionally, we as believers have the Holy Spirit to teach us and to guide us into all truth. Nevertheless, the Spirit will not ever direct us to do anything that goes against what Jesus taught or the commands given to us in the Bible. Sometimes there may seem to be contradictions due to our not having a clear understanding of God’s Word or of the actions of Jesus. Or we might mistake our own thoughts or feelings for the voice or promptings of the Holy Spirit. But we can be confident that God and His faithful representatives do not mislead us, make mistakes, or contradict one another. If God, His Word, or the Holy Spirit tell us something, we can believe it.

Unfortunately, there are fallible humans who profess to be representatives of God who may, unintentionally or purposefully, misguide us about God and His will. In some cases, they will discredit some of these divine sources, such as ignoring some of Jesus’ words or actions that don’t fit their agenda, or claiming that the Bible is a manmade document full of errors and outdated ideas, or ignoring any idea of a Spirit from God living in us and speaking to us. Or they pit one of these sources against another, giving more prominence to whichever one goes along best with their own ideas. While God doesn’t contradict Himself, there are those who misrepresent Him who can confuse and mislead people.

How do we know whom to listen to? Prayerfully read and study God’s Word yourself. Know it well so that you can recognize the counterfeit versions when they show up. Look at what Jesus said and did. Don’t readily accept somebody else’s idea of what Jesus would say or do today. Get to know Him and His will yourself. And learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit from all the other voices vying for your attention, including your own. The more we listen and yield to Him, the easier it will be for us to recognize His voice.

Let’s not be too quick to accept what someone says simply because they claim to represent God. Test the spirits to see if they truly are of God. God will not contradict Himself, whether through His Word, His Son, the Holy Spirit, or any other reliable source of revelation. He is not a cable company representative. He is the God of truth we can count on.

 

Show Love While You Can 

The recent death of my wife’s sister-in-law reminded me that we shouldn’t take our loved ones for granted. It made me think of an episode of an old classic TV show I watched a couple of weeks ago. The son on The Donna Reed Show was being unusually nice to his older sister. Typically, as siblings tend to do, they would fuss and fight with each other. So the brother’s nice treatment of his sister seemed especially strange. His sister was certain he must have done something bad that she didn’t know about yet. Or else, she concluded, he was buttering her up to ask for some big favor. His behavior was driving her crazy. However, soon the reason behind his overly-polite conduct was discovered. His mom happened to see a letter he was writing to a friend. In it, he explained how he had been thinking about the fact that his sister was about to go away to college. He realized he was actually going to miss her. It had caused him to contemplate on how important family is. Therefore he regretted the way he had often acted toward her and was trying to make up for it.

We would all do well to keep that truth in mind. We don’t know how long anyone is going to be here with us or how long we will be here. Children do grow up all too quickly. Before we know it, they will be off to college, married, or otherwise out on their own. Other people in our lives change jobs and move away. And then there are those who pass away and are no longer with us. Since we don’t know how long we have with one another, what is the wise thing for us to do?

Primarily, we need to love each other while we can. I don’t know that we need to go to extremes with it to the point that we make others suspicious of our motives, as that TV character did. However, we might do well to examine our behavior and how we treat each other. Most likely it could use some improvement. We could try harder to get along with others. We can avoid letting little things divide us or otherwise harm our relationships. It may not be easy to do at times. We may need the Lord’s help to love some of those people who can be hard to love. At the same time, we need Him to help others love us because admittedly we can be hard to love sometimes. Let’s not take our family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ for granted. Let the people around you know that they are important to you. Let’s treat them the way we should.

The Bible has a lot to say about loving one another. So let me close by reminding us all of some of those challenging scriptures on this subject.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God…He who does not love, does not know God (I John 4:7-8).

“A new commandment I (Jesus) give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another (John 13:34).

“Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (I Corinthians 13:4-7).

To whom do we need to express our love today – not only in our words but also in our actions?

 

Let’s Seek to Overcome Our Biases 

Recent events in our country highlight how our biases tend to affect our judgment. When an incident occurs, some people are quick to assign guilt before facts are known or investigations are carried out. Whom we initially blame often corresponds more with our prejudices, emotions, or political alliances rather than with objective reality. For some people, it means being quick to blame those in authority such as law enforcement officers. For others, they are just as ready to convict the person who was confronted by those police officers or federal agents, such as protestors or immigrants. 

We would all do well to pay attention to the biblical warnings against showing partiality in judgment. “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:15). This scripture reminds us that partiality can go both ways. We usually think of the tendency to be biased in favor of the rich or powerful in order to incur their favor. However, some people are just as inclined to favor the poor or the weak whenever there are incidents or conflicts. In both cases fairness or truth is sacrificed due to people’s biases. We need to seek to judge rightly. That may mean not jumping to conclusions. It may force us to listen to people with whom we often disagree. It may cause us to proceed cautiously and thoughtfully when others around us are ready to act rashly and are encouraging us to join them.

God is just. “For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). The Apostle Peter affirmed in the New Testament, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). A just God requires that we also be just. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). The book of James shows the seriousness of failing to exercise justice and impartiality. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9).

We all look at situations through our specific lens based on our background, experiences, and other factors. However, that doesn’t excuse our showing partiality. Instead of assuming that “our side” was completely right and “the other side” was totally in the wrong, can we be open to the fact that in some cases there may have been fault on both sides? Could we admit that all involved could have done better to avoid what happened? And if the evidence dictates it in a situation, can we confess that our side was wrong and should be held accountable? Maybe we should see less of “our side” and “their side”, and focus more on being on God’s side.

Such impartiality may not be pleasing to politicians who want people who will loyally support them and their views no matter what. It may not be helpful to certain news media personalities who like to stir up a crisis. It may not be encouraged by certain social activists who like to be in the spotlight. However, it will be pleasing to a just God who seeks for His followers to be more like Him. 

May the Lord help us all to overcome those tendencies to be too quick to judge or to allow our biases to skew our judgment. May He help us to look at situations with an impartial eye and to judge rightly and justly.