Knowing or Trusting?

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”…“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13, 15-16)

Jesus looked at His followers and asked them a detailed demographic question. It was a survey of sorts. “Who do people say the Son of man is?” In other words who do they think I am? Jesus, more than likely already knew what others thought of Him and who He might be, but He asked His disciples. Why did He do that? Why ask if He already knew the answers?

Perhaps the reason Jesus asked His disciples this question was to help them finally pin down who Jesus was in their hearts and minds. He first asks them about how others viewed Him. It is an the greater perspective, but then Jesus brings it back to them when He said, “But who do YOU say that I am?” Notice the personal question. Now the tables have turned. Now the disciples are glancing at each other hoping someone will answer first. It is one of the most pivotal moments in their spiritual education as Jesus’ disciples. This one solitary moment of internal reflection. It is a moment that causes each disciple to carefully inspect what He has done and what He has said. For but a moment, doubt and worry must have clouded their minds. For but a moment each individual, not the collective, considered the right words to say to Jesus. It was mere moments but it could have been a lifetime.

Is it no surprise that Peter is the one to speak? He was the disciples that climbed out of the boat when all of the others waited and watched Jesus walking on the waves. The same Peter who seemingly dove head first into anything he did. It was all or nothing with Peter. So Peter speaks up and nails Jesus’ identity for the group gathered there. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God“. Can you say hashtag #nailedit ? Peter solidifies for the rest of the disciples as he identifies Jesus. It’s been nearly three years that they have been together, didn’t they already know? Didn’t they already trust THE Rabbi?

I think the question here that begs to be asked for us today is this: “Who do we think Jesus is?” Can we quickly respond as Peter did? Can we identify Jesus as God’s Son and Messiah to us as well? Is He your Messiah?

You see I believe there is a big difference between knowing Jesus and trusting Jesus! James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.” You could substitute the word ‘believe’ for the word ‘know’. Even the demons know Jesus. That is a big difference from fully trusting in Him though. Trusting Jesus means that we have to let go of our preconceived notions. It means that we have to relinquish our self-reliance. It means that we have to place our faith in something other than ourselves or something seen…but in the unseen.

Do you trust the Son of God? Have you let go of your casual understanding of Him? Are you prepared to delve into the waters of faith? Don’t just settle for knowing Jesus, trust Him also! Peter declared boldly “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”; may we have this same boldness in our faith to do likewise today!

-Just a thought for today.

Simply trusting every day;
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by,
Trusting Him, whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

January 10, 2014 0

A second cleansing (a poem & song)

I confess my faith is small
But hold my hand so I won’t fall
Your likeness is my highest aim
You’ve washed me clean and called my name.

Cleanse me Lord of all my sin
Let Your work in me begin
I want to look and see your face
Reflected in this solemn space.

Holy Spirit fall afresh on me
Ignite my heart so I may see
this vision of a higher call
Lord I give my all in all.

Take and use all of me
Like Christ is what I want to be
His image in my heart and soul
Without you Lord I am not whole

Savior come and make me new
My all in all I give to you
May my heart be ever thine
cleansed within your fire refined.

January 10, 2014 0

Lost now found (A poem)

Long have I been frail and weathered
Impacted too easily by these winds of fear
Long have I allowed these wrongs to enter
And shed the countless regretful tear

I ask my heart to beat through the pain
To focus on the destination set
While catching fallen tears like rain
Soaking in these cold walls of regret.

Yet someone calls out my name
I look up through blurring sight
His face is full of love not shame
He wants to take away this night

I feel so undeserving of His grace
As He takes me gently by the hand
He tells me He has prepared a place
An Eternal paradise so grand.

I scarce can take His presence in
As His love penetrates my soul
He restores grace in place of sin
And I stand before Him whole!

And to the searching and the lost
He wants to do the same
His blood poured out, he paid the cost
And took upon our sin and shame.

January 9, 2014 0

The question (a poem)

If you were to ask the old woman in the back pew
how long she has been here
sitting meekly, never slumping
respectable and proper
she would look at you through tired
and filmy eyes.

Eyes, crow feet with extra toes
blue as seas of winter snow collected
in our backyards in January.

