TerryLema

Woke up Monday morning to the news that there was another shooting that left people dead and injured. It was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and one of those dead was a six-year-old boy. Gilroy is in Northern California. I remember it as a quiet little farm town when we lived in California. It’s 88 miles from where my son, daughter-in-law and grandsons now live. I remember driving through Gilroy on several occasions – once when the garlic was being harvested. It was an aromatic experience to say the least.

 Monday morning all I could think about was the evil that prompted such a senseless act. Thoughts like “What is our world coming to?” and “how can anyone do such a thing?” clouded my mind.  I think the psalmist Asaph was having the same kind of morning when he sat down and wrote Psalm 73. He looked around and wondered what his world was coming to, and how evil seems to triumph over good. But before he ended his song, his attention was once more turned to the LORD God Almighty and he began to see not with his physical eyes, but with spiritual ones.

 Asaph realized that knowing God Almighty gave him a far different future than those who did not. He said, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” [Ps 73:23-24]

 If we only see this world with all its evil, we will live with hopelessness and in fear. But if we lift our spiritual eyes to the LORD and Savior of our soul, we will see that He is always with us. He holds us and guides us. And, however, we might exit this life – even by the hand of evil, our Father God will have the final say. He will take us into His Presence and glory. 

I love music. I had musical parents. My mother played a mean piano. I can still hear her swinging out on “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” My father could not play an instrument, but he played a mean record player. All kinds of music but especially Dixieland Jazz. And he loved to sing.

I learned to play the organ at that time when home organs became popular, but over the years lugging that organ around in our many moves became too difficult and we ended up giving it away.  I miss that Baldwin!

Recently I purchased a used full keyboard. It plays like a piano. While I was never very good playing piano, I’m sitting with some old hymn and chorus books and playing music again – and loving it.  I love the hymns and the choruses, both new and old.

There is an old hymn that was often played for altar calls, “Just as I am” by Charlotte Elliot. I love the words of the opening verse. “Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”

It reminds me how often Jesus invited us to “come.” He asked Peter and Andrew to “come, follow me.”  He invited Peter to “come” walk on the water with Him. He invited all the weak and weary to “come” to Him and lay down their heavy burden in exchange for His light one. He told the disciples to let the little children “come” to Him. He invited His weary followers to “come” to a quiet place alone with Him to rest.

But perhaps there is no greater invitation than that one to come to His cross just as we are, asking for nothing from Him except His wonderful salvation. “O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9oSB3elWY4

It’s 6:30 Thursday evening. I’m in my PJs, sitting in my rocker. I have an ice pack on my sore neck and warm compresses on my blurry eyes.  My glucometer is next to me because in about 20 minutes I need to check my blood glucose. My copper-fit sleeves are on my achy knees. Bob is on the couch with a small blanket over his shoulders. He alternately snoring and then snorting himself awake. A rerun of Wheel of Fortune is on the television and every now and again I’ll uncover my eyes to check out a puzzle.  I’m laughing. How different my life is at 72 ½ from when I was 27 ½! 

 Yes, it is different. My body is certainly not what it once was. At 72 ½ it makes its limitations known daily. I need to adjust and accept the fact that I am not 27 ½ anymore and there are some things that are no longer within the realm of my abilities.

 But … but … I am different in other ways also. My faith is stronger. I have almost five decades since 27 ½ where my Father God has proven Himself over and over. I have grown rich in His love. My Jesus is more precious to me now … I daily am reminded of His sacrifice for me.  The Holy Spirit has given me wisdom. I recognize His voice as He leads me in the things of God. The Scriptures are even more alive than I could have imagined at 27 ½. I weep with joy more often.

 And I readily understand what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”   

 At 27 ½ I looked forward to the days ahead as I wondered what life would hold for me. At 72 ½ I am still looking forward, only now I know what life will hold for me … an eternal glory in the presence of my LORD and Savior. Praise His Wonderful Name.

Despite all the advancements of our modern era, people are still the same. We may claim to be more sophisticated or advanced or civilized, but we haven’t really changed. We share most of the same attitudes as our ancestors. We handle things very much the same way.

