The Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 4

Saturday, Day 4:  Matthew 3                     

After providing only minimal information about Jesus’ early history – his conception and his escape into Egypt – Matthew jumps straight into telling us about Jesus and John the Baptist at the age of +-30.   John was just 6 months older than Jesus, and was the one selected to be Jesus’ forerunner – to prepare the way for Jesus’ entry into ministry – so perhaps John was 31 by then, but if so, barely. 

John fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, as Matthew reports in Matthew 3:3.  Letting us know the fulfillment of prophecies was obviously a big deal to Matthew.   He is like a lawyer laying out his case.

The description of John the Baptist creates a vivid visual.  John wore a garment of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  The honey sounds pretty good, but locusts sound disgusting, even if they are dried and covered in chocolate!  And I once had a camel hair coat.  It was beautiful, but rough and itchy!  I see him with a full beard and long, somewhat unkempt hair.  Bronzed by his outside living, burly, buff.  A man’s man to the nth degree.

Yet, he was the one chosen to preach about the One who was to come and prepare the way.  And preach he did!  He was very direct, and more than a little caustic in his presentation at times.  He called the religious leaders a brood of vipers.  But when Jesus came to him to be baptized he humbly replied, “I need to be baptized by you….” And he would not have consented, except that Jesus reminded him it must be so. 

Matthew 3:16 & 17 records, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

God has spoken those words to me on only one occasion, and it happened during a Singspiration I had worked very hard to prepare.  Out of a very large congregation, less than 10 people showed up to share in the joy of singing together; but during the service, after we had sung our songs of praise and worship and were having a quiet time of enjoying the palpable presence of the Lord that pervaded the room, God spoke to me and said “I am well pleased.”  It touched me to the core.   Our praise was not shared with many people, yet every person who was there came because they truly wanted to be there, and God showed up in quiet power, glory, and majesty, His presence filling the room and our hearts, and though we didn’t want the moment to end, we carried that presence with us as we went our separate ways.  It is one of my most memorable and unforgettable experiences.  It was a glimpse of what Heaven will feel like. 

Jesus’ baptism was Jesus’ inauguration into ministry:  the beginning of the three years he would walk on earth, teach, heal, interact, love and be loved in the flesh.   God with skin on! 

Humor for today:

Our youngest granddaughter is a hoot.  She has come up with some real choice bits of perspective, often leaving us in stitches. 

One such time was when she and her next-older sister stayed the night with us, and the girls slept in our walk-in closet so we’d be close by. 

In the morning – right after brushing his teeth & rinsing his mouth out with mouthwash  – my husband peeked in to see if they were awake yet, and the older of the two was, so he quietly knelt down beside her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  When he did, she commented, “Papa, your breath smells good.”

With that the youngest one popped her eyes open and said, “Let me smell.” So, he leaned over and blew a little puff of air her way, to which she replied, “You smell like cookieness.” 

The Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 3

Friday, Day 3:  Matthew 2                            

Matthew doesn’t tell us why or how Joseph and Mary got from Nazareth to Bethlehem; doesn’t tell about their going from inn to inn trying to find room, and finally being given a spot in the stable with the animals; doesn’t tell us about the shepherds in the field and the myriad of angels who appeared to them, doesn’t tell us about the shepherds coming to see the baby in the manger.  Nothing about Jesus at all between the resolution of His conception and when he was about 2 years old!   Nope!  Matthew jumps straight from telling us about Joseph getting on board with the impending birth to the visit of the wise men.  He is ticking off the prophecies and letting us know succinctly and clearly that Jesus fulfilled them all. 

When Herod inquired of the chief priests and scribes where the Christ was to be born Matthew 2:5 & 6 records their response: 

They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:  “And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” (ESV)

Sneaky Herod pretended to want to go worship this newborn phenomenon, when in fact he purposed to kill him. 

