TerryLema

Monday morning following the NFL playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills there was a headline in my morning newsfeed about a man I will call John Doe (although the newsfeed didn’t).  “[John Doe] drops potential game-tying two-point conversion catch vs Bills.”

Now I am not a Baltimore Ravens fan. In fact, being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan means I cannot be a Ravens fan. I watched the game, and I saw the player drop the ball just seconds before time ran out, meaning there would not be another chance. And I saw the cameras immediately show the player on the bench. His face proclaimed to the world how devastated he was. I felt sorry for him – even though I was not rooting for his team.

To wake up Monday morning and see his name and that announcement that he dropped the ball, made me appreciate our God so much more! I have throughout my life “dropped the ball.” I have made mistakes, sinned, failed, flopped, and fallen. And yet my God has promised that He will never remember my sins or lawless deeds.

“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’ Then he says, ‘I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.’” [Hebrews 10:16-17 NLT]

Does God have a bad memory? No, when it says He will “never again remember” it means He will never hold my sins against me since I am hidden in Christ Jesus my LORD. I will not wake up the morning after I arrive in glory to find “Terry Lema dropped the ball” broadcast across heaven.

Amen & Amen

One of the hardest things about parenting is teaching a child to listen. First time parents are usually learning that fact when their perfect little baby hits two. Suddenly, a parent is confronted with “No!” and “MeDo!” and “Mine!” and other such defiance.

(This phase usually reappears when our children become teenagers. The defiance is much like that of a two-year-old, but their vocabulary has improved.)

I remember getting ready to go somewhere and sitting my children down. I’d begin by making them look at me, and I would tell them how I expected them to behave where we were going, and what would happen if they chose not to act appropriately. Then I would have them repeat their understanding of what I just said. Sometimes it worked; other times it didn’t.

I knew I needed to instill in them the ability to listen – as well as an understanding of accountability. Actions (good or bad) have consequences.

I think if we could sit down with our Father God, He would confirm that one of the hardest things for His children to learn is listening. How often we have that two-year-old attitude before our God. We must learn to hear His Voice. We must learn to “Tune” our ears to His commands. God’s ways and will must be our treasure.

“My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.” [Proverbs 2:1-4 NLT]

I had to go in for a blood draw the other day. It was an unpleasant experience – oh not for me, but for a little boy on the other side of the curtain.

I had heard him crying when I first walked in, then there was quiet while I got settled in for my test. Soon, the crying began again, then it got louder and more intense. Finally, the poor little guy was screaming. All the while voices around him were trying to shout over his screams.

I told the technician drawing my blood that it reminded me of a time when one of my children had to endure a test, which was unpleasant even for an adult, let alone a child. They would not let me go in with my child, even though I was a calm(ing) mom. I could hear screaming from the waiting room while the test went on and it broke my heart.

The technician casually said sometimes it is the parent who creates the situation. I could hear his frustration. Apparently, this situation started well before I got there. He said when the parent can “distract” the child away from the “needle,” it usually goes much better.

I thought about that all day as that little one’s screams echoed in my mind. It reminded me how important it is to keep our attention fixed on our LORD during those times of difficulty and pain. When we focus on the circumstances, that “needle” headed toward us, panic and fear often become our response and our companions through the journey. When we focus on the LORD, He promises we will not be shaken.

Psalm 16:8: “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” [NIV]

One of my favorite authors is R. C. Sproul. His book, “The Holiness of God,” and “The Pursuit of God” by A. W. Tozer changed my life. One of my recent daily email updates contained a quote from Sproul, “When there’s something in the Word of God that I don’t like, the problem is not with the Word of God. It’s with me.”

That quote confirmed a Scripture that God brought to my attention on January 1. “O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” [Micah 6:8 NLT]

I have been meditating on the Scripture from Micah since the beginning of the year, especially that opening thought … “The LORD has told you ….”

How often have I prayed about something and not gotten the answer I wanted, so I prayed more, and enlisted other people to pray, and then more people, hoping that God would do an about face and give me what I wanted.

Often those were times when I did not want to do what God asked, nor did I want to love mercy or embrace humility before my God.

As I look back on those times now, I am so grateful that God did NOT give me what I prayed for. How messed up my life would be had He done so. Thank you, LORD!

What a Chapter! First there was the servant who was so faithful and diligent, so trustworthy that he inspired his master to seek a healing for him. There was the centurion, a Roman soldier who had first learned to follow so that he could lead, so caring of a servant that he was willing to seek help from an itinerant Jewish teacher.

Then there was a dead man made alive and given back to his widowed mother. And John the Baptist, in prison for his outspokenness, and his disciples, turning their attention from the one who led the way, to the Chosen One sent by God to lead all.

Last there was a meal with the self-righteous religious and the town sinner. And in the middle of it all walked one man, Jesus the Christ. His reactions to those He encounters in Luke 7 touch my soul.

First, he was amazed at the centurion’s faith, “I tell you I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”  And He healed the centurion’s servant.

Next, He was touched by the grief in a widowed mother at the loss of her only son, “his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’”  And He raised the dead.

Then He greets the disciples of His cousin John, and declares to the crowd, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”  And He sent encouragement and peace to the troubled.

Last, He’s confronted by a self-righteous Pharisee and courageously loved by a sinful woman. And He taught a lesson to the self-righteous Pharisee and forgave the sins of the woman.

