Author Archives: justkeithharris

Refresh & Restore – 8/20/2020

1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external – the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear – but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

1 Peter 3:1-6

Greetings, Sojourners!

As we journey through 1 Peter looking at hope, I have to admit that this is not a passage that I initially wanted to cover. I thought long and hard about skipping it. This passage is not flashy. It is not exciting. In fact, if I am not careful, I can distract from its intended message.

But I am firmly convinced that we do not need flash or excitement. We need the word of God exactly as it is written. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that today’s passage is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for correction, and for training in righteousness” and that through it we may be “complete, equipped for every good work”. The Holy Spirit intended it to give hope to the exiles in Peter’s original audience, and He intends the same for us on our journey Home today.

It is not hard to see what the original context was here. Peter was talking to a group of people who were having difficult times for many different reasons. 1 Peter 2 covers people being subject to tyrant governments and emperors. It also covered how believers who had been sold into slavery were to treat their masters. Neither situation is ideal, and one is vastly worse than the other. Yet God called them to persevere and guard their conduct. Look at 1 Peter 2:19: “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly”.

That sounds ridiculous. From an earthly perspective – especially an American perspective, it is difficult to imagine why one would submit to unjust suffering. From a heavenly perspective, we see a picture of the mind and heart of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). 1 Peter 2:21-24 shows His example:

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”

This shows us that Jesus patiently endured sorrow and was willing to suffer because His endurance gave time for our repentance. He bore the penalty for our sin on the cross. Basically, He died the death we deserve to give us the Life that He alone deserves. What a gift!

In the context of today’s passage, we see the picture of a godly wife yoked with an ungodly husband. I would love to say that this is an unusual situation. I genuinely wish that I could say that this is rare and instances of this are few and far between. But, just as Christ patiently endured until the time that our repentance came (or is still coming), these godly women show us what it is like to genuinely love someone and hope/pray for their salvation. Peter says that these women’s “respectful and pure conduct” can win their husbands to Christ.[i]

Look at the way Peter describes that conduct; he describes the conduct of these women to be their “adorning” – like beautiful clothing and jewelry! We have all met people who are just genuinely beautiful people. No matter what they wear or how they fix themselves up, they are beautiful from the inside out. We have also encountered people who – at first glance – are very physically attractive but whose internal ugliness eclipses any perceived beauty. Peter reminds these wives – and all of us today – to “let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (v. 4).

The Bible is very clear on our heart: what is inside will show through to the outside. This is how Jesus put it in Matthew 7:33-34:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

There are many who like to speak of good things and try to hide the evil in their hearts, but Jesus makes it clear that what is inside will bleed through to the outside. I can, unfortunately, speak from experience: hatred on the inside will inevitably show up on the outside. We will be known by the fruit our lives bear.

Peter reminds these godly women of the heritage that they share. He tells them that if they “do good and do not fear anything that is frightening” (v. 6) that they are continuing in the legacy of Abraham’s wife Sarah who submitted to him.

Peter tells them that the adorning, the “hidden person of the heart”, is how the “holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands” (v. 5). And submitting to anything is one of the most difficult human actions. Submitting to something and giving it a place of authority is even more difficult.

So, what can we get out of all this? Where does the hope we need come into play?

Ultimately, our submission is to be to God, and I think that James gives us very good context for this:

“Therefore it says ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

James 4:7-8

If we are proud or puffed up, we hope only in ourselves. There is no place for submitting to Christ as Lord if our hearts are arrogant and conceited. If we are sitting on the throne of our hearts, Christ does not. So, we must submit to Him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10).

Once you submit to Him – once you are born again, saved, redeemed – things begin to change. What was dead inside of you is made alive (Ezekiel 36:26, Ephesians 2:4-5). Eventually, that inside change is going to work its way outside. It will affect your conduct and way of life. Your hope in the salvation that comes only from Christ is going to affect your outlook, your mindset, and your conduct. Are there going to be days and weeks where your old self and flesh win out? Unfortunately, there will. But the victory over all of it has already been won.

So, we find ourselves being willing to submit in order that people may be won to Christ. We find ourselves being willing to be reviled and persecuted so that those people mistreating us see our conduct, listen to the Word of God that we share with them, and their becoming our brother or sister when they repent and believe in Jesus. This, as usual, is easier said than done. But I can assure that it has value for your life. And it is absolutely what will eventually happen when you have genuine, living hope (1 Peter 1:3)!

I would urge you to think about godly people who you have seen endure hardship so that the gospel can go out. Maybe you have a pastor that endures hell from his congregation while we shares heaven with them. Maybe you know of someone who endures persecution in their work because they want to make sure their coworkers know the hope that comes only from Christ.

It is more likely that you know of a godly wife who puts up with more than you could imagine. You probably wonder how she could love her sorry husband or put up with his foolishness. You probably have told her that she should kick him to the curb for waste management to pick him up. But she sees something that you do not. She sees someone that needs saving. She sees someone who – if they would only repent and believe in Christ – can be so much more than you realize. She is looking at him like Christ looks at us.

And that should be the ultimate focus of our love: to see the people around us come to hear the gospel so that they can repent and believe. May the hope you have in Christ drive you to submit yourself to foolishness that He may receive glory! May the hope we have drive our conduct and our appearance. And, if we search our hearts and do not find that hope, may God grant us the repentance and faith in Him that we need the most!