The wise men did indeed find Jesus in a house in Bethlehem, a toddler by then it would appear, and they fell down and worshipped him, then gave him expensive gifts – gifts that upon being sold would provide all the financial support needed for he and his family to thrive while in Egypt, where they were sent that very night when an angel appeared to Joseph again in a dream and told him to take his little family and flee immediately…and they did. 

And, in one of the saddest parts of the narrative, in Herod’s fury and fervor to kill the young promised ‘king’ he feared being a threat to his monarchy, he had all the little boys 2 years old and younger murdered, fulfilling yet another prophecy:

Matthew 2:18

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

I am visual, and that part of the story elicits absolute agony when I read it and imagine the horror and resulting grief. 

Just a few years later, after Herod died, Joseph was visited by an angel again in a dream, and this time the angel sent them back to Israel.   But because Herod’s son was the new ruler, Joseph went back to Nazareth, not Bethlehem, even though it meant Joseph and Mary would have to face the risk of being judged by people in their community who knew she was pregnant before she was married.  Going back to their hometown fulfilled another prophecy:  that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.

Humor for today:

My middle daughter decided to institute a new plan for their household.  She didn’t want there to be any more raised voices.  The increased volume just leads to more drama – and she wanted to train her kids to learn to listen the first time a direction was given instead of ignoring her until she raised her voice…  So – just a couple of days after the wonderful new plan was adopted, her eldest daughter, who had refined arguing to an art form, pushed too far too long, and my daughter raised her voice. 

Immediately her 3-year-old piped up and said, “Mommy, I could pray with you right now that Jesus would take that yucky sin away from you.” 

Postscript:

I  absolutely must add a current postscript to today's blog entry.  I had the privilege and blessing of attending the Washington State Governor's Prayer Breakfast this morning.  On the way to the 7 a m gathering, I prayed for a Divine Appointment.  God provided that, as well as excellent inspiring speakers and a special added treat of getting a selfie with Tyler Lockett.  I came home energized and full of joy!    

The Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 2

Thursday, Day 2:  Matthew 1

Reading for today:

Matthew 1

Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus Christ.  There is great purpose in doing that.  The Old Testament prophets proclaimed that the One who would come as Redeemer – Immanuel, God with us – would be born of a virgin, be born to the house and lineage of David, and be born in Bethlehem of Judea.  All of those prophecies had to be precisely fulfilled – and Jesus fulfilled every one of them!   For starters, both his mother and his earthly step-father were descendants of David.

I love the beginning of their story.  An angel appeared to a young woman named Mary in the village of Nazareth and told her she was the one chosen to give birth to the Messiah, the Son of God.  She was just an obscure peasant girl engaged to an upright man named Joseph – and she willingly agreed to become mother of Jesus, to submit herself to God’s divine will, with no regard for what that might mean in terms of hearsay and assumptions about her fidelity.  And, Joseph, being fully man, upon hearing the news of her pregnant state prior to their marriage, could only assume she had been unfaithful.  He certainly hadn’t been with her yet, but being a decent man, he resolved to divorce her quietly and not have her stoned.  Really, that was being a nice guy! 

Then an angel entered his fitful sleep and told him not to be afraid to take Mary to be his wife, let him in on the secret and told him that what Mary had undoubtedly tried to tell him was true – that the baby she was carrying was miraculously placed there by the Holy Spirit.  The angel even told Joseph what he was to name him – Yeshua – and added the purpose for which he was to be born:  He will save His people from their sins.  His name – Yeshua – when translated directly to English is Joshua, and means Savior.  And He is! 

[Yeshua translated to Greek was Iesous, which when translated to English became Jesus, which is the name we most commonly know Him by.]

Matthew 1:23

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” (which means God with us).

Thank you, Lord of all creation, Master of the universe, for coming so humbly into this world You created to redeem those You created, so those who choose You can be reconciled to You, and become sons and daughters of God.  What a journey…from heaven to earth and back again.

Humor for today:

When our youngest granddaughter was 2, she was riding in the pickup with me and because we were just going from my eldest daughter’s house to my house –  on a back road on our own property, not out on a public road (a distance of about 500 feet) – I told her she didn’t have to put on her seat belt – something unheard of in her world!  As I drove into the garage, she dramatically exclaimed, “Thank God, we made it.”

The Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 1

I can't believe it is already Ash Wednesday.  My history was not immersed in the commemoration of Lent.  

Several weeks ago I started reviewing and editing my blog entries from 2010 with the intention of turning them into a book.  That is obviously not going to happen in time for this year, so I have decided to just repost them, with some edits along the way.   

In 2010 (soon after starting a blog) I purposed to be intentional about a Lenten study.  What I hadn’t planned in advance was adding the discipline of writing, but it was an incredible blessing and the commitment to doing that became the catalyst for a very special spiritual journey in that season of 2010….  

That first year I counted back 40 actual days; then learned late in the process that the 6 Sundays leading up to Easter are not included in Lent, and that they are considered “mini-resurrection celebrations” along the journey to Resurrection, so I have corrected that in these entries by adjusting the countdown to properly reflect the actual timeline of Lent.   I had never observed Lent before 2010 – but it was a wonderful journey of reflection, preparation and anticipation for the glorious day I pressed toward:  Resurrection!  We know the end of the story – but reliving the trek toward it is indeed an incredible journey.  Please join me by making this journey your own!

In my original blog entries I included a touch of daily humor, and have decided to leave that part in as well…and so we begin….

Wednesday, Day 1:  Ash Wednesday

Tuesday (yesterday) was what is commonly known in Catholic circles as ‘Fat Tuesday’.  Fat Tuesday is synonymous with the celebration of Mardi Gras, which marks the culmination of the carnival season leading up to the austerity of Lent.  Sort of a ‘have all your fun’ now, then be good for the next 40 days and 6 ‘mini-Easters’ leading up to the grandest event defining Christianity:  the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

During the years I lived in Montesano, Washington, I attended the Episcopal church’s Shrove Tuesday pancake luncheon event on ‘Fat Tuesday’ a few times, a celebration that was totally new to me. 

None of that was on my radar growing up.  The only thing I knew about Lent was that my Catholic friend in high school gave up chocolate chip cookies and lost 20 pounds….  The minimal amount I understood about Lent was that it was a time to give up something important to you as self-sacrifice /self-discipline for the 40 days preceding Easter.  (It was not until 2010 that I learned the 40 days did not include Sundays.)

There was no television in our home when I was growing up, so we were not immersed in news from around the country, and it was many years before I would even learn about the significance of Ash Wednesday.  That came after I started attending a Presbyterian Church.  I loved the celebration of Ash Wednesday:  burning the palms that had been waved on Palm Sunday the prior year, having the ash mixed with anointing oil finger-painted by the pastor on my brow in the shape of the cross…submitting to a tender act of penitence and remembrance that focused on the coming journey that would lead us – and Jesus – to Passover and Resurrection (the day of our Easter celebration).  

Once I had experienced that, it became an annual time of introspection and preparation leading first to the cross – and then, joyfully, to the resurrection of Jesus early on Easter morning.

I am immersing myself in Jesus’ ministry for the first period of my ‘40 days’ of preparation for his death on the cross . . . then as the time of the revisiting of the event gets close, I will follow his daily journey through reading sequentially what the Bible discloses for those final days as Jesus completed his time on earth as ‘fully God, fully human.’

I chose the book of Matthew as my primary focus, though I will add in other passages for the final countdown in the timeline. 

Lord, prepare our hearts to receive all that You have in mind for us.  Help us glean wisdom and understanding, and a closer relationship with you during this process of being intentional about walking with you through remembering the time you spent walking on earth, recalling what you came to teach, and exploring what you have in these next 40-plus days for us to learn. 

Psalm 139:23 & 24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Humor for today:
When my youngest granddaughter was 3, we stopped for a visit and my daughter told me a cute real-life story about her. 

Bryn knows that Jesus lives in her heart, and earlier that week she turned her face toward her heart and said, “Hi, Jesus.”

Her Mommy said, “And what does Jesus say to you?”

