Worshipping God in Spirit and in truth...

Jeremiah 17:12

“A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary…”

 

 

For 7 years the nation of Israel had worked tirelessly on Solomon’s temple, employing 30,000 split up in 3 groups working 2 months, then having 1 month off. When it was completed, it was a wonder to be seen. God was most definitely pleased with this magnificent temple. There was a unity of worship and allegiance to God so significant it brought about the blessing of God’s hand on the nation. 

 

Unfortunately, something happened between the days of Solomon and the time of the Prophet Jeremiah. While the temple remained, while sacrifices continued, the worship that was taking place was half-hearted at best. A religious checking off the boxes, while at the same time worshipping the false gods of the land God had given them.  As a result, the days of the magnificent temple in Jerusalem were coming to an end. In a short time, King Nebuchadnezzar and his army would descend upon Jerusalem and completely destroy the city as well as the temple. The physical sanctuary was soon to be gone.  For people with a half-hearted allegiance to and worship of God this was devastating.  For them much of their worship revolved around the building rather than on the Most High God.

 

 

Perhaps that is what was in the mind of God when He inspired Jeremiah to pen, “a glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary”. The worship of God never was, is not, and never will be dependent on any building.  God is omnipresent, abiding everywhere and, as Jesus made it clear to the woman at the well in John 4, “true worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and in truth”.

 

In Jeremiah 17:13 we read

“LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame.  All who turn away from Me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.”

  

Jeremiah is prophesying and speaking to the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, God’s chosen people, as a result when He writes, “…all who abandon You will be put to shame.”, He is writing to a people who at one time had a relationship with God.  The word “abandon” in the original Hebrew is a very strong word, used frequently in Jeremiah, starting in 1:16 where God says the nation of Judah, they “abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands”.

 

 

The picture here is that the people of Judah have turned their backs, abandoned, forsaken, the God who had literally formed them with His own hands. Don’t forget, throughout the creation account God spoke virtually everything into existence except when it came to man, with His own hands, He reached down and formed him out of the dust of the ground, then breathed in him the breath of life.  Now here man is abandoning God and declaring as god, something they formed with their own hands, except they were unable to beath the breath of life into these idols. They were worshipping dead things, capable of doing nothing, instead of the living God who was and is all powerful and perfect in every way.

 

 

Jeremiah goes on to write, “all who turn away from me will be written in the dirt.” In reading this, my mind quickly was drawn to John 8:2-11 and the biblical account of the woman caught in adultery. In this passage, the scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery.  I’m not sure where the man was, but that is a topic for another time. They were testing Jesus, to trap Him into saying or doing something they could use against Him.  Jesus initially says nothing, He simply bends over and begins to write something on the ground. Scripture does not tell us what He wrote, but I am guessing he writes some very specific sins.  Ignoring what He was writing, they persisted at questioning Him, then He stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then, Jesus bent over and again began to write on the ground. As before, Scripture does not give any indication what Jesus wrote.  In my mind I wonder, did He begin to write names of men next to the specific sins He had written earlier?  What we do know is that as He wrote, one by one, each man left, until He was there alone with the woman.

 

This fits well with Jeremiah 17:13, because as these men were leaving while Jesus wrote on the ground, they were turning away from Jesus. In the end, the only one who didn’t turn away was the woman. She was the only one who was able to drink from “the fountain of living water” to experience the incredible freedom one obtains from the “Lord, the hope of Israel.”  He was her only hope, and He is our only hope.  Our freedom comes when we abandon our sin and turn to Him with repentant hearts, drinking from the living water.

 

Father in heaven, O that my heart would be wholly and completely devoted to You. May I never move into a position of merely checking all the religious boxes. May my worship never revolve around places, things, or people, but on You, the one true God. My hope is in You and You alone. May I, day by day and moment by moment, abandon the sin that can become so prevalent in my life, and turn to You with a repentant heart, that I might drink from the Living Water that is Jesus my Savior.

This I pray, in His Holy Name, Amen

Come, All You Who Are Thirsty...

