Galleries

John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.  John 1:8

John the Baptist never confused who he was with who Jesus was.  He told the Pharisees, “I am not the Christ.”  When others perceived the spiritual power behind His ministry, they wondered if he might be Elijah.  He was clear, even then, that he was not.  

It is important to know who we are and who we are not; to know what we can do and what we could never do.  Our egos are fragile, ever looking for what will strengthen them, what will offer a kind of significance that feels permanently empowering.  Hearing someone say, “No one can do for me what you do,” can be pretty intoxicating.  It feels so good that we can’t wait to help them  again so we can receive the next compliment.  

What we must understand is that each of us are idol makers.  We set out to find God but it’s easy to abandon the search when someone nearby walks in the power of the Spirit and bears great Godlikeness.  The taste of God’s love and compassion is so profound that we are willing to experience God second-hand.  That person gives just enough of what we need that we can’t imagine we’ll want more than they can provide.  

It’s ironic ~ we’ll never tell someone else that we think they are God – nor do we expect to hear them say that we are God to them and the object of their worship.  Yet, that is how the relationship functions.  

John was called by God to bear witness to the Light of the world.  He was influenced by the Light, changed by the Light, and even radiated the Light.  As strong as His resemblance was at times to Jesus, He knew His place.  He was to prepare others to meet Christ, the One who was to come.  He would not allow others to make him the center of their worship.  His own Spirit recognized Jesus when they were both in their mother’s wombs.  He leapt at the presence of God, even in babe form.  His awe of God-incarnate never diminished.

You are my Savior and the Savior of all who need me today.  Amen

God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.  John 1:6

God sent so many of his servants to a literal desert to set them apart from society, to test their faith, to shape them, to heighten their listening skills, and ultimately, to prepare them to be peculiar.  A person can live life a little differently if he knows it’s just for a day or a weekend but let him be tested in a desert that spans years and he will emerge as peculiar.  No longer will he be governed by the mindset of the mainstream.

How many God has taken to the desert.  A place where no one asked to go.  A place away from competing voices.  A place away from distractions.  A place of deafening silence and little provision.  It is there that God speaks and His voice is powerful, yet parental, against the backdrop of deprivation.  If the desert were a palace, would God’s servant even listen?  Not like he would if his surroundings were stark.  

Moses lived in a desert 40 years. Jesus prepared for ministry in a desert 40 days. John the Baptist made the desert his home before prison bars defined his dwelling place just weeks before his death. He didn’t look, dress, act, or dine like anyone else.  John the Baptist was God’s peculiar servant.  

The past twelve months have been a kind of desert.  Away from friends and family, away from the workplace, away from social gatherings, we have tried to adjust to the quiet.  God’s voice has spoken into our need, and for many, His voice has been shaping them to re-emerge peculiar.  At large, people will not be the same after this.  They may feel out of place in the company of certain friends.  They may be ill at ease with idle chatter.  They will be more thoughtful and discerning.  New habits were formed in our desert.  Many of the things we used to habitually put on our calendar may no longer appeal to us.  

Why?  We have sought God’s face in the wilderness.  We have bent low the to hear the voice of God in perpetual quiet.  We are now an army of peculiars.

I am a babe. Teach me how to live all over again.  Amen

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.   John 1:4

Jesus gave life to everything that lives, right down to the microscopic level.  Nothing existed until He fashioned it into existence.  But there are so many other ways He offers it.  Life is granted on so many levels with implications too wonderful to take in all at once.  Here are a few that make me humbly grateful.

