Category: PASSION Reflections

Behold Our Providing God!

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

When we think of God’s provision, we often think of food and clothing – basic necessities, but God’s provision is far greater.  So join me, as we consider 12 ways that God provides for us, which then become 12 reasons to give thanks to God.

God Provides His Creation (Genesis 1) – God created everything around us – the snow that decorated trees in my neighborhood last week, the colorful leaves we enjoyed this Fall, the flowers that popped up last Spring, the beautiful scenery experienced on vacation.  Lakes, beaches, streams, birds, deer, squirrels, pets – so much variety all provided by God for us to enjoy.  What are some things from God’s creation that you especially enjoy for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Life Itself (Genesis 1-2) – God created us.  He gave us life. Our very existence is provided by God.  Without Him, we wouldn’t be.  And He provided us with another year of life in 2024, another year to live and love and work and rest and think and trust and obey and walk with Him.  What are some things about your life this past year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Companionship (Genesis 1-2) – God created us in His image, which means in part that He created us to be relational beings.  We see there in garden that Adam and Eve enjoyed a relationship with God, companionship with their Creator, and so can we.  We can talk to Him, and listen to Him, spend time with Him, love Him and enjoy His love for us.  And God created marriage, providing the companionship of husband and wife.  And within marriage, He gave us the ability to create more people, so that we might enjoy the companionship of more family.  And we can enjoy the companionship of friends.  We have the gift of companionship with people that we can talk to and listen to and spend time with, love and enjoy their love.  What kinds of companionship has God provided for you this year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Promises (Genesis 12) – God called Abraham and promised that his descendants would become a great nation within the Promised Land.  They would be a blessing, and one specific descendant named Jesus would bless whole world.  And those promises extend to us in ways greater than Abraham could have imagined.  In Jesus we have become a greater nation, part of kingdom of God, and one day will dwell in a greater land, the New Earth, with no sin or curse or death.  And we have received blessing upon blessing in Jesus, with the promise of many greater blessings yet to come.  What promises of God have you received, or do you look forward to receiving, for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Present Help (Genesis 37-41) – As Joseph was sold into slavery, we read that God was with Joseph to help him in his trial.  As Joseph is falsely accused and thrown into prison, we again read that God was with Joseph to help him in his trial.  What trials have you faced this year?  How has God been a present help for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Wise Purpose (Genesis 37-50, Job) – Why did Joseph have to be sold into slavery and thrown into prison?  Later Jospeh understood God’s wise purpose, that God was bringing Joseph to a place where he could save his family and many other from a famine.  God had a wise purpose for Joseph.  Or consider the story of Job.  Job never knows the purpose for his suffering, nor do we know the purpose in his suffering.  But God reminds Job and us of His greater wisdom that governs the entire universe with all of it complexity.  And if He has wisdom to do that, certainly He has the wisdom to govern our lives for our good and the good of others.  Maybe in your trials this year, you can look back and see God’s wise purpose like Joseph could.  If so, you can give thanks to God.  But maybe, like Job, you don’t understand at all.  Still God has a wise purpose in your trials; your suffering is not meaningless.  And God’s wise purpose not yet understood is something for which you can give thanks to God.

God Provides His Salvation (Exodus 1-15) – God delivered the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt with10 plagues and a miraculous parting of Red Sea.  And on that Passover Night, God delivered His people from God’s coming judgment through a slain lamb.  Even so, Jesus came as a lamb to be slain, that we might escape God’s coming judgment for our sin and rebellion and be delivered from our slavery to sin.  And that great deliverance, which is ours through Jesus, is something for which we can give thanks to God.

