Chaplain’s Corner – Culture of Honor

May12

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise” (Ephesians 6:2).

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate, he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son’s wife was a modern young woman who knew that in-laws should not be tolerated in a woman’s home. “I can’t have this,” she said. “It interferes with a woman’s right to happiness.” So, she and her husband took the little old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his food, what there was of it, in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes. One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke. “If you are a pig,” said the daughter-in-law, “you must eat out of a trough.” So, they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that. These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were very fond. One suppertime the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing. “I’m making a trough,” he said, smiling up for approval, “to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big.” The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and did not say anything. Then they cried a little. Then they went to the corner and took the little old man by the arm and led him back to the table. They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things. (a Grimm’s Fairy Tale)

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

We are in a series on the Ten Commandments. This fifth commandment is given twice in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) and five more times in the New Testament gospels of Matthew (15:4, 19:9), (Mark 7:10, 10:19), and Luke (18:20). There are no exceptions given for our obedience to this command, even for absent or bad parents. This is quite interesting, especially in our culture today of honoring our children at the expense of adults, and in our experiences of loss of traditional family structures. Of course, we are to care for and raise our children well; and the rule in my day of “children should be seen and not heard” may be a little too harsh. However, the western culture of promoting youth at the expense of our elderly is clearly not biblical. And it is short-sighted, because we will all be getting older one day, if we live long enough. This commentary is not meant to be self-serving. It is meant to enlighten us to the dangers of not following this command and to the blessings when we are obedient.

As Paul says in Ephesians, this is the first commandment with a promise. Moses says to honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land God is giving you, so that it may go well with you. Jesus says to honor your father and mother so that you will not die. That gets my attention!

What does it mean to honor?

  • It means to respect the position, the role. Even if the person in the role is not worthy of respect, we should respect the purpose that God gives to fathers and mothers and do what we can to uphold it, to learn, to teach, to model godly fatherhood and motherhood.
  • It means to love our fathers and mothers. Some parents are easy to love. However, for many, growing up was not idyllic. Loving will be a challenge. Regardless, Jesus teaches us “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). That does not mean that we should put ourselves in danger or subject ourselves to any type of abuse. However, as Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) And “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
  • It means to seek wisdom from our elders. Who of us is not wiser than we were 5, 10, 20 years ago? We have much to learn from our elders and we will shortchange ourselves and those who come after us if we do not intentionally seek to learn from such a valuable resource. And to those of us who are “elders,” (and if you live long enough you will be an elder, too) we should strive for wisdom. Read Titus 2 for more on this subject.

One of Nashville Rescue Mission’s Core Values is Culture of Honor. “We honor those that have laid the path before us and bless those that labor among us, as we embrace the future ahead of us.” That kind of says it all.

If you have a belly button, you have a mother and a father. If you are a believer, you have a Heavenly Father, a good, good Father who loves you, who is perfect in all His ways. Let us honor Him above all with our obedience to His Word.

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Remember to Rest

May5

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).

We are in a series of devotions about the Ten Commandments. Last week we took up commandments 1-3, in which God spoke all these words specifically to tell us how to worship. Jesus summed them up by telling us in Matthew 22:37 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” The last five commandments are the famous “shalt nots:” Do not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or slander, or covet. We will take these up in a future Chaplain’s Corner.

Today we take up the fourth commandment, and next week we will take up the fifth. I think it is instructive that God starts with the verb “Remember.” I realize that our minds are very active, and thoughts race unbidden about so many things and people and events from the distant past up to the present. In a sense, we are passively remembering all the time. But in Exodus 20:8, we are commanded to intentionally remember, or as the Oxford Dictionary states it in this case, “to not forget to do something; to actually do what you have to do.” We are to intentionally observe the Sabbath.