 

“Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!” Isaiah 55:1

 

Isaiah 55 begins with a call to the desolate, a call to those who were in great despair, who in a physical sense, had little more than the clothes on their backs. It is a prophecy with a dual fulfillment, with the first fulfillment serving as a precursor to the ultimate fulfillment. In this instance, the first fulfillment was around 150 years in the future when, by a decree of King Cyrus, the Nation of Judah, returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of God, and later the walls around Jerusalem (Ezra and Nehemiah). But its ultimate fulfillment is a spiritual fulfillment and it finds that fulfillment in the heart of the repentant Sinner. Isaiah begins; “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water”. In reading this, my mind is drawn to John 4 and to the encounter Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well. She came to draw water from a physical well, Jesus directed her to draw from the spiritual well for living water. 

 

Isaiah goes on to write; “and you without silver, come buy, and eat!Come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost!” Moving back to John 4, we see that, similar to the recipients of Isaiah’s message, the only thing The Woman At The Well brought to the table was a bankrupt soul. She was completely desolate. Here she is desolate, with a bankrupt soul, yet at the same time her spiritual mouth was parched with thirst, tongue dry and sticking to the roof of her mouth. In a spiritual sense, her stomach was completely void of any nutrition with an unquenchable hunger and deep rumblings that come with an empty stomach. Just as Isaiah does here in chapter 55, Jesus directs her attention to… well He had directed her attention to Himself. He was and is the Living Water, He was and is the Bread of Life. Spiritually, His Blood the wine, His Body the bread. She brought nothing to the table but a bankrupt soul, He laid before her an incredible feast, which He paid for in full, on the cross. 

 

What was true of her, what was true in the returning exiles, is also true of us. All that we bring to the table is a bankrupt soul, empty pockets spiritually, parched mouths, and spiritually empty stomachs. Jesus says, Come to a feast I have prepared for you. I know what it is you bring to the table, bankrupt souls, facing a debt you have no hope of repaying. That insurmountable debt you owe, you owe to Me, and I Myself have paid the debt, with My Own Blood, with My Own Body, broken for you. Come, drink and thirst no more. Come eat and be satisfied. 

 

Have you drawn from the well of living water that is Jesus Christ? If not, why not do so today?

Bowing To The Hand Made Rather than The God of the Universe

Bowing To The Hand Made Rather than The God of the Universe

 

 

 

Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, house of Israel. ² This is what the Lord says:

"Do not learn the way of the nations

or be terrified by signs in the heavens,

although the nations are terrified by them,

³ for the customs of the peoples are worthless.

Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;

it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold.

It is fastened with hammer and nails,

so it won’t totter.

⁵ Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,

their idols cannot speak.

They must be carried because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them for they can do no harm—

and they cannot do any good."

 

In some ways the poetic declaration of the prophet Jeremiah, in the opening verses of chapter 10, remind me of the prophet Elijah’s confrontation with the 450 prophets of the false god Baal & the 400 prophets of the false god Asherah in 1 Kings 18:20-38. In a sense, there is a note of sarcasm, even a hint of taunting, from Jeremiah, aimed at the fake gods the Nation of Judah was worshipping. “…Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman… He decorates it with silver and gold. It is fastened with a hammer and nail, so it will not totter (Perhaps they learned a lesson from the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5:1-12). Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak… can do no harm… cannot do any good.” Jeremiah surely marveled that God’s chosen people would bow down and worship, even sacrifice their own children, to something they had paid someone to carve out of a piece of wood. Instead of worshipping the God that formed them by His own Hands and breathed into them the very breath of life. 

 

Most who read this breathe a sigh of relief here. This is certainly not something we struggle with in our day and age! Certainly not in America! Why I’ve never bowed to any idol! In the words of the famous theologian Lee Corso “Not so fast my friend!” I would suggest that if we think deeply on this, our tune may change. To bow is a picture of surrender. While we may not physically bow, if we are not careful, we can daily surrender to that which God never intended for us to worship. The list is endless;

·      A home

·      A job

·      A business

·      My spouse or family

·      Girlfriend or boyfriend

·      Car

·      Game

·      Sport(s)

·      A Sports Team

·      A ministry or church

·      Bicycle….

My fingers could wear out before I finished this list, and these are just the things I personally have struggled with in my own life. What’s on your list?