God Provides His Word (Exodus 19-20, I Kings 19) – Following God’s deliverance for Israel, He gave them His Ten Commandments to govern their lives for their own good, that they might live out their new freedom.  And God has given us His Word to show us how to live as those who have been freed from slavery to sin, to show us how to live as God created us to live for our own good, and good of those around us.  What commands has God impressed upon you this year for which you can give thanks to God?   Or consider Elijah in his depression, as God quietly speaks to him with words of purpose/encouragement.  And how often as we read His Word, do we find that quiet instruction that we need in our own suffering?  How often do we find words of purpose and encouragement to spur us on to press on through the trials and struggles of life?  What verse or verses has God used this year to encourage you, verses for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides Answered Prayers (I Kings 18, II Chronicles 20) – Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest.  Each would pray, and the God who answered was the true God.  Baal’s prophets prayed and prayed, but Baal didn’t hear.  Baal didn’t answer.  Then Elijah prayed to one true God, and fire fell from heaven.  God heard, and God answered.  Or consider again Jehoshaphat as a gigantic army is approaching.  Jehoshaphat prayed to God, and God heard his prayer and answered his prayer and defeated the army. So then, what answered prayers has God provided in your life this year?  Maybe you prayed for healing, and it came.  Or you prayed for safety, and it was provided.  Or you prayed for help, and it was given.  Now not every prayer is answered how we want or when we want, and often we must wait upon the Lord.  But what are some answered prayers that God has provided for you for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides His Glorious Goodness (Exodus 33-34) – Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God provides a glimpse of His glorious goodness – His grace and mercy and patience and love and faithfulness and forgiveness.  How has God shown His grace to you this year, giving you things you don’t deserve?  How has God shown His mercy to you this year, not giving you what you do deserve?  In what ways has God been slow to anger toward you?  How has He shown His love to you?  How has He been faithful?  What sins have you confessed, and He has forgiven and washed away in Christ?  What aspects of His goodness have you experienced this year for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides for Our Basic Needs (Exodus 16-17, I Kings 17) – The people of Israel are in wilderness, and they are hungry with no food.  And God provided manna for them to eat.  What was it?  Good question.  Whatever it was, God used it to daily feed them as they wandered in wilderness.  It was a daily reminder of God’s provision.  Another time, the people are thirsty, and God tells Moses to strike a rock.  Is that how you get water?  No!  But water flowed out of the rock and people drank. God provided them with water they needed.  Or consider Elijah who declares a drought – no rain for three years. God sends Elijah to a brook with water, and God sends ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat each morning and each evening.  When brook dries up, God sends Elijah to a widow with only handful of flour and a little oil.  Not a likely long-term solution, but God daily multiplies it, so that Elijah and widow and her son can eat for many days.  Behold the creative ways God provided for Israel and Elijah!  And how has God provided for your basic needs this year?  Maybe He provided in very ordinary ways as you worked or received your Social Security checks. But maybe He provided in some amazing creative ways, ways that you may have never expected as you came into this year.  Perhaps God provided an unexpected gift, or a raise, or a new job, or a new business, or new opportunities.  However God did it, He provided for your basic needs.  How has God provided for your basic needs this year, ways for which you can give thanks to God?

God Provides the Hope of Resurrection (I Kings 17) – The son of the widow Elijah is staying with dies.  Elijah cries out to God, and her son comes back to life.  This story points to another story in John 11, when Lazarus died, and Jesus came and raised Lazarus from dead.  And Jesus declared that He was the resurrection and the life.  God provides us with many things in this life – His creation, life, companionship, His promises, His present help, His wise purpose, His salvation, His Word, answered prayers, His glorious goodness, and our basic needs.  But one day it will be our time to die, and when we do, God’s provision doesn’t end.  We will dwell in glorious companionship with Him in heaven until Christ returns, and then we will rise again to dwell forever on a new earth with Lord.  This is our glorious and certain hope for which we can give thanks to God.

Behold Our Providing God! 

And give thanks to Him! 

Our Declaration

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

In the LORD I take refuge.
– Psalm 11:1a

David knows where to turn in his trial.  He turns to the LORD. 

This isn’t a prayer; it is a declaration. 

David declares what we should declare: 
In the LORD I take refuge.

What about us? 

When faced with trials, suffering, struggles, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When you have struggles with your health, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When there are struggles in your family, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When there are problems at work, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When you read or watch the news and see mess our world is in, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When you are afraid, anxious, or worried about something, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

When you are weary, exhausted, feeling overwhelmed, do you declare?
In the LORD I take refuge.

Whatever the trial, whatever the trouble that springs up in our lives, let us boldly declare with David:
In the LORD I take refuge.

His Grace Is Enough

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

My Dad made all kinds of wood art with a scroll saw. One of the first shelf sitters I remember is shown here:

He made a lot of these. The truth is found in II Cor 12 as Paul struggles with some thorn in flesh, some trial in his life. Paul begged God to take it away, but Jesus responded:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

My Dad faced some thorns, some trials in his last years, as I suppose most people do in their final years. And yet my Dad’s testimony through this simple shelf sitter is that the grace of Jesus was sufficient. His grace was enough.

