Tag: Christianity

Purpose in Trials

On By BrianIn PASSION ReflectionsLeave a comment

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
(James 1:2-4, ESV)

Notice that there is a purpose in our trials.  Our trials are a testing of our faith.  Not to see if we have faith, but to test our very real faith.  The word has the idea of refining or purifying.  You put metal in a fire to melt it down and drain off impurities.  In the same way, our times in the fire are designed by God to refine and purify our faith. 

And this testing produces steadfastness or endurance.  You are more able to endure the same trial today than before because it has developed in you this steadfastness.  It is like lifting weights – you can endure more repetitions and more weight as your muscles are developed.  And you can endure more trials and harder trials as your faith is developed and strengthened.  You are gaining the ability to faithfully endure, to remain steadfast.

And this steadfastness then must have its full effect.  It must keep developing so that you might be perfect or mature – mature in this life, and perfect in the life to come.  So that one day you will be complete, lacking in nothing.

Your trials exist to help you grow in your faith and steadfastness to make you mature in Christ.  There is a purpose in your trials.

So rejoice expectantly.  Rejoice when you have trials because you know that it brings maturity.  We rejoice not in the trial but in the purpose.  We rejoice in expectation that our suffering is for our ultimate good.  Which means that we might at same time be weeping, struggling, crying out to God, and lamenting before Him.  We are not denying the hardship and all sorrow and struggle of our trials, we are just remembering the purpose.  So even as we wrestle, we can rejoice expectantly.

A Servant

On By BrianIn PASSION ReflectionsLeave a comment

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
(James 1:1, ESV)

Notice James’ self-description: “A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  That is his self-description.

Now that is not how I would do it.  If I was James, I would open it this way: “James, a brother of Jesus.”  Let me just remind you of how close I am to Him.  Recall my intimate connection to Him – we are brothers, you know. 

Wouldn’t you be tempted to play the brother card? 

That is how our world operates.  We try to impress each other with our connections – I know so and so, look at me!

James, a servant of God – just a servant.  And of the Lord Jesus Christ – not my brother but my Lord!  He is the master; I am just a servant.  He is the Christ, the promised King; I am just his servant.  I am a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is that your self-description?   Is that how you see yourself?  Would you introduce yourself that way?  Hi, I am a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As His servant then, let’s humbly serve him.  It’s not about you or me; it’s all about Him.  It’s not about what we want, but about what He wants.  It’s not about our amazing ideas, but about His truly wise plans. 

So let’s join James and humbly serve the Lord.  Serve Him in our homes.  Serve Him in our church.  Serve Him in our community.  Serve Him with our time and money.  Serve Him with our words and actions.  Serve Him even in our suffering.  Serve Him with whatever strength God gives us. 

We are servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So let’s humbly serve Him with all of our lives.

Cling to His Crucial Assurance

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
(Matthew 28:20b, ESV)

The Exciting Assurance

Jesus is with us always!  All the time.  All the days.  The whole of every day.  He is with us in the good days and the bad days and the so-so days.  He is with us in the trials and the blessings.  He is with us all the time and everywhere.  Jesus is always with us.

Which means, by the way, that Jesus is God.  No one else can be omnipresent.  No one else could be everywhere, with each of us all the time.  Jesus, fully God and fully man, is with us always.

And He is with us to the end of age, or the consummation of the age.  He is with us until He returns and brings forth the glorious new heaven and earth.  Until that exciting day we have this exciting assurance that Jesus is with us always.

The Encouraging Assurance

No matter what we face in life, Jesus is always with us.

No matter what we face as we carry out the Great Commission, the One with all authority is always with us.

We don’t have to face life alone, and we don’t do the Great Commission alone.  Jesus is always with us.

Be encouraged that Jesus is with you this week in your trials and struggles, at work, at home, and on road.

Be encouraged that Jesus is with you as you go and talk about Jesus, as you point people to Jesus, as you seek to obey Him.

He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He is always with you, always right there with you – be encouraged!

Cling to Your Hope

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  (Acts 1:10-11, ESV)

Will comes as you saw Him go.  Our hope in the flooding that Michigan just experienced was that the water would eventually go down.  The disciples’ hope and our ultimate hope is that Jesus will come as they saw Him go – that Jesus will return.  For now, we have to deal with floods – of water and tears and trials and suffering and pain and heartache, but our hope is that Jesus will come as they saw Him go.

Longing for Him.  The disciples were gazing into heaven, looking into heaven – in amazement, for sure!  But I think also in longing already for His return.  Here was a sad goodbye.  They wouldn’t see Him again in this life.  Are you longing for His return?  Are you longing to see Jesus, your Savior who loves you so much that He died for you?  Does the thought of His return and seeing Him fill you with excitement?  Does the final prayer of the Bible: “Even so, come Lord Jesus!” flow from your heart? Are you longing for Him?

