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Devotions

Off Script

by TerryLema

Tomorrow is Good Friday.  Each year we remember what happened on that first Good Friday. Many churches will celebrate communion, which is a constant reminder of the debt we owe God and how we are to live in celebration of the debt paid by Christ’s body and blood.

Some churches celebrate the Seder. The Seder is the traditional Passover meal. The Seder was a scripted event.  Every household went through the same ritual.  The words and symbols were the same year after year.

Except Jesus went off script that Passover night before His betrayal and death.  He began to talk not about the first Passover when God’s people were freed from slavery in Egypt, but about the new Passover, the one about to be inaugurated by His body and blood.  Everyone in the room would have noticed that this Passover was different.

Instead of recounting what God had done at the Exodus, Jesus told what God was about to do at the cross.  The Jews considered the Passover and Exodus from Egypt the greatest of all God’s miracles and acts.  History, as well as all eternity will now look upon the work of Christ on the cross as the summit, the pinnacle of all God has done.

As the Jews remembered annually that first Passover, we will live forever in the life Christ purchased with His death.  He gave His body and shed His blood to bring us forgiveness.

“In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you.’” [Luke 22:20 HCSB]

The price of sin is high, and Jesus paid it all.

 

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Willingly and Willfully

by TerryLema

Matt 26:27-28: “Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, ‘Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” [HCSB]

Centuries before, God had promised a new covenant through the prophet Jeremiah.  A covenant is an agreement between two parties. Unfortunately, the covenants God had made with man were often shattered by man refusing to abide by them or do his part in them.

This new covenant God said would be one written in hearts and minds. “’Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days’—the Lord’s declaration. ‘I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.’” [Jer 31:33 HCSB]

That new covenant was inaugurated the night before Jesus died as He offered the cup to His disciples at the Last Supper.  This was a far different cup than the one He would soon contemplate in Gethsemane and drink on the cross.  This cup contained not the sins of the world, but the forgiveness for the sins of the world.  Jesus offered it to His followers, and they had a part in this … they had to drink from it.

They could not just look at it, study it, or contemplate it.  They could not judge its quality or its bouquet.  They had to participate, to accept the cup and drink of its contents.  The greatest Bible scholar may intellectually understand that Christ’s cup of the new covenant contains forgiveness of sins, but there is no forgiveness for him unless he, himself, willingly and willfully drinks of it.

So it is with us.

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Holy

by TerryLema

Heb 10:10: “We have been made holy [sanctified] through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” [NIV]

The opening verses in Hebrews 10 talk about man’s greatest problem, which of course is sin.  That passage (verses 1-9) point to Christ’s atoning work on the cross and describe it as a better sacrifice.

That passage highlights our need for that better sacrifice (rather than the multitudes of animal sacrifices offered down through the millennium), and it emphasizes the provision of that better sacrifice when Jesus offered His body and His blood at Calvary.

Then in verse 10, the author of Hebrews writes of the effectiveness of that better sacrifice in those who place their faith in Christ Jesus.  We have been made holy … once for all.  We have been set apart, consecrated, sanctified finally and completely. 

Most of the time I don’t feel very holy, especially as I compare myself to God’s standards.  Most of the time I don’t think I act very holy either.  My words, my motives, my desires are often clouded by the world, my own sin-nature, and yes, even the influence of the enemy of my soul.

Still, God has declared I have been made holy once and for all, finally and completely.  How can that be?  It can be because my holiness is not based on my own feeble efforts to reflect the God of my salvation.  My holiness is based on the work of my Savior who offered His body for my sins, and His righteousness for my sinfulness.

When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” from the cross, the holiness of all those who place their faith in Him became finished.  While we don’t see it as finished in ourselves, or in each other, God sees it as such.  We’ve been set apart, and one day we will experience the culmination of that when we see Jesus face-to-face.  As we wait that day, we strive to live a life worthy of our calling, being transformed into the image of God’s Dear Son.

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Love Compels

by TerryLema

2 Cor 5:14-15: For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. [HCSB]

Such a self-centered and selfish people we are.  Some more so, some less maybe.  We see it supremely in children when they learn that little word mine.  And while we learn to cloak it somewhat as we mature, that self-centered and selfish nature still abides in us.  Mine never quite leaves our vocabulary or our heart and often dominates every decision and action.

