365 Reflections

It is clear Jacob knew where he wanted to be after his life on Earth had ended. He blesses his sons in Genesis 50 and then very descriptively tells them where his bones are to be buried. Genesis 49:29–33 (ESV)   Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. Notice how his view is to be gathered to those who had gone before him. He wanted to be in the only piece...

Hebrews speaks of our predecessors of the promises of God: Hebrews 11:13 (ESV) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For the first time in his life, Abraham has to face the death of someone close to him. His own wife Sarah. Genesis 23:2 (ESV) 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. How will Abraham handle death? It's the first time Abraham is recorded as crying the Bible.  It's also the first time Abraham has to deal with reconciling the promises of God and the ultimate delay of death. For as far as he knew, the land was to be his, but now he has only one son and his wife has passed away. Where are the fulfillments of God's promises from Genesis 12? For most of the next chapter, the Author spends a great deal o...

Genesis 12:6–8 (ESV)   Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord , who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord . If you remember from Genesiss 11 Abram made a mistake to settle halfway to the land of Canaan. He also settled there with his father. Here now, with his father gone, Abram has entered into the land that would be his. God shows up in the land and promises it to him. Yet Abram is living among strangers and moving around constantly. He never stays in one place. James Boice puts this passage interestingly: "Of all the persons then living in Canaan, Abram was the most per...

Psalm 122:1 (ESV) I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” Are you glad to come to God's house? You should be. For the writer of Psalm 122, there was no better place for he and fellow pilgrims to be than in the house of the Lord. Imagine being a Jewish pilgrim. You wander through the desert plains of Palestine most of the year. But three times a year (and some times a few more) you go to the house of God for a festival where everyone from your big national family comes to worship and celebrate the presence of God together. What a beautiful thing. Psalm 122:3–4 (ESV)   Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, 4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord , as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord . For Israel, coming to Jerusalem and the Temple was like Christmas or Easter dinner with family. They were one people AND one nation tied together in a sweet community of fellowship with God. Some of ...

The Psalms can be confusing. Number 87 is one that could appear so. It praises Jerusalem as a glorious place, a beautiful city adored by God over all others. In the Old Testament, this is true. No place housed the presence of God like Jerusalem. But under the New Covenant this Psalm becomes a prophetic look at the New City being established by the new birth experience. The Psalmist calls us to behold the new city of Zion, the heavenly city that will come down to Earth. Psalm 87:5 (ESV) And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. They will be members of that city because they were "born there." That is what Jesus talks about with Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." John 3:5 . Who does it? The Lord Himself. Jesus is the one who brings us into the new city, establishes and protects us, brings us hom...

Who is the Lord to you? Psalm 29 in original context challenged the Israelites to believe that their Lord was not simply the Lord of history, but the Lord of creation. Psalm 29:1–4 (ESV) Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. 3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. He is the Lord worthy of worship from all of Creation. He is the Lord of the waters and the storm. The Lord is more powerful than any force of the Created order. Israel was to fully trust this Lord instead of walking after the gods of fertility, sex and bountiful harvests.  We need to remember the power of the Lord we serve. Someone once said we tend to make God just a little bigger than our biggest problem. That inevitably leads us to th...

Psalm 27:1 (ESV) The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? This is by far my favorite Psalm and one of my favorite portions of scripture.  I want to live with NO FEAR. But it doesn't happen from within. It comes from fully trusting in the Lord who is good and will be with me and for me by His Amazing Grace. The Psalmist exudes confidence from the relationship he has with his Lord.  No matter if adversaries or foes attack, or an army attack, or war break out against him - he will be confident. Then he turns his attention to the house of the Lord. The blessing of dwelling with The Lord and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. There is fullness of joy. There are pleasures forevermore. There is real meaning and life - in the presence of the Lord. To have such complete confidence in the Lord is freedom. That you don't have to strong in yourself. Our st...