Source of life – The Creator, Inventor, and Dreamer.  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.  Hebrews 11:3

Fountain of life – One who continually pours out whatever I need to live.  For with You is the fountain of life.  Psalm 36:9

Sustainer of life – One who sustains and enables me to persevere when I want to quit.  God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.  Psalm 54:4

Everlasting life – One who gives life on the other side of the grave.  The instant physical breath expires, there will be a gasp of celestial air.  And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  I John 5:11

New life – One who brings me from spiritual death to spiritual life.  The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. Isaiah 9:2

Resurrection life – One who calls me continually out of the graveyard of the flesh to walk in resurrection power. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.  Romans 8:11

Oh, how many ways I depend on Him for ‘life’ today.  He is healing my body, He is sustaining me through trouble, He is pouring out streams from His own life to enable spiritual understanding.  He is wooing me to forsake my flesh, the place that is toxic to my freedom, and to step out of the tomb into resurrection life.  

Every time I think I understand a simple scripture, you open it wider to my understanding.  Oneness with You means more access to Life in all its forms.  Thank you.  Amen

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.  John 1:3 [NLT]

God and Jesus. Co-creators.  Not Creator and Created-One.  Both God.  Both infinite.   Co-artists and designers of the heavens and the earth.

These two parts of the trinity worked together in tandem. There was never a glitch in their relationship.  In their glorious perfection, they did their work in a harmonious partnership.  There was no tension in their creativity.  There were no disagreements over ideas.  There was no striving for prominence.  Competition was absent.  There was no withholding of praise for the other’s work.  In the beautiful slow dance of the Three-in-one, ideas were born, developed and expanded, and then implemented without interruption.   

What can I learn from their holy synergy?  A lot.  Two people who work together in the flesh will clash.  Even collaboration at its best.  Ah, but two people, full of the Spirit, sample a taste of God-head synergy. Obsessed to glorify God, they enjoy many of the same characteristics God and Jesus experienced, an absence of tension, disagreements, and competition. When there’s a hiccup produced by the flesh, they rely on supernatural help to identify the problem and then work things out until kingdom rhythm resumes.

I am not like you, you are not like any other.  In our differences, there can be joy in kingdom collaboration.  Have you known it?  I have.  They are usually the endeavors where everyone involved gathers on their knees to seek God’s help and blessing. 

So much is still being created that has never been created before ~ by You, Yahweh, and the Word.  Together, You both speak things into existence that nurture my world.  Thank you for constructing my path today.  Amen

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1 [NLT]

In the beginning God…  Genesis 1:1a

Ancestry.com has grown in popularity and there are people who have spent years constructing their personal genealogy.  I’ve shared meals with people who love to talk about their discoveries.  Their face is alive and their voice is animated as they tell from whom, and from where, their family emanated.  They discover that they are not peculiar and, in fact, are quite like their ancestors. 

I met one person who claimed that she traced her family line back to Adam.  I didn’t ask how.  

If I’m willing to live by faith, I can believe that my beginnings are rooted in someone earlier than Adam.  “In the beginning God…”. In the beginning was the Word…””   Before Adam was created out of dust, God was there. The Word, Jesus, was there.  The Trinity was the foundation of everything created and not yet created.  Behind every genealogy is a Person, not nothingness.

To understand who I am, I must know where I came from and why I was created.  I can’t ask a four-hundred-year-old ancestor such questions but I can ask the Word.  He’s talking.  And He’s answered my deepest questions in the revealed Scriptures; He doesn’t withhold critical information from His creation. 

The internet provides access to ancestry.com.  The Scriptures do better than that.  They provide access to ancestry.God

O Ancient of Days, the Word of all creation, You are the foundation of all life. My history began in the cradle of Your heart.   My journey through John is dedicated to You.  Amen

“Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:8,23

Picture this slow motion movie ~ The best of all seeds fall from the hand of God. They land in perfect soil ~ fertile, aerated, and treated. The moment they hit the dirt, germination happens and from the first moment, the promise of something great begins to happen.

I can picture it, can’t you? Don’t you want it? I sure do. I want pristine conditions for spiritual seeds. How incredible is it that heaven’s seeds can come and grow inside of me! God is generous to share them without me having to go to heaven first. “The kingdom is here, now”, Jesus said.