[i] I know that there are genuinely terrible and terrifying situations built into some marriages. There is abuse and worse than I would ever hope to imagine people enduring. In those situations, do not hesitate to seek help or assistance.

Songs for Sunday – 8/15/2020

The gospel is simple. Thank God it is!

In the beginning, God created everything, and it was good (Genesis 1). Mankind was (and is) His special creation (Genesis 2). Adam, Eve, and God spent time together face-to-face (Genesis 3:8). It was very good (Genesis 1:31).

Unfortunately, that goodness was messed up by sin. Sin is when you break God’s commands or laws (1 John 3:4). For Adam and Eve, it was just one command – to not eat from a specific tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15-17) – that they could not keep. They were tempted with the fruit and, knowing fully what they were doing, ate it anyway (Genesis 3:1-7). This event is known as the Fall, and its consequences continue even today.

The Fall introduced sin into the world. And sin brings forth death (Genesis 3:22, Romans 6:23). Every man and woman, boy and girl from the Fall to now and beyond are sinners (Romans 3:23). And, just like with Adam and Eve, that sin is going to bring us death one day.

BUT GOD.

“BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved….”

Ephesians 2:4-5

“BUT when the goodness and loving kindness of GOD our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy….”

Titus 3:4-5a

God knew all along that His special creation would sin against Him. He could have scrapped the whole plan. He would have been just and right to wipe out Adam and Eve when they sinned. But, instead, we are offered grace. Like I said, God knew all of this would happen, and He had His rescue planned from before the beginning, too (1 Peter 1:20-21)!

God’s rescue plan is something no one would expect. You see, people expect religion. They expect to work hard to be good and try to do right, but none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10). No, God knew that the only way for us to be saved was for Him to leave Heaven and come to Earth to save us; He left His glorious throne and came down to live in the muck and the mire and the fallen world where we live (John 1:14). He came not just to make a way for us but to be our Way (John 14:6).

“…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

We do not have to work or earn or try to get there. We simply need to call out to Him.

“…because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

It really is just that simple. All we have to do is cry out to Him in repentance (turning from our sin), faith (belief in Him as who the Bible says He is), and following Him (confessing Him as Lord). All you have to do is call on Him and you will be saved (Romans 10:13).

That’s what we’re singing about this Sunday: the Gospel, plain and simple!

Here are our songs:

Refresh & Restore – 8/13/2020

17 And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:17-21

Greetings Sojourners!

We are continuing on our journey through 1 Peter, looking at passages regarding hope. We have looked at our “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) in Christ Jesus through His resurrection. And last week, we looked at how we need to “set [our] hope fully on the grace that will be brought…at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). Today, we are going to see how we are to look to our heavenly Father for hope in the depths of exile.

As we walk through these passages, it is easy to forget that Peter’s original readers were displaced from their homes and in foreign lands. It is easy to look at how these verses apply to us in our every day lives. And it is even easier to forget that we are exiles on the earth and distant from the Father’s house where He has a room for us in Heaven.

Let us think on that image of the Father’s house. So, often our view of heaven is some ethereal cloud city with harp playing and naked baby angels floating around. While there are numerous descriptions of Heaven in the Bible, Jesus’ words to His disciples – while they were afraid and confused, and He was about to be crucified – describe the specific living arrangements that should give us the most hope:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

(John 14:1-3)

To use the language from our passage today, “if you call on Him as Father” – that is, if you are saved/born again/have faith in Christ as Lord – you have a room in the Father’s house! That’s good news for us in our time of exile!

Now, some of us struggle with the idea that we are are currently in exile, but, rest assured, there is a much better future to be had with Christ than this world can possibly offer. Let Peter’s words give us correct context for our lives here on earth:

“And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited by your forefathers….”

(vv. 17-18a)

Fear seems to be an odd command since we are focusing on hope. But God, in His Sovereign wisdom, put these Scriptures exactly as He intended. What does that mean for us, then? How can fear produce hope?

The Bible talks a great deal about the fear of the Lord. A few verses that come to mind and have bearing on our passage today are:

  • Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
  • 2 Corinthians 7:1 – Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

When these verses speak of fearing God, they are not talking about a “paralyzing terror” but, instead, a “fear of God’s discipline and Fatherly displeasure…a reverence and awe that should characterize the lives of believers during their exile on earth”[i]. In other words, we live out what I often remind Keri and Xander when they are going places; I remind them whose they are and to act like Candice and I have taught them how to act!

We need to remember that – if we call on Him as Father – we are His! And, when we remember who we belong to, it affects the way we live. As I type this, I think about all the lessons and training that my parents gave me that still come to mind and have bearing on how I live, work, and raise my own children. What lessons and training have you received from the Father?

When Peter talks to these exiles about Who they belong to, he reminds them that they were “ransomed” (v. 18). First, they were ransomed – liberated/set free/delivered by paying a ransom – from their bondage to sin and death! Second, they were ransomed from the baggage of their flesh – the things that still linger in our flesh after we are saved but while we are still exiled on earth and awaiting heaven.

Peter wants them to remember that they do not have to be in bondage to the “futile ways” – useless ways – that were a part of their past. They hold no power over us anymore!  This is like Paul’s reminder in Ephesians 4:17 that we “must no longer walk as Gentiles do in the futility of their minds”. Instead, we “set [our] hope fully on…grace” (1 Peter 1:13).

