The Need That Only God Can Meet

Mother Teresa worked for years with some of the world’s neediest human beings. This hands-on experience helped her to see beyond the surface of the diseased and suffering patients being given care. She began to see a great unmet need. A basic need in everyone she met. A need for God.

She writes in her book, A Simple Path -“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

But this hunger for God is not something new. It goes all the way back to the Garden. With the broken fellowship that ensued Adam and Eve’s departure from the intimate walk they had experienced with God. The great French thinker and inventor Blaise Pascal identified this problem within himself:

“What else does this French mathematician craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself” ( Pensees #425).

It may be that Pascal is echoing the same truth that St. Augustine of Hippo discovered and wrote about in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” This seems to be a universal truth that extends through time and to every person who has ever lived.

Jesus stated clearly that He has the authority to give eternal life to all those that the Father had given him. Then with the next statement, he explained the meaning of the phrase -“eternal life.” Jesus said, “And this is eternal life: that people know you, the only true God, and that they know Jesus Christ, the One you sent” (John 17:3). The sense of knowing described here is the idea of an authentic, trusting and loving relationship with God.

Only God can meet the need (yearning, emptiness, loneliness) that exists in the heart of all those He has created. We are after all His creations meant to live in a real fellowship and relationship with Him. It turns out that Jesus Christ is the key given to mankind that will unlock this gift of eternal life.

All that awaits is for those who know their need – to put their hands on the key (Jesus Christ). . .  and open the door. On the inside, the room is filled with light, joy, hope and the warmth of a Loving God.

“Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!” – Psalm 34:8

The Question of Who Jesus Really Is? – (Mere Christianity)

Today I was talking to a teacher who told me the following passage from the book, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis was used by God in a powerful way to help her come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ. Here it is:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

Tim Keller has more recently expressed the options this way: “Jesus is one of the following: Lord, Lunatic, Liar or Legend. Only four possibilities.” After seeing the beaten, wounded and crucified Jesus, now risen from the dead and standing before him, the Apostle Thomas said: “My Lord and my God!”

How about you? What do you believe?

God’s Best,

Dar

The God Who Is . . . Awesome.

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2).

Oh, Lord God Almighty, may I never forget how awesome You are. May I continually stand in wonder and amazement of who You are and what You have done. Open my eyes that I may see You for who You really are and not who I might imagine You to be.

While I enjoy the benefits of Your great love and kindness toward me, may I never take You or Your love for granted. May I stand in holy reverence of You and bring honor to Your name in all that I do.

Oh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, may Your mighty works and ways of ages past never come to an end. Do not forsake or leave me in my need of You. Hold me, Lord, near you. I desperately need You. If I ever begin to lose my sense of continuing need for Your power, presence, protection, guidance and continuing salvation,  then wake me from my slumber! May You O’ Eternal King, be lifted up and glorified by my every thought of You.

Oh, Savior, Strong to Save, may You, as You have promised and in Your absolute holiness, perfect justice and unquestionable righteousness, balance, one day, the great books of heaven.

But God of Abundant Mercy, God of Exceeding Patience, God of Abounding Forgiveness, remember those of us who cling only to the Blood Stained Cross of our Christ. Remember those of us who rely on the Perfect Life and Finished Work of Our Risen King!

May You, Oh, Lion-Lamb of God, Eternal God and Shepherd King be glorified in all my words . . . in all my speech may Your Name be Praised.

May All Honor, Glory and Praise be Yours To All The Nations until You come again.

Amen.

Dar

The God Who . . .”really is the Savior of the world.”

“And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left [meaning:people living in spiritual darkness] . . .” ( Jonah 4:11).

During the season of Christmas we are often reminded through hymns and carols of the announcement of the Angelic ambassadors at the birth of Christ the Lord –  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” The King of Glory has invaded planet earth as a baby in a manger, to inaugurate His kingdom’s reign over all the earth.

