Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

To be sure, we all wrestle with doubt from time to time.  The Bible shows us that even God’s strongest servants struggled with doubt.  Here are just a few examples.

• Adam & Eve doubted God’s goodness and ate the forbidden fruit.
• Abraham doubted God’s protection and said his wife Sarah was his sister—twice!
•  Gideon doubted God’s wisdom in shrinking his army down to 300 from 32,000.
• Threatened by Jezebel, Elijah doubted that God had any further purpose for him.
•  Languishing in prison, John the Baptist doubted if Jesus was the expected One.
• The apostles doubted God’s provision in feeding the 5000.
• Peter doubted that God could protect him from the accusation of a servant girl . . . and denied Christ.
• Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus.

Have you ever wondered why the Bible is chock-full of stories about God’s people doubting God?  I believe these accounts are there to remind us that doubt is a part of the human condition.  So when you and I are wrestling with doubt, we know that the experience is not unique to us.  We are not freaks or losers or second-class Christians because we doubt; we are simply human—sinful humans, to be sure—which puts us in the same company as some of the greatest heroes of Scripture!  The universal cry of God’s people should echo the prayer of the father of a demon-possessed son, who said, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24 NKJV).

From the beginning, Satan has done his best to get God’s people to doubt His goodness and His grace by causing us to doubt His Word.  Our enemy, the devil, is relentless, always whispering slyly, “Did God really say . . . ?”

• “Did God really say you were to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s?  What’s the harm of ‘fudging’ a bit on your taxes?”
• “Did God really say you are to love those who hate you and pray for those who persecute you?  Isn’t it true that revenge will make you feel a lot better?”
• “Did God really say marriage was to be between one man and one woman for one lifetime?  Aren’t we free to ‘hook up’ however we please?”

Satan uses the “wisdom” of the world and the weakness of our flesh to cause God’s people to doubt their God.  But when has doubt ever delivered you?  Granted, a little skepticism would have served Adam and Eve well back in the Garden of Eden; if only they had doubted Satan instead of God!  With all of God’s goodness on display and the charge given to them to care for God’s creation and have dominion over it, our first parents doubted God and trusted the devil.  And that has plunged all mankind into an appalling downward spiral of doubt and despair ever since.

So how do we resist our inclination to doubt the only One who is worthy never to be doubted?  We must remember our past deliverance!  Think about all that God has delivered you from in your past.  Every time you were under attack, He came to your rescue.  Every time you were struggling through a season of suffering, He came to your rescue.  Every time you put yourself in the middle of a miserable mess, He came to your rescue.  Every time you found yourself with one foot in the Word and one foot in the world, He came to your rescue.  Every time you were ready to give in and give up, He came to your rescue.  Based on His past performance in your life, does God not deserve your most confident trust, regardless of the circumstance you are facing?

God has never done anything that would cause anyone to doubt Him, and He never will.  He who began the good work in you has promised to finish what He started (Philippians 1:6).  Doubt is no deliverer—it never has been and never will be.  We must simply fix our eyes upon Jesus and never forget that He has promised to bring us home.  We don’t know whether the road will be long or short, but what we do know that road will be marked by tests and trials and troubles.  But through it all, we can trust in the One whose footsteps we walk in every step of the way.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today is the Fourth of July, a time for food, fellowship, and fireworks.  But for the Christian, it is a time for so much more!  Today is a day to reflect on the fact that we are a nation that was founded, rooted, and established on Christian principles.  Don’t take my word for it; read the words of our founding fathers.

