Category Archives: General

I know from personal experience that this is easier said than done! By nature we tend to focus on the problems we are facing in life, rather than looking to the One who can solve them.

Perhaps you’ve had someone tell you, “Cheer up; things could be worse.” Except that when you cheered up, things got worse! I never really liked such pessimistic advice. It directs our focus to the problems of life rather than toward the Problem Solver.

But this is not for you! Let’s look at the advice from Scripture:

You him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

(Isaiah 26:3 ESV)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

(Hebrews 12:2)

These are just two of the many verses that encourage our look away from our problems and fix our eyes on our Problem Solver. Regardless of the problems we are facing . . .

• Financial reversal
• Trouble at the office
• Difficulties in our marriage
• Fractured relationships
• Health concerns

. . . Isaiah is telling us God will keep us in perfect peace as we shift our focus away from our problems and put it steadfastly on our Problem Solver. It comes down to trusting in God even when we cannot trace Him. We cannot simply read “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31); we must believe in our hearts that our God really is for us, so it truly doesn’t matter what problems come up against us!

The author of Hebrews tells us to fix our focus on the Author and Perfecter of our faith. In other words, what Jesus began in you He will one day bring to completion (Philippians 1:6). Jesus is perfecting us both in and through our problems. You see, it is often the challenges of life that God has ordained to use to conform us to Christ.

So . . . what have you been focusing on lately? Your problems? Or your Problem Solver? Your focus really does make a difference in how you walk through life. Know this: what you focus on tends to get bigger and bigger in your mind’s eye. So if your focus is set on your problems, guess what gets bigger? Your problems! But if you focus on your Problem Solver, He will occupy more space in your heart and in your mind, and you will make better decisions about how to deal most effectively with the problems you are facing.

In the seventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus instructs us to ask, seek, and knock; when we do, He assures us that we will receive, we will find, and the door will be opened to us. We have His Word on it!

Focus on the kingdom of God first and His righteousness . . . and watch your problems shrink!

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

When you read the title of today’s word of encouragement, what comes to mind? Did you think this would be a message about you having the circumstances of your life “under control”? If so, you’re right, but perhaps not in the way I have intended.

What I want you to consider today is this: whose control are you under?

Do not let sin control your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

(Romans 6:12-13)

The Bible makes is clear that we are always under the control of something. Either we are under our Savior’s control or sin’s control. To be sure, sin, Satan, and death were defeated by the cross work of Jesus Christ. Today sin no longer reigns in the life of His disciples, but it most certainly still remains. And the only way we can take sword to this enemy is to recognize that sin still crouches at our door (Genesis 4:6), and that we must always be on guard against it.

Christian, being “under control” is, to an altogether unsuspecting extent, under your control.

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. . . . You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

(Romans 8:6, 9)

In essence, what Paul is telling us is that the power that is in us (the Holy Spirit), is greater than any power that comes against us. And because God is for us, it really doesn’t matter what comes up against us . . . IF we choose to be under the control of Christ. This begins when we shift our focus away from self and place it on our Savior. The more we focus on Jesus, the more we begin to be controlled by Jesus. And when Christ is in control, everything changes for us, because everything changes in us. We must yield control of the One whose control changes us from the inside out.

So . . . what obstacles stand in the way of you giving total control of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do your possessions possess you? Does the approval of others control what you think, do, and say? Perhaps you fear giving total control of your life to Jesus because of where it might lead you?

Let me assure you that you are not alone in that regard! When Jesus started taking control of our lives, Kim and I were fearful, because He was leading us away from what we wanted and in the direction of what Jesus wanted. It was a very difficult process that took years for us to understand and totally surrender to.

Today we simply cannot imagine being anywhere else than where we are, serving as church planters at Cross Community Church in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Sometimes people ask us, “What does it feel like to being living your dream?”

We answer, “This was not our dream! Our dream was moving us in the opposite direction. This is God’s divine plan, and we only began living it when we gave Jesus total control of our lives.”

