Good morning!

Several years ago, on a Monday night as I was praying, these words came into my mind: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”

I was praying about relationships and living in this world with others, especially those who are not believers. For me I think the words I found myself mulling over relate to today’s attribute of God. Good. Our brokenness and humanness drives us to quantify and qualify words like love and good as being one hundred percent warm and fuzzy, soft edges with no sharp distinctions.

But what did Jesus Christ share about God’s character when it comes to His goodness?

For example love’s hard edge includes this idea – sin is still sin even when I love the person who is sinning - that is God’s truth. God is good and loves us and shares with us through Jesus (several times in the gospels) to go and sin no more – Jesus shares the hard edge of love. Your sins are forgiven (love), go and sin no more (love’s hard edge).

This seems to me to be a key part of our idea that God is good. He loves us in truth – His truth. There are really no blurred lines.

Questions that come to mind in addition to the thoughts above are - How often do I use that expression – God is good? What do I mean when I share this expression? What am I trying to communicate about God when I say this? How has God been good in my life – even when it didn’t seem like it?

• Good

Some definitions of this word:

• that which is morally right; righteousness (God is the only one holy, morally right and righteous)
• having the qualities required for a particular role (there is only one God)
• benefit or advantage to someone or something (God’s goodness is available and of benefit to - think everyone and everything)

The idea of Good being an attribute of God could be applied as a qualifier to many of His other attributes – for example God being accessible – this is goodness of God; God being faithful – this is goodness of God; God is generous – this is goodness of God. You see how God is Good is reflected in so many of His other attributes.

Psalm 25:6-9 “Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”

Comments: When we pray, it seems like we ought to acknowledge God’s Goodness on a regular basis. Thanking our Lord for His goodness seems to be the kind of gratitude that glorifies our Lord – whether we thank God privately or publicly. Here the writer of this Psalm is calls out this attribute of God directly. Of course God already knows he understands this but God also appreciates vocal and written proclamation of who He is…

Psalm 145:6-9 “They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

Comments: God’s goodness is encapsulated in these expressions – awesome works, great deeds, abundant goodness. Then to underscore God goodness, the Psalmist shares something we come to understand (most of the time) as a believer – that God loves us all shared here as “the Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made”. This warms me to the core because it speaks to the breadth and depth of God’s goodness.

1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
Comments: As I read these verses, my mind goes to what it must have been like before the fall. At that time it would have been clear that Everything God created IS GOOD! I think sometimes in this fallen world it is easy to miss the Goodness of God in the gifts we receive in life and we forget sometimes to receive God’s blessings – God’s goodness with prayer and thanksgiving that is founded or sourced from God’s own word.

Other references on God’s goodness for you to contemplate:

• Psalm 100:5
• Nahum 1:7
• Romans 1:19-20

Do a little research on the web or in your Bible. There is lot on this topic of God’s goodness.

Here I go back to the thought I started with: “Love has a hard edge – that edge is God’s truth”. I would contend that God’s Goodness might be embodied in this thought - love with a hard edge has dimension and depth and in the case of God’s goodness was, is and will always be expressed through eternity.

My prayer for each of us as we enter this weekend is that we celebrate the Goodness of God in all the ways it shows up in our lives, sharing back to God in prayer our gratitude for all His goodness including the goodness and hard edged love we experience in receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing and walking with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Patrick

Good morning!

Seems we can focus on this topic a lot - a challenge for you to consider God’s Word around worry and anxiousness; seeking to be perfect. I think it is probably okay to spend frequent time on this area as living in a challenging world generates a lot of situations that can stimulate worry. Recently for me this includes worry and anxiety over health concerns. That said God shares the following with us:

• Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (See also Luke 12:22)
• Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (See also Luke 12:25)
• Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
• 1 Peter 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
• Philippians 4:5-7 “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 
I had read a book by Shauna Niequist called “Present Over Perfect” a few years ago now.
 
As her book delves into the topic of perfection and worry, many of us probably worry about how perfectly we are serving Christ, how perfect we are as a Christian, how perfect we look on Facebook. Rather than focusing on our relationships – first with Jesus and then with those around us.
 
All of this would suggest that we do worry and that part of what we worry about is whether we have done enough – have we served enough for Christ. From scripture we know that is not how it works – anxiety, worrying and striving for perfection is not what earns us salvation. That comes through saying yes in our hearts to the gift that God put in front of us in His Son Jesus Christ, yes to a daily relationship with Jesus – yes to the fact He did all the work – all the “Perfect” work on our behalf.
 
In our striving to be perfect we often times lose ourselves, make bad decisions that impact our health, our relationships, the quality of our work and the quality of our relationship with God. Christ falls from the center and we replace Him with some ideal of what perfect is and we chase that. Of course, in doing so, we have a created an idol, a false little “g” god.
 
All of that drives us to sicken ourselves, to worry, to be anxious in our living. The scripture above from Matthew has Jesus sharing with his disciples that worrying does nothing for us – the life and days that God planned for us does not change. In 1 Peter we hear that God wants us to set worry in front of Him. And in Philippians, as we go to Jesus in prayer, we receive the peace of God which will protect our hearts and minds. God is so good to us when we turn to Him.
 
