Author Archives: revjaf

THANKS

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I want to thank all of you who read my weekly devotionals. I love writing each and every one, praying that the Lord will use them to bless others and draw each of us closer to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Last month readers from 15 different countries tuned in to Reflections Out of Time. From a year ago March, people from 56 countries all over the world found these devotionals. For that and all of you who follow every week, I am so grateful allowing me to continue to share my somewhat quirky take on biblical truths.

I’ve a favor to ask you. Why not forward a devotional to someone you know and ask them to sign up for the free weekly devotions? Someone you’d like to bless. The more the merrier!

Again, thank you for standing with me in wanting more of Jesus in our daily lives. John

COME AND SEE John 1: 35-51

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We loved a church member named Etta Good, who graced us with her good life well into her 102nd year.  What a gem.  Etta loved the Lord and was so appreciative of her church family and pastor.  How could we not dote on this most gentle of the Lord’s flock?

On her big day, I asked Etta in Sunday worship ‘what’s it like to turn 100’?  And also ‘what’s your secret’?  She piped up saying that ‘it’s not all it’s cracked up to be!’  As to her secret? — ‘just don’t die!’  See what I mean?  What a joy, our Etta.

Ever wonder if being a Christian is not all it’s cracked up to be?  And better not to die, not to test it?  Who hasn’t wondered?  Will there be a yonder over yonder?  We wonder.  After all, we’re not there yet.  Still breathing earth’s air.  All we’ve ever known.  But then, when our time comes, only two airports open.  I know which one my ticket heads to.  Can’t take any baggage on board, however.  Need not a thing.  All provided.  Only the best of the very best for God’s own people.

But even Jesus’ disciples wonder about this strange prophet-like character from Nazareth.  Here in John 1, they’re not so sure.  Who is He?  A false messiah?  One more religious charlatan?  Where does He stay?  Where’s He from?  Can anything good come from that flea-bitten town of Nazareth?  Their questions float in the air.

Jesus’ response?  Anger?  Disappointment?  Hurt feelings?  All of the above?  None of the above!  He says–‘Come and you will see…’ (John 1:39).  That’s the call of Jesus to them then and to all of us now.  Come and see.

It’s not testing God though it sounds like it.  Rather it’s accepting an invitation to experience what He offers us.  A finding out for ourselves.  A discovery of what could be right under our noses.  Come and see.  Have you?  Would you like to?  You’re invited.

When you do, you’ll note Him at work in your life.  Faith produces evidence.  Often in hindsight but you’ll know for yourself that Jesus is smack dab in the middle of your life.  When you need God’s encouragement, come and see.  No matter what your prayer needs, come and see what God can and will do…in His time, in His way.  But there’s the rub.  Getting behind Him.  Letting Him take the lead.  Never easy.  Certainly not for me.  Nevertheless, necessary.

Ready?  Give whatever disturbs your heart to Him.  Wait on Him.  Don’t push ahead forcing God’s hand by bargaining, making false promises, or laying out acceptable solutions that He must deliver, or else you’ll tell Him to take a hike.  Better do what I want or else.  I’m the quarterback calling the plays.  Really?

Is that faith?  Hardly.  More like trying to keep God under my thumb.  Throwing my weight around.  Holding tight to the reigns.  All eventually lead to a dead-end canyon with no way out.

But there’s hope.  An invitation, which is engraved with your name, has been sent!  RSVP?  Yes?  Then come and see.

Thank you, Jesus, for being true to your word always.   Amen.

BLESSED THREE TIMES OVER 2 Corinthians 13

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This week let’s celebrate all we have in Jesus Christ, while getting off of ‘me, I, and myself’ with aches and pains, disappointments and bad memories, bitterness, and loneliness.  You name it, I can suffer with it.  At least I’m not a hypochondriac.  I’m not, am I?  I’ll check back with you later if I’m feeling better!

Rather, let’s look upward to our heavenly Host and home.  Think of it– we’re blessed three times over.  2 Corinthians 13:14–‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’

Oodles of blessings.  Grace, love, and fellowship.  Couldn’t get much better.  But it does.  These blessings are not only for a few.  No.  For the rich, the poor, the intelligentsia, and deplorables–‘…with you all.’  All believers everywhere.  That’s you and me.  Can hardly contain myself!