Chose today whom you will serve . . . and if it is Jesus, being under HIS control will lead to being overwhelmed and overjoyed with His amazing plan for your life.

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

Today marks the 14^th anniversary of the event Americans refer to simply as “9/11,” a day and date that has been stamped into our national consciousness. The cry of America is, “We will never forget!” For many reasons, this is a date Kim and I will never forget. I’d like to share our story in a way that I hope will encourage you today.

Just like you, we will never forget watching those two jetliners flying into the Twin Towers. We will never forget the pictures of the first responders arriving at the scene to help the victims. (I spent nearly a decade serving on the Hollywood Fire Rescue Department, so those images are particularly poignant for me.) We will never forget the horrific sight of the two towers suddenly collapsing and entombing nearly 3,000 victims. We will never forget how our nation came together to both mourn and mount up against sin and evil in this world.

But there is something else Kim and I will never forget. That day marked the end of one season of life and the beginning of another. God shone His light into our hearts and saved us in 1995, four years after we had opened our wellness center in Fort Lauderdale. After trusting in Christ for our eternal salvation, we saw ourselves as Christian business owners. However, we were still a long way off from understanding what it meant to be fully surrendered to our Savior.

We had one foot in the Word, to be sure, but the other foot was firmly planted in the world. Yes, we loved Jesus, but we also very much loved the stuff He gave us. Sometimes we loved the stuff more than we loved our Savior. As I have said before, even the good gifts God gives us can become bad gifts when they become ultimate gifts. Jesus has clearly called us all to “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mathew 6:33) and trust that He will supply us with all that we need for our daily sustenance. We were seeking God . . . pretty well . . . but we were also scrambling to store up that sustenance!

God began calling us out of the physical wellness business into the spiritual wellness business very early in our walk with Him, but I simply wasn’t ready to answer His call. Kim was ready and had been ready for some time, but not me. I couldn’t let it go. I believed if the business failed, I was a failure, because my identity was in the business and not in the One who had given us the business.

I was at a Bible study on the morning of 9/11. When I returned home, I sat frozen in front of the television, witnessing the awful events of that fateful day. I remember being overwhelmed with the thought that none of those victims could possibly have known that this day was going to be their last day on earthy. But it was. I also wondered how many of them did not know Jesus.

That day marked the end of the plans Kim and I had for our lives and the beginning of God’s plan for our lives. We closed the business less than two months later, and by the beginning of 2002, we had entered into full-time ministry work, expanding the kingdom of Christ rather than our own little kingdom.

There are many reasons for us to pause and remember 9/11. Perhaps one of the most profound reminders we should cling to is the brevity of life. Job mused that man “springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure” (Job 14:2), and the Bible reminds us again and again that our days on this earth are few and fleeting. We are reminded of this truth each and every day by the news of the day and personal experience. Nobody knows when their life will end or how it will happen.

I think of the story Jesus told about a certain rich man who had enjoyed great success with his business. I confess to you today that in those BC (Before Christ) days of the early 90s, I was striving to be like this man! Jesus said this man was so pleased with the wealth he imagined that he had produced that he told himself, “‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”

And then come these chilling words from our Lord: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you’” (Luke 12:19-20).

Since the Fall of man in the Garden, death has been the debt we all must pay. When it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, it can rock us to our core. 9/11 did that to Kim and me; God used that awful event to light a fire of faith deep within us that would not go out. We realized that God had saved us to serve Him and to surrender our lives completely to His control. We had always understood the importance of the Good News of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but after the day America was attacked we also understood the urgency with which we were called to share it—today, because we may not have the opportunity to do it tomorrow.

On Sunday night in 1871, the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody was preaching at Farwell Hall in Chicago. Moody asked his congregation to spend the week thinking over their relationship with Jesus Christ and then return the following week and make their decisions for Him. That crowd never reassembled. As they were singing the closing hymn, the din of fire trucks and church bells scattered them forever; Chicago was on fire! The church and parsonage and much of the city were all destroyed in what you and I call the Great Chicago Fire. The lives of about 300 people were demanded of them that night.