A pretty big thorn pierced our hearts with the passing of my Dad. But as we cry out to God – looking to Him, trusting in Him – we too can find that His grace will be sufficient for us, that His grace is enough.

And what thorns are you facing in your life today? Jesus bids you to look to Him, to rest in His sufficient grace, to find that His grace is enough for you.

Get Me Through

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

My Dad passed away last month.  It is hard to write that.  One evening I was texting him about our big family summer get-together, the next evening he was gone. 

My wife and I headed back to my parents’ home to be with my mom, and grieve, and prepare for a funeral, and all those things. 

On Sunday we headed to church as we do every week, only this time not our home church, but my brother’s church.  We sang “The Solid Rock” – a great old hymn about our hope in Jesus.  I say we sang, but I had trouble singing, coming in and out, as the emotions raged between grief and the very real hope that is ours.  During the pastoral prayer, the pastor prayed for our family in our loss, and there real tears.  Then we sang “There Is One Gospel” – a new hymn that I knew, but had never sung in church before.  It too spoke of our hope in my grief.  Then came “O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer” – a new song too, but one I had never heard before.  No matter – it too spoke of our hope. 

The message was from Mark 4 about the Sower and the four soils.  I confess I don’t remember much about it, except that it was grounded in the Word.  After the message, we sang “I Will Glory in My Redeemer” – one of my favorite newer songs that again talked about my hope.  We celebrated the Lord’s Supper, my wife and I with my brother and his wife and a church full of people I didn’t know.  But we were all brothers and sisters in Christ celebrating the reality of Christ’s death on our behalf that gives us hope for the future.  We closed with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” – another great old hymn reminding us that in all of this, God was still faithful.

And sometime during that service, it hit me – this was what will get me through.  This weekly rhythm of singing songs about our great hope in Jesus that transcends death.  Prayer, the Word, the Lord’s Supper – all reminding us that we have a great God who has redeemed us and promised us a glorious future with Him.  This weekly rhythm rehearsing the glorious truths of our Savior. 

And it didn’t matter if it was an old hymn or a new one, a song I knew or didn’t.  All that mattered were the words speaking the gospel hope into my life. 

Some people say that church is boring, but it is anything but boring when you are wrestling with the realities of life and death, grasping for hope in the midst of tragedy.  And maybe that is our problem.  Not church, but us.  Too often we are pre-occupied with more trivial matters, distracted by things that have no eternal value.  The gospel speaks words of life, but we are too busy chasing the next thrill, the next meme, the next new something that means nothing compared to the old, old story of Jesus.

I don’t remember anything about the message that Sunday.  I don’t remember what I had for lunch that day either.  But in both cases I was fed.  And just like I need that daily rhythm of eating, I need that weekly rhythm of worship together.  To be fed, to refocus on what is important, to be reminded again and again of our hope in the Lord.  This weekly rhythm is what will get me through.

And yet, the weekly rhythm would mean nothing without the truths behind it. The rhythm would be worthless if I didn’t know that our Redeemer lives, and because He does, so shall my Dad.

The rhythm would just be wishful thinking without my Savior risen and reigning.  The rhythm points to Jesus.  And that is why the rhythm is powerful.  Because it is a means that He will use to get me through.

Let Us Ask

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. – I John 5:14-15 (ESV)

We can have confidence toward God, boldness to actively approach God.  We are God’s beloved children and so we approach Him as children approach a loving parent.

When my toddling grandson is hurt, he runs to mommy.  When he is hungry, he runs to mommy.  When he needs help, he runs to mommy.  When he is happy, he runs to mommy. 

In the same way, when we are hurting or hungry or need help or are happy, we should run to God as His children, as instinctively and automatically as my grandson runs to his mommy.

The cosmic conflict is bigger than us.  All the conflicts we see around us are bigger than us.  The conflict you face today is very likely too big for you.  But none of these conflicts are too big for God. God is bigger.  God is stronger.  We can run to Him.

We run to God with confidence – and we ask, and He hears, and we receive.  This is the equation for prayer that John gives us: We ask + He hears = We receive.  Do you believe that?  Do you have that confidence?  Do you grasp that God delights to answer your prayers, delights to give you what is good?