Psalm 24:1–2 (ESV) The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Psalm 24 is all about the Lord. First, He established and owns the Earth where we dwell. We are not our own. Even those who do what is godless are his servants. He told Pharaoh he would get glory from his resistance. The Lord Jesus owns it all. Second, the Lord is the one who ascends to the holy place. Psalm 24:3–6 (ESV) Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah The answer to these questions is NO ONE. We cannot ascend to the hill of the Lord because none of us is...

Psalm 11:1 (ESV) In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, The Psalmist is shocked that someone would tell him not to trust in His God! How we all need to live like that! Fear is the source of every horrible decision you have ever made. Fear that God is not going to be good to you. Fear that someone or something is holding you back. Fear that you don't have enough. Fear that you need to take matters into your own hands. So many bad decisions have been based on fear: The mid-30s man afraid he's "losing his touch" so he cheats on his wife... The teenager who fears rejection from the crowd so he makes less than desirable even disastrous decisions. The woman who is afraid of being alone so he jumps from one bad relationship to another. Jesus passed the test of our fears. He did what Adam and Eve could not do. He trusted God with His provision against the lust of the flesh (stones to bread), ...

Revelation 21:21 (ESV)   And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. They are often the baseline for a joke. But they are far more than a joke. They are the gates of the City of God! And they will be beautiful. The story of a pearl is a clue to this beautiful picture John gives us. A Pearl is made from a mollusk in a very ordinary oyster. A piece of sand gets under the membrane and causes the oyster pain. Eventually the mollusk secrets a nacre that rounds off the piercing edges of that foreign object and over time a pearl is produced. Is this not a picture of heaven? Our lives are filled with foreign objects that invade us. Yet we have the Holy Spirit in us rounding off the rough spots in our lives to produce something beautiful. Eventually, in the sanctification process we have beauty from our pains. Earlier in the chapter, John records this reality in the new...

Revelation 12:11 (ESV)   And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death . The persecution in the end times upon Christians will bring great difficulties for those who want to honor God. It will be a war! But Revelation holds a key to victory.  First, knowing that our Savior died for us. God is for us not against us. The blood of the Lamb remembered in communion is a covenant enacted by God on our behalf. When you are under the attack of Satan, the best thing you can remind him of is the fact that this transaction for your soul has been finalized in Jesus Christ. Second, the Word of their Testimony. There is no doubt when you share something you know it better even after you share it. Explaining to someone how to play the piano makes you more in tune with the rudiments necessary for playing the piano. So too, the more we share our faith, the more internal and real our fa...

I love Palm trees. I always have. My parents and family lives in Florida and I live in the frozen Northeast. Each year we come down for a 2 1/2 week excursion to avoid the deep chill sometime between December 25 and March 31. I'm writing this entry from florida now. A palm tree sits just outside their window taunting me of our soon departure. Revelation 7 recounts the great multitude who come out of the great tribulation. Saints who stood opposed to the anti-christ system of the world. They were martyred and stayed strong in faith. This has happened in every generation. From the lion's in the Coliseum of Rome (Revelations's first audience) to Corrie Ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer under Nazi persecution... to the Bamboo Curtain's Chinese Christians underground suffering for Christ to the Christians in Muslim dominated countries being tortured and killed for their faith, every generation has had those who have stayed strong against Babylon. This is how John sees...

What do you put in your finest dish or platter? For whom do you bring out the fine china? The answer will tell you what you value and who you value. The 5th chapter of Recelation takes us to the Throne room of heaven to see Jesus and the 24 elders around the Throne of God. In the midst of these 24 elders and the power and prestige of God himself, this is what it says: Revelation 5:8-10 (ESV)  And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Did you see what was in the Golden bowls before the thorn of God? The prayers of His peop...

