We go to funerals of friends and family with hearts aching, or broken, suffering in our loss, but in times such as this we are led back to the Sermon on the Mount, and the words that Jesus delivered in the Beatitudes... specifically the second of these when He said: “Blessed are those who mourn.” Our tears are never to be held back, nor is our pain to be trivialized because in this place and at this time we are to receive the comfort of God.
In the parable of the Sower, we see that the success of our faith is being compared to the growth of seeds, and that their bounty depends on the soil on which they are sown. So today we need to look at the quality of the soil where our faith is being planted. Some of us feel that we have been walked on all our lives, and that we are too hardened to ever accept faith; some feel that our lives have been rocky and we are too course and lacking of goodness for faith, and some see nothing but briars and weeds surrounding us and think we are unsuitable for faith, so we feel lost before we start... but all is not lost, and there is hope for us all.
As many churches meet remotely due to COVID-19 we are tempted by Zoom meetings to continue coming together in this way, but as we walk the path of our faith we often find ourselves confronted by temptation and evil along the way, and facing these challenges alone is a frightening prospect. We are at our weakest when by ourselves, and that is precisely why Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness; he felt his best chance to overcome Him was while He was wandering by Himself, but in reality Jesus was never alone, and neither are we... God is with us always.
Do we cry out today for God to restore us? Even as we do, are our churches failing, and our prayers losing the sweet smell of incense as they fall back flat into the golden bowl, and their smoke sinks down towards the ground where we stand lacking? If so, then what are we asking God to restore? Are we asking for relief from plague, renewed health, happiness, wealth, power, or some other earthly blessing? When we pray, our prayers should be lifted up for the restoration of our faith... not our bodies or worldly desires. Make your hearts to long for a restoration of faith, the coming of Christ, and to serve and glorify God!
So many people take pride in going their own way in life, but as Christians we forego that in order to serve God as Jesus did. We are not our own, but belong to God, and we find great pleasure in that. What’s more, we were bought at a very high price, having been redeemed with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus so that in our lives we would glorify God. If we profess to be Christians and do not yield ourselves to His will, then we must question our faith.
After accepting God as our Lord, and Jesus as our Savior, we find ourselves able to love those around us as God loves, and to love the Father as Jesus did. We are blessed in this way because we have become the sons and daughters of God, and bear not only His name, and image, but His Spirit within us. Yet, we are still challenged by our old selves as Satan continues his attempt to reinsert it into our daily lives. Are we able to resist the old person, and hold firm to our new transformed self as we should?
Are we encouraged in our faith to the point where we are busy about its business at all times? When we reach the point of fainting, or our strength begins to fail us, where do we turn for help? Do we look to God? How about our fellow believers? In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians he instructs them to help and encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ when they are faint, or weak, and to warn or admonish them when they are idle or slothful. When we look at ourselves do we find Paul warning us, and telling us where to turn, or is he encouraging us to be prepared to help others in strength and faith when they are failing?
Have we asked Jesus if we can abide in Him, and have we invited Him to abide in us? It is one thing to know someone, and to look forward to seeing them, and to be with them every day, but it is quite a different thing to live with that person in the same house. Living together requires that we adjust to each other’s ways, and that is exactly what Jesus wants us to do... to become more like Him. In this way we find that we begin to do the same good things that they do, but it also reveals our shortcomings to us.
We all go through life searching for something that will define who we are, and that lifts us above whatever station we find ourselves in. Some of us believe that “Thing” to be earthly, or a way of life concocted by men, and some believe it is a secret waiting to be discovered deep within themselves, but in fact there is only one source of truth and enlightenment, one place to turn for righteousness, one way of life that is holy and lifts us up, making us better, and giving us eternal goodness and peace... God... and we are led to Him by just one “Thing”... having faith in Jesus Christ.
As a Christian we shouldn’t fear death; not because we won’t feel pain when we physically die, but because we have already died, and our life is hidden in Christ. Our death will be as His was, but thank God it will include a resurrection like His, and we will receive a glorified body as well. How can we possibly fear a death that ends with Jesus Christ, and standing in glory before the throne of God?
How many times has Jesus blessed you by pouring the grace of God over you as He interceded on your behalf? Sometimes though we have to wait, and on such occasions it becomes easy for us to wrongly reach the conclusion that God’s blessings are not eminent, are uncertain at best, or perhaps that He is granting them sparingly, one drop at a time. In truth His blessings flow like a gushing spring if we will only believe, and have faith in His promise to provide for us. The Lord sent his own Son to redeem us by His suffering and death so why would he not give us the relatively small things we ask for in life?
Do we study the Word, becoming believers in God and Jesus Christ, only to stop there, and go no further in fostering the relationship that they desire to have with us? Believing is not an event; it is not an academic exercise, no, it is like an ever growing vine... it is like love which isn’t completed in a moment, or by ceremony, but grows forever stronger in our hearts. Our fellowship is meant to be eternal with both the Father, and Son, and with one another as believers. It is further meant to be shared with those around us so that they too can experience firsthand the wonder that resides in Him.
If you are living without Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, do you believe your life is the best that it can possibly be? Well my friend, the covenant that is made with us through Jesus Christ far exceeds any that we might concoct for ourselves, and is even better than God’s previous covenant made with Moses. Jesus was sent to redeem us because we are unable to live righteously on our own, even with the guidance of the law given to Moses we fall short.
What better day to discuss being bold in our love for Jesus than on Valentine’s Day, and what more appropriate way to begin but with a poem...
Love
By Rich Forbes
Hope gives birth to courage,
courage allows us to be bold,
bold is the heart that loves;
Jesus is the hope of the world.
So, are we bold in the way we reveal our love for God, Jesus, and for one another, or are we timid, and let an earthborn fear throw a bushel over our love, and how we show it?
We all begin our conversion into believers in Christ through our contrition, by the confession of our sins, and in asking Jesus for forgiveness, and to be our Lord and Savior. In this way we become children of God, and receive the gift of eternal life, but until we begin living, and behaving as Christ has taught us to do, we remain little children... members of the family, but nonetheless we are forever immature. Do you long to be more?