Category Archives: General

The more we understand what God in Christ has done for us, the more we will be willing to do for others.

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:11)

A closed-handed Christian is an oxymoron—a contradiction of terms. Think about this for a moment: what does a closed hand represent? It is either a fist or a grasping hand. Either way, white knuckles are not a picture of the hands of those whose hope is in Christ.

An open hand is a hand that welcomes others. It invites them into our presence and meets them in their place of need. An open hand lets go of things rather than holding on for dear life. Picturing the open hands of our Lord nailed to that cruel cross opens our hearts. . . which in turn opens our hands.

The presence of poverty must propel us to open our hands and let the many blessings God has bestowed flow through us the. We ourselves cannot receive anything with closed hands; we must open our hands to receive. And so we open our hands to others and let flow through us that which has flowed to us!

Simply stated, opportunities to give are opportunities to grow. And it is God’s will for the Christian to continue to grow up into Christ and put the Gospel on display for all the world to see.

So . . . do your hands reflect an open heart by generously, joyfully giving to those in need? Or is there something you are holding on to so tightly that it is stunting your growth and keeping you from being all that God is calling you to be?

Remember, all that you have first passed through nail-scarred hands to come to you. That truth alone should open our hearts and compel us to cheerfully give to others what God has so graciously given to us. The presence of the poor is a picture of what we all are in the sight of God. We are poor, blind, naked paupers . . . until Jesus shows up. May the confession of our lives be one of open hearts that open hands that point to our Prince!

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

Today is our third and final installment of encouragement from the Scriptures relating to sin in the life of the Christian. On Monday, we saw that God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. On Wednesday we looked at su

pernatural “holy hurling” and saw how God was pleased to plunge our sins into the depths of the sea. Today we will see THE REDEEMER WHO WILL NOT REMEMBER.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sin no more. (Isaiah 43:25)

Notice that God uses some supernatural “white-out” in blotting out our transgressions from the record. Think about that for a moment! We once had a record that was filled with transgressions . . . but no more. In what we would call a legal act, God has blotted all of our sins out from our record. We have been pardoned by the
Supreme Judge. He has wiped the slate clean.

And as if that was not enough, God does something even greater: He chooses to no longer remember our sins. This is a relational act. It is putting away the sense of having ever being offended, harmed, wronged, or injured.

We all know what it means to forget something. I constantly forget where I put both my keys and phone. It is a passive act that you and I engage in on a regular basis. But “not remembering” is something much more than forgetting; it is active and intentional.

Let me encourage you to print the three blogs in this series and keep them in your Bible or put them up next to your computer. And every time you start thinking about all of the mistakes you have made in your past, read through these articles again. We all need daily Gospel reminders that our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west . . . they have been hurled into the depths of the sea . . . they have been blotted out and remembered no more.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,” our Loving Lord reassures us, “they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). God requires no penance, nor does He put us on probation to see how well we will behave. Because God the Father has dealt with our sins in God the Son, we have been liberated to live a life that is pleasing to God and beneficial to others, living in the joy of the Lord, which is our strength!

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

Today is the second installment of encouragement from the Scriptures relating to sin in the life of the Christian. On Monday we saw that God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. Today we will see some supernatural HOLY HURLING!

Have you ever been in a boat out on the water and had something fall overboard? I watched a set of keys sink out of sight one day; it was a horrible feeling! Well, today God has a word of unimaginable comfort as it relates to our sin and His forgiveness.

You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

Unlike something that “falls” overboard, to “hurl” something is to do it intentionally. Because of the cross work of Christ, God has hurled our sins into the depths of the sea, never to be seen again. Imagine what that really means! Our sins are gone forever and ever and ever. God’s forgiveness of our sins is as complete as it is irreversible. Once forgiven . . . always forgiven!

God has dealt with our sins through the sinless life and sacrificial death of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. If you have placed your trust in Christ’s atoning work on your behalf, God the Father loves you unconditionally and completely forgives you. He will never punish you for any of your past sins. They are gone, hurled overboard, never to resurface again.

As I wrote in Monday’s blog, if you are being reminded of your past sins—sins that have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west and hurled overboard into the depths of the sea—it is not God who is reminding you. It is Satan, the liar and the accuser of the brethren who wants you to live looking back instead of looking up.

HOLY HURLING is a Gospel truth that frees us up to advance confidently in the direction God is calling us to go.

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

This week I would like to give you a word of encouragement from the Scriptures relating to sin in the life of the Christian. To be sure, sin was the ruin of mankind, but God had a remedy for our ruin: He sent our Redeemer, who does something quite radical to what was once our ruin. When we trust in Christ alone for our salvation, all of our sins—past, present, and those still to come—are freely, fully, and immediately forgiven. They are taken away and nailed to the cross of Christ.

Today we will look at one remarkable way the Word of God explains this Gospel truth. On Wednesday and Friday we will unpack two others.

A DIVINE DISTANCE

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

You might well ask, “How far is the east from the west actually?” Well, if you start heading due north at any point on the map you would eventually get to the North Pole and begin heading south. But if you start going west and continue going west you keep going west. East and west never meet!