 

My prayer, as we enter this New Year, is that my heart would be fully devote to the sovereign God. That I would reserve all my worship for Him, and Him alone. That as I am unswervingly devoted to Him and dive deeply into the unchanging, eternal truths of His Word, that He would transform me, from the inside out. That He would accomplish the unexplainable in me and through me, to the glory of His great Name. 

 

Would you join me in this prayer?

 

Pastor Jim

Song of Surrender

A Portrait of the Suffering Servant - Isaiah 53

A Portrait of the Suffering Servant - Isaiah 53

 

Is there a more vivid picture in all of the Old Testament than the portrait painted by Isaiah in Isaiah 53? The old prophet takes a hold of the paint brush, and the Hand of the Holy Spirit directs his hand to the questioning color of black. Isaiah 53 begins with a question. In some ways this question could have been asked by any of the prophets, as their prophetic utterances generally fell on ears that refused to hear. 

      “Who has believed what we have heard? 

And to whom has the Arm of the Lord been revealed?” (vs. 1)

 

The old prophet discards the used paint brush, reaches for a new one, once again, the Spirit of the Almighty directs his hand on to the palette to a very light shade of green, he then moves to the canvas and paints, what appears to be a “root out of dry ground” (vs. 2), so tender, you would think that the scorching sun and strong wind from the south would wither it into nothingness. Then, there was his brush strokes, honestly the least impressive you had ever seen, a 5-year-old could have done a better job. 

 

Keeping the same paint brush, and still directed by the Hands of the Almighty, the old artists hand's moved back to palette and then moves through every other shade of green, until the tip of the brush resembled what would proceed from the mouth of someone with a high fever. As he moves to the canvas, what came forth went from bad to worse, it was as sickening as the combination of all the green colors, actually, it was worse. You found yourself despising (vs. 3) what was appearing before you on the canvas. No longer able to “look” (vs. 2), you “turned away from” (vs. 2) the painting. It was hard to imagine there ever being any “value” (vs. 3) at all in this painting.

 The old artist placed the paintbrush on the palette, giving the impression that he had finished, however, moments later, something began to change, not so much in the portrait, it was more a change inside your heart. Honestly, it was impossible to put into words what was taking place. Somehow, the sick feelings and feelings of illness, some of which you didn’t even realize you had, began to move from inside of you and, strangely enough, move onto the canvas. As you think back on it now, you are taken aback by your initial reaction. Rather than a heart of gratitude at the transfer that had just taken place, you looked at the portrait with a deep disdain, a sense that the individual appearing on the portrait as being “stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.” (vs. 4) 

More than that, He was being “crushed” (vs. 5), as if the God of heaven were placing His foot upon the Figure on the canvas, Who now appeared to be alive, and crush the Him to pieces under God’s great wrath. Crushed, not because of any wrong done by Him, He was being crushed, experiencing the wrath of God, as a result of the “iniquity of us all” (vs. 6), past, present, and future. Throughout all of this, though all our iniquities were being thrust upon Him, “He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter and like a sheep is silent before her shearers, He did not open His Mouth” (vs. 7).

 Then something mysterious began to take place on the canvas. From the deep recesses of the background of the living form on the portrait, a cross began to move, though unnoticed up until now, you had a sense it was there all along, but now it was moving from the background to the forefront. It was an Old Rugged Cross with deep crimson blood appearing towards the top, bottom, and on the ends of both cross beams. At the center of the blood-stained bottom and at the center of the blood stains on both the crossbeams, nails, thick nails, nine inches in length, instantaneously appeared, and a stream of blood began to flow from each of the nail pierced holes. Even more mysteriously, small holes began to appear at the top of the cross, with blood beginning to drip in small droplets, as if thorns were being thrust deeply into the cross. Soon, blood was flowing there as well. 

The four streams of blood joined into one great stream of blood. So great a stream, that it completely encompassed the fading form on the portrait, until His life crumbled, then completely disappeared under the weight of the wrath of the Almighty, thrust upon Him through the iniquities that were laid on His weakened shoulders. What was at one time a living form, forsaken by God the Father, shouted, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), and took one final breath, before the last bit of life left His broken body. 

