Author Archives: revjaf

WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF LOVE?…Job 11

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Do you remember the popular song entitled ‘Who Wrote the Book of Love?’ by  ‘The Monotones’?  I’ve wondered about their name.  Maybe they were all monotone singers?  Usually, you wouldn’t advertise that!  I sang the lead part in a Gospel quartet called ‘Livin’ Harmony’.  We didn’t sing monotone.  I know people who do… and it’s not a pretty sound!  ‘Livin’ Harmony’ tried to blend as if producing one sound.  Harmony.  Such a good feeling when we lived up to our name.  ‘The Monotone’s’?  I still like their 1958 song–‘Who Wrote the Book of Love?’.

We believers know the answer.  Don’t we?  Jesus wrote the book of love.  He didn’t read someone else’s.  He didn’t attend a class or seminar on it.  No focus group pooling their collective opinions.  No polls taken.  He wrote the book of love.  Providing the example for all who follow in His footsteps.   Jesus did all willingly… ‘for the joy set before Him'(Hebrews 12:2).  Not to show off or be ‘Mr. Big Shot’.  Hardly.  Quite the contrary.  As one who puts a towel around his waist to wash the feet of others.  A servant.  He wrote the book of love.

To wash away our sin and shame.  That’s what He was doing during Holy Week.  Washing away the graffiti of our guilt.  Removing the tattoos of sin and blame.  Not rubbing our faces in them, holding us down until we cry ‘uncle’.  That’s where Job 11 comes in.  It’s about time, I know!  Specifically, I’m looking at verses 13-19.  Zophar is one of Job’s friends.  Does he remain such as he harangues the beleaguered man?  He may have wanted to be Job’s friend, but had such a poor way of showing it.  Like me sometimes, wanting to be helpful only to make such a mess of things.  Rushing in where angels had flown away.  Zophar so good!  Not really.

Zophar is a prime example of a finger-pointer.  Shame…shame…shame on you, Job.  In the verses already mentioned, he accuses Job eighteen times of being at fault for all the tragedies he’s going through.  Only seven verses with eighteen ‘you’ or ‘your’.  As if Job needs berating.

Not only Job.   Blame comes real easy for me.  Too easy.  So, remember, and don’t forget!  Jesus covers it all.  Shame is never the same when He forgives and forgets.  Never.  Maybe it’s time to believe that Jesus has let all of that go.  Good riddance!  Good news!  Easter is coming!  How He loves us.  After all, He wrote the book of love!

Prayer:  Lord, release from our sin and shame is such an amazing blessing.  What love!  In Jesus’ name, who wrote the book.   Amen.

EASTER IS COMING!… Acts 2: 37-40

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Easter is coming!  Christ has risen!  He has risen indeed!  We’ll say that in church Easter morn, celebrating what only God can do.  Death has been delivered a death-blow.  Dead-ends become highways to Heaven…all because of Jesus Christ.  His death on the cross becomes our birth certificate to eternal life.  Such is the believer’s vantage point.  We look up even in the midst of a society and world falling headlong into the depths of muck and mire.

Why aren’t more people looking to the only One who can turn around such a mess?  Could it be that the harvest is ripe and ready, but we’re too shy or lazy to tell others the Good News?  I’m pointing my finger right at you, with three more aimed back at you-know-who…ME!   The Apostle Peter certainly had his boldness-tank filled to the brim.  Went from being a three-time denier to saying this on the day of Pentecost:  ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation'(Acts 2: 40).

He’s not saying that we can save ourselves.  Not at all.  In verse 38 Peter urges his listeners to repent(turn around), confess faith in Jesus the Messiah, and then be baptized showing their allegiance to Him alone.  Peter then says this in verse 41: ‘Those who received his message…’  Those who believed, opened their hearts and lives to the Son of God, experienced God’s forgiveness, receiving new life.  They are the ones, we are the ones, who have escaped this ‘corrupt generation’.  There’s a way out.  Follow the way of Jesus.  The earliest title for Jesus’ followers was this:  ‘people of the Way’.  He is the Way, the only way(John 14:6).

