Jesus and the I AM—Part 1

Posted on by under Deity of Christ, Easter, Resurrection

Clouds _housetopGenesis 1:1 tells us that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In Exodus 3:13-14, God is addressing Moses by way of a burning bush that is not consumed by the fire. God, the same One as in Genesis 1, is calling Moses back to his Hebrew people to proclaim that God will soon deliver them from Egyptian enslavement. Moses asks God whom should he say sent him, and God answers, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM sent me to you.’”

A few thousand years later Jesus and the Pharisees are embroiled in a heated exchange (John 8:13ff). This is a discussion with deep spiritual ramifications as the Light of Jesus and the darkness of Satan collide. The Pharisees are laying hold of the statement that Abraham is their father while at the same time proclaiming Jesus to be a liar. Jesus has proclaimed them to be of their father, the father of lies, Satan; while He then states the titanic phrase, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).

The Pharisees were so stunned and angered by this statement that they took up stones to throw at him. In essence, they were so incensed that they wanted to kill Him then and there. But what made them so angry?

The Pharisees were well aware that God proclaimed Himself to Moses as I AM. They also knew that this I AM was the very same God that created the heavens and earth. And now, standing in front of them was a carpenter in sandals calling Himself I AM. No, Jesus did not bluntly blurt that He was God. Instead, He made statements to this fact that include this exchange as well as the other six I AM statements. He also backed up this claim through His many miracles.

But think about this; how would you have responded if you were a Pharisee? How do you respond now? In John 11:25-26 Jesus tells Martha that “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” This very same question applies to you and I today, do you, do I, believe this?

If we’re honest, this is a tough thing for us to grasp. Jesus understands that. One of the reasons why God came in the flesh, why this Emmanuel, God with us, came in human form, was so that we could begin grasping this. The creator of the heavens and the earth became man so that we could actually see Him, experience Him, and follow and have salvation faith in Him.

This leads us to begin considering the differences between eternal and infinite. But that will be Part 2 next week.

Prayer Bench & MRI Update

Posted on by under contemplation, Prayer, Scripture, Thankfulness

Bench

Just a quick note today. The picture depicts an extraordinary spot to sit and pray, ponder and contemplate. It is a spring that pops out of the ground in the interior part of Black Butte Ranch near the Paulina Pool complex. The brook really does babble over moss covered rocks and winds its way down a slope lined with tall pines, firs and aspens. I can’t help but praise God in such a glorious setting.

The wind whispering through the trees reminds me of Jesus talking with Nicodemus in John chapter three about the Holy Spirit. ‘Nic’ was pondering the idea of being born from above when Jesus stated, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (verse 8). I’m sure that left Nic scratching his head.

The brook and its soothing noise reminds me of being washed by the water of the Word (see Ephesians 5:26).  As I drink in the truth of Scripture I am being cleansed; sometimes the cleansing is through encouragement and sometimes through conviction.

Brook

I can go on, but I’ll wait to install other components of my “bench time” later.

To close, I want to say thank you for so much positive response on my MRI post last week. I was not expecting so much love and support. Reading through posts on my Facebook and blog site brought tears to my eyes—thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

The MRI results do show considerable spinal degeneration but none needing another surgical intervention, thank God. My surgeon has said I need right elbow surgery to fix nerve impingement; but an elbow, while important, is not the spine!

Thank you again my friends and family, may God bless you with more of himself in your lives.

Jesus and the MRI

Posted on by under Devotional, Prayer, Worship

MRI

I hesitate to write about my health conditions because I don’t want to give the impression that I am either completely decrepit or that my situations are worse than other people’s. Yet I receive so much learning through these experiences; in fact, much of the learning is also where much humility is forged.

Friday was no different as I was once again stuffed into that all-to-familiar MRI tube. The older I get the more claustrophobic I become; therefore, rather than MRI’s becoming easier, they are actually becoming harder. I spend most of my time in that coffin-like tube not really praying but more just repeating “Jesus” over and over while desperately clinging to the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7). Still, in between cycles of pictures when the machine is quiet, my mind wanders into places I don’t usually let it go.

