He had to rise

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Acts 2:24 (NASB95)

 The fact is that Jesus could not stay in the grave. Death could not keep his prey. Think about why this must be true.

First, Jesus led a sinless, perfect life. Death can certainly claim and hold the sinner, for through sin death entered the world, and the wages of sin is death. But it has no hold over one who is sinless and perfect. Death has no claim over the innocent. Jesus might surrender to it temporarily through the will of the Father, but it has no claim on him and cannot keep him.

Second, Jesus is the divine Son of God in whom is life. He possesses life and is the Life (John 1:4, 5:26, 14:6). Life, being a quality of God, must ultimately triumph over death. Mortal man may be held in its grasp, but not the divine One who is Life himself. The Son of God must rise, for death cannot conquer him who lives eternally.

So Jesus could not stay in the grave. He rose because death could not keep him, the sinless Son of God.

Will there be golf in heaven?

A lot of things bring pleasure to us in the world. A job well done. Someone’s love or admiration. A great vacation. A special meal. Watching the kids at play. A beautiful sunset. A hot fudge sundae. A good day at the golf course. You know what I mean.

As Christians we have the extra pleasure that comes from knowing and serving God. In fact, the more we know him, and the more we get to serve him, the more this pleasure means to us. In addition, the pleasure of knowing and serving God lasts us a lot longer than a good meal, costs a lot less than a fancy vacation, even goes deeper than the love of someone special, and is a lot less elusive than a good day on the course (for me at least).

I’ve heard people wonder if they will be able to play golf in heaven, or make quilts, or see the friends that mean so much to them here. I think they wonder whether there will be enough pleasure for them in heaven. But think of this: if the pleasure of knowing and serving God can surpass other pleasures while we’re here, don’t you think the pleasure we’ll experience by fully knowing God and serving him to the utmost in heaven will make concern about other pleasures fade? I think we can leave the question of whether there will be golf in heaven (and other such concerns) to God. There will be pleasure enough in knowing and serving him to make heaven heaven.

Why not take a minute right now to focus your thoughts on the pleasure of knowing and serving God? It is the greatest pleasure you and I can enjoy on this earth and it really will be enough pleasure for all of eternity. Feel free to indulge yourself. This pleasure is a little of heaven on earth.

Creating a Little Margin

Its incredible how often we live an inch from disaster. We push ourselves physically until we are almost ready to drop. We spend everything that comes in (if not more). We allow ourselves to be drained emotionally until there is little left to give. We steal time from our spiritual life until it is almost not there. We max out, stress up, push, throw caution to the wind, and delay doing what we really need desperately to do. Then we wonder what has happened when one more thing comes along and something in us or around us collapses.

Margin is the little extra we plan into something to allow for the inevitable miscalculation, overload, or contingency. Engineers design with margin. Who'd want to cross a bridge that was designed to be just barely strong enough to take the anticipated load? Who'd want to fly in an airplane in which the engines were calculated to be only strong enough to handle routine flying? Yet the same engineers who are so careful on the job can fail to build margin into their personal lives, and they aren't alone.

What's margin in life? It is leaving time in your day to get enough sleep and to have a bit of quality time with the Lord, the kids, and the spouse. It is living on 90% of your income (after your tithe, of course), and putting that extra away for when the washing machine quits on you, or one of the kids breaks his glasses, or the car breaks down. It is spending a little more time in Christian worship, fellowship, and personal devotions than you think you absolutely 'need' to do. It is giving yourself a break from stressful relationships and situations long enough to get emotionally recharged. It's creating a cushion between what you could do and what you actually do.

Margin is critical but easily overlooked and hard to maintain. Building margin into life requires disciple, self-control, and some re-orienting of how we respond to demands and pressures and our own desires. Jesus, the Bible tells us, often rose early so he could get alone with his Father. He sent his disciples ahead so he could have time to pray. He occasionally left the crowds behind so he could spend special time with his disciples. He did not let activity and other people fully take over his priorities and time. He kept himself physically, emotionally, and spiritually balanced and did not allow himself to live right on the edge of collapse.

In America people living with margin are often looked at as having something wrong with them. Everyone else is living within an inch of disaster, why aren't you? Maybe you are lazy, or uncommitted, or uncaring, or lack ambition. But maybe you are trying to be careful, wise, and balanced. Maybe you know what can happen when a person hits emotional or physical empty, when the bank account is exhausted, or when you've skimmed spiritually for too long.

How about you? How close are you to disaster? An inch? Back away. You need to change some priorities, redistribute your time, re-balance your budget, or carve out time for the Lord. You need to dial it back a bit and create a little margin in life.

The prudent sees the evil and hides himself,

But the naive go on, and are punished for it.

Proverbs 22:3 (NAS)

Telescopes for God

I was reading something by A. W. Tozer today that reminded me about magnifying the Lord in our lives as Christians. The call to magnify the Lord was a common one in the Old Testament. You can find one example of it in Psalm 34:3:
      O magnify the LORD with me,
      And let us exalt His name together.

What exactly does it mean to magnify the Lord? There are two common instruments scientists use to magnify objects. The first is a microscope. That is used to enlarge very small things so they can be seen. Some people think that we Christians make way too much about God or Jesus. They think we blow things up way bigger than they ought to be. They would accuse us of using a microscope to enlarge the very small and insignificant god they think exists. That is not what the Bible means when it calls on us to magnify the Lord. We aren't to blow God up bigger than he really is.