Peter also gives his readers a reminder of the ransom – the cost – that was paid for them. The cost was the “precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (v. 19). He gave His sinless, perfect life for us that we may have Life! He – who was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” (v. 20) – humbled Himself and died in our place. And it is through Him alone that we are “believers in God” (v. 21).

It is because of that sacrifice – and because of the resurrection that came from it – that we have reason for faith and hope. You see, we can now understand why Jesus would tell His disciples to not let their hearts be “troubled” but to “believe”. We can understand what it means for belief to produce hope amid fear. We just have to remember whose we are.

Jesus – the One whom God “raised from the dead and gave Him glory” – is the One in whom we have faith in and, thereby, hope. And “hope does not put us to shame” (Romans 5:5).

So, if you are calling out to the Lord as Father and living in fear, let us make sure that our fear is put in correct placement.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way…. (Psalm 46:1-2a)

Let us set our hope on Christ. Let our fear be reserved for Him while we trust that His loving-kindness carries us through our troubles until our exile is over and we see Him face to face.

[i] ESV Study Bible

Songs for Sunday – 8/9/2020

Earlier today, I was picking up some garbage in front of the church. Cars were going back and forth down Carrollton Rd., and I thought about typing out one of those Facebook posts. I have not written one of those posts in years. I have thought them plenty of times. But I really wanted to type out a good ole passive-aggressive, self-righteous public service announcement to remind people that they should not throw trash out of their windows in front of the Lord’s house.

Then it happened. Even though it the idea for the post was just a brief thought, it triggered a memory that I had forgotten about.

It had to have been about eighteen or nineteen years ago that the men at the church I grew up in were helping an older lady move. She had a grandson who had been born special. We were the same age and had been around each other for years. I can remember being intimidated by his love for the Word and memory for Scriptures, especially since his mind did not work the same as everyone else’s. For whatever reason, they allowed him to ride with me as we hauled furniture in my pickup.

It was hot. I chugged down the last of my pop. And I threw the bottle out the window on a dusty gravel road. I can remember his words clearly: “I know the Lord doesn’t like people to throw garbage out in His creation.”

Ouch!

He did not mean it passive aggressively. He was not being self-righteous. In fact, he was not capable of either vice. He was genuinely grieved by what I had done, and I was convicted. He showed me grace.

That is what God showed me again today when I was convicted of my heart and mindset on the side of the road. I am thankful for the grace of God to allow me to see my sin and repent. I am thankful for the grace of God in forgiveness. I am thankful for the grace of God in letting me remember. And I am even more thankful for the grace of God in that “as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

And that’s what we are singing about this Sunday: the grace of God.

These verses were on my heart as the worship set came together this week:

Here are our songs:

I hope to see you with us, whether you gather in person, in the parking lot via speaker, or on Facebook or YouTube live!

If gathering in person, please remember that masks are recommended and that we need to remain vigilant in our social distancing measures. Continue to pray for those who are sick – not just our members but all those around the world.

Refresh & Restore – 8/6/2020

1 Peter 1:13 —

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:1-4 —

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Greetings, Sojourners!

We are continuing our journey together through the hope found in 1 Peter, and I am extremely thankful for today’s passage.

There are so many things fighting for my attention and grabbing at my thoughts – outside voices and from within me. Fear and biased rhetoric are at all time highs in our society. I cannot speak for you, but my mind has been all over the place. It is easy for the doubts and fears in my mind to take over.

The Scripture we are looking at today can help us with this, but we need to realize what these verses are and are not supposed to do. Firstly, we need to realize that these verses are for people who have confessed Jesus as their Lord. There is no way for us to hope to get our minds under subjection if our lives are not subject to Him. Secondly, these verses are not magic words that will ward off the boogie-man of our wayward minds. They are “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching”; they are meant to teach us and correct us that we “may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

In this passage, Peter urges his readers to be “preparing [their] mind for action”. This is good advice, but it is much easier said than done.[i] To help us understand what Peter means, we need to look at what this phrase meant in the original language. This phrase, translated literally, would be to “gird up the loins of your mind”.

The idea of girding up one’s loins goes back thousands of years – back before pants and shorts – to when everyone, even warriors wore robes and tunics. So, if they ever needed to get anywhere quickly, they needed to (sort of) hitch up their skirt tails and confine them with their belt. It kept the soldiers from, literally, being tripped up.

To apply it to our lives and minds, think of all of the stray or wild thoughts that go through your mind on a daily basis – especially in times where your anxiety is heightened – as stray cloth that is tripping you up. The image is fitting. We find ourselves unable to think or focus because our thoughts are everywhere. So, Peter’s advice for us to gird up the loins of our mind – prepare our minds for action – means that we need to gather up our thoughts and pull them into submission, cinching them up in the “belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:14).

1 Peter 1:13 gives us another image to clarify what needs to happen in our minds when he urges his readers to be “sober-minded”. The idea of being sober contrasts that of being drunk. Just as alcohol or drugs alter one’s mind, our stray thoughts take our minds off where their focus should be and puts it elsewhere. When the mind of a believer loses its focus on Christ, it is no wonder we begin to feel hopeless. But we do not have to lose hope because our hope in Jesus is different than worldly hope – it is living (1 Peter 1:3)!

