Category Archives: General

Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

On Wednesday, we took a moment to “look back” and consider all the wonders God has done throughout 2021. Today we will “look ahead” as we prepare to launch out into 2022.

“Happy New Year!” is a greeting you frequently hear at this time of year. That well-wishing will be particularly prevalent tomorrow, on New Year’s Day. Yet if “wishes” were all we had as believers to launch out into the year ahead, it would be a scant portion indeed. Christians have much more than a “hopeful greeting” given to us by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Today’s verse gives us the promise that God gave to Joshua – and to you and me as well: I will be with you wherever you go.

You may remember that Joshua was preparing to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land after Moses had completed his ministry of service to God. Joshua knew quite well the challenges he would face in leading God’s people. He had learned from Moses just how difficult the task would be. But he also knew that, just like Moses, he would not be alone in the work God had called him to perform. And the same is true for you and me as we begin our “forward march” into this new year.

To be sure, the new year brings with it questions and concerns . . . doubts and fears . . . obstacles and opportunities. Will the doctor give us a negative report on our health? Will we encounter professional challenges? Will our marriage of many years march on for many more? Will we suffer the loss of a loved one? Will the cost of living continue to rise? Will a deadly new variant of COVID sweep the country? The list of uncertainties is almost endless. Yet we can hold on to something infinitely greater than the mere hope for a “Happy New Year!” Why? Because God has promised that He will be with us wherever we go, and He has further promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

I want you to remember something in that promise. This “going with God” is not a going by chance. It is not a random roll of the dice. God is guiding, governing, and directing your every step. He is in sovereign control of everything; nothing is left to chance (Romans 11:36). So do not be discouraged! God’s promise is delivered to us to help us set aside every doubt, every fear, and to lean into God’s perfect plan and purpose for our lives.

One final point: Approximately 3,400 years after God told Joshua that He would be with him wherever he went, Jesus reaffirmed that promise before He ascended back to heaven: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Let me encourage you to look ahead into the year 2022 with confidence and boldness, knowing that Jesus goes before you as He goes with you, making your way straight, regardless of how many twists and turns you may encounter throughout this new year.

Now that is a great reason to greet people with a bright smile and exclaim, “Happy New Year!”

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

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced. (Psalm 105:4-5)

Today and Friday we will close out yet another year of seeking “Grace for the Race.” Today I want to encourage you to take a look back over the past year . . . to remember and reflect on the many and multiplied wonders that God has done in your life. On Friday we will look forward to the starting line of another year, and, if God is so pleased to grant it to us, to live 2022 out with both the freedom and faithfulness that is available to us in Jesus Christ.

Someone wisely observed that “It is difficult to climb to the summit of the mountain when you are always looking over your shoulder.” That’s certainly true, but taking a look back is wonderfully beneficial for the Christian believer to remember all that God has done: His care, His provision, His protection, and His many gracious answers to our prayers. To be sure, that look back must be brief if we are to begin making forward progress throughout 2022. But make no mistake, it is the best way to close out another year of blessings that our loving Lord has bestowed on us. 

It’s important to point out that taking a look back is not the same thing as walking backward. We cannot go back, nor should we want to. God is moving us forward into His perfect plan and purpose for our lives, inasmuch as we will live it out imperfectly. I’ve said here several times that we must always treat the past as a school; we are to learn the lessons from our past but not live in our past. I meet far too many people — believers and unbelievers alike — who live in the past, which inevitably prohibits any measurable forward progress. But this is not for you!

Take some time today to reflect on the past year and make sure your look back encompasses both your successes and your storms. There is much to glean from both life experiences, because God has delivered both to us in order to conform us into the image and likeness of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Let your looking back bring to mind God’s . . .

• Faithfulness and Friendship
• Discipline and Devotion
• Mercy and Ministry
• Love and Leading

I pray that your look back over 2021 will encourage you and strengthen you to embark on another year with Jesus sitting upon the throne of your life, guiding you through every twist and turn, and growing you through all the ups and downs . . . every step of the way.

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

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

We all know about the importance of taking good care of our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, utilizing a workout plan that includes consistent exercise, sound nutrition, and adequate rest. Today I want to encourage you to engage in another kind of “workout,” one that builds your temple from the inside out.

First, let me make something perfectly clear; the apostle Paul was not suggesting that we need to “work out” a salvation that we might lose if we do not engage in the “right” kind of works and produce the right kind of results. That would cause us to live in a condition of continual fear, which would violate not only the good news of the Gospel, but all of sacred Scripture, which assures us that God has not given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).

