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My Enemy, My Friend

Essential 100—Read:
Colossians 1:1-23

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (Colossians 1:21-22)

My arch-enemy in the second grade was a kid named Delmer. He was the biggest, meanest, scariest guy in our class…a real bully. And I had the brains to get into a fight with him one day at recess.  No damage was done, really, we were only eight-years-old.

After school that day Delmer and two of his no-good lackeys, Stephen and Jay, confronted me as I walked on my way home. Words were exchanged, and we went our separate ways. Then I made the critical error of heaving a rock, along with some choice words, at Delmer and his buddies as they were walking away. That caused a barrage of rocks to come back my way. One of those rocks, about the size of a baseball, caught me right on the chin. It caused a great deal of pain and discomfort, along with a fair amount of blood. I ran home, bloodied and bawling, and told my mom the whole story (from my point of view of course). My mom then took me right back to school and into the headmaster’s office where I again gave my account of the story. The next day at school, Delmer and his buddies were summarily marched into the office, and the “board of education” was swiftly and forcefully applied to their “seat of knowledge”, if you know what I mean.

That encounter way back in the second grade left me with a scar that is still visible to me today. I see it every time I look into the mirror. It is a constant reminder of the fact that I offended someone, that I didn’t handle a conflict very well, and that this failure led to severe pain in my life.

Each of us has scars—unpleasant reminders of painful times. But the worst scar in our lives, whether visible or not, is the scar that sin has left. Sin always leaves scars. Sometimes those scars are physical, sometimes they’re emotional, but always they’re spiritual—ugly scars that remind us of our past failures.

I want to suggest a new way of looking at your scars. Use them as an ever-present reminder of Christ’s triumph over your failed and sinful past.  Every time you look at that scar or you feel remorse or you cry over what has been or what might have been, remember that God has brought victory out of sin through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. That is what Paul is reminding us of here in Colossians 1:20-23 as he explains what we call the doctrine of reconciliation:

“…And God, through Jesus, reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight and without blemish and free from accusation–if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel.”

In my opening story I told you about Delmer and his partners in crime, Stephen and Jay. Jay received the principle’s paddle along with Delmer for hitting me with the rock. Actually, Jay was the guy who threw the rock that did the damage. But somehow, for some reason, Jay and I were reconciled through that encounter. And Jay and I were not just reconciled, we became closest friends throughout our growing up years. We were inseparable all the way through childhood. We who were once enemies now stood as friends.

That’s a picture of reconciliation. That’s what happened when Jesus died for you. He has the scars to prove it. And so do you. His scars were for your sins. Your scars are a reminder that he became a sin offering for you.

The next time you look at your scar, or see it in your mind’s eye, don’t die again for that which Christ has already died! Rather than remembering the pain and disappointment of your sin, think of the reconciliation that Christ’s death produced between God and you.

You were once an enemy—now you are God’s friend!

“Most Christians are being crucified on a cross between two thieves: Yesterday’s regret and tomorrow’s worries.” ~Warren Wiersbe

Reflect and Apply: Here is a prayer you might want to offer to God this morning: “Lord Jesus, thank you for bearing my sin in your body on the tree. I sometimes fall back into feelings of guilt for things I have done, but today, I choose to look at those things as a reminder that I have been reconciled to God and have been brought near to him. All that is due to you, and I gratefully praise you for that.”

 

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I Think, Therefore That’s What I Am

Essential 100—Read:
Philippians 4:2-9

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Do you want to know the key to everything in your life?  Here it is:  It is how you think.

The term Paul uses for “think” in this verse is from the Greek term “logizomai”.  It literally means to compute, to calculate—to think deliberately, proactively and strategically.  It speaks of an exercise in mental reflection that affects one’s conduct.

Now herein lies an important truth about the human mind:  What we do—our behavior—and what is done to us—our circumstances—do not produce what we think. Rather, what we think produces our behavior in any given set of circumstances.

Psychiatrist William Glasser, the father of reality therapy, discovered in his study of how the brain works that man isn’t controlled by external factors, but by internal desires. Furthermore, our desires are predetermined by our thinking. So he concludes that the mind is the command center determining conduct, and therefore, the critical issue for man is how he thinks.

Glasser only discovered what the Bible had long ago said—that we are the product of our thinking. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks within himself, so he is.”  We are what we think! That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart” — the heart in Hebrew thought was the center of thinking — “for it is the wellspring of life.”