The second instrument scientists use to magnify objects is a telescope. Its function is very different from a microscope. A telescope takes very large objects which seem small and fuzzy because of their distance and it brings them closer enabling us to see how grand and magnificent they actually are.

This is what it means to magnify the Lord. Magnifying the Lord is not making something small and insignificant seem bigger than it is, but it is making what may appear small and fuzzy because of its distance to be seen for all its true greatness and grandeur. By magnifying the Lord in this way we make clear and close the God who seems unclear, unfocused, and distant to many people. By letting God's love, peace, grace, patience, and other traits become evident in our lives, and by letting him mold and transform us in ways others can see, we actually bring him nearer to those around us. We magnify him, and others can begin to see him for who he really is. What a privilege! It is also an awesome responsibility.

The call to magnify the Lord is a call to help make who he is clear and plain to those around us. It is a call to be 'telescopes' for God. As others look into our lives, we should want them to better see God for the great and awesome being he is.

Let's magnify the Lord; let's become telescopes pointed toward God for others.

The 'Moe's' of Christian Nutrition

I just received another email promotion from Moe's Southwest Grill. I first became acquainted with Moe's through our son in Atlanta who took us there for lunch one day. Now I like Tex-Mex, so it was a good place to take me. Recently Moe's opened a restaurant in the town next door to us, so I thought I'd enjoy eating there on occasion. Until I checked the nutritional information on their web site. Now I'm not slamming Moe's here, but they got scratched off the places I will dine out at that moment.

There was a time when I never knew anything about nutrition or nutritional information. Eventually that caught up with me. Maybe you can relate. I've learned that checking nutritional values is part of smart dining out. Yes, it is surprising on occasion.

Sometimes Christians suffer from very poor nutritional choices.

Of course there are those who are undernourished. A meal a month seems to be all they feel they need. Yes, that will catch up with them sometime.

But there are more Christians who seek spiritual nourishment but aren't careful about what they are consuming. They'll read just about anything, listen to all sorts of radio programs, watch Christian TV, and search the Internet for spiritual food, all with the naive view that it should all be healthy and nourishing because it's labeled Christian.

I have to tell you, there are some Moe's out there. There are some so-called Christian nourishment vendors who will do you short and long-term harm. Their food isn't healthy for you and you ought to avoid it. How can you find out? Ask your pastor. Talk to a number of different mature believers at church. Do a little checking around. Study your Bible so you become aware when someone is misusing it. Just because a person is on TV or the radio, or has written twenty books doesn't mean what he or she says is good for your spiritual health. Moe's has lots of locations, too, but that alone doesn't mean their food is good for you. You have to check.

We all need good physical nutrition. Let's be as cautious about our spiritual nutrition as we know we should be about our physical nutrition. Don't dine out at the 'Moe's' of Christian nutrition.

'Insane' Christians

No this isn't about the tragedy of mental disease, nor of the way the world sometimes views committed believers. It's about how Christians sometimes behave in ways that are simply crazy, that are spiritually insane. Let me explain.

I've been reading through Jeremiah and it is amazing to me how often Jeremiah had to repeat the same message. He did it over a period of years to various kings and to the leaders and the people, but they ignored him. Finally, as he had predicted, the armies of Babylon surrounded Jerusalem. Suddenly King Zedekiah sought Jeremiah out in private. Jeremiah gave him the same message he'd given before: surrender and your life and the city will be spared. Zedekiah hesitated. Jeremiah reminded him that what he had predicted for years, contrary to what all the popular prophets had been declaring, had come true. Jerusalem was under siege. Did the king think the rest of what he predicted would somehow not come to pass? The king departed and we later learn he refused to surrender, Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed, his family was killed, and Zedekiah was taken off into exile. Just as predicted.

Zedekiah must have thought that there were odds on whether God would keep his word, and thought he'd settle for the odds. Frankly that's insanity. It's crazy. What God promises, he will do. What he says will come to pass.

OK, what about us? Don't we as Christians sometimes do the same thing? Don't we sometimes think that doing what God says is optional, or that we'll 'beat the odds' and get away with what God has warned us not to do?

Let's get personal. Can you think of a time when God set out a clear boundary to you but you felt you could somehow get away with ignoring it? Or can you recall a time God pointed out a specific responsibility to you but you treated it as optional? Have you ever become aware of something God demands of you and then decided to take your chances that God would forget what he required?

That's crazy. It's insane. What God promises he will do. What he says will come to pass.

Jesus said,

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27, NAS)

It isn't only wise to do what God says. It is crazy not to. Let's never let ourselves be fooled and end up acting insane. Let King Zedekiah be a lesson to us.

Giving Others Power Over Us

Maybe you've done it. Certainly you've seen it happen to others. I go somewhere or am with someone and become someone different under the influence of the situation or people I am with. Instead of being 'me' I become someone else, someone not true to who I really am and want to be.

Sometimes when others treat us wrong or hurt us, we do the same thing. We change how we act toward them based not on a rational decision, but on our emotions and feelings. In a real sense we let those who've bothered us have power over us and change who we are. We probably can justify our behavior and feelings but we've still surrendered ourselves to someone else's emotional and behavioral control.

Jesus came to free us from all forms of bondage so we could be the people God wants us to be. If we aren't careful we can surrender the freedom Jesus came to give us and voluntarily put ourselves under the power of others. We have the choice. We can let others change who we are or we can be free and be who we know God wants us to be.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 (NAS)