John 6:28–30 (ESV)   Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Here was a crowd that Jesus had just miraculously fed the day before. And it seems it wasn't enough. They wanted more, and they dangled belief in Him over His head as if it could be a carrot. "You want us to believe in you Jesus? Show us the bread." I find this chapter very interesting. It begins with Jesus showing compassion. It ends with people who sought only His gifts walk away from Him. Peter rightly declared, " Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:68-69 It also shows us that the main purpose of Jesus was to bring us to faith in HIM ...

Nicodemus has cast his name in human history as the smartest person to miss Jesus. I never saw the word "the" before in John 3:10 but it makes the meaning become a whole lot clearer. John 3:10 (ESV) Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Jesus is making clear that Nicodemus was the most respected theologian in Israel at the time. And he can't see who Jesus is. He comes to Jesus by night, he makes a judgment on Jesus and puts Jesus under the microscope of his own examination. Poor Nicodemus never saw what this conversation would do to him for all history! But he was victim to the most common falsehood of our day: "We can save ourselves." We can't. Otherwise Jesus never would have said, "you must be born again." We are the passive agents in this process. God does this work of supernatural regeneration in our lives. We receive Christ by faith, God births in our lives new life not from t...

2 Corinthians 4:8–11 (ESV) We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Following Jesus is easy if you don't actually do anything He wants you to do. If you don't bother to share your faith, it's easy. If you don't care about others, it's easy. If you don't serve and minister to people who may disregard you and dismiss you, it's easy. If you don't offend someone with the truth, it's easy. If you don't give sacrificially of your resources and means to make an unseen but eternal difference in the kingdom or someone else's life, it's easy. If you never let the Holy Spirit ...

The Resurrection changes everything. Especially our work ethic. Paul concludes the best exposition of the truth of the Resurrection with this verse: 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)  Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. There comes a time in life when we have to let it all go. How are you going to handle that? If you believe on Christ for your redemption and future resurrection, then you know what you have done with your life matters for eternity. There is a reward and a purpose behind everything you do for Him. If on the other hand you live as though this life is the end, what difference does it all make? You could live like Solomon with all his wisdom, wealth and fame who looked back on life and called it vanity. A big waste of time. Everything gets old after a while. Even what you think you desperately need to be happy will eventually let you down. Only the work of th...

I appreciate how the Bible gives us a very down to "Earth" picture of marriage. Marriage is of this age and ends with this age. Jesus said it and Paul backed the sentiment up in 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7:32–35 (ESV) I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. Paul makes clear the best and freest way to serve the Lord is apart from the responsibilities and duties of marriage. Now, I'm married and it is very easy for me to say this but m...

Don't just sit there. Enough waiting for something to happen! You have this moment, the next (possibly) to go make the  future happen in YOUR favor. You can sit on the sidelines and watch someone else reach their dreams or you can play your game. You may not realize this but the clock is running out on you right now. Every second counts. You CAN do something about your future if you CHOOSE to do so. Sound more like Tony Robbins than a Bible lesson?  Look at the first parable in Luke 16 and get back to me.... ... Are you back?  Good. Did you read what I read?  Were you shocked?  That's Jesus for you.  Never quite fitting our "mold". Luke 16:3 (ESV) And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. Luke 16:9 (ESV) And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may re...

Today I long for home.  More than most days.  More than I have in a long time. I don't mean where I live.  I'm actually there right now writing these words in our den.  Today I long for heaven.  My heart is grieved by the state of our Nation, and where it's going.  Sad stories filled the news today.  It was heart breaking in more ways than I can say.  This Nation has lost its way.  It celebrates what God calls evil.  People turn on each other.  A national sports figure accused of murder. Sad. Then I think about my own shortcomings.  How often I miss the mark and have to rely on God's grace I feel like I'm drawing on a bank account so much the owner is tired of me.  I know its not true, but sometimes the ache of sin is just there.  Lingering.  I long to be righteous myself.  I'm sick of letting my Savior down.  I want to be better than this. I pray. So when I sat down to read the scriptures fro...