She would exhale deeply
like a summer breeze gently
kissing juniper branches green and supple
as they bend and yield
to her affectionate wooings.
How subtle her movements
fragile even
yet it belies wisdom personified
beneath these brittle bones,
capturing decades of moments,
snap shots
mastered as well as the flaming

disasters on failure’s crushed dreams.

She would look at you,
warmly smile
and her answer,
beckoning as it may be,
will take another year
to finally sink in…and then,
perhaps you will return again
wiser and more sincere.

January 7, 2014 0

10 things…

Your top ten may look drastically different than mine, but here goes…

10) Cherish Life!

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
― Helen Keller, The Open Door

That’s right don’t take a minute of this life for granted, no matter how mundane or boring it can sometimes get. Today, for example, the outdoor temperature is currently -15 below zero with a windchill of -40 below…so you can imagine we are not doing much outside today. Regardless if life is entertaining or not, cherish this gift, this spark of life that we have all be given!

9) Perspective.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

We don’t (or shouldn’t) live life in a box. Meaning that life and the living of it is so much broader than our own interpretation of life. So it’s important to understand our interpretation of life as well as other people’s perspective on this vital subject. If we only view life from our perspective then we fail to view humanity as a whole. It may sound rather philosophical but if we are to truly appreciate this gift of life and to cherish it, we ought to understand more than just our little box of living. Stepping back, viewing the world from someone else’ perspective might help us to better appreciate what we have in life. What this “stepping back” will also do is help us to see other people as well. When we can begin to see other people besides our own wants and needs, we can begin to see God’s handiwork through humanity and creation.

8) Fun & Laughter

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.”
― Audrey Hepburn

If we fail to laugh, we fail to live. I want to and try to find humor in this life. I don’t want to take myself so seriously that I can’t laugh at my mistakes and my failures. Laughter and fun heals a lot of issues in life, and I want to make the most of living. They say it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile…so I try to smile often.

7) Healthy Living

A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison. ~Francis Bacon

By now you might begin to think that I’m all about living…and you’d be right. Why create more pain and issues down the road by NOT living a healthy lifestyle? Confession time: I’m not as health conscience as I should be…but I know what I need to do to get there. I need to eat better and perhaps enjoy smaller portions. I’m not feeling guilty! Perhaps I should also stop staring at the elliptical machine and get on it more often. I ~~want~~ no I desire to live a healthy life…and eating right as well as exercise will help me.

6) Education

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

As a person who desire to know more about life as well as the One who created this life, it is my desire to read more about Him. There are many good writers out there who have many wonderful perspectives that would not only edify my life but others as well. In life education never ends. Education helps us grow as people. Education cultivates a broader understanding of the spiritual and physical world around us. My desire is to only stop reading and applying what I’ve learned on my deathbed.

5) Write about what I know!

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
― Ernest Hemingway

Here is where some lists may vary. I would probably explode if I didn’t write. When I have gathered inspiration and caught a hint of a spark from the writings of others I just have to share it. When I write, my world seems clearer and the page becomes my very breath. Thus, it becomes quite important to share with the world what other words of inspiration have taught me.

4) Fellowship of Believers

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

I have been renewed and re-tuned by times of genuine fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ! I crave it’s support in this life and I desire to grow more deeply in its waters as life progresses forward. I could delve into what is and isn’t genuine Christian fellowship, but perhaps that is for another time. Long story short, if you find friends and peers who encourage you and push you further in the faith with love and care, then you too are/have experience(ing) genuine Christian fellowship!

3) Family

“Family is saying to one another “let’s go another mile together” even if the last was unbearable and painful…family is forever mile after mile.” -SES

I wouldn’t be where I am without family beside me. My parents and sister encouraging me, fighting with me and loving me. My extended family who love me in the best of time and the worst of times. The love that I feel as I converse with my children within my immediate family now, and the love of my spouse who challenges me to be better than I am right now. Family, my dear friends is vital to me. It makes life so much more worth living. Another aspect of having children is that I now have this important responsibility to teach them how to live appropriately. They are little mini-me’s walking around looking to me to set a good example of godly living. Sometimes I fail and sometimes I succeed…all the time I need God’s guidance and wisdom to help me. Sometimes…family is life.

2) My Wife

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss

Some might say, “What? You didn’t put her at the #1 spot in your life?” She knows how important she is to me…at least I hope she does! My relationship with my Love is one of a kind and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. She is my other half, my friend and my compass. To say more, might get me in trouble.

