The Image of Christ

What image comes to mind when you think of Jesus? Do you picture Him as being white, brown hair, blue eyes, a beard, and dressed in a robe that looks like a servant’s gown? Or, do you have a more majestic view of Him? Do you see Him as a King?

Most of us have grown up seeing portraits of Jesus as painted by European artists. If we haven’t grown up with those portraits, we’ve seen them at some time in our lives. He has been portrayed as a European rather than a Jew. When He walked this earth, He was of Jewish human heritage.

Of course, the human image He donned while walking this earth is not really who He is. He is far more than any human being could be. His heavenly being is beyond a human body. So, what does He really look like? Well, we are given an image of Him in Scripture.

Jesus is described as He is seen by John in the book of Revelation. This is His heavenly body, one that has been glorified by the Father. His glory comes from His obedience to the Father and on our behalf. He has existed from before time and exists outside of time. He was, is, and will be forever.

This is hard to wrap our minds around. We are used to seeing people in their human form and find it otherworldly to think of Him as He is described. Yet, He is otherworldly. He is not of this world. He came into the world from heaven and went back to heaven. Doesn’t it make sense that He would have a heavenly body? We are told there are heavenly and earthly bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40); and that our bodies will be transformed into heavenly bodies as well (Philippians 3:21).

As we look at the description of Jesus in His heavenly body, we should not look at Him in horror, but in awe of how amazing He is. We should see His majesty and His power. We should see the brightness of His being. We should see His wisdom and His justness. After all, He is the King of kings, Lord of lords, and Judge of all people. He is also our Lord and Savior. Should He not be someone we are in awe of?

I pray we all see Jesus for who He is. I pray we see Him as our Lord and Savior as well as the King of kings and Judge of all. I pray we see His compassion for each one of us and His tolerance of our faults. See Jesus for who really is. Submit to Jesus as the ultimate King. See Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Bow to worship Him. Obey His commands.

Revelation 1:12-16 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Life Without Worry

Are your worried about this life? Do you wonder about what is going to happen? Are you concerned for tomorrow? Do you know where you will spend eternity? Will you follow Jesus and live in confidence? Are you looking forward to spending eternity with God?

There is more than enough to cause us to worry in the world today. We see the numbers of infections and deaths from COVID-19 rise daily. We have a national election coming up. We hear of terrorist attacks, though those seem to have taken a backseat in the news recently. In fact, we hear less about crime today than we are used to hearing, yet crime is still happening.

We can be overwhelmed with all the bad news we hear. We look forward to those few tidbits of good news that are reported. Hasn’t it been this way for decades? We’ve seen some news services make an attempt to specifically insert a good news story every day, just to appease our desire to hear something good. Yet there is one piece of good news we can carry with us each day.

As we are reminded during this Easter season of our vulnerability, we are also reminded of God’s eternal promise. With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are promised an eternal life with God, if we will simply believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Make no mistake, this is no flippant decision, but a commitment.

When we commit to Jesus, we will begin to see our lives change for the better. The Holy Spirit moves into our lives and begins rearranging priorities. He will take away the worries of this world, one worry at a time as we release more control and give it over to Him.

At first, we don’t notice much change. It’s sort of like someone moved a trinket from one table to another. Or, we may notice that something we once liked to do is no longer of interest. Over time, as we look back, we see there are more worries taken away. It all happens one step at a time. 

Could you imagine if it was a complete makeover all at once? We would go into shock. God knows what He’s doing and brings us along as we are able to handle it. Our responsibility is to continue to turn over our concerns to Him, release them to Him and He will take them from us.

I pray we all commit to Jesus today. I pray each of us who have committed will recommit each day. I pray that we all release our concerns to God and allow Him to take them. I pray each person will release control, knowing that God is truly in control. Commit to Jesus today and every day. Give your worries to God. Release control. Know God is in control. Trust God.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Denying the Truth

What are you denying? Do you willingly, consciously deny truth? Do you know something is true, not like it, and make every attempt to deny it? How does that work out for you? Do you find later that you would have been better off to simply accept the truth and make the right decision?

