A Life Worthy

Category: A Life Worthy

  • New Covenant One-a-Day Wednesday 3/23/16

    New Covenant One-a-Day Wednesday 3/23/16

    I hope these excerpts from my book Easter–Beyond the Bunny help you explore the wonder of the Passion.

    “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

    Most Christian churches take communion on a regular basis.  If you have been part of a church for many years, you can probably recite Paul’s words from memory

    “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread…”

    How many times have you eaten the bread…or cracker, and sipped the wine…or juice?  What does it all mean?

    The first communion took place during the Passover, a reminder of the Old Covenant.  The Passover celebrated the night that God supernaturally broke the power of the Egyptians over the Hebrews. He established a covenant with them, promising that he would be Israel’s God, and they would be his people.

    Always.

    For the most part, people in today’s world deal with each other through contracts.  A contract is a business relationship between partners.  Each side has obligations to and expectations of the other.  If these obligations and expectations are not met, the contract is broken, and the terms become invalid.  The people who were wronged by the violation of the contract can seek justice through an impartial third party, the court.

    A covenant is more like family.  I give my children rules to follow, but those rules are for their benefit as much as, or more than, for mine.  If they violate those rules I will discipline them, but they will not cease to be my children.  My covenant with my children to love and support them as their father remains, even if, from time to time, they don’t live up to their end of the bargain.

    Which they don’t.

    Because they’re children.

    Jesus brought his disciples, and all of us, a new covenant.  This covenant was not based in rules, but in relationship—in the person of Jesus himself.

    Think about the relationships in your life.  Do they feel more like covenants, or contracts?  What about your relationship with God? Do you feel like you are under the grace of his covenant, or like you are bound to a contract which you cannot possibly fulfill?

    You are a child of the covenant, Beloved.  He makes the promise. He paid the price.  All you need do is accept the grace that he offers.

    Walk in that grace today.

  • Scrub it Clean One-a-Day Tuesday 3/22/16

    Scrub it Clean One-a-Day Tuesday 3/22/16

    Note:  We are celebrating Holy Week.  Of course, every week is holy, but you know what I mean.  I hope these excerpts from my book Easter–Beyond the Bunny help you explore the wonder of the Passion.

    …zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me (Psalm 69:9).

    Jesus entered the city and went up to the temple.  It was Passover, the biggest holiday of the Jewish year, so the joint was really jumping.  Many people had come from a long way away to be part of the celebration.  Rather than transport all the animals you would need for the various sacrifices, it was normal and acceptable to buy what you needed when you got to Jerusalem.  The customary practice was for vendors to set up shop at a convenient place near the temple.

    What Jesus saw when he arrived was dramatically different. The vendors had their booths and tables set up in the temple itself. They were operating in an area called the Outer Court, the only place in the temple where non-Jews could come to worship God. There they were, selling animals and changing foreign currency into local currency, and just generally carrying on noisy business, all while people were trying to worship.

    Jesus was furious.  He knocked over the tables and chased the vendors out of there.  John even says that Jesus made a whip and used it to drive the blasphemers away.  He yelled at them, saying, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers!’”

    This is not the meek and mild Jesus we think of from Sunday School flannel boards.

    He is not holding a lamb on his shoulders.

    He does not have little kids crawling all over him.

    He is not happy.

    This is the Messiah, the Lion of Judah.  This is a man of righteous integrity, protecting the purity of his father’s house.

    Do the insults of those who insult God fall on you?  There are a lot of people out there who mock Jesus, and this is a prime season for them to do it in.  Does that bother you, Beloved?  What are you doing about it?  Do you stand for Christ in your daily world?  Look, I’m not calling you to grab a whip and chase the heathen out of town—but if you do, please send me pictures and I’ll post them.

    There is no sitting for Christ.  You stand, or you fall.

    Stand for him today, Beloved.

  • Soul Food One-a-Day Friday 3/19/16

    Soul Food One-a-Day Friday 3/19/16

    My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you (Psalm 63:5).

    My first thought here is that you shouldn’t sing with your mouth full.

    Shows you how spiritual I am.

    You push back from the Thanksgiving table, stuffed to the gills with all the tasty num-numminess you can imagine.  Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, veggies, cranberry fluff, pie…

    It’s just like that, only in a spiritual sense, and without the unpleasant bloated feeling.

    We started this week with David crying out in hunger; we end full and content. David has feasted on the knowledge of God’s love and the praise of his glory.  He is full with the presence of God.  

    Of course, no matter how stuffed you are on Thanksgiving Day, by the following morning you’re ready to eat again.  The hunger continues.

    As it should.

    Happy Friday, Beloved.  Make it a feast.

  • Praise One-a-Day Thursday 3/17/16

    Praise One-a-Day Thursday 3/17/16

    (Psst…Don’t forget that Easter:Beyond the Bunny is ready for purchase.  I’d hate for you to miss out!)

    I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands (Psalm 63:4).

    It’s a lifetime achievement.

    You get to praise the One who loved you and called you and picked you up and dusted you off and gave you a purpose and a hope and a future and a promise.

    And you get to do it with every breath.

    Till you drop…and after.

    So

    shall we

    commence?

    Happy Thursday, Beloved.

  • Better One-a-Day Wednesday 3/16/16

    Better One-a-Day Wednesday 3/16/16

    Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you (Psalm 63:3).