The God of the Universe intends to ultimately personally govern His creation and gather people for Himself from around the globe to receive the worship that is due Him. As the scene of praise to God that is pictured for the Apostle John illustrates, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). It is Jesus Christ who is the returning King and Savior of the world!

Looking back through God’s previous interventions into history and His collected pronouncements found in His Word, it is fairly easy for us today to see that God fully intends to seek and find the lost from around the world. But for the prophet Jonah this is a bit harder to fathom. In fact, in regards to  compassion and concern for the lost, Jonah only has eyes for his own people, the people of Israel.

But God’s passion and compassion is and always has been for His people around the world as He was about to demonstrate to Jonah. Jonah was sent to preach repentance to the great but also evil Assyrian city of Nineveh. After running off in the opposite direction and finally being spit out by a great fish, Jonah did preach to the Ninevites. As you remember, the Ninevites repented and believed God and God relented and poured out His great mercy to them.

Several centuries later, Jesus reminded the wicked and unbelieving Pharisees of God’s working through Jonah to save the people of Nineveh. Jesus promised them that, “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,and now something greater than Jonah is here [Jesus referring to Himself]” (Matt. 12:41).

During His earthly ministry, Jesus made sure that God’s offer of salvation was first given to the lost sheep of Israel – but it didn’t end there.  The gospels record the intentional travels of Jesus into several Gentile areas where He poured out His merciful healing and eternal salvation to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

John tells of one occasion when Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well in Sychar. Not only did she put her faith in Jesus but after Jesus accepted the Samaritan people’s invitation to spend some time with them many of the cities residents were able to say, “We no longer believe just because of what you said [the testimony of the women at the well], now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”(John 4:42).

The world-wide mission of Jesus to claim His lost sheep from every single land and island is so important that when asked about end times by His disciples, Jesus responded,  “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).

What Abraham knew (“in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”) . . . Jonah would soon learn  . . . and the Pharisees would be taught . . . and the Samaritans would discover . . . and now even we know . . . Jesus really is the Savior of the world!

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Merry Christmas and God’s Best,

Dar

The God Who Created, Owns and Rules Over Every Nook And Cranny

“. . . and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obadiah 1:21).

In the prophecy of Obadiah, we find an assurance to God’s people of his triumphant justice working on their behalf. The prophet ends this short pronouncement with the hopeful promise and divine confirmation that,  “. . . the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.”

In reality the world has been, is now and always will be God’s. It is true that evil exists here and at times it may seem that the planet has indeed been entirely taken over by agents of sin, corruption, disease, death and suffering. But often appearances are misleading and in this issue – that is the case. The world is in fact still firmly in the grasps of its Creator, Sustainer and Redeeming King!

But how can I say this when we all know the reality of present pain, injustice, immorality and wickedness?

First, I can say it because God is, in fact, the Creator of this world and of all that we can see and can’t see. The first verse of the Bible is one of it’s clearest, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Despite the naysayers of this present age, everything in nature shouts of a divine and loving Architect/Builder who has brought into existence an endlessly complex  world, full of astounding beauty, majesty and wonder.

Secondly, the very Word of God makes plain that this world has not been either abandoned nor taken completely over by an alien force. Just a quick glance at the Psalms reveals the confident and certain words of the writer, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). “For the LORD Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth” (Psalm 47:2). And,  “. . . for the world and all that is in it is mine” (Psalm 50:12b).

Thirdly, even though there is an undeniable presence of evil in this world, we are assured that at a future date known only to God, he will completely eradicate all evil. He will rule and reign over a world without devils, decay and destruction. The apostle John writes in the letter to the seven churches, “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'” (Revelation 11:15).

Finally, just as the first book of the Bible speaks of a pristine creation, the last book speaks of a re-creation, restoration and renewal of all things. Not only will the devil and all his demons be dispatched forever, but all sources of mourning, crying, pain and death will be erased. God is quoted as saying, “Behold, I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5).

I’ll close with a hymn entitled, “This Is My Father’s World.” After his death in 1901, Maltbie Babcock’s wife published this hymn favorite that sings of what Scripture states and also to what our souls relate –

This is my Father’s world,
And to my list’ning ears,
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world,
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world,
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world,
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and heav’n be one.