Now we must ask according to His will. He won’t just give us anything we ask for.  Why not?  Because He is a good Father.  If my grandson wants to play in road or play with a stick of dynamite, his daddy is going to say “no” because it is not good for him.  In the same way, we all too often don’t know what is best for us.  But our Father knows what is best for us, and so He screens our requests according to His will.  His will is not against us, but for us.  Do you believe that?  Will you trust Him?

Come to Him and make your request.  He will hear and gives us what is best. 

Enabled to Love

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
– I John 4:7-8 (ESV)

How are we able to love one another?  Do we strive to muster up the willpower on our own.  No, that will never work – at least not for long.  Rather, we must be enabled to love. 

Love is from God.  He enables us to love.  How? 

First, because He is love.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a perfect loving relationship for all of eternity.  Love is what characterizes our Triune God.  It is who He is.  And because God is love, He is the source of love.  Love comes from Him.  But how does this love come to us and enable us? 

That brings us to the second point – we have been born of God; that is, born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, connecting us to God.  The Spirit of love connects us to the God of love so that we might love.

A power outlet has power available to run an appliance, but we must plug the appliance into the outlet for the power to run the appliance.  God has all the love needed to enable us to love, but we must be plugged into God in order to love.  And we are!  And so we are without excuse.

You and I are enabled to love by the Holy Spirit living within us, connecting us to the God of love.  May we make use of His enabling.  Let us love one another.

An Equation of Love

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections1 Comment

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
– I John 3:7-8 (ESV)

John gives us a spiritual equation that teaches us about love. 

Goods + Need + Heart + Action = Love

First, I have the world’s goods; that is, the means to help someone in whatever way.  It might be money, time, a skill, or an ability.  It might also be as simple as a word of encouragement, a prayer, a listening ear, even a hug. It is whatever good is necessary to meet the need.

Which brings us to the second part of the equation – I see my brother or sister in Christ in need.  To see the need means I have contact with them, I am around them, I know them.  And so I am able to see the real need; not just symptoms, but the real need. And that may require observation.  It may require some communication.  My first impression, or what I may want to do, may not be what they need.

Third, having the goods and seeing need, I must then refuse to close my heart.  I must not shut off compassion.  I must not slam the door of empathy.  If I do, that is a failure of love. 

Not having the goods is not a failure to love.  Not seeing the need is not a failure of love (though maybe I need to be more observant).  A failure to love is when I close my heart.

Finally, if I have the goods, see the need, and have a compassionate heart, then I must do something.  My heart must lead me to act.  I must actually apply the goods to the need. 

My heart leads me to act to meet the need with the goods that God has given me.  That is real love. 

Goods + Need + Heart + Action = Love

Three Realities That Spur Us On To Reject Sin

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
– I John 3:4-5 (ESV)

In these verses John gives us three realities that spur us on to reject sin.  As we embrace these realities, they will lead us to live differently, to live for Jesus.

#1 – The Definition of Sin
Sin is lawlessness – not just breaking God’s law, but real opposition to it.  Sin is rebellion against God’s will.  When we sin, we are rebelling against God.  When we fail to love God, love our neighbor, love one another, or even love our enemies – that is rebellion against God.  When we fail to be patient or kind or good or gentle or self-controlled, that is rebellion against God.  When we hate or lust or steal or lie or covet, that is rebellion against God.  It is not a matter of indifference.  It is not just a little sin.  It is not just something that can be excused.  It is a matter of loyalty.  When we grasp what sin is, that it is rebellion against God, it will spur us on to reject sin.

#2 – The Purpose of Christ
Jesus appeared – God became one of us in person of Jesus – for a purpose.  He appeared to take away sins.  In John 1:29, John the Baptist proclaimed: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  Jesus came to take away sins.  In I Peter 2:24 we read: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  Jesus bore our sins to make payment for them, that we might then stop sinning and live for righteousness.  Instead of practicing rebellion, practice righteousness.  Instead of doing what is wrong, do what is righteous.  Jesus died to take away the penalty and power of sin that we might live for Him.  So when we sin, we oppose His purpose. We oppose the very reason that He died.  When we grasp the purpose of Christ – to take away sin, it will spur us on to reject sin.