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.  John Adams

May every citizen . . . have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, “Him that honoreth Me I will honor, but he that despiseth Me shall be lightly esteemed.” Samuel Adams

The 1^st Amendment has created a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall, it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.  Thomas Jefferson

Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [July 4th]? . . . Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity. . ?  John Quincy Adams

Regardless of what we hear from politicians or liberal media or historical revisionists, our great nation was founded on Christian principles and religious freedom—not to worship whatever god we want, but rather, the God who is: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Our founding fathers not only pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, they pledged allegiance to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  They echoed the inspired and infallible words of the apostle Paul:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

Our founders’ ultimate allegiance was to the Almighty.  They were devoted to Him.  They were dedicated to Him.  They were committed to Him.  Their entire existence was rooted in their right relationship with their Redeemer.  Patrick Henry, the fiery “Give me liberty or give me death!” orator of the Revolution, said simply, “This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”  And that, beloved, should be the confession of the lives of all those Christians who pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America . . . and every other Christian around the world, regardless of the flag that flies over their land.  The greatest gift we possess, and the greatest gift we can pass on to our posterity, is faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

On the day that we Americans commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, let us meditate on our declaration of dependence upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His sovereign rule in our lives.  Jesus is to be our first priority in both life and death.  He is to be our safety in the storm.  He is to be our peace in times of trouble.  He is to be our portion in times of need.  He is to be our All in all.

There is no greater declaration for the Christian to make and honor than the one made to the King of kings and Lord of lords.  When we declare to be His, we declare that we are no longer our own.  We have been bought at a price no man can measure.  The very Son of God was crucified and nailed to rough wooden cross beams, hung between two thieves to pay our penalty for every one of our sins—past, present, and to come.  We are His—we belong to no other—and He will tolerate no rival.

So today, as you enjoy your Independence Day celebration, pause to remember and give thanks to the One who purchased your freedom from the kingdom of the prince of this world.  Jesus has brought you out of darkness and into His marvelous light to remain with Him forever and ever, world without end.  By God’s grace, may we live lives that confess both our pledge of allegiance to the republic for which our American flag stands . . . and to our triune God in heaven—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What comes to mind when you read the phrase “growing in grace”?  Most Christians immediately think of growing in Christlike character and displaying the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  And those same Christians would likely state that “growing in grace” further consists of consistent participation in the disciplines of grace: Bible study, prayer, church attendance, service, Christian fellowship, and so on.  These answers have great merit, and we all desire to see these actions and character traits increasing in our own lives and the lives of our Christian brothers and sisters.

But there is something more fundamental that lies behind all of this visible growth; “growing in grace” is growing in our understanding of the truths of the Gospel.  We grow in our understanding of the sinfulness of man.  We grow in our understanding of the holiness of God.  We grow in our understanding of the price Jesus Christ paid on the cross for our forgiveness and redemption.  As our understanding of the working of God’s grace in our lives grows, we are said to be growing in grace.

What we believe about the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is far more important than how we behave.  Remember, the Pharisees were always on their best behavior when it came to obeying the Law of Moses . . . yet that did not “score points” for them with God; instead, they were confronted by the wrath of Jesus.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He thundered.  “You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness”  (Matthew 23:27).  The Pharisees imagined that they were made righteous by what they did; but the truth is that we are declared righteous because of what we believe.

As we walk further in and further up into our understanding of our own spiritual bankruptcy and fallen condition, the more we find ourselves growing in grace.  Growing in grace is understanding the fact that we are sinners by nature and by habit.  And as we comprehend our awful moral bankruptcy, we are drawn more fully into our understanding of the unearned and undeserved mercy, favor, and blessing of God.  This is what it means at the deepest level when we are said to be growing in grace: when we have a deeper appreciation for His amazing grace!

So . . . how much have you grown in grace over the past few weeks, months, and years?  As our understanding of the Gospel grows, our motivation for new obedience also grows.  The more we rejoice in what Jesus has done for us in the past and promises to do for us in the future, the more we are motivated to walk by faith and not by sight, living in gratitude and thanksgiving.  This mindset is crystallized by Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  (2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV)

This is life.  This is liberty.  This is growing in grace!  Paul is telling us that growing in grace is growing in our gratitude and reverence for God.  Simply because God is who He is, He is worthy of our praise and obedience.  Let me ask you a question: when you meditate on who God is with all that He has done for us in the past and all that He has promised to do in the future, could there be any greater motivation for doing what God has called us to do?  I think not!

