Thoughts on Scripture

Reflections From the Garden

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.   Galatians 6:9

It is spring, and my husband and I have started working on our garden. We’ve hacked down the weeds from last year, battled the encroaching bamboo, laid some mulch, and sown a few seeds. For our own sanity, we are trying to keep it simple this year, sowing mostly vines and low-maintenance plants.

As I looked today over the neat, very manageable-looking little rows, I was visited by the Ghost of Gardens Past. This specter reminded me that every spring, when the world is newly green and the temperatures are mostly pleasant, we have started a garden with neat, manageable-looking rows and high hopes of summer veggies to come.

Now granted, the first couple of gardens when the kids were small went well. They were happy to be home and so was I, and much of my garden work was done in the pleasant early mornings or late evenings. On those first couple of years, we did enjoy excellent yields.

However, the kids grew and our summers became busier. We acquired first one dog, then two, and when they were young, these much-loved beasties required a brisk walk in the early hours to prevent mischief throughout the day. As my garden hours diminished, the weeds took advantage and launched the first stage of a hostile take-over.

Then came first one April, then two, then more during which we began with neat, manageable-looking rows only to have a trip to visit family come up in late May or early June. The weeds reclaimed a larger portion of territory with each successive trip, and they brought in insectile and larval mercenaries to aid them in their coup.

Each summer, I would dutifully wade into battle, swinging my hoe in a determined attempt to recover the neat, orderly rows I had lost. I squashed bugs by the hundreds and scraped eggs off leaves, but always more came. It was as if some monstrous green and winged hydra had replaced the once timid weeds and small garden pests, mocking my puny, human strength.

Then, without fail, the Tennessee temperatures climb into the 90s with a heat-index of twenty-two million, and I turn my back in retreat to the gleeful amusement of the whole leafy, viney, buzzing horde.

Yet, even knowing all this I find myself here again with a hopeful heart, looking down on the neat, manageable-looking rows and plucking the baby weeds that will doubtlessly soon morph into a vast and teeming legion.

It is so easy to become discouraged. When the bitter taste of defeat is still on your tongue, the desire to give it all up is powerful. When door after door is closed and your knuckles are raw with knocking, when you sow and labor only to reap a puny handful; when there seems no end to pain and suffering for those you love; when you find yourself weary in body, mind, and spirit and yet the course you run stretches on indefinitely, the temptation to quit nearly overwhelms.

But I think I know why I come back year after year with my handful of seeds and my determination that this year will be different. I think, maybe, it is because that garden is a living metaphor for my life. Much of what I am doing now feels like wasted energy and in many ways I feel the oppressive heat of my annual summer defeat waging war on my resolve.

But I will not give up, no matter how badly I want to, because I am not running this race for me. I am running it for my God, who says that He is enough. What’s more, He has endured all these things and more. Indeed, as a man, Jesus experienced all the pain, fatigue, joy, and sorrow that human beings face. He was tempted in all ways, and almost certainly the lure of forsaking His mission of suffering for ungrateful mankind was among them.

Yet He did not quit. And out of gratitude and for love of Him, neither will I.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. . .

…For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees… Hebrews 12:3-4, 11-12

Daddy Can

~ Heather Davis ~ 3 Comments

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:31

Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending a few hours with two sweet young ladies, ages one and three. It has been a while since my kids were that age, and I found it delightful to go through the nap time, the fascination with all the big, wide world, and even the inevitable but short-lived teary sessions when big sister got a little too intense for little sister.

During our time together, the oldest one frequently told me such things as, “My daddy can build anything!”

When the littlest was carrying around a piece broken off from a yard toy, big sister had no doubts. “My daddy will fix it.”

When we found two sky-blue bird eggs in the grass, she said, “My daddy will put them back.”

Underlying all of these statements was a confident and blissful certainty that whatever might be wrong with the world, Daddy could handle it. All at once, I was convicted by the very sweetness and simplicity of her trust. For I know her daddy, and while he is an excellent Christian man, husband, and father, there are broken things in this world that are far beyond his power to set straight.

But that is not the case with my Heavenly Father.

