Author

TerryLema

Christ-Dependent

by TerryLema

“The world is looking for beautiful, self-confident people to lead and entertain it. But God is looking for humble, Christ-dependent people who will love the world as He does.” –Leonard Ravenhill

I read that quote years ago, but it came up again recently. It still touches my soul as I read that phrase … “Christ-dependent people who will love the world as He does.”

 Honestly, I am not sure how much I love this world.  Oh, I love God’s beautiful creation, the mountains, the oceans, the flora and fauna, and one of my favorite pastimes is to sit somewhere and watch the amazing array of God’s people walk by, each different, each one unique. But do I really love this world as God does?

God was willing to sacrifice His only Son for the salvation of this world. Jesus was willing to come and walk this dusty life and even die on a cross to fulfill the Father’s will. Do I love that way?

Jesus twice told His disciples that He was sending them into the world as the Father had sent Him. He told them once just before His death, “As you [Father] sent me into the world, I have sent them [my disciples] into the world,” and once after His resurrection, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”   [John 17:18, 20:21]

I guess He wanted to make sure they understood what He was asking of them … the same sacrificial love that He exhibited for them was now to be exhibited through them to others. That hasn’t changed down through the centuries. Those early disciples were to flood the world with God’s sacrificial love … the latter disciples (us) are to do likewise.

God help us, Amen.

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The Cloud

by TerryLema

A couple Saturday’s ago I was working on my laptop. It was about the time to begin dinner preparation so I closed the lid and set it down. When I came back to it after dinner and opened the lid, all I got was a black screen. I pressed every key I could think would make a difference and finally decided just to turn it off. Trying to turn it back on failed. All I got was a couple screens with nonsense. After multiple tries, I gave up. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy that night since they were open until 8 PM.

I left it with them, hoping they could fix it. One hour later that hope was dashed. My hard drive crashed. It was so bad they could not even get “corrupted data” off it.  They told me to come in the next day and get a new computer and they would help me get it set up.

I keep everything on my laptop—finances, devotions, blood glucose and insulin tracking, pictures, taxes—everything. A few years ago when I was actively pastoring, it also held all my messages and studies. I bought an external hard drive and would regularly (monthly) move things onto that hard drive as a backup, but since I retired, I have not done that. This broken, crashed laptop had everything on it from the past year.

I did do something right, however. I had a “cloud” program. Everything on my laptop was also stored in this “cloud” program. When I bought the new laptop that Sunday, the Geek Squad recovered all I had stored on this “cloud” and brought it back to me in a matter of minutes.

As I stood at that counter and watched everything make its way back to me, I could not help but recall what Jesus said about my “real” treasures in His Sermon on the Mount.

“But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” [Matthew 6:20-21 HCSB]

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The Good Foundation, Day 11

by TerryLema

I am at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:24-29. Jesus concludes with the picture that those who hear His Words and do them are “like a sensible [wise] man who built his house on the rock.” [vs 24 HCSB]

When the storms of life came in their fury, they pounded at the wise man’s house, but it did not collapse. Its foundation was secure in the Rock.

This is an easy “Am I” question because I have for five decades worked to make sure that my foundation is secure in Christ Jesus. The storms of life have assaulted. There have been times when circumstances have been difficult. Trials have come and gone. But after 50 years, I am still on the Rock. I am a child of God; my foundation is in Him.

I would be remiss if I left anyone with the impression that my house on the Rock is all of my own effort. It is not my grip on God that has kept me secure. It is His grip on me.

I have often reminded others (and myself) that when our children were little, we did not trust the strength of their hands gripping ours to keep them safe in parking lots or on streets or sidewalks or dangerous places. We trusted the strength of our hands holding theirs to keep them close to us.

It is that way with our Father also. I surrendered my hands into His, and He hangs on to me with all His strength and love and grace and compassion and faithfulness. I know He won’t let me go. I know I simply need to say, “Father!” when I am in trouble, and He will hear and hold me tight.