Thinking back to that fateful evening, Moody remarked, “Giving my congregation a week to think over in their minds their decision for Jesus is my greatest regret in life. Never again would I give my listeners time to go home and think about their response to the Gospel.” And he never did.

And so I encourage you to go and do what our Lord has called us all to do: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). Wherever you live, wherever you work or go to school, preach Christ! Never forget all that He has done for you, and never stop telling others the Good News He offers them.

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

The Word of God makes it clear that we are all in bondage. Before Jesus shows up, we are in bondage to sin and death; after Jesus raises us from death to life, we are in bondage to Him.

Christian, how well are you wearing your “chains” for Christ?

Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

(Romans 6:17-18)

We are either slaves to sin or slaves to our Savior. In the passage above, the apostle Paul described the supernatural change in slave masters. And make no mistake, there is absolutely no comparison between masters! The slave master of sin pays wages to his slaves: “The wages of sin is death.” Our new slave Master gives a gracious, glorious gift: “The gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).

I want to present an idea to you here that is definitely counterintuitive but extremely important for us to understand. The more we are in bondage to our Savior, the greater the freedom we experience in this life. That may sound strange, but it is undeniably true.

“It is for freedom that Christ set us free,” Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia (Galatians 5:1). When Jesus sits upon the throne of our lives, we begin experiencing the freedom we were created for. This freedom can be described as the ability to serve Jesus, for the very first time, in a way that is pleasing and acceptable in His sight and that also satisfies the deepest longings of our souls.

You see, when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and turned away from God, they denied their very humanity. When you and I believe in the Gospel of redemption and begin serving our Savior, we also begin reclaiming the humanity that was lost in Paradise.

And remember this: our service to our Savior never “earns” wages. Everything we receive is always a gift from God! Even the service itself is a gift from God. God reorients our hearts so that they begin to beat for something other than self. We begin to see life from a perspective other than our own. We desire things we had never desired before and begin to deny some of the things we had always lived for.

So . . . what has you in bondage today? What has a hold on your heart? What have you been living for lately? If it is anything smaller than Jesus, it cannot satisfy and most certainly will not sanctify. You have been made by God for God, and until you are submitted to Him in every area of life, you will never grow into the person God is calling you to be.

I find it remarkable how many times the great apostle Paul identifies himself as “a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ” in the opening remarks to many of his epistles. Paul saw himself as a slave to his Savior . . . and he rejoiced! He was proud of his “believer’s bondage,” because the One he was in bondage to was the One who had set him free from his bondage to the world, the flesh, and the devil. To be sure, sin still remained in Paul’s life, as he freely confessed in Romans 7, but sin no longer reigned. Jesus reigned supreme and set Paul free to serve the only Master who could both truly fulfill him and forgive him all the way into glory.

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

Today is Labor Day, the first Monday in September, when we celebrate the American labor movement. Well, that is the history of Labor Day in the United States. In reality, it is little more than a three-day weekend for many. Labor Day was commemorated and established as an official holiday in 1886, under the presidency of Grover Cleveland. It was intended to pay tribute to the contributions of the American workers, who make this country the greatest country on earth.

It is my prayer that today you are able to rest from your labor, and as you do, that you will meditate upon the One who is laboring on your behalf even now.

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

(John 5:17)

Think about that for a moment. The One who is unparalleled and unprecedented is unrelenting in His gracious work on your behalf.  He blesses the weak and beautifies the meek, working everything for your eternal good. Nothing will stop Him or slow Him down in bringing you all the way home into glory, in His perfect time and in His righteous way. The great “I AM” is for you, with you, and in you.

WOW! Let that truth minister to your heart on this Labor Day!

God is not finished with you yet. So have patience in His process, not only with yourself, but with all others. We are all works in progress; the great good news in that is that “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). No matter your age or station in life, no one has “arrived” on this side of the grave. Fruit may ripen and flowers may bloom, but God will not be finished with you until that moment that He has ordained, when you will be brought into glory on the other side of the grave.