The last few months of my life have been marked by oddity. There are tasks I have done for years that I felt called to stop for a time, though I can’t say how long which is troublesome to a planner like me.

More than one exercise I was certain God was calling me to perform has ended with anticlimactic and depressingly fruitless-seeming results. Chronic migraine has awakened again after two years of relative dormancy, and each time I believe we have hit on an answer, it charges back in to prove me wrong.

What’s more, I am facing a strong possibility that my oldest two may go to private school next year; a tremendous change from the last several years of home schooling and thus a great and gaping unknown. This, perhaps more than anything else, has left me feeling emotionally torn as if I’ve been fired from the job I’ve poured everything into.

Beyond my family, the world is going crazy. This years’ presidential hopefuls leave me feeling dismal in my most positive moods, and so many of my fellow Americans seem to have separated church and state in their hearts so entirely that we no longer expect politicians to be moral or good or anything, really, but corrupt.

Perhaps resigned to some idea that corruption is “inevitable” within government, we have allowed it by repeatedly voting it into place.

Then there is the rise of militant branches of Islam, the frightening slide towards moral insanity, the tensions between “races” (which, frankly,  I cannot understand because while I see different skin tones and cultures, I see only one human race populating this earth)… and on, and on, and on.

I have allowed myself to get caught up in fear of the unknown, perhaps even a belief that any of these things are mine to handle. My fear of personal failure has caused my heart to forget that just because God calls me to do something does not mean it will appear successful by the world’s–or indeed even by my own–standards. The rise of darkness, ignorance, unconcern, rudeness, and a general public short attention span that reminds me startlingly of the world described in George Orwell’s 1984 have all crowded into my mind.

In short, I have fallen into the sin of unbelief. I have, to my shame, once again worried about what I will do, forgetting that no matter how large the problem or how shattered the component, my Daddy truly can take care of it. I cannot do it and there is much out of my control, but there is nothing out of His control or beyond the scope of His power.

I do not need to fear the unknown, for it is not unknown to my Father. I only need to follow Him, obediently, humbly, and cheerfully certain that He will accomplish His perfect plan no matter how far-fetched or round-about it may seem to me. I need the guileless, frank, honest, and complete trust of a well-loved child, for such I am.

Father, forgive my lack of faith and help me to trust in You, not just logically, but with my whole heart and with every atom of my being. Remind me that You have not called upon me to know the future nor to understand it, but to believe on You and follow You. Humble me as a child who knows she can do little, but her Father can do all things, amen.  

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Luke 18:17

Overwhelmed

~ Heather Davis ~ 1 Comment

And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
Genesis 32:9-10

Reading through the Old Testament as a new Christian, I remember being overwhelmed by sheer frequency of  slaughter documented in its pages. I knew then that God is good and that His purposes are just, but in those early years I really struggled with the annihilation of peoples and nations that are recounted in the Book.

In more recent years, God has brought me to an even more acute understanding of my sin and His sovereignty than ever before — and that’s saying quite a lot. I can see, quite painfully, how sin still taints my choices, my thoughts, even my understanding of God’s will and my service to Him.  Perhaps because of this or for some other reason, now when I read through the Old Testament it isn’t the wrath of God that is overwhelming; it is His mercy.

As I consider the ancient accounts of deceit and trickery, of faithlessness and arrogance, of unabashed defiance against the Creator, of murder, rape, and incest, I find myself wondering why He would choose to have mercy on any nation or on any single person at all. To be honest, it astonishes me that He did not simply scrap the whole business of humanity entirely and move on.

Reading of the spiritual failures and successes of the forefathers of the faith, I see echoes of my own, wandering heart. I, too, have been pompous and full of pride. At one time in my life, I openly defied the very One who breathed life into me, refusing to believe He even existed.  The life I had before I met my Savior was one of immorality that frankly disgusts me now. If I were my own Creator, I do not think I could have mustered any mercy for one who offered so little to love as I did.