Jesus gives us grace.  We know what that is, don’t we?  Getting what we don’t deserve.  Akin to mercy, where we don’t get what we do deserve (think I need mercy more than grace, although both together will fit the bill!).  Jesus lives to give.  All four Gospels spell out His life of sharing, healing, restoring, and birthing salvation.  Relish His grace.  It never ends.  Never.

God the Father shares His love for us.  ‘Love’ here is the Greek word ‘agape’.  Like Jesus’ grace, the Father’s love keeps coming our way.  When we’re His, love surrounds us in more ways than we can count or imagine.  Sometimes it’s a tough love that feels rough and painful.  Probably more so for Him.  But it’s a love that reshapes us to become more like Jesus, God’s Son.  A shaped vessel in the Master’s loving hands.

Then the Holy Spirit fellowships with us.  Gathers us close in.  Draws ever near, meaning we’re never alone.  The church that blessed me as their emeritus pastor has a fellowship hour following the worship service.  Both last about the same amount of time.  A healthy balance.  Similar to what the Holy Spirit does, as He comes to stay close within each believer.  And stay He does.  Never leaving.

What blessings!  All God’s gifts are freely given.  None earned.  None?  Nada and zippo.  Get it?  Then let’s not forget it.  Or to thank the Lord for our being blessed many times over.

Thank you, Lord, for all you give.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

SIMPLY Zephaniah 1

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Why do I make life more difficult than it already is?  I’ve earned my dishonorary doctorate in catastrophizing and nail-biting from the unaccredited, no profit, no good University of Hard Knocks!  Something a tad dodgy becomes devastating to my emotions, loosely held together by chewing gum.  What’s seemingly bad graduates to far worse without even lifting a finger or batting an eyelash.  Am I alone in this?

When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, simplicity should rule day and night.  Did you know that that last phrase is technically called a ‘merism’?  Two opposites that signify totality.  Day and night=all the time.  There I go again.  Muddying the waters.  Discombobulating what should be easy as pie.  After all, who gives a flying fig?

See what I mean?  I make things all tangled and tied up in knots.  Anyway, reading the Old Testament prophet Zephaniah, there’s hope.  As in God wanting my relationship with Him to be out in the open, no bones about it, a snappy walk in the park.  Really?  Yes indeed.  Simply enjoying my loving relationship with God.

Zephaniah 1: 6–‘…those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.’  Turning that verse’s negative into a positive, I’m assuming that we all want to follow the Lord Jesus.  But let me be up-front–I’m a poor example.  Flawed, cracked, and broken.  You say that you know that about me?  Thanks.  With friends like that you, who needs…!

So, don’t follow me.  Follow Jesus.  For it’s the will of God that we do just that.  Get behind Jesus allowing Him to take the lead.  Follow the leader.  Stop trying to do what only He does best.  God wants more followers than leaders.  Get out of His way.  But don’t lag too far behind.  Use the gifts given you by you-know-who, doing what He wants.  Simply follow.

Then seek Him.  Pray.  Talk it over.  Not like He’s clueless, as if your bad news comes as a shocking surprise to Jesus.  Hardly.  Seek Him.  He’s all ears, eager to help in His way, in His time.  Lay it all at His feet.  Hold nothing back.  Simply seek.

Then inquire of your Lord.  This means getting into your Bible and having it get into you.  Not long ago, a professor at my old Bible school tells me that today’s Bible student knows so little about the Bible.  Say what?  Clogged ears?  No.  These are coeds at one of the leading and oldest Bible schools in our nation.  The cream of the crop, so to speak, may have soured a bit, sad to say.

Get serious about inquiring of the Lord.  See which way His wind blows.  Pay rapt attention to your Bible.  Immerse yourself.  Wonder why we know so little?  Any ideas?  You know.  Simply inquire.

Follow…seek…inquire.  God’s will, with all its simplicity, that even I can understand.

Lord Jesus, I want to know you better.  Amen.