So trust in the One who is growing you to maturity and be fully confident that even when you cannot trace Him in your life, He is still there, orchestrating every event that is ultimately working together for your good and His glory. Remember, His yoke is easy and His burden is light; regardless of whatever you are going through right now, He is going through it with you. His reign is as righteous as His rescue of you is relentless!

May you rest in Him on this Labor Day and respond to Him as He takes your mess and turns it into His masterpiece. And remember, He may not always give you what you want, but He will always give you what you need to work out your salvation, step by step, all the way to your eternal rest.

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

Let that truth set you free from the worries and anxieties of daily living, even as the waves of challenge wash over you. Before you were . . . your were His!

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep . . .

(Hebrews 13:20)

The writer of Hebrews is telling us that before we were even in existence, Jesus was on the way to save and sanctify us. Rightly understood, the truth of God’s eternal covenant—that is, a covenant that was made before the beginning of time or human existence—will provide you with a peace that passes all understanding. You were on the mind and heart of God before you were on this earth.

Our finite minds cannot come close to fully comprehending the eternal encouragement this truth of a covenant as old as eternity has been designed to provide. That is why it requires our attention day and night. We must never lose sight of this unimaginable blessing rooted in the good pleasure of our God.

Before you were . . . your were His! That means before you did anything worthy of God’s favor, His favor was already yours. Before you did anything commendable of His blessing, His blessing was already yours. Before you did anything to warrant His love, His love was already poured out upon you.

God has always dealt with you based on His mercy, not your merit. God has always related with you based on His grace, not your good works. So if you did nothing to earn God’s favor, blessing, or love, it is secure forevermore! And this amazing grace is yours regardless of what you do in this life! No matter how good your good works, God will not love you any more than He already does; no matter how dreadful your failures, God will not love you any less.

Perhaps you should read that last sentence again. You already have everything you need because of the eternal covenant of God! You have His forgiveness, His pardon, His adoption, His acceptance, and His promise to finish what He determined from all eternity and what He began in time with your rescue (Philippians 1:6).

How your heart should swell with joy unspeakable! God has given you a well-spring of life and a storehouse of love. How good—how loving, how kind, how gracious—must our God truly be to have established this covenant in eternity past and extended it throughout eternity future? Surely we cannot begin to plumb the depths of our good God!

So regardless of where this finds you today, pause a moment to feast upon its fullness: Before you were . . . you were His! Before the world was . . . you were His! Christian, there never was a time when you were not His. And remember, what God has joined together shall stay joined together forever and ever. And this eternal security is not rooted in your faithfulness to Him (because we are so often unfaithful), but in His unwavering, eternal faithfulness to us.

May the lives we live be a holy hymn that sings of this eternal truth with every breath we take and every step we make.

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

If you have been walking with the Lord long enough, you’ll recall times when He has seemed distant from you. Perhaps you’re in one of those periods now; you can remember a time when your load was light, your burden was easy, and your heart beat for nothing smaller than Jesus. But today you find yourself in something of a spiritual wasteland . . . just like Job. God seemed utterly silent and far away, and Job ached for a bygone time. He told his friends:

How l long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house.

(Job 29:1-4)

If you are familiar with the book of Job, you know about the terrible tragedies he endured. And here we see him doing something entirely natural and human: he longed for the “good ol’ days,” when his intimacy with God was the anchor of his soul. But now, after so much suffering, it seemed to Job that God was a stranger and heaven’s door was shut tightly. Because we know the whole story, we know that Job did not bring these difficulties on himself because of any unrighteous behavior. But today you and I often find ourselves longing for the good ol’ days because we have been bad today!

Now, “bad” has many different shades. Sometimes we simply neglect the wonderful means of grace God has given to us that bring us into the presence of God in a very special way. Missing church, neglecting prayer, and inconsistent Bible study will always leave us feeling empty, wanting, and longing for that feeling we once had when we were diligent and disciplined in our spiritual disciplines. For some, it is simply a matter of idolatry; we have removed Jesus from the throne of our lives and something smaller than Him sits upon it.