And yet, He did have mercy on me. Though, like Jacob, I did not acknowledge Him in my early years; though, like Abraham, I sometimes act in faith and sometimes in fear; though I try to “help” Him accomplish His promises as Abraham and Sarah did; though I have wrestled with Him until I have nothing left but to cling to Him, He had had mercy and spared me the wrath I deserve. More wondrous yet, He also repaid all my unbelief and stubbornness with grace, bringing me to know His Son, Jesus, whose obedience and sacrifice has paid in full the tremendous debt of my sin and offered me eternal life.

In His grace, as with Joseph, all the pain and hardship I have suffered, God has used for His good purposes. Because of this, I know that present and future suffering will be used for His glory just the same. This sure knowledge gives me comfort and hope when afflictions loom.

Oh, how I love my Lord and His word! I delight in my days with Him –communing in prayer and by reading His word and meditating on it –simply because I am overwhelmed by His steadfast love and faithfulness!

On Tents

~ Heather Davis ~ 2 Comments

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:4

Camping in Minnesota at the end of November is no joke. Before  you find yourself overly impressed by our cold tolerance, however, I should disclose that it wasn’t really all that cold (for Minnesota, that is — the low temps were still in the double digits), and that we were actually in a very warm and snug camper right in the back yard of some family members.

Still, midnight trips to the necessary through a breezy Minnesota November were less than fun. But there was family, laughter, and love, and there were mornings of quiet beauty as the sun rose scattering pink and gold splashes over the frost-covered fields.

And it did get me thinking…

For most of my life, camping has been a recreational activity enjoyed both when I was young and now with my own husband and children. We have typically camped in nice weather, though once or twice we have had the opportunity of finding out what the freezing point feels like in a tent. However, by and large our camping trips have been only for pleasure.

Except for one, that is.

In the weeks since our trip, I have been reflecting on the nuances of our bodies as tents — temporary dwellings in which we reside on the long journey towards our true home.  In that sense, this tent of mine is more akin to one of military use than the ones our family has used for enjoyment. After all, we who are in Christ are camping, as C. S. Lewis puts it, in “enemy-occupied territory.”

Living in tents behind enemy lines means that there will be times of hardship and difficulty. There will be unpleasantness, conflict, and lack of sleep. Comforts may be minimal or non-existent. At times we may even find ourselves alone or in the midst of enemy troops, far from the support of our fellow soldiers and friends.

At such times, we take comfort that this is not our home; that the tent we shelter within is just that: a tent. It is a temporary and portable shelter and it is not meant to be lived in forever.

For those of us who have been living in these tents for some four decades or more, we may occasionally be dismayed at the condition of our canvas. It may be creased with much use, weather-stained, patched, and may appear increasingly shabby.

No matter — we do our best to maintain it still. However, we can patch and scrub with some joy knowing that the time will come when we lay the tired, old things aside and take residence in our permanent home.

Still, despite the inevitable battles and skirmishes that rage around us while living in the enemy’s country, we can find enjoyment during our stay in these tents.  While we are here, we take a moment to savor the sunrise, to linger over the sight of a single butterfly or the sound of birdsong, to find quiet reminders of the Savior’s love amidst the tumult, to enjoy the company of those who are stationed with us at various points of our mission.

And always, always, we stand firm, enduring the hardship and giving thanks for the wonders of His grace, knowing that our time in this tent is ultimately short.  One day, perhaps sooner than we know, we will be called off the battlefields to our eternal home.  Then, O glorious future day! Then, we will be clothed with life!

Lord, teach us to be steadfast, believing and living in Your promises. Let us not grow weary of doing good; rather we ask that You will help us to persevere, walking faithfully in Your ways and living for Your purposes. Help us, then, to walk wisely during our sojourning here, making the best use of time because the days are evil. If we suffer, remind us that we are sharing in suffering as a good soldier of Christ. May we live and love in His name, amen. 

A Small Glimpse of Glory

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.   — Psalm 19:1

A typical night: I went to let the dogs out before I headed off to bed. However, the night sky caught me and drew me in. I could see so many stars. I even think I may have, for the second time this month, seen a faint trail that could have been the Milky Way.

I was overwhelmed by thoughts. . . Far too much to put down all at once. Yet two I want to share:

First, that the Creator of all this splendor and all the vast array of the heavens would entrust such a faulty and unreliable vessel as I am to do His work! It makes me long to be more worthy, to be less wayward, and to be more fixed on Him. To  be loved by such as Him makes me want to be more lovable.