When the grace of the Gospel has seized us, we are motivated purely out of a sense of reverence and thanksgiving.  We are not driven by what we hope to receive from God, but rather because of all that we already have received in promises fulfilled and those which will be fulfilled in the future.  God has never broken a promise in the past and He will not break any of them in the future either.  “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind” (1 Samuel 15:29 NIV).  And this is the greatest motivation the world has ever known to live a life that is pleasing in His sight.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How would you define the way you have been handling the Scriptures lately?  Would you say you have been searching them? . . . Skimming through them? . . . Or skipping them altogether?

The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.  (Acts 17:11 NIV)

The Bereans did not skip the Scriptures, nor did they skim through them.  The Bereans searched the Scriptures and in so doing, set a noble example for every child of the Most High God.  To search the Scriptures is to study them and sift through them slowly, looking for every speck of gold contained within them.  Charles Spurgeon once said, “No man who merely skims the book of God can profit thereby; we must dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure.  The door of the Word only opens to the key of diligence.”

If we really understood the Bible to be God’s love letter to us, would we dare skim through the Scriptures . . . or even skip them altogether?  Heaven forbid!  We confess what we truly believe about the Word of God with our lives, in the way we come to the Scriptures and search them, and the way we consider the Christ, who is revealed within every page.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus rebuked two of His disciples, who were thoroughly dejected after the Christ was crucified and buried.  “O foolish ones,” the risen Savior said, “and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  Then, as He walked along the road with the two men, the living Word held a Bible study: “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”  Later, the two disciples marveled, saying to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:25-27, 32.)

One of the most amazing things I have learned over the years in searching through the Scriptures is that no matter how often I have read a particular passage, there is always something new to be uncovered!  The reason this happens for every serious student of the Scriptures is because the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).  All other books, no matter how well written, are dead.  Only the Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and alive, and it makes us more alive every time we come to it with a heart set on searching its pages for a fresh encounter with God.

When we realize the truth that every page of Scripture testifies to the truth of our precious Savior and Lord, is there anything that could keep us from searching them often?  If our vision and view of the Gospel is clear, there is nothing that could stand in our way.  The more we read the Bible, the more we see Jesus; and the more we see of Jesus, the more we read the Bible.  There is no more compelling motivation than that to cause us to diligently search the Scriptures . . . and keep on searching them.  The truths of the Gospel draw us to its well, that we may drink in all of its living water.

Regardless of where this message finds you today, open the Book and let it speak into your life.  It will meet you in your place of need.  It will answer your questions.  It will calm your fears.  It will give you the strength to overcome every obstacle that stands in your way.  It will be the death of doubt and discouragement.  There is milk for those who are babes in searching and meat for those who have spent a lifetime doing it.  There is something for everyone who is willing to search and that something is the only thing we really need in both life and death . . . or more accurately, Someone . . .  and His name is Jesus Christ.  As one writer once said, “May [the Bible] be our pillow at night and our guiding light by day.”

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Steve Brown of Key Life Ministries is a good friend of mine.  He tells the following story, which makes it clear how human beings will do anything and everything possible to avoid the reality of death and pain and suffering.

It happened a number of years ago on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.  We were all enjoying a happy trip, since most of the passengers were returning from cruises.  They had their trinkets in their hands, tans on their faces, and great memories to share when they arrived home.

And then the lady in the aisle next to my seat died.

Everybody got real quiet while the flight attendants asked if there were a doctor on the flight.  Two or three came forward, and while they did their best to save her, she still died.  The pilot landed the plane in Dallas and directed his passengers to disembark while the corpse was taken from the plane to a waiting hearse.  Then we all reboarded the plane for the remainder of our flight to Los Angeles.