And that living hope is where our focus should be. I love the way that Peter puts it here: “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. In the case of setting our hope, I think the best illustration is a thermostat. But, before I show you that illustration, let us look at how Peter’s urge for us to “set” our hope on Christ fits with Paul’s in Colossians 3.

When we are urged to set our hope on Christ, it is quite specific. We are to set our hope “fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”, showing us that our hope is to be fixed on Jesus – specifically on the fact that He is coming back! Similarly, Paul begins in Colossians 3:1 with the idea that those who “have been raised with Christ” – born again, saved – should be seeking things from “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God”. In other words, our hope is in what – Who – is coming.

Paul goes on to urge believers to “set [their] minds on things that are above” instead of “things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:3). Here we see Paul telling his readers to fix their attention on heavenly things rather than earthly things. This is where the thermostat comes into play.

A thermostat is a glorious invention – that is, if you are the one who gets to control it. One can set their thermostat on a temperature and – Lord willing, everything in the air conditioner is working correctly – that small box will control the temperature throughout a house. You set it to a temperature and leave the air conditioner to do its work. You do not have to will your air conditioner on or off. They even make thermostats that can control the temperature on a schedule, adapted to when you are away or at home. It should be the same for our minds and our hope.

I realize that setting one’s hope or one’s mind is not as easy as pressing buttons. I understand that it takes time to train one’s mind to react under certain circumstances. But I know that, if I leave my mind to its own devices, I will be of no good to anyone – much less be of use to the Kingdom of God. This is something that I am having to practice and use often.

As I stated at the beginning of this devotion, tensions and anxiety are at all-time highs in the world around us. But Jesus is still “seated at the right hand of God” and we still await “the grace that will be brought to [us] at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. Paul Tripp asks a question that has stuck in my mind and challenged my fear and doubt: “Why allow yourself to fear the future when all of your days are held in the wise and loving hands of your Sovereign Savior King?” Our hope is in a King whose victory and return are fixed events in the future. If we believe that, we have faith that He has taken care of us, is taking care of us, and always will. But all of this talk is for nothing without hope in Christ.

This is very challenging for me because, apparently, I have a very specific sort of amnesia. I know Christ. I know and trust in His finished work on the cross. I know and trust that the tomb is empty and that He is at the right hand of the Father. I know that He has a plan for me. I just forget. But there is grace even in my forgetfulness. That grace is present in today’s passages. That is why I must set my hope fully – set my mind on things above – in order to be prepared for action.

So, how do we do this? My suggestions are simple:

  • Pray – This is the first step in setting our mind and hope. God wants us to talk to Him and trust Him for our daily needs. This gets our hearts and minds off of our problems and points them toward a solution.
  • Read the Word – If you find yourself struggling to hear the voice of God in the midst of your thoughts, you do not have to look for an ethereal voice to speak out. We have God’s words written and compiled in book form. If you want to hear God’s voice, read His Word.
  • Meditate on the Word – To meditate on God’s Word is to think and ponder on what His Word says. Here is a list of verses that can be handy to settle your mind: 1 Peter 1:13, Colossians 3:1-4, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 121:1-2, Isaiah 43:1-3, and Matthew 11:28-30 (and many, many more).
  • Talk about the Lord – Share with others about the hope you have in Christ. You are likely surrounded with people who are feeling hopeless and isolated. God has planted you where you are for a reason.

I am praying for you regarding this, and I hope that you will pray for me as well. There is no better place to set our hope and our focus than on Jesus. This makes me think of Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Sojourners, I can promise you that there is only one thing out there that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise; His name is Jesus. And, oh, what a change of mind occurs when we focus on Him – and a change of life, as well.

As always, I hope that you are loved and prayed for. Reach out if you need me. But, most importantly, you are loved by the King and any hand out to Him for help will not be brushed off.

[i] For additional resources related to “preparing your mind for action” in the context of 1 Peter 1:13, you can check out the message from Christ Community Church on Sunday, July 19, 2020.

Songs for Sunday – 8/2/2020

Who is the most influential person you have ever encountered?

If we were not talking in a church setting, most people would answer with the name of a parent, teacher, or mentor of some sort. Maybe you have had the opportunity to meet someone famous or have had some chance encounter that changed the trajectory of your life. No doubt these individuals have had profound and lasting impact on your life – and, hopefully, for the better. But no one – no one – has a more lasting impact than Jesus.

Encountering Jesus always has a profound effect on the lives of people. In fact, there are only two responses of people who have encountered Him. People either follow Him or reject Him. And those two responses could not be farther apart.

To reject Jesus is to follow after the world.

  • Unrepentent Cities, Matthew 11:20 – Then He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.
  • The Rich Young Ruler, Matthew 19:22 – When the young man heart this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
  • Chief Priests & Pharisees, Matthew 21:45-46 – When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that He was talking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because they held Him to be a prophet.
  • Chief Priests, Elders, & the High Priest, Matthew 26:3-6 – Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
  • Judas, Matthew 26:15 – and [Judas] said, “What will you (chief priests) give me if I deliver Him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
  • The people/crowd – likely including those who the chief priests were afraid of in earlier verses, Matthew 27:22-23 – Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let Him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let Him be crucified!”
  • Chief Priests & Elders, Matthew 28:12-13 – And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’

To follow Jesus is to find Life.

