A Season of Thorns

I fear what Christmas means to the world and to me. Everywhere I look, I see thorns choking out the very message that I desire to see sown into the world. The message of salvation offered through Jesus, the son of God, is one that is meant to be shared every day. It is meant to bring us to a place of salvation through faith which in turn allows peace and joy to be poured out upon us by the God of hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)

 

Peace and joy are words that are thrown around a lot at Christmas but they are something that we don't see very often in the Christmas season. Instead, I see thorns thriving in this season. They are fed very well by our fleshly Christmas practices. In the parable of the sower, Jesus talks about how the word is sown into this world. He specifically references sowing among the thorns.

 

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. (Mark 4:7 NIV)

 

The seed sown among the thorns is unfruitful. Later, Jesus explains what the thorns are that destroy the fruit of the word.

 

 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Mark 4:18, 19 NIV)

 

At a time when the name of Jesus is so often heard and the promise of his salvation is shared, it is being missed because of the season of thorns that it is being shared in. The Message version words Mark 4:18,19 a little differently and it sounds eerily like the Christmas season.

 

"The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. (Mark 4:18, 19 MSG)

 

This is a season when people worry about whether they will get their shopping done and how they will ever manage to make it to all of the Christmas gatherings they have been invited to. It is a season when many people spend a lot of money that they don't actually have or that should have been spent elsewhere. It is a season when our love for "things" is so painfully placed on display for all to see. Paul makes a statement about our tendency to turn back to those things that we have been set free from through Christ.

 

But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces ? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. (Galatians 4:9-11 NIV)

 

That bolded verse stings a little. Jesus has set us free from the ways of this world! Yet, we turn back to the world on a regular basis. We allow the thorns of the season to choke out the fruitfulness of the true Christmas spirit. As long as Christmas is a season of sowing into the flesh it will not be a season that leads to the truth! Perhaps we can find a solution to the thorns of this season.

 

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9 NIV)

 

Are we sowing into the Christmas of the flesh or the Christmas of the Spirit? Does our indulgence in food, family time, rest, and material things lead to the destruction of the fruit of the true Christmas Spirit? The origin of "Christmas" is simply "Christ's Mass". It is meant to serve as a recognition towards and remembrance of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he was for us. Should we not be doing this every day? If we want to make a difference by sharing the message of hope and salvation, we need to be doing it all year long. If we want it to be fruitful in this season, we need to beware the thorns in our own lives. Stop feeding them! Stop allowing the thorns to creep up in your life and kill the true Christmas Spirit. Only then will we be able to see a harvest. 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Feet

Physically, my feet are far from beautiful. Somehow, Carly agrees to touch them from time to time but I can clearly see the truth. One of my big toes is missing a toenail, I have big curly hairs on my toe knuckles, and the bottoms of my feet are usually dry and cracked. I know that the chances of this ever drastically changing are small at best. If I want to have feet that I can call beautiful, I believe there is only one way I can accomplish this. Stick with me on this. I promise I'm going somewhere...

I believe that I can have beautiful feet. To accomplish this I am required to offer up my entire body to God. Romans 12:1-2 says:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

If I am to approve what God's will is I need to know what His will is. I'm pretty sure that is mentioned somewhere. Jesus talks about it in John 6:39-40.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

So God's will is that all who look to Jesus and believe in him will have eternal life. Jesus left the task of helping others to come to know him to his disciples right before he ascended into heaven. This is documented in Matthew 28:19-20.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Chances are that if you have come to know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour that somebody told you about him. That may have been a relative, a pastor, or a friend. They had beautiful feet. You may be thinking that I've lost it. I've probably never seen their feet. How can I know that they are beautiful? Romans 10:13-15 says so.

 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

If you look at this closely, you will notice six steps that have taken place. Just for fun I will call it the Kingdom Growth Cycle:

1) You have heard about Jesus
2) You believed what you heard
3) You called on the name of Jesus
4) You were saved
5) You were sent to share about Jesus
6) You went and shared about Jesus

I look at this cycle and I see one particular spot that it tends to break down. So many of us have made it to step 5. We have been sent to share what we have been shown about Jesus. Why don't we go? Step 5 is the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20 and it is the necessary step to restart the cycle. When we GO and we start this cycle in the lives of others we cause ourselves to have beautiful feet.

I'm reminded of when Jesus washes the disciples' feet in John 13. I can imagine what their feet looked like. We see how often Jesus and the disciples travelled and we know much of their travelling was walking. Roads weren't what they are today and shoes weren't what they are today. Their feet were dirty. They were likely calloused and probably a little worse for wear. Their feet were not physically beautiful. But Jesus saw what they would do for His kingdom after he was gone. He saw that they were his servants' feet. To Jesus their feet were beautiful.

I want beautiful feet. Not beautiful in my eyes or my wife's eyes. Beautiful to Jesus. I want the feet from Isaiah 52:7:

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news,

who proclaim peace,

who bring good tidings,

who proclaim salvation,

who say to Zion,

“Your God reigns!” 

Mike

I remember when...

