There is a Redeemer

For I know that my Redeemer lives… Job 19:25

O LORD, my Rock, and my Redeemer Psalm 19:14

Your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb Isaiah 44:24

Our Redeemer—the LORD Almighty is His name Isaiah 47:4

I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer Isaiah 49:26

Yet their Redeemer is strong Jeremiah 50:34

A Redeemer—saving from danger or hostility; purchasing from slavery; rescuing and defending!

Sometimes I wonder if my finite human mind can comprehend God’s gift of redemption. We sing about it in our hymns, we read about it in the Psalms, we discuss it in Bible study and yet…

I often ask myself if I truly understood the cost of redemption would I live differently. Would I pay more attention to the important things of God and exorcise much of the junk that consumes daily activity. What changes would I make if I grasped the totality of God’s Redemption Plan?

God’s grace encompasses every moment of life. Without His grace life would cease to exist. From before time as we know it, God planned the redemption of His arrogant, conceited, pompous, presumptive and condescending creation. Rather than wipe us all off the face of the earth and start with a totally new creation, which He could easily have done, He chose Redemption—a second chance—a do over!

Job, King David, Isaiah and Jeremiah are a few among those who understood that there is a Redeemer. Before Messiah came—there IS a Redeemer. Before the Cross of Christ—there IS a Redeemer. Before the foundation of the world was measured and laid out—there IS a Redeemer.

And yet God’s grace motivated by love created those that He knew would rebel. God’s plan never was to throw humans on the earth, let us wander around in our rebellion and hope that one day we would stumble across the Redeemer. His plan clothed His Only Son in a blanket of flesh. His plan was grace hand delivered from the throne room of heaven to the dusty trails of a little nation that would be hated by the world. His plan saw you and me in our sin long before our first breath of air.

His plan included saving us from the danger and hostility of satan, rescuing us from slavery to sin and defending us against the forces of evil.

Why He loved me, I do not understand. Why He saw me worthy of the life of His Son, I do not understand. But there is one thing for which I am eternally grateful and I do understand. There IS a Redeemer—Jesus Christ my Lord!

Come and See

 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman

went back to the town and said to the

people, “Come, see a man…

John 4:28-29

Picture the hot noon sun beating down on the Samaria landscape. The proper women of the town, having drawn water early in the morning, would now be about their household chores until the cool of the evening would once again beckon them to Jacob’s well. See Jesus hot, tired and alone; seated by the well.

Notice a disreputable woman, water pot on her head, slumped shoulders, battered by life, approaching the well. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” That question sparked a conversation about the “spring of living water welling up to eternal life” and a discussion about her five husbands and her living with a man to whom she was not married.

Imagine her surprise, as while she confessed that she knew the Messiah called Christ would come and explain everything, Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” Just about that time the disciples returned and questioned Jesus, “Why are you talking with her?”

She was a Samaritan with a bad reputation and living a sinful life. The disciples didn’t get it! But she got it! John 4:28-29 recounts how she left her water pot, went back into town, and said to the people (the same respected, proper, important people who perhaps looked the other way when they saw her coming) “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

Then an amazing thing occurred. They followed her—this sinful woman with whom no one wanted to be seen—they followed her to Jesus and something miraculous happened. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony…”

This woman’s personal testimony about her encounter with Jesus resulted in the salvation of many who followed her to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, the apostle Paul gives instructions, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Christ came for all. Christ lived for all. Christ died for all who would believe that He is the One and Only Son of the Living God. Could it be that something as simple as sharing my testimony could lead a lost soul into the Kingdom of God? Could you, like the Samaritan woman, tell others to come see a man? Could leading the lost world to Jesus be as simple as that?

I report—you decide. Come and see!

Choose Joy

 

God Knows You

 

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 O LORD, You have searched me,

and You know me

You know my sitting down

and my rising up;

You understand my thoughts afar off…

                                   Psalm 139:1-2

Lifelong friends often inspire you to reach higher than you imagine, accomplish more than you dream, and complete more than you believe you can. Acquainted with your faults and failures, from a heart of love, they encourage you to fulfill your purpose in life.

Let me encourage you that God knows you more intimately than your lifelong friends. Psalm 139 explains His perfect knowledge of you and me.

God formed you in your mother’s womb.

He knows when you rise and when you sit.

He understands your thoughts.

He knows what is best for you.

He directs you on the right path.

Therefore, in your quest to know God, consider that He already knows you perfectly. Warts and all! And, from His heart of love, He continues to encourage you to reach higher, dream bigger, and never give up.

Consequently, you can enjoy His love, trust His plan, and rest secure in knowing that He forever has your best interest in His heart because God knows you!

