We’re living in a time in which it’s hard to live a godly life.  I don’t know that it’s ever been easy, but it seems like there’s much in our instant-gratification-culture that establishes a quick lure to the dark side.  If we’re not careful by actively, continually pressing into goodness, Boom!  There we are.  On the dark side before we really know what’s happened.  Each of us asking ourselves,

How did I get here?”

People can persist in many things, whether good pursuits or bad habits.  For the Christian, Persistence is the Wisdom of Pressing Onward and Upward.  It’s not just an annoying continuance as a pesky fly, but in season and out, engaging in an onward and upward pursuit of what is good and godly.

.

Romans 2: 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Do you see, both types of persistence involve a continuation, but only one pursuit is godly?

Granted no one likes to talk about sin, but I believe the Church has been doing the people a disservice.  How?  By taking the easy and comfortable route of nonconfrontation, showing only one side of persistence, only talking about the reward for seeking to do good…and importantly, without showing the powerful and deadly counterexample of what happens to those who reject God’s truth.

Ignoring the negatives of wrath, anger, and punishment implies an annihilationism (that wrath never happens, we just become nothing), feeding a Darwinian dust-to-dust mentality.  “Do good (relative truth) as your own reward and when you die you will have been a good person” is the message conveyed and we’ve bought it lock, stock, and barrel.

Do you see how wrong that self-seeking, self-truth message is? 

It ends in wrath and anger just as if the person followed evil.  Don’t be that guy. 

Be the one who seeks God’s truth and presses onward to eternal reward.

===

Father God, we thank You for Your Word which contains all the truth we’ll ever need.  Lord Jesus, thank You for suffering and dying and taking the wrath that should have been ours and giving us the opportunity of redemption by Your grace, through our faith in You.  Holy Spirit teach us what grace means and what truth is and point us eternally to the One who came in grace and truth, to live, to die, and to rise again.  May we follow You, doing good, seeking glory, honor and immortality, and knowing You as the best reward heaven can offer.  In Your precious Name, Amen.

How well do you accept other people?  Accept that they are different from you?  Accept their different gifts, abilities, skills, temperaments, and idiosyncrasies?  If everyone had your gifts, abilities, skills, temperament, and idiosyncrasies, would you even like them?  Or would they suddenly become competition instead of kindred spirits?

I cannot think of anyone more unlike me than Jesus.  He was/is perfect. 

And, well … I’m not.  He and I do not share the same gender, the same ethnicity, the same household income, language, even the same “religion.”  (Remember, of course, He was a faithful Jew and I am not).

Because of Acceptance: The Wisdom of Observable Love, I belong to Him.  He has accepted me despite the one thing I have in common with everyone besides Him.  He has accepted me though I am a sinner.

.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God doesn’t just say He accepts me.  He demonstrated it.  Jesus died on the Cross to say that forgiveness is available even though (and especially because) I am a sinner and can’t save myself.  I can’t save myself through self-help programs.  I can’t save myself through random acts of kindness or seeking world peace.  I can’t save myself by resisting or supporting elected officials.  I can’t save myself through Bible studies or mission trips.  I can’t save myself through intellectual development and scientific/ medical discoveries. 

What saves me (and can save you, too) is God’s observable love—the proof that God’s acceptance of us is based upon His character and not our performance.  It’s out there in the open.  It’s observable love.

God could have just said “My Son died for your sins in a hidden place in Antarctica or the Mojave or the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean or in the cloud tops high above Dubuque” and oh, just to trust that it happened even though no one saw it.  But He didn’t. 

He doesn’t ask for blind trust.  Why?  Because Acceptance is the Wisdom of Observable Love which means that someone must have observed it.  The Bible tells us there were many witnesses and we have 4 Gospel accounts recording that witness.

Have you received His acceptance?  If not, today’s a good day to observe the love He had and still has for you.  He displayed it on a Cross.  He died for you.   John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

If you have received His forgiveness and acceptance, can you do the lesser thing of forgiving others, accepting them, and showing them that wisdom of observable love … no matter how different from you they are?