...I was sitting in the car with my dad in front of Canadian Tire in a parking lot in Grimsby. I can’t remember exactly how old I was but I’m guessing it may have been around the age of 6 because I distinctly remember that I was wearing some of my hockey equipment. I remember when I asked the question. I can’t remember exactly what I asked and to be perfectly honest I don’t remember what the exact answer given was. I do remember that was the day that I consciously made the decision that Jesus needed to be in my life regardless of what I thought that meant at the time.

For any Christian believer, that moment is one that passes in and out of memory but never vanishes from the heart. I am forever tied to that moment in which I acknowledged that by my own strength and my own works I am not good enough. My understanding of the decision that I made that day has grown over the years. I understand what it means to have Jesus Christ in my life. I realize that I am a sinful man in need of the grace that was achieved through the sacrifice that Jesus became. I see what Jesus meant when he said that I must deny myself, take up my cross, and follow him. I know that I often fail miserably at living up to the example that Jesus set for me. I rejoice in the fact that when I do fall down, he picks me up, cleans me up and points me back in the right direction.

If I could go back to that day and tell that much younger version of me all that would transpire over the next 20 or so years, I think that the little boy sitting in that car in his hockey equipment would be amazed at all of the things I’d be able to tell him that God has done in my life. He would probably be startled by many of the things that I have done to make the journey thus far so much more difficult than it has needed to be. I would definitely be embarrassed to have to explain to him some of the things I have done. He would not understand why I did them because he knows them to be wrong.

Undeniably, the hardest and darkest points in my life so far are the points where I have turned my back on Jesus and forgotten about that decision made some 20+ years ago. In those dark times, when I have been wandering lost and unsure of where to turn, that choice I made shines through the darkness like a beacon leading me back to Jesus.

Do you remember when you made the decision to pursue Jesus? If so, I hope that you also never forget it and that in troubled times you can use it to bring you back to a place of peace. If you have never made that decision I can only say that after so many years I would still make the same choice a million times over. I hope you will too.

Mike

Everyone had a good day because I was gone

"One day I was sick and everyone else had a good day because I was gone"

Those are the words a 9 year old boy said to me yesterday. My heart broke for him. I immediately thought of him as a teenager thinking the same thing. A teenager thinking everyone would be happier if I was dead. Then I got angry at the devil. I heard that seed planted in that little boys ear and thought how dare you!

So I acted, carefully. As a supply teacher in the public board I need to be very careful how things are worded. So I thought and spoke -

"You are not a bad kid but you did behave badly"

"I'm not?"

"(Child's name) you have a purpose. A reason why you were born."

"Really?" He asked looking up at me

"There is a job you need to do in your life that only you can do. You never know when or where but one day it will happen"

"I'm supposed to go to school so I can make lots if money and be rich"

"No you go to school so you can learn everything you need to know so one day you can help someone. One day someone will need your help and you need to be ready. When you act how you did today you make it so you can't do the reason why you were born and so it is harder for other people to do the reason they were born"

"Oh, ok, I'm sorry" and out he went for recess as I prayed one day when that voice whispered in his ear again that mine would be louder.

Never Meant To Be Pioneers

Mankind loves to pioneer.  We are always pursuing something, trying to get to new places, attempting to discover the next big thing. We are especially pioneers in our striving for more knowledge through such avenues as science, philosophy and astronomy. Pioneers, in a historical sense, give thought to those who were the first to explore and settle a new country or area. As our world has gotten smaller and we’ve run out of physical space to explore, pioneering has become increasingly focused on being the first to research and develop a new level of knowledge. 

Historically, when pioneering into new frontiers we found a way through that may have been no more than a narrow dirt path. We did not necessarily know where our exploring would take us. When we got to a point that we were satisfied with, we would stop and develop it.  Eventually we would go back to where we came from and make a wider path to allow for easier travel by those who followed after us. Today we have skillfully made highways and expressways that allow large amounts of traffic to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. We have become very talented at creating these paths.

Man’s pursuit for knowledge began a long time ago when, in Genesis 3:6-7, we chose the desire of gaining wisdom over the desire to be in an intimate relationship with God. When that fruit passed into the body of man it opened up our eyes to knowledge that we were never meant to concern ourselves with.  Mankind began our journey away from that place of relationship with God, both physically and spiritually. We were never meant to be pioneers.

Our path of the pursuit of knowledge has become a series of wide and well paved roads. It has become very easy to pursue information and to come to theoretical and/or practical understanding of that which we seek. The issue with these roads is that they never come to a place that we are satisfied with. We keep building and developing these roads; and yet we never actually discover where they are leading to. We have come up with theories and hypotheses and we have tested them using the "knowledge" we have gained from our other theories and hypotheses. We boast, “Look how far we have come on our own! Look how much knowledge we have attained!” Science can come up with many theories of HOW everything we see and feel and are came to be. No form of science can even attempt to answer the questions of WHY we are here.  