The crowd had changed into a somber bunch.  Most people try to avoid death and all thoughts of it.  But to be honest, it is hard to do that while encased in an aluminum tube cruising at 34,000 feet.  There just isn’t anyplace to run.

I approached one of the flight attendants.  “I’m a clergyman,” I said, “and deal with death a lot.  If you would like me to help, please feel free to ask.”

“Thanks for your offer, Reverend,” she said, smiling, “but we’re going to give the passengers free drinks.”

Can you believe that?  If you can get them drunk enough, they won’t have to deal with the reality of death.  Just souse ‘em up.

I fear that Christians sometimes do that too.  Only we don’t use alcohol; we use religious clichés, false theology, and Christian denial.

Wow!  Let’s give people alcohol instead of a faith that can make sense of the reality of pain and suffering and death, and even provide hope and encouragement!

There was a time in this world when there was no pain and suffering and death—but Adam and Eve changed all that.  Created by God for God, the first man and woman opted to remove God from the center of their lives and disobeyed the one and only “Thou shalt not . . .” He had given them.  By engaging in that horrific act of cosmic treason, our first parents plunged all of creation into a sickening downward spiral that leads to the pit of hell.  And that is why there is pain and suffering and death in this world.

To be sure, the world is broken and so are all the people in it . . . including you and me!  But God did not leave us to wallow in damaged despair; He sent His beloved Son on a rescue mission to make everything that is broken whole again; all that is evil will be made righteous; every crooked thing will be made straight!

But before Jesus returns and finishes what He started in making all things new, we will all face the dark reality of pain and suffering and death.  We can pretend it doesn’t exist; we may try to inoculate ourselves from it or anesthetize ourselves to it, but this will not shelter us from ugly reality.  I am sure that the hearse waiting to take the dead woman off Steve Brown’s plane didn’t have luggage racks on it.  Do you know why?  Because she wasn’t coming back!

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  (1 Corinthians 15:22, 23)

I don’t know the spiritual condition of the woman who died on that plane, but if she was not in Christ, she is suffering unimaginable torment in hell today.  When we are in Christ, we can face pain and sorrow and death with the confident assurance that God is working all of it for our good and His glory.  When death comes for us, in the instant we are absent from our body, we shall be present with our Lord—forevermore!

Make no mistake, we will all come face-to-face with pain and sorrow and death.  These are fires through which we all must pass.  But for the Christian believer, these trials will be vastly different from what is experienced by the unbeliever.  Only the Gospel will free us, when facing pain and sorrow and death, to say: “You keep the free drinks; I’ll keep my faith in Jesus!”

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

We live in a society that is in mad pursuit of the good life.  Never fully satisfied with what we have, we are always on the lookout for something better.  Restlessness is the daily reality for many people—both outside and inside of the church.  James identified this problem in stark language:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  (James 4:1-4)

There’s really only one thing that will cure us from this grasping for “more.”  When we have a clear vision of what God has called us to and the courage to walk into it, we will find contentment, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Years ago, when the Standard Oil Company was looking for a representative in the Far East, they approached a missionary and offered him $10,000 to take the job.  He quickly turned down the offer.  They raised it to $25,000, and he turned it down again.  They raised it to $50,000, and he rejected it once more without giving it a second thought.  “What’s wrong?” they asked.  He replied, “Your price is all right, but your job is too small.”  Every job is too small when it is not the job Jesus has called you to do to expand the cause of His kingdom in this world.

Now, don’t run off thinking I’m telling you to be a missionary because everything else is too small.  Not true!  The job at the oil company would have been a wonderful job . . . if it had been God’s calling for this missionary.  But it was not.  This man knew so well what God had called him and equipped him to do, and he was so focused on doing it, that he had the fortitude to refuse a job that would have made his life a whole lot more comfortable and secure.

