“Then they remembered his words.”
Luke 24:8 (NIV)
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It is very evident that some Christians have very short memories. They read the warnings in the Bible that God’ s people will have trouble in this life and promptly forget those warnings. This was the case with the apostles when Jesus was crucified. They forgot His teaching about the cross and the resurrection.
Beginning a year before the crucifixion, Jesus taught the disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer, die, and be raised the third day (Matthew 16:21). We can only guess why this teaching went unheeded by the disciples. Some people think that the disciples Messianic expectations blinded them to anything less than the Messiah leading a military overthrow of the occupational forces of Rome.
Continue reading 'Forgetting Or Ignoring?'»
“Forasmuch as you have done it to the least of these
my brethren you have done it to me.”
Matthew 25:40
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The scene I am about to describe has happened to me many times over my 46 years of ministry.
A long time ago I went to a local hospital to see an elderly Christian man. He had a fine life of wonderful service for Jesus. We had many visits over the years of our friendship. So we knew each other very well and enjoyed each others company immensely.
The sad reality of our relationship in the latter years was that my dear friend had lost some connection with reality. He saw people who were not there, and his thoughts often rambled back 60-70 years to things that did not connect with the conversation.
I would listen for 35-40 minutes to his disconnected comments, smiling at him, and letting him know I was hearing what he said. On one visit the thought occurred to me that nothing productive was happening. Then I remembered our verse for today.
This wonderful man was not only made in the image of God, but was certainly a child of God. So if I visited him, I was really visiting Jesus. Therefore I sought to show much kindness to him and I made brief comments about the Lord he loved so much.
Continue reading 'Seeing Jesus'»
“And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.”
Luke 22:61
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If the Bible is anything, it is honest. No one can believe that the Scriptures have falsehood in them after they are read, and the various failures of the leading characters can be clearly seen. In numerous places we read of the glaring mistakes of the disciples of Jesus, and yet they expect us to believe their message about their Master. This is what makes their witness to Jesus believable. They are willing, it seems, to let us in on their lack of loyalty to Jesus at times. The denials of Jesus by Peter is an excellent example of what I mean.
In the Upper Room Jesus had told the eleven apostles that He was going away and they could not come with Him (John 13:33-36). Peter insisted that he would follow Jesus to the death if necessary. Jesus then told Peter that he would deny any knowledge of Jesus before the cock crowed. In other words, Jesus told Peter in front of the rest that he would deny any relationship to Jesus before dawn the next day.
It is a sad scene between Jesus and Peter. Peter insisted that he would die for Jesus and that was the truth. However, Peter had many years of growing in the knowledge of the Lord before he would do any such thing. Peter was not ready to do what he promised he would do and Jesus knew it. So Jesus demonstrated His deity by predicting the future to Peter.
Continue reading 'What’s in a look?'»
“They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.”
Acts 15:39 (NIV)
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The two men who had such a strong disagreement were Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas, the “son of consolation” (Acts 4:36) was Paul’s greatest benefactor.
Due to Barnabas’ great help, Paul was the greatest missionary spirit of the ages. Two wonderful men of God and they had such an explosive disagreement that they parted ways never to be working together again.
Why is it that followers of the Prince of Peace can have such quarrels and part ways in anger? It is obvious, that from the first generation of the Christian Church, believers have had quarrels and divided.
Even when Judas Iscariot was in the act of betraying our Lord (Matthew 26:50) Jesus called him “friend”. As you read of the brutal treatment Jesus suffered in the betrayal through to His death on the cross, He never retaliated in kind against His tormentors.
Jesus made it very clear to Peter and the rest inGethsemanethat if He had any thought of retaliation He could have called “more than 12 legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53) to deal with His tormentors. A legion had 6,000 men on foot as well as mounted soldiers.
How is it then, with such a remarkable example in our Lord, we still become stubborn and refuse to budge from our position in things that are not of eternal consequence? I often ask quarrelling people, “Five minutes into heaven how important will this matter be to you?”
Continue reading 'When Old Friends Part Ways'»
“…O Lord How Long?” Psalm 6:3
Recently Susan and myself—along with a fine Christian couple—toured our great province of Newfoundland.
As we drove we amused ourselves in many ways including repeating some expressions we had all heard from our children when they travelled with us.
Each morning just as we got under way one or another of us would say, “Are we there yet?” I would laugh as it called to our minds our children, when little, who would say 5 minutes into a 3 hour trip, “Mom, Dad, are we there yet?”
At times in our Christian journey, we come to the place where we are exhausted of living and cry to the Lord, “O Lord, how long?”
Soon enough the darkness of your trials will be chased away by the light of heaven.
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