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TerryLema

2020 Disappointments Abound, but…

by TerryLema

Disappointments in this life abound. We think something good is going to happen, or something bad is going to be averted, and then the exact opposite of what we expect is what takes place. This year, 2020, has certainly proved that to be true. Teens who worked all their young lives to see high school graduation were disappointed. People who owned businesses that were growing, or flourishing were stunned with the economic hit of the virus-and-fear pandemic. People who planned on enjoying their old age found their lives cut short.

The second half of 2020 does not look much better. Schools may not open, churches are still being bombarded with directives, the virus does not appear to be retreating. Businesses are still struggling. Colleges are deciding how to open and what to do about their sports programs. Truly, disappointments abound.

One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Romans is chapter 5. Paul begins by reminding us of our righteousness by faith, peace with God, and access to grace through our LORD Jesus Christ. Then he reminds us that “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.” [v2-4 CSB]

“This hope,” Paul tells us, “will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” [v5 CSB]

Three times hope is mentioned in those first five verses. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Afflictions produce much if we allow them, ending in the final product, which is hope. And this hope (both produced by affliction and resting in the glory of God) will not disappoint us.

Life disappoints, but God’s love poured out in our hearts will not. God loves us. He gave us His Spirit to indwell us and one of the primary functions of God’s Spirit in us is to constantly remind us that we are children of a loving, giving, All-Powerful Father. Everything in life may be unsteady, may lead to disappointments, but the hope we have in God, combined with His abundant love for us, will never disappoint. He proves that to us now; He will prove that to us throughout eternity.  Amen

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Confident

by TerryLema

One of my daily verses that hit my inbox last week was the first verse I ever memorized after I surrendered my life to Christ Jesus. It was Philippians 1:6: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

I came from a religious background. I was taught the Catechism and I knew that I was created to know God and to love Him and serve Him. I just did not know how to do that. I did not even know if He wanted me since I was so sin-filled and full of guilt and shame.

Then someone led me to Christ – I did not go easily, but I did go. Everything changed, but not right away. I still felt sin-filled and full of guilt and shame. I did not trust myself to be able to live for Him. Then, after about six years I met someone, a mentor, who showed me God’s love in all its wondrous glory.

It was then that Philippians 1:6 became not just memorized words, but real. I could be confident that the good work that had begun in me would be completed.

When that verse landed in my inbox the other day, I thought once again about that “confidence.” What does that mean? Is it a cocky arrogance that arises from my soul? Or is it something else?

When I looked it up, I found (amazingly after nearly 50 years of serving Christ Jesus) a meaning that reached deep into my soul and touched my heart. That word for confident, (peitho), means both to persuade and to be persuaded of what is trustworthy. It means the LORD persuades the yielded believer to be confident in Him. My obedience is the result of God’s persuasion.

It is God who began the good work in me. It is God who continues the good work in me. It is God who has persuaded me to place my confidence in Him that He will complete that good work in me. AND, yes, in you too!

 

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I Hate Politics!

by TerryLema

I hate politics, and lately, everything before us is political. The definition of “politics” is the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

 Probably the two words contained in that definition that make politics so unpalatable to me are those words conflict and power.  That is what I see everywhere—in the media, on social media, in the reports about this virus-and-fear pandemic that are slanted to make us accept whatever the author wants to achieve. It is all about conflict. It is all about achieving power.

On further reflection, I think the main reason I find politics so distasteful is because it encourages us, nay, demands that we take our attention off the Only One who can fix our world, our nation, our own lives, and put that attention on a person, or a political view, or a political party.

I care not what side of the aisle we associate with, neither side (nor the middle) will solve the problems that we face as a nation. You cannot rule, nor legislate, nor enforce righteousness because unrighteous is resident within the heart and no political view can change the heart. There is Only One who can.

“Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith….” [Hebrews 12:1b-2a CSB]

As citizens of this nation, we have certain responsibilities, one of which is to vote, but let us never think that a political candidate (even a presidential one) is going to be the answer to our problems. Church, beloved, we must turn our attention back to Jesus. He is the Only One who can save us.

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The Inconvenient Gospel

by TerryLema

I love reading different Bible translations. Gets me out of the ruts I often create in my Bible reading. I like looking how a verse takes on new meaning with a slightly different translation of certain words. 2 Timothy 4 begins with a command to preach the word.  “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.” [vs 2 NKJV]

How often have we heard about the necessity to be ready “in season and out of season?” I decided to see how that verse is translated in the Holman Christian Standard Bible, which is rapidly becoming my favorite translation. “Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not.”