So yes, I can answer that last question with all certainty today, “Am I founded on the Rock? Yes, I am!”

Thank you, LORD, for calling and keeping me. Amen & Amen

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Entering the Kingdom. Day 10

by TerryLema

I am almost to the end of my walk through the Sermon on the Mount, always with the question “Am I” in view. I have found some of the walk more difficult than others, requiring that I stop along the way and consider my heart and mind closely.

Today I am walking in verses 13 through 23. This passage talks about narrow and broad gates and roads, recognizing good and false prophets and trees by their fruits. It ends with what qualifies those who will enter the kingdom of heaven, “the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.” [Vs 21 HCSB]

If I was going to paraphrase this section, I probably would say, “the easy way won’t get you there.”

It is much easier to walk with “the many” who take the wide gate and broad road rather than the narrow gate and difficult road. It is always easier to go with the flow than against it. However, “the many” are heading towards destruction rather than life.

It is also much easier to pretend we are sheep by outward appearance than it is to produce good fruit from a heart that is right with God.

And last, Jesus reminds us that it is not those self-started flashy acts that will earn us a way into the kingdom of heaven. It is “only” those who do the will of the Father that will enter the Kingdom. And that requires surrendering our lives to the One who came to save us.

No, the easy way won’t get you there. I guess my question to consider today is “Am I pursuing the will of the Father for each day?”

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“Keep It Up!” Day 9

by TerryLema

Matthew 7:7-12, part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount could be described by just three words, “Keep It Up!

We are to keep asking, keep seeking (searching), keep knocking. The promise that accompanies those exhortations is, “Everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches (seeks) finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” [vs 8 HCSB]

I remember once as a Hospice Chaplain I was called in to be with a mother whose young daughter died suddenly. She asked what each of us would ask, “Why?”

When her pastor arrived, she continued to ask her question, and his response was that as Christians we are not to ask why.  A few days later she showed up at my office and told me she could not seem to stop asking why, but she also could not talk to her pastor about it. After we talked for a while, I told her to keep asking God to either tell her why this happened or take away her need to ask.

She came back more than a year later and told me that God did not answer her why question, but about a month prior she realized she no longer needed to know why.

Sometimes when we ask, search and knock, we do not get exactly what we expect, but we get something equal or better from God.  The thing is not to quit.

I really need to think about this today. When I pray, “Am I quitting too soon?”

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Judging, Day 8

by TerryLema

I have four more days, and four more passages in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which to consider the question the Holy Spirit put on my heart a couple weeks ago – “Am I?”

Matthew 7, the concluding chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mounts is divided in my Bible into four sections. The first is a doozy!  “Do Not Judge.”

This chapter begins with the instruction that everyone knows. I have often heard non-Christians, people who could not recite another single verse of Scripture, recite Matthew 7:1. “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.” [HCSB]

Many times, when people use this verse, they are trying to silence someone pointing out sin. We must acknowledge that sin is based not on our opinion of right and wrong, it is based on the character of God objectively revealed in Scripture. As Christians, we are to have the discernment of the Holy Spirit in “judging” sin.

In this passage Jesus uses that horrible word, “Hypocrite.” That means we are not to point out the sin of others while we ourselves commit the same sin. Other passages also remind us about the dangers of judging, such as being harsh or unforgiving, or being proud and self-righteous.

Opposing sin is not wrong, but we must oppose it fairly and within the full counsel of God’s word.  Galatians 6:1 prompts us to always remember our own vulnerability.  “Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.” [HCSB]

The question I need to contemplate today, “Am I judging sin correctly, or hypocritically?”

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Possessions & Anxiety, Day 7

by TerryLema

The last half of Matthew 6, part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, is probably familiar to each of us. In my Bible verses 19 thru 34 are divided into two sections. Two sections that go together. The first is “God and Possessions,” which covers where our treasures are found.

The second section is titled, “The Cure for Anxiety,” and covers worrying about what we will eat, drink and wear. This section also has the wonderful pictures of the birds of the sky fed by the hand of God and the lilies and wildflowers of the field decked out in God’s splendor.

