Be Redeemed

Are you looking for good things? Do you want the best for you and your family? Do you the best available to you? Do you know eternal redemption is available for everyone? Do you it is because Jesus Christ came to be the perfect Lamb of God, to give Himself up to save the world?

The Israelites lived with a sacrificial system for hundreds of years. Every year they had to provide a perfect sacrifice to have their sins forgiven, both as individuals and as a nation. It was only through the blood of the sacrificial animal that they could be forgiven.

When Jesus came down from heaven to walk this earth as a human, His purpose was to eliminate that sacrificial system. Not only did His sacrifice eliminate the need for the Israelites to sacrifice to be forgiven but His blood covered the sins of the entire world. Through His sacrifice everyone, even those who were not Jewish, could come to God, be redeemed, and eternally saved.

Each one of us can be redeemed and eternally saved. Not because of anything we have done to earn it but because of what Jesus has done. How? We confess our sins, put our faith in Jesus, and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Make no mistake about it, it is a big decision. It is only we should make lightly. It requires us to open our hearts and minds to be changed by God.

Jesus is our High Priest. He is at the right hand of God the Father, continually interceding on our behalf. When we stand in judgment, we will be exonerated, seen through Jesus as being righteous. Though we have not earned it, Jesus has made it available to you. Make the choice to accept the redemption that comes through Jesus today.

Know that Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. Know that Jesus came to abolish the sacrificial system. Know that Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice that would save the entire world. Confess your sins before Jesus. Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Be redeemed by Jesus.

Hebrews 9:11-12 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Who to Trust

Today’s passage from Psalms is very appropriate for the times we live in. So many people are putting their hope into a specific candidate, government support, or other human institution. What the Psalmist knew nearly three thousand years ago is still true today.

We live in a material world. We seek after material solutions. We often look to people in power to solve the problems we see all around us. It is a false sense of security to believe one person in power can rectify all the issues we face. There is only One who can fully fix them.

Our frailty limits our ability to see fully the way God sees. It is not merely physical frailty but psychological and emotional frailty. Our minds are not able to comprehend what God comprehends. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly.” All the more reason to put our trust in God.

As the Psalmist writes, the plans of a human leader fail once they have died. As stated, we should not put our trust in government leaders. Not that we are to be cynical, but that we should trust in God and do for ourselves all that we can do. Trusting someone else to ride in and save the day is setting ourselves up for disappointment.

God alone is always with us. God alone oversees the entire earth. God alone knows what will has happened yesterday, what is happening today, and what will happen tomorrow. He does not control us like a puppet master, but he is in control of all things. If we want to see a sweeping change occur in our world, we should pray that God move mightily throughout the world, bringing people to him. It is only by people coming to God that our world will change for the better.

I pray we all see to fruitlessness of trusting human leaders. I pray we trust God in all situations. I pray each one of us goes to God in prayer and asks him to move mightily throughout the world. Do not trust human leaders. Trust God. Trust him always. Ask God to move mightily. Ask God to change our world.

Psalm 146:3-4

Do not put your trust in princes, 

in mortals, in whom there is no help. 

When their breath departs, they return to the earth; 

on that very day their plans perish.

Tough Decisions

Have you had to make tough choices? Have you had to choose between doing what you want and what you know to be right? Which did you choose? How did it turn out? Would you change your decision if you had to choose again? Are you choosing to follow God’s lead?

Tough decisions are part of life. Some are tougher than others. We may need to choose between doing what we want to do and what we know we should do. We may have to choose between going with friends or following God. It can be a tough choice.

Ruth had a tough choice to make. He husband had died. Her mother-in-law was returning to Israel. Neither of them had a way to provide for themselves, other than begging. Naomi released Ruth of any obligation, even encouraging her to return to her parents’ home. Ruth could have gone home and sought finding a new husband. Instead, she chose to continue with Naomi. Not only that, but she chose to worship God along with Naomi.

Our choices can be very difficult. They may seem to be choosing between the lesser of two evils. But if we choose to follow God’s path, we can be assured it will be to our benefit. God will provide for us as we walk the path he wants us to follow. I have personally experienced God providing on multiple occasions, one such situation I mentioned yesterday.

When we are confronted with tough choices, we need to pray and listen. God will speak to us. He may speak through a person we trust. He may speak to us through actions of others. He may speak to us with a quiet voice in our minds or through a “gut feeling” to guide us. If we are unsure, we should ask for confirmation and wait until we receive it.

I pray we all seek God’s guidance. I pray we ask God to guide us with tough decisions. I pray each one of us will spend quiet time with God in prayer and listen for him to speak to us. Seek God for tough decisions. Ask God for his guidance. Spend quiet time in prayer. Listen for God to speak.

Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”

When Things Go Wrong

Have you had something happened that appeared to be bad only to see how it worked out for the best later? Did you recognize it at the time? Did you recognize it later? Have you recognized it at all? Did it strengthen your faith? Did you give God the credit for using it for good?

Sometimes, things happen that we believe to be bad. They may even be bad. Yet, we are not to lose heart. We are to continue to believe God is in control. We are to believe that God can bring good from the bad. He has done it in the past and he can do it again in the future.