So if you want to improve your experience of life, deliberately and strategically change your thinking. When Paul says, “think about”, he doesn’t mean leave it up to whatever pops into your brain. He’s saying to intentionally and rigidly allow only certain things into your mind. He is referring to the spiritual discipline of setting godly virtues and Biblical values as the gate-keeper of your mind. He is not simply talking about positive thinking, mere optimism, self-hypnosis or silly mind-games. Rather, he is saying to think deeply, rationally and habitually about the things of God.

God created us with a mind, and he commands us to think. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together.” And the primary path for our reasoning is to be God’s Word. When God gave us his revelation, he didn’t give us a movie, or a series of music videos, not even a book on tape with background organ music.  He gave us the written Word, which by nature calls us and causes us to think.

When you get serious about the spiritual discipline of Biblical thinking, it will produce a new pattern of thinking. That new pattern of thinking will produce a new pattern of living. That new pattern of living will lead to a new experience of life, the abundant life, that Jesus said he came to give.

Everything God’s wants you to experience in this life is keyed by how you think. Ruthlessly tune out that which is inconsistent with Biblical truth and evaluate everything that presents itself to you with your Scriptural values (Philippians 4:8), then simply practice thinking. Then what you think will produce Godly behavior.

Allow the mind of the Master to be the master of your mind.

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”

Reflect and Apply: Let the truth of God’s Word saturate your mind before you leave the house today.  Ask God to take my mind and let it be always, only thinking of him throughout the day. Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind, and allow your thinking to produce Christlikeness in all you do.

 

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Yield

Essential 100—Read:
Ephesians 5:10-20

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.” (Ephesians 5:18, NLT)

If you are a believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, it’s a divine expectation. Spirit-filled, Spirit-formed, Spirit-led living is a Christian essential.

In the New International Version of the Bible, when Paul says, “Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery,” that is, meaningless, valueless, even self-destructive living, but “instead be filled with the Spirit,” he was speaking to believers who had come out of the pagan culture of Ephesus.

In their pagan worship and ritual, one of their idols was Baccus, the god of wine and drunken orgies. Their belief was that to commune with this god and to have his leading, they had to get drunk. In their drunken stupor, they believed they could discern his will and how best to serve him. And the sick by-product of their out-of-control intoxication was to engage in sexual immorality with temple prostitutes.

Just as depending on wine was a destructive counterfeit to Spirit-filled living in Paul’s day, so we need to be careful in our culture today where alcohol is the drink of choice to help people relax, feel confident, or take away the pain of whatever ails them and make them feel good, that we don’t buy into that deceptive line. This is not an anti drinking campaign, since Scripture doesn’t explicitly forbid the enjoyment of alcohol. However, there are an unfortunately large number of Christians today whose drinking habits are no different from unbelievers. The truth is, it is still God’s desire that we depend on being filled with his Spirit to make us confident, competent and joyful rather than a drink—or for that matter, a relationship or position or a possession.

In truth, nothing compares to the Spirit-filled life to satisfy every longing of your heart and enable you to experience the good life. The greatest and longest lasting “high” in this world comes from being filled with the Spirit-filled.  Now Paul is not referring to that instantaneous infilling of the Spirit that we read about in Acts 2, but rather the ongoing submission of our will to God’s work through an active yielding of one’s life to the Spirit’s control.

Spirit filling in the book of Acts was an event, while the filling in Ephesians was an ongoing process. In Acts, it was evidenced by extraordinary, miraculous happenings, while in Ephesians, it was evidenced by ordinary, everyday choices that submitted the believers to the Spirit. In Acts, the Spirit was received by asking in faith, while in Ephesians the Spirit was pleased by the believer yielding in obedience. Both kinds of Spirit infilling are valid, and needed.

Being filled with the Spirit is not a matter of eliminating sinful or unproductive behavior in your life and passively waiting for God to supernaturally fill you, Paul is saying Spirit-filled living is about eliminating those things that grieve the Holy Spirit and replacing them with passions that please him. Living the Spirit-filled life is about the daily choices you make to yield control to him—choices to imitate God and eliminate immoral or questionable practices; choices to find out what pleases God; choices to find out what God’s will is—and ruthless pursue it.

Make a decision today to allow the Holy Spirit to have all of you! In every area of your life, yield control to him—that is what it means to be Spirit-filled. And there is no temporary high that compares to that.

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.” ~Augustine

Reflect and Apply: Offer this prayer: “Holy Spirit, take control of all of me—mind, tongue, hands, eyes—all my thoughts, words and actions. Have more of me, I pray.”

