Pastures of Green

The cliche "The devil is in the details" highlights how a small detail can lead to a big problem.  A simple body posture or eye movement can lead a discerning observer to suspect someone is being dishonest and not telling the whole truth.  Innocuous behaviour or statements which could have been easily overlooked have led to convictions of murder that stuck.  On the flip side, as we travel through life and read the Bible to hear from God it is evident the smallest details point to His wisdom, goodness and grace.  Every word of God is pure, and as we read the Bible a single word has meaning and insight beyond definition alone to teach us of our glorious God and Saviour.

David wrote in Psalm 23:1-2, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters."  The picture of the LORD being a good shepherd Who protects and leads his sheep provides enduring comfort.  Sheep do not lie down unless they are at rest and feel secure, and blessed is the man who finds the rest only Jesus Christ can provide.  I have driven by many green pastures with sheep grazing and meandering around, and seldom do I see them laying down.  The pasture being described as "green" speak of lush growth and good nutrition.  What I recently considered is how the description using a colour also means the pasture is bathed in light.  This may seem like a very minor detail, but it is an important one.

Whilst sheep depend largely upon their hearing to detect danger, they can see colours.  Their eyes do not see as clearly or far as humans, and we require light to see colour.  When the shepherds kept watch over their sheep by night outside Bethlehem, it could not be said they were in pastures of green because of darkness.  Because Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) who is also the light of the world who gives the light of life (John. 8:12), He indeed leads us to pastures of green.  In Him is light and no darkness at all!  What the pastures supply for a healthy sheep Jesus does much more for us body and soul, for in Him physically and spiritually we find rest.

Take heart, Christian, for Jesus makes us to lie down in green pastures and children of the day.  The exhortation of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 is most relevant for us:  "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³ For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶ Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

Miracles and Repentance

Many times I have heard people suggest how ideal a miraculous intervention by God would be due to the potential prompting of unbelievers to believe in Jesus Christ as LORD and receive the Gospel.  One issue I have with this suggestion is the implication God has not already provided ample evidence in the Bible, the testimony of history and the lives of Christians transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Besides, how many people saw the miracles of Jesus and still chose to reject Him?  God has done and continues to do miracles without number, and the miracle man needs most is not in healing a sick body but the redemption of lost souls.

As Jesus went through Judea and preached repentance and the kingdom of God, He confirmed the truth of His words with miraculous signs and wonders.  Many times He did miraculous healings so people would believe He was the Christ.  This, however, was not the only reason He did miracles.  His purposes reached far beyond the being motivated by human pity, power or sympathy:  Jesus did miraculous signs so people would repent of their sin.  I do not often hear this provided as a reason for God to do a miracle, that He would miraculously heal people so they and their families would exercise faith in repentance.  Though repentance may not be a popular reason, it is a biblical one.

Matthew 11:20-24 says of Jesus, "Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ²¹ "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴  But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."  The sound rebukes of Jesus came for the witnesses lack of repentance, and with divine insight said should those miracles had been done in other cities--ones infamous for their iniquity--people would have repented in dust and ashes.  Because they did not believe Jesus was the Christ they did not see their need to heed His command to repent, as they harboured unbelief they ought to have repented of.

Had I been numbered among the unbelieving in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, what cause would there be for repentance?  I suspect I would need to repent of unbelief Jesus could have done anything to heal sickness, cast out demons, open the eyes of the blind, cleanse lepers and raise the dead.  As Jesus preached the law to the proud there would have been much evidence of sin of which I was guilty and had no excuse to deny.  I would repent of pride that caused me to justify myself according to the Law when I was only condemned by it, and that I had trusted in my own works to save me rather than faith in Christ alone.  I could repent of my