The prophet Jeremiah hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

(Jeremiah 17:9)

One minute our heart is beating for Jesus; the next, it is beating for a thousand others things. We are in a constant battle with divided affections. As Paul wrote to the Galatians:

The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

(Galatians 5:17)

Spiritual pride will also give us a sense of separation from the presence of our God. Self-love always casts a shadow over our Savior. To be sure, Jesus is as bright as ever, but our pride has made our spiritual eyes grow dim.

Whatever the cause for our divided affections, God will eventually step in and give us what we need to reorient our hearts back toward Him. Often He will give us a glimpse of the good ol’ days to make us feel “homesick” and help us get our lives back on track.

If you currently find yourself in this condition, what should you do? Don’t be satisfied with recalling the good ol’ days! Run to Jesus and seek His face, knowing that He has never left your side. Remember that when God feels distant, we can be sure of one thing: WE moved, not our God! So cry out to Jesus, and know that no matter how good those ol’ days might have been, the best is yet to come. For . . .

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

(1 Corinthians 2:9)

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

Perhaps you are familiar with the term “consolation prize,” which usually refers to a prize of minor or lesser value than first prize. The consolation prize is given to the losers in a competition—the runner-ups who finished behind the winner. The grand prize winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii; the consolation prize for the runner-up is a toaster.

Today I want to encourage you with another kind of consolation prize, one which is given to the people of God, to every last one of them . . . including you!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

(2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Take just a cursory glance through the passage above and one word jumps off the page: COMFORT! A word that is synonymous with “comfort” is consolation, which appears in the New King James version of the Bible. It is plain to see that the Christian is given a consolation prize that is wholly other from anything in this world. It is not for the loser; it is not for the runner up; it is a gift, what I call a Cosmic Consolation, given to every Christian every moment of every day. The name of this prize is Jesus Christ!

Jesus is our Everlasting Consolation, and He gives His gift of comfort to every one of His disciples. Our Consolation comes to us in times of trouble. Our Consolation comes to us in seasons of suffering. Our Consolation comes to us in the darkness of distress. As He delivers His consolation to us—ALL OF US—we begin to grow in His grace with patient endurance that helps us get through trouble, suffering, and deep distress.

You know, another way to look at this Cosmic Consolation would be to say everyone on Team Jesus is a winner. There is no consolation prize for second place or even last place. Everyone gets this Cosmic Consolation, simply by virtue of our union with Christ.

So remember, whatever it is you are facing today . . .

• Trouble at the office
• Difficulties in your marriage
• Parenting a prodigal
• Fragile friendship
• Less than perfect health
• Financial shortfall

. . . Look to the One who is with you in all that you face, knowing this truth: greater is the power (consolation) that is in you than any power that comes up against you. In John 14:16 Jesus promised to send “another Helper,” the Holy Spirit, who will live in you and walk with you. He has never let you down in the past and He won’t start now. You have His Word on that!

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

In 1940 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, which established our country’s first peacetime draft. From 1948 until 1973, during periods of both war and peacetime, men were drafted into our armed forces to fill vacancies that were not being filled through voluntary means. The draft was shut down in 1973 when the U.S. went to an all-volunteer military.

Inasmuch as that draft no longer exists, there is still a “divine draft” in existence for all those who are disciples of Christ:

Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here?”

(Numbers 32:6)

The Gadites and Reubenites were content to stay on the east side of the Jordan because the land there was suitable for their herds and livestock. But Moses reminded them that they had a duty to serve alongside of the rest of God’s people in conquering the land God had given them. Moses made it clear that, regardless of where they chose to settle, they were part of a bigger community. They needed to look beyond their own desires to their duty, because they were part of a family of faith.

What was true for the Gadites and the Reubenites then is true for every Christian today. With privilege comes responsibility; we have a divine duty to our family of faith. When God raised us from life to death, He drafted us into His Almighty Army.