What makes my heart the perfect place to grow heaven’s seeds?  I am open at all times. Willing to listen. Willing to learn. Insatiably hungry. Willing to lay defenses aside. Willing to be wrong. Willing to change.   When seeds hit my soil, no demonic birds can steal it. No limestone foundation comprised of unresolved issues prohibit growth. No weeds are anywhere in sight to crowd out the free expanse of this new planting. Stunning results are assured. What will I become with heaven’s seeds growing inside of me? There is no mystery here. I become the tree in Psalm One; battered at times by the winds of adversity but never fearing annihilation.

On this first day of 2021, I move toward this goal by engaging my personal Gardener. “I am the vine, my Father is the husbandman – or vine dresser.’ John 15:1 ESV I know that my Father constantly assesses the garden of my soul. He searches me and knows what it will take to improve my soil conditions. He never passes judgment to declare me hopeless if I ask for help. He gives specific spiritual guidance. He reveals every rock and why it’s there. He changes my appetite if I love the things of this world too much. He is my compassionate Healer when worries block my ears from hearing Him. He wants my harvest even more than I do.

I’m a picture person. Right now, I see Him slowly walking the pathways of my heart. He’s tilling and inspecting the soil…smiling at the possibilities of a new year, new months, and brand new days.

Your seeds are infused with resurrection power – the same that raised You from the dead, Jesus. Don’t let me limit what You want to do by being unteachable. Speak into my soul and be relentless. In Jesus’ name, Amen  

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. … When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.  Galatians 3:13

A wee little baby was born with a purpose that defied understanding.  He wasn’t born to be a teacher, or to tell stories about God, or to perform miracles, or to be king of Israel.  He was born to reverse the curse that was pronounced in the Garden of Eden.  

The curse came upon Adam and Eve when they failed to believe God about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Turning their back on belief, and then sealing it with an act of disobedience, ushered in immense consequences for them and every one of their descendants.  Is it any wonder that Jesus would grow up to say, “Whoever believes in me, though He dies, yet shall He live.”  Unbelief brought the curse.  Belief in Jesus would free us from it.  

The sin of unbelief was committed in a garden.  Thirty-three years after little Jesus was born, He would enter another garden to deal with the weight of our curse and to give up His life to reverse it.  

Every one of us who has embraced this little Savior and believed in Him is no longer cursed ~ but blessed.  The theme of our life is not ‘paradise lost’ but ‘paradise restored.’  Barren landscapes, once brown and decayed by sin, are now lush and green.  The likes of Psalm 23 are where we live.  There is an expanse of green in every direction.  We dare walk barefoot in tender grass without the fear of cutting our feet.  We dare drink water from any pond or water source without fear of contamination.  This is paradise and this little Savior, asleep in hay, shook our world with love and sacrifice.  Futility and hopelessness were instantly banished with His words, “It is finished.”  

I still believe and choose to act on it.  Thank you, baby Jesus.  Amen

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised before hand through the prophets in the holy scriptures. Romans 1:2

Nearly every time Paul gave a defense for the Gospel, he didn’t start with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  Since most of his accusers were Jewish leaders, he was intent on showing them that Jesus was connected to their scriptures, the fulfillment of their law.  The Torah, which they embraced and knew front to back, had predicted his coming.  God was not only the Alpha and Omega, but the God of the in-between.  Nothing was random, nothing was haphazard, but each event in history was a meticulously conceived plan according to the wisdom of a Sovereign God.

Why was this important to the Jews?  Because it’s hard for any of us to completely leave everything familiar and embark on something new.  And it wasn’t necessary where the Jews were concerned though it might have felt like that.  They held the Torah in their hands, the writings of the prophets, the revelation of Jesus Christ.  To believe on Him was to complete their faith, to be as Abraham looking ahead for the Lamb of God and finding Him in Jesus.