We all have had hard truths spoken to us. We have had to make a decision to believe the truth and take corrective action or ignore it and continue to face the consequences for it. It may be that we can’t wrap our brains around it and simply don’t understand.

Nearly all of us have heard the truth of God, of Jesus Christ. We have heard that God loves us. We have heard that Jesus faced the cross willingly to save us. We have heard that He arose three days later. We may have heard that He walked the earth for 40 days after He rose from the dead.

Yet there are many things we haven’t heard about Jesus. Some of those are written in non-Biblical histories by a variety of people, including the famous Jewish historian Josephus. Others are written in the Bible and we either haven’t read them or we didn’t fully understand them or we may have simply missed it when we read it.

A recent question posed to me in a class caused me to do some additional research. There is a Jewish belief that the Messiah will enter through the East Gate when He comes. The Jews do not believe the Messiah has come, meaning they don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. Neither do the Muslims.

We are told that Jesus made His triumphal entry, riding on a donkey to fulfill prophecy, coming from Bethany where He had dinner with Lazarus. The direct route from Bethany would mean that Jesus came through the East Gate. This is also the main gate into the Temple area. A truth the Jews refuse to acknowledge, and the cost could be extremely high for them.

When we refuse to accept a truth, especially a hard truth that requires extreme change for us, we may be costing ourselves dearly. Refusal may cost us our lives, if not literally, at least metaphorically. Our spiritual lives and where we will spend eternity are dependent upon us accepting the truth. Will you accept this truth today?

I pray we all accept the truth of Jesus. I pray each of us will choose to follow Him with our entire being. I pray that we allow God to change our lives for the best. God is patiently waiting for each of us to choose Him. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Allow God to make the change in your heart. Choose to follow Jesus and all His teachings. Be the person God wants you to be.

John 12:1-2 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

The Pull

Do you feel like you are being pulled in several directions all at once? Do you find that you are often having an internal argument with yourself, trying to decide what is best? Do you fight your inner desire to do evil versus doing good? Are you feeling the tug of war going on between your physical desires and your spiritual desires?

We are pulled in many different directions by multiple priorities and people. Some of those are good and some are temptations to do what we know we shouldn’t. The inner battle can be very challenging and sometimes debilitating.

We don’t typically look at these tugs of war as good versus evil. We so often want to deny the evil that is all around us. We don’t want to face the fact that evil is pulling us away from God. We want to believe we are in control and we are doing what is right.

We are told very plainly in Scripture that evil exists in this world and is constantly pulling at us, tempting us to do what we shouldn’t. It is this same evil that puts the selfish behavior in our minds, which leads us to behaving negatively toward others. It is what causes us to be angry, stingy, use what is meant for good to do bad.

It is very easy for us to turn our innate instinct to protect ourselves into complete selfishness, turning us against all others without even realizing it. We see it all around us and often complain about a person behaving in such manner. Yet we don’t see that we are also behaving in the same way.

It takes a conscious effort to realize we are allowing evil to tempt us and succeed in pulling us away from God. It takes looking at ourselves honestly to see where we are being pulled away from what we know is right. It takes commitment to submit to God, asking Him to take the temptation away and make the change in us.

We must open our eyes and see evil for the evil it is. We are called to live a righteous life. God’s love is bigger than we can imagine, and He is patiently waiting for us to make a commitment to Him. Yet He is also just. He will deal out punishment, if we are unwilling to make the change.

I pray each one of us will open our eyes and see evil for what it is. I pray we all submit to God’s calling, asking Him to make the change in us we need. I pray we all feel the pull of evil and resist it with the power of God. Resist temptation. Submit to God. Ask God to transform you. Flee from evil. Do what is right.

James 1:13-15 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Peace of Mind

Are you at peace? Or, are you all tied up in anxiety? Have you found the calm in the storm? Or, are you continuing to be rocked by the waves of fear? Will you seek the peace of Jesus? Or, will you continue to wallow in the worries of this world?