Again, going to the Oxford Dictionary, Sabbath means “a day of religious observance and abstinence from work.” Sabbath is traditionally observed by Jews on Saturday and by Christians on Sunday, but the command is not specific to a particular day of the week; it is to follow God’s example and to rest one day each week. As the Scripture states: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:9-11)

Just as we looked to the New Testament to see what Jesus had to say about the first three commandments, it is important for us to understand Jesus’ teaching on this fourth commandment. To the Jews, the command to remember the Sabbath means to remember the rest. The Jews in Jesus’ day became very legalistic about what it meant to rest and do no work. But when the Pharisees criticized Jesus for working on a Sabbath by plucking some grains to eat, “Then he (Jesus) said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

The writer of Hebrews gives us even more insight. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11) *.

Under the Law, the Jews entered into rest by ceasing from their work. Under Christ, we enter into rest by receiving the grace of God for our salvation. When we remember Jesus’ finished work on the cross, we remember that Jesus is our rest.  Now here is where we are encouraged to honor the spirit of this law rather than the letter. Paul teaches: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. “(Colossians 2:16-17).

Under Christ, the idea is not that Sabbath has been abolished, but that every day is a day to remember to rest in the finished work of God.

In Christ,

Judy 

*This passage refers to the Exodus when God tested the Israelites during their journey, and ultimately, their unfaithfulness resulted in all but two (Joshua and Caleb) of the adults who fled Egypt dying in the wilderness before being able to enter the Promised Land (their rest).

Chaplain’s Corner – Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

Apr28

‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'” (Luke 4:8).

The first three of the Ten Commandments are as follows:

  1. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
  2. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
  3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

These three commandments outline our vertical relationship with God and were summed up by Jesus (quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5) as the Greatest Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

We must first understand what a commandment means. A commandment is a MUST DO. It is God who commanded us, so the way we obey these commandments demonstrates our relationship with God. A command also implies that God is observing our obedience, He is measuring our obedience, and He will reward or punish us based on our obedience. That being said, how do we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind?

First, we commit to worshipping God and only Him. Only God is worthy of our worship because only God possesses the attributes of God. I know that is circular argument, but that is the nature of God. We worship God because He is God. Only God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (everywhere all the time), and omnipotent (all-powerful). Only God created the earth, only God is good, and only God can save our souls. Therefore, we commit to worship the Creator and not to worship anything that has been created. Anything created includes nature, art, other people (even our loved ones), our work, our play, our possessions, our talents, our rights, our successes, our habits, or our circumstances including our suffering. Everything we claim as our own is something that has been God-given, and therefore created by God. We must worship God as our Creator and Sustainer and be grateful for all He has given us. When we think about these attributes of God, we realize that there can only be one God, and our God, the Great I Am, is He. He is God; He alone is sovereign.

Failure to obey this commandment is idolatry. If there is a stronghold in your life, consider that this may be your idol. I confess that at one time, my children were my idol. They probably didn’t think so, but I know I put them above everything else in my heart. For you it might be something else. Pray for God to reveal these idols in your life and to help you to put them in their proper place in relationship to God and to you. Everything in your life, even your children, will be the better for it.

Second, we are not to make or worship any images of God. In John 4:24, Jesus explained the rationale behind the second commandment. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The use of images and other material things as a focus or help to worship denies who God is – Spirit – and how we must worship Him – in spirit and truth. And Paul reminded us in Romans 1:22-23 of the danger and futility of trying to make God into our own image: “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

Third, we must never misuse or abuse the Name of God, intentionally or frivolously. Profanity obviously falls into this category. We are not to take the Lord’s name in vain, which can also include those thoughtless times that we say OMG (spelled out or abbreviated), or something similar. Another way we misuse the Name of God is to claim the name of God but to act in a way that disgraces Him.  We can tell from this commandment that God pays special attention to how His name is used, and this is because our speech reveals in a unique way and testifies to others the true state of our hearts.  Jesus taught us to begin our prayers by honoring this commandment: “Hallowed be your Name” (Matthew 6:9).

Our obedience to these commandments demonstrates our desire to honor and worship God. As I wrote last week, our obedience will not save us, for if that were the purpose, we would all be doomed to hell. Jesus has already paid the price for our disobedience, and only by trusting Him we are saved. However, our attempts at obedience, as imperfect as they are, demonstrate our heart change and our heart desire to worship God and Him only.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7).

