Tag: John

Life With God 3c – I AM The Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11

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We can meditate a good long time on this verse. It strikes our hearts on numerous levels but I’d like to narrow this discussion down to those who have a pastoral calling. If we are following closely in our Master’s footsteps, our call also may be to lay down our lives for the sheep entrusted to us. The wolves can attack at any moment and our calling requires us to be a bulwark. Is your heart being shaped such that you can do this without hesitation?

Can you do it when you sense that not all of the sheep appreciate your willingness to do so? Will your heart be turned to a greater flock if your celebrity grows, taking your protective eye off of those whom God has placed under your care? Can you recover if the wolf somehow infiltrates your flock and scatters them despite your earnest intentions?

It’s one thing to say that you are prepared to do so, yet another to actually do it. We must be certain that our public and private heart are one and the same.

Life With God 3b – I AM The Light of the World

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

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The second I AM statement that deepens our faith is this; Jesus is the illuminator of the darkness. Though we are born into a darkened world in which it is difficult to find our way, we have available to us a source of light that can never be extinguished. We no longer need to stumble.

Once we immerse ourselves in the light, we find it more and more difficult to step back into the darkness. It beckons us and we’re tempted to return to the shadows but the Spirit exerts a greater attraction as our character is molded. Even in those instances when dark overcomes us, the Savior will reach without fear into the shadows to pull His brothers and sisters back.

Life With God 3a – I AM The Bread of Life

image The ‘I Am’ passages in the book of John are good immersion points on which to meditate in seeking spiritual transformation. In these statements Jesus declares himself to us, encouraging and deepening our faith and our enhancing our ability to trust Him on a more mature basis. We become what we immerse ourselves in. The first is found in John 6:35;

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

When we meditate on this verse in a non-theological sense, we hear the Lord speak and the Spirit move. We question the things that we pursue in life that sate only temporarily. We find nothing in our pursuit of food, sex, material things, feelings or challenges that results in anything but a momentary satisfaction that is soon followed by a desire to pursue more. Spiritual fulfillment replaces or subdues these fleeting desires with a permanent fulfillment. For sure, we will want more in the sense of going deeper but we will never hunger to fill the void in our souls that can only be filled by the Holy Spirit. 

Advent: Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Many folks use happiness and joy synonymously, especially this time of year, but there is a world of difference between the two. Happiness is more often than not circumstantial, that is, it is dependent upon your current situation. There are times when we are happy and times when we are obviously unhappy. Happiness is dependent on things that can be out of our control and so, as I drive this morning, I may be happy when all the lights are green or a bit unhappy when all the folks on their way to the airport slow the flow of traffic down. Happiness is fleeting.

Joy, on the other hand, is an internal condition that is wholly within you. It is not connected to the ups and downs of daily life nor is it dependent on circumstances out of your control. As we say earlier this week, Jesus points to something that lives within us as the source and meaning of our joy…

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:9-11)

The true joy of the Advent season is knowing the King. Our joy as followers of Christ is rooted in relationship with Jesus and the security that this communion brings. Unlike happiness, this joy is not affected by our external circumstance. We, like Paul, learn to be content in all circumstances knowing that our greatest reward still lies ahead.

Maranatha!

Advent Joy May Be Complete

Our anticipation of the Christmas event is so close in this Advent week as the blessed celebration draws near. The din of the secular side of our holiday threatens to consume us, offering to substitute a joy rooted in the exchange of material objects for the joy that comes of knowing the Lord Jesus. His exchange of life for imputed righteousness gives us a joy rooted in being heirs, brothers and sisters of Christ. In a well know promise he says:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Continuing to expand on this singularly wonderful gift – being grafted to the living vine – Jesus says that he tells us this so that we do not need to look any further for our source of joy:

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

Maranatha!

Advent Hope: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Just seeing the words in the title triggers an immediate, visceral response in follower of Christ who has been around the church for more than a single Advent. It immediately brings to mind the carol in all of its brooding minor keys. Singing that difficult song produces a unique feeling; the melody and notes take you instantly to a high church-ancient reverence as you intone the plea of so many before you – Come Immanuel – Come God With Us!

In many churches this week, the Scripture readings included this well known verse from Isaiah:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isa 7:14)

The promise of the Prince of Peace and the Everlasting Father  as the righting of the world. How we long for that.

The hope that arrives in the newborn baby.

Advent is a season of anticipation with weekly or daily reminders of what is to come. Our eyes and hearts rarely turn backward during this period; we are focused in hope on the birth of the Savior. His coming into the world restores our sometimes shaky faith and dispels the feeling that God might have left us to our self-created rewards here in the world. To know that the Wonderful Counselor will walk with us once again, as the Father walked with Adam, is to be given the greatest gift of all. Our hopes for the shoring up of the crumbling walls of the city, the banishment of our enemies, the restoration of vision that Bartimaeus, all will be made right with the One who created and sustains it:

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:3-5)

Advent reminds us that our hope lies in one thing, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maranatha!