Friend...

Friend… A companion. An associate. Someone you keep company with, have affection for. Simply someone we are not hostile to?

Have you counted them? Do you categorize them? Rate them?

Friends for different activities? Friends for fun, friends for sadness, friends when you need help?

What kind of friend are you?

Our ‘Friend Day’ recently at our congregation challenged me on this issue…the message delivered during the morning service, the whole concept of ‘friendship‘.

Jesus called the disciples His friends. “I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father…”(John 15:15 The Message)



“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”(John 15:16)

I am one of Jesus’ friends.

He has shared everything He knows from The Father with me. “I/we have the mind of Christ.” (1Cor.2:16)

What kind of friend will I be to Him? Will I bear fruit that will last?

And what kind of friend will I be to all those people I call ‘friend’? Will I share with THEM all The Father has made known to ME? Will I let THEM in on everything I’VE heard from Him?

What kind of friend am I if I don’t share Him?

He is enough. Sharing Him does not diminish Him for me. It is only multiplied.

“…..I will receive many times as much in THIS age, and in the age to come… eternal life."(Luke 18:30TNIV, personalized by me)

Purpose to be a true friend. A friend to Jesus, and to all those that He misses when He looks at His flock. A true friend to all those we so casually refer to as ‘friend’.

Sinful....

Sinful… An offender. Criminal. Guilty of an offense.

Scripture says that there is no one who is not guilty. “Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God's glory. “(Rom. 3:23 NIrV)

I don’t measure up to God. He is perfect. I am not.

I no longer try to hide that fact. No more do I try to fake it, pretend…put the mask on. Neither do I wallow in the guilt and shame.

Yet I don’t wear my sinfulness as a badge.

I have learned my enemy’s method of operation. He is an accuser. He is a liar.

And I have learned my Savior’s love and grace. His very coming to this world was a sacrifice, leaving the perfection of His place in that unknown realm we refer to as ‘heaven’ was surely a sacrifice. Stepping into the womb of a young girl, birthed, potty training, puberty, adolescence, rejection, cruel execution.

What sacrifice!

I will never attain right-ness. Never will I be able to perfect my life, my attitudes, my thoughts, or my actions.

I wear HIS right-ness. “…..I see that the job is too big for me, … it's something only God can do, and I trust him to do it--I could never do it for myself no matter how hard and long i worked--well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets me set right with God, by God. Sheer gift. (Rom. 4:5 The Message, personalized by me)

You may see me put on a cross. I may wear a Jesus-Girl shirt. But I will not make light of my sinfulness and insult my Savior who suffered so much to save me from the penalty of it.

Sinful? Yes. But I don’t want it tattooed on my body or stamped on my clothing.


Saved? Indeed so ! “When I received Christ, I….. put away my sinful nature…Not by my own human hands … Christ did it…”(Col. 2:11 personalized by me)

Saved. And at such great cost to Jesus.

Let us never make light of that cost, and let us never insult His effort on our behalf.

Let us wear His Name. Not our sinfulness.

Shouted....

Shouted… How do you feel about being shouted at?

I suppose it depends on the message of the shout. A shout-out ‘Hi!!’ from a friend compared to a shouted ‘Get out of my way!’ from a stranger… ?

Ever think about God shouting?


"Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back--a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family ……. with their sins! They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people-- law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side. But…………” (Isaiah 58:1-2 The Message)

You drive your employees much too hard. v.3
You bicker and fight v.4
You aren’t sharing your food with the hungry,
You aren’t inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
You aren’t putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
You aren’t being available to your own families.v.7

Your hands are drenched in blood,
Your fingers dripping with guilt,
Your lips smeared with lies,
Your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities.
No one speaks up for the right,
No one deals fairly.
They trust in illusion,
They tell lies..(ch.59:3,4)

You fast, (religious activity)…..but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, (religious activity)…but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting (religious activity) you do won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day (religious activity) I'm after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? (Isa. 58:4-5)


God shouted thru His prophet and servant Isaiah. And we would all do well to listen as He tells us what is wrong. We would be wise to examine our hearts, our attitudes, our intentions. I’ve heard His shout, and have been faced with His questions.

What is at the core of my religious activity?

Is it based on ritual?

Or is in based on an intimate relationship?

Does my religion have any effect on anyone but me? Does it go beyond my personal growth?

Or is it just all about me after all? (…which would in fact be idolatry…the worship of ME.)

The purpose of a shout is to get attention.

He got mine.

What about you?

Suddenly...