Oh, how I do love Him! If moments like this are just “seeing in a mirror, dimly,” I am not sure I can handle the real thing. But I want it; I want to see even more of His glory, even if I cannot survive it.

Beyond that, I was stricken with the thought that our enemy often masquerades as an angel of light.  More specifically, He counterfeits every single attribute of the Almighty; and he is subtle and he is wily.

The Eternal One and His Son are both called the Light in various places throughout the Scriptures — the Light of the World, a Light to the Gentiles, and so on. Yet what is it that masks the glory of God proclaimed in the heavens above? Light pollution.

Call me crazy — you wouldn’t be the first — but before you do, allow me to say that I do not believe all technology is evil or any such nonsense.

Yet I cannot help but think that our enemy tries to use every benign thing to cloak the glory of God. Even our artificial lights.  Maybe especially light, because it gives him that same grim satisfaction bullies get when they can use the good kid’s own goodness against him.

However, the heavens still proclaim the glory of God and they will go on proclaiming it even if no one can see it. His glory is beyond the enemy’s power to corrupt; it is beyond any power to destroy. There is no counterfeit of the enemy that can cover or contain the one true Light of the World.  He may have been able to dim the stars for a time, but he has not yet found a way to darken the sun.

And the Sun of Righteousness is oh, so much stronger and brighter than that little ball of blazing gas.

I don’t know what it is, exactly, but tonight in one brief, electricity-blurred, and mosquito-harried examination of the nighttime masterpiece, I was overcome by how truly great is our God.  He is truly Sovereign over all and I put all my trust in Him.

As the old hymn by Louisa M. R. Stead says, “Oh, for grace to trust Him more!”

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”   John 16:33

Loving the Truth

~ Heather Davis ~ 3 Comments

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

Today I give my final (for now) thoughts on truth. As an aside: I recently finished a  Bible study by Beth Moore entitled Children of the Day.  It is an excellent guide through the two letters to the church in Thessalonica, and before I continue I would like to wholeheartedly recommend it.

During the course of studying and copying the two letters by hand, I spent much time thinking about the coming Day of the Lord. The whole process refreshed me and gave me new perspective during a season of discouragement and even doubt in my minuscule ministry. It also left the last eleven words of 2 Thessalonians 2:10 ringing in my head.

I had honestly never noticed those words before. Perhaps it is because the phrase about love rejoicing with the truth was already lingering in my thoughts, but when I read this section of 2 Thessalonians, the thought of those who refuse to love the truth hit me hard.

I have already been feeling sorrow over the many who do not know the truth and live without hope or with false hope. Ignorance, however, can be remedied.  It was truly gut-wrenching to me to think about the people who do know the truth and yet refuse to love it. It tears me up inside that many men and women will see clear evidence of the truth and yet, with great hostility, reject it.

What was humbling to me about this is that I may never know the difference.  Some who appear to reject truth (like my old self) will eventually come to know it, love it, and even live for it. Others may grow colder and harder the more exposure to truth they have, willfully closing their eyes to the evidence and their hearts to the One who is Love.  Some may even pretend to embrace truth while their hearts are far from the Lord, neither truly believing nor loving the truth. I grieve for all of these.

Perhaps it is because my teenage son is taking a course in apologetics this year, or perhaps it is just the inundation of misunderstanding, moral confusion, and outright lies that I find my social media pages awash in, but I am finding a greater passion within me to not only know the truth, but to live like I know it. I also find it exciting to think of sharing the truth with whoever will listen… and maybe even with some who don’t really want to listen but are, for whatever reason, a captive audience.

The more I learn about God’s truth and the more I see the world drifting haphazardly without a tether to Him, the more passionate I become about sharing. I have lately prayed more desperately that the Light of the World would shine so brightly in my life that others may see and be drawn to God. More than ever before, I want Him to increase and myself to decrease in my writing, my parenting, and every other aspect of my life.