 

To the left, a grave, prepared for the scum of the earth appeared, in the grave, room was made for the broken form. Then, suddenly to the right, appeared a tomb for the wealthy, hewn out of a large rock. It was there the Body was placed. It seemed fitting, for while He was completely engulfed under the weight of the iniquities of all of mankind, He Himself had never acted in “violence and had not spoken deceitfully” (vs. 9).

 

Now gazing intently at the dark ugly canvas, the Face of the Most High God, the God of the universe appears, and on that Face, you see great pleasure, as if He were “pleased to crush” (vs. 10) the now lifeless body, that was enclosed in the tomb of the wealthy.

 

Overcome with… well you weren’t actually sure what you were overcome with, but for the next three days, your eyes were glued to the canvas, not able to turn to the left or the right, you just stared at the canvas. Somehow you sensed there was more to come. Then, early in the morning of the third day, before the sun had even risen, out of the midst of the dark ugly portrait on the canvas, a light begins to shine forth. Did I say shine? Let me change that, it wasn’t shining, it was flowing, flowing like a mighty flood from the very spots where the crimson blood flowed just three days earlier. And as it flowed, that mighty flood cleansed, completely and totally cleansed, the ugly iniquities of all who gazed upon it. 

 

 

At the same moment, the chest of the lifeless form on the canvas, began to expand and contract as if breath was flowing into the lungs. The eyes, once closed, opened, and the large stone that had been placed in the opening of the tomb, rolled away, releasing from the confines, the now living One, risen joyfully and triumphantly, never again to taste death, having once “willingly submitted to” (vs. 12) it. Now, the “righteous Servant” (vs. 11) Who had become the “Lamb being led to the slaughter” (vs. 7), reigns victorious. The portrait, once so ugly, your eyes turned away in disdain, was now so infinitely beautiful, you never wanted to turn your eyes away. 

 

Isaiah 53 

“Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the Arm of the Lord been revealed?

² He grew up before Him like a young plant

and like a root out of dry ground.

He didn’t have an impressive form

or majesty that we should look at Him,

no appearance that we should desire Him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,

a Man of suffering Who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from;

He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

⁴ Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,

and He carried our pains;

but we in turn regarded Him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵ But He was pierced because of our rebellion,

crushed because of our iniquities;

punishment for our peace was on Him,

and we are healed by His wounds.

⁶ We all went astray like sheep;

we all have turned to our own way;

and the Lord has punished Him

for the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughter

and like a sheep silent before her shearers,

He did not open his mouth.

⁸ He was taken away because of oppression and judgment,

and who considered His fate?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

He was struck because of my people’s rebellion.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

but He was with a rich man at His death,

because He had done no violence

and had not spoken deceitfully.

¹⁰ Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely.

When you make Him a guilt offering,

He will see His seed, He will prolong His days,

and by His Hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

¹¹ After His anguish,

He will see light and be satisfied.

By His knowledge,

my righteous Servant will justify many,

and He will carry their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion,

and He will receive the mighty as spoil,

because He willingly submitted to death,

and was counted among the rebels;

yet He bore the sin of many

and interceded for the rebels.”

Seasons Greetings.....or Maybe not! My thoughts on The 2020 Political Season.

I don’t know about you, but I love the seasons! I do have my favorite, which is spring, but there are things about the other seasons I also love. The chills of winter bring the beautiful purity of the new fallen snow, which remind me of what believers have in Christ. That the forgiveness we have as a result of His sacrifice on the cross, washes us whiter than snow. The heat of summer brings growth. We currently live in the midst of the corn and soybean fields of Indiana. Corn and soybeans grow best with the summer heat, accompanied by some summer rains. I am reminded that oftentimes we as believers also grow best during the heat and rain. Heat, to me, represents the trials and tribulations of life. Whereas the summer rains represent refreshment, refreshment from the heat. Oftentimes the trials and tribulations of life seem overwhelming and just when I reach the point of despair, my eyes turn to the God of the universe and He moves in like a refreshing summer rain and I experience refreshment and relief. Fall, well fall brings with it colorful leafs which have their own rustic beauty. Similar in many ways to believers in the church. Honestly, it would be pretty boring if all believers were like me, and you too, by the way! Spring brings with it new life. Flowers start to bloom, trees start to bud, and in some instances have their own blooms. I picture, in my mind, and individual bowing for the first time to the Savior Who gave His life a ransom for them on the cross and the new life that sprouts in the heart of that individual. 