WOW! Think about that truth for a moment. God is saying that your sins have been completely forgiven and removed from you by an infinite distance—A DIVINE DISTANCE—never to meet up with you ever again.

Now, it may very well be that you will find yourself meeting back up with the memory of your sins. If and when that happens, know this: it is not God who is reminding you of your transgressions. It is the devil who wants you to focus on your past sins so that you will not advance into your promised future. Don’t let him do it! Refuse to relive your past sins. God has removed them as far as the east is from the west. They are gone; the sin debt was paid in full at Calvary. Let those old sins go and get on with living the life God is calling you to live today.

Wait until you read Wednesday’s blog and see what God has done with your sins! These Gospel truths empower you to press on . . . in spite of a past stained with sin.

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

God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light to engage in the process of expanding His kingdom in this world (1 Peter 2:9, 11). How have you responded? What has been the confession of your life? Let’s take a brief look at the life of Moses and see what we can glean.

After Moses killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew slave (Exodus 2:11-12), he fled Egypt and lived on the back side of the desert for 40 years. While tending sheep near the mountain of God, Moses saw a bush that was burning . . . yet would not burn up. When he drew near to see this strange, supernatural event, the Lord God spoke to him, which must have seemed even more strange and supernatural than the burning bush! God called Moses to deliver God’s people out of their bondage in Egypt.

And what was the response of Moses to the Almighty?

Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” . . . Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (Exodus 4:10, 13)

Moses was full of excuses for not answering the call of God in his life. “Who am I” . . . “I am slow of speech” . . . and “Send someone else to do it” were his ways of saying “I CAN’T!” and “I WON’T!”

And how did God answer His troubled deliverer?

The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:11-12)

God answered Moses then the same way He answers us today. When God calls us into service, He equips us for that service. The calling of God presupposes the equipping and preparing of God; we simply need to answer His call and go in His strength. God gave Moses everything he needed to get the job done. From providing Moses with his staff to enlisting the service of his brother Aaron, God sent Moses off into Egypt in His strength to complete the service He had called Moses to perform.

So . . . what is God calling you to today? What excuses have you made for not answering that call? Trusting in God and leaning not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5) will turn every “I CAN’T” into “I CAN” and every “I WON’T” into “Here am I. SEND ME!” This is the only appropriate response to the Almighty.

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

Did you know that it is God’s desire to dwell in the midst of His people? The Bible makes this clear both before and after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day before they sinned, and pursued those two rebels on the run after they sinned.

God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Isn’t that simply amazing? God has said He will live with us and walk among us. What an encouragement that should be to all of us today! God is in our midst, no matter where He finds us. Whether we are celebrating at the summit or wavering under the waves of challenge, God is in our midst.

But that’s not all! God is not only with us and for us . . . He is in us.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

God is with us . . . for us . . . and in us. Is there anything we cannot overcome with the Master in our midst? I think not! As Jesus told His disciples, “With God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26).

We must hold fast to these Gospel truths! God’s presence is abiding in His people . . . and that includes you. In the Old Testament, God’s presence was abundantly visible in both the tabernacle and in the temple (Exodus 40:34-38; 2 Chronicles 7:1-3).

So . . . let me ask you a question: “Is it as plain to see God dwelling within you right now?”

The goal of Christian living is to make every part of our lives a showcase for our Savior, as we declare and demonstrate the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From the boardroom to the locker room to the school room to the family room, our lives should point to the One who loved us enough to die for us . . . the One who desires nothing more than to be with us for all eternity.

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

Here is a story I came across some time ago that provides great insight into the secret of success:

A young bank clerk was being promoted to vice president—a position for which he felt ill-equipped. Approaching the wise and aged bank president, he asked, “Sir, what is the secret of success in my new position?”

“Right decisions,” the president promptly replied.

“And what, sir, is the secret of making right decisions?”

Again, the president was quick to respond: “Experience.”

“And what, sir, is the secret of gaining experience?”

The president smiled and said, “Wrong decisions.”

To be sure, “To err is human,” as Alexander Pope said, but a mistake is only a mistake if we persist in it. All of us make wrong decisions along the path of life. Wisdom comes from learning from those wrong decisions and gaining the experience that comes from them so that we begin making better decisions. And the most important key to making right decisions is rooted, to an extent you might not have suspected, to the amount of time you spend in the Word of God.

When Jesus attacked by the devil during His wilderness experience, He responded each time with these words: “It is written…!” Much of God’s will for the Christian is clearly outlined in the Word of God. The better we know the Word of God, the better decisions we will make in every area of life. Now, God will not tell you whether you should be a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker. He won’t tell you whom to marry or what kind of car to drive. But by spending consistent time in God’s Word, you will learn what is pleasing and acceptable in His sight and be strengthened to carry that out more often than not.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

If the secret of success is right decisions, then the only source that will give us everything we need to make those right decisions is the Holy Bible. We need not fear wrong decisions along the way, unless we are like the fool who despises wisdom and instruction and refuse to learn from our mistakes. We simply need to learn from every decision we make, focus on the Lord, and follow Him wherever He is leading.