Persist in it, whether convenient or not.  When has the Gospel ever been convenient?  I have never known it to be such. The Gospel demands that we know its truth and that we live its truth. It demands that our conduct match our words. It demands that we sacrifice, that we surrender. It commands us to praise during trials and to worship our God in spirit and truth. It tells us that His joy is the source of power and strength. It reminds us to pray always.

The immediately following verses in Timothy also give us pause. “…rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.” [2 Timothy 4:3-4 HCSB]

Not only is proclaiming the Gospel not convenient, it is not easy either. People really do not want to hear the old sound doctrine of the Scriptures. They want something “new.” New and improved is the motto of our day and age, but there is nothing new in the Scriptures. It is that old, old story that still changes lives and brings hope to a dying world. So convenient or not – easy or not – we are to always be ready to bring that old, sweet message to others.

You can listen to the sweet old story in song with the link below.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tell+me+the+story+of+jesus+gaithers&&view=detail&mid=5B42B4B98BAB0AA5ECEC5B42B4B98BAB0AA5ECEC&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dtell%2520me%2520the%2520story%2520of%2520jesus%2520gaithers%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBVR%26sp%3D-1%26ghc%3D1%26pq%3Dtell%2520me%2520the%2520story%2520of%2520jesus%2520gaithers%26sc%3D3-35%26sk%3D%26cvid%3DC8542196357D46B4A2E1F189E5568C75

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For the Child of God

by TerryLema

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]

Profitable to Whom? That is the great question with this verse, especially in our times. When we think about the reasons why all Scripture is profitable listed in that verse – teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness – we often apply those things to the people we see in the world. They certainly need to be trained, taught, rebuked, and corrected, don’t they?

That is not to whom this verse is directed. It is directed to the child of God. Its intention is to make the child of God complete and equipped for every good work.

The person we should see in the Scripture’s mirror is none other than us. Everyone who claims to be a child of God through the power of Christ Jesus’ work on the cross needs to be taught the will and the ways of God. Otherwise we are like that seed that has no root. The first wind that we encounter moves us away from the One Who Died For Us.

When we deviate from God’s will and ways, we need to be rebuked and our path corrected. The Scriptures are great at producing a godly sorrow in us that leads to repentance – if we let them.

We all need to be trained in righteousness. That word “trained” reminds me of children when they hit the “Terrible Two’s.” That is when our once sweet, innocent Infants help us understand that we are all born with a “sin nature,” a nature that loves the word “NO!” and to do things our own way. The Scriptures are designed to reinforce God’s righteousness and holiness in our lives and remind us that training takes consistency and time.

Thank you, LORD, for not leaving us as You found us.

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Go Back to the Future!

by TerryLema

If we want to understand our present and our future, we need to go back. We need to symbolically get into our DeLorean, fire up our flux-capacitor and travel back to Paul’s day. We need to dive into his second letter to Timothy to understand.

“Difficult times will come in the last days.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!” [2 Timothy 3:1-5]

That description of our “last days” could have been taken directly from our own headlines. When the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples at that first Pentecost, it was the “beginning of the last days.” Now nearly 2000 years later, we are seeing the “last of the last days,” those perilously difficult times that Paul foretold would happen.

We are seeing these “last of the last days” in our churches also. Paul was quite clear that in these “last days” people will have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. The people in our streets are not claiming any form of godliness, they are shaking their fists at God. It is the people in our churches that claim godliness yet deny God’s power.

For too long we have tried to make our God Almighty comfortable and safe. He is neither. He is dangerous. He is Creator and Redeemer of this world, and as such, He has the only authority to determine its course. When we align ourselves through the cross with His will, we must surrender to His Ways. That is the dangerous part because His will and ours often conflict. When we come face-to-face with our LORD and Savior in all His Holiness, we know one of us needs to change, and I guarantee it will not be Him.

I cling to my dangerous God. I strive to give it all to Him. I want more than a form of godliness without power, I want true godliness with all power no matter the cost.

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Sanctify the LORD in Your Heart

by TerryLema

Right after Paul gave us the instruction regarding what kind of Gospel workers we should be (“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth”), he added a challenge. “But avoid irreverent, empty speech, for this will produce an even greater measure of godlessness.” [2 Timothy 2:16]

Wow, that is a warning for us today! “Irreverent, empty speech” seems to have become the national pastime. We see it everywhere. Sarcasm abounds. Nastiness is displayed all over social media. Ridicule is alive and well in news reports. Headlines are designed to capture someone’s attention and lead them in a totally different direction than the truth found deep in the article (because we usually do not read “deep” into the article to discover the truth.) People carry signs to shock. Cameras capture moments that embarrass or degrade.