The pandemic was bad. Many, many people died during it. Many more continue to deal with the effects of being isolated for such a long time. However, God worked good through it in my life. I had been fired from IT consulting job. The additional unemployment payments I received allowed me to study and go to school to be a pastor.

We see in the book of Ruth how God uses another bad situation to work good. There was a famine in Israel. A man named Elimilech moves his wife and two sons to Moab to find food. Ultimately one of the sons marries a woman named Ruth. When we look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, we see Ruth’s name listed. Is it not amazing how God can use something bad to create good?

The next time something bad happens to you, do not wallow in misery. Instead, ask what God is doing. Ask what good he will bring from it. Ask God to reveal it to you. Do not ask God to give you what you want but reveal what he is doing that will result in good for his kingdom and according to his plan.

I pray we do not see bad things as the end. I pray we seek to see the good God can work from the bad. I pray each one of us will ask God to reveal to us the good he is doing in the midst of our struggles. God can work good from bad. Ask God to reveal his good to you. Know he is always working and always with you.

Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.

Love Is…

What is your definition of love? Do you believe it to be a feeling? Do you consider it to be an emotion? Have you fallen in love? Do you tell others you love them? What if there is a different kind of love? What if God has something else in mind?

Loving another with our feelings is fine. After all, it is that kind of love that causes us to find spouses and care for our children. We use that kind of love to express our feelings toward foods, pets, clothing, vehicles and homes.

But God loves with a different kind of love. He loves us with agape love, which we call unconditional. What does that mean? It means that God decides to love us. Though he may not like what we do, he chooses to love us anyway.

The Apostle Paul describes this kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13. He tells us what it is and is not. Patience means that God bears our failures. Scripture also calls it forbearing or long-suffering. Kindness is showing mercy, not merely being nice.

When Paul states what it is not, he starts with envy. We are not to covet what others have. Not being boastful means not bragging about ourselves. Not showing arrogance means not to look down our noses at others. Not being rude means not to be disgraceful or dishonorable in our actions or words.

We wrap this definition up as a decision we make every day. We are forbearing with others, show them mercy, do not covet, do not brag, do not look down our noses, and do not act dishonorable.

I pray we all choose to love every day. I pray we love one another as God loves. I pray each one of us will demonstrate love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Choose to love every day. Allow the Holy Spirit to change you. Love as God loves. Love one another. Know that God chooses to love you.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5a Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

Seek to See

What are you seeking today? Is it something you have been trying to accomplish for quite some time? Have you made progress toward your goal? What are you not seeing? Is there an obstacle in your way that you can’t see? Have you asked God to open your eyes?

We often set goals we want to achieve. Some of them are easily achieved while others are much more difficult. We may decide we need to try harder to achieve the difficult ones. However, it may not be that we need to work harder but see the obstacle in front of us.

One of our greatest obstacles is our inability to see. We think we see, but we miss what is in front of us. We are looking through human eyes rather than through God’s eyes.

A blind man heard Jesus was walking by and called out to Him. Many in the crowd tried to silence him, but he cried out even louder. Jesus called the man to Him and asked what he wanted. It was a test. Would the blind man, whose only means of providing for himself was to beg, ask for a few spare coins or would he have faith to ask for his sight? He had faith.

Just as Jesus gave the man his sight, He can give us our sight. He can remove the blindness we have acquired from our culture. He can open our eyes to see as He sees. But He will only do that we are open to radically change our lives and put our full faith and trust in Him. When we are ready to do that, Jesus will open our eyes when we ask.

Imagine how radically different the blind man’s life was after he could see. He no longer needed to beg. He could now work a job and provide for himself. He was able to live a brand-new life. This can happen to us as well. When we ask God to open our eyes, to see as he sees, our lives will change for the better in ways we would never expect.

I pray we all ask God to open our eyes. I pray we desire to see as God sees. I pray each one of us decide to be open to a life altering change for the better, no longer worrying about cultural norms. Open your heart. Open your mind. Ask God to open your eyes. Seek to see as God sees.

Mark 10:51-52 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Exalted Above All

If you were creating your own God, what qualities would you give him/her? Would your created God be powerful? Would your created God be good looking? Would your created God grant all your wishes? Would your created God be your best friend? How do you think that would work out?

We often designate our own Gods, even if we don’t create them. How? Our God is whomever or whatever we worship by spending our time on them. We can put people on a pedestal and worship them. We can worship material things, spending all our time on them.

The God of everything created is unlike any God we can create. After all, he created everything we see. We may think we create things, but we can’t truly create them. We can be creative in one way, but we cannot create the way God created. We take what he created and make something from them.

God sent his Son to be our high priest. He intercedes before the Father on our behalf every moment of every day. He can only do that because He is holy, He is blameless or sinless, and He is unstained by the world though He lived in the world. Our high priest is separated from us because of His sinlessness. He stands apart. He is exalted by God above all else.

Jesus is our high priest. He came down from heaven to live within His creation. Though He took on human form, He did not submit to our frailties. He overcame the weakness of the flesh to be perfect and sinless. Because of His being sinless, He was the perfect Lamb of God. Therefore, He has been exalted above everything and everyone else.