Only a small percentage of Christians are called by God to be missionaries in the sense of travelling to a foreign land.  To be sure, we are all on mission for God, declaring and demonstrating the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And for most of us, that mission is to be lived out right where we have been planted . . . whether we have been called to be a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker.  Our calling is the place where we are growing and serving our Lord, regardless of the offers that come our way and no matter how much greener the grass may look on the other side of the fence.  This missionary who turned down Standard Oil knew that nothing less than God’s call in his life was worth contemplating, considering, or carrying out.

What about you?  In what vineyard has God planted you to grow and flourish and expand the cause of His kingdom?  If we have never thought much about our calling and where we fit into God’s perfect plan, we may find ourselves careening from wall to wall throughout life, going from one job to another job.  I have spent many hours counseling men who have lived this reality, which has left them reeling.  Only when we are doing what God has designed us to be doing, based on the way He has hard-wired us, will we be able to say in the face of a seemingly better offer: “No thanks, it’s too small!”

Dr. D. James Kennedy, the man who brought me into full-time vocational ministry, told me that someone asked him if he had ever considered running for president of the United States.  He promptly replied, “Why would I want to take a step down from the greatest job in the world?”  Dr. Kennedy knew what God had called and gifted him to do, and once that truth seized him, he could not consider any other place of service in the world, even if that place was located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  It simply would have been a job that was too small!

When you are doing what you have been created to do, there is nothing that can pull you away from it.  At this level of living, you are not only in your calling, but your calling is in you.  Remember, every job is too small when it is a job you have not been called to do or you are not doing for the glory of God.  Someone once asked me if I considered any job to be menial labor.  “Absolutely!” I said emphatically.  “It is the job you are working at for your own glory, to expand the reach of your own little kingdom, and where Jesus simply cannot be found.”

But this is not for you!  If Jesus is not calling you away from your current station in life, grow where He has planted you.  This will be for your good and for God’s glory and to the benefit and blessing of everyone you meet.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When your mind is not focused on anything in particular, where does it go?  What do you find yourself thinking?  Because God is renewing our minds, which in turn enlarges our hearts and ultimately bends our will to align with His, we should be able to say that our minds turn (more often than not) to God.  To be sure, from time to time our minds drift on to the mudflats of life and we think what we ought not to be thinking.  But as the Gospel becomes more real in our lives, our minds begin to migrate more and more frequently into Gospel gardens.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:8-9 NIV)

The great musician Franz Joseph Haydn of the classical period understood this exhortation and lived it out because of his faith in Christ.  When asked why his church music was so cheerful, Haydn replied, “When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen, and since God has given me a cheerful heart I will serve Him with a cheerful spirit.”  Haydn’s joy was rooted in God; the more he thought about God, the more joyful was his experience in life.  Haydn knew what to think about . . . and His name is Jesus Christ.

How often we should be able to say to others, “When I think upon God, my heart overflows with thanksgiving for all He has done for me.”  The challenge for all of us is we let ourselves get caught up in what I call “stinking thinking”—we do just the opposite of what Paul instructs us to do.  We think about whatever is wrong, what is defiled and unlovely.  We reflect on what we don’t have rather than what we do have.  We focus on what we have done wrong rather than what He has done right.  This is precisely where the devil wants to direct our thoughts—toward that which is false and fleshly, rather than toward Him who is true and triune.

But this is not for you!  And Paul confirms it with another inspired instruction:

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  (Colossians 3:2)

When we set our minds on things above, we won’t be pulled down by things below.  Regardless of how strong the storm winds blow, we remain upright and on course.  Regardless of how hot the fiery furnace of affliction flares, we are unharmed.  Regardless of how deep the current of corruption surges, we are unmoved. When we think about the things of God, we are strengthening our minds to rise above the challenges of daily living.  Sure, the fight is fierce and the battle rages.  But we already have the strength we need to become more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) . . .  we have that strength in Jesus.  We need only to focus our attention more and more on Him, and we will be less and less affected by whatever is going on around us.