There is one season I don’t care for. We have recently entered into that season. Perhaps you may be thinking, “Wait, didn’t fall just start? And you already said you enjoy fall, what gives?” Actually, I am not referring to any of the 4 seasons with which we are most familiar. The season I don’t care for is one that generally happens only once every four years. It is the Presidential Election Season. The season that makes enemies of close friends, enemies of family members, enemies of those you sit next to on Sunday mornings. Comments in social media turn into anything but…well social. I have noticed that over the last couple decades this ugly season has gotten even uglier. Chances are this will be the worse one in my lifetime. We are in the midst of a pandemic, which has greatly divided our Nation, and there is a racial tension that seemingly has set us back by 50 years. These things lead me to believe we are in for the ugliest election season ever! With that in mind, I wanted to give some of my thoughts on how, I believe, we as believers should approach our social media posts during this election season. 

To begin with, I’d like to start with a question. What is the chief goal of every believer? According to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:31, as he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the chief goal of every believer is to glorify God in everything we do. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” What this means is that before we hit the send or post button when we are on social media, we have to look back over the post to identify whether or not our post will bring glory to God. If it doesn’t, hit delete, don’t post. 

Now there may be times you are unsure if what you are posting brings glory to God. I look at what I post as if what I am posting was literally words proceeding from my mouth. With that in mind, let’s look at another statement from the Apostle Paul. This one comes from his letter the the believers in Ephesus. We find this in Ephesians 4:29 where we read; “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” I love the picture Eugene Peterson gives us in his paraphrase of this verse; “Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.” Did you notice his last phrase? “Each word a gift.” In other words, each word that comes out of my mouth, or in the case of social media posts, each word that comes from my fingertips, should be something I can wrap like a gift and give to someone and that the gift of my word would bring great pleasure to them. So, similar to how the last paragraph ended, if what I am about to post, isn’t gift worthy, then the key I should hit is the delete key, not post. By the way, I want you to notice something from Ephesians 4:29. Paul ends with the phrase; “that it may give grace to those who hear.”  What I want you to notice is, Paul isn’t specific with who he is referring to as “those who hear”. In other words, the listeners could be anyone, not just those who share the same political point of view as we do. What we post should give grace to virtually everyone. For some of us this may have a significant impact on what we post, in fact it may eliminate much of what we plan to post. At least when it comes to political posts. 

One more question. What was the first corporate command the resurrected Jesus gave to us? We find it in Matthew 28:19 where Jesus directs us to; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” At Liberty Chapel, we are currently on a journey through The Gospel According to Mark. The last message I delivered was from Mark 4:21-34. There are 3 lessons in these verses, The Lamp Under The Basket, The Parable of the Seed Growing and The Parable of the Mustard Seed. Each of these lessons addresses our obligation to be a light, to plant seeds of the Gospel. As I have done throughout this post, I want to equate this to what we post on social media. This means that our social media posts should shine the light of God’s love, should be planting seeds of the Gospel to those who read through them. Again, the question we need to ask before hitting the send or post button is, Will what I am about to post shine the light of Gods love, plant the seeds of the Gospel to those who read it? If the answer is not “Yes”. Then hit the delete button, not the post button. 

You know what I have noticed over the years I have been reading and posting on social media? So far, I have not seen a single individual who read a post that came from a different political viewpoint than theirs, who at the conclusion of reading the post left the comment, “Wow, I never thought of that before! I’m going to change my political party. Thanks, so much for enlightening me!” What I have witnessed countless times is threads deteriorating with each new comment. I have seen good friends become enemies. I have seen families torn apart. I have seen people that shared the same pew one Sunday, flat out ignore that former pew mate the following week, and every week that followed. I’m not sure that matches very well with what Jesus said in John 13:35; “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

To summarize this post. What we as believers post on social media should first:

1. Bring glory to God.

2. Give grace to those who read it. 

3. Shine the light of God, planting the seeds of the Gospel.

4. Give evidence that we as believers have a deep and abiding love for one another.

With these thoughts in mind, post away……after you bathe your post in prayer. And do me a favor, would you hold me accountable to these same guidelines? 