And Bryn, without missing a beat, said in her deepest mimic-male voice, “Hi Bryn.”

SIN versus sinning

I have had a lot of opportunity recently to consider the difference between original SIN and sins/sinning, as well as a distinction between God's Righteousness and our righteousness.  

Original Sin came into the world when Adam (and Eve) disobeyed God after Satan deceived Eve into rationalizing and questioning if God meant exactly what she was told He said, opening the door to her choice to disobey God and second-guess what God really intended when He instructed Adam that he could eat of any fruit in the Garden of Eden, except the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  She wasn't even created yet when Adam received that instruction.  She got that info from her husband, and something I had not paid attention to prior to reading a book titled "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" written and soon to be released by my friend William Combs, was that it was not God who stated the added directive Adam must have tacked on when he told Eve:  that even touching it would bring death.  Eve touched - - didn't "die" on the spot - - and took the delectable fruit to Adam....  The woman God gave him tempted him to also disobey, and he did.  It was only after He disobeyed that the effect of their action became apparent.

Through that event - - disobedience - - Sin entered the world.  Us thinking we can go it alone, thinking our way is better than God's way, choosing our own path without consulting Him:  all of this is the root of the evil that man has brought upon himself.  Those evils are sins....with those sins being the result of Sin.  One is cause.  One is effect.  

Jesus came to take away the Sin of the world, and pay the price by His death on the cross for original Sin (separation from the perfect relationship with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed prior to the introduction of Sin) as well as all of the resulting sins committed from then until this world ends and we stand before God to either hear:  "well done" or "depart from me". 

That brings us conveniently to the discussion of God's Righteousness and our righteousness.  Righteousness with a capital R is my distinction for the Righteousness that comes from God.  It certainly includes 'right living by God's standard' - - but we can't even be Righteous without accepting Jesus as our personal Savior.  Righteous with a capital R comes when we ask Jesus to come into our lives.  He imputes Righteousness to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  From that point on God no longer calls us 'sinners' but 'Saints'.  He sees us as perfect through the filter of His Son because he sees us with Jesus' shed blood as our covering.  We appear to Him as perfect because Jesus is "in" us, and His blood was shed to bring us back into right relationship with His Father.  That's good, good news!  But we still have to contend with that other issue of sinning.  Just because we have Righteousness credited to us, it does not mean all our actions and thoughts are righteous.  Far from it.  But, instead of being "Sinners-separated-from-God" those who have accepted Jesus are Saints who occasionally (or more than occasionally) sin.  There is a huge difference in our identity in that.  

The thing is, Salvation is all about what Jesus did - - not what we do.  We cannot do anything to make God love us more.  Love is an action verb and He demonstrated His complete sold-out love for us when He became man and then became the Lamb who was sacrificed for the Sin Adam committed in the act that brought separation between God and man as well as for all the sins of the world since the beginning of time.  He gives us His Salvation as a gift He paid the price for - - but then He continues to work with us to work out salvation in us as a daily process. 

If our righteousness (right living) could save us, some people might even succeed at being good enough to come close - - but I'm convinced there would be a fatal flaw somewhere, even though they came close.  Even the sin of pride at how well they were doing....  "Right living"in and of itself - - being self righteous - - is what makes people compare themselves to others and, aways being able to find someone who is 'worse', easily rationalize they aren't so bad....  At least they're better than "that guy or gal".   That's one of the big problems with sin with a little s....  observation, comparison, rationalization - - which leads either to a sense of comparative success or comparative failure.  Original Sin made man aware of good and evil and led to sinning as a result.  

So - - the bottom line is:  Sin came into the world by one man, and one Man (God-in-the-flesh, fully God and fully human) paid the price for that Sin as well as the sins that result from it.  Jesus alone makes us right with God, imputing His Righteousness to us because he paid the price we should have to pay.  Then we begin the growth process of shedding sins and gaining righteousness - - right living by God's standard.  

Big S, little s; Big R, little r.  