To bring the final kingdom.  When Jesus comes, our hope of the final kingdom will be realized.  As we read in Revelation 21-22, there will be a new heaven and earth.  And there will be a New Jerusalem – a city and a people, God’s people.  God will dwell with us forever.  There will be no more tears or death or pain.  He will make all things new.  It will be a place of unimaginable beauty, ablaze with glory of God.  And nothing unclean or evil or sinful will ever enter it.  The water of life will flow in it.  The tree of life will bring healing.  We will see Jesus and worship Him and reign with Him. 

In the flood of struggles and sorrows, cling to your hope – as Jesus ascended so He will come again.  Our longing to see Him will be satisfied, and we will dwell in His glorious kingdom forever.  Cling to your hope.

Invest in Your Grandchildren’s Spiritual Welfare

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

There is a great need to instruct the next generation about the Lord – to teach them about Jesus. 

You want your grandchildren to grow up and know the Lord.  You want them to repent and believe and be saved and follow Him.  And so you must invest in this.

As you have opportunity, teach the gospel in your home to your grandchildren.  Read them a Bible story.  Tell them about Jesus.  Share your testimony.  Tell them what Jesus means to you.

Point them to Jesus in the way you live, as you exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit in your life.  As you walk with hope in a world of despair.  As you walk with joy in a depressed world.  As you walk with peace in a world of anxiety.  As you walk with love in a world filled with hate.  They will notice the difference in you.  Follow the Spirit and point your grandchildren to Jesus.

And pray for them to come to Christ.  Plead with Father for their salvation.  Intercede for them before the Throne of God.

Invest in your grandchildren’s spiritual welfare.

Spring!

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

Spring is here!  Temperatures are rising.  The sun is shining. Trees are budding.  Flowers are blooming.  New life is popping out everywhere after a long, cold, lonely, weary winter.

And Jesus came to offer us our own personal Spring, to give us new life in Him.

After a weary winter of personal sin and guilt, Jesus offers us a new life with all of our sins and guilt washed away.

After a lonely winter separated from God, Jesus offers us a new life with a loving relationship with Himself.

After a cold winter of cold hearts towards Him and others, Jesus offers us a new life with warm and loving hearts towards Him and others.

After a long winter of suffering and trials, Jesus will one day offer us a new life with no more suffering, no more death, no more tears.  He will make all things new!  Spring will be eternal!

As Spring appears all around us, may we remember and rejoice in the Spring Jesus came to give us.

Follow Jesus

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

What would that look like for us to follow Jesus?

First, we must trust Him. You won’t get on a plane unless you trust the pilot, and you won’t follow Jesus unless you trust Him. Trust that He is your God and King, who died on a cross in your place to bear your sin to be your Savior. So that with your sin and guilt removed, you can go free, and you can draw near to God. Do you trust Him? That is the response that He calls you to make – trust Him as your Savior, King, and God that you might then follow Him.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Matthew 16:24, ESV)

Second, we must deny ourselves. If He is our God and King, then we must give Him our allegiance and follow Him even when we don’t want to, even when we don’t feel like it. Because we are not in charge. He is. Because we are not the king. He is. And so we obey. If He is our Savior who died to pay for our sins, then we must deny ourselves when we want to sin. We must deny sinful desires. How could we continue to do those things that put Him on cross to die? We don’t follow our hearts; we follow Jesus no matter what He calls us to do, even suffer like Him. For we must deny ourselves and take up our cross, willing to suffer for Him as we follow Him.

Third, we must serve Him. We deny self that we might serve Him. Now, how do we do that today? Jesus tells us in Mathew 25. In the Parable of the Talents, the Master gives each servant some money. Two invest it and are praised. One buries it and is condemned. The point is clear: use what God has given you for Jesus. Use the money God has given you for Jesus. Use the time God has given you for Jesus. Use the talents God has given you for Jesus. In all things serve Him.

Follow Him by trusting in Him, denying yourself, and serving Him with all you have.

The Church’s Foundation

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(Ephesians 2:19-21, ESV)

The apostles and New Testament prophets are the foundation of church. They were led by the Holy Spirit to communicate the New Testament truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now the church is being built on that foundation. We don’t need apostles or prophets anymore. The foundational work has already been done. The church is being built on the truth of the gospel recorded for us in the New Testament.

So when Paul writes to Timothy, he spends 10 chapters in two books hammering home again and again the priority of teaching and preaching God’s given Word. This is what we need. This is how the church grows.

So we must prioritize the Bible. It is through the public teaching and preaching of God’s Word, as well as personal exhortation and encouragement from the Word, as well as personal study and meditation in the Word that the church is built up.

The Bible is the measure by which we must evaluate every practice in our church and in our lives, and so we must prioritize the Bible in our church and in our lives.

The Bible’s message of the gospel is the foundation of the church. Take up and read!