== 

Father God, help us to appreciate the beauty of acceptance that even while we were still sinners, Jesus died to redeem Your Image in us.  Thank You, Father, that Your love is limitless and Your grace immeasurable.  Give us the courage to face our sins and repent.  Give us the grace to face our fellow man and the humility to accept him/her with observable love.  Help us to learn the meaning of other-person-centeredness and to take our eyes off ourselves.  Give us the ability to do the lesser thing of forgiving others who sin just as we have sinned … and to do it because we have been forgiven by the Sinless One whose blood paid for our acceptance.

If there’s a trait needed for these last days, it’s Courage, the Wisdom of Sensible Fortitude.  The Apostle Paul says it this way:

Be on your guard;  stand firm in the faith;  be men of courage;  be strong.  (1 Corinthians 16:13) 

.

There’s nothing wild, reckless, or thoughtless about it.  Watchful.  Aware.  Firm.  Faith.  Courage.  Strength.  All of these come from an inner core of Wisdom.  A core that isn’t ruffled by what others think of you or the difficulty of the task ahead.  A core that doesn’t give way when told the impossible odds.  A core that is grounded in love of Christ and faith in Him.  A core planted and rooted in an ardent belief that it’s more important to do God’s will than anything else.

Sometimes I think that the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz has some of the best lines.  Earlier in the movie, he gives a speech on Courage.    While he still struggles with understanding it, he ends up modeling it, and at the end of the movie the Wizard puts words nearer the target.

• The Wizard: [To the Cowardly Lion] As for you, my fine friend — you’re a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You’re confusing courage with wisdom! Back where I come from though we have men who are called heroes. Once a year, they take their fortitude out of mothballs and parade it down the main street of the city. And they have no more courage than you have. But — They have one thing that you haven’t got! A medal! Therefore, for meritorious conduct, extraordinary valor, conspicuous bravery against Wicked Witches, I award you the Triple Cross. You are now a member of the Legion of Courage!
• Cowardly Lion: Oh… Shucks, folks, I’m speechless!

Well, a medal doesn’t define courage and the wisdom I’m referencing is counting the costs.  Courage is displayed as a sensible fortitude, considering Jesus worth giving Him your all, the Gospel being worth your every sacrifice, and God’s truth worth upholding no matter the future. 

It’s not the nonsense of Oliver Goldsmith “He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day; But he who is battle slain can never rise to fight again.”  Where is your faith, man?  Fight and run away?  I’m not a spiritual sniper or holy hitman.  I’m planning on rising and the life I get more than whatever life I lost. Courage!  But careful courage… a sensible fortitude … because sometimes the wisdom is in discerning which battles are worth fighting.

What about you?  Are you always running around looking to pick a fight, launch every flaming email, rapid-fire tweets of outrage from high capacity magazines?  Is every statement by someone on the “other side” an opportunity for outrage … or outreach?  Better, though, from where does your courage arise when the battle is important enough to fight?  How do you know the difference?  Wisdom.

=== 

Lord God, Help us to have courage in these last days, that act of the will to stand on an uncertain battlefield … to fight an insidious, often hidden enemy whose tactics are to steal, kill, and destroy.  Teach us to rely upon You to be our protection and to keep Your promises.  Grant that we would have wisdom for the facing of our adversary to know which battles You will fight and which ones require planting a flag, and the greater part of wisdom in letting go of battles imagined in which You have no cause for us to defend.  Help us to trust that the outcome You have planned will be for our good and Your glory no matter how it might appear to us.  Keep us from recklessness and preserve us by Your Holy Name. Amen.

At the Art Institute of Chicago, there’s a very large painting by Georges Seurat called A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.  The method of painting used by Seurat has been termed “pointillism” which involved horizontal brush strokes and dots of complementary colors to give the painting a full image when viewed from a distance, but when viewed up close, it resembles many dots.  

It’s actually the same concept carried forth as the visual display used in the first cathode ray television screens and today’s LCD computer screens and HD images. 

Focus upon a tiny fragment, it looks like meaningless dots like the backdrop of this devotional’s graphic.  Step back and gain perspective, the image emerges. 