The next time you catch yourself engaging in “stinking thinking,” pause and reflect on the finished work of Christ.  He has already won the victory over whatever trial or temptation you are facing.  Paul said, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).  The more time we spend thinking about the victory Jesus has already won for us on the cross, the more we will live like victors rather than victims.  Think about these things . . . won’t you?

Oh, Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever
He sought me and he bought me with His redeeming blood
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to Victory, beneath the cleansing flood.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

That statement is hard to imagine in the culture we live in today, isn’t it?  The wisdom of the world tells us that there is nothing better than the life we are currently living.  How did the old commercial say it?  “Fellas, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”  With the belief that this life is all there is, we are told to eat, drink, be merry, and “grab for all the gusto” on this side of the grave, because there is nothing on the other side.

Well, the wisdom of the Word declares that the world’s wisdom is folly, because there is something on the other side of the grave.  There is a judgment . . . there is a heaven . . . there is a hell . . . and there is something infinitely better than this life and what it has to offer!

Your lovingkindness is better than life.  (Psalm 63:3 NKJV)

What would it take for you to be able to say what King David said in this psalm . . . and mean it?  Is there anything you are holding on to more tightly than Jesus?  Is there anything you have right now that if you lost it, your life would be turned upside down?  Only the truths of the Gospel can ravish us to such an extent that we are ready, willing, and able to forsake everything this life has to offer for the One who has given to us everything we have.  Only the truths of the Gospel can convince us that only God can satisfy us—fully, finally, and forever.  The author of The Pilgrims Progress knew this truth and lived it out at great cost.

For more than 12 years English Christian writer and preacher, John Bunyan, was imprisoned while his second wife Elizabeth cared for their six children.  His crime for which he was put in chains: preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ without state sanction.  On a number of occasions the magistrate would have let him go if he had promised to stop preaching.  But he would not.  John said he would remain in prison until the moss grew on his eyelids rather than fail to do what the Almighty had commanded him to do.  He said that parting from his dear wife and children, “has often been to me in this place as the pulling of the flesh from my bones.”  This was especially true with regard to his eldest daughter who was blind and was given to him through his first wife who had died.

For John Bunyan, there was something indeed better than life: the loving-kindness of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He chose the loving-kindness of his God over his freedom.  He chose the loving-kindness of his God over being with his family.  He chose the loving-kindness of his God in spite of intense persecution and prison.  He refused to deny his God, though to do so would have brought him great worldly benefit.  It’s hard for us, living in this day and age, to imagine living with that kind of personal peace and security in the midst of such persecution, but here was a man so sold-out for Christ that the confession of his life proclaimed that it was better to live in the love of God than to live with his wife and children!

Only the love of God can satisfy your deepest longings.  Only the loving-kindness of God can answer your prayers, solve your problems, and overcome your obstacles.  It is only when we want the presence of God more than anything else in life that we will be able to hold loosely everything we have at present . . . because we are looking forward to all that has been promised us in the future.

Because the best is yet to come, what we have now is only a shadow of what is to come.  Our greatest joy, our deepest affection, and our highest love in this life pales in comparison to what awaits us when we get home and stand in the presence of the One whose loving-kindness truly is better than life.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I’m going to try to capture the meaning of the psalmist, who describes the greatness of God as something no one can fathom.

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.  (Psalm 145:1-3)

A fathom is a unit of length equal to 6 feet, used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths.  To be fathomless is to be too deep to be measured; to be bottomless.  Think about that for a moment.  The depth of the greatness of our God is beyond measurement.  It is, in a word, fathomless!

• His holiness . . . fathomless
• His glory . . . fathomless
• His love . . . fathomless
• His mercy . . . fathomless
• His grace . . . fathomless
• His goodness . . . fathomless
• His kindness . . . fathomless
• His forgiveness . . . fathomless
• His forbearance . . . fathomless

Of course, we could go on forever.  The fathomless Father who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9) has given us a fathomless faith.  Faith in Christ is a bottomless sea of unimaginable joy, one that we need only to dip our toes into each day to be swallowed up by it.  Imagine diving in with wholehearted abandon and the fathomless joy that should be the confession of our lives.  If we would dare to do such a thing: everyone who knew us would know we know Jesus; everyone who lived with us would know we live with Jesus; everyone who worked with us would know we work for Jesus.

