Mar 30 Dancing in the rain

Mar 30

Dancing in the Rain

Ps 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation

 That which should have brought joy was the cause of disappointment. It had been that way for weeks and there was no sign of relief, but we looked daily with anticipation for some rain. Normally a blue sky sunny day is a pleasant day, but without any rain for several weeks we were hoping for a day of rain. The day had started the same sunny, dry way every day started, until sometime in the afternoon huge drops of rain began to fall.

My wife and I noticed the rain at about the same time and without a word, or any planning we both hurried outside, grabbed each other’s hands and began to dance around on the driveway as rain fell on us. We were so filled with joy for the rain we could not contain it all. We were far beyond happy; we were so joyful and delighted we just had to dance in the rain.

In our verse for today David is writing after his great sin of adultery, murder, deceit and ungodliness had been exposed. The full weight of his multitude of sins had driven him to his knees. His joy was gone! It had been replaced by guilt, shame, failure, and a broken spirit. Read psalm 51 to appreciate just how dejected David felt because of his sins. 

Where had his joy gone and how could he get it back. The 51^st psalm gives the steps needed. It is noteworthy that an otherwise obedient life can be so badly wrecked with a single season of sin. David was otherwise an obedient servant to the Lord.

1Ki 15:5 Because David did that which was right in

the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from

any thing that he commanded him all the days

of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

He had known the joy of the Lord, but now all that had changed. He lost some things he would never regain. But he did not lose his faith. He knew the God of forgiveness, mercy and grace, and appealed to Him for restoration. He pleads for mercy and cleansing. (Vrs 1-2) He confessed his sins. (vrs 3-4)  The remaining verses talk of his unworthiness, and Gods righteousness. This is the place we all need to come when our conscience roars against us, deprives us of sleep and breaks our spiritual bones.

But our verse for today is about our joy. We may not have followed David’s sinful path but may have still lost our joy. Where did it go? Did we use it up? Did it wander away when we were preoccupied? The Book of Philippians talks of giving away our happiness to things, people and circumstances. But our joy is still there. It has not wandered off. We did not forget and leave it somewhere. We still have the joy of our salvation.  But it is sometimes neglected, unused, or disabled by sin as in David’s case. Assuming you do not have a roaring guilty conscience due to murdering someone, what prevents us from the kind of joy that makes us dance in the rain?

The burdens of life sometimes bury our joy so it is not bubbling over. We are all busy, and claim there is not enough time to stop and smell the roses. But we all are given the same amount of time. Claiming we do not have time is not an excuse. It is an admission that we did not choose to take time. We spent our time on something else. Even the busiest of us can choose to take a few minutes to think of how blessed we are and all the reasons for us to be filled with joy.

Other times we pass right by joyful things with no notice. I recently read that if the stars only came out once a year we would all stay up to look at them. Perhaps we should stop some starry evening and look at the stars and feel the joy of knowing the God of creation.

Regaining our joy may require us to repeat David’s prayer for restored joy after acknowledging our failings (sins), and drawing on both the mercy of God and the grace of God.

When you finish reading this, may I encourage you to get up from your computer and take a deep breath and ponder the great things in life that God has given you to bring you great happiness and joy in the Lord. We do not do that often enough, and thus our joy becomes covered with dust from just sitting there unused.

If something is repeated two or three times in our Bible we should pay special attention to it. The word “joy” appears 60 times in just the New Testament. Here are some verses to aid you in becoming exuberantly joyful today!

 

Mt 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

1Jo 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

 

1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 

Joy Unspeakable and full of Glory!  Hallelujah what a Savior.

May God bless you today and fill you with His joy. 

 Now go find a reason to “dance in the rain”.

Mar 29 Christians and Canines

Mar 29

Christians and Canines

Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

 Our verse for today is a familiar one. Most Christians become aware of this list early in their Christian experience. It takes most of us a long time to perfect this fruit in our lives. Some Christians never get all nine of them. I know some Christians who struggle to be joyous, others are not longsuffering, some are bitter, others angry, and a few Christians I have known were just plain cantankerous.

I thought it might be good for us to review these parts of the fruit of the spirit. Notice the verse does not say these are fruits of the spirit but “fruit” (singular) that is made up of nine qualities. Does that mean we need all nine to have the fruit of the spirit?  It sort of sounds that way to me. It seems like most of the lessons in scripture are pass-fail tests, instead of graded on a scale. Just think if God sent you a report card on these nine fruits. “Love ….. D+, Joy….B-,  Faith….B+,  Meekness ….E!”  Ouch!   Just thinking about getting a fruit of the Spirit report card makes me nervous.

These nine qualities are difficult to achieve in a world that is often described as a “Rat Race”. The bad thing about a rat race is the winners are still rats. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have some examples of these qualities, so we could see them in action and learn how to perfect them in our Christian conduct. Fortunately, God in His wisdom, has provided a source for us to see these qualities in action. Where can you find them?  Just watch how dogs behave.

Please do not be offended but dogs may have more of these qualities than most Christians. The title for this devotional was almost “Is your Dog a better Christian than you are?”  But it was too long and probably offensive to some.