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – The Law

Apr21

We have been studying the Exodus in our Bible Study on the Women’s Campus. About three months into their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, God leads the Israelites to Mt. Sinai. Many scholars believe this is also the location where Moses was originally confronted by God in the burning bush to return to Egypt to rescue his people. At Mt. Sinai, God gives the Israelites the Law, a code of moral conduct that will, along with their shared experiences of deliverance, create a people and a culture that will identify these Israelites with God.

God has been revealing himself to these people all along:

  • He revealed Himself through Creation, and He covenanted with Adam that the Garden of Eden was Adam’s forever on the condition that he obey God’s order to abstain from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is often called the Covenant of Works. Adam and Eve failed to uphold the covenant and were banished from the Garden (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6-7, 23).
  • He revealed Himself again to Adam after the Fall, with a promise of a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15). This covenant was not conditioned on Adam’s obedience, and it has been fulfilled in Christ. (Galatians 4:4)
  • He revealed Himself to Noah and his family with a rainbow as a token to remind us of His promise that He will never again judge the world by flood. (Genesis 8:20-9:17)
  • He revealed Himself to Abraham, covenanting with Himself to make Abraham the father of many nations, and that those who blessed and honored Abraham would be blessed, and those that did not would be cursed. (Genesis 12:1-4; 13:14-17; 17:1-8)
  • He revealed Himself to Moses by giving the Law (Exodus 20:1-31:18), with the condition that we obey it perfectly. The LORD would bless those who were obedient, and he would discipline all others (Deuteronomy 28:1-2,15). This covenant has been broken by all except Jesus. Jesus was born under the law, and he fulfilled it (Matthew 5:17-19); yet Jesus has born the curse of the law for us (Galatians 3:13-14).

The Israelites have this shared history; and these shared experiences of being passed over by the Angel of Death, escape from Egypt, the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, and the provision of manna (daily bread), along with this new Covenant of the Law which God wrote on stone with His own finger all work to create and set apart a new nation and religion. These Ten Commandments have endured as a foundational and fundamental element of Jewish and Christian religion for more than three thousand years.

The first three of the Ten Commandments outline our vertical relationship with God and were summed up by Jesus (quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5) as the Greatest Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

The other seven of the Ten Commandments outline our horizontal relationships with other people. Jesus summed these up (paraphrasing Leviticus 19:18) as the Second Great Commandment: “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

Jesus proclaimed this about the Law: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19). He continued on with his Sermon on the Mount, concluding this chapter with this admonition to us: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Because of their importance, I will be writing about the Ten Commandments in the next few Chaplain’s Corners. However, the good news, and I mean GOOD NEWS! is that our salvation is not based on our obedience to The Law. We are no longer bound by a covenant of works as in the days of Adam, praise be to God!

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Homeland

Apr14

“See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them” (Deuteronomy 6:8).

Orphans. Displacement. Homeless. Migration. Deportation. Resettlement. Instability. War. Starvation. Refugees. Exodus. Exile. Foreigner. Outcast. Discrimination.

My Bible reading and study in recent weeks has focused on the Exodus. The last five secular novels I read have had, just by chance, some interesting similarities. The last two novels I read were coincidentally based on displaced people. One was about some of the surviving Jews from Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic who resettled in what would become the new state of Israel, reclaiming land from the Arabs who had occupied Palestine for hundreds of years, all of whom faced war, starvation, and resettlement as they struggled through the formation of this new country. The other was about the half million or so people from Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas who traveled west to California seeking work after their land had been devastated by the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, only to subsist in tent camps facing discrimination while migrating up and down the state seeking work picking crops. And recently, I read three novels in a row that coincidentally were each centered around the key figure being an orphan.

Orphans. Displacement. Homeless. Migration. Deportation. Resettlement. Instability. War. Starvation. Refugees. Exodus. Exile. Foreigner. Outcast. Discrimination.

