Grace for the Race

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. (Mark 10:51)

Passing through Jericho, the popular resort city rebuilt by Herod the Great, Jesus and His disciples encountered a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. It was not uncommon in the ancient world to encounter beggars who had a variety of different reasons for begging. Any significant physical disability would have made it difficult to find work, as most work in that day required manual labor. Bartimaeus was begging due to blindness, an affliction which many people believed to be a punishment from God levied because of sin. (You’ll recall that Job’s three friends immediately assumed that the terrible tragedies that suddenly befell Job were brought on my some sin in Job’s life.) Jesus would dispel this misconception when His disciples asked this very question about a man who had been born blind (John 9:2).

Blind Bartimaeus called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” identifying Jesus as the promised Messiah. Bartimaeus asked in faith and Jesus answered. But notice the response from Jesus that is highlighted by our verse for today: “What do you want me to do for you?” It would seem obvious that Bartimaeus wanted to be able to see, but Jesus asked a clarifying question. What kind of mercy did the man desire? Did he want some money or food? Was he merely looking for another hand-out? In asking Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus was moving the man beyond his broken condition to his blessed cure.

“Rabbi, I want to see,” Bartimaeus replied (Mark 10:51).

It’s important to keep in mind what had happened just before this encounter with the blind man. Jesus had asked the very same question of His disciples James and John, and their response was to ask for positions of honor in heaven. To this Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you are asking” (Mark 10:38). You see, James and John were also afflicted with a broken condition, which was evidenced by their desire for positions of honor. They too needed Jesus to lead them beyond their broken condition, and that is exactly what this clarifying question is designed to do.

Regardless of where this message finds you today, how will you answer Jesus when He asks you, “What do you want me to do for you?” Remember, ask and He will answer, but, as it was with James and John, who had demonstrated that they were every bit as blind as Bartimaeus when they asked for the wrong blessing, Jesus will always answer with what you need . . . but not necessarily with what you want.   

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

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path. (Matthew 13:3-4)

The soil of the sanctified life can get a bit hard from time to time. It can happen when we face unexpected challenges. It can happen when we face unmet expectations. It can happen when we encounter unforeseen loss. Life is hard; it can, from time to time, harden us. So we must always be on the lookout for any signs of “hard soil” in our hearts and allow God to till it with the truths of the Gospel. Below are two simple steps to take that will help the process of softening hard soil in our hearts.

Examination

The first step is to take time for self-reflection. Set aside to let the Scriptures search your heart and uncover any areas that may be growing cold, distant, or hard. We must first identify where the hard soil is before we can go to work on softening it.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

In this passage David was asking God to make sure that his hatred for his enemies was not man-centered, but God-centered. David was zealous for the justice of God, and he wanted God to point him in the direction of any wrong motives so that God could change them.

Excavation

The second step is to let the Lord do His work in softening our hard soil by digging down into the depths of our hearts through the truths of Scripture.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Here David was asking God to excavate his heart, which had been hardened through his sins of adultery and murder. He knew it would take the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to till the hard soil so that God could then begin to plant new and better thoughts and desires.

When we read the parable of the soils (Matthew 13:3-8) we must understand that, unlike our paved roads today, most of the roads in Jesus’ day were hardened, dirt-packed paths. The more they were traveled on, the harder they became. The consequences were clear: When the “seed” of the Word of God is distributed, some of those seeds fell on that hardened surface and was not absorbed; “The birds came and ate it up” (Matthew 13:5).

Perhaps you have been trampled on by the difficulties or disappointments of life. Don’t let the birds steal the seed of the Word that have been planted in your heart. Look to Jesus, and He will soften the soil of your heart; the seed will take root and produce new fruit.

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

Let your light shine before men. (Matthew 5:16)

The moon is a wonderful picture of a Christian. Just like the moon, which has no light of its own and reflects the light of the sun, Christians have no light of their own; they are to reflect the light of the Son. Read on and be encouraged today!

We live in a very dark world that desperately needs to see the light. Now, there is natural light that is needed to sustain physical life and there is the supernatural Light that is needed to sustain eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World; when we are in Christ, we are given the great privilege of reflecting His light for all the world to see (2 Corinthians 3:18). But there are two cosmic conditions that we see in nature which we must guard against in our own lives to make sure we do not obscure His light in any way from those who need to see it.