  • Andrew & Peter, Matthew 4:20 – Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
  • James & John, Matthew 4:22 – Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
  • Matthew, Matthew 9:9 – As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed Him.
  • Roman Centurion(s) at the Crucifixion, Matthew 27:54 – When the centurion and those who were with Him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
  • Joseph of Arimathea, Matthew 27:57-58a – When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Just scanning through the book of Matthew, we can see the difference in response to Jesus. Those in both lists were people who saw Jesus with their own eyes. They could have touched Jesus with their hands. They – both groups – saw and experienced His power through miracles we can only imagine. Yet some did not follow.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24-26 show us why:

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

So, when we encounter Jesus will our response be to put all of our hope, trust, faith, and worship in Him, or will we try to put all of those things in the world? Ultimately, we are asked with our lives to answer the question Pilate asked above: “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?”

My hope for you is that you have looked at the surpassing worth of Jesus and followed Him. 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”

That’s good news and what we are singing about this Sunday! We are going to set our eyes on the King of kings and get to worship Him! We are going to seek His face and pour out our hearts before Him! We have the privilege to worship and follow Him; may He change and mold us as He sees fit!

These verses were on my heart as the worship set came together:

Here are our songs:

I hope to see you with us, whether you gather in person, in the parking lot via speaker, or on Facebook or YouTube live!

If gathering in person, please remember that masks are strongly recommended and that we need to remain vigilant in our social distancing measures. Continue to pray for those who are sick – not just our members but all those around the world.

The Gospel & Social Media

I learned a long time ago that you need to have a good hook in your writing and that, sometimes, a quote is a real attention-getter. My first thought was to go with a good Winston Churchill quote like, “Kites rise high against the wind, not with it.” But it was a little too abstract. I found a few more that would work for what I was looking for and decided to go with a tried-and-true idiom: “don’t shoot the messenger”.

Social media platforms are mainstays in our current culture. There are few who do not partake, and its uses vary widely. When Facebook first reached this area, it was used predominantly by college students to reconnect with people from their earlier school years. It has branched out quite a bit from that point and is used to connect with old friends, share pictures and life events with distant family, be a political platform, and everything in between. It leaves me wondering, for the believer, what our social media presence should be like.

As I sit here typing these thoughts, I must admit that I am afraid. Over the last twenty-four hours, I have watched self-proclaimed believers eviscerate other believers for warning against a cult-leader spouting medical knowledge in a viral post. I have seen self-proclaimed believers copy and paste rhetoric to support their stance against mask wearing that came from a basis of support in pro-choice abortion in contrast to their former pro-life stances. I have seen enough to scare me to the point where I vastly overanalyze everything that I consider posting to the point that I rarely post more than a few Bible verses and the devotions I send out weekly. Where is the gospel in all of this?

The word translated gospel can literally be translated good news, and good news is hard to come by on social media these days. In Romans 1:16, Paul tells us something about how our attitudes and lives should be shaped by the gospel: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul exhibited this in his life by having the sharing of the gospel as a defining characteristic in his life. His calling was to be a missionary to the Gentiles, and Scripture tells us that he consistently shared the gospel message wherever he went. He was clearly not ashamed of its message or the Christ he proclaimed. But, most importantly, his continual sharing of the gospel showed that he genuinely believed that it was “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”.

I believe that we should allow the Bible to define the gospel message a little bit more. If one were to look to individual passages of Scripture to concisely define the Gospel, I have laid out a few that are more commonly known:

  • “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
  • “For I delivered unto you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
  • “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Each of these passages very clearly present Jesus Christ. One might argue that more context is needed for any of them, and I would wholeheartedly agree – that is what sharing the gospel truly is, opening the Scriptures and pointing to Jesus! This information is extremely important. Furthermore, it should be a part of our life, our speech, and our conduct (Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

Before we go any farther in this discussion, we must ask ourselves the following questions: (1) do I truly believe the gospel of Jesus has the power to save people, (2) do I truly believe that Jesus has the power to change the lives of the people He saves, and (3) am I presenting other solutions for peoples’ salvation instead of the gospel?

Now, as I have discussed this with people recently, I have heard these two counterarguments most commonly. The first counterargument is that there is nothing wrong with posting other, non-gospel things on social media, and, to that, I mostly agree. We can post whatever we want. I am not arguing that our social media platform should look like what people perceive the church to look like. I am not calling for a removal of all memes, articles, songs, etc. I am not advocating for anything more that for believers in Christ to look at the message we are presenting to the world. Rather than me try to define what I want for my life and the lives of other believers, it would serve us all better for God to do that as He already has in His Word. Colossians 3:17 tells us, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” This is a good admonition in Scripture that I fall short of quite often, but that does not change the fact that it is a good admonition for believers to strive to match up with – both in-person and virtually.

The second counterargument is that believers should be involved in politics. I do not disagree with this stance; however, I think we should define what being involved in politics is and is not. Firstly, I do not think that non-stop sharing of political memes and any article put out by members of your particular political party can be called being “involved” in politics. No political change is going to happen sitting on one’s couch. People often hail back to the founding fathers who were believers, and I think they set a good example. They did not merely write out the Declaration of Independence and sit back to watch others share it about in the villages and towns around them. The sharing of a document did not change the landscape of the new world. That would be ridiculous. They sent that declaration to King George, got off their rear-ends, and were active in their cause – not just on election days. Secondly, I find that little thought goes into much of what is viral in the present. I have seen people share articles from Snopes – a fact-checking website – because of their agreeing with the headline and ignore the fact that they are actually proving themselves wrong with the content of the article. We need to be discerning in what we say (James 3:1-12), whether with our physical mouths or through our thumbs via an app.