I am a Saint who occasionally sins.  I am not a Sinner separated from God.  He gives me His Righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit.  I become righteous by applying what His Word, the Bible teaches me.  That part is an ongoing work, which won't be completed until I stand before Him.  There is nothing I can do to earn His love or to make Him love me more.  But, because He has demonstrated His love so clearly, I want to please Him, honor Him, obey Him....  Big R generates little r in me!  

And, for anyone who wants to read the book I referenced, It is 
Who Told You That You Were Naked? by William Combs.  It will be released April 1, 2017.  It is a thorough, thought provoking review that begins with what was initiated in the Garden of Eden and how God responded....

PROVERBS 27:17

Iron sharpens iron, and similarly, one person sharpens another.   That's not a verbatim quote - but gives the intent of Proverbs 27:17.  
I felt inspired to unite a Bible Study Group with just that in mind.  We start studying together next Wednesday and I am truly excited!  I have dubbed us the "Iron on iron Bible Study" Small Group.   This is a such a gift!  I am overjoyed with the prospect!  Our initial 7-week study is on the Armor of God, with DVD teaching by Priscilla Shirer.   I very much look forward to sharing this time with other ladies who are equally interested in hearing what God has to say to us through His Word, the DVD messages, and each other!

Happy New Year!  

Presidential Election 2016

I intensely disliked the entire election journey process this year.  

Our options were terrible, but one party offered a glimmer of hope, and that party was the Republican party.  

In the aftermath of the election those trying to make sense of why Hillary didn't win never expressed my view once.  I voted for Supreme Court Justices, and it was definitely selfish.  I don't want to go to jail for being a Christian and expressing Biblical values in a country that was founded on the freedom to worship as we choose.  

Let me explain....  With the monumental rise in inappropriately placed political correctness that borders on the ridiculous, people who are loving and kind to individuals but refuse to make their wedding cake or their bridal bouquet because of their Biblically-based values are being systematically prosecuted for their stance, with their decision not to defile their values called a hate crime or a civil rights violation.  

It is a person's right to be whatever they want to be, but it is equally  my right to be whom I want to be, and if their "right" is not congruent with mine, then it is prudent we agree to disagree without any recrimination.  Are feelings sometimes hurt?  Undoubtedly!  But if it is not intentional hurt - - going out of one's way to be malicious or unkind - - each person's rights and views need to be honored.  

A case in point was the bakery who very kindly declined baking a wedding cake for the wedding of a gay couple.  They graciously suggested another establishment who didn't have an issue with the clients' choice and were completely open to having them as customers for any other purpose than that one.  It hurt the 2 ladies' feelings to the tune of over $135,000.00 in court-ordered compensation.  That's wrong.  

We are not always going to agree with each other.  These 2 women should have respected the establishment's wishes and gone their merry way.  If someone didn't want to bake my cake, I wouldn't want a cake from them.  Now had the bakers been rude or unkind, that might warrant the ladies' getting all their friends to refuse to do business with the establishment - - but that was not the case.  They were polite and kind, and gently clear about why they could not participate in their nuptial event.  

The punishment the bakery owners received was unwarranted.  I don't want that to be the America we live in.  I want Supreme Court Justices who will uphold the law, not reinvent it.  I want Justices who uphold the Constitution of the United States and that all men are created equal - - even the people who call sin sin.  

Trump's election gives me a few more years of hope that we can be a better country.  

America is an experiment in freedom.  America was founded on Biblical values and Biblical principles with the freedom to worship as we please.  At that point the only religious persuasion was Christian - - and the reason America has worked is because of the Biblical values we have chosen to adhere to.  If we choose not to be self-disciplined and choose to abandon our values, this will become a nation of lawlessness....and our demise.  But that's a topic for another day....  

Do I like Trump?  No!  But I prefer him to Hillary.  The Supreme Court Justices she would have promoted would have destroyed this country's core values.  So - - I voted for Supreme Court Justices.  I voted for a sliver of hope.  I voted for Mike Pence...and Trump just happened to be part of the package.