No, the “fear” that Paul was speaking about in Philippians 2:12 is best understood as reverence, awe, and respect for our Redeemer. I like the rendering that the English Bible translator J. B. Phillips gave to the verse: “Work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility.”

So what does it look like for the Christian to “work out” his or her salvation? It starts with a desire to live obediently before the face of God. The primary witness of our “work out” is to be found in our practice of obedience to the Lord. Please note that I did not say “our perfection of obedience,” because none of us will come close to perfection until we cross the Jordan and are received into glory. Until that time, we will live lives marked by both obedience and disobedience, because the old, sinful nature is in a constant struggle with the new, sinless nature (Galatians 5:17). 

The secondary witness of our “work out” is found in the environment we are working out in. An attitude of reverence and respect for the Almighty is the environment we must work out in, remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, we are to take the call of Christ to live as obedient disciples seriously. Even though we know we will work out our salvation imperfectly on this side of the grave, nonetheless, we are to desire to be obedient in all things. True disciples want to live in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to God. True disciples seek to use all of their time, talent, and treasure for the advancement of the kingdom of God. True disciples look to glorify God in all things.

What has the witness of your “work out” been saying to those around you? In what areas are you working well? In what areas do you need to put in a little extra effort? Remember, the grace that saved you is the same grace that is sanctifying you . . . and it is all of grace. Yet God has called each one of us to work out the salvation He has given us with the proper sense of awe and responsibility. May this be the confession of our lives.

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

“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” (A Charlie Brown Christmas)

As a little boy growing up, A Charlie Brown Christmas was my favorite Christmas special. It still is to this day, now that I am a husband and father of four. When I was a boy, Mom and I would search the TV Guide to see when the special was on so that we wouldn’t miss it. Today, we just pop in the DVD and watch it whenever we want, which we do frequently during the Christmas Season.

Long before I was a Christian, my heart was always touched when Linus responded to Charlie Brown’s plaintive plea, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Linus’s answer was taken straight from the pages of sacred Scripture:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8-14 KJV)

And with that being said, Linus picked up his blanket and shuffled off the stage. Why? Because he had said it all! That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown: the birth of the Christ Child — the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus is the Reason for the Season. He is the greatest Christmas present the world has ever received, a gift so glorious that the angels in heaven burst forth into joyous song.

May we rejoice in having received this indescribable gift, by grace through faith, and may we respond by sharing God’s great gift of love with others . . . because, after all, that’s what Christmas is all about.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. From the Boland family to yours: May your day be filled with the transforming power of the glorious good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

What begins with waiting, advances through preparation, resulting in the experience of great joy, is rooted in the love of God in Christ Jesus. God is love. God created love. And God loves us!

How much does God love us? So much so that He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin so that we can be with Him forever – “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Notice that the Scriptures emphasize that Christ died for us “while we were still sinners.” God did not wait for us to get right with Him. He did not wait for us to clean up our lives. He did not wait for us to “get our act together.” He demonstrated His love for us while we were still sinners. Christian, if that doesn’t light the fire of your faith as you approach Christmas day . . . your wood is wet!

So what are we to do with the knowledge of this amazing love of God, a love so high and long and wide and deep (Ephesians 3:18), while we are waiting and preparing for Christmas to arrive? It’s simple . . . yet profound. We are to rest in God’s love and respond to it. First, to rest in His love is to rest assured that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:23). When Jesus said “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20), He meant what He said! Nothing – not storms, not Satan, not even our own sin – can come between us and the love that our God has for us in Christ Jesus.

Second, to respond to God’s love is to share it with others. We love others because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). God loved us when we were incapable of loving Him – while we were still sinners – and when we were separated from Him and alienated from Him. Because God has poured out His love on us, we can go forth and share that love with others. This is what is called the Great Commandment: loving God and loving others.

During this Advent Season, I hope you’ll take some time to share the love of God with those around you. Invite a neighbor to your Christmas Eve service. Bake some cookies for someone. Write a note of encouragement to someone. Visit someone you have not seen in a long while. Remember, love is the primary way we are to be recognized by others: Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The question that needs to be answered by all of us this Christmas Advent Season is this: Does everyone know that we are disciples of Jesus by our love? May this be the confession of our lives.

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

The angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

What begins with waiting and advances through preparation ultimately results in the experience of great joy.