Love! A soldier was returned home for burial. His casket was at the front of the church. During the service, his loving dog laid quietly on the floor under his casket. You may not have seen this picture but probably know of a similar display of love by a dog for his missing master. May I ask if your love for Christ is equal to the love of a dog for a missing master? 

Heb 13:1 ¶ Let brotherly love continue.

Joy!  What better example of joy than when a dog runs out to greet it’s master after some absence. The TV ads that show a dog running out to greet a returning soldier pictures absolute joy.  When is the last time you felt that kind of joy?

1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom,

 though now ye see him not, yet believing,

ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

 Peace.  We have all seen a dog laying out in the sun, sleeping peacefully. We have also seen dogs sleeping in some very odd places and funny positions. But they all look peaceful. Even when awake a dog lying next to his masters chair looks pretty peaceful to me. Do we know anything of that kind of peace?

2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you

through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord

Longsuffering. Oh my. The marvelous pictures of a big ole dog lying perfectly still while a baby pulls on its ears is the picture of longsuffering. Now, how is your longsuffering when daily life starts to “pull on your ears?”

Gentleness and Goodness. OK sometimes you have a naughty dog, but you see the goodness in a dog shine when they are around children. Their gentleness is amazing. Somehow dogs just have a sense of how to be gentle and display goodness with little kids. It is a delightful thing to watch.

Faith. You can probably recall stories of the faithfulness of a dog. They don’t even have to be famous and named Lassie to save Timmy from the well!

OK Dogs may not be the best examples of meekness and temperance. You might have to wait for a thunderstorm to see their meekness as they hide under the bed from the lightning flashes.

By now I think you can see that a dog may have a better grasp of the fruit of the Spirit than many Christians. I know I would have to work a lot more to have their dedication, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc.  And we haven’t even touched on how dogs do not hold grudges, are forgiving, want to serve others, have unrestrained enthusiasm, and on the other side do not sit on their hands when confronted with evil doers. They speak up.

The next time you see a dog exhibiting one of the qualities that make up the fruit of the Spirit, you may want to ask yourself, “Is that dog a better Christian than I am”? 

This fun approach to the fruit of the Spirit should help remind us that we really do not need to mimic dogs. Our goal is to follow the great example of Christ.

1Pe 2:21 …because Christ also suffered for us,

leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

 

 

 

Mar 28 A two Board Bridge

Mar 26

Two Board Bridge

1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross

is to them that perish foolishness

When traveling in the southern states I enjoy reading the names of churches. “The Free Will Predestinated Baptist Church” made me wonder if they spend much time fussing over predestination. Then there are the delightful names like “Hog Creek Baptist” or “Two Peas in a Pod Baptist Church.

In southwest Missouri near Cassville is a church named Oak Ridge Baptist and they had a wonderful message on their church sign. It said “built a bridge with 2 boards and 3 nails”  What kind of bridge can you build with 2 boards and 3 nails? An engineer could design a small little bridge over an itsy-bitsy creek with two boards and 3 nails, but so could a couple ten year old boys. But what about a large span? The engineer would tell you it was foolish to think you could build a long span bridge with such limited materials. But that bridge has been built and is still in use today.

It is the cross of Christ. Technically the cross is not the bridge, but it is Christ who suffered and died on that cross that is our bridge. Anyway I thought it was an interesting seed thought. So our devotional today is thinking about the bridge we have because of Christ. What kind of bridge is it? You will be able to think of more applications than I have room to mention but here are some of my observations.

Is it a toll bridge? No!  You do not need to pay any toll to use this bridge. In fact if you think you can buy your way across this bridge you will not be allowed to use it.

Is it a private bridge and only people who belong to a certain organization can use it? No. This bridge is available to all, but not all will use it. There are some people who have attempted to steal this bridge and claim you must join their organization (church) in order to use this bridge, but they are mistaken.

Some teach that you must be baptized to use the bridge. Oddly enough the ones who claim this teaching are not Baptists.

Is this the only bridge? Well, as you travel the highway of life there are lots of billboards claiming there are several bridges, or that no bridge is needed, or you can build your own bridge. But like so much false advertising they are wrong, because there is only one bridge.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,

the truth, and the life:

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

What about love? Isn’t it a bridge of love, and those who love enough get to use it?  Our modern culture is so saturated with the idea of “love” they think God is a big ole teddy bear that loves everyone and does not judge anyone or anything. The Beatles sang “All you need is Love” and as long as you attach love to the vilest form of fornication it is “beautiful”. Even our government is now claiming that Sodomites who love one another can get “married”.  But it was not our love but Christ’s love that built that bridge.

1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God,

but that he loved us, and sent his

Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 I think you get the idea. There are many ways to think about the bridge made with 2 boards and 3 nails. As you have time today ponder this great bridge, built with Christ’s blood, and his perfect sacrifice for us. Perhaps more important than all the wrong kind of bridges is to think of the perfection of God’s work for us.

What does this wonderful bridge of salvation mean to you? There is one requirement that you must meet to use this bridge. You have to make an advance reservation.

Re 20:15 And whosoever was not found written

in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

May God bless you today as you ponder this wonderful gift of eternal life through Christ His son. He is indeed our great bridge.

Re 5:12 .. Worthy is the Lamb….