Treasures and Anxiety often walk together. When we have possessions, we worry about losing them. When we don’t have possessions, we worry about getting them.

Proverb 30:8b-9: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.” [HCSB]

Perhaps Jesus had this Proverb in mind when He included in The Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread.” [Matthew 6:11]

How precious these verses are today. In an uncertain economic time punctuated by inflation, shortage, looming recession, and increasing government and personal debt, many of us are anxious. Will we have enough? Will what we have be taken from us? Those questions often dart into our minds.

Yet we are assured that God knows not just these questions but holds the answers in His hands. Like birds of the sky and flowers of the field, His children are precious in His sight.

Today I ponder the question, “Am I Worried?”

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The “How To’s” Day 6

by TerryLema 
(I apologize for missing yesterday, the hard drive on my computer died and I needed to get a new one.)

I am working my way through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Today and tomorrow I am in Chapter 6. The first half of that chapter in my Bible is titled, “How to Give,” “How to Pray,” (which includes “The Model Prayer”), and “How to Fast.” [5:1-18]

That pretty well covers three of the Spiritual Disciplines Christians are to exercise. As I read through these passages, I noticed one pertinent item in each.

Giving: Don’t practice it in front of people to be seen by them.

Praying: Don’t practice it to be seen by people.

Fasting: Don’t show your fasting to people.

We are not to practice these spiritual disciples so that others will pat us on the back and remind us what good Christians we are. We are not to practice these to gain a good reputation or to earn points in our churches. Jesus is quite clear where the rewards will come from if we do these the way God intends.

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for giving. [vs 4]

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for praying. [vs6b]

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for fasting. [vs18b]

I guess my “Am I?” question today is “Why am I giving, praying and fasting?”

Where does my heart’s motivation spring from? I pray from a heart focused solely on the One who loves me so much.

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How Many Miles? Day 5

by TerryLema

I have combined the final two sections in Matthew 5 this morning. They bear labels in my Bible which read, “Go the Second Mile,” and “Love Your Enemies.” [vs 38-48]

Jesus tells his listeners “Don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary ….”  

Instead of resistance, we are to turn the other cheek, give them our coat as well as our shirt, add a second mile to a forced one mile, and give to those who ask to borrow from us. That all sounds a bit strange to me—until I get to the next passage.

There Jesus tells us to “love [our] enemies and pray for those who persecute [us].” When we do that, we will be “sons of [our] Father in heaven.”

Many listening to Jesus that day may not have understood what He was saying. Perhaps even His disciples thought it strange. But after His death and resurrection, I am sure they grasped the full weight of His words.

Jesus, God’s Son, came because God the Father loved His enemies. Jesus, God’s Wonderful Savior and Redeemer, did not resist the evildoers who nailed Him to a cross. On the contrary, He forgave them.

Now I stand at the foot of His cross and ask myself, “Am I loving my enemies and praying for them?”

How can I do otherwise if I want to be a “[daughter] of [our] Father in heaven.”

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Tell the Truth, Day 4

by TerryLema

If there is a passage in the Sermon on the Mount that has been ignored in our culture, it may be the one found in Matthew 5:33-37. In my Bible, it is titled, “Tell the Truth.”

The key is the direct command, “But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.” [HCSB]

The things “more than this” include lies, misdirection, embellishments, exaggerations, deceptions, falsehoods, misrepresentations, and a host of other things.

Who engages in “more than this” can be corporations, politicians, all forms of media, employers, employees, and even people like me (who should know better).

Things “more than this” have become an acceptable part of our culture. So much so that we expect and even accept the untruths around us.

But as much as I would like to direct attention to corporations, politicians, the media and such, the Holy Spirit is directing in a different direction with those two words, “Am I?”

“Am I truthful” or do I exaggerate, embellish or misrepresent? I think I have a long day of contemplation ahead of me today.

God be merciful to me, a sinner. Amen

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