God’s Best. Your Friend In Christ,

Dar

One Thing About Jesus . . .

“. . . you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

He is eternal and has always and will always exist. Through Him everything that exists has been made. Prophets for centuries foretold His appearing. When the time was perfect, He did come and was born to a young virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem and was laid in a manger. He became and will continue to be a fully real human in real human flesh. He has been and will continue to be fully God at the same time. He is uniquely unique. There is not now nor will there ever be another being like Him.

Again, when the time was right He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He immediately faced down and defeated the temptation of Satan in a desert wilderness, one on one. He then announced to all that He was in fact the One who had been prophesied to come in all the Old Testament Scriptures. He began to preach “Repent and believe the good news!”

As He spoke and taught, He was recognized to possess a wisdom, insight and authority in His speech and thoughts that had not been witnessed in the history of mankind, nor since that time. No other guru, teacher, prophet or wise man ever born, has spoken with His knowledge, wisdom and understanding. He confounded those who opposed Him. He left the worldly-wise dumbfounded and the masses and crowds were amazed and marveled at His ability to expound the greatest words ever spoken.

He demonstrated His absolute authority and complete control over every aspect of the natural world. He walked on water, He changed water into wine, He calmed the winds and the waves and He multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands who hungered.

He revealed an uncommon compassion and mercy on everyone He encountered. He healed the sick, cleansed lepers and made the crippled to be able to walk. He took away blindness from those born blind and restored the hearing to those who could not hear. He demonstrated a mastery over every disease and infirmary He came into contact with. He displayed His power over life and death by raising to life those who had died.

He dominated and ruled over every demon and devil. He liberated all who were possessed by evil spirits. The kingdom of darkness recognized Him, feared Him and submitted to Him.

He claimed that there was a way to peace with God but also the exclusivity of being the one and only way to God. There is no other path, person or philosophy that will lead to the Father in Heaven. He asserted  that He and the Father are in reality One.  He revealed that He was in fact, the Way and the Truth and the Life to a sick, sinful, deceived, hurting and lost world of people from every part of the planet.

He stated that He was the answer to the world’s greatest, deepest, strongest and oldest problem – sickness, bondage and evil of sin which separates all humanity from and causes an estrangement from a loving, patient and merciful God. He revealed that He had the desire to and power to forgive any and all sin.

He on the other hand stated that He was without any sin, challenged any to see any sin in Him and He demonstrated a life of pure sinless perfection in all His speech and actions. And because He was sinless and because He was indeed God in the flesh, and because He was filled with a generous grace and limitless mercy for those estranged from God, He would be the Answer.

He chose to take the place of punishment for our sin on a Roman cross outside the city of Jerusalem.  He became our substitute and took our place on that instrument of torture for the penalty of our sin. He endured the suffering and scouring and the stripes of abuse and pain for us. He took our sins to the cross.  He defeated sin, death and the devil for us on a bloody cross because we couldn’t. He set us free from the guilt, free from shame and free from the eternal separation we were facing as rebels of God and His ways. In real space and real-time He took our real sins and now gives to us (in an exchange that only He could do) a real righteousness (not our own, but His) with which we will be able to actually live eternally in the presence of a Holy, Righteous, Just, Forgiving and Loving God and Father.

After the death of our Redeemer and our Savior on the cross, He then was buried in an empty tomb. But the tomb could not hold Him and death could not defeat Him, so then on the third day He rose from the death that He had endured for us. He was and is alive forever. He overcame death for us. In His human resurrected body, He began to show Himself to different people, in different places and at different times. As He demonstrated His power over death, He proved that His words and promises could be trusted, and He gave a real and certain reason to have hope for the future.

After showing Himself to many and continuing to teach and train His disciples for forty days, He then ascended visibly in His human bodily form back into the heavens and back into the presence of God the Father and the legions of angels at His command.

