Following His Steps

As I was driving the other day, I saw a family walking on the foopath parallel to my car.  I was stopped at a red light, and dad was leading the way.  What I noticed right away was the boy who followed behind his dad, imitating in an exaggerated fashion dad's normal gait with swaying shoulders and swinging arms.  The way he was walking did not look like his dad to me, but he clearly was doing his best to copy him.  His extra long strides, carefully timed to his father's steps, made his head bob up and down as he tried to keep pace with his shorter legs.

It is natural for young children who look up to their parents to imitate them, to want to be like them.  This also ought to be true for those who are made children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  John 1:11-13 says of Jesus, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."  Because God is our Father who is eternal and does not change, we are perpetually His children who ought to trust and obey Him.  Unlike children who grow older and become increasingly independent of their parent's oversight, children of God grow spiritually by becoming more dependent and reliant upon Him for everything.  In our season of adult life when we have learned to do many things ourselves, it is a continual challenge to submit to Him.

As followers of Jesus, Christians are called to walk in His ways as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:31-5-2:  "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. ¹ Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."  The Bible teaches us by Christ's example how we ought to live, loving God our Father and others as Jesus loves us.  Our resemblance to Jesus isn't by copying His terms of phrase, growing a beard or walking from city to city in Israel:  our imitation of Christ comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit within who teaches us of Jesus and empowers us to be His witnesses in real time.

Peter charged servants to walk in the steps of Jesus even in submitting to harsh masters in 1 Peter 2:18-23:  "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ²² “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; ²³ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously..."  We cannot imitate Jesus or walk in His steps without Jesus helping us.  Let us be numbered among those who follow Christ's example of love like the little boy who happily followed his dad.  It was no chore to walk in his father's steps but his great delight.

Mixing Paint Musings

Today I was doing a bit of painting, and one of the tins of paint had never been stirred or mixed.  When I began stirring, for awhile it didn't seem like much was happening.  But as I continued stirring, the colour began to swirl and become cloudy.  The paint reached a stage where it was nearly the correct colour of white, yet there remained thin, faint grey swirls that still needed to be incorporated.  Finally, the paint was mixed sufficiently and could be put to good use by applying it evenly to a door.

My mind drifted back to when I was a child and my dad was painting something around the house.  He gave me a large brush and a bucket of water to "paint" the unfinished cedar fence in our back yard.  No mixing was required, so I could get right to "work."  It was satisfying to see the wood quickly absorb the moisture and instantly change to a darker colour.  Board after board was nicely painted, but it wasn't long before the effect of the water began to dissipate as the water evaporated in the sun.  I began to double back on boards I already painted to make them look uniform again.  Because I was painting with water, the results were only temporary--and this wasn't very satisfying.

Mixing paint is a very mundane task, but it is an important step in the process of painting well.  When paint isn't fully mixed it leads to uneven colour, streaks, poor adhesion and an irregular finish.  Because paint is expensive and time is valuable, the lack of mixing paint properly leads to unnecessary waste and a massive amount of extra work.  Being patient and thorough in the process of preparation for painting is key to pleasing, lasting results.  God knows all about preparation with patience because this is a fruit of the Spirit.  God is willing to spend a great deal of time, effort and expense to prepare people to do His work.  For instance, God caused Moses to be raised as a prince in Egypt until he was 40 years old, and then he tended his father-in-law's sheep for 40 additional years to prepare him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt--mostly learning he could never do it without God.

There much Moses experienced that certainly stirred and agitated him, and this continued to happen after he led the children of Israel through the Red Sea, to Mt. Sinai and in the wilderness for an additional 40 years.  He was stirred to anger when he saw a fellow Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian, and he also was stirred to flee for his life after he killed the Egyptian for it.  He was troubled by the idea of going to Pharaoh and speaking publicly, and he was awed by the presence of God again and again.  He was stirred by the idolatry and stubbornness of God's people and their unbelief and disobedience.  All the trials, troubles, experiences, failures and successes he faced were used by God to sanctify and refine Moses to know and trust God more.  This is one of God's purposes when we are stirred, troubled and agitated by experiences God allows.  He knows what He is preparing us for and the good works He would have us do.  Amazingly, His plans for us extend far beyond what is naturally possible for us on earth and for all eternity in His presence.

When we are stirred or troubled (and we realise it!) it may not feel pleasant, but feelings of anger, anxiety, worry, impatience and frustration are reminders to look to the LORD Jesus in faith and rest in His love, grace and goodness.  Our lives on earth serve a valuable function of combining faith and obedience to God with our natural way of thinking and living.  Paint that sits for a long time in a tin separates with clear binders on top and the pigment settled beneath murky fluid.  God would have His wisdom, knowledge of His will and empowerment of the Holy Spirit be fully integrated with our daily lives.  May it be we embrace and delight when God stirs us, for it provides an opportunity to be more like Jesus than we are right now.

Importance of Sacrifice

 "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."