Scripture is quite clear, however, that mine is to disappear in the depths of Christ’s love.  Mine is to die at the cross and be resurrected into a life dominated now by the word Yours.  Yours, Father, is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.  Your love compels me, Father, to live in the desires You have for my life.

That word compel, or constrains as some translations render it, means to hold together, to preoccupy.  

 No longer are we to be preoccupied by our self-centered sin nature, but now we are held together by the love of God brought to us by God’s Son, who died for us and was raised again for us.  His arms of love which were once stretched wide and nailed to the cross now encompass us, hold us together, lift us into the Father’s love.

As John the Baptizer said, He must increase, I must decrease.  Life, no longer mine, now Yours LORD.  [John 3:30]

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So …

by TerryLema

1 John 4:9-11:  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us …  [NIV]

What a wonderful little word we find in this verse. It contains two small letters that signify grand truth.  God “so” loved.  God “so” loved that he sent His Son.

John reminds us of what Jesus said in John 3:16 when He was talking to Nicodemus one of the Jewish ruling class. In this verse, however, John adds something that perhaps Nicodemus did not fully understand at the time he first approached Jesus.  John adds things that were only hinted at when Jesus spoke.

God’s Son, our Savior and Lord Christ Jesus, did not come as an earthly conqueror or king.  He did not come to remove the Roman occupiers and restore the kingdom of David to Israel.  He came as an “atoning sacrifice for our sins [a propitiation]”. 

To do that He came not as a king, but as a lamb.  He came as God’s Perfect and Ultimate Lamb, the Lamb that would “take away the sins of the world.”  John 1:29.

Mark Woodley wrote, “Christianity is the only view of life that presents a vulnerable God – a God who, in love and for love, subjected Himself to be mauled by His own creation.”

Maul Him we did.  Our sins drove the nails.  Our guilt pierced His side.  Our punishment brought His separation from the Father.  We don’t dwell on that but instead live in the life He provided in His death.  But we can never forget, never move away from that cross that bore His sacrifice.  In that we see just a glimpse of the love God has for us.

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Keeping Eyes on Jesus

by TerryLema

For the past several days my daily verses have been a reminder that Resurrection Sunday is on the horizon. This year, 2022, Easter falls on April 17, just eight days away. One of my verses this morning came from Hebrews 12:2 and was a reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus.

“Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.” [HCSB]

I think for the next eight days it would be a good thing to keep our eyes on Jesus.  Too often other things of life try to occupy our focus, and frequently succeed in doing so. We get distracted by the immediate, the things right in front of us, and we forget to look up at the most important eternal truths.

When that happens the source of our strength, the motivation for life begins to blur. Things of great important fall into the shadows as the glitter and glamour this world adores captures our attention.

Sometimes it is not glitter and glamour that seize us but discouragement and hopelessness. So much in this world keeps us unsettled. We allow anxiety and worry to consume us. The eternal falls by the wayside when we do not know how to keep up with inflation, wonder if we can pay our rent, or find both our gas tank and our bank account empty.

It is then that Hebrews 12:2 must enter our hearts. Jesus for “the joy that lay before Him” (the important/eternal) had to keep that in view so that He could “endure the cross and despise its shame” (the immediate/temporal).

We keep His example before us so that we can do the same.

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His LORDship

by TerryLema

Phil 2:9-11: “For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [HCSB]

I have heard teachings in the past about having Jesus as Savior but not Lord.  I’ve heard teachings about making Jesus Lord of our lives.  In truth, we cannot have Jesus as Savior and not Lord and we do not make Jesus Lord of our life – He is Lord of our life.

Jesus is Lord of all, whether acknowledged or not.  He is Lord of those who love Him and have placed their trust in Him.  He is Lord of those who remain unrepentant and resist every invitation to come to the Savior.  And one day, as Paul wrote, all will have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There is nothing that remains outside of the Lordship of the One who created it all, the One who sustains it all. “For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” [Col 1:16-17 HCSB]

The key to victory in this life is when we submit to the Lordship of Christ, rather than resist Him.  We allow Him to have daily control of our character and conduct.  We live to do His will.  We live to honor Him as Lord.