There are so many specific events in history about resettlement; some recorded in the Bible. Abraham was called by God to leave his home and resettle in Canaan, then his descendants had to move to Egypt to survive the famine, then those descendants escaped slavery in Egypt under Moses’ leadership to resettle in Canaan, displacing the Canaanites who had since settled there during the last 400 years. “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant” (Joshua 24:13). And we know that many years later, the Israelites were defeated in battle by the Assyrians and Babylonians, and many were deported to foreign lands; seventy years later they were able to return to the Promised Land to rebuild their temple and retake their land. So much instability, movement; so many casualties. Even Mary and Joseph had to take the baby Jesus to Egypt for a time to escape persecution. Globally, there have been major displacements on each inhabited continent. Even in our great country of America, Europeans displaced the Native Americans as the United States was formed, Africans were forcibly brought to America as enslaved people, and we continue to be a haven of sorts for refugees and those seeking political asylum from a variety of countries.

Now, my intention is not to have a political discussion about immigration, slavery, etc. What I am trying to say is that historically and globally, there has been at least as much instability as there have been families living out their lives in a stable environment. As I pondered my Bible study and the historically based stories in these novels, I thought about so many of you who have grown up in instability; for many of you the Mission has become your home.

What we call home has many different connotations. “Home is where the heart is.” “Home is where I hang my hat.” “Home is where my family is.” “Home is where I can let down my hair.” “Home is…. (each of you would probably finish the sentence a different way).

Biblically speaking, at one time, home a/k/a The Promised Land was a specified location. It was centered around the Ark of the Covenant because that is where the priests went to meet God.

While we as Americans are mostly extremely blessed by comfortable living conditions, and we should be thankful for these blessings, we should realize that where we physically live now or where we aspire to live is not our forever home. It is not the “be-all and “end-all.” We are not now living in the Promised Land. Now that “the day” has arrived with the first coming of Christ, we are living under the New Covenant, God dwells in our hearts, so our spiritual home is less about a location and more about a state of mind defined by our relationship with God.  

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33

We never know what the future holds for us as to our earthly home; but praise God we know who holds our future. Let us always look to our Heavenly Father for our ultimate security.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – The Cross

Apr7

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

As we celebrated Easter this past Sunday, we remembered how Jesus was tortured for our sins, then how he had to carry that massive wooden cross on his bleeding shoulders to the top of the hill before being crucified on it. We remembered the stunning miracles that occurred as he gave up his life. And we celebrate his miraculous resurrection. He is risen. He is risen, indeed. Hallelujah!

Well, shortly before Jesus’ last week leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection, he was teaching about the cost of being a disciple. And he put it like this: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27).

Jesus’ audience would have understood the reference to carrying a cross. One did not carry a cross unless he was literally going to die. What are we to make of a statement like this? It sounds very harsh, very scary. In fact. Jesus was using exaggeration to make a strong point. We do not have to actually hate our family (remember the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12), but, he is saying that we must love Jesus more. He must be first in our life. Anything that comes before Jesus is an idol, and what Jesus was preaching was that we must eliminate all idols; we must die to self to be his disciple. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 6:1-14 (it is a bit lengthy, but I cannot say it better than Paul):

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Does taking up our cross mean that we will be persecuted? Perhaps. Does it mean that we will give up sinful pleasures? It should. Does it mean that we will serve Him? Hopefully. Does taking up our cross mean that we will love Him and worship only Him? Yes!

Here’s the thing: Jesus died for our sins, but then He was resurrected to eternal life in heaven with his Heavenly Father. We must die to self and sin so that we can not only walk the Christian walk, but also so that we can live eternally with Jesus. It will not be easy to exchange the worldly life with all its seeming pleasures for a life of following Jesus, but it will be eternally worth it. It is the only way.

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Were You There?