Solar Eclipse – When the moon comes between the sun and the earth, the moon blocks the light of the sun. This is the picture of the Christian who gets in the way of God, boasting, “Look at me and all I have done!” This person is building a monument to man’s glory, not God’s glory; he or she is no longer shining the reflected light of the Son. As the moon is the lesser light, we must remember we too are the lesser light. “Therefore, as it is written: ‘”‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord'” (1 Corinthians 1:31).

Lunar Eclipse – When the earth comes between the sun and the moon, the earth blocks the light of the sun. This is the perfect picture of worldliness. Jesus warned us in the parable of the soils not to be “the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). When the cares of this world capture our hearts and we get bogged down in the things of this world, we no longer reflect the glorious light of the Son.  

If we are going to be the moon God intends us to be and avoid what I call the believer’s blackout, we must keep our focus directly on the Son. By fixing our eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we will reflect His light into a dark world that needs Jesus for healing and sanity.

Let me offer you a final word of encouragement before we close. We are all different; thus we simply need to be the person God intends us to be and not try to be someone else. So if you are being yourself when reflecting the light of Jesus and you make some waves along the way, don’t fret about a negative response or let it water down your witness. The moon makes waves every day! Be a moonbeam believer and reflect the Son; what the moon is to the physical world, you are to the spiritual world.

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

Dear Kim,

I wish I had the right words to express how I truly feel in my heart after 30 years in God’s holy covenant of marriage with you. Some years were easy. Others were hard. We both know that I am not easy to live with. But I count every year with you as the greatest gift God has given me after salvation.

God has given us the grace to always team up together and never give up, and for that I am eternally grateful. You have been my best friend and my one true love in this life. I know that there have been too many times throughout our marriage when I have not demonstrated the patient, kind, selfless love that God calls us to, and for that I am truly sorry. I don’t know how many more anniversaries God will give us, but I do know this: For whatever time is left, I vow once again, as I did 30 years ago today, to love you with all my heart — for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. To God be the glory for the incredible gift of being your husband!

I love you, Kim. As we celebrate this special day, I want to offer up the following prayer to the One who has kept us faithful to Him and to each other throughout all these years together.

Gracious Jesus,

Thank you for your love, mercy, and grace that has been sanctifying our marriage for the past 30 years. Without you sitting on the throne of our lives and always getting the last word, we would have ended up as another sad statistic. In those moments when we thought we had reached rock bottom, it was you who reminded us that you are the Rock we were standing on. I pray that you strengthen the bonds of our love for you and for each other in order to accomplish your purpose for marriage: to put the Gospel on display and to point others — especially our children — to you. As you laid down your life for us, help me to lay down my life for Kim — and in so doing, lift her up to your throne of grace as the cherished wife she is, bringing all honor, glory, and praise to your great name. Amen.

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. (Proverbs 14:29)

Did you hear the story about the man who went to his doctor to be tested for patience and the results came back negative? Those who know me best will tell you that I am that man far more often than I would care to admit. There seems to be nothing harder to do than to wait on God’s perfect timing in our imperfect lives.

Impatience is harmful in so many ways. It harms us physically. It harms us emotionally. It harms us mentally. And it harms us spiritually. Every relationship in our lives is negatively impacted by our impatience. Our Scripture verse for today show us how impatience can turn into the folly of man-centered, unrighteous, sinful anger. Yet there is great hope for all of us who struggle with impatience.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Patience from a biblical perspective bears up under a burden and remains steadfast in the midst of trying and difficult circumstances. Patience is the power to live totally surrendered to the will of God, especially when His will makes no sense to us. And this power is given to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The patient person keeps focused on Christ, not his or her circumstances. The patient person lives in the light of eternity, knowing that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. The patient person leaves room for God to work in His way, in His time, and for His ultimate glory. In others words, the patient person lets God be God!

Is your life marked by patience or folly? Remember, patience does not come naturally to us. We are impatient by sinful nature, both vertically with God and horizontally with the people in our lives . . . even with ourselves. That is why we must keep Jesus on the throne of our lives, allowing Him to work His will in His way and in His timing, knowing that He who began a good work in us will one day bring it to completion.

The popular saying, “Patience is a virtue” is true. Whatever you might be facing today that is testing your patience, take it to Jesus and He will give you everything you need to bear up under it with freedom, joy, and faithfulness to Him.