Like who do I invite into my fear and suffering? This latest test I shared with my wife and my boss, and that’s it. I didn’t ask for prayer from anyone else or share the burden of the looming fear of confinement with anyone else until after the procedure. Why? I’m not sure; perhaps pride. Perhaps because it gives too much attention to the truth of aging. Maybe both. Plus I don’t want to be seen as a complainer or as a person that fails to recognize the many blessings in my life.

However, I also cut myself off from the lifeline of caring friends and family; friends and family that’ll pray for me and that have genuine concern for me. Friends and family that’ll be there in the sad event of negative test results.

So I ask God for wisdom on what to share, when to share it, and how to share it; and I ask for patience from my friends and family as I figure this out because I anticipate more tests in the future.

Integrity and Proverbs 10

Posted on by under Devotional, Prayer, Proverbs

Integrity

Proverbs 10:9 states that “He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.” Integrity is defined as “completeness, innocence, uprightness”[1]. I highly value being a man of integrity and strive to maintain it as best I can. Over time, however, I have made mistakes and my integrity has taken a bit of hit; especially if I have said or done something stupid while trying to represent Christ! But part of understanding integrity is recognizing when you’ve tarnished your own; you learn what not to do again or how to do or say things differently in the future. I also highly respect other men of integrity, they are a great example to me and a great help for me in making big decisions.

A key value of integrity contained in the proverb is we can walk securely; as we live a life with integrity, we know that we have nothing to hide and that we keep our word. Others begin to trust us so we need to value the trust they have in us and not compromise it through foolish actions or words.

Keys to Integrity

Keys to understanding, building and maintaining integrity include continually opening our lives up to Holy Spirit examination. Through this we need to do our best to hear and obey when He, the Holy Spirit, reveals weaknesses or barriers inhibiting a freer flowing of Him in our lives (cf. Ps. 139:23-24). Another key is spending time in God’s Word; the more Scripture we know the more equipped we are to live a life marked by integrity, especially as we study the life of Jesus. Hanging around those with high integrity is also a good idea, we can learn a lot through how they live their lives, especially when they are in difficult circumstances. This leads us to add two more aspects to integrity: humility and obedience.

Lacking integrity reveals a person that is two-faced and unstable (cf. Ja. 1:7). This person cannot be trusted with the things of men or of God. Such a person also lacks the humility to recognize their error, which can open them up to very serious calamities. This causes us to ponder if the lack of integrity means a strong presence of pride.  We will explore this possibility in a later post on Proverbs devotionals.

Practical Steps

Now more than ever integrity is eroding in our culture at rapid rates. Politician don’t mean what they say, entertainment is becoming more and more dehumanizing and sexualized, and the individual is quickly replacing the sense of community. One way to help stem the tide of such erosion is becoming a person of integrity: say what we mean, keep our promises, help others when we have opportunity, and lean more deeply into the things of God.

[1] Strong’s Concordance, pp. 136 & 555.

To Mary…

Posted on by under celebration, mourning

Mary_Brown

We miss you, Mary Brown. I can’t add anything beyond all the honest and heart-felt comments shared at today’s memorial service in her honor. However, I am looking forward to when I come home to Heaven; I fully expect to see Mary standing there, hands on her hips (you know what I mean), with her head cocked to one side and that wry smile, “Well, it’s about time!”

That’s what she always said as Caleb and I showed up late to the Food Bank every month—she always had that posture and she always said that phrase; oh, how I miss that phrase!

Mary’s life inspires me to live to a higher level of service (and joy) while I still have breath.

Here’s to Mary!

 

Church Fires and Ducks

Posted on by under Christ, contemplation, Devotional

Oh_Bible_2

“Our church is on fire,” read the text. Janey got the same message. Incredulous, she went to the fount of breaking news, Facebook. There it was, posts from staff and even a reference to the local paper. Our church was indeed on fire. It had already been confirmed there were no injuries—praise God—but it was a three-alarm fire with firefighters from two different municipal jurisdictions, Salem and Keizer. When the smoke cleared, it was determined an upstairs wall-heater in a storage room had accidentally been turned on.