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Go Do The Right Thing!

Essential 100—Read:
Galatians 5:16-26 & 6:1-10<

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10)

Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing good! Am I right—or is it just me?

I think that’s what Paul means when he uses the word “tired.” There are times when you feel tired of doing the right thing. There are times, honestly, when you feel like being bad—like grousing at your family, running a red light when it’s late at night and there’s no one around, eating a chocolate covered peanut out of the bulk food bin without paying for it, drinking directly out of the juice container rather than using a glass—or worse!

That’s just a part of what it means to live as a fallen human being in a broken, messed up world. Doing good all the time isn’t the easiest thing to do. Giving into your fleshly feelings is.

Being a Christ-follower, however, means being ruled not by a feeling, but by a law, a higher law. Paul describes that higher law throughout Galatians when he speaks of the law of servanthood (5:13), the law of love (5:14), the law of Christ (6:2), and the law of sowing and reaping (6:7-9).

To be an authentic follower of Jesus—to live as Jesus would, to think as Jesus thought, and to do as Jesus did—means to treat these higher laws just as you would the laws that rule our universe. For instance, I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you’re not going to go up to the roof of your house today and defy the law of gravity. You might feel like flying, you might feel like weightlessness would be a cool thing, but you are not going to challenge the higher law that outweighs your want of weightlessness. There is a name for people who do that—dead!

So it is with doing good. You don’t always feel like doing good, but there is a higher law which you must serve. In this case, it is the law of sowing and reaping. When you don’t feel like doing good, you remember that there will be a harvest of blessing in due season for sowing seeds of good in the present season. Therefore, serving the higher law means that you put your feelings aside and simply “will” yourself to do good.

Now, by and large, there is an interesting thing that happens when you grab your “want to” by your “will to” and do what these higher laws are calling you to do: Your feelings begin to line up behind your actions. If you act like Christ, you begin to feel good about it. And when you string enough good acts together until those corresponding good feelings begin to follow, you will to live at a pretty high level of joy. Plus, you make God pretty happy as well—and that’s always a good thing.

Go out of your way to be a do-gooder today—even if you don’t feel like it. It’s the law! So go do the right thing!

“Grab your ‘wanter’ by your ‘willer’ and make yourself do what you know you ought to do, and God will help you do it.” ~Paul Faulkner

Reflect and Apply: Look for good things to do in the ordinary moments of your life, because that is simply what the law of Christ is all about. Love someone who isn’t too lovable in observable, practical ways. Serve someone when you feel like being selfish. Show kindness to some unsuspecting person with no thought of repayment. By your actions, fulfill the law of Christ today.

 

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Inseparable!

Essential 100—Read:
Romans 8:1-39

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35,38-39)

Thank God for Romans 8. It is chock full of encouraging theology that reminds us of the great and unstoppable effort God exerted to redeem us from sin, remake us into the image of Jesus, and ready us to fit into His eternal purposes. From among many other reasons, this is so encouraging because often, on the surface of things, it seems as if precisely the opposite of redeeming, remaking and readying us for glory both in this life and especially in the next is the farthest thing from what is actually happening.

You see, we live in a dual reality. While the work of God mentioned above is inexorably marching toward a glorious conclusion, we are still trapped in the sinful flesh, living in the sin-infested world, under the assault of the king of sin, Satan. Often our sense of reality is that sin—our sin, the world’s sin, the unrelenting pressure of the sin-maker—is dragging us in the opposite direction of our redemption.

But the greater reality is that while that may seem to be true, God is at work in you, working out His eternal purposes. And here is the good news: His work is unstoppable! Moreover, while you are living in that dual reality between the awful pull of sin and the unstoppable work of redemption, you are inseparable from the stubborn, persistent, irrevocable love of God.

Did you catch that twice in these verses Paul reminds us of this glorious truth—that between you and God’s love the only thing that stands is the word “inseparable”? What is it that can separate you from God’s ever-abiding, redeeming, providing, sustaining love? Nothing!

Within the category of “nothing” is a pretty exhaustive list of things that cannot come between you and God’s love: Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword; not even death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  I think that pretty much covers it, don’t you?

Yes, not even your sin—past, present and future—can come between you and God’s love. Christ Jesus made sure of that on the cross.

Inseparable!