1) My relationship with Christ.

“Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”
― Augustine of Hippo

Whether it’s meditating on His words in Scripture or talking with Him through out my day, this relationship has to take the number #1 spot. But don’t get me wrong, in every other listed thing of importance in my life Christ is invited in. These things that I list here are nothing without Him in it. Every moment of every day should be immersed in Him. I too must confess it is not always so…sometimes it is far from so, but this is my desire! My relationship with Christ is life, it means life to those who seek after Him, and it means life even after these final breaths on this side of the veil!

What does your top ten look like?

January 6, 2014 0

Summer dreams (A poem)

In the bliss of winter’s frozen kiss
as Ice is formed, abrasive and painful
an Angel with wings unfurled
left her mark in the mounds of silky snow.

I do not know what transpired there
as some walk by and some don’t care
But I’m almost sure I glimpsed heaven’s door
looking out from my frosted window.

With rooftops coated white and wisps of smoke
dancing or escaping elegantly into the crisp atmosphere
I remain here, tightly bundled, blanketed train behind me
perfectly content to let the days of winter kiss another
but not my cheek, nor these feeble hands
I am a child of summer weighted down by this
absence of her soft warming embrace.

And for now…I bide my time.

January 3, 2014 2

January 1st = Forgiveness (The 70X7 Principle)

New beginnings. That’s what some people are hoping for at the start of 2014. Cue the song “High Hopes” (I’m really not being cynical here either…really). I believe in the God of second chances, do you? I believe that when His disciples asked Him how many times they had to forgive Jesus told them seventy times seven (Matt 18:21-22). I know that He wasn’t just giving them a random number out of His head and it wasn’t legalistic in the sense that they only had to forgive 490 times (that’s 70 X 7 by the way for us who had to use a calculator cause we suck at math). I believe the disciples eventually got Jesus’ point. Forgiveness isn’t really about how many times we have to forgive but rather about the conditions of our hearts and the willingness to find grace for others. Isn’t that what God has done for us? We mess up royally and we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and yet His prevenient grace is offered to us through Christ. He forgives us COMPLETELY!

I don’t wish to imply that there are conditions on forgiveness here but think of it this way: Forgiveness of others and those who have wronged you alleviates the burdens and scorn you may still have in your heart for that person(s). They may not even seek sincere forgiveness from you but when you wipe the slate clean of transgressions done to you, you are clearing the weight of that burdens of wrongs done to you. It may sound selfish, but why live life burdened by the wrongs of others? It holds you back. It holds you captive. You will always be a prisoner to their wrong doings done to you even if they have moved on. So why let it fester? Why let that kind of emotional/spiritual sliver remain? Pluck it out and move on for your own health and well being.

Secondly, forgiveness doesn’t mean that you become naive and trust people who haven’t earned that trust yet, but it does mean that you move on. We must be wise in how we let others effect us coupled with the decisions we make which also impacts others. Forgiveness and trust aren’t always mutually the same. What forgiveness allows you to do (and the offending party) is to move on. I don’t believe that we have to automatically forget but we forgive. Afterall we can’t expect someone who has been sexually or physically abused to forget what was done to them right out of the “forgiveness gate”…it will take time to heal and to cope. In the same way that it may take years of counseling and healing for the abused, those who have been wronged in other ways will find that time needs to pass before trust and “forgetting” can ever take place.

Lastly, I mentioned earlier about what the year of Jubilee meant in the Hebrew culture. It was a year in which all debts were erased and people could start over. Perhaps 2014 is that year of Jubilee for you. Perhaps you’ve been holding onto pains, hurts, and grudges that need to be wiped completely away. Forgiveness heals and lifts burdens of all parties.

Are you willing to forgive? For those also who are seeking to find forgiveness, be strong. It takes a lot of courage to own up to wrong doings so that you can grow and move on. Don’t miss this opportunity on the first of the year to begin on the right foot!

-Just a thought for new beginnings.

January 1, 2014 0

Finding Hope (A Poem)

Finding salvation and comfort…is that even possible?
In a world that seems so wrought with pain and sadness,
these half-timbered, dimly lit dwellings
plastered with the scabs of hurts and slings of words
how can hope spawn from such a place?
These tall escarpments seem too far,
and we, with reaches far too limited
how can hope ever stoop, low and bending
to such a place as this?