If we genuinely believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change lives, it should be present in our lives. And before it can ever impact anyone else, it has to have impacted us in our own hearts. This means that the lack of gospel in our social media presences will not be fixed by merely adding some Jesus-y content to our regimen of copying and pasting. It means that we have some repenting to do in how we interact with others. We need to ask ourselves if Jesus would be pleased with the content we put out. We need to examine whether or not Jesus would agree with the overall message that we are presenting. It means we should repent – as often as necessary – and spending more time in prayer to God and in His Word than we do on social media in the first place. Maybe you need to go over to the settings on your phone and look at the screen time percentage for social media. I just looked at mine, I and am ashamed. I had to stop writing and repent to the Lord and to my family. We have had screen time limits for our daughter and content restrictions on all of our phones, and, before finishing writing this, we now have screen time limitations across the board.

Not only should the gospel be present in our lives, but it should also show up in the content we put out. I would urge you to look back on your social media platforms and see whether or not there is any gospel content going out. Are you proclaiming anything that you believe people need to see and learn? Are you proclaiming solutions for people’s lives that come from worldly places more than from God’s Word? If so, you need to repent. It is something I have had to do myself. It is not easy, but it is absolutely vital.

I do not want this article to be a finger-pointing, judgment session, and I am afraid that it will be taken as such. My hope for you is the same as I have for myself – that we continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, Him bringing change in us. I have fought against the urge to write this for some time now, and, if you are reading this, I can assure you that I have prayed for you in your reading. But, rather than have me continue to type my own words, let me offer you some words from Scripture that I constantly try to bring to my mind when I get off-balance in my thinking and speech. Romans 12:1-2 are verses that I try to post on my desk at work and try to post in my mind as often as needed. I believe they have that gospel influence that I have been writing about and hope they help you on your way:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Refresh & Restore – 7/30/2020

1 Peter 1:3-5 —

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Greetings, Sojourners (I will explain this later)!

I am excited to continue writing to you about HOPE! Hope is something that we need to carry on in our day-to-day lives. And it is hope that is missing in much of what we take in on a daily basis.

1 Peter’s original audience was dispersed from their homes and were exiles in foreign countries. They were driven out of their homes for their faith in Christ. Persecution sought to silence them, yet, for these early believers, it did not steal their hope – it made them missionaries.

Last week, our focus was on the nature of our “living hope”. We were reminded of God’s “great mercy” and how He causes “us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. We looked at what it means to be born again and why it matters that our hope – found only in Jesus Christ – is living.

This “living hope” really helps to put things in perspective. By putting our hope in Jesus Christ and what He has done/is doing/will do for us, our point of view shifts. We shift from trying to earn, work, and do to trusting in what He did for us on the cross. We shift from looking at death as an ending because the grave could not hold our King. We shift from oppressive fear of the unknown to rejoicing in being known by a God who loves us, cares for us, and knows us.

So, if today finds you feeling hopeless, isolated, and alone, I am glad that God’s word has hope to share with you in today’s passage.

If you are born again, God has something special for you. We talk a lot about it when we look at the gospel and salvation, but, sometimes, we talk about it in such an abstract way that it seems as if it is not real to us. I am talking about eternal life.

You see, our “living hope” is not just for the here and now but for the always. Remember, these exiles were torn from the homeland where their ancestors had lived in for thousands of years – all the way back to their father Abraham (had many sons…). That land was intended to pass from them to their children, grandchildren, and so on. Now, that inheritance would go to someone else.  

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea of an inheritance like that. My branch of the Harris family came out of what is now the back corner of Grenada lake. A representative came to my forefathers with a check, and, despite their disinterest in selling, bought the family plot and flooded it for our recreational pleasure. My great-grandfather and grandfather ended up in Riverdale Road in Grenada across from the airport. If you ride by now, you will not see the old home place because it was cleared out for the fence and equipment where the runway extension lights now burn.

We have all, at one time or another, fantasized about that distant rich uncle who passed away and left you millions and a mansion, but, even if no Harris had been displaced, there was no vast inheritance waiting for me. For these exiles an inheritance was expected. They were of Israel, God’s chosen people of old. There was history there between them and God – history and many promises. What could compare with that? Verse 4 lays it out: “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”.

Once we are born again, we are born into an inheritance that supersedes anything that this world could offer. We are adopted into the family of the King of kings. He has an inheritance for us that is imperishable – that will neither die nor decay. It is undefiled – never be polluted or stained with sin. It is unfading – eternally fresh and flourishing. Our inheritance is full of life, peace, and perfection.

Most often, we equate this reward with Heaven. There is a street made of pure gold. Every precious stone known to man is used in the craftsmanship of its walls. There are riches there that no place on earth can even remotely begin to match. Yet it all pales in comparison to the glorious companionship we will have when we see Jesus! Eternity with Jesus is our inheritance! To echo the hymnwriter of old:

“What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. I shall look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace…. What a day, glorious day, that will be!”