When the Lordship of Jesus is a settled issue in our life, all other issues are settled.

Lord Jesus, I love You and desire to submit to You as Lord of my life.  Help me to do this daily. Help  me to see Your desires each day for my character and conduct.  Help me to live Your will every day.  Amen.

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Done By Us

by TerryLema

John R.W. Stott wrote, “Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.” 

That’s a hard statement, but truth often is.  None of us wants to see ourselves in the crowd crying out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”  We want to see ourselves as staunchly defending Christ.

We want to at least be John, who it appears was the only one who didn’t completely desert Christ, the one who made it from the courtyard of Caiaphas to the mount of Calvary.

Our hearts break when we read of the tortures and the dying of our Savior and Lord.

 

But … but … we are looking back at Christ’s Passion from our current standing as a child of God.  We are looking back through our salvation, through our transformation.  None of that was yet available to those shouting in the crowd that day.  Salvation, transformation was still being wrought on Calvary’s Hill.

I wonder how many of those who succumbed to the mob psychology during Jesus’ trials and crucifixion heard Peter speak at Pentecost a few weeks later.  I wonder how many of those who screamed for His death cried out for salvation as Peter spoke truth about Jesus’ salvation and lordship.  We know about 3000 were added to the church at Pentecost, and the number of men grew to 5000 just a short time later.  [Acts 2:41, 4:4]

There might have been any number in the new church that were part of the mob in Pilate’s courtyard calling for His death. And even that sin … that sin of shouting “Crucify Him, Crucify Him” … was forgiven.  He forgives us all our sins.

Col 2:13: “And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses.” [HCSB]

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The Breezes of April

by TerryLema

We had a windy day recently. I was standing by my sliding glass door looking out at my back yard. Years ago we planted cedar trees against our back fence. We live beside an irrigation canal and people often ride bikes and ATVs along its banks. The trees provide privacy and give us some relief from the dust.

These are the types of trees that have one trunk at the base and then usually divide into four parts that grow straight up separately.  There are six of them, now grown tall.  As I watched, the wind was making them sway and dance and I remembered the verse from Isaiah:

“For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”  [Isa 55:12 NKJV]

The Bible is a book of imagery, which is often a bit odd to our way of presenting “information.”  We think in bullet points, witnessed by everyone who has ever attended a business meeting and sat through a PowerPoint presentation.  (I admit, I used PowerPoint presentations for my Sunday messages, and yes, with bullet points.)

The truths contained in our Bible, however, are often imparted to us by images.  For example:

Proverbs 18:10:  The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Psalm 17:8:  Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Isaiah 49:15b-16: I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands….

Sunday a row of trees in the natural waved back and forth in the wind.  For just a moment, however, I caught a spiritual glimpse of nature praising its Creator.  The trees of the field were clapping their hands with joy.  

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Do You Hear Him Singing?

by TerryLema

One of my favorite verses is Zephaniah 3:17. “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”  [NIV]

I often need that reminder that despite what I can see and hear with my natural eyes, my Loving God is beside me, taking great care of me, delighting in me, and singing His wondrous love over me.

The LORD your God is with [you and me] …. 

The LORD (Yahweh / Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One)

your God (Elohim, the very great Supreme God)

is with you (qereb, in the midst, at the center)

Jesus (Immanuel / God with us) confirmed that promise.  He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” [Matt 28:20 NIV]

Before our God says anything else, He reminds us that He is with us.  In our midst.  At the very center.  We can go nowhere, high or low, east or west, north or south, where He is not with us. And He is with us not just in the broad “God is everywhere” sense, but with us in a personal “He knows my name and deepest thoughts” sense.

In our greatest triumphs and lowest failures, He is with us.  In our joys and in our fears, He is with us.  Whether we are surrounded by others or dwell alone, He is with us.  There is nothing we can do to change that.  Nothing we can do to make God abandon us.  He is with us.  Whether we sense His presence or not, He is still with us.

Father, your loving personal care takes my breath away.  “What did I ever do to deserve loving You?” Enable me to walk worthy of Your love.  Amen.

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