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

Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you.” (Mark 10:28)

Jesus was speaking to the rich young man and teaching about the kingdom of God (Mark 10:17-23). Peter, who was never at a loss for words, piped up and uttered perhaps the greatest statement on surrender in all of sacred Scripture. I am not sure how many of us can honestly say what Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, we have left everything to follow you!” Yet when we truly surrender our lives to Jesus, we will discover a special blessing that can only be found on the other side of surrender.

C. S. Lewis put it this way: “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become—because he made us.”

To surrender is to say “Yes” to God and “No” to everyone and everything else. On the other hand, to say “No” to God is to deny our own humanity, which is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. They refused to surrender to God (to depend, trust, and count on Him), and they plunged all of creation into a tailspin of brokenness. But God did not leave them (or us) in our brokenness. The perfect, surrendered Savior was already on His way to reverse the curse brought on by Adam and Eve’s act of cosmic treason. 

The surrendered life of our Savior teaches us that surrender to God is not a passive resignation that leads to a life of fatalism and accepting the status quo. The surrendered life is the life that is offered and available to be used by God — whenever and wherever He chooses — even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

Surrender did not make sense to Moses, but he was obedient to God’s call and went back to Egypt to deliver God’s people out of bondage. Surrender did not make sense to Saul as he was persecuting the first-century church, but he was obedient to God’s call and went on to write over half of the New Testament as the apostle Paul.

So let me ask you this: Where in your life is God calling you to surrender . . . but you are resisting because it simply doesn’t make sense to you? William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said, “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender.” On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your power as it relates to your surrender to your Savior? Personally? Professionally? Relationally?

Look at it this way:

Everyone surrenders to something!

If you are not living a life surrendered to God, you are most certainly living a life surrendered to something smaller than God. For many, that “something” can be found on the following list: power, prestige, position, prosperity, and pleasure. Resolve today to surrender, as Peter did, and leave everything behind and follow Him. Truly, there is no sweeter life that we can be living! 

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

Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 119:165)

The world we live in longs for the experience of peace at any cost. Sadly, the closest many get to it is the R.I.P etched on their tombstones. Do you have a special place where you go for a moment of peace when you want to get away from the hustle and bustle and stresses of life? Well, I have a word of cosmic comfort for you today; I will point you toward a peaceful place like no other on this side of the grave.

When was the last time you thought of the Bible as a place where you can go and find peace? For far too many, the Bible is the place of last resort after we have tried everything else. But this is not for you! The psalmist knew that the only place he could count on for finding peace was in the Scriptures. And notice the kind of peace the psalmist identifies: great peace. Great peace is offered to those who look to nothing smaller than God and His Holy Word. 

So here is the question that must be asked: Do you truly love the Word of God? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is by looking at the amount of time you spend in the Word of God — daily . . . weekly . . . monthly. When you love something, regardless of what it might be, you want to spend time with it – whether it is a favorite food or a faithful friend. Think about it this way: We can watch the movies we love over and over and over again. Can the same thing be said about your desire to read through the Bible over and over and over again? 

There is one more thing expressed in today’s passage for you to consider. Those who love the Word of God experience stability when others around them stumble. Think about it this way: Whether living in a season of plenty and prosperity or a season of scarcity and lack, the one who loves God’s Word does not stumble like many who find it difficult to navigate the waters of either advantage or adversity. Those who anchor in the truths of the Almighty are able to rise above the challenges of temporal life. Remember, the more time you spend with God in His Word, the greater peace you will experience in your life, regardless of the circumstances you face.

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

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (Corinthians 12:10)

Other than our Lord Jesus Christ, no one in all of sacred Scripture endured more suffering than the apostle Paul. Paul was not reclining in the comfort of some plush ivory tower when he wrote his epistles; many of them were penned from prison floors while chained to Roman guards. And that was not all. Paul was —

• Five times scourged by the religious leaders
• Three times beaten with rods
• Three times shipwrecked
• One night and a day adrift at sea
• One time stoned and left for dead
• In danger from rivers and robbers
• In danger in cities and deserts and on the sea
• Forced to endure hunger, thirst, and sleepless nights

So how could a man who had gone through so much pain and suffering say, “When I am weak, then I am strong”? The answer is that in his human weakness, Paul relied on and rested in God’s supernatural strength — the strength that sustained him through everything he had to endure for the advancement of the Gospel. As paradoxical as it seems, it is only when we acknowledge our own weakness that we begin to advance in the strength of our Savior. Trusting in our own strength, which amounts to removing Jesus from the throne of our lives, inevitably leads to pride and self-sufficiency. But when we acknowledge our own weakness, God pours His strength out into our lives. 