“What a Day That Will Be”, Jim Hill (1955)

What can give more hope than that? The worst threats that this world can throw at us cannot offer a terror that can stand against eternity. The world can threaten us, beat us down, and even kill us, but the world’s greatest threat, death, is our greatest reward, Life (Romans 6:23, John 14:6). So, we do not have to live hopeless frightened lives because we know there is more to the story.

Furthermore, there is nothing we can do to lose that inheritance! Peter tells us that it is “kept in heaven for you” (v. 4) and that we are protected by “God’s power…being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (v. 5). Since our salvation was not paid for by us, it is not kept by us. Because our salvation rests solely on the power and might of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can wrestle it from His power (Romans 8:35-39). This is good news! And it should spur us on to hopeful living (Romans 8:24-25).

Just as the exiles that Peter wrote to did not cease serving the Lord when things got difficult (Acts 8:4), we must continue, patiently serving, when things get difficult. I think that Paul gives us a good example for what this hopeful living looks like in Philippians 1:21-23:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better.”

When he penned these words, Paul was near the end of his life in a Roman prison. His sentence was death. Rather than cower in fear, he looked at his options: to live and continue preaching the gospel or to die under persecution and be with Jesus. Because of the HOPE that he had in Christ, he saw the first option as possible because his future was wrapped up in the second.

I do not know what you are going through right now, and I do not want to minimize your trials. Thankfully, we have likely not suffered in the same way that these exiles have. So, does this mean that what you are going through is not valid since it is less severe? Absolutely not! God’s Word gives us context to know that He can absolutely handle whatever situation we encounter – bad or worse. We can take whatever our situation to the Lord and trust that He has got this.

Maybe you are reading this and are at your wits end. Maybe you are contemplating giving up. Know that the “living hope” that Peter wrote about is not a hypothetical idea; that living hope exists in the person of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” If you reach out to Jesus for help, it is comforting to know that “the mighty hand of God” will reach out to pull you up rather than beat you down farther.

Jeremiah 29:11 is often taken out of context. It was originally part of a promise for Israel when their Babylonian captivity was over. But its words echo the sentiment in today’s passage: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” If you have trusted in Christ, He has not forgotten you and has “a future and a hope” for you that is far beyond anything offered in the world.

In the meantime, between now and eternity, we do not have to continue to think of ourselves as exiles and outcasts. That word can also be translated “sojourners”. A sojourn is a temporary stay. Those of us who are born again are only here temporarily – worshiping and serving our Lord until we see Him face to face. And that future gives us hope on our way.            

So, Sojourner, know that you are loved and prayed for on your journey. As always, feel free to reach out if you need anything.

Songs for Sunday – 7/26/2020

Are you forgetful? Maybe you were about to tell someone something and your mind went blank. Or maybe you walked into a store to grab a few items only to leave with ten other things (and none of what you came after in the first place). But what about what God has done for you – have you ever forgotten about that?

Psalm 107:1-3 says,

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
for His steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom He has redeemed from trouble
and gathered from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

God’s people have always been a forgetful people. If you look back through the Bible – Old and New Testaments, you see God consistently redeeming His people from trouble, their forgetting what He did for them, and His reminding them of the grace and salvation again and again.

Psalm 107 gives us a clear picture of this.

We are able to see a variety of things that God saved His people from in this psalm; for example:

  • “wandered in desert wastes” (v. 4)
  • “hungry and thirsty”, soul-fainting, “trouble…distress” (v. 5)
  • “darkness”, “shadow of death”, “prisoners in affliction and in irons” (v. 10)
  • “fools through their sinful ways”, “because of iniquities suffered affliction” (v. 17)

Those problems and afflictions are many, and, most of us, can problem identify with many things from that list. But, rather than identify with them in their affliction, we need to identify with them in their response. Every, single, time God’s people gave the same response (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28): “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.” Not only was that their constant response, but God delivered them every, single, time

The pattern was the same over and over. God’s people cried out, a description was given of the affliction from which they had been delivered, and a response was prescribed for them (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31): “Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!”

We have already established that we are forgetful, but let me remind you that God always delivers His people. Whatever affliction we are suffering feels like it will never end because we are in the middle of it. But think back to all of the times that God has helped you, redeemed you, rescued you. God’s track record speaks for itself. But we are forgetful in the middle of the storm. But let the words of Psalm 107 calm the storm inside of you:

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and He delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and He brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love,
for His wondrous works to the children of man!

Psalm 107:28-31

And that’s what we’re singing about this Sunday morning! We are going to be reminded that the steadfast love of the Lord is upon us and available for all! And we are going to trust Him to bring us to our “desired haven” – eternity in His presence!

These verses were on my heart as the worship set came together this week:

Here are our songs:

I hope to see you with us, whether you gather in person, in the parking lot via speaker, or on Facebook or YouTube live!

If gathering in person, please remember that masks are recommended and that we need to remain vigilant in our social distancing measures. Continue to pray for those who are sick – not just our members but all those around the world.

Refresh & Restore – 7/23/2020

1 Peter 1:1-5 —

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,    2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for the obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

            Greetings, reader! I would like to start today’s devotion off with a question: have you ever felt hopeless and isolated? I think it is safe to say that everyone has felt that way from time to time, and – if you had not prior to 2020, you most likely have experienced it this year.