THERE’S MORE TO THIS STORY Habakkuk 3

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The conclusion of the Old Testament prophetic book Habakkuk has been preached on many times.  Even by me.  It’s about Habakkuk’s faith standing tall and firm despite economic collapse from barren fig-trees, missing sheep and cattle, down-the-drain olive harvests along with wheat and barley crops going belly up.  Life downsizes almost to a goose egg as the grim reaper knocks at their front door.

The prophet’s reaction?  Habakkuk 3:18–‘…yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation’.  Now that’s faith.  No cursing at God or waving an angry fist in His face.  No.  Habakkuk’s faith triumphs.  How would I do under similar circumstances?  And you?  I’m feeling a twinge of guilt knowing how wishy-washy and out of gas my faith can be.  Only me?

But there’s more to this story.  Check it out for yourself.  Habakkuk 3–a psalm, a song of praise to God, which lifts high the Lord’s name as creator and sustainer, who stands with Israel through the toughest times.  Nevertheless, Habakkuk accepts that victory will have to wait.  Just around the corner yet not any time soon.

For the Babylonians lurk and skulk around that bend, and they’re not a happy bunch until they wipe out almost everyone and everything in their path (not such ancient history in light of today’s warring tragedies).  Destruction and violence will plague God’s people.  Habakkuk questions his Lord –‘…why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?’ (Hab.1:13).  Why Lord?  Why?  Include my voice in Habakkuk’s mournful choir.

What’s happened to his faith?  To be strong and firm?  Like an immovable rock?  Again, there’s more going on here.  For Habakkuk gets right in God’s face.  Bold as brass.  Layered with chutzpah.  Do you know why?  Do you?  Habakkuk knows that God can take it.  Whatever questions he has, the Lord will hear him out.  They possess a vital and spirited relationship.  Full of faith.  A no-holds-barred bond that lays it out all on the line.  More confidence than cowering.  No hiding of true feelings with the One who knows all anyway.  Our loving heavenly Father wants to hear from His own.  No matter what.

There’s more to this story.  Read again that ending in chapter 3.  Habakkuk knows that no matter what troubles God’s people face, they’re never alone.  Not only them.  Can you not hear His reassuring words?  That abandonment is not God’s plan for His own?  Can I hear my Lord Jesus’ loving words as found in the four Gospels of my Bible?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  But, then again, He’s not done with me yet.  Or with you.  That you can hang your hat on!  No matter what.

Lord Jesus, increase my faith and trust.  Amen.

CONFESSION 2 Corinthians 8

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It’s time for me to fess up.  About what?  Something scandalously juicy?  Expecting the worst of me?  Sorry to disappoint.  No murders.  No bank robberies.  At least not yet!

I may not be alone with this, but when it comes to money, I can be a tad squeaky tight.  I’d rather think of myself as determined and focused, careful and prudent.  Others may think of me as a cheapskate, a penny-pinching skinflint, a regular Jack Benny.  Nasty bunch!  By the way, did anyone see that 10 cents off coupon I misplaced?  Or that penny I found in the Walmart parking lot?

Having survived some nasty financial ups and downs (and who hasn’t?) has left me with a few scars.  Excuses?  Possibly.  Probably.  But, cutting myself some slack while looking squarely in life’s mirror, frivolous spending is not in my DNA.

We’re cautious giving to Christian causes.  Appropriate?  I think so.  Must feel comfortable with who or what we’re giving to.  Fraud stories abound, even among God’s folk.

For better role models, read 2 Corinthians 8.  Jesus’ Corinthian followers could never be labeled as tightwads.  They’re described another way–as overflowing in generosity; giving way beyond their means; begging to give more.  Their heart’s in the right place.

Read 2 Corinthians 8: 1-15 for yourself.  See what I mean?  Sound like you or me?  Must speak for me–not quite.  I admit that I’m getting better at giving.  We’ve found Christian mission groups, including our local church, that we love to give to.  Passionately.

Plus, I keep praying to Jesus to increase my giving.  Stretch me… but maybe not too much!  I may never match the description of those bighearted Corinthian believers, yet following their lead is the way to go.

I feel better.  Confession has been good.  Even better for those in need of Jesus’ help…through giving… from me and you.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving all of yourself for me.  Amen.