Jesus loved people. Every person who came to Him received exactly what they needed from His Hand, healing, confirmation of faith, comfort, restoration, reassurance, encouragement, admonition, or forgiveness

We are no different from these people in Luke 7, when we come to the Lord, He treats us as individuals with individual needs and desires.  He meets us where we are.  Thank you, Lord.

I love sitting around a table talking with friends and family. I find it absolutely amazing how a dinner table can bring people together. Luke Chapter 7 ends with a dinner hosted in the house of Simon the Pharisee. How I would have loved to have been there. Attendees were the host Simon, Jesus, probably some of His disciples, and what Luke calls “other guests.” 

Everyone is reclining and relaxing at the table when a strange thing happens. A woman who had lived a sinful life shows up with an alabaster jar of perfume. She begins to weep, and her tears begin to fall on the feet of Jesus. She wipes them off with her hair, kisses them and pours perfume on them.

This action serves to irritate the host. “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’”  [Luke 7:39]

Jesus knows what is in the heart of this man and he begins a lesson on love and debt and forgiveness. Inside that lesson is one phrase that always sends chills through me. “Therefore I tell you her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” 

At this meal, Simon is irritated by the woman and the other guests are offended by Jesus’ words of forgiveness, but I always wonder what happened when the woman saw Jesus turn to her and heard Him say, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” 

I am always awestruck by this woman’s actions. What courage would it take to come into the home of a Pharisee when she was known around town as a sinner and probably shunned by all, at least by all of the religious self-righteous? What courage would it take to come up to Jesus and begin to anoint His feet? Had she heard of His kindness to other sinners? Was it despair or hope that drove her to do this, or maybe even both? I want to talk to her; I want to hear from her lips what drove her to the Chosen One and what it was like walking home from that meal.

Those who have been forgiven much, love much.

If someone were to ask what I consider the most difficult part of any job (other than spouse or parent), I think it would involve that word mentor. A mentor is a trusted counselor or guide, coach or tutor.

As a pastor or chaplain, I often dealt with people who were hurting, confused, beat down, or lost. During those times mentoring was essential. As a Christian mentor, however, it is vital that we learn how to mentor correctly and that means being able at some point to wean people away from us and turn them into Disciples of Christ.

In Luke 7, after Jesus had raised the son of the widow at Nain, the disciples of John the Baptist brought word to John as he sat in Herod’s prison of all that Jesus had done. John sent them to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else.”

Luke writes, “At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits and gave sight to many who were blind.” Jesus simply tells John’s disciples to go back and “report to John what you have seen and heard.” 

I’ve always wanted to ask John why he sent those men to Jesus. I’ve heard preachers say that John was confused at this point and didn’t know if Jesus was the Messiah or not. Maybe, but John the Baptist never sounded confused to me.

His mother and father firmly believed that Mary’s Jesus was the chosen one of God. John preached a fiery message of repentance and never wavered from it, even confronting rulers such as Herod. When asked if he was the Messiah, he firmly denied it. He said that the point had come when he must decrease, and Jesus must increase.

I don’t think John was confused about anything. I think John knew the time had come when as a mentor he must now release his disciples and turn their attention to Jesus. “Go ask him if he is the one to come,” he told them.  They did and they saw the work of God’s Anointed One firsthand. At some point in our walk, we must all see firsthand.

As a Hospice Chaplain I often officiated at funerals. I met about 150 new people each year, most of whom died. While I buried the young on occasion, most were up in years, many of whom had lost contact with a church or pastors. Some had moved to be close to family and never established a new connection. So I was the logical choice to do a funeral service.

I found out quite quickly that quirky things often happen at funerals. But as strange as some things I’ve experienced, I’ve never seen what took place in the town of Nain one day as Jesus was walking by.  Luke 7:11-17 tells the story of Jesus and his disciples as they approached the town gate.  He arrived just in time for the funeral. They were burying the only son of a widow.

Luke reports that when Jesus saw her, “his heart went out to her.”  Then he touched the coffin and told the dead young man to “get up!”  The dead came to life and started talking.

And with that, the funeral was over. The mourners were now rejoicing. The onlookers were filled with awe.  Everyone was praising God. And He did all that without being asked!

When I get to glory, I want to ask this woman and her son what it was like when they went home that night, when they were first alone. What did they talk about? How did they feel? How did this one miracle change their lives? Did they follow Jesus after that? How did they feel when He was crucified?

They surely must have believed when they heard He was raised from the dead. If anyone believed that was possible, these two must have.

People are all around us. People we have known for a long time, or people we are just beginning to know.  Each one brings something unique and special into our lives.

I often feel that way when I’m reading through Scripture. I’ll hit a place in Scripture where the people spring to life. Luke Chapter 7 is that way for me.  There are people in that chapter with which I would love to sit and converse. First is the centurion and his servant.

I have always loved this Roman commander of 100. He was a man of authority, and he had a sick servant.  The accounts in Luke 7 and Matthew 8 tell us that this servant was paralyzed and in terrible suffering, sick and about to die, and they tell us that this Roman commander cared about his servant so much that he dared to approach Jesus and ask for healing.

Two things always strike me about these men. First, what kind of person was this servant that a Roman commander cared so much about him? He must have exhibited such faithfulness and concern for his master and his master’s interests that the centurion grew to value him dearly.

And then there is the centurion. His words to Jesus are so familiar, “Lord don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof . . . but say the word and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority and with soldiers under me.”  [vs 1-10]

This Roman had first learned to be UNDER authority or he would not have ever been placed in a position to have soldiers under him.

A servant who was faithful to what he was called to do.  A master who understood that one cannot lead unless one first learns to follow.