Yet, when the babe, cherubic and glorious
came to this fallen shambles of a place
we now, with arms extended
broken and needy
can embrace this light
beaming and radiant.

Hope? Don’t speak of such a thing,
live it, experience it, vivid and streaked
with Theophonic glory…speak not
of falsities and half promises of this word!
Instead, with hearts extended
grooved and bending
no longer a barren land but
but rich, empirical
blazing in His glory!

December 30, 2013 0

A Note from God (A poem)

When the light is sucked from your eyes

and terror is masked as hope disguised

I will hold your hand and bring the day

I will hope when your earth gives way.

When dreams become hollowed and cold

and you are left with nothing to hold

I will hold you within my loving arms

I will keep you from fear and harm.

And if you falter and lose all sight

I will be there to shine my light

and ignite your faith with my grace

so that my love you will embrace.

I have never left you, I am here

I will help and dry your tears

These nail scarred hands will guide you there

I am Your Savior I will always care!

December 29, 2013 1

New Things, New Year’s Brings!

Many people want a clean slate. Some are hoping to just get through this year and with breaths of relief cruise into a new year, hopefully less bruised and battered. It is almost 2014, can you believe it? For some this year flew by (I would be in that crowd), while for others it slowly, geriatrically creeped by.

Perhaps some look forward to that big New Year’s day bash, while others will happily avoid the festivities and regale themselves with a cup of tea and a good book before falling asleep well before the clock strikes midnight. 3-2-1…Happy New Year!!

I, for one, have a tough time when getting to the new year and writing that “2014” on the checks from my check book…I’m sure I’m not the only one…anyway I digress.

What will 2014 have in store for you? Do you have dreams and hopes to plunge into? Have you already filled your calendar with them? I’m not much of a long range planner, but I do have some aspirations for the new year.

ASPIRATIONS:

as·pi·ra·tion

noun \ˌas-pə-ˈrā-shən\

Definition of ASPIRATION

~~a : audible breath that accompanies or comprises a speech sound~~

~~b : the pronunciation or addition of an aspiration; also : the symbol of an aspiration~~

~~: a drawing of something in, out, up, or through by or as if by suction: as~~

~~a : the act of breathing and especially of breathing in~~

~~b : the withdrawal of fluid or tissue from the body~~

~~c : the taking of foreign matter into the lungs with the respiratory current~~

a : a strong desire to achieve something high or great

There we go, #3 in the dictionary…something to achieve…this is the kind of aspiration I’m talking about.

Here is my bucket list for 2014…(AKA my bucket of aspiration)

1) I want to write better and increase this audience:

I know, perhaps it sounds ambitious, but we need things to aspire to and I want to become a better writer as well as help others along the way within the content of what I write…so here goes!

2) I want to improve my preaching and my application of the Word!

It goes without saying that ministry is tough and there will be times when I won’t have all the time I would like to write my sermons but my desire is to dedicate more time the application of method of my sermon writing.

3) To stop and take in God’s beauty more.

I love the outdoors, I enjoy photography as well as poetry and this year I would like to stop and just relish the beauty of God’s creation around me. In the process of taking time for 1 & 2 I want to be able to look up from my computer or my books and spend time in the nature around me, to truly appreciate it more and say “thank you” more often to the Lord of these provisions.

4) Be all I can be as a good parent.

I have four kids who need good parental role models and I can (and should) strive to be that to them as their father. God blessed me with these four wonderful humans and it is both my responsibility as well as my Wife’s responsibility to bring them up properly. I aspire to be a better parent in 2014.

5) Be all I can be as a Husband.

My Wife deserves it, and I can and should show the love of my life how a husband can cherish and love his wife! She deserves my best effort and love as well as attention to her every needs. I aspire in 2014 to win “Husband of the year”…okay maybe that’s pushing it, but hey the sky’s the limit! 🙂

Anyway, new things, new year’s brings…it’s simple…take time, appreciate life, and contribute positively to it in ways that God has blessed you through gifts, insight, and abilities. Remember life isn’t only about what you’ll get out of it, life is far more rewarding if we all include others first into the grand scheme of our perspectives.

God Bless you, and Happy (Pre) New Years! Now get aspiring!

December 29, 2013 0

Category: Faith Ponderings