Yet it is humbling to realize that even if I surrender perfectly and lead a Spirit-led life from now until my last breath,  and even if my tiny ministry inexplicably grew to touch millions, there will always be those who will refuse to love the truth.  I can plant the seeds, I can water, but only God can bring the increase.

And so, no matter what else, I am asking Him to bring the increase. I am asking Him to revive the hearts of His people and to pour out His Spirit in abundance. I am pleading with Him to renew His works in our day.  I am asking that I may love His truth more and more, that my family will cherish His truth and His ways, and that His word will speed ahead and be honored.

And I am praying for you, that if you read these words, you will be among those who love the truth and so will be saved.

I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. . .   Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalms 119:94-97

What is the Truth?

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32

More on truth. . .  I told you, I have had truth on the brain lately! We’ve already talked about one link between love and truth and how love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

But what is the truth? I don’t have enough space here to explain how I came to believe that the Bible is true nor to give credit to all the evidence as I have had it explained to me over the years. If you want some depth, there are many good books on the topic including I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek.

For today, I will simply state that I believe the Bible to be true on good evidence. I believe there is an actual, Creator God who made all that we can see, taste, touch, and understand, and I believe in His ability to radically transform a life based on my personal experience. I also believe that man has an immortal soul that will exist after the death of the body, and so Eternity of greater importance than the transient life of the body.  The eternal impact of our choices in this life are grave.

Because God created everything, it is His definition of wrong and right — His decisions on morality — that constitutes moral truth and provides the standard for right and wrong.  By experience and observation alone, I can see the truth that mankind is sinful.  Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We are, all of us, selfish and self-centered. While we may have moments of charity and compassion, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, even those moments are frequently tainted by self-righteousness or motivated by personal satisfaction rather than selflessness. We have all lied. We are all imperfect. Originally created in the image of God, we have without exception allowed sin to twist and distort that image.

All but Jesus, that is.

The ultimate embodiment of Truth was in the person of Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He came to live as a man without sin, unreservedly given over to the will of the Father. As a Man, He alone retained the unspoiled Image of God, living out a loving and total trust in the Father’s will.  In His first appearing, He came not to conquer and rule as is His right, but to suffer and die for the sake of a people who had repeatedly rejected Him and who repeatedly still do. He came to drink the full cup of God’s wrath and spare each one of us that horror if we will accept His way.

He died for the truth of a holy God who loves all the men He created and yet cannot be defiled by their sin. Jesus died to bridge the gap; the only unstained Image Bearer who willingly gave Himself as ransom for all who are corrupt so that, through Him, we may all come before the Almighty.

It is only by faith in Jesus that anyone can be saved. This faith, if it is real faith, invariably involves an understanding of and recognition of sin that is very personal and leads to contrition and repentance. Genuine repentance brings about surrender to the Lord and His will. Only by this process of “putting on Christ” which is compared to changing garments (Eph. 4:22-24) and to dying to sin (Romans 6) can we enter the presence of the One whose name is Holy; the Creator God.

In Christ alone, we are set free from a hopeless bondage to sin and death and given instead a hope of eternal life lived in the glorious presence of the Almighty. In Christ, we are restored; the image of God in us is renewed. What grace and mercy! I am humbled by the enormity of it and intensely grateful for the grace of a God who could merely destroy His rebellious creation and yet chooses to rescue and redeem.  How can I not love this truth?

But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.
Psalms 119:151

Love and Truth

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:6

I have had truth on the brain lately. Such thoughts remind me of my life before Christ and of the old me who sincerely believed that truth was relative.  At the time, I embraced the idea of relative truth because in that way, truth did not meddle so much in my affairs.

In those days, I overlooked the fact that if truth actually was relative, someone else’s relative truth might just infringe upon  my personal rights as I perceived them. In such a case, I really had no right to get fussy about it because believing in relative truth means that ALL truth is relative, not just mine.

Somehow in those days of trying to justify rebellion, I missed that starkly glaring problem of relativism. If there is not an absolute truth, and  in particular an absolute standard for right and wrong, then we are all just free-floating in an undulating and endless sea of contradictory opinions.