Thanks, Jim Canady

By the way, I welcome your comments and any discussion. I am not the end all authority on these things.

The Powerful Faith of Faithful Friends

The Powerful Faith of Faithful Friends.

Mark 2: “1And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He (Jesus) was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the Word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ‘Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic— 11 ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’ 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Friendship is a great thing. In many ways it makes life bearable and enjoyable at times when it could easily be the opposite. A good friend stays by you through thick and thin. In life’s good times and when things aren’t going your way. In today’s passage we see a story of great friendship, we see a story of great faith, we see a story of great determination.

As usual Jesus was about His Father’s business. He was preaching the Word to a packed house, when all of the sudden dirt began to fall from the ceiling. Soon beads of light began to show through that same ceiling. Not long after that there was a gaping hole large enough for a man to fit through. As the people stood in astonishment looking up, they saw a man being lowered through that hole. He needed to be healed and his good friends were determined enough that they were going to stop at nothing until he was face to face with the One Who could heal. These were the type of friends that everybody needs. The type that are going to allow nothing to stand in the way of friendship. These guys were bound and determined.

The stories had spread everywhere about this man Jesus. He had the power to heal, He had compassion for the people, He was a powerful teacher Who spoke with authority like no one else. Everywhere He went the crowds followed to listen to His teachings and to experience a touch of the Master’s Hand. They had heard that if you had faith, you could be healed. They had faith and so on this day they set out to see this Jesus. There was an excitement welling up inside of them as they carried their friend towards the place where Jesus was staying. The excitement quickly diminished as they neared their destination and saw throngs of people were headed in the same direction. When they arrived at the doorway it was jammed full of people.  Every entry, every window was packed. When they tried to get in no one would move for them. They weren’t about to let that stop them. They carried him up the outside stairs to the roof of the home and began to tear away. They agreed that they would repair it when they were done, but for now they will stop at nothing until their friend was face to Face with the Master. Soon they were lowering him through a hole in the roof, soon his mat was at the feet of Jesus, soon the paralyzed man stood to his feet having experience a touch of the Master’s Hand.

But let’s backtrack for a little bit, let’s go back to the friends. We have already looked at their great determination. They were bound and determined to let nothing stand in the way of getting their friend before Jesus. Now that’s friendship. But that brings us to the next question. Why? Why did they go to such great lengths? When I look at this, there are basically two very real possibilities that seem to jump to the forefront of my mind:

1. These men were incredibly ignorant. They would have had to have been ignorant or they would have never torn a hole in the roof of someone’s home. Unless possibility number 2 is true. 

2. These men had amazing faith. Now one of these possibilities makes perfect sense, the other doesn’t. 

Number 2 is the only one that makes any sense at all. That is exactly what happened with this these men. There was no doubt in their minds that Jesus not only could, but that He would heal their friend, or they would’ve never gone to such lengths. That is putting legs to your faith. 

My prayer is that you and I would exhibit this type of faithful friendship, and that we would put legs to our faith. 

Seeking daily to be a good friend and to put legs to my faith,   

Jim Canady  

Bowing to the Alter of the Perceived Important with my Back to the Cross

Back in early November, right after Pam and I had voted early, I posted on Facebook; “Just voted! Now can this election just end!” All National elections are contentious, but in my memory this one had exceeded them all. My hopeful thought was, “Ok, it’s over, can we all just move on!” Based on social media the answer to that is a resounding “NO!” In many ways a divided Nation has become even more divided. On the one side is what many perceive as sore losers (just to be clear, by losers I do not mean they are losers, just that their side came out on the losing end of the election!). On the other side you have….well you have sore winners (for the sake of full disclosure, this does not mean they are winners, just that they were on the winning end of the election!).

The rest of this post is directed at one particular group of individuals. It is directed to those who have committed their lives to Christ. Those whom the Apostle Paul calls “a new creation”, of whom Paul goes on to say “The old has passed away, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17).