*

*

It’s a picture of a dog! 

*

*

Step back further and now we see:  Ah! A dog is only one small part of the overall picture.

*

*

Perspective is the Wisdom of the Wide-Angle Lens.

If there is a danger in only witnessing a moment in time and thinking it represents the whole of time, there is an equal danger in focusing so much upon a detail or two that we miss the larger sweep of Scripture, the big idea.  Kind of like missing the forest for the trees.

In Matthew 24:3-44, Jesus answers the disciples’ question about how they’ll know the last days are upon us.  He points to signs (like individual dots) and expands our view wider and wider until the full picture is visible.

I believe we’re in such a time.  The birth pangs are all around us, seemingly unconnected, so it’s time to develop perspective and that wisdom of the wide-angle lens.  Yes, take in dot after dot, but observe the full sweep of what’s happening.  Jesus says, Matthew 24:42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

What about you?  Are you focused intently on individual dots of signs of the end times? Are you connecting the dots and making sure your life and decisions about faith are in order?  Are you taking note of our culture so you do not miss the bigger picture of the return of Christ?

===

Lord Jesus, You remind us to learn the lesson of the fig tree (Luke 21:29-36), to be careful and not so weighed down with details of worry and anxieties of life. Help us to focus on You and the larger sweep of Scripture so that we will not be surprised when Your return happens. Give us strength to persevere and the perspective to see the signs, to watch and pray, so we may be found standing firm in faith and be able to stand before You unashamed.  Amen.

When I think of abiding, I first picture Mary (of Mary/Martha fame) sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning, and I’m ashamed to say I bristle.  Maybe good for her, but it’s way too sedentary for me.  I hope I would feel differently if Jesus were to show up in my family room to teach.  But I still don’t believe Jesus wants a bunch of couch potatoes as His definition of abiding.  Jesus didn’t spend all 33 of His years on earth sitting.

Is it possible to actively abide?  Absolutely!  Abiding is the Wisdom of Confident Continuance, a Simple Truth.

1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit– just as it has taught you, remain in him. 28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

This is where I find myself excusing my activity levels and blaming my action on the Holy Spirit whose indwelling presence can teach me while I work at doing His will.  It’s an ongoing instruction.  It’s a back-and-forth of feedback like a pattern of light waves moving through space.  I seek and do, He guides and teaches, I respond and do, then He corrects and redirects.

Kind of a nice system, huh?  Yeah.  It’s called abiding.

The system breaks down when I don’t seek, don’t do, don’t respond, and don’t apply His instruction.  That’s why John says to continue in Him, to remain in Him because it’s real and His truth becomes our confidence.

Are you continuing or getting side-tracked?  Do you seek Him?  Are you running toward Him with abandon?  How well do you do what He says?  Do you respond when He guides, or do you want to go your own way? John says to continue and it’s good advice. 

===

Father God, we thank You for Your Word which is Truth on a page and remains Truth in our hearts.  Please strengthen us for these last days.  Help us to abide, to have confidence and be unashamed at Your return, Lord Jesus.  May we not get distracted or carried away by these passing moments and the frenzy of this world.  Be our breath of Life when chaos overarches and attempts to smother us, or when fear causes us to seek another way. Remind us by Your Holy Spirit that only You have the Words of Life.  Give us confidence to reach out and snatch those we love as burning sticks from the fire so they will not perish.  Encourage us with Your Truth in order to teach it and preach it boldly.  Keep the evil one far from us, Father.  Preserve us in these last days so that we might abide by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

How far we are into the “end times” no one really knows.  But this we do know: each day we’re a day closer to the return of Christ. 

And we also know that what Jesus said is now coming true before our eyes. Matthew 24:10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

It’s testimony from the best source possible: Jesus.

Not all sources are equally good, though.  You might not know that given the same way other sources of information in America are treated as gospel, though they most certainly are not.

Discernment is the Wisdom of Examining the Sources because we’re told false prophets will deceive many…including those who go to church, are employed as pastors, feel good about their optics of compassion, vote Republican, vote Democrat, vote Libertarian, and maybe even the man in the mirror…if we fail to exercise discernment about what we’re absorbing as Truth.