Now, God is not expecting us to seek to be week. We have been commanded by God to do everything in our power to accomplish His will in our lives. But when we realize we cannot do it in our own strength, we begin to tap into the strength of the Almighty. Without our weakness, we would never know our need for God’s grace to sustain us when we are experiencing trials and difficulties. Paul knew that it was only through the strength of his Savior that he was able to fight the good fight of faith and finish his race.

Do you know this truth today? When you sense your human weakness, do you lean more into your Lord? The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that resides in you (Ephesians 1:19-20), and that power is able to sustain you in the midst of every storm. Remember, only what we do in His strength brings glory to God and eternal good to others. There truly is strength in weakness! 

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

Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. (Romans 8:29)

You are probably familiar with the story of the events of Israel’s deliverance from their slavery in Egypt,which is related in the book of Exodus. God called Moses to lead His people Israel out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. The word exodus literally means “the road out.” The events of Israel’s exodus, of course, were pointing to the eternal exodus, which would be led by a greater Moses, our Lord Jesus Christ, through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection from the grave.

If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you have received the gift of this eternal exodus, having been set free from sin, Satan, and death. You have also received what I call the Everyday Exodus, which takes you on the road out of self-centered and self-absorbed self-rule. God is bringing you to the end of yourself each day as you walk with Christ through the details of daily living. Your road out is paved by the presence of God. The more you draw near to God through all the means of grace He has given us – Bible study, prayer, worship, service, etc. – the more God draws you away from yourself and toward your Savior.

I often mention a question that was posed by my first spiritual father, Dr. D. James Kennedy, who said, “God saved you then; is He saving you now?” I honestly had no idea what he was talking about when I first heard him say that. I am a whole lot older and a little bit wiser today; now I understand. God’s greatest goal for our lives is Christlikeness, and He will accomplish that transformation by any means necessary.

God is leading us out of our bondage to self-centered and self-absorbed self-rule and shepherding us toward a Savior-centered, Savior-absorbed, Savior-ruled existence. This is the only life worth living, because when Jesus in on the throne of our lives, we begin to discover the true purpose for which we have been created: to be like Jesus. 

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

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)

I still remember one of the prayers my mom and dad would recite with me at bedtime when I was a child:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I am reminded of that long-ago prayer when I read Psalm 4:8, and it makes sense coming from the pen of David. There would have been much to keep him awake at night. David was on the run from King Saul, who was seeking to kill him; that knowledge could have kept David from getting a good night’s rest if he had allowed his mind to wander away from his God. Years later, David’s son Absalom tried to wrest the throne of Israel from his father, and this too would have been cause for insomnia. But David refused to let the circumstances in life shift his focus away from his God.

We live in a sleep-deprived culture. We are bombarded with information that pours in on us through advancing technology, 24-hour headline news, and a cell phone that is on constant alert. When we finally turn off every electronic device and crawl into bed at night, it is the first time we are experiencing a measure of silence . . . and the sound of that silence can be deafening!

This was not the case with David. When he would lie down at night, he looked to God to disrupt his distress and distractions and deliver him over to a restful sleep. The key for David during the sound of silence was to set his heart on things above. “You have filled my heart with greater joy,” he wrote, and he refused to focus on things below, such as “when their grain and new wine abound” (Psalm 4:7). Some commentators have identified this psalm as “A Night Prayer.”

Do you see the difference in David’s experience of joy? His confident focus on things above was rooted in God. If we focus on things below, the condition of our hearts is at the mercy of circumstances. David’s focus was well beyond the reach of circumstances because he knew that when we focus on God, we experience an inner joy that produces a peace that passes all understanding. Regardless of what David was facing in life, he kept his focus on God, and he became known as “the man after God’s own heart,” who would lie down in peace and sleep in safety.

Is this the confession of your life when you lie down at night? It can be if you will center your mind on Christ and not on your circumstances. Remember, when we finally get past all of the distractions of the day and close our eyes to sleep, God does not. God is on watch so that we don’t need to be. If you lie still for a moment, you just might hear Him whisper, “Rest well in your redemption, my child. I will keep watch tonight.”

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