Now He sits enthroned in heaven and intercedes for His redeemed people who have been bought with the price of His own blood which He  shed for them. He also now continues to rule and reign as the Sovereign King of all the created universe.

In the future, at a day and time no man knows, He promises to return again to the earth to bring all of history to a final close by judging the world of those who have chosen to follow their own paths in opposition to His gracious offers of mercy, grace and forgiveness. And at that time He will also reward those who have turned to Him in repentance and sought Him and Him alone in faith as their only hope of pardon, joy, and peace with God for eternity.

Until that time, He promises to never leave nor forsake His people. He gives us the gift of His Spirit. He goes with us through all the trials, tests, troubles and tribulations that this world has to offer. He, as the Good Shepherd of His Sheep, promises to guide, protect and bless His people until the day of His return.

He also leaves His followers (disciples), with instructions and guidance for how to live and how to be about His business until He returns as the Eternal King of the New Heavens and New Earth that He will establish. He calls us to be the kind of disciples who will continue to seek Him, learn from Him, follow Him, and model Him to a watching world. He also leaves us with the great privilege of being His personal ambassadors to take the amazing message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth  (every nation, language group, and ethnic group on the planet).

He is the LORD of All Creation, the Sovereign King of All the Earth and the Master of our very lives.

His offer to a desperately needy world is urgent, timely and merciful. He offer is valid and trustworthy, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).  Also, He announces, warns and commands, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”(Mark 1:15).

Oh, by the way, one thing about Jesus  . . . He loves you!

God’s Best,

Dar

The Faultless Foundation of Faith

Foundations are important. A foundation for one’s life is the thing that helps us makes sense of our lives. It enables us to understand and interpret the world around us; the thing on which we build our lives on. What foundation are you basing your life on?

Socrates, considered one of the world’s great philosophers, shortly before his death, is reported to have said,

 “All the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.”

Socrates put all of his confidence in the collected thoughts and wisdom of philosophy and came up empty.

On the other hand, God’s Word offers us a sure and certain place on which to stand. The Sovereign LORD says,

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed” (Isaiah 28:16).

That stone, that foundation is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers,

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

God, who created this world and everything in it, also offers us a sure and certain foundation for all of life.  It is the only foundation that will withstand the tests, trials and travails of this world.  It is the only foundation that will endure into eternity.  This foundation is the very real and genuine  relationship we may have in Jesus Christ as our Shepherd King.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France and the King of Italy.  Before his death he stated,

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

Jesus Christ died for us that we might live with him, through him and standing on him. There is no firmer foundation.

How about you? Are you trusting in the foundation offered in Christ or in someone or something else?

The offer is still valid in all fifty states and every country of the world. I just don’t know the expiration date. Do you?

Standing On The Rock, God’s Best,

Dar

IN THE GAME

You are on the team. You are in the stadium. You are on the field. You know the play, you hear the snap, and you’ve been given the ball. You follow your blockers, running hard, shedding would-be tacklers.  You’ve trained, you’ve sacrificed, and you’ve disciplined yourself. You are and will remain totally committed, absolutely determined, resolute and undaunted. You have a mission; your eye is on the goal; you are ready to score.

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3).

Keep it up. Press ahead. Gain the prize!

One Coach, One Call, One Commission – Christ Crucified and Risen!

Dar

A Prayer for Courage

Lord, I want people around me to know that I believe You are the light of the world. I want to love You so much that people can see in my life—even if they never listen to my words—that I believe You are the light of the world. I know that making my witness visible, in and of itself, is not enough. I must have courage in the presence of my friends to point to You and say clearly, “Behold, the Lamb of God! Behold, the light of the world.” If I continue to walk silently while others are walking in darkness, it is my own fault, for You, Jesus, are the light of my life—of all life.
– Calvin Miller

The God Who Writes . . . The Story

Check out the story . . . click on the link below and enjoy.

The Story (Darwin Box).

May this Easter be the beginning of your story!
Your friend,
Dar