The people that Peter wrote to in his first letter were the poster children for hopeless and isolated. These exiles of the “Dispersion” saw a different kind of pandemic in their day, but, rather than a virus, they saw an outbreak of persecution in their home country. Acts 8:1-3 gives us some context:

And Saul approved of [Stephen’s] execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the Church was flourishing and growing. This is the very beginning of the Church, and the honeymoon period did not last long at all. In fact, this illustrates something important about the Church: if she reflects her Savior, she will be treated like He was. We often get caught up in terrible nature of their situation, but I want to draw your attention to the last verse quoted above: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the Word”.

If that strikes you as odd, you are not alone. Firstly, the church in America has never experienced persecution like this.[i] While many of our brothers and sisters around the world still face the same persecution and vastly more dangerous, we have yet to have to endure such things. Second, our fear of such persecution drives us to focus on the experience of those believers in Acts rather than their response. The believers in Acts continued to share their faith as they were scattered because their faith was genuine. And, out of that genuine faith, they found hope.

That hope is what I want us to look at and study today and over the coming weeks. 1 Peter is a book of hope for the scattered, isolated, and hopeless. So, we will dive into all the passages in this letter that talk about hope to see what the Lord offered the original audience through Peter – and thereby to us!

This first passage of hope is one of my favorites and one that I find myself quoting – to others and to myself – more and more often. As I quote it, I find myself laughing because, as an English teacher, this passage should drive me crazy because it is one, very long run-on sentence. Usually, run-ons drive me crazy, but, oddly enough, this one soothes me. It reminds me that the hope of God through Christ is overflowing and continual.

If you did not read the Scripture prior to my comments, please read it now. (If you only read one thing in what I post, your time and soul would be better served with the Scripture at the beginning than anything I offer.) We will dive in bit-by-bit and take up next week where we leave off.

The first phrase we see – “according to His great mercy” – is quite a big deal for us. You see, church-folks throw around words like grace and mercy, but that does not mean that we understand them. Grace (undeserved favor) often gets most of our focus. It is easily seen in Christ giving his life for us because the eternal life gained from such a gift is clearly not deserved by any sinner. Mercy is different, and it is a little bit less comfortable for us because it recognizes the reality and consequence of our sin.

If grace is God giving us something good that we do not deserve, mercy is God withholding punishment that we do deserve. Mercy is “divine forbearance” (Romans 3:25) where God holds off the penalty for our sin. Mercy is Jesus taking our punishment on Himself instead of it falling rightly on us. So, when Peter says that our being “born again” is according to God’s “great mercy”, we need to realize how big of a deal it truly is!

The term “born again” is especially important as well. Jesus talked to Nicodemus about it at length in John 3, going so far as to tell him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). To talk about being born again means we need to understand what happened after our first birth.

The Bible is clear that all human beings are sinners (Romans 3:10, 23). It also makes it abundantly clear that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because of our sin, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-2) and effectively have earned a death penalty against a holy, righteous, and perfect God. Usually, death is a pretty permanent thing. There is no continue after the game over, that is, without Jesus.

You see, Jesus came to “seek and to save the lost” – those dead in their sin (Luke 19:10). Jesus died on behalf of lost sinners, giving opportunity for those sinners to put their trust and faith in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Those who put their trust in Him are born again. Ephesians 2:4-5 illustrates this well using similar language to 1 Peter 1:3: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved…” (“saved” and “born again” are both phrases that talk about people who have trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord).

I know that is a lot to process, so let me bring it all back together. God – in his vast riches of mercy and grace – gives us the opportunity to have life instead of death by putting our trust and believing in Jesus. It is just that simple. He even clearly shows us how to go about doing it in His Word: “…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

This is good news! This is news that gives hope! And it seems like hope is in short supply in the world today. Because it is such a rare thing, I think it would do us well to define it. Hope is “confident optimism”. Confidence and optimism both seem to be in short supply as well. But we can be confident in Jesus and what He has done on our behalf.

The hope that we see here in 1 Peter 1:3 is a special kind of hope indeed. What little hope that can be found in the world is fleeting, but hope in Jesus is “living”. And hope in Him is living because He is alive! “According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….” Amen.

As I type this, I am praying for you, reader. I do not know whether or not you are “born again”. I pray that, if you are not, you would cry out to God and ask Him to save you. The Romans 10 verse from above continues beyond the instructions on how to be saved; it also contains a promise: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). So, you do not have to remain hopeless. There is grace and mercy for you.

If you are reading this and are “born again”, I am praying for you also. I am praying that you will be reminded of the hope that you are re-born into. I am praying that when trials come – and they will if they have not already – you will not look horizontally at the world for help but vertically to Christ for the “living hope” promised here.

Either way, know that you have been prayed for. Feel free to reach out if you need a listening ear. Whether or not you want to talk to me or someone else, know that there is One greater than me Who would love to hear from you. Call on Him any time.

[i] I am immensely thankful that we have not had to endure persecution like many of our brothers and sisters around the world. We are blessed to live in a country where we still have the opportunity to be free to worship the Lord as He commands in His Word. However, I would like to give you two things to ponder on here: 1) 2 Timothy 3:12-13 tell us, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”; and 2) we need to ask ourselves this startling question, “Are we using our religious freedom in our country to truly do what Jesus commanded – to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), or are we busy with other things instead?