Appetite

We as humans are physical beings, at least in part.  Even those of us who have been reborn “of water and the Spirit are still cocooned in this physical body.  As such, we are naturally driven by our appetites and desires.  We eat when we are hungry.  We sleep when we are tired.  God designed us this way, and like all of creation, it was good.

We sometimes tend to focus primarily on the spiritual matters of our Christianity, until toward the end of the sermon when our stomach starts to growl.  Temptations dwell in the physical realm.   We are tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed by our flesh.

Sin has distorted our appetites.  Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, she desired it in her heart, and succumbed to the disobedience.  Thus, our appetites are altered, waging war in our members.  We lust and do not have.  We murder and covet to obtain.  We are enslaved to the serpent through the desires of our body and mind.

But man does not live by bread alone.  We are not defined by what we want.  We have been set free from sin, and given the ability to desire righteousness in Christ Jesus.  We mustn’t fear our appetites.  Instead we must embrace them, and let them be a constant reminder to seek the Living Water and the Bread of Life, the spiritual provision found in a relationship with God.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    For they shall be filled.

Be Blessed In What You Do

James 1:21-25

Step 1:  Rid yourself of all moral filth and evil.  Put off the sin that distracts and entangles (Hebrews 12:1), and sow to the Spirit and not the flesh (Galatians 6:7-8)

Step 2: Receive the implanted word.  God’s word is transforming (Romans 12:2), gives wisdom (2 Timothy 3:15) and is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

Step 3: Do.  Do not be a mere hearer of the Gospel, be a doer of the Gospel.  We were created in Christ to do (Ephesians 2:10), and faith unaccompanied by works is dead (James 2:17)

Step 4:  Be blessed in what you do!  To sum up, do what Scripture instructs and God will give His blessings.

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Happy Earth Day!

 Psalm 8

1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

² Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
³ When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
⁴ What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
⁵ For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
⁶ Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
⁷ All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
⁸ The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
⁹ O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Jesus Wept

As a young teenager, I remember my Sunday school teacher encouraging us to memorize a Bible verse.  Being the smart-alec I was, I chose John 11:35, which happened to be the shortest verse in the English Bible.

It wasn’t until recently in my adult life that the magnitude of this verse struck me.

The story begins with Jesus and His disciples receiving the news that their friend Lazarus was gravely ill.  Jesus tarries for two days before traveling to Bethany and by that time Lazarus had died, and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were mourning.  When Mary was told that Jesus was near, she went out to meet Him, and fell at His feet in tears.  Jesus was “deeply moved” and “greatly troubles”.  He inquired where they had laid his body, and Mary showed Him.  Then something peculiarly amazing occurred.

Jesus wept.

The all-knowing, all-mighty, all-holy, Jehovah incarnate was overcome with grief and shed tears.  Why is this peculiar?  Jesus knew Lazarus’ death was temporary.  He was not surprised when Lazarus walked out of his tomb nine verses later.  He knew that Lazarus’ death was for the glory of God.  He knew Lazarus would live again.

And furthermore, Christ knew of the impending victory over death and the grave through His own death and resurrection.  The plan of redemption was no mystery, Christ knew the path to the cross.  He knew that His temple would be destroyed and that He would raise it up again after three days.  For Christ, being raised from the dead, is never to die again, and so death no longer has dominion over Him.

Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, swallowed up death in victory.  And not only this, but He has shared the victory with us who believe.  In so much that, even though we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Him.  Thanks be to God that He gives us the victory over sin and death!  Through Him we are more than conquerors.

Jesus was aware that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  Christ knew that He was in fact the way, truth, and life; and that anyone who believes in Him would inherit eternal life.

O death, where is your victory!?  Where is your sting!?

And yet, Jesus wept.

Jesus loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha.  In His humanity He empathized with thier pain, He was acquainted with their sorrow.

The death of a believer is an intersection where joy and sorrow collide.  Joy in the hope of the resurrection and eternal life in and with Christ Jesus.  Sorrow because our loved on will be missed.  The blessing that was their existence in this harsh world has been taken away.  The pain of separation, though temporal as it may be, is acute. We grieve, however, not as those who do not have hope, for we know that Christ will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

So with tears of hope and grieving, we celebrate life, both in this world and in Heaven.