11 March 2024
The Haman Distortion
14 February 2024
Dead to Sin and Alive to God
02 February 2024
More Glorious Than Gold
Yesterday while at the baggage carousel, I saw a fellow traveller who wore an assortment of chains from which dangled charms and crystals. She even had a silver charm glued to her forehead! I observed her begin at the lowest crystal and align them with her fingers in ascending order towards her chin. In some spiritual circles, it is believed wearing crystals promote healing and provide protection from negative energy. My observation is many people put their trust in crystals, amulets and charms that only the almighty God is worthy and able to receive. Since God is powerful and mighty to protect, save and heal, all who fear God and trust Him can rest assured He will shepherd us without fail now and forever.
When David expressed willingness to fight Goliath, king Saul insisted David wear the king's armour--even though it did not fit him at all. It was God who preserved David and gave him skill to fight, and thus David faced the giant armed with a sling and stone with no armour at all. Filled with the Holy Spirit, David was bold to face the champion of the Philistines and prevailed like he had against lion and bear. He wrote in Psalm 20:7-8, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 8 They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright." It was not the harnessing of metaphysical properties of stones created by God or armour fashioned by man but a relationship with the living God that caused no weapon fashioned against David to prosper (Is. 54:17).
As born again children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, our confidence is not to be placed in charms or crystals because the Strength of Israel indwells each of His people. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." Because the knowledge of the glory of God has illuminated our hearts and minds by the power of the Holy Spirit, we need not fear or be dismayed in times of trouble. The Light of the World Jesus guides our steps in real time by His grace, and He also supplies energy and strength that benefits us, even as plants and solar powered devices utilise the rays of the sun.
The Scripture teaches Christians are now the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, and this divine presence is to powerfully influence us inside and out. All other spiritual powers and authorities in heaven and earth--seen and unseen--all bow trembling in complete subjection to God. The design of the Ark of the Covenant provides a wonderful illustration of how God's presence within us ought to be consistent inside and out. Exodus 37:2 says of the Ark constructed by Bezaleel, "He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold all around it." The wooden box was not just to be overlaid with pure gold where it could be seen by people but on the inside that was always hidden. We are not to be as Pharisees who projected an clean image when they were polluted within but to have integrity inside and out by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells, guides and strengthens us. Builders are not as careful with concealed work as finish work that everyone can see, but Jesus spared no expense to fill us with knowledge of His glory within.
We are compared in our flesh to earthen vessels God has imbued with the glorious treasure of His presence. God's intended result of this spiritual inner strength is expressed outwardly as it is written in 2 Corinthians 4:8-11: "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Thus God's glory that He has given us on the inside is intended to be seen on the outside as we trust the LORD because His design for us to to manifest the life of Jesus to others through us. How glorious, that God's strength revealed in our weakness! How much more glorious is our God than gold!
22 January 2024
Eyes On Jesus
I came across a picture recently that conveys the view some maintain of the role of priests or pastors in the church. Between the risen Jesus Christ and the children receiving communion, a haloed priest stands as mediator between God and man. To receive the divine benefits of the broken body of Jesus and His shed blood, the priest provides the sole means of receiving God's grace. The picture illustrates a view of the church that is disembodied from Jesus Christ as the head, replaced by a robed man that is holier than thou.
In writing to the 7 churches (which by extension include the entire church and body of Christ), John offered grace and peace in Revelation 1:5-6 "...from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the
ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood, 6 and has made
us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen." God has made all born again Christians as kings and priests unto Him. This is not to say God does not give authority and responsibilities to leaders in the church, but to show the unity of believers who are all in Christ. Rather than resembling a Mosaic system where Moses was intercessor between God and the Hebrews, under the New Covenant Jesus is in that glorious role for all people who believe--not the church or priests.
For the glory of the eternal, wise God Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time..." A more accurate picture would be for the priest to be standing alongside the children with enraptured eyes on Jesus, for Jesus alone is the God and Mediator between God and all people. Pastors and parishioners alike are to keep their eyes on Jesus and follow Him by faith, all needing forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus. Rather than looking to a priest to be absolved from sins, the dependence of every child of God is to be on Jesus Who once for all died for our sins, was raised in glory, and stands at the right hand of the Father.
Regardless of our role in the church, let us be those who refuse to obscure the view of Jesus who rules and reigns on high by seeking glory for ourselves. Let us also not look to a priest, saint, pastor or mentor to do for us what only Jesus can or to guide or help us like the Holy Spirit is faithful to do. Praise the LORD for the blessings and benefits of fellowship in the church, but let us remember the church is merely the body of which Jesus is the Head. All the answers to prayer, salvation, forgiveness and acceptance before God is from God alone, and let us give Him glory rather than man. Let us thank people for their faithful service unto the LORD and express our gratitude to God for His generous provision, but let us direct hungry and thirsty souls to Jesus to find salvation and rest while we look to Him ourselves.