I pray we all know that Jesus intercedes for us. I pray we know He is our high priest. I pray each one of us understands Jesus is holy, blameless, undefiled, and exalted above all others. Know Jesus intercedes for you. See Jesus as your high priest. Know Jesus is blameless. Know He has been exalted above all.

Hebrews 7:26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

High Priest

Intercession. That’s a word we don’t often use. To intercede is to interpose on someone else’s behalf. It is to plead or petition for someone else. It is to mediate between two parties. Do we need someone like that? Of course we do. And Jesus is the One who intercedes for us.

The writer of Hebrews tells us the priests that came before Jesus were numerous because they could not intercede forever. All of them died. Not only that, but they first had to offer a sacrifice for their own sins before they could intercede on behalf of their fellow Israelites.

We now have a high priest forever in Jesus. He has no need to offer a sacrifice for Himself, since He lived a perfect life. Since Jesus is a permanent high priest, there is no need for another priest. He continually intercedes on our behalf before God the Father. It is because He is the permanent high priest that we can go directly to God.

This is not to say there is no need for pastors. Pastors still perform important functions. They plan and lead worship services; study and teach Scripture; provide pastoral care by visiting the sick, those in nursing homes, and the homebound; administer the sacraments; preside over funeral services; and they intercede on the behalf of others, which could be included in pastoral care.

However, each person who follows Jesus has the opportunity to come before Him, confess their sins, petition Him on behalf of themselves and others, and seek His guidance. Because we have this wonderful opportunity, we should give thanks to God and sing his praises. Though we are separated by our sin from him, we are reconciled to him because of Jesus. That is an awesome gift that we can never repay.

I pray we all know Jesus is our high priest forever. I pray we know we can go directly to God. I pray each one of us confess, petition, seek guidance, and give thanks through Jesus. Jesus is our high priest. Confess to Him. Petition Him. Seek His guidance. Give thanks to God.

Hebrews 7:23-25 Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Redeemed

Where do you find refuge? Where do you go when everything goes wrong? Who do you seek solace from when it seems you have nowhere to turn? Who do you go to for advice when your world comes crashing down? Who do you turn to for the day-to-day disappointments?

We all experience disappointments. Sometimes, it seems as though they come every day. At other times, things go well for a stretch of time. Sooner or later, we all experience a time when nothing is going right, it seems like our world is falling apart all around us.

We may have parents, other family members, or close friends we can turn to during those times of distress. We may have a favorite place we like to go to so we can think in quiet. It may be a peaceful place with a running stream or lake. It may be simply sitting on our back porch or deck. It may include listening to the crickets or frogs. Wherever and whomever we turn to, it is because of trust and reliance.

But there is someone else we can always turn to with a trust deeper than any other. We can turn to God and unleash our worries, concerns, fears, and failures. We can trust that he is always there for us. We can know that he understands. We can believe with our whole heart that he will take care of us.

God redeems us when we take refuge in him. He may not do it in the way we want or expect. He may not do it in the timeframe we want. But as long as we continue to go to him, trust him, and rely on him, he will redeem us. Isn’t it comforting to know that God is always there and will always redeem us? It should be. It is to me.

I pray we all take our troubles to God. I pray we trust that he is always there for us. I pray each one of us knows that God cares for us and will redeem us in his time and in his way. Cast your cares on God. Trust he is always there. Know that God understands. Know that God cares. He will redeem you.

Psalm 34:22

The Lord redeems the life of his servants; 

none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Overcoming Fear

What are you afraid of? Do you have fears that you try to hide? Do you have fears that you openly share with others? Are you afraid of various animals? Do you fear for your children, parents, or other relatives? Do you fear for your community or country?

Fear comes in all shapes and sizes. There are fears of spiders, any type of bug, dogs, cats, and wild animals. We fear situations such as interviewing for a job, the first day on a new job, meeting new people, having no one, losing a loved one, and facing a debilitating disease.

I have a fear of heights that I have mostly overcome, while continuing to have a healthy respect for. I partially overcame by force, since part of my training in the Marine Corps required me to repel down a thirty-foot wall and off a one-hundred-foot tower. But I also have learned to trust God when I have had to get on my roof or climb a twenty-foot ladder to put up Christmas lights. Make no mistake, I’m cautious and take my time, but I also ask God to be with me.

The Psalmist isn’t really talking about being afraid of heights. He is talking about being afraid of being overrun by his enemies. He is talking about having to encounter people who would normally seek his demise. Facing that kind of fear is a big challenge and can be debilitating. Fear can be so strong that it freezes us into inaction.

When we face challenges that has us shaking in our boots, we can rely on God to get us through. By trusting God to grant us courage and guide us through the situation, we can overcome our fears. When we trust God to be with us every step of the way, our fears will dissipate, and we will be successful.

I pray we all learn to trust God in all situations. I pray we ask God for the courage we need. I pray each one of us will overcome our fears by relying on God, asking for his guidance. Trust God in all situations. Ask God for courage. Ask God for guidance. Overcome your fears.

Psalm 34:4

I sought the Lord, and he answered me, 

and delivered me from all my fears.