Christians are not immune from “irreverent, empty speech” either. We say things about others who carry different political views, forgetting that Christ died for those “others” the same way He died for us. Instead of praying for godly sorrow and repentance to embrace them, we spout animosity.

All this has served to produce, as Paul reminds us, “an even greater measure of godlessness.”

Beloved, the Christian is to embrace a higher standard of conduct and speech. We are to pray. We are to give hope. We are to honor God by doing so with meekness and fear. Irreverent and empty speech should never describe us.

As Peter reminds us, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” [1 Peter 3:15]

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Something for Nothing!

by TerryLema

“Something for Nothing!” is the battle cry of many flooding the streets and cities in our nation today. They want it all, but they do not want to wait for it nor work for it. They cannot understand (nor do they want to) that the something (really the everything) they demand must be paid for by others. They are usurping the hard work, time, and energy of others.

Unfortunately, that attitude also seeks to invade the church.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.” [2 Timothy 2:15 CSB]

The “something for nothing” battle cry in the streets is often reflected in the way we attend church on Sunday. We come looking for the coffee and fellowship, without our swords (Word of God), and expect the persons on the stage to give us what we need. The worship team leads us, and the preacher feeds us, because we certainly have not been diligent to do any of that on our own.

That is not, however, God’s way. His way is that every worker is to “present themselves” to Him as a diligent worker, one who never needs to be ashamed, one who can teach the word of truth. We are not to expect someone else to do our worship (and then invite us to join them) or study the Word of God meticulously so they can spoon feed us.

Christian growth is not a spectator sport. It is teamwork, where each member of the team works to contribute in worship, praise and in study and sharing of the Word of God. Let us get back to the way God desires.

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I Am Not Ashamed

by TerryLema

2 Timothy is thought by many scholars to be the last letter Paul wrote. It is, at the least, probably the latest of Paul’s letters included in the Scriptures. It was written during his second imprisonment in Rome, which was much harder than the first, likely ending in his death. He was shut away, with few visitors, and he felt his death was imminent. He was about to give the last drops of his blood for the work of the LORD. [4:6]

As the last letter, it has much to say to us. Paul’s words are deep and for many of us, familiar. We have heard them quoted, even perhaps memorized many of this letter’s verses. There are only four short chapters. If you get a chance, read them; they have much to say about our nation’s current struggles.

One of the first things Paul reminds Timothy, his son in the faith, is found in chapter 1, verses 8-11. Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, even though it has brought him imprisonment and approaching martyrdom. He wants Timothy to also not be ashamed, so he reminds him of the glorious calling of God.

“He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” [v 9 CSB]

We belong to God not through any self-determination or self-merit. We belong to God because of God’s purpose and through God’s grace. It is a holy calling, ours before time began. That thought alone should bring us to our knees. (If we belong to God through our own merits, our own righteousness, we will have much about which to boast. But we belong to God because He wants us and that should humble us beyond measure!)

We heard God’s call. We placed our trust in Him. Now, we like Paul can say: “I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.” [v 12]

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Righteousness Exalts a Nation …

by TerryLema

Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

God gave us commandments to follow. He began with a two-fold command that we call The Great Commandment, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything in the law can be contained in that. [Matthew 22:37-38]

God gave Moses 10 Commandments. They are simple and straightforward. The first five speak of our responsibility to God, the second five of our responsibility to others, just like the Great Commandment does. [Exodus 20]

In our society we have a myriad of laws that regulate our actions, most are based on the Ten Commandments. (Do not murder, steal, lie [perjury], etc.)

How often I have heard it said that if we obeyed that Great Commandment, we would not need the Ten Commandments, and if we obeyed the Ten Commandments, we would not need thousands of laws to regulate our behavior.

But we do not obey. We are a people born with the disgrace of sin who sin. Our sin is not based upon our color, our social status, our positions, our political affiliation, our ancestry, or our monetary resources. Our sin flows from hearts that are not right with God, hearts that have no love nor concern for others. We may point fingers at others, but when we do, there will always be one pointing back at us.

That is not social commentary, nor political analysis. That is our spiritual – our heart’s condition. And it will remain such unless we confess our unrighteousness and surrender our hearts to God. Christ Jesus opened the gate of righteousness to us, but we need to walk through it.

 

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