 I was reading in Isaiah this week and got to chapter 39 about King Hezekiah. Hezekiah did some things well and other things not so well. When Sennacherib, King of Assyria came against Hezekiah and the nation of Israel, Hezekiah turned to God and God delivered them.  When he fell ill and was close to death he prayed again, and God granted him an additional 15 years. 

 But when Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon, sent Hezekiah a gift through envoys, Hezekiah got a bit puffed up in pride and showed off everything he had. So, God sent Isaiah to Him with a word that the time was coming when everything – all the glory of Israel – even some of Hezekiah’s very own descendants – would be carried off to Babylon. 

 It’s Hezekiah’s response that always reminds me of us … “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”  [39:8]

Ah, at least everything will be good for me … people who come after me can deal with the rest of it!  Isn’t that us, today? Greed influences some corporations to do long-term damage to environments. We drive governments into debt that our children will struggle to repay. We pollute, we destroy, we “advance” without thinking of long-term consequences or even if we should!   

 We are very good at passing off the consequences of our actions to the next generation. At least, “there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”  God forgive us.

Love. Mercy. Grace. Truth.

God loves us. Oh, how we love the fact that God loves us!  We can’t get enough of God’s love, and that is as it should be.

 God is merciful to us in Christ Jesus, not giving us what our sins deserve – judgment – but giving us mercy.  We need God’s mercy!

 We are recipients of God’s abundant grace – giving us what we don’t deserve, His divine attention, His peace, His indwelling Spirit.

 Truth. Oh,. Wait …. Truth isn’t always something we want to hear, nor follow. It often stands in opposition to what we want to pursue. It’s usually difficult. It’s even offensive. It divides. It’s … well … convicting. Just give us love, mercy, and grace, and keep quiet about truth.

 But as Jesus told His disciples, it is truth that sets us free.  “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  [John 8:31-32]

 Truth remains inviolate, whether we like it or not. It is not opinion, nor popularity, nor majority rule.  Truth is truth, and it is God who determines what truth is.  As for me, I agree with the Psalmist (even when it is difficult to do so):  “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.”  [Ps 119:30]

 “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” 

 Abraham Lincoln said that when questioned about whether God was on the side of the North in the Civil War. They are words we should really reconsider in our day and age. So many people claim God is on their side, but I wonder if they could make the claim that they are on God’s side? (I also wonder if God would agree with that claim that they are on His side!)

 God has only one agenda, one plan – His Kingdom Agenda.  Jesus told us we were to pray about God’s Kingdom agenda.  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” [Matt 6:9-10] 

To be on God’s side means we live to see God’s glory and His Kingdom reign in this world, just as it reigns it heaven.  

We need to make sure we’re working on God’s plan not ours. To know God’s Kingdom agenda means you must know God’s Word. Whether you like what is in it or not, is not the point. It’s His Kingdom, His Agenda, and He sets the rules.

Remember Paul’s warning?  “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” [Colossians 2:8]

Beloved, we need to get on board with God’s Kingdom Agenda.  We have allowed too much of hollow, deceptive philosophy and human tradition to infiltrate the church. Time to get back on God’s side.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority [exousia] in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” [Matt 28:18]

 There are a few Greek words for power in the New Testament. The two primary ones are “dunamis” and “exousia.”

 “Dunamis” is the word from which we get our word dynamite! There is a great struggle for power in our world. Even if we don’t look outside our own nation, we can find that struggle daily in the Halls of Congress, White House and Supreme Court, as well as in our state and local governments. Political parties want the power to rule. And people within those political parties struggle for the power to rule and set the direction of the parties themselves. We can read about this “dunamis-struggle” every day in the media.

 “Exousia” goes beyond power and means the authority to use that power.  Jesus said that all “exousia” had been given to him, “exousia” for both heaven and earth.  Who gave it to Him?

 God the Father did. He did it when he raised Jesus “from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” [Eph 1:20-22]

 Jesus has all authority now and one day that authority will be manifest for all to see. The petty power struggles of this world are temporary and will one day disappear when Christ our King, the King of kings and LORD of lords returns and claims the cosmos and all in it for God’s glory.  I. can’t. wait.