God is the consummate storyteller.  The revelation of Jesus in Bethlehem was connected to the plot line in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned.  Everything in between followed God’s storyline.  May I not be like the Jews who failed to recognize Jesus when He stood in front of them.  As He orders the events of my day, I ask for the eyesight to see His fingerprints.

In God’s plotline, there is no such thing as wasted.  Not even our mistakes.  Our lives, like those of our heroes in scripture, are messy and unpredictable.  Though we know the end of their stories, the redemptive twists and turns still take us by surprise.  We are encouraged that God was there in their victories but also still there in the parts of their stories that were less than stellar.  No dark thread is rejected for the finished tapestry.

After all these years, I am beginning to love my storyline because it is woven into Yours.  Amen

But who can endure the day of his coming? He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.  Malachi 3:2

‘Refiner’s fire and launderer’s soap’ is a line right out of Handel’s Messiah. It’s not exactly poetic to put to music and yet, how magnificently George Frederick Handel did it. With Christmas coming, you’ll probably hear these words again if you listen to the entire Messiah.

Refining fires will be experienced by everyone. Now, it’s the saints who are being purified through suffering. When others behold the lives we live, they see Jesus. Without the fire, the image is never developed. But one day, the unsaved will also face the fire of His holiness. While we are now drawn to the One who is holy, they will stand in dread of Him on judgement day. Same God ~ two opposing reactions because of the relationship or the lack thereof.

If you are God’s child, the thought of standing in the vicinity of the glory of God is thrilling. If you want nothing to do with God, you are either nonchalant as you think about it or simply terrified. It depends on who He is to you, Savior or enemy.

If you are God’s child, you are thrilled by what happened on the mount of transfiguration. The thought of Jesus taking on His full glory, dressed in dazzling white, makes you long to have seen it for yourself. If you don’t care about Jesus, the mere idea is bizarre and repelling. It depends on who He is to you, Lord of glory or good teacher.

If you are God’s child, you long to be holy. You long for God’s glory to purify the earth and wash away all remnants of the Fall. If you don’t care about Jesus, you are content in Babylon and see no need for change. It depends on who He is to you, Righteous Restorer of paradise, or a characterization of a religious myth.

Malachi’s pen must have trembled in his hands as he pictured the words the Spirit birthed.

Make sure my reaction is related to His, Lord. Amen

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

Ask a college student why they are eager to go home on Spring Break and all kinds of answers emerge.  Sleep in. See their dog. Eat their favorite foods.  Go to their favorite local places with friends.  What might be far down on the list is spending time with their parents. 

But heaven?  My Father is the center of my joy and the source of all other pleasures.  The feasting, prepared by God’s own hands, is depicted earlier in this Psalm.  Oil that runs abundantly over His child’s head is also described.  All of this portrays lavish hospitality in the Near Eastern culture.  This is a Father who satiates His children with unfathomable abundance. David says elsewhere, in his prayer to God, that he feasts on the abundance of God’s house and basks in the rivers of His delights.  

The word ‘delights’ is built from the same root word for Eden! Paradise restored, indeed.  Our ending is only a new beginning.  I shouldn’t be calling death the ‘end of life stage.’  It is the ‘embryo for new-life-stage.’  

It doesn’t feel good to go home and be treated like a guest; limits and a certain formality prevail.  I’m not free to roam and fully relax. I can’t get a drink or fix myself a meal without it being offered.  Or, I know I have to ask for it.  I will not be a guest in the house of the Lord.  I will be home.  God’s lavish hospitality is poured out on sons and daughters.

Someone once said, “As I travel along in this world, I’m in awe of many things, like the colors I see in autumn or the flowers that bloom in spring.  To me, there is no kind of awesome apart from what home can bring, like returning to wake in my old bed to hear the birds sweetly sing.”   We might assume that to experience nostalgia, we have to have known it from previous experience.  Ah, but that is the grand mystery of heaven.  We are going home and although we’ve never been there, it will feel familiar.  All along, this eternity was put in our hearts.  

I can’t wait, God.  Amen