Christ is risen!  He’s alive…He’s coming again.  Are you ready?  I ask myself the same question.  Jesus will usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth.  Yes, first He must go through Good Friday.  His death on the cross.  For us.   If our days are dark and dreary, not to worry.  Easter is coming!  It’s on the horizon.  Can you see His new day dawning?  I’m not an early riser.   But I can see His light coming!

Prayer:  Lord, we’re so excited about new life in your Son Jesus.  Thank you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

PALM BRANCHES AND ALL!…Matthew 21: 1-17

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Matthew chapter 21 paints a picture of that first Palm Sunday.  Jesus, entering Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, riding a donkey while surrounded by lots of high-spirited people casting palm branches onto dusty streets making His way clear.  Here comes the Messiah, who will save His people!  They shout the Hebrew word ‘hosanna’, which means ‘save us’.  The Promised Messiah!  ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’

I have a question for you.   How did they know that Jesus was their Messiah?  This Jesus from Nazareth.  Any ideas?  Here’s mine.  Basically, the same way we do.  We know Him through His Word, the Bible.  The clues are all there, in the Old Testament.  Really?  Truly!  Jesus’ Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem is built solidly on God’s written Word.  Read those seventeen verses in Matthew 21.  You’ll find quotes from all over the Old Testament.  From Zechariah, the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and once again from the collection of the Psalms.

All the sights and sounds of that Sunday.  All the events of that special day could be recognized as echoes from the Old Testament, which they knew so well.  Ever felt like you’ve been somewhere before, that things seem strangely familiar?  Some shadow from the past that begs to be recognized in the present?  A scent that ushers an old memory front-and-center?   Such was Palm Sunday.  All those Bible passages shed light on the events of that day.

I wonder if life is so confusing for people today, even for believers in Jesus, because so little of the Bible is in us.  Society, in general, is largely illiterate to God’s Word, which means they are open to any form of deception that looks and feels good.  This all-time, every year best-seller, contains the tools for life… for the taking and using.  The key in their hands to open locked doors, but rarely used.  No wonder why so many feel disconnected and empty.  How sad as the cure is so close at hand.  He’s knocking at the door of many hearts this very moment, but His gentle rap-tap often falls on deaf ears.

Palm Sunday made sense because God said in many places, through many prophets and encounters, that He was sending the Messiah and Savior into a needy and sinful world.   ‘Hosanna’–save us!  May we build more of Him into our lives as we use His tools, found in the pages of His Word, from Genesis to Revelation.  That will ‘save us’ from the many wiles and schemes of the enemy.  We still need ‘Hosanna’– God saving us… for Himself!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for Jesus, our Savior and Lord.  We wave the palm branches, welcoming Him into our lives and world.  In His saving name.  Amen.

 

IN THE CLOUD… Acts Chapter 1

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My wife knows about computers and the internet.  Not me!  After all, I was the one who hastily promised that one more problem with my laptop computer and out the window it goes!  However, it has heard me and is on its best behavior.   For the moment!

Let me ask you a question.  How does this computer work?  I don’t get it.  Know what scares me?  What’s next?  The new-and-improved whatever?  Now that I’ve mastered my clever use of the microwave!  Change doesn’t stop.  Not for all my wishing.  When I get the hang of something, it becomes obsolete.  That’s not nice!  Or fair!  Like all the talk about ‘the cloud’.  Head in the clouds, sounds about right!  What is it?  About storing information?  ‘In the cloud’?  Where?  How?  What?  When?  Oy vay, already!  Sure is cloudy to me!

Why not turn to the Bible?  About time, right?  I was reading in Acts chapter one, after Jesus’ resurrection and His amazing appearances, which the disciples could not deny(even doubting Thomas!), that Jesus is ALIVE!  Their collective jaw has fallen wide open.  Acts 1:9–‘…He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.’  A cloud.