Suddenly…. Unexpected. Ever had a ‘suddenly’ moment?

The TV program is interrupted with a news flash….

The doctor says, ‘it’s a tumor’…

The phone rings, the news is bad….

Someone nearby collapses…

He/She says ‘I want out’…

Suddenly moments. Suddenly your perspective and your world is changed.

Suddenly, security is gone. And we are faced with what was in fact true all along…there is no security. We are incapable of securing anything.



“While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly…”
(1 Thes. 5:3)

“….If he comes suddenly…do not let him find you sleeping…” (Mark 13:36)


Don’t wait until your suddenly moment to think about Him. Don’t wait until a suddenly moment to pray, to consider what He has said to us, what He has done for us.

“…. I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD…”(Jer. 29:11-14)

Rejected...

Rejected…. Well, I was warned that I would be…

“….you will be hated.” (Matt. 24:9)


“Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name …….. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable.” ( Luke 6:22 The Message)

Speaking God’s truth is confrontational. It shines His Light into dark corners, and none of us like to see what hides in our corners.

Yet, we are called to speak His truth and share His Message…His Good News. We are sent. "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all. (Mark 16:15 The Message)

It is difficult.

But rejection can not stop us.

It didn’t stop Jesus.


“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not…..He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.

He was pierced for MY transgressions,
He was crushed for MY iniquities
The punishment that brought ME peace was upon Him,

…..and by His wounds I am healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)

Worth...

Worth…. I was reminded this morning of the old hair color commercial where the woman says ‘I’m worth it!’…..

You remember the one…she’s bought this certain brand of hair color..(I guess it is more expensive than some of the others…) She’s colored her hair at home and it turned out great. (…which is not great for my job security!)

Then she declares that she’s ‘worth it’.

Just what is she worth? And who decides ? How do you measure that worth? Is it the price of the hair color? Does she decide what she’s worth? Is it measured in simple dollars and cents? (…then why is she not ‘worth’ a trip to the salon? Just wondering…)

It was a good marketing tactic. The slogan caught on and it’s still repeated when we want to justify something.

But are we worth anything? To whom? For what? And what causes us to be valued?

This could be joked about easily …I’m having to refrain from going there myself. Lots of cliché’s come to mind.

But I look seriously at myself and ask. ‘What of myself is of value’


“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” (Acts 20:24)


That He values me is beyond my comprehension.

And value He did…enough to leave heaven, enter the flesh of a human infant, be dismissed as an adult as unimportant, and executed on a trumped up charge in an illegal court.

All of it just to enter humanity to restore what was horribly wrong.

“Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.”
(Ps. 145:3)

Strength...

Strength… Is it strong muscles? Physical power?

Is it emotional toughness? An ability to resist?

I’ve never had much physical strength, although I once thought I was pretty tough. The older I get, the more I realize my weakness, the more I come to understand the Source of any strength whatsoever. And I don’t have it.

Jesus said that His grace is all I need. He says that His power is strongest when I am weak. (2Cor. 12:9) What does that mean?

To me, it means that I can choose my own ‘strength’ or I can choose to lay that aside and trust His way. I can choose to stay away from the knowledge that He has forbidden. (..the knowledge of evil.)

I can depend on my human tendency to choose and act poorly, or I can choose to follow what He has said. Simply because He said so…

(By the way, His way sure doesn’t make sense sometimes, and is seldom what I ‘want’. It’s the enemy’s same Garden of Eden tactic…. take a ‘look’, then question God. )



“…the serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? ……..When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. " (Gen. 3:1,6)

Yes, God did really say….and if she had forgotten or not paid attention….she could have asked HIM for clarification.

Instead, she fell for the enemy’s twist on what God had said, and the tactic that encouraged her to doubt God’s motives.

Instead of simply doing what God said …simply because He had said it. Instead of trusting that He had a very good reason for His instruction.

You see, God is not mean and nasty. He doesn’t say stuff just to take the fun out of life. He has said what He has said for a single purpose. To protect me. And you.

To protect us from evil.
To protect us from choosing the knowledge of it…from experiencing it.

Once that happens, the consequences fall. And strength is not something we gain from it.

Wisdom. Yes.


We are so foolish to believe we are strong enough to dabble in what God has forbidden and come away unharmed. That is another devil’s lie.

Only God can repair, restore, redeem and produce good from our wrong choices.

Only God can clean up the mess we make and restore purity.

But He wants to.

Will you take your brokeness to Him?

Will you just trust what He says?

He is always and only ...good.