Proverbs 21:3

God delights in His people who obey Him, who walk according to His righteousness and justice.  God was not interested to receive offerings from people who refused to seek and submit to Him as is written in Proverbs 15:8:  "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight."  The prophet rebuked erring King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22:  "So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams."  Everything that is has been created by God, and all we have is a gift from Him.  God delights more in the obedience of Him people to Him than the sacrifice itself.

One might read these passages and assume because obedience and doing righteousness and justice is better than sacrifice, that sacrifice is of little value.  Perhaps because Jesus has fulfilled the Law and burnt offerings cannot be offered at the temple, the concept of offering sacrifices is irrelevant to us.  On the contrary:  it is important we realise sacrifice to God is very important and critical to the lives of Christians.  Sacrifice is important, and to obey God and walk in His ways is even more important!  See the importance of everyone bringing a sacrifice according to God's blessing in Deuteronomy 16:16-17:  "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. ¹⁷ Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you."  To appear before the LORD empty-handed was to say God failed to provide anything when He is the source of all blessing.

Obedience to God always comes at a cost, and to do righteously and justly always involve personal sacrifice.  God is more pleased with the sacrifices of a broken heart and a contrite spirit more than the fat of rams (Psalm 51:17).  Through God's marvellous works, the Law of Moses, psalms, prophets and His Son Jesus Christ, He has demonstrated how we ought to live as Micah 6:8 says:  "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  We are wholly insufficient in ourselves to do what God requires of us, and it is when we are born again by faith in Jesus we are given a new heart and the Holy Spirit.  We then are guided by His love, wisdom, and justice according to the riches of His grace go follow Jesus.

Jesus came to this world not to be served but to serve and give Himself as a ransom for many.  By faith in Jesus He has become righteousness for us, and we are called to walk in His steps that involve personal sacrifice unto the LORD in our dealings with one another.  Christians are urged in Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  Since we are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God in Christ Jesus, this heightens the importance of living righteously, justly and with integrity.  We ought to give God the love, glory and obedience He is due, and Romans 13:8 says concerning our conduct towards others:  "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

God Knows and Lives

Fulfilled prophesies provide strong evidence for the veracity of the Bible and demonstrate God's power to know and do all He has promised.  It is one thing to accurately predict the outcome of a game, whether a medical treatment will be effective, or how tall someone will grow to be, but it is entirely another thing to predict something that is obviously impossible.  Speaking of His physical body, Jesus said to those who questioned His authority:  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  The apostle remarked in John 2:22, "Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said."  We observe Jesus and the Scripture foretold His death and resurrection, and the knowledge, promises and power Jesus displayed to do what is impossible moved people to believe in Him.

This morning I read Ezekiel 37 when God used an illustration with a valley filled with dry bones.  God asked the prophet Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  If I was Ezekiel, I would have quickly answered "No."  The bones were dry and turning to dust; how could they support a physical body or the marrow produce red blood cells?  If Ezekiel focused on what we he knew from observation, experience and human anatomy, impossibilities would abound.  Yet he fixed his attention upon God and said, "O Lord God, you know." (Ezekiel 37:3)  God said the dry bones would know He was the LORD when He brought life into them again.  God commanded Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and by the power of God they were covered with muscles, sinews, skin and God breathed life into the great army that stood on their feet before Him.

God explained the significance of the vision to the prophet in Ezekiel 37:11-14:  "Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it," says the LORD.'"  God spoke of the Jewish nation as feeling dry, having lost hope and cut off.  Yet God would do for them as those dry bones, for He would revive them and bring them into their land again.  This came to pass after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, and it came to pass in 1947 when Israel regained their land and became a sovereign nation again.  This also will have a future fulfilment, for at the end of the Great Tribulation Jesus will return to judge the nations and establish His throne in Jerusalem.  He will gather His people to Himself from wherever they had been scattered.

I find it intriguing some dead believers literally rose from the dead when Jesus died on the cross as it is written in Matthew 27:51-53:  "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, ⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many."  Like the centurion who witnessed the death of Jesus on the cross, Ezekiel said people would know He was the LORD when God opened their graves and brought them out alive.  Ezekiel 37:24-26 goes on to say, "David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. ²⁵ Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore."

Jesus is revealed to be the Son of David, God's Servant spoken of by Isaiah and the prophets, the KING OF KINGS who will rule over the nations, the Good Shepherd who lay down His life for the sheep.  It was humanly impossible for dry bones to live, but with God all things are possible.  It was not believed possible God could take human form, die on the cross and rise from the dead, but Jesus Christ has done all this and more!  As those dead believers were raised to life, so the Jews would inhabit Jerusalem again, and one day Jesus will return and rule the nations.  Jesus has made a new covenant in His own blood that Jew and Gentile can have peace with God by receiving Jesus by grace through faith.  How awesome is our God who does the impossible, who speaks of what will be when it never could be.  It is encouraging to know even if we feel dry, without hope or cut off, in God there is assurance of new, abundant life by faith in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns forever.