Just Hours Later

The insurance adjuster responded quickly and within hours of the blaze a professional cleaning company was on site with a swarm of workers and equipment. The building was not a total loss, but damage, especially from smoke, is extensive. The final tally is still undetermined, even after a week. Evidently smoke, when mixed with water vapor, turns into an acid and permeates any surface it possible can, drywall, carpeting, paint, computers, everything. Just cleaning up is a massive enterprise.

Yet we persevere. We recall God’s sovereignty and praise Him that passersby pounded on the church doors and called 9-1-1. We are thankful for quick and competent emergency responders. We pray blessing over their lives. We also start reflecting on what we need to learn though this.

Why? No, What!

Most of us are not asking God the ‘why’ question but the ‘what’ question: “What are we to learn from this?” Have we become too complacent? Too comfortable? To worldly? Maybe, maybe not.

What we do know, however, is that God is our refuge:

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear.

—Psalms 46:1-2a

We also know that our families, church and immediate, are intact and we are reminded that church is not a building or even a specific locale; church is people and relationships seeking Jesus together.

Ducks

Then the Ducks lost, actually, got thumped, in the national championship game. But what’s interesting is days before the game, their offensive coordinator, Scott Frost, told Fellowship of Christian Athletes something to the effect that when you are “all-in for God,” even if you lose, you won’t be shaken because your life is built on the Rock, Christ Jesus. Amen! (http://savingourfuture.com/2015/01/oregon-offensive-coordinator-scott-frost-god-first-video/).

I have been a life-long Duck fan (class of ‘84) and so was my father (class of ’58). We used to go to a lot of games in the ‘70s; we didn’t do much else together, but we did share Duck sports. So sometimes when I see them lose I also start to miss my dad a bit. Oh well, God is still God.

What’s the Point?

The point I’m rambling on about is God is the point, He is sovereign, He is trustworthy, and He will always be there through big stuff (church fires) and the little stuff (favorite teams losing and lost memories). Yes, we shouldn’t get too comfortable this side of Heaven, so maybe the disruption of these events are really to shake the dust off worshipping Jesus to then spark greater desire to move closer to Him.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

—James 4:8

Christmas Lessons and ‘Frankenflu’

Posted on by under contemplation, Devotional, Prayer, Thankfulness

tissues

Christmas is over and the family is suffering from a raging cold or flu thing—or a combo of both (I call it ‘coldenflu’, could also be ‘Frankenflu’). It is very hard to be cheery, to entertain and to be thankful when you have a fever, body aches, fog-brain and spontaneously explode in sudden bursts of coughing and sneezing. Eew!

But we got lots of neat stuff, which means we need to weed out the neat stuff from last year. We had fun times with family and friends, though I hope they don’t come down with this. The food, I’m told anyway, was great (I couldn’t taste it). The weather, while not a winter wonderland, was decent; so much so, that I could not resist the urge to put on my new pair of Asics to go for a short but wheezy run (which may explain why my recovery was slowed).

Who’s Will?

But the main lesson to be learned through all of this may be from the Book of James where it says “you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (4:15). We had everything planned out, even taking vacation at the same time; we were going to do fun family and church things then try to escape to Central Oregon for a few days. Instead, we barely slogged through the gatherings but come Christmas morning we were all feverish, hacking and coughing and worse. We are in no condition to travel far, except to the gym to sweat this out (I’m no longer contagious), and last night we all slept for 12 hours!

Perhaps the other glaring lesson, prominent by its absence, is the whole point of the season in the first place, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. The new iPod took hours to set up due to a myriad of incompatibilities with Windows 8, at some point I need to clear out old clothes so I can safely store the new ones, but I am enjoying my new headphones—finally good quality sound not attached to squishy ear buds that always fall out of my ears.

But where’s Jesus? 