Faith in Christ has called us into a fathomless future where our blood is oxygenated by His story and our sweat is poured out for His glory.  It’s been said that the future is so bright, you gotta wear shades!  The care of our Lord for every aspect of our lives is so immeasurable that nothing we do is insignificant to Him.  No labor is menial when it is done for Jesus.  No act of kindness goes unnoticed.  No ministry of mercy is ignored.  If the number of hairs on your head matters to God so much that he actually counts them (Matthew 10:30), then surely there is nothing you can do for Him that doesn’t matter, regardless of how inconsequential it might seem to you.

The fathomless greatness of our God should get us out of bed each day, rejoicing over the privilege we have in serving so great a God.  Who can measure the depth of the love that has been showered upon us by the One who took our place on that cross?  Shall we return it lukewarm, served up with half our heart?  God forbid!

Whether we find ourselves journeying through sun-filled days or storm-filled nights, may our lament be that we have not loved Him enough, no matter how hard we have tried to convince ourselves that we have done so with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Thank God for the fathomless faithfulness of our Lord . . . even when our faithfulness is only six inches deep!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

In 1864, Jules Verne penned the extremely popular science fiction novel, A Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story involves a professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth and sets out to find them.  Along the way, he and his companions encounter prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and other dangers.  In 2008, Journey to the Center of the Earth came to life in 3D in the movies—the third time this story was dramatized in the cinema.

QUESTION: If a movie titled A Journey to the Center of Your Life was made about your life, what would the viewers find when they got to your center?

At the center of every life there are only two possible destinations: one is the self and the other is the Savior.  By nature, we all live SELF-CENTERED lives.  Our Number One goal is self-fulfillment.  With self firmly established in the center of our existence, we live for our dreams, our goals, our preferences, our agendas, our success, our pleasure, our happiness . . . and we don’t much care what effect it has on those around us.  We are convinced that it is far more blessed to receive than it is to give.

Because self is at the center of our universe, we find it incredibly difficult to love others and impossible to find contentment.  We are blind to opportunities for serving others but see opportunities for getting ahead with 20/20 vision.  And in the end, even if we get everything we think we wanted, it never delivers on its promises.  By embracing our sinful selfishness we have denied our humanity . . . and are left poor, blind, and naked.

But this is not for you!

For in him we live and move and have our being.  (Acts 17:28)

A CHRIST-CENTERED life is living for the One who is life.  We live in Him.  We move in Him.  We have our being in Him.  We find our identity, meaning, and purpose in Him.  Living a Christ-centered life means we care about the things He cares about, even when those things don’t immediately involve us or touch us personally.  With Christ at the center, we live a life that truly matters: a life lived in service to others, not at their expense.

When we journey to the center of our lives and find Christ in His rightful place, we live cross-shaped lives.  We lay our lives down for others and forgiveness flows freely, even to our enemies, because Jesus is the One who is writing our story.  When Jesus is at the center of our lives, He is the source of everything we need in order to do everything He has called us to do.  Our potential is not measured by what we can do, but by what He can do through us.  What we desire to be doing is what He has called us to do; and what He calls us to do is to incarnate His character in all that we think, do, say, and desire.

With Christ at our center we live in the light of eternity.  We live to expand His kingdom, rather than our own kingdom, by surrendering to His authority and rule in our lives.  We love what He loves and hate what He hates.  We no longer live and move and have our being in the pursuit of our own glory, but rather in the pursuit of His glory.  We live as ambassadors for the Almighty and make decisions based on what pleases Him, rather than what pleasures us.  Keeping Jesus at the center of our lives keeps our lives centered . . . and when we are living centered lives we are living lives that truly matter.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!