Borrowed Time

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

                                                                                         Ecclesiastes 3:1

Like you, I have often heard the phrase “living on borrowed time.” We think of someone who survived a tragedy that should have ended in death yet that person walked away. We think of a friend or relative who had a massive heart attack and should have died yet to the surprise of a myriad of medical personnel, they survived. We think of someone who has battled cancer and survived over and over and over and we say—living on borrowed time.

But in reality, each of us lives on time borrowed from our Heavenly Father. He placed us right where we are for a season, a purpose, a reason, and when our purpose has been fulfilled, He will call us back to Himself and we will stand before Him to give an account of how we used our precious borrowed time.

Some live decades of time; some only hours or days. Yet even the infant who comes and goes quickly on this earth has fulfilled God’s plan for that tiny life. Time is a blessing! We cannot afford to take one moment for granted. Satan will try to lull you into thinking that there is plenty of time to accomplish God’s plan for your life—to live like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind and to “think about it tomorrow.”

But tomorrow may not come. Like thousands who went to work in New York City on September 11th expecting the day to progress normally, this day could be your last—my last.

What is on your “bucket list?” Does it include a list of souls you would like to see brought into the Kingdom of God? Pray for the opportunity to invest in the lives of those people. Do you desire to travel? Don’t forget the clerk in the store, the cab driver, the single mother struggling with luggage and three small children—she might need Jesus!

I need to improve on my use of time—laying aside the superficial and looking ahead to the “mark of the high calling” that God places on the lives of His children. What will you do while you are living on borrowed time?

The Mercy Seat of Grace

Then put in the ark the testimony,
which I give you.
Make an atonement cover of
pure gold…


Exodus 25:16-17


God’s directions to Moses regarding the building of the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle, included a chest made of acacia wood and overlaid inside and out with pure gold. It would be so holy the instructions for building included permanent rings into which the priests could slip gold-covered acacia wood poles which would allow them to carry the Ark of the Covenant without touching the Ark.

The instructions included the most important part of the design—the atonement cover. The Ark was to be placed behind the tabernacle curtains where only the high priest could enter and once a year meet with God as the priest sprinkled the blood sacrifice that would atone for the sins of the Israelites.

God’s grace delivered His law for the protection of His people. God’s grace also provided a plan for redemption in the face of disobedience.

Each time the Israelites moved from place to place, the Tabernacle of God was disassembled. Only the priests could carry the Ark of the Covenant, and touching the Ark itself meant instant death. In this way, the Israelites were assured that God was with them as they wandered through the desert.

Today’s Jews no longer have the Ark of the Covenant, and as archaeologists go in search of the “lost” Ark, documentaries are made hoping to be on site if the discovery of the ages is made.

But God no longer tabernacles with man through an intermediary—a high priest. We no longer sprinkle the blood of goats and rams in order to seek forgiveness for sin. We no longer have to wait for the presence of God over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus came!

Born of a virgin, Christ—the Anointed One, with sandaled feet on dusty roads, walked and talked with men. After He was crucified and laid in a borrowed tomb, He was resurrected the living, breathing, holy mercy seat of grace. No longer do we need a human intermediary in order to meet with God. Upon acceptance of Christ as Savior and Lord, we become the Tabernacle as the Holy Spirit of God enters into our hearts. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

I don’t know about you, but I am grateful for immediate access to God’s mercy seat of grace. As Anne Graham Lotz simply but profoundly states, “Just Give Me Jesus!”

Life in the Little Things

So whether you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do it all for the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31 NIV

Speaking of the shallow and the profound, Oswald Chambers wrote: “Determinedly take no one seriously but God, and the first person you find you have to leave severely alone as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.”

Fraud! Cheater! Imposter! These words speak to the motive of my heart. I used to think this verse related only to my actions, but was recently made aware that this verse penetrates to the marrow of my spiritual bones—not only what I do but what I think.

What do I think when my plans for the day are interrupted by someone else’s need? What do I think when I have made plans for money saved then someone presents a need I feel I must meet? What do I think when the mundane of daily life interferes with my plans for doing big things for God?

The record of the life of Christ on earth is the ultimate example of grace in the midst of the ordinary everyday common events of life. Christ was born into the ordinary, chose the ordinary to be His disciples and ministered most often to the common ordinary people met along His way—yet He is God!

Therefore, it is in the ordinary—not the great things I desire to do for God— where He reveals the motives of my heart. If I learn to live with Christ-like motives in the little things, then when and if God allows me to step out into the deep with Him, I will be able to look in my mirror without the fear of seeing an imposter.

The motive of my heart should always be—Lord, it is all about you and not about me. Today I pray that God will shake His children like a dust-filled blanket reminding each of us to check our motives as we go about doing the ordinary to the glory of God.