I don’t think we forgot Him; instead, what I am figuring out is my adoration of Him is not dependent on my carefully thought-through plans, or my fool-proof meal prep, or even my desire to be away in the mountain air for bouts of contemplative prayer; my adoration is more deeply forged in trials that make adoration that much more difficult—sickness. Do I still adore Jesus in my fever and chills? Do I still adore Jesus when my body aches so much I can’t sleep? Or do I just adore Him when my plans work out according to my will?

Well, I do still adore Jesus, but I will admit that this Christmas has been one of the most challenging ones for adoring Him. Yes, I admit that I had bouts of less than stellar thinking and of blaming and of frustration. Yet I felt His patient presence even in my valleys. Today I’m not tip-top by any stretch, but I feel recovered enough to understand this is temporary; sort of like our existence on earth. So while this Christmas is not one I ever want to repeat, I am thankful that Jesus is still Lord, still Savior, and still loving me; even in my shakiness, wavering, and general unpleasantness.

Prayer Struggle

Posted on by under contemplation, Devotional, Growng in faith, Prayer

Romans 8_26

Lately I’ve been struggling with prayer. Oh, I can go through my lists of requests as well as the next person, but the struggle is the deeper prayer; the soaking in the Spirit prayer. Maybe it’s my age or the season of life I’m in; maybe it’s the listening part or all of the distractions. Maybe it’s something else entirely; even so, I find it both interesting and disturbing. It’s interesting because I haven’t been in such a struggle for a long time; disturbing because I haven’t been in such a struggle for a long time.

Struggle and Soil

Perhaps the struggle is part of God’s plan for me. Instead of fretting over the struggle I need to be okay with it and recognize it as a normal part of growing in my walk with Jesus. The struggle is where the refining of my faith occurs. Outward struggles are obvious opportunities for faith-building, but the interior struggles are invisible to the material world but are every bit as real, maybe even more so.

It is in the unseen where the Holy Spirit does his best work; that is, if the person in the midst of the struggle leans deeper into God rather than turning away. The struggle is where the soil of my soul is being tilled for the deeper things of God.

Painful Reveal and the Crucible

The struggle also reveals weak areas of my faith. Such as being too focused on today’s list of to-dos, or tomorrow’s dreams, or my worrying over the “what ifs” of life, “what ifs” that may never come to pass. It is revealing to me that my mind is not quiet, my soul is not settled and I am not waiting patiently.

The struggle then is honing the discipline of waiting; waiting on God to speak, or not to speak. The quiet is the crucible that is forging the fragile yet precious patience required to truly hear from God.

The struggle helps me better understand what Paul was talking about in Romans 8: “And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children … And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words” (verses 23 and 26, New Living Translation).

So struggle goes on, but at least I know I’m not struggling alone.

Odd Feeling

Posted on by under contemplation, dementia, Devotional, longing, Scripture

hawkLately I’ve been feeling odd; it’s a longing in my soul I can’t identify. I’m not sad, nor am I depressed; I’m just…longing. Longing for what I don’t know. It isn’t really a sentimental emotion nor am I anxious about anything, at least not anything that’s at the surface of my thinking.

A Pastor Friend

A pastor friend of mine said he feels that way sometimes. He said maybe there is some latent sadness lurking under the surface of my consciousness. Maybe I’m struggling with completely accepting a mom that is slowly slipping deeper into dementia; the mother of my childhood no longer exists, but the shell of what used to be withers before my eyes and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Maybe it’s a longing for solitude. I find myself looking out the window more than I used to, thinking about wilderness trails, mountain views, and rustling wind through tall firs. On one of my lunchtime walks the other day I stopped in front of a big church building watching a young hawk soaring effortlessly above it. It was beautiful even as traffic buzzed around me and exhaust fumes filled my nostrils this hawk was still surviving, still reminding me that God’s creation is much more than concrete, asphalt and noise.

Holy Spirit Flow

Maybe I’m longing to be freer in the flow of the Holy Spirit. Maybe God’s tugging at me to realize I am blocking his flow in my life somehow, somewhere; but where?

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

—Jesus, John 3:8

Do I have the fresh air of the Holy Spirit flowing out of me? I hope so, but I don’t know; maybe this is what I’m longing for, maybe this is what the world is longing for.