1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

The Apostle John is speaking about true Christians who know the truth and genuinely acknowledge it through their obedience.  The latter part is critical because the antichrists (plural, mentioned in the previous devotional) know the truth. They just don’t follow it.

They believe the lie.  They act in accordance with the lie.

They fall prey to what is increasingly seeming like the powerful delusion spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

.

1 John 2:21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

Tempting as it is to blip over the Scripture (I understand that it’s easy when familiar), but it’s far more important to read it than any thought I have.  If you need to, go back and read that last one again. 

When stories hit the news, do you bolt wildly into action or are you patient? Do you witness a moment, dig into God’s Word to examine sources, evaluate whether it is true, and then remain steadfast in Christ?

If the stories are lies, do you prefer that “false narrative” to the full truth which might seem hard or not look quite so compassionate? 

“No lie comes from the truth.”  That’s the God-honest reality. 

Way too many Christians aren’t demonstrating discernment in this regard.  Let’s endeavor to be better.  To show discernment and examine the sources since there is no equal to Scripture.

===

Thank You, Father, for giving us Your Word.  It is every bit as reliable and true as are You, Lord Jesus.  Thank You that Gospel Truth is rock solid and not a matter of our feelings.  Teach us to rely upon You.  Teach us to obey You.  Teach us what it means to show discernment in all things.  Guard us in Your Truth and keep us steadfast in perseverance.  We believe Your Word recorded in James 1: 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”  We pray for stability in our lives and in our country.  We pray for peace, Your peace to flood our lives, as we thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers.  Amen.

In the song “The Finer Things” Steve Winwood sings, “For time is a river rolling into nowhere.” While it’s a great line and I love the song, rivers don’t go “nowhere” and time has a direction leading somewhere.  That somewhere acknowledged by Christians (and not affirmed by others) is the end of the world as we know it.  The good news is there’s a new heaven and a grand entrance of the new Jerusalem and the new earth as we will come to know it … in time rolling on … into eternity.

I was thinking about time and the end times outlined in the Bible.  There is a frenzy in America right now, probably even in the world.  Like an intervening chaos, a confusion that overarches and smothers.  It’s easy to get caught up in it.  Wise Christians don’t.

Patience is the wisdom of witnessing a moment. 

.

This “last hour” will pass and this moment will lead to the next which the Bible tells us involves God’s righteous Judgment.  Stand firm, Christians.  Hold on.  This river is not a torrent running wild and leading nowhere.  It’s leading to Judgment.

You can’t outrun it.  You can’t escape it. 

You can’t close your eyes and make it go away. 

But you can be preserved through it by remaining patiently in Christ.

1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

Time out, Christian friends.  What do you read in the passage above?  There is “the” antichrist (the man of lawlessness from 2 Thessalonians 2:3) and there are “many antichrists.”  Who are they?  Will you know them? 

1 John 2: 19 “For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” 

Yikes.  They gave every impression of belonging to the family of faith, but they didn’t really.  Maybe they sit next to you in church, belong to your prayer group, listen to Moody radio, or even teach Bible studies.  But they don’t remain and don’t actually belong to Christ. 

Doesn’t that scare you?  It scares me, so I fix my eyes on Jesus.  Are you remaining or going?  Are you jumping in and joining the world in its wild and frenzied protests … or are you awake, alert, patiently waiting in Christ, and looking to Him, showing wisdom of witnessing this moment in time?

===

Lord Jesus, You told us while You were among us that You were going away to prepare a place for us and that You would come back and bring us to be with You.  You have cautioned us to remain watchful for Your returning, so we will be found ready.  May Your Holy Spirit protect us, keep us belonging to You, preserve us by Your power, and bring us to be with You in the fullness of time.  In these last days as darkness attempts to claim more souls, remind our adversary that he is a defeated one already, that we are Yours and no one can snatch us out of Your hand.  Give us confidence to stand firm.  Let nothing move us from belonging to You, Lord, and keep our love for You strong.  We ask this in Your mighty Name.  Amen.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends and readers!  I know it’s not a religious holiday, but I celebrate it with a full heart.  I have a heart full of gratitude that God chose to give our founding fathers such great wisdom in drafting a Declaration of Independence.  I am grateful for the bravery of those before us who fought a bloody war in which many young men lost their lives in a cause greater than themselves, to birth freedom anew in this nation.  And I’m grateful that God blessed everyone in this nation with an ability to worship freely, according to our beliefs.