We all find ourselves in situations of uncertainty at times during our lives. Some of those situations seem overwhelming to us. We look at them as daunting obstacles to our health, our security, our future. Often, we find when we’ve gotten through them that they weren’t quite as big as we originally imagined. How can we fix our misperception?

Our biggest hurdle to calm and peace is ourselves. We allow our imaginations to run wild as though we were a 2-year old on a sugar high. Why does this happen? We have not renewed our mind (Romans 12:2) as Paul instructed the believers in Rome. We have not fed our hearts and minds with the truth of Jesus Christ.

The key to getting through any tough situation is to remain calm and think through it. Our military teaches its troops this concept. Special forces take it a step further, not only teaching it, but forcing the candidates to exercise it throughout their schooling. This is why our troops can get through some very tough situations in combat.

Why do I pull in a combat comparison? We are in an all-out war every day. We fight a continual spiritual battle every day, whether we realize it or not. We can remain oblivious to it and be tossed about in the fray or we can be an active participant on the side of Christ. It’s our decision. Yet if we decide not to be active in Christ, we have doomed ourselves to continual worry, fear, and anxiety.

Jesus tells us that He has given us His peace. It’s there for us to take it up, ingest it into our hearts and minds. All we have to do is choose Him and spend time with Him, asking Him to give us the peace He promised. We need to do this honestly. It can’t be faked. You see, Jesus knows us inside and out, better than we know ourselves. So, don’t think you can fake it with Him.

I pray we all seek the peace of Jesus Christ. I pray each of us will honestly ask Him to provide it to us. I pray we accept His peace, finding a tranquility that can’t be found anywhere else. Seek Jesus’ peace. Seek Him wholeheartedly. Accept His wonderful gift. Trust Jesus’ promises.

John 14:25-27 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Moving Forward

Are you moving forward? Or, are you going backward? Are you improving your understanding and relationship with God? Or, are you regressing into worry, fear, and anxiety? Will you decide to move forward, trusting God with everything?

Despite what we often feel or may even hear from those around us, it is a conscious decision on our part to trust God. We are to wake each morning and decide to trust Him. We must make that decision each and every day. If we do not, we regress into our old ways.

When we don’t make a conscious decision to trust God each day, we leave ourselves open to be manipulated by outside influences that come our way. As Paul writes to the Ephesians, we are tossed about on the waves like a boat with no anchor nor motor (Ephesians 4:14). We allow others to cause uncertainty, which leads us down the dark path to fear and anxiety.

We are to have solid roots that are deep in the soil of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:6-7). When we are rooted deeply in Him, we can withstand the storms, grow and flourish, and bare fruit to feed others. As we trust in God, we become the calm in the storm and shed His light for others to see and follow.

There is a lot of worry, fear, and anxiety in this world right now. People are concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect on their jobs, the amount of supplies available, and whether a family member will become sick. There is chaos throughout the world, whether it be physical chaos in the streets or mental chaos in people’s minds.

Our faith in God will provide us with the peace we need (John 14:27). As we experience His peace in us, we can remain calm and continue to move forward. If we are unsure, experiencing the fear and anxiety we see in others, we should pray. Our prayer cannot be a one-time prayer that only lasts a few seconds. We should pray multiple times per day and every day for several minutes. We should lay our worries, fears, and anxiety bare before God and trust Him to remove them from us. As we pray, we also need to remain patient. All things happen in God’s time.

I pray we all make time to pray throughout each day. I pray each of us will lay bare our concerns to God, laying them at the foot of the cross. I pray that each one of us will receive the peace of God that goes beyond understanding. I pray we all remain safe as we go through this pandemic. Pray often. Lay your concerns at God’s feet. Receive His peace. Trust God. Increase your faith.