    Better than life…

    That means

    Better than chocolate cake

    Better than fuzzy socks

    Better than an extra hour of sleep

    Better than a hug when you need it most

    Better than puppies

    Better than new snow

    Better than old movies

    Better than getting your braces off

    Better than hitting a home run

    Better than getting picked first

    Better than hot chocolate on a cold morning

    Better than holding a baby

    Better than pinning the corsage

    Better than starting a hike

    Better than finishing a hike

    Better than a smile aimed right at you

    Better than laughing till your face hurts

    Better than coming home

    Actually, it’s exactly like coming home.

    To stay

    Happy Wednesday, Beloved

  • Sanctuary One-a-Day Tuesday 3/15/16

    Sanctuary One-a-Day Tuesday 3/15/16

    By the by, my Easter book is out.  Come take a look.

     

    I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory (Psalm 63:2).

    David knew what it was to be in the presence of God.

    Now he won’t settle for anything less.

    You’ve felt it.  The sense that you are in His presence, that the concrete or sand or deep pile carpet or pine needles or tile or fresh cut grass or hardwood floor or squeaky snow beneath your feet has just been transformed.

    Has become holy ground

    Sometimes it makes you weep, sometimes laugh, sometimes stand in utter stillness of body and spirit.

    But always, always, always, you know it is He.

    That’s good stuff.

    David went to the sanctuary to be in the presence of God.

    But now, the sanctuary has come to us.  

    It’s true.  You belong to Jesus, ya?  

    So the Holy Spirit lives within you, ya?

    So you are the temple of God.

    Ya

    Well, I mean, we are.  Don’t get carried away.

    But do enjoy it.

    Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

  • Thirst One-a-Day Monday 3/14/16  

    Thirst One-a-Day Monday 3/14/16  

    O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,  my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1).

    Have you ever been thirsty?

    I mean, really thirsty?

    Not, “I could sure go for a tasty caffeine-free diet soda right about now” thirsty.

    More like, “I sure wish lizards sweat, because I could lick the sweat off a lizard” thirsty.

    That’s what David is describing here.

    Only…you know…for God.

    Beloved, I gotta tell you, I don’t feel that longing, that soul thirst, nearly as often or as intensely as I ought to.

    Most of the time, I’m content with far too little of God.  Read a little Bible, post my little blog, say a little prayer on my way to work…

    I want more.

    No, if I’m honest I should say

    I want to want more.

    If this is ever going to work, if I am ever going to be the man he has called me to be, I need him to do more than grant the desire of my heart.

    I need him to plant the desire in my heart in the first place.

    Beloved, I’m glad you’ve got it all together, because some days I’m just a mess.

    But, at least I’m his mess.

    Happy Monday, Beloved.

  • Filled to the Measure One-a-Day Friday 3/12/16

    Filled to the Measure One-a-Day Friday 3/12/16

    …and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

    This love that surpasses knowledge…a love that is more than my brain can contain…frankly, that he loves me at all is mind-blowing.

    To be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…to be so full of God that there’s no room for anything else.  You know what that makes me think of?  It makes me think of the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart is wooing Donna Reed.  He talks about lassoing the moon, and bringing it down for her. She could then swallow the moon, and the moonbeams would shoot out from her fingertips and the ends of her hair.  That’s what this verse makes me think of.  Paul wants us to be so full of God’s love that it pours out of us—shoots out of us in all directions.

    Beloved, if we could just grasp the giganticatiousness of God’s love, we would be filled to capacity with his…well, with him.

    Chew on that as you move through your Friday.  Pray that God would help you to know his love, that you might be filled to the brim, and pour out into the lives all around you.

    God runs a full-service station.  Fill ‘er up, Beloved.

  • Deep Roots One-a-Day Thursday 3/10/16

    Deep Roots One-a-Day Thursday 3/10/16

    And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ… (Ephesians 3:17b-18).

    If you only knew.

    We can’t understand God’s love.  It is totally beyond our brains. We can use metaphors—parent and child, husband and wife—but ultimately, they fall short.  

    Can you imagine a trillion of something? I’ll give you a hand.  One trillion seconds equates to about 31,000 years.  Which you also can’t imagine, since you’ve been around less than a hundred years.

    Most of you.

    The problem is, we’re so stinking finite.  How do we grasp the idea of an infinite God, and his infinite love?

    It’s a good problem.

    That’s why this is Paul’s prayer.  Paul knew that the more we can get our brain around the sheer magnitude of God’s love for us, the more our problems will shrink in comparison.

    Is God’s love big enough to cover…?

    Does God love me even though I…?

    Can God’s love handle all the…?

    If you only knew, Beloved.

  • Chosen One-a-Day Wednesday 3/9/16

    Chosen One-a-Day Wednesday 3/9/16

    For he (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4).

    You are the chosen one.

    Well, maybe not the chosen one, but certainly a chosen one.

    Before he made the world, God was thinking about you.  He knew who you would be, how you would be, what you would look like when you danced.  

    He knew what would make you weep, and what would make you giggle, and what would make you hide behind the couch because you can’t bear to watch the screen.

    He saw your “We are the Champions” moments.

    He saw your many sins, your epic, endless failures.

    And he loved you.

    And he chose you.

    Consider this: God is not bound by time, right?  Past, present, future—it’s all kind of now to him.  So, when he looks at you he sees you not only as you are, but as you will be.

    Holy.

    Blameless.

    Now, if only you could learn to see yourself as he sees you.

    Do me a favor, Beloved—try.

    Happy Wednesday.