I am grateful for this nation and I am mindful that we are but one among many nations on this earth.   While I don’t understand God’s ways and His plan for each individual nation and their inhabitants, I do believe He’s sovereign over them all.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.  Psalm 22: 27-28

What’s my response on this Independence Day?  Gratitude.

 .

Do you know your place?  Are you naturally humble?  Or is it something you find difficult, maybe always preferring the visibility of a top job, a leading role, being that go-to-person, or the king (or queen) of the hill? 

The minute you start thinking about displaying humility, you’ve already lost.  Humility is not a contrived action or attitude.  You can’t manufacture it or fake it.  It comes from the wisdom of knowing our place.

The Apostle Paul, in his masterpiece of Bible explanation, writes, Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God– this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

In view of God’s mercy.  Pleasing to God.  Worship.  Who’s King of the hill and King of kings and Lord of lords?  God.

What’s our place?  Do not conform to the world’s ways because God’s ways are higher and better.

How was Paul able to be a leader, a brilliant scholar, an accomplished apologist, the most powerful writer of the majority of the New Testament and yet be so humble?  On the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22), he’d learned his place.  He was completely broken and humbled and realized the unmistakable, unchangeable, unrestrainable power of God.  When God has done that to you, it’s a lesson you never forget.  Humility is the wisdom of knowing our place.

Do you know yours or are you still partnering with the world?

===

Lord Jesus, thank You for the grace and humility You displayed during Your time on earth, even as You were the most powerful leader this world has ever known.  Remind me always that the power of even a 3-year ministry can be life-changing for another human being so long as we know our place of continually pointing to You.

If fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then knowledge, true knowledge, is the wisdom of acknowledging the truth.

Perhaps one of the saddest statements in all the Bible is about Jannes and Jambres.  (Who?)  Yeah, I know. They’re mentioned only once (2 Timothy 3:8), but these two are forever identified for the historical record as opposing the truth.  Learning, learning, learning. 

Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  Isn’t that sad?

Do you know people like that?  I do.  They might have a list of degrees as long as my arm.  They may be able to spout chapter and verse of the Bible even.  Their heads may be full of facts and figures and history and peer-reviewed articles.  They may be able to speak and read multiple languages.  They may have a brain full of high IQ knowledge, but none of that knowledge has made it through the toughest 12-inch journey of discernment … from the head … to the heart.

The Bible tells us this is a sign of the last days.

2 Timothy 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God– 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth– men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

As if rejection in the faith wasn’t bad enough (and that’s eternally bad), these guys go down in human history as not only opposing the truth with depraved minds, but everyone knows it.  2 Timothy 3:9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Don’t be like those guys.

Paul says, 2 Timothy 3:10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings– what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

It’s not a matter of how much or even what subjects you know, except one subject:  it’s Who you know.  The best kind of knowledge is the learning that makes you wise for salvation through faith…the wisdom of acknowledging the truth.

===

Father God, please help us in these last days before Your Son Jesus returns, for us to remain strong and faithful.  Preserve us in Your truth.  Keep us from being deceived.  Help us to continue reading the Scriptures and moreover, to keep believing them.  Remind us at all times than an accumulation of secular news is no match for the investment of storing up Your Word in our hearts and looking to You for wisdom.  Discipline our minds so we will not be deceived by the arts of the evil one who is running unleashed upon our world.  We ask Lord for Your continual reminder that You conquered death on the Cross.  No adversary can stand against You.  No power is greater than Your own.  Keep our eyes fixed, awaiting Your return.  Keep us safe, Lord, by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Amen.