Mar31

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

I had a moving experience last week. I have a set of resurrection eggs at home that I put out at Eastertime. Several of my grandchildren came over for a sleepover; they saw the eggs and asked to play with them. I sat with them and walked them through the story using the little toy that is in each of the twelve eggs. The first toy is a donkey, so we talked about how Jesus rode into town on a donkey. Remember, I am talking to small children. They liked the part about the donkey. We walked through some of the other events, each a little more disturbing, such as the whip and crown of thorns, but I chose my words carefully because of their young ages. Then we got to the crucifixion which was symbolized by a large cross-shaped nail. Again, I tried to describe it in an age-appropriate way, and then was ready to move on to the linen cloth and the stone for the grave and the empty egg representing the empty tomb. But the five-year old just stopped, near tears, and hugged me and said she was so sorry that Jesus had to be hurt so badly. I was surprised at how tender her heart was toward Jesus and his pain.

I was convicted by how she was impacted by Jesus’ suffering. While I know the crucifixion really happened, I do not feel it like I should. I am only too happy to move on to the resurrection and ascension, which of course are central and foundational to our faith. But we should not overlook the monumental event of the crucifixion.  It was my sin that put Jesus on the cross. It was my sin that killed him. And it was a brutal, painful death. The man, Jesus, physically suffered like any person would suffer. The divine Jesus also suffered as God turned his face away from him unable to look at his only begotten Son who had taken on the sins of the world, my sins. I can hardly write these words.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Because of Christ’s willingness to suffer for us, we as believers have been redeemed from the pit of hell to live victoriously in Christ forever. “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 TLB). Praise God!!

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Lent 2021: Overcoming Temptation #3

Mar24

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:8-10).

This temptation that Satan presented Jesus with is what you and I deal with every day. Satan is the master of targeted marketing! He knows what we want, and he makes every effort to hand it to us on a silver platter. He makes it look so easy, so beautiful, so tempting. For example, he knew that Jesus had come to serve as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. What Satan did not seem to understand was that Jesus was already supreme ruler of all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Why would he give that up to worship Satan? But Jesus knew that he did not need anything Satan had to offer. He was, and is, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

What do we want? What is our weak spot? Is it desire for more stuff, more popularity, more power, more recognition, more security, more thrills? My temptations are not the same as yours, but Satan knows what will make each of our mouths water for more and he is dishing it up on a silver platter. Once you are aware of this, it is more obvious. Satan is asking us to exchange the truth for a lie. He is asking us to worship something/anything that God created rather than the Creator Himself.

What we as believers must realize (and continually remind ourselves) is that we are already everything we want to be in Christ, and we already have everything we need in Christ. Of course, we are progressing in sanctification, and the journey is not easy. Jesus was already perfect, so he had different reasons for going through his trials. He was paying the price for our sins so that, despite all our efforts, we would not otherwise come up short. Without the work of Jesus on our behalf, we would never be able to throw off our yoke of enslavement to Satan. Although the reasons for our trials and testing differ from Jesus’s, they are vitally important to our relationship with God, both now and forever. “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10).

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7)

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Lent 2021: Overcoming Temptation #2

Mar17

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you,and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7)

Now this is really challenging. Satan is throwing Scripture in Jesus’ face.  However, we should not be deceived. Consider Satan’s objective. He is asking Jesus to create an unnatural situation. He is asking Jesus to jump off the top of the temple, which would mean certain death. Satan is taunting him and suggesting that Jesus should test God because certainly God would not let him be harmed.

So, Jesus rightly rebuked Satan by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16 “Do not put the Lord your God to the test (as you did at Massah).” Massah refers to the time when the Israelites were coming out of Egypt. They had been rescued out of slavery by God’s chosen deliverer Moses, then miraculously traveled through the Red Sea escaping from the Egyptians who were chasing them. Once they were safely across and had arrived at Massah, they began to complain about the lack of food and water, as though God would have rescued them only to let them starve.