Why, because he cares, which is another way of saying that He loves us!
 
With the above as a backdrop, something Shauna shared towards the end of her book struck me, so I share it here – maybe it will resonate with you as well:

• “…but this is the promise I make to my God: I will never again be so careless, so cavalier with the body and soul you’ve given me.
• They are the only things in all the world that have been entrusted entirely to me, and I stewarded them poorly, worshiping for a time at the altars of productivity, capability, busyness and distraction. This body and soul will become again what God intended them to be: living sacrifices, offered only to Him. I will spend my life on meaning, on connection, on love, on freedom. I will not waste one more day trapped in comparison, competition, proving, and earning. That’s the currency of a culture that has nothing to offer me. [my comments here…chasing things of this world generates worry and anxiety]…
• It is not too strong to say that on this summer morning, sitting at a fire pit on a peninsula on Lake Geneva, I’m offering myself and my whole life, once again, to Jesus, and in that, I’m leaving behind both my tangle with achievement and workaholism and my neglect of my body and my spirit. I’m offering to Jesus a body, a mind, a spirit, a life, a voice, a table.
• Here is the distinction: it is for Him… It is for Jesus. More important it is with Jesus.”

 
I hope and pray this morning that this gives you something to reflect on as you consider your relationship with Jesus – putting away the idea of perfection – worrying, anxiety and earning – and accepting the idea that – just giving ourselves to Jesus starts with being “present” with Him – abiding in Him, doing our life with Him.
 
Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into this weekend is that we can set aside the constant worry and anxiety, the constant striving for acceptance and instead just invite Your presence into all we do. Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick

Good morning!

Digging through old sermon notes. I was moved a few years ago by a sermon on the verses shared below. The sermon was powerful and so well done, I probably should just stay away from any commentary on this. But it was so good and so many things hit home for me. Here are the verses covered – most of you are familiar with Hebrews 11:1. All the verses of course are important to what God shares here in His word. After the verses I share some of my thoughts on the richness of what God shares with us in this part of scripture.
 
Hebrews 10:35-11:3
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,
 
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”
 
And,
 
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
 
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
 
(v11:1) Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
 
V11:1 may be considered the essence of Christian faith – faith is filled with conviction and the belief in promises (assurance). How do you define faith? Many of us might define it as blind, unknowing, uncertain…but this piece of Hebrews suggest otherwise.
 
Some nuggets from the sermon. What is faith, what is Christian faith:

• Faith is - when it doesn’t go your way, knowing God is still with you
• Faith – is for something hoped for, but not yet seen – the something hoped for are the promises of God – promises that God has given us for our future –
  • That I will be made perfect in Christ (Hebrews 10:14)
  • I will have eternal life and be raised up on the last day (Ephesians 2:5-7 John 3:14-16 Romans 6:22-23)
  • I have a living hope – promised resurrection (1 Peter 1:3 John 11:24-26 Romans 6:5 Revelation 20:6)
  • I have salvation (Acts 4:11-13 Romans 1:16 Ephesians 1:13-14)
  • I am made a child of God (made like Him) (Romans 8:13-15 Galatians 3:25-27)
  • I will live in the new heaven, new earth (2 Peter 3:12-14 Revelation 21:1-3)
  • I have treasures stored in heaven (Matthew 6:18-20)
  • And many more…
• Faith is confidence in the future promises of God – because of the God who promises.
• Faith is future certainty because of Devine integrity

 
None of this might make any sense if you do not believe in God, the God of the Bible, the character of God that is shared with us. If I cannot trust God, if I do not believe in God’s integrity, how would I ever have faith…at least how would I ever have faith in the promises of God?
 
However, if I trust God (something I need to work on daily), all of God’s promises are true. If all of God’s promises are true, faith is not something uncertain at all.
 
Some implications of all of this as presented in the sermon and worth reading, worth considering (my comments included):

• Faith is based on facts. This is absolutely true in if you believe in the integrity of God, truth of His Word, the truth of His character.
• Faith in God is strengthen by the Word of God. The more I get to know God by studying the Bible, the more likely my faith in God will become deeper.
• Faith is not confidence in what God has not promised. Do not put words in God’s mouth. All of the promises above are spiritual and eternal promises. We often want to extend God’s promises to material things, to how life should be…these kinds of promises – the prosperity gospel – really are not part of God’s promises. Often we get mad when we or those close to us get sick or have troubles…God does not promise a perfect life – in fact Christ promised trouble in this world if we follow him. It doesn’t mean we do not pray for healing, health or a smooth path.
• Faith is confidence in what God said. So get to know what God has said. I love this implication – it points to the need to spend time with God, in prayer and most importantly in His Word.
• As Christians we have lots of evidence that should support our Christian faith –
  • Creation
  • Israel – a nation God established and is still here
  • Christ

 
I will leave you with this.
 
1 Corinthians 15:13-15

• If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

 
Do you believe this? Any of the discussion above about faith – none of it matters if Christ was not resurrected.
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we enter this weekend is that each of us praise God for knowing the truth of the Gospel – You, Jesus Christ, came for our salvation, suffered on our behalf, took our sins – past, present and future, to the Cross, died, conquered death and rose on the 3rd day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father! That each of us carries this faith. Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick




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