Without some tangible and solid standard to hold fast to, there is no meaning or purpose and no direction to take. Left is as good as right in a relative world.  Truth, according to the ideology of relativism, is no more than an opinion, akin to a person’s favorite color. I like turquoise, you like scarlet; murder for you but not for me. If each opinion is truth to that person, then it all carries equal weight.

The idea of relative truth is so pervasive that it has even infiltrated the Church. There are many who are sensitive to the accusations that Christians are intolerant, bigoted, and judgmental and so are afraid to take any stand at all. Others are so immersed in the culture of relativism that the are not sure what”truth” really means, are not deeply familiar with what God’s truth is, and so are easily persuaded by other ideologies. Still others are either unaware or simply do not really believe in God’s sovereignty or the authority of Scripture.  The possible reasons are endless.

However, truth has a funny way of remaining truth despite a lack of understanding or belief. The fact is that as Creator, God alone is the only Being with the right to define absolute truth, moral or otherwise.

But… what has all this to do with love? Well, everything, really. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the currently fashionable idea of “love” tends to embrace most of Paul’s definition in 1 Corinthians 13 yet omit verse 6. I don’t think this is intentional. I believe that most Christians simply don’t know what to do with that verse.

I believe that we, as a people, have largely forgotten that real, honest, heart-felt love cannot be divorced from the truth,  especially in the sense of moral truth.  If we truly believe that all men have immortal souls, then the close relationship between love and truth becomes incredibly clear.

Knowing that Jesus’s atoning sacrifice was given so that we may approach the throne of grace and that genuine contrition for sin and repentance are necessary components of accepting and yielding to His grace ought to compel us not only to understand what does and does not constitute “sin,” but to share it with a confused and dying world.

It’s true that Jesus is and was a loving Man, perfectly loving the Father and mankind. The earthly life of Jesus exemplifies the harmony of love and truth.  He showed His love in patience and kindness; in putting the needs of others (namely all of us who have sinned) before His own and in healing and providing for the needs of many.

However, Jesus also showed His love by holding fast to the truth. That He did not rejoice in wrongdoing is clearly seen in His response to the money-changers in the temple, His admonishment to the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more,” and the similar advice to the man healed beside the pool called Bethesda, among others (see John 2:15, 5:14, and 8:11).

His love did not come without a stern word of rebuke when appropriate, precisely because it was actual love. Jesus knows better than we the unqualified destructiveness of sin, especially in an eternal context. Indeed, He has watched the decay of creation from the very beginning and wrongdoing in any form has never once caused Him to rejoice.

For today, let’s rejoice in the truth that Jesus died to save sinners such as us. We can rejoice that He loves us enough to be both tender and firm, to discipline and to encourage. And we can rejoice that His truth will withstand the ages, whether it is acknowledged or not.

Bread of Life

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink….”
John 6:53-55

After Jesus spoke these words, many of the people with Him turned away.  I have to wonder what they were thinking…  Were they more angry at the audacity of His words or because He would not perform another miracle for them(see John 6:30)?

Whatever their reasons, one thing is certain: this part of the crowd did not really understand Jesus; did not know either the Man nor His purpose. And so, when He moved the conversation from the realm of the physical to the spiritual, many left.

Sure, a number of them may have truly been outraged by His words. Likely, however, the majority of the people did not really care what He meant. Once they saw that this Jesus was not going to use His power the way they wanted Him to, they walked away in disgust.

Are we any different?

What is it that we want from Jesus? Often, we want Him to answer our prayers, to grant some boon or provision. We want Him to bring His power to bear on our plans, moving the mountains we want moved when we want them moved — typically right now.

But we forget that He is not only a miracle worker. He is the Bread of Life, the very Living Word of God made flesh. His blood, too, is life; a pure and unstained life poured out as payment for the blood debt we owe our Creator. Though we do not understand Him nor even seek Him for the sheer wonder of Emmanuel, still He offers Himself for us. He cries out to us an invitation to drink deeply of His life and be quenched; to feast on His eternal Word and be truly and thoroughly satisfied.

It is a sad fact that many turned away from the invitation of the Lord; many did not wish to know the Man but only wanted to see what He would do for them.