From a biblical perspective, joy at the deepest level is something altogether different from happiness. Happiness is based on circumstances and what is going on around us, but true joy is rooted in Jesus Christ and what is going on within us. While we wait and prepare for Christmas, we must remember that joy is an inside job, and it is always a choice for the Christian. We can choose to live in joy . . . or in something less.

What was the “great joy” that the angel promised to the shepherds? It was the coming of Jesus. Jesus is our joy. And since we know that He has promised never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), we can be assured that joy is to be a continual experience. Joy sees problems as possibilities. Joy sees obstacles as opportunities. Joy sees life from God’s perspective, not our own, and when it does, we can echo David and exult, “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4 ESV).

When the Bible speaks of the joy of the Lord, we are to understand it as something much more than a simple feeling. If joy was only a sensation, how in the world would we be able to experience it during those inevitable storms of loss and grief that come our way? It is only when we understand joy as Jesus, and see ourselves as the branch in union with Jesus the vine, that we will be able to experience unspeakable joy. And, as we saw on Wednesday, our preparation will increase our experience of joy through the time we spend in prayer and in His Word.

Here is one more thing to think about: When we consider the character of Christ, we make deposits in our joy bank. Jesus lived a sinless life for us. Jesus died a sacrificial death for us. Jesus rose supernaturally from the grave for us. Jesus is coming back from heaven for us. Jesus has loved us unconditionally and forgiven us completely for all eternity, and the more we consider His character, the more joy we will experience in this life, regardless of the circumstances we are currently facing.

And this brings us to our final Advent message on Monday: Love.

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

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)

Today is the second installment in our series of Advent messages: PREPARING. And it makes sense, does it not? While we are waiting, we should be preparing for what we are waiting for. No one just plants seeds in the garden and sits back to wait for the harvest to come in. They plant, water, nurture, and prepare in every way in order to maximize the harvest that will come in the fall.

So how should we prepare for all we are waiting on from our Lord?

SIMPLIFY

Life is full of distractions and countless voices vying for our attention. Those voices amp up during the Christmas season, with one advertisement after another hawking the latest products to enhance our lives. It’s easy to forget the reason for the season when we are so busy being busy!

So how do we simplify as we are preparing in our waiting for Christmas? We emulate the way of our Lord in two vital areas of our lives.

Prayer

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

No one lived a busier life than our Lord Jesus Christ, yet He made sure that His life was saturated in communion with His Father in heaven. Jesus continually retreated to pray; we read that there were times when He would spend an entire night in fervent prayer. Notice that Jesus went to prayer early, before the demands of the day encompassed Him, and He went off to a solitary place to minimize distractions. Is this the confession of your life?

WORD

“It is written . . .” “It is also written . . .” “For it is written . . .” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10)

When Jesus was battling against the temptations of the devil during His wilderness experience, He fought back and conquered the tempter with the Old Testament Scriptures, which was all men had at that time. In order for Jesus to continually quote the Scriptures, He had to know the Scriptures, and to know the Scriptures, He had to be meditating on and marinating in them. Is this the confession of your life?

One of the best ways to prepare for Christmas is to simplify our lives, and the very best way to simplify is to go regularly to our Lord in prayer with the Bible in hand. Our God has promised us, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Let us commit to prepare our hearts for Him.

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

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14)

I am planning to use the next four blog posts leading up to Christmas Day to focus on Advent. Many churches use the four weeks leading up to Christmas to focus on the real meaning of the season. The word advent means “coming” – that time of expectant waiting and preparation for the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the babe in a manger . . . and His second coming as the conquering King of kings.

Today we will sharpen our focus on WAITING. I have never been good at waiting. As a child, the hardest thing for me was waiting for Christmas Eve, when each of the Boland children would be allowed to open one of our Christmas presents that lay so tantalizingly under the tree. After we completed that family tradition, I had to endure the long night of tossing and turning, “counting sheep,” and waiting for the sun to come up one that one day I had waited every day of the year to arrive.

Waiting today is just as difficult as it was for me as a child, for a variety of different reasons. Impatience is deeply ingrained in my sin nature. I have to keep reminding myself that waiting is one of God’s great graces in our lives, because waiting is a big part of God’s perfect plan for each one of us to mature us and grow us up in our faith.

What have you been waiting for from God this year? The prophet Isaiah said, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 ESV). Clearly, Isaiah was talking about the Source of our power. When you picture the eagle in flight, you see that he is completely dependent upon the Lord, who has given him wings and the unseen currents of air on which he soars.