For most of us, we can go back to that moment when the new life began, when we threw our proverbial hands in the air, bowed at the foot of The Cross and said; “God, I surrender myself to You, I put my faith and trust in You….” I’ll let you fill in the blank on how it went for you. For me, it took place in the summer of 1966; back then seat-belts were an option, which included an additional cost! We didn’t have them! When we would travel, much of the time I, being the youngest boy, would sit in the middle of the back seat, leaning on the seat in front of me, arms resting, talking and listening to my parents. God blessed me with an awesome set of parents and I liked being near them. On this occasion, as I leaned forward, the gospel became clear to me and I received Christ. How did it happen with you? I ask this question for a reason, I want your mind to go back to that day, to remember it, to think on it, think on what was going through your mind that day. That day you became “a new creation”. For many of us, something began to burn inside of us, we had this desire to tell everyone what Jesus had done for us. But as time went on, that flame seemed to subside and now it at times seems hardly distinguishable. The Apostle Paul was worried that the same thing might happen to his young friend Timothy, so in a letter to him, Paul wrote “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…” (2 Tim. 1:6). As a camp counselor at Camp IdRaHaJe in the mountains south of Denver, I learned how to start a camp fire; I learned that fanning a flame took effort. It wasn’t enough to just start the fire; on chilly nights, or rainy days, when your main source of warmth was that fire, you did whatever it took to keep it going. You fanned the flame. Should we do any less as a follower of Christ?

As I peruse through the various social media platforms, I am getting the impression that we as believers are fanning the flame alright, but it’s not the flame Paul reminded Timothy to fan. It seems that we are desperate to get a message out, but it’s not the message of The Cross, the only message that carries with it an eternal significance, its other messages. It’s our political viewpoint, our view on the POTUS, the Electoral College, SCOTUS, Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter, immigration. Our thoughts on abortion or a woman’s right to choose, on Obamacare or the abolishment of Obamacare…..the list seems at times to be endless. Now please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying these things are not important, each of these items have some importance to them. But we have turned these “important” items into hammers to drive home the nail of our message. With our backs to the cross of Christ, we pound nails into a different cross, one which holds no eternal significance, a cross of divisiveness, a cross that tears apart. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the churches in Galatia, was himself dealing with some divisiveness in the churches. He writes in chapter 5; “¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” Verse 15 seems to be a pretty accurate description of what is happening all too frequently on social media right now, from the biting and devouring to the consuming. How this must grieve the Holy Spirit! Paul writes in his letter the Ephesian believers; “²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Shouldn’t this be the overriding principle behind all of our posts? If it is, then we don’t have to worry about the verses immediately following verse 29; “³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

I get the impression that we have forgotten what it is we have been commissioned to do. Nowhere in the Gospels are we commissioned to set the world straight on our political view. I do not pretend to know the mind of God, but I am not sure that He gives a rip who we voted for or to which political party we belong. As important as the Pro-life movement is, it must absolutely take a back seat to the Pro-life movement that comes from those that are dead in their trespasses and sin accepting life eternal through Jesus Christ our Savior! And if our Pro-life post leads anyone away from the Cross of Christ, we need to think real hard before we click Post…..wait, let me change that, we need to pray before we click post! I must admit to you, outside of this post, I can’t remember the last time I prayed before I clicked post! Can you? It is no wonder there is a lot of biting and devouring going on out there. We have to do better, I have to do better. Our commission is to “¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them I the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” What we post in social media ought to reflect that commission!

Ok, so you have been pretty patient with me as you have read through this post. Perhaps you take issue with some of what I have written. That's fine, to be honest, most of the time when I write posts like this, the vast majority is self-directed. Maybe, just maybe I'm pointing a finger your direction, but 3 are pointed in mine. Can I ask you to do something? Can I ask you to pray? In fact, for those that are able, may I be so bold as to ask you to go to your knees and pray. I have, before I posted this I went to my knees, bowing at the foot of The Cross with my back to ALL else, seeking the face of God Himself. Oh that my life would be pleasing to Him, that my posts would be pleasing to Him, that my replies to others posts would be pleasing to Him. That His light would shine……even on social media!

Desperately wanting to hear “Well Done”,

Jim