“My life is a witness to vulgar grace—a grace that amazes as it offends…this vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough….”  ~Brennan Manning

Reflect and Apply: Memorize Romans 8:32, “Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all—won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?” Now meditate on how this verse is to be understood in light of your sinful past (Romans 8:1), your moral weaknesses (Romans 8:5-13), your spiritual identity (Romans 8:14-17), your circumstances, past and present (Romans 8:28), and Satan’s attempts to separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39). 

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To Be Continued

Essential 100—Read:
Acts 25:1-28:31

“Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” (Acts 28:30-31)

If you take the time to read this last chapter of Acts in its entirety, which is the culmination of a story that began back in Acts 21, you will notice a curious thing: It has no ending.

Other historical accounts in the Bible bring the story they tell to an obvious conclusion. Not Acts. The author, Luke, adds no “the end” or “that’s all folks” to this history of Christianity in the first century. He simply leaves Paul in Rome, performing miracles along the way, trying to convince the Jews that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament promise, and preaching the Good News to the Gentile world.

I think Luke was intentional and strategic in leaving us hanging in Acts 28. Rather, I think the Holy Spirit, who inspired him to write this account, had a specific reason for preventing Luke from bringing this ship into the harbor. He wanted us to realize that we, the church, the people of God, are the continuing story of the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

You see, there are still miracle stories waiting to be recorded. God is still working among his people, Israel, through the likes of you and me. The world is still waiting to hear the Good News of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is still waiting to advance and reclaim territory now held by Satan that rightfully belongs to the Creator God.

We are the story! We are the next chapter—Acts 29! We are to take up Paul’s mantle and do the stuff of the Kingdom wherever we are. This is a story that is to be continued.

So give it your all. Your testimony will not be recorded in the Bible, but it will be written down in heaven’s record, and celebrated by God himself, along with heaven’s hosts for all eternity.

You are now the story…you are Acts 29! Write it well, my friend!

“Luke writes a summary at the end of Acts so that it can be followed by an account of the spread of the Gospel in a new phase, or into a new region. But in this case, Luke doesn’t give the account – he expects the reader to have a part in writing the new story – to write [a new] volume! Although the book has ended, the story has not! Luke finishes with the subliminal message – ‘to be continued’! …We as readers are to finish the story! We continue the writing…to press on with the unfinished task!” ~Paul Trebilco

Reflect and Apply: Do you want my part of the ongoing story that brings great glory and pleasure to God?  If you dare, ask him to write you into Acts 29!

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It’s Not Repentance Until You Change

Essential 100—Read:
Acts 16:1-20:38

“And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.” (Acts 19:18-19)

Powerful signs and great wonders attended Paul’s extended ministry in Ephesus. (Acts 19:11-12) Even as Paul’s handkerchief was placed on the sick, they were healed and the demonized were set free in dramatic fashion.

As you might imagine with such a demonstration of Kingdom power, a great number of people in this major city of Asia Minor came to know Jesus Christ. The number of converts was so large that as a result of people abandoning their idols, the thriving idol-making industry in Ephesus experienced a sudden and severe economic downturn—which didn’t make the idol-makers all too happy. (Acts 19:25-27)

One group of these Ephesians who turned to Christ were those who practiced sorcery. We are told they experienced such strong spiritual conviction that they brought their incantation books and publicly burned them. Someone at the scene figured out the total value of the books and placed it at fifty thousand pieces of silver—a figure by today’s worth that would be in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.

Now that is repentance! When those who come to Christ are willing to put their livelihoods on the line and burn the tools of their trade, you know that real inner transformation has taken place. These sorcerers had experienced a true change of heart, mind and behavior.

And that is what Biblical repentance is all about. It is not just feeling bad over wrongdoing. It is not feeling embarrassed that you have been caught—or fear that you might. It is not just saying, “I’m sorry!” It is a literal 180-degree change in thinking and acting. The Greek word for repentance means exactly that: Change.

Keep that in mind the next time you are under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. When repentance is in order for a wrong attitude, a hurtful word, a destructive behavior, or just a plain run-of-the-mill sin, Biblical repentance calls you to completely turn from it in heart, mind and behavior and to pursue a new course of righteousness.

That is true repentance. And that’s what the Father wants from us.

“Wherever there is a pulverized and penitent heart, there grace also is, and wherever there is a voluntary confession not gained by pressure, there love covereth a multitude of sins.” ~Menno Simons

Reflect and Apply: Here is a prayer I dare you to pray: “Lord, search my heart and bring to light any sin that I have committed. Here and now I commit to repenting of anything that stands in the way of my love and obedience to you.”