2 Peter 3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

New Life

How is your life going today? Are you looking forward to a change? Do you anticipate things getting better? How does your life today compare to your life 10 years ago? What do you think your life will be like 10 years from now? What will your eternal life be like?

I believe we all look for a better life. Unfortunately, we too often look for it in this world and especially in material possessions. Sure, we often can make a better life here on this earth. That is especially true if we put God first in our lives and depend on Him. Yet, we often want to take the reins ourselves and put more trust in our plans than we do God’s.

Personally, I understand Paul’s message to the Philippians when he basically says he is ready to go to heaven. I also understand his conundrum and why he decides it’s better for him to stay for a while.

Let me explain. On a personal level, looking only at me, I’m ready to live eternity with God. I’m ready to leave all the pain and suffering behind. Why not? Can you imagine what heaven will be like? I would love to find out and stay there forever.

On the other hand, I also believe without a doubt that God has a plan for me to continue His work here on this earth. So, I’m willing to stay here and continue working on the tasks He has laid out for me. I also would hate to leave my family and friends behind.

That makes for quite the conundrum, doesn’t it? On the one hand, being ready to spend eternity in heaven. On the other hand, not wanting to leave things undone and wanting to take care of your family. Ultimately, each of us need to trust God. He knows when the time is right for us to come join Him and He knows what He has planned for us to do yet.

It is nice to be comfortable in knowing God is in control. It is comforting to not worry about where we will spend eternity. It gives us freedom to continue working the tasks God has laid out for us without fear. It provides us with a confidence and peace that is beyond understanding and cannot be fully explained.

I pray each of us come to the conundrum of wanting to go to heaven and yet wanting to stay on this earth. I pray we all find the peace beyond understanding. I pray we all trust that God has a plan for us and are willing to take on the tasks He assigns us. Trust God is in control. Accept His peace into your life. Be confident in completing His assigned tasks. God will not let you down.

Philippians 1:21-24 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

Golden Rule

How well are you received? Do you think you are liked by others? Do you like others? What are you doing that will cause others to like or dislike you? Are you working on yourself, looking transparently at yourself in the proverbial mirror? Are you willing to change into who God wants you to be?

As we go through this world, it is inevitable that we will be liked by some and disliked by others. It is also inevitable that we will like some and dislike others. Yet, why should it be this way? Sure, we will do things some people won’t like and there are people who will do things we don’t like. But why should that keep us from liking them, or loving them?

God has given us insight into how we are to behave throughout the Bible. Jesus taught many parables about behavior, even if we don’t always associate them to behavior. We often look at the wayward son who asked his father for his allotment of his father’s possessions, then squandered it all on raucous living, as being a loathsome person. Yet, when it was all said and done, he humbled himself as a servant (Luke 15:11-32). Behavior.

We see Jesus discuss the rescue of a lost sheep. His points out to us, if we were to lose a prize possession, we would go in search of it. He further tells us to do the same as our Heavenly Father does in seeking those who are lost (Matthew 18:10-14). Again, this is about our behavior. You don’t draw bees with vinegar but with honey.

In His simplest statement regarding behavior, Jesus tells us to do to others as we want them to do to us. So, going back to our questions above, what are you willing to change so others will like you, will want to be around you, will want to do for you? May I suggest the first step is to do for others?

When we do for others, we are typically blessed in triplicate. How can I say that? First, we are blessed with a feeling of accomplishment and well-being in our knowledge that we did something for someone else. Second, God blesses us for doing His work. Third, typically the other person shows some appreciation for our assistance, though this should not be the reason for us doing for others. It is a nice bonus when it happens.

I pray we all realize that it is by doing for others that we are blessed. I pray each of us will pursue doing more for others. I pray we all experience the peace and wellness of God as we do His work. It is only by doing His work that we can. Do for others. Be blessed by God. Become a joy to be around. Experience God’s peace.

Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Prepared At All Times

Are you prepared for what is coming? Do you know how to prepare? Do you know what to prepare for? If you knew, would you prepare?