WHAT ABOUT THAT GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT? Micah 7

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Sometimes I’ve heard church folk, even a pastor or two, bemoan the meanness of the Old Testament God.  He’s not like Jesus.  Not a chip off the old block, so to speak.  Like we have two gods?  Now that’s skating on thin ice.

Apart from the fact that the word ‘love’ is found more often in the Old Testament than the New (check out a concordance as I did), let’s mosey on up next to the prophet Micah for a moment.  Throughout Micah 7, we hear of the decadence of ancient Israel.  They’re supposed to be God’s chosen people, but they live more like the devil–‘The godly have perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood…their hands are on what is evil, to do it well…’ (Mic. 7:2-3).  Nice bunch unless you have to be around them.

Don’t worry–there’s better news!  Beginning at Micah 7: 18 we read about God and how He deals with our sin.  Often, I wonder if I’m stuck with my misdeeds.  Slathered in Gorilla glue.  Fastened tight, never dislodged.   Even worse, does God forgive and forget?  Why should He?  Maybe He’ll throw salt on wounds of my own making?  Holds a grudge forever?  Sounds more like me than Jesus.

What is God like in the Old Testament?  What does Micah reveal?  Read it and find out for yourself.  Would it surprise you that God, here in the Old Testament, pardons His own like a kind judge who dismisses a legal case?  No longer guilty.  Free as a bird.  Then Micah says that the Lord passes over our transgressions because we’re His precious inheritance, not holding tightly onto fuming, angry grudges with too many bones to pick.

All this comes from His character’s commitment to love.  His compassion, toward all who receive Jesus into their hearts, confessing their sin’s neediness, causes God to trample all over our sins until they can’t be seen.  Covered and concealed.   He hurls sin as far away as possible until they splash and sink into far-flung depths of the deepest oceans.  Gone and good riddance.  Is that not great news?

Micah 7: 18-20 reminds us that this loving Old Testament God goes back in time to Abraham, Jacob, and the saints of old.  Going forward we find this same Lord in the pages of the New Testament.  He’s the One who loves you and me.  Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord, and Savior.  The God of the Old and the New Testaments of our Bible.

We’re no longer skating on thin ice but hitting the road with Jesus on solid ground!

Thank you, Father, for all the love you show me.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

DON’T TAMPER WITH IT 2 Corinthians 4

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New medicine bottles seem easier to open.  Used to be that I’d have to take a screwdriver and hammer to them.  We know why they were invented, but why such heavy sledding?  Someone hears our hue and cry as some newer ones are a smidgeon better.  Tamper-proof caps reduce a toxic outcome for unwelcome hands.

Take a gander at 2 Corinthians chapter 4.  St. Paul affirms that there’s nothing deceptive or deceitful in what he does– ‘…having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.  But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways.  We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word…’ (2 Cor. 4: 2).

Notice that last phrase.  It’s a warning–don’t monkey around with God’s Word.  Stop watering it down, finagling with, or cooking His book.  ‘We refuse to…tamper with God’s Word’ (2 Cor. 4: 2).

So, what does Paul mean?  Does this apply to today?  Does it ever.  Big time.  Here’s where the rubber meets the road in today’s churches.  As in treating God’s Word with reverent respect, diving in with both feet, culling all we can from His revealed and inspired wisdom, adjusting our thoughts and lives to His standards.  As opposed to the other way around.

You can see when churches begin to fail.  They play footloose and fancy-free with the Bible.  Questioning whether God really means what He says.  Condoning what God forbids.  Editing and deleting what they don’t agree with or happen to like.  Only focusing on what they want to hear.  Like that dialogue between the serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden–“…’Did God actually say…?'” (Gen. 3:1).

So many churches and denominations nosedive into this same dry well while falling down like dominoes, all in a row.   Every new societal trend eventually gets its green light.  Sin loses its edge.  No big deal.  Live and let live.  ‘…Did God actually say…’?  Seemingly without a clue, they lose members every year, eventually blown away, weightless as chaff and dust in a storm of their own making.

Don’t tamper with God’s Word.

Wake up.  Let the Bible get your attention.  Give it a fair hearing.  Then do something about it.  Put it into practice.  That’s good medicine.  Its container is not hard to open.  Not at all.  Try.  Crack open its pages.  It might become your daily bread.

And remember–don’t tamper with God’s Word.

Thank you, Lord, for your trustworthy Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THREE Micah 6

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What is God’s will?  Somewhat a conundrum and quandary?  Wish I had definitive answers.  Do you?  Actually, we should.  Check out Micah chapter 6 in the Old Testament.  As plain as the nose on my face.  And that’s ample enough!

I used to agonize over what the Lord’s will was for me.  To do this or that.  Go here or there.  Don’t do this.  Stay away from that.  Don’t even think about whatever.  You’ve done some of the same?  Maybe?  Maybe not?  Then sit back and hear me out.

God’s will can be as easy as pie and as difficult as high-level calculus and differential geometry (like I know what I’m talking about!!).  Micah 6: 8–‘He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.’

God’s will is not all twisted up in inscrutable codes, puzzles, riddles, and brainteasers.  He’s told us three things.  Three.  Not like the mile-thick IRS Code or all the rules and regulations required to build almost anything.  Forget it.  Three.  Need I repeat myself?  Okay–three!

Here they are–do justice, love kindness, and walk/live humbly with your God.  Understand?  Maybe? Maybe not?  Think about what God means.  Chew on that for a bit.

For me, doing justice is doing what’s right.  Not cheating others.  Lying is out.  Being fair even if I must swallow my pride and it costs me something.  Not only talking but doing.  What does doing justice mean to you?

To love kindness means being passionately loyal and faithful.  Loving and kind.  Simple?  Maybe?  Maybe not?  Like standing up for Jesus when the winds of culture roar gale-force against us.  Loving Him above all else.  Or at least with some honest effort in His direction.  He knows how fallible we are.  Comes as no surprise when we waver and fail.  Even still He loves us.  Got it?  I’m trying to.

Walking humbly means giving credit where credit is due.  To God.  Of course, thanking others but knowing from whose hands all blessings flow.  Not forgetting Him.  Not leaving Him out.  Not leaning on my arms more than His.  Stop fixating on yourself for a change.  That’s God’s will.  Plain and simple?

Wonder how we’re doing with what we know Jesus wants of us?  I’m fair to poor on good days.  Yet aiming to do better with His help, which is my prayer.  To do God’s will.  Being just, loving being kind, and living for others especially Jesus.  Giving it the old college try even at my age.  Join me?

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me to follow you better today.  Amen.

NOT JUST TOURISTS Micah 4

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When in Israel we loved being tourists.  We still reminisce about those ancient places that we’d only read about in our Bibles.  Had to pinch ourselves ’til almost black and blue.  Are we really where Jesus and the disciples lived, walked, and helped others?

Traipsing the streets of small villages like Bethsaida, some of the apostles’ hometown.  Ambling up, ever so carefully, the same steps used to enter the Herodian Temple in Jerusalem.  That little town of His birth.  Then back in Jerusalem to the site where Jesus was probably crucified.  Is all this real?  Are our eyes deceiving us?  Ah, the joys of being a Holy Land tourist.

But the Old Testament prophet Micah looks for more from us–“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths” (Micah 4: 1-2).

What does Micah want?  Not just tourists.  Not only those who gawk at sights, sounds, and smells.  Who take umpteen pictures that are never looked at.  Who brag to any cornered Tom Dick and Harry about their exotic globetrotting.

No.  Not them.  Rather committed followers, who are all ears to God’s teaching and decide to do what He says.  Who grab hold of Jesus, never letting go.  Who don’t stumble around, flirting with sin but walk His straight and narrow as hard as that may be.  Must admit that I fumble around, not up to snuff, easily distracted, walking on eggshells with God, too often up to my eyeballs with fear, expecting that He’ll land heavily on me for the least offense, hoping beyond hope that He’ll look the other way at gobs of bigger ones.

Yet my intention is toward Him.  In His direction.  It’s not about me.  It’s focused on belonging to Jesus.  His child and loving being right where I am… in His heart.  Safe and secure.

Ready to be more than a Holy Land tourist?  Let’s go for it.  But don’t forget the Purell!

Lord Jesus, I’m yours because you’ve chosen me.  Thank you.  Amen.