To wait upon the Lord is to live a life of dependence and trust in a power infinitely greater than our own. It is to trust God even when we cannot trace Him. It is to know that God’s will often requires waiting. And how are we to wait? We are to wait expectantly, filled with confident hope, knowing that whatever we receive from the hand of our God is always what is best for us, and it always does its best work in our lives when it comes to us in God’s perfect timing.

So as you are waiting for Christmas this year and waiting on your God to answer your prayers, let the unseen currents of life’s pressures, challenges, and difficulties lift you higher and higher, knowing that your strength is being renewed by your Redeemer . . . day by day and moment by moment. 

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

He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:22)

The “stuff” of this life can blind us to what matters most, especially to our intimate, personal relationship with our Savior. The Bible relates the heart-wrenching story of a rich young man who had an unsettling encounter with Jesus Christ. So important is this story that we find it in all three of the synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

A man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”  Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:16-22)

This man had what most people want. He had money and possessions. He had social status. He had an education. He had his youth. In the eyes of the watching world, this rich young man had it all! But deep down in his heart, he knew there was still something missing that all the stuff in this world could never satisfy. At the end of the story, we learn that what he did not have was the one thing he really needed: a Savior.  

The young man could not see his own sin. He claimed to have kept the law, yet, we know he actually had broken every commandment, starting with the first: “You shall have no other gods before me.” His stuff was his god, and his stuff had blinded him to what he needed most. Surely when he was speaking with Jesus about the commandments, he should have recalled verses from the Old Testament Scriptures:

There is no one who does not sin. (1 Kings 8:46)

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? (Psalm 103:3)

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

Jesus pierced the man’s misplaced confidence and went straight to the heart of the matter: “Sell your stuff and follow your Savior!” It is important to understand that this is not a command to every Christian. Many who follow Jesus have great wealth; they understand that the reason they have this wealth is to witness to the One who has given it to them. You may remember that Zacchaeus offered to give half of his money away (Luke 19), and Jesus was pleased with this response.

You see, Jesus knows exactly what we all need. He knew that the stuff this rich young man possessed had lured his heart away from a personal relationship with his Savior. What had given this man such great social status — wealth — stood in the way of a saving relationship with Jesus. If the rich young man had let go of his stuff, he would have received unimaginable riches in his Savior (Ephesians 3:8). And along with that, he would have acquired a new family with whom to share what matters most in life: the love of God and the God of love.

Is there anything standing in the way of your right relationship with your Savior? Remember, it is never what you possess, but what possesses you.

One final thought: I don’t believe this young man went away sad just because he had great wealth. He loved his great wealth; if he hadn’t loved his stuff so much, he would have been willing to set it aside. The gospels are telling us that he went away sad because he was choosing to walk away from the only thing he truly needed: the love of Christ.

This account reminds me to heed the exhortation from the letter to the Hebrews:

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus . . . (Hebrews 12:1-2)

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

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

Did you know that you have been given a trust account? Everything you have you have received from God – your gifts, your talents, your abilities, your relationships, your opportunities, your resources – EVERYTHING! All that you have is a gift from God, and it has all been entrusted to your care and management. The term for this is stewardship; a steward is one who oversees the affairs and assets of another. Because God owns it all, we are given the responsibility to steward and care for all we have received from Him.

David, who was inspired by the Spirit of God to write Psalm 24, knew this truth well. He understood that God owns everything, and that he, David, was simply the steward over whatever God had given to him. Here is the way for you and I to look at it: It was God’s before it was yours, and it will still be God’s after you are gone. God will simply loan all of it to someone else to steward for His glory and the good of human flourishing.

When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He entrusted all of His creation to their care. The first job for mankind was to manage and steward all that God had given to them, and that role Adam and Eve were privileged to live out has never been rescinded.

Even after the fall, we are still given the responsibility to take care of all God gives us. We are to treat everything we have as a trust, because God has entrusted it to our care. Here is an important point to keep in view: The wisdom of the world says, “If we don’t own it, we won’t take care of it!” But the Word of God says, “Because He owns it all, we must take the best possible care of it!” And the more we have been given, the more we are in debt to the One who gave it to us, and the more responsible and accountable we must be for how we care, manage, and steward it.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48)

How are you doing at managing the trust account God has given you? Are you using it all for God’s glory and the good of others to expand the cause of His kingdom? Do you need to make changes in any area of your life? The key to living as God’s steward is to live in the light of eternity and to see life from God’s perspective throughout the brief span of time we have been given on this side of the grave. When we do that, we can be assured that one day we will hear those two most remarkable words from our God: “Well done!”

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