Who among us today can measure the incredible good we have received because of those saints who have gone before us, all paying some and some paying all? Charles Spurgeon put it this way:

“We have received much by means of the efforts and sufferings of the saints in years gone by, and if we do not make some return to the church of Christ by giving her our best energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in her ranks . . . Personal service of Jesus becomes all the more the duty of all because it is cheerfully and abundantly rendered by some. The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us if we sit still in indolence.”

God’s divine draft has brought us into His Almighty Army to stand our post and answer our call to expand the cause of the kingdom of Christ, regardless of the cost or circumstance. God forbid that we should make it our greatest goal in this life to live at ease in Zion! Yet far too many in the church today live a life of self-protection rather than self-sacrifice. Their primary concern is expanding the cause of their little kingdom, accomplishing their little goals, and setting forth their little agendas. To this kind of life you and I must say NO!

We must willingly engage in the battle God has brought us into. You see, there was no battle before Jesus showed up. We were happily living for the self. But when Jesus raised us from death to life and became our new Ruler and King, we were drafted to discipline ourselves in the service of our Savior. Having been drafted by Divinity, we find ourselves called to the front lines of faith to take sword to our enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil—knowing that Jesus has already won the war on our behalf. We need only fight the daily skirmishes that come our way in His strength . . . knowing that He who drafted us will surely deliver us. After all, we have His Word on it!

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

(Psalm 73:25-26)

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

How do you know if you love the gift more than the Gift-Giver? Check your heart-response when you start losing the gift! When the sky is blue, the clouds fleecy, and the sun is shining brightly, it’s easy to love the Lord. But what about those times in life when the storm winds blow and waves of challenge crash over you? Satan told God Job loved the gift more than the Gift-Giver. God told Satan Job loved the Gift-Giver-more than the gift.

Job had just been told that he had lost all of his considerable wealth and all ten of his children had been killed in one horrific day. This was Job’s immediate, instinctive response:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

(Job 1:20-22)

Was Job happy to enjoy great wealth? Did he love his children? Of course he did. But he did not love either more than he loved his God. Satan was basically betting that Job’s obedience and love for God was rooted in his self-love. Satan believed that Job loved God because God had showered so many blessings upon him. “Remove the blessings,” Satan thought, “and you will remove his love for God.”

Throughout much of the biblical account, Job wrestled with God and asked some very penetrating questions. But in the end, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing and God blessed Job with even greater blessings than he had before. Job knew that everything he had was simply a gift he had received from God. And as much as Job loved the gifts God had given, not one of those gifts ever sat upon the throne of his life. God was always his first priority in life.

I wonder if you and I would be able to say along with Job, “Naked I came into this world and naked I shall depart” after having suffered such unimaginable loss? To lose his wealth and later his health was undoubtedly very difficult; but to lose all of his children in one day seems a loss too great for any man to bear. And it would have been if Job had loved the good gifts God had given to him more than he had loved the Gift-Giver Himself.

So . . . how do we get in the same frame of mind as Job’s? Surely it will only be by the grace of God! But in that grace, we must see the gracious hand that provides everything we enjoy in this life. “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

You and I reading the book of Job understand the whole story. We see the activity in the heavenly realms as well as the man’s struggle on earth. But Job, who was living it out at the time, did not. He did not understand all that was going on behind the scenes. And that is what makes it all the more remarkable that Job really did love God more than any of the gifts he had received from His hand. Job’s friends were convinced that his suffering was a result of some sin in Job’s life. They believed his suffering was both punitive and corrective, dealt to Job by the hand of God. We know that it was not. What all God had in mind we cannot know. But one thing we do know: part of God’s purpose for Job’s suffering was to deepen his relationship with God.

Elisabeth Elliot, wife of murdered missionary Jim Elliot, penned these profound words, which will close this word of encouragement for loving the Gift-Giver more than His gifts better than I ever could:

“God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”

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