Have you ever considered that our propensity to act independently without seeking God’s guidance could be a sin, that Satan might be tempting us to make an ungodly decision?  When we decide to “take a chance” and hope that God will bless our decision, are we not testing God? I know I am convicted of this as I write! I can remember far too many times when I acted on a decision, then asked God to bless it. As I ponder this Scripture, I believe that I was putting God to the test. I know that God will act as His sovereign will ordains. How many blessings do we miss by taking matters into our own hands rather than seeking His will?

In our world of constant input from a myriad of sources, it is such a challenge to sort through all the different messages we receive every day from our family, friends, authority figures in church and government, news sources, television, internet, and Facebook. How can we know what is of God and what is of Satan? Especially when many sources either quote the Bible or speak in a way that seems good and righteous. We must be discerning. Even Jesus told his disciples as he sent them on their way: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).

How can we be discerning? It is not enough to know Scripture. We must study Scripture to learn the character and attributes of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That way we can properly apply the Scriptures to our situations in life. Even when our circumstances are dire, we do not have to resort to extreme solutions unless it is clear that God is leading us. We can wait on Him, knowing that his plans are “to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

In Christ,

Judy

Chaplain’s Corner – Lent 2021: Overcoming Temptation #1

Mar10

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3).

Jesus had already been in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. He had been fasting. The Scriptures say he was hungry. I know I would be.

I used to be a runner (please do not act too surprised). Back in 1999 and 2000, I trained for a marathon, so I ran some fairly long distances. My goal, which I accomplished, was to complete the first Country Music Marathon in Nashville in April 2000. I developed a training plan, and I was very faithful to this and to my goal, so most weeks I had at least one long run that got progressively longer as the weeks went by in preparation for the ultimate 26.2-mile event. I ran in all types of weather. And it never failed that about halfway through my run that I began to think all kinds of negative thoughts, such as “Why am I doing this?” “You don’t have to do this,” “You are crazy to be doing this,” “You can quit now, and no one would blame you.”

I doubt if these negative messages were coming from the devil, because my goal was not part of a ministry or Christian maturity effort. However, I do understand how easy it can be to be persuaded to stop doing something that is difficult. I do not know if I could have l lasted 40 days and nights all alone in the wilderness without food, knowing I had the power to create food or the ability to just walk back into town and find a meal.

Jesus is both fully God and fully man, and in his humanity, he was tempted. He had those same voices telling him that he did not have to go through this ordeal. Just turn these stones into bread. He was not being tempted with prime rib or cheesecake, just some plain bread, right? But Jesus was in this time of testing as an act of obedience to God, and he knew this was the devil tempting him. What was Jesus’ response to the devil? “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

Jesus knew that he had not just fasted 40 days and 40 nights to wind up giving in. He had a purpose to accomplish, to prove that he could overcome the temptation of the devil, to prove his power over the devil and so identify with humans in our challenges to overcome temptation. To accomplish this goal, Jesus had to do several things.

  1. Jesus had to have a purpose and a plan. Whenever I walk into a situation that I know could include temptation, I know I need a plan. For example, if I am going to an event with a buffet, I know I cannot stay near the buffet table without grazing. If I am going to stay on my diet, I need to have a purpose for my attendance at the event that does not include going near the buffet.
  2. Jesus had to be in communication with God. It is amazing how the Spirit answers our prayers when we call on him to ask for guidance and strength to overcome.
  3. Jesus had to know that it was the devil talking. It was going to be either God or the devil advising him. James says we are tempted by the desires of our heart, so a foundational goal for us is to align our desires with those of God.
  4. Jesus had to know the Word of God. This is the only way to accomplish that alignment referenced in #3 above. By studying the Scriptures, we can learn what is of God and what is of the devil.
  5. He had to confront the devil with power. As the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10-17, to effectively battle the devil, we must put on the full armor of God which includes  the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Brothers and sisters, we can overcome the temptation of the devil. We just need to follow Jesus’ example and have a goal of obedience, call on the Holy Spirit to conform our hearts to His, pray for guidance and strength, study the Word of God, and boldly call His Name. We need to ask forgiveness when we fail, and then keep on trying. In this way, we will be blessed.

For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:17-18).

In Christ,

Judy