#3 – The Victory of Christ
Jesus did what no one else has done.  He overcame sin.  He was victorious over it.  In Him there is no sin – not even a trace, not the slightest infraction, no questionable behavior at all.  He was completely and totally victorious over sin. Just a few verses earlier (v2), John tells us that one day we will be like Him, that we too will be victorious.  When Christ returns, we will never sin again.  And in verse 3 he tells us that everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.  If our hope is one day to be sinless like Jesus is. then we will seek to be as sinless as possible today.  When we grasp the victory of Christ – which we look forward to enjoying with Him one day, it will spur us on to reject sin.

Sin is rebellion.  Jesus came to take it away.  One day we will be free of it.  And the more we grasp these realities, the more they will spur us on to reject sin.  Jesus has made us new.  We don’t want to rebel against God.  We don’t want to oppose His purpose.  We don’t want to do that which we long to be free of.  May we keep these realities and related desires front and center in our minds and hearts, so that we might overcome any other desire that may tempt us to sin.

Out of This World Love

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
– I John 3:1a

See!  Behold!  Open your eyes!  Take notice!  

God has done something amazing! 

What is it?  He has given us an amazing gift!

The Father has given His love to us.  Bestowed His love on us.  Lavished His love upon us.

It is not a skimpy love.  It is not a Scroogey love.

See what kind of love.  “What kind” has idea of “what country?”  If someone does something strange or unexpected we might ask: “What country are you from?”

What in the world?

John says: “Of what country did this love come from?”  It is foreign to what we would think. 

What in the world kind of love is this?

That God would lavish His love upon us by calling us His children?

That we – rebels/sinners – might bear His name?

That He would claim us as His own?

This love is out of this world! 

And yet, He doesn’t just call us His children; we are His children.  That is what we are.  God has made us His children.  We have been adopted by God Himself into His family.

Open your eyes! God has showered an out of this world love upon us that calls and makes us His children.

Love Like Jesus

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
– John 13:34-35

These verses call us to love like Jesus.

Notice it is a command.  It is not a suggestion for when we feel like it.  We must love one another.  Churches must be places of love for each other.

And it is a new command primarily because it has a new pattern.  We are to love like Jesus.  Go through the entire Old Testament, look at saint after saint, and you will not find a perfect example of love.  But in Jesus, we have that perfect example.  Love like Jesus.

How did Jesus love?  In the context, we could say at least three things.

First, Jesus loved by serving.  At the beginning of John 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.  Here was a real need, for their feet were dirty and smelly from walking the dusty roads. 

Love like Jesus.  Serve each other by meeting real needs.  That service might be dirty and messy.  It might be hard.  It might be unpleasant.  Love like Jesus.  What opportunities to serve do you see in your church family?  How might God call you to serve?  In what ways are you already serving?  Love like Jesus – by serving.

Second, Jesus loved by speaking.  You look through John 13-17, and in most of these verses Jesus is speaking. He is going away, and Jesus knows the disciples need instruction.  They need encouragement.  They need prayer.  And so Jesus lovingly speaks words of instruction, words of encouragement, and words of prayer. 

Love like Jesus.  Speak words of instruction – to spur on another Christian to follow Jesus.  Speak words of encouragement – to strengthen another Christian when life is tough.  Speak words of prayer on each other’s behalf – for strength in trial, for growth, for healing, for safety, for victory over temptation.  What words of instruction, encouragement, or prayer do you need to speak?  Love like Jesus – by speaking.

Finally, Jesus loved by sacrificing.  Immediately after that Last Supper, Jesus is arrested, falsely accused, flogged, ridiculed, and hung on cross.  Why does he endure all of this?  Jesus had already told the disciples: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).  Love motivated His sacrifice.  Jesus lovingly sacrificed his life for us, to pay punishment for our sins. He sacrificed Himself so that we might be forgiven. 

Love like Jesus.  Be ready to sacrifice for each other.  How might God call you to sacrifice for your church family?  Maybe your time or some money.  Maybe you will have to sacrifice your comfort or convenience, even sleep.  Love like Jesus – by sacrificing.

And this is how the world will know that we are His disciples – as we obey this command and love like Jesus.  When the world looks at the church, they should see a place of love, a people of love.  A people who genuinely care about each other.  A people who lovingly serve and speak and sacrifice.  This is who Jesus calls us to be.  This is what we are to be known for. 

Love like Jesus