I’m not saying that knowledge is bad. Knowledge is part of God’s creation and it includes the knowledge of good and evil. The issue is when knowledge has been vainly pursued after rather than given and when knowledge becomes an idol that we replace God with.  God gave Solomon “wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding” in 1 Kings 4:29 and it was good and Godly knowledge.  However, Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 describes the pursuit of understanding and wisdom as chasing after the wind and full of sorrow and grief. When we pursue wisdom and knowledge but fail to pursue the Creator of wisdom and knowledge then our path is a vain and endless one that leads nowhere.

If I am to have any knowledge and understanding, I want it to be from God and not found through my own pursuit. In Colossians 2:2-3, Paul says that it is in Jesus Christ that God has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Those who are hunting for the treasures of knowledge and understanding anywhere else will never find what they are looking for. The roads may look nice and be easy to travel upon but they ultimately lead to darkness and despair.

Mike

Finding the Narrow Path

The sermon on the mount seems to be jumping out at me a lot in the last couple of months. I find it interesting that even though i have probably read Matthew 5-7 more times than I can remember, it is still a teaching of Jesus' that speaks to me and shows me something I didn't fully understand before.

Perhaps too often, the entirety of this large chunk of teaching by Jesus has been taken out of context or overlooked completely. When we choose to ignore it or pick and choose the parts we want out of the sermon on the mount we manage to view the "narrow gate" of Matthew 7:13,14 as the "sinner's prayer". We get this image of "just say this prayer and then no matter what happens after that you will be okay because Jesus took away all your sins and you were saved".

This is a dangerous thought that looks and sounds like this wide path:

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (Matthew 7:13 NIV)

Acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through death on the cross and resurrection three days later is a good thing and it is where the Christian journey begins. However, if that is where your Christian journey ends then there is much more missing.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)

...BUT only the one who does the will of my Father...

In Matthew 5:17-48, Jesus runs through several of the standards set out in the Ten Commandments and even tells us to take them all one step further. God's will is still that His people live a life of righteousness. Jesus didn't come to change that so we could do as we please.

In Matthew 6 and 7 Jesus touches on the manner in which we should help those in need, offer our prayers to God, and fast. He says that we should cherish heavenly treasures over earthly ones. He also talks of how much God loves us and desires to care for our needs. He tells us there is no sense in worrying because God will provide. He tells us not to judge others for their wrongs because we have issues ourselves that we should be more concerned with. He tells us to seek after God and we will not be disappointed.

After telling us the way that we should live Jesus says:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24 NIV)

 

He goes on to explain that rock is a strong foundation and if you build upon it then when storms come and the house is shaken it will not fall. Here it is! Jesus gave us a blueprint on how to live our lives so that they would be set upon a strong foundation!

 

Saying the sinner's prayer and stopping there is like saying "I'm going to build a house!" and then throwing one brick out onto a field, dusting off your hands and saying "There. All done!". When struggles come your way there is not enough foundation in your faith to stand upon. There is no shelter from the storm. When sickness hits, when a loved one hurts you, when your friends disappear, when there isn't enough money to pay the bills... you will fall off of that foundation and you will fall away from God.

When the sinner's prayer is the beginning of your journey and you build off of it by living a life that seeks righteousness, loves others, offers forgiveness rather than seeking revenge, recognizes and helps those in need, that prays and fasts, that values heavenly treasure over worldly treasure, and gives worry over to God and seeks Him out...that is a life set upon a rock. When the storms come you will know how to love, to forgive, to pray, to fast and to seek God. You will know where your real treasure is. You will not worry because you know your God is in control. You will have found the narrow path.

It is time for us to recognize that our faith that God is real is not enough.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19 NIV)

It is time to recognize that our actions are not enough.

Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:22, 23 NIV)

It is the combination of faith and action that will result in a strong, healthy and fruitful relationship with God that will lead you to salvation. It doesn't sound easy and it isn't. It is hard work but it is definately worth it!

Guard the Night

Sometimes we grow tired. The life that we think we should have gets in our way and slows us down. Sometimes we fall "asleep at the wheel" and our life seems to go by on auto-pilot. I've often wondered when we live our life like this what God is thinking and to be honest we can't really be sure. I do know that God has often preserved the lives of those who have not yet realized His plan for their lives so that when they "wake up" He can work through them and do amazing things. In our darkest hours when we have lost all hope and sight of Him, God is still there whether we acknowledge it or not. My hope and prayer is that we "wake up" to His plan before it is too late. That is my inspiration for this:

Guard the Night

 

I see you slowing down

Your legs are getting weak

Your words have fallen quiet

Your lips no longer speak

If you cannot go on

Then stop and rest a bit

But don’t forget to wake

When the sunrise hits

 

Close your tired eyes; lay down your weary head

And I will guard the night

 

I see you’re wavering

Your heart no longer seeks

Your fire has grown cold

Your path is looking bleak

Oh, listen to my voice

I want to help you through

But if you push me out

There’s nothing I can do

 

Close your tired eyes; lay down your weary head

And I will guard the night

Here comes daybreak

Here comes sunrise

Oh, Wake my child

Rise up my Child
 

Open up your eyes; shake your groggy head

The day and hour has come

The moon has turned blood red

Time is growing short

You must keep pressing on

And I will guide with light

 

Mike