I recall the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared.” I remember my Scout Master often teaching us lessons to be prepared. He always used a different example every time he talked to us about it. We face a lot of different situations as we go through this life, don’t we? Sometimes they catch us completely off guard.

Nearly all of us were caught off guard recently. Though, we did have some time for preparation, if we were paying attention to what was happening and how things were escalating. Too often we are caught unaware because we aren’t paying attention. We don’t like the news, so we don’t watch it. We don’t like our work, so we keep our heads down and only do what we are told. We don’t like our neighbor, so we never look in their direction.

There is another topic we don’t like—death. We don’t want to think about it. We don’t want to discuss it. Yet we all must face it. There is no reason to fear death, unless we are not prepared for it. You may wonder how you can prepare for death, especially if you are still young. There is only one way.

Jesus stated on multiple occasions that no one knows when the end is coming except the Father. He told parables about masters leaving and coming back to check on their servants, and the servants didn’t know when he would return. In today’s Scripture, we see His parable uses a thief coming to the house and the owner is unaware of when.

Folks, none of us know when our end will come. If we are not prepared, saved by Jesus, we are going to end up in eternal torment—hell. If we are saved by Jesus, we will end up in eternal glory—heaven. It’s really pretty simple. When we are prepared, saved, we have no fear of death. We are going to a place far better than anything we can imagine. Perhaps our only regret is that we didn’t do enough while on this earth to ensure our loved ones will be there with us.

Might I suggest that each of us be prepared. Maybe we should spread the gospel of Jesus to those we love, to our neighbor, to people we meet. Just maybe we should live in the comfort of knowing death has no hold over us. Yes, let’s go about our lives prepared.

I pray each of us is prepared. I pray that those who are not prepared will become prepared. I pray everyone will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I pray we all live our lives in peace, knowing we have no fear of death. Be prepared. Accept Jesus as your Savior. Live without fear. Live in peace.

Matthew 24:42-44 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Exercise Your Faith

Are you exercising? Are you becoming stronger? Will you work at it? What are you doing to strengthen your faith? Are you exercising your faith? Are you testing your faith? Are you stepping out and trusting God a little more each day?

Why do we exercise our bodies? We likely exercise to be healthy. How are we healthier due to exercise? Our heart and lung capacities increase. If we exercise outside, and we should to the extent possible, our immune systems are exposed to a wide variety of germs. Our immune system kicks in, fights them off, and becomes stronger.

Paul tells Timothy that being physically fit has some value (1 Timothy 4:8). He doesn’t say it is the ultimate in value, but we need to be physically able to do the work God lays before us. I believe Paul is telling Timothy to remain physically fit to perform the tasks he is called to do, while not neglecting the most important thing, which is spreading the gospel.

How does this relate to our faith? Physical fitness is a type for our spiritual fitness. Our faith must be strengthened, yet we often don’t think about how we go about doing that. Much like we exercise our physical bodies, pushing them to do more, we must push our faith to increase it.

We can exercise our faith by doing little things at first, much like we start out running a mile rather than a marathon. Our faith exercise may start as simply confessing to be a follower of Jesus when asked. It can be a bit scary at first, but it gets easier the more we do it. We increase our faith.

We can step out of our comfort zone to take on a task at our church. Perhaps it means teaching an elementary age Sunday School class. Perhaps it is saying an opening prayer in front of the congregation. Perhaps we are asked to relate our story and how we came to be a follower of Jesus for our church. Our faith increases.

Ultimately, we want our faith to increase so we can rely on it when the really tough things come, much like a soldier trains for war. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a war, whether we realize it or not, and Satan continues to attack us. Our faith, trust in God, needs to increase to ward off those attacks. Our faith allows us to persevere.

I pray each of us will take up the challenge to exercise our faith. I pray our faith increases each and every day. I pray the faith of us all will strengthen us to do the work God sets before us. Exercise physically. Exercise spiritually. Increase your faith. Become strong in your faith. Prepare for the fight and persevere. God is faithful.

James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.