Jesus has been with them in person, face-to-face.  But now in a new realm, which they’re not able to see through or penetrate.  Clouds now separate us from Him.  Thick clouds like the one’s in the desert that shaded God’s people from the blazing sun after they left slavery in Egypt.  When my wife and I traveled in Egypt, visiting the Pyramids, the Temple of Luxor, and the Valley of the Kings, any cloud that offered even a millisecond of shade was most welcome.  God’s gift to us…and the ancient Israelites.

Today, spiritually, ‘the cloud’ requires the exercise of faith,  a certainty beyond sight.  We can believe in Him whom we cannot see.  Faith becomes stronger when tough times muscle in.  No pain…no gain.  Don’t bemoan ‘the cloud’.  The dark days when the sun seems far away, when warmth has given way to some shiver of icy cold trouble.  When God seems out-of-reach, even out-of-touch.

Yes,  Jesus is no longer here on earth.  What He’s given us, what He’s left for us, is sufficient to manage even those cloudy days and rainy nights that come our way.  The Bible, the Holy Spirit, other believers, prayer, faith…

I thank the Lord for clouds.  I’ll stand under them knowing that He is above yet never far away.  His safety… under the cloud.  For some day, not too far off, we’ll be in heaven, enjoying all the light we ever wanted.  We won’t even need the sun above.  For there will be the Son.  The Lamb who is the lamp(Revelation 21: 23).  Look!  The clouds have parted and disappeared!  Beautiful weather for the forever future…!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for shade and protection.  Feels good to be in your family.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

NO ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS!… Psalms 63 and 64

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Psalms 63 and 64 are jam-packed with wisdom for daily living.  Taken together, they would be good for what ails us.  Ready for some good medicine?  Without all those television warnings of multiple, horrific and sometimes fatal side effects?  But nothing dangerous with these psalms.  No snake oil here!  Don’t even need a spoonful of sugar, Mary Poppins!  Good… all on their own.

Psalm 63: 3– ‘your love is better than life’.  We think that human life is the most precious thing of all.  But it isn’t.  God’s love trumps every hand we’re dealt.  When we believe in Jesus, He gives us the antidote to death itself, which is eternal life!  No better medicine anywhere!  God’s love will outlast anything.

Love comes from Jesus, who gave His all for us.  His commitment– when we are His, He will be ours forever.  He loves us that much.  Hard to fathom?  Many times I can’t get a handle on the depth, height and width of God’s love in Jesus.  But my inability to grasp His love is not the issue.  What matters is His word.  He’s given it to us.  Don’t take my word for it.  Take His!  And when you do, God opens up all kinds of blessings for us to utterly delight in.  Lasting things…can you think of some?

Like forgiveness.  Heavy weights of guilt and shame lifted from our shoulders.  A purpose beyond myself.  Thinking about others.  Even those whom I utterly dislike.  I need to love and pray for them.  Feels right to do that.  Not easy, though.

He also gives us an open communication route–prayer.  Psalm 64:1– ‘Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint…’  We can tell Him whatever is on our hearts and minds.  Then verse two tells us of God’s protection and care–‘Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked…’   He hides us from many hazards in life.  I can’t even imagine all the times He’s spared me, hid me, protected me from some horrible threat.  I wasn’t even aware of it at the time.  Thought it was some lucky break.  Not quite!  Angels are all around us.

Finally, and best of all, we’ll praise Him–‘All mankind will fear(worship); they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.  Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!'(Psalm 64: 9-10).

Let’s think hard and long on the things of the Lord.  Not focusing on this life alone, but on what’s lasting… the Lord Himself!   Finally, like the grand finale fireworks on the 4th of July, to praise Him more and more.  The skies erupt with color!  Aerial salutes in praise to our wonderful God and Lord!  I’m feeling better already!  You too?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving us the best life of all.  Not due to anything in us, but all from your Son Jesus Christ.  In His name.  Amen.

HOW I WISH… TO LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP!…Matthew 11:25-30

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I’m thinking about the phrase from the Song of Solomon, about those ‘little foxes that ruin'(S of S 2:15).  So many little things that rob us of joy and peace.  Sending us down ‘dead ends’,  off-course from where the Lord wants us to be.  We could go on-and-on with a list of what distracts us in life.

