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Matthew 15-16 (ESB) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Matthew 15:1-16:28.

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it’ ” (Matthew 16:24-25).

Perhaps this more than anything other than simple unbelief keeps folks from becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. I mean, let’s face it, the picture of a cross carrier is not exactly the first idea on our list of marketing logos for anything we are persuading others to do. Carrying a cross is hard work. It is sacrifice. It is painful. It means giving up control of our lives. Jesus said it means losing our lives. Again, that probably isn’t going to make it on to the top ten list of any marketing company’s suggestions for how to get folks to follow you. Yet, there it is.

Carrying a cross. Losing a life. That’s tough. That means I need to start giving up stuff.

I need to give up my goals, my desires, my plans, my day, my control, my pride, my rights. I need to pursue Jesus’ goals, desires, plan, day, control, humility, responsibilities. That is tough. I can absolutely see why many folks just refuse outright to do this. It’s a tough sell. But I can tell you from experience that when I have actually pulled that off, Jesus has always provided better for me than what I was providing for myself. I don’t mean that in a monetary sense. I mean that in a fulfillment, meaning, happiness, joy sense.

Yes, I absolutely get why many folks don’t want to pick up a cross. To them it looks like death. But on this side of picking it up, I can tell you without equivocation, carrying a cross looks like death on the one side. On this side, it looks like life. I have days of cross-bearing and I have days when I put the cross down. I can tell you without a fear of ever being successfully contradicted, I’ll take my worst day of cross-bearing over my best day of being out in the world on my own any day.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading? Click the following link to add your input: Post a comment.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Matthew 3-4 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Matthew 3:1-4:25.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! for it is written, ” ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” ‘ ” (Matthew 4:8-10).

Don’t miss the real temptation. Satan is not tempting Jesus with kingship, rule, and power. According to Psalm 110:1-7, Jesus was already promised all this from His Father. He was going to rule all the kingdoms of the world anyway. The temptation was that God’s way to the throne was going to be hard. He had already had to leave heaven to accomplish it. He was going to spend 3 years wandering as an itinerant teacher. He was going to be rejected, mocked, ridiculed, and eventually crucified to get to rule. Satan essentially said, “Hey, why bother with all of that? Here is an easier, softer way. Just bow down and worship me once. Just once. You don’t have to do it for the rest of your life. If you just worship me here and now, you won’t have to take up that cross.” But Jesus refused. He chose God’s way, though it included the cross. And I’m so thankful, because God’s way allowed me to be saved. Satan’s way might have given Jesus rule of the world (though I’m convinced Satan is a liar and would have yanked it out from under Jesus instead of really giving Him the rule), but it would have kept me and you from being saved.

I’m so glad to see this. First, because it lets me know I’m not alone. Satan tempts me all the time. Sometimes I begin to think I’m the only one going through this pressure. But even Jesus went through it. Second, it lets me know how to defeat the temptation. Just rely on God, His Word, and His way. God’s way always works. Third, I’m glad to read it because it helps me really identify Satan’s temptations. I often overlook temptation and sin with a dismissive, “Oh, surely God wouldn’t have a problem with that.” What I need to look for is when my choices include God’s way and the easier softer way. Satan often promises me the very same thing God does. He simply says I don’t have pick up my cross to get the promise. I need to be able to say, “Not today, Satan. I’m going God’s way. It may be harder, but it works.”

Which way are you going today? God’s way or the easier softer way?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Add your input by clicking the following link: Post a Comment.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Mark 11-12 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Mark 11:1-12:44.

“And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?” But you have made it a den of robbers’” (Mark 11:17).

So much for the mild-mannered, Caspar Milquetoast Jesus. This is the “I’ll be back” Jesus. He overturns tables. He clears out cheats. He runs off the insincere. What kind of emotions do you think we would have been able to read on His face in the midst of all this?

What I can’t help but think about is I Corinthians 6:19. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In one sense, my body is a house of God. What does that mean for me? Is God’s house a house of prayer? Or have I made it into a robbers’ den? Or have I made it in to some other kind of den?

Am I willing to ask Jesus to overturn the money-changing tables in my own heart? Am I willing to ask Him to take up His scourge and cleanse me of the den of wickedness that is in my own heart? Or do I want the Caspar Milquetoast Jesus who just sadly looks the other way? The latter leaves me in my sins, in guilt, shame, misery, and despair. The former is painful, but I’ve learned it is less painful than just leaving the robbers’ den in my heart. Only being willing to let God do whatever it takes to cleanse me and keep me on His path works for me (cf Psalm 141:3-5).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click here to add your input.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Mark 7-8 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Mark 7:1-8:38.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).

A scene from a movie comes to my mind. Toward the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” they have actually found the Holy Grail. However, Dr. Elsa Schneider defied the command of the guardian and took the Grail across the seal. The earth quaked and the rock floor split open. Schneider fell in the crack and was only saved by Jones’s quick reaction of grabbing her hand. But the Grail, which had also dropped in the crack, was on a ledge just out of arm’s reach. Jones pleaded with her to let it go and let him pull her up. But how could she? If she had the Grail, she would be rich? She tried to save the life she imagined if she possessed the Grail and slipped from Jones’s hand to lose her life.