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

Even in a place filled with people, we can feel all alone at times. We may feel just like the paralyzed man lying by the Bethesda pool when Jesus showed up:

Here a great number of disabled people used to lie–the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” (John 5:3-7)

Notice the words: “I have no one to help me.” How often we feel like we are all alone, with no one to help us! We need to remember that Jesus is always there with us and always helping us, even when we don’t know it. Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus is not a “fair-weather friend” who disappears when we are engulfed in one of the storms of life; He is with us from beginning to end.

Jesus cares about everyone, and in this passage we see just how much He cares for those who feel they “have no one to help.” He cares about those who are alone. He cares about those who reside in nursing homes. He cares about those who are confined to hospital beds. He cares about the widow and the orphan . . . and He cares about you!

If you have been feeling lonely, shift your focus to your faithful Friend who sticks closer than a brother. Remember His words to the one who had no one to help him into the pool of water:

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5:8-9)

Whatever proverbial “mat” you may have been lying on, paralyzed by the thought that you have no one to help you, do as Jesus instructed that man to do: “Pick up your mat and walk,” knowing that Jesus is walking alongside of you every step of the way. If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, you are not alone. You never have been . . . and never will be.

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

When was the last time you found yourself getting ahead of the Almighty? It is one thing to walk with God along the path of life, but it is another thing altogether to run ahead of Him . . . which is the great tendency for many of us. Abram did that very thing when it came to waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise that Abram and his wife Sarai would be parents to a child of promise. You can read about it in Genesis, chapters 15-16.

Humanly speaking, Abram and Sarai could never have children; he was 100 and she was 90, both long past the biological age for producing children. But they forgot that with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE (Matthew 19:26). And when God makes a promise, HE KEEPS IT (1 Samuel 15:29)! God even confirmed His promise to them in Genesis 17:3-16 by changing their names to Abraham (“father of many”) and Sarah (“princess”).

Unfortunately, Abraham suffered from two conditions that affect all of us. His perception of God was as small as his patience was short!

So . . . where in your life have these conditions afflicted you? Where has your perception of God been way too small? In your finances, your calling, your relationships, your physical health? And where has impatience marked your life? In your single walk with Christ, your desire to be a parent, your hope of a getting out of school and getting on with life, your career?

We serve a BIG God, who works all things together for our ultimate good in His way and in His timing (Romans 8:28). Impatience and a small view of God are harsh taskmasters, and the consequences of either often stay with us for the rest of our lives. We need to remember that God will fulfill every promise He has made, but it may not come to us when we expect it to and it may not look like what we were anticipating. But just as God confirmed His promise to Abraham, so He has confirmed His promises to all those who have placed their trust in Christ’s redeeming work:

No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.  (2 Corinthians 1:20)

It’s important to note that Abraham believed God, even if he did a very foolish thing in running ahead of God. I love the way the Bible describes the faith of Abraham and exhorts us to live in a similar way:

 [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:20-25)

We all do foolish things and can look back on a life littered with our impatience and a small view of God. But don’t let the past keep you a prisoner! Learn from the past and look to the future promises of God. He will accomplish every one of them, in His time and in His way. Remember, regardless of where this finds you today, waiting on God is the best work you can do.

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

The church is full of people who spend the lion’s share of their time trying to broker God’s favor and bind His conscience for a blessing. They believe their “good works” can obligate omnipotence. They have lost sight of our Lord’s words in Luke 17:10 . . .

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”

Even if we were to live a life of perfect obedience (which, by the way, we cannot do) we would only be doing our duty . . . and at the end of the day, we still would be unworthy servants. Think about it this way: if we were to keep the laws of our state perfectly, would the state be under any obligation to reward us for our obedient behavior? Of course not! We would have only done what our duty as American citizens. The same is true when it comes to our relationship with God. And on top of that, even our best works are no more than filthy rags in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).

Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. (Job 41:11)

You will remember the story of Job, who lost everything except his life—his health, his wealth, and his children. Even his wife turned against him and urged him to curse God. Then Job’s three friends showed up and hurled false accusations Job’s way. In defending himself, he began to demonstrate an attitude of “deserving better from God” . . . and God quickly corrected Job’s misguided thinking.

To be sure, Job suffered through an unimaginable season of tragedy. He started out well, saying “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). But Job drifted into an “I deserve better” mentality, complaining that “It profits a man nothing when he tries to please God” (Job 34:9). At that point, the Lord stepped in and redirected Job’s focus away from himself and back toward God.

Regardless of the life we live—even a righteous life like Job’s—we simply cannot obligate Omnipotence. We live in a fallen and broken world, and storms winds will blow our way; our comfort is found in the fact that Jesus is in the middle of the storm with us. Knowing that Gospel truth helps us to weather any storm, trusting that God has delivered it for our ultimate good and His glory. Instead of trying to obligate Omnipotence we must simply open our heart to gratefully receive whatever He sends our way.

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