It is still a sad fact today. Many turn away when told that they must take up their cross to follow Him. Many who are told that they must not only hear about the Word but spend a lifetime soaking it in also turn away. Many do not want a slow and abiding journey but a quick fix, a sort of one-time transaction of blessing. Many still are not interested in a daily diet of the Bread of Life but only in a free lunch.

The goals we have for ourselves are often far short of what our Lord has in store for us. We crave comfort, convenience, leisure, and many fleeting and flimsy pleasures here and now; He desires to give us inexpressible joy, absolute satisfaction, substantive and lasting pleasures in His presence forevermore.

There is good news yet in our tale. When the many turned aside, Jesus asked the few who remained if they would also like to leave. Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…”

What do you say, friends? Would you like to leave, to turn aside now from the hard sayings of the Lord? Or would you like to know more of this Jesus, to find daily spiritual nourishment in the Word of God, to feast forever on the Bread of Life? He has more than power to heal the sick and feed the multitude. He has the words of eternal life!

GIGO

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

There is an old computer programming principle commonly expressed by the acronym GIGO — “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” Simply stated, if you input garbage on the programming side, you will get garbage in the output, on the software or function side.

I have found that the GIGO principle applies to more than programming, however. It applies to entertainment, education, really every sort of input we allow for our children.  If they watch, play — even if they read — a steady stream of junk, we ought not to be surprised if junk is what comes out of their mouths or school work.

Even quality matters;  just because a book or movie is not harmful does not necessarily make it useful. If it is shoddily written, poorly thought out, or has a pointless story line or even none at all, it is garbage and does not encourage insightful and thought-provoking output. We can expect no Pulitzer Prize-winning ideas to grow from minds sown with pure and unadulterated diversion for diversion’s sake.  Garbage begets garbage.

But let me take this to another level. Our children aside, GIGO has bearing on us adults as well. What they read, watch, and consume has direct bearing on how their minds are being shaped, but what we read, watch,  and consume has just as direct a bearing on how our lives are being shaped… and on how we shape the lives of others.

As Christians, we are called to a higher standard of thought; not merely to goodness, but to holiness.  Our lives are meant to reflect the light of Christ everywhere we go, but in order to accurately portray our risen Lord, we have to let His life flow in and through us. As He told His disciples, He is the Vine and we are the branches. Only by abiding in Him constantly can His life fill and sustain us in this chaotic and often confusing world.

Just as the branch does not snatch a quick sip from the grapevine and then spend the day trying to withstand the scorching sun alone, we cannot expect to really experience the fullness and richness of the power of God in our lives unless we are willing to constantly, continuously abide in Him, drinking deeply from the Fount of Living waters and ruminating on the Bread of Life throughout our days. And that means being very careful about what ideas we allow to access our minds.

I am not saying that we should never have recreation, never read or watch movies for pleasure. Not at all. But we ought to think about what we read and watch. What is its message? What was the author or producer’s purpose? Does it have value above mere entertainment or is it just a mindless waste of time? Does it push an agenda that is in disagreement with God’s Word? Does it uphold Scriptural principles or scorn them?

Folks, these things matter! If we spend fifteen minutes with the Lord each morning and then several hours soaking in ungodly ideologies, what ought we to expect the fruit to be? If our input is screwy, so will our output be. Garbage in, garbage out. I love how Charles Spurgeon puts it:

You cannot expose the soil of your heart to a continual sowing of tares because some tare or other will take root and, by-and-by, instead of having the good wheat growing in your soul, there will spring up the tares whose end is to be burned and you will have lost the harvest which should have been produced in your spirit.

It is worthy of note that Spurgeon was not even talking about entertainments but false doctrines. Even the preaching we listen to must be examined through the lens of Scripture. There is nothing immune to the devil’s twisting, distorting influence! Again, however, if we do not know the Word for ourselves, how easily will we fall prey to the sowing of tares; how readily will we allow the garbage in.

Paul warned the Ephesian church to make “the best of the time because the days are evil.” We should also heed this warning, for our days are no less evil and our time no less short.  So let’s prayerfully examine our input from this day forward and be ready to cast the garbage into the refuse heap where it belongs.

… test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.    1Thessalonians 5:21-23