As this happened, the earth shook and now Indiana Jones was in the same position as Dr. Schneider. He was dangling in the crack, held by his father’s hands. Despite his protests for Dr. Schneider to climb out of the crack, he was being pulled by the Grail. It had been his father’s life’s work to find that Grail. He had gone through adventure, turmoil, and strife to get it. He wanted to please his father and his father’s life was in that Grail. But Henry Jones (Sean Connery’s character) calmly said, “Indiana, let it go.” Jones reached up and took his father’s hand and was pulled to safety. He gave up his life in that Grail to save his life.

For me, that is a picture of this verse. Our lives can get wrapped up in so many things–education, recreation, occupation, infatuation,etc. Sometimes we want to hold on to Jesus with one hand, while stretching out for something else that we think is what our life is all about. We hope that we can bridge the gap between the two things. But we can’t. If we try to save our lives as we see what is important about them and our goals and desires, we will lose our actual lives. However, if we are willing to give up life on our terms, we can gain real life through Jesus Christ.

We are hanging in the gap, our Grail is just out of arm’s reach. We can attempt to save our life by reaching for the Grail. But we will only lose our lives. Or we can sacrifice our lives to reach up and grab our Father’s hands and allow Him to pull us to safety, saving our lives. The choice is ours.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in this passage? Click here to add your input.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Colossians 1-2 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Colossians 1:1-2:23.

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).

In baptism we are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands. In baptism, the body of the flesh is put off, the old man is crucified. According to Colossians 2:13-14, we are forgiven in baptism and made alive through baptism (not before). When we are baptized the record of debt that stood against us is canceled. Amazing.

Sadly, not many today recognize the very clear teaching of this passage. Why? Because too many people who do recognize it have put their faith in the wrong thing and taught this passage incorrectly. Too many people who recognize the wonderful things that happen in baptism have put their faith in the wrong place. They have put their faith in baptism.

Seeker: “Why are you saved?”

Christian: “Because I got baptized.”

Do you see the problem? When I put my faith in baptism, I’m actually putting my faith in my work. But notice what Paul said. He didn’t say we were “raised with him through faith in the powerful working of our obedience.” He said we were “raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.” Where is your faith? In your baptism? In your praying? In your experiences? Or in God? When our faith is in the powerful working of God, we’ll get baptized because we know that is when God does His powerful work of circumcising the old body of the flesh, forgiving us, canceling our debt, and making us a live with Christ. We didn’t do that by baptism; God did.

Where is your faith?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click here to add your input.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Acts 7-8 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

“And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ …And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him” (Acts 8:36, 38).

Obviously, preaching Christ to the eunuch included preaching baptism in the name of Christ. The eunuch himself saw water and wanted to know if anything prevented him from participating. Today, this seems like an odd question. What could possibly prevent a man from being baptized in the name of Jesus. But for the eunuch, this was an obvious question. As a proselyted Jew who had been made a eunuch in a foreign court, he had learned that he was a “second-class” Jew (for lack of a better term). He was prevented from full access to the congregation of the Jews (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1). Would it be the same for being part of the congregation of Christ? Was he prevented by what his queen had done to him?

Praise the Lord! The answer was nothing to prevent him. There are no second-class citizens in Christ’s kingdom. Everyone has full access to Christ and to the throne of God through Christ.

That was good news for the eunuch and great news for us. None of us are second-class citizens. We can all be baptized into Christ and into His congregation and kingdom. Nothing prevents us, except possibly us. If you want to be in Christ, you can get there today. Just do what the eunuch did; be baptized into Christ. (If you need help with this, just hit the “contact” link at the top left of the page and let me know.)

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: What struck you in today’s reading? You can add your input by clicking here.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Revelation 21:1-22:21.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (Revelation 22:14).

Who is blessed? Not those who kept their robes free from every stain. Not those who never fell, soiling their robes in the mud. Not those who never rubbed their robes against the dusty earth. Rather, those who have washed their robes. Those who have surrendered to the Lamb and to His blood (Revelation 7:14). His blood does not leave an uncleanable stain, but rather makes us unstainably clean. 

We are blessed not because we have kept ourselves clean but because we went to Jesus to be cleansed. He grants us the right to the tree of life. What Adam lost, we regain in Jesus. While Adam was cast out of the garden and held at bay by the angel with flaming sword, we may enter the city of God through the gates by the blood of Jesus Christ. We may splash in the living water and sup from the tree of life. We may sing praises with the angels of God.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Revelation 5:1-6:17.

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

There seem to be numerous reasons to weep. My sins and faults mount up when I begin to count them. What is left to do but mourn in the face of so much failure. Yet, God did not leave me in this state. Rather, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus, God in the flesh, lived the perfect life. He did not fail. He did not sin. He made no mistakes. He is worthy to open the scroll of God. By His worthiness I am saved from myself and from my sins.

There is no need to weep because when God looks for worthiness in me, He will look for Jesus and not for me. Thank you, Lord, for Your sacrifice.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?