For me, lots of ‘little foxes’ roam my emotions.  Happens in the middle of the night.  I need some shuteye, but ‘little foxes’ pursue me.  Fears roll on.  Worries rear their ugly heads.  It’s dark outside.   I sense something within that feels very threatened and frightened.  When these ‘little foxes’ wake me, there’s not much chance of falling back to sleep.  At least not for awhile.    Possibly, it’s as we age, that sleep becomes a rarer commodity.  I’m no expert in almost anything, but I do know what ‘dogs’ me at night.  It’s not dogs, but those ‘little foxes that ruin’.

How I wish I could lay me down to sleep.  It was not many years ago now that the Lord put an idea into my ‘pea brain’ that helps.  I asked Him for relief.  This is what came to me.  Pray.  I know this sounds like something a pastor would recommend!   Typical.  But that’s it.  So, when I wake up with a jolt,  I begin to praise the Lord!  Stop the panic… start to pray.

Do you know how hard it is to praise Him?   Stopping my incessant asking and begging for things for me or others I know?  Takes real effort, sad to say.  But I do it.  Thank Him for Himself.  Praise Him for His amazing creation, His constant care for a world that increasingly thumbs-its-collective-nose at Him.  I thank Him–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Then I pray for our family and friends, for missionaries we know and support.  Christian organizations we love to give to, our church family, the other churches which I served rather poorly sad to admit, and for our country drifting farther and farther away from the Lord.  Certainly, my writing.  That He would be glorified, and you would be edified, encouraged and even stretched in your faith.

After awhile, never know when, off I go to sleep!  A peace passes over my weary mind as I slumber off to ‘nodsville’!  Sometimes to a disturbing dream!  Oh well, sleep… nevertheless!   Prayer is the primary aid in my battle for slumber and ‘forty-winks’!  Then again, should prayer ever be called yet another ‘aid’?  No, it’s more like the way to go, first-and-foremost.  I’m staying with Him in prayer…whenever.  Sleep or no sleep!  Join me?

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, that we can praise you.  We need your peace and rest.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

PRODUCTIVE FOR GOD?… Matthew 21: 33-46

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We love to visit South Carolina.  Especially the city of Charleston, with all its beauty, culture and history.  We’ve always rented a condo on nearby Seabrook Island.  A wonderful setting where you could just stay put and have the best time ever.  In early spring one year, we enjoyed all the flowers in bloom.  The redbud trees with their vibrant purplish/red flowers, while the flowering peach trees with tri-color blooms took our breath away.  The azaleas bursting forth with colors of red and white, pink and purple.

This particular year, the winter had been especially severe, with a couple of devastating ice storms that felled trees and their limbs as far as you could see.  Even still,  spring was right on schedule.  Everything as it should be.  All designed by the Master Gardener, God Himself.  When we have drought here in the Pacific Northwest,  get ready for record rainfall the next year.  Happens… but never by happenstance.

God’s creation balances itself,  as He plans for it.  Today, I’m exploring one verse in Matthew 21.  Jesus tells a disturbing story about what happens to people who thumb their noses at God Almighty, His prophets and servants, and then finally His Son.  Fools all.   Their end?  Not a pretty sight.  Even the ‘pious’ folk, so impressed with themselves, their robes and high positions in society, will have surprises awaiting them.  And not very pleasant ones at that.

Bringing this story to today, I fear for those church denominations that have flaunted their disdain for the Word of God.  Pick-and-choose what they like, reject what they don’t.  The Bible–tossed aside as myth and fable.  Out-of-date like many canned veggies in our old pantry!  Out-of-touch with the current culture.  Truth has expired or so they say.  What a shame!

Jesus, says that God’s Kingdom will not be for them, but given ‘…to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons'(Matthew 21: 41).  God’s Kingdom–taken from some, given to others.  Heavy words.  Jesus says that the Kingdom is given to us.  Never earned.  Can’t add up enough ‘brownie-points’ to gain entrance.  We’re never good enough.  We don’t have to be.  It’s His gift to those who believe in Him.  Given…to those who will bear fruit.

Now here’s another angle.  We dare not sit on our haunches, hoisting a tall one, toasting God, basking in the lazy, hazy summer days of the Kingdom.  That won’t happen if we truly are God’s own.  We’ll be fruitful and productive.  Jesus doesn’t say what kind of fruit productive people will bear.  That leaves the orchard open to all kinds and varieties.  Whatever you were made to be by God, be that for Him.  Go for it!   A harvest for the Lord!  Pretty tasty stuff indeed!

Prayer:  Lord, we want to be all that you have created us to be.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THOSE LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT!… Song of Solomon 2: 15

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You may not remember a popular singer of the 1940’s and ’50’s.  She had many hit singles during a long career, and lived to the ripe old age of 94!  One hit song was ‘Little Things Mean a Lot’.  The lyrics were somewhat silly, but the tune very catchy.  Reading this verse from the Song of Solomon, I was humming the tune to myself.

The first time I heard Kitty Kallen sing this song was in Florida, where my brother-in-law played it on his 8-track cassette player.  Unfortunately, many of his 8-track tapes had melted in the heat and humidity of a few Florida summers.  But this one, ‘Little Things Mean a Lot’, was in mint condition!

King Solomon wrote–‘catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom'(S of S 2:15).  Little things.  Doesn’t take much.  As in relationships.  A word poorly chosen.  Something overlooked or forgotten, that seemed small to us yet significant to someone else.  A friend gives us a strange look.  Only one person utters a cutting comment about a sermon I delivered,  and all the good comments(if there were any!) go out the window.  ‘Little foxes…’.  You can think of your own.

What do we do with these ‘little foxes’ and the damage they do?  Solomon says to ‘…catch them…’  How?  I think this is where boundaries in our relationships come in handy.  Making sure we keep away from people who belittle and humiliate us.  Nibble away at us.  Drain us.  Suck the air out of the room.  You know who they are in your life.  Pray, asking the Lord, to help you minimize and marginalize them.   Left…to their own devices.  No longer roaming free, eating away in your vineyard.  Know what I mean?  Or who?

What else to ‘catch them’?   Here’s another side of the same coin.  We can try to think the very best of people.  To step back and not let every little thing bother us.  To give someone the benefit of the doubt.  Many times, I’ve concluded something or other, only to be totally wrong.  Cut them some slack.  I’ve heard this called ‘charitable judgements’.  Giving the benefit of the doubt.  Try it.  I have.  Sure, I don’t like being wrong.  But, it’s far better than ruining a relationship, all for the wrong reasons, some of my own making.

‘Little Things Mean a Lot’!  Watch out for them.  Keep those ‘little foxes’ out.  But step back and make sure that what we think are ‘little foxes’ are truly that.  Sometimes they’re not.  They might be melted ‘tapes’ playing a twisted, messed-up and garbled tune.  So, be on guard.  Be careful.  Watch…

Prayer:  Lord, we need your Holy Spirit’s gift of discernment to identify those ‘little foxes’.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

READING ALL OF JONAH?…Jonah 1-4

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Here’s a challenge for you.  Read the entire Old Testament book of Jonah.  Only 4 chapters.   A measly 48 verses.  Too much to ask?  I think not!  So, go for it!  While serving my second church, I was asked by a local radio station to tape four Bible studies for weekly broadcast.  The topic?   Any Scripture of my choice.  Really?  And me…on the radio?  Very thrilling, indeed!

Let me tell you why.  It was listening to Billy Graham’s radio program, ‘The Hour of Decision’, when I first heard about faith in Jesus Christ.  I responded ‘YES!’ to the invitation.  The message of God’s love was crystal clear to me.  I knew nothing about the Bible.  I was not from a family that often attended church.  God was rarely  mentioned in our home.  And He wanted to be in my life?  I was merely flipping the dial.  News programs?  No.  But the best news I’d ever heard.  Now, years later, I’m on the radio telling others that God loves them as much as He loves me.  All because of what His Son did on the cross thousands of years before.

What should I talk about?  I chose Jonah for my talks.  Why?  I identify with him…the reluctant prophet.  The one who says ‘no’ to God.  The presumptuous preacher, who would rather go as far away from God’s call as he possibly could.  He ships off to Tarshish, when God had clearly commanded him to bring good news to Ninevah, the opposite direction.  As if the Lord was telling you to preach in New York City, and you high tale it to Los Angeles.  That’s Jonah.   Rebellious.  Angry and bitter.

Not only Jonah.  That’s me… sometimes.  You too?  No, never!  This is an amazing story.  Chapter 3 verse 1–  ‘Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time…’   Not giving up on His prophet.  Or letting him off the hook, either.  God puts it right to him to do the tough work of God’s will.   The word of the Lord comes right at Jonah a second time.

There’s that word ‘again’ again!   God gives Jonah another shot at obedience.  I love that thought.  God majors in forgiveness.  He loves to give us His mercy… in spite of all our failures, our flippant and feeble excuses.  He comes alongside…a second time.  A third.  A fourth.  Again and again.  Not giving up on.  Thank God for second chances.  He’s done that for me many times.

Unfinished business for God in your life?   Is there not someone, whom you’ve been avoiding, running away from, who needs to hear the good news of Jesus?  And God says to go back.  Tell them of His love and about His Son.  Will you?  What will we do with God’s second chances?

Prayer:  Lord, for all your love and forgiveness, we thank you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THAT SPECIAL LITTLE WORD… Matthew 22: 1-14

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I was reading the story about the wedding feast.  Reminded me that in April of 1994 (yes, I do know the date!), Sue and I got married and had a lovely reception.  Whoever was filming took pictures exclusively of the food!  Who cares about the people attending, especially that groom and his lovely bride!

Matthew, chapter 22– story of a king’s wedding feast for his son , with people making all kinds of excuses as to why they can’t attend.  Even murdered some of the king’s servants, who came bearing their invitations.  Can you imagine?

The king orders his remaining servants to hit the highways-and-byways inviting anyone they can find.  The high-and-mighty would be replaced by the down-and-out.   Now, let me step back for a moment.  Matthew, who is the only Gospel writer to record this particular parable, is a tax-collector.  Not an endearing occupation listed on one’s resume!

He had two names.  Matthew and Levi.  Lots of people had two names.   I have a few.  My classmates from school days always call me ‘Johnny’.  Relatives say ‘John Adam’.  Lots of men in my family were named John.   If my two names were said together, it helped identify me as the one in trouble!   No high marks for creative naming in our tribe!

Jesus has called lots of people to follow Him.  But a tax-collector?  That raises a few eyebrows!  Can you hear the behind-the-scenes mumbling?

Now, the Bible doesn’t say so, but I can picture Matthew Levi, having godly parents, who would have agonized over this son, who had gone astray.  Levi, one of Jacob’s twelve sons,  founded the priesthood.  They led all worship in the Tabernacle and Temple.  Was not his name a wish and prayer of his parents?  To grow up to be a godly, priestly man?   They would have made sure he received a proper education in the Word of God.  Obeyed God’s Law.  Celebrating all the holy days of the Jewish calendar and the Sabbath.

I wonder if his conscience didn’t nag at him something fierce.  So, when Jesus walks up to his tax-collecting table and asks him to follow Him(Matthew 9:9), there are no excuses given.  Not even a second thought.  Just ‘up and at ’em’ for Matthew Levi with the good possibility of being right with his God.  Yes!

What about that little word mentioned in today’s title?   It’s a tiny one.  Easy to skim over.  Here it is:  ‘again’.  Five letters.  That’s all.  But it makes a world of difference to someone like Matthew Levi.  To you and me.  Matthew writes that Jesus once ‘again’ tells the people a parable(Matthew 22: 1).  As in second chances.  Not giving up on us.   Even to tax-collectors.  God will find a way.  Keep praying daily that everyone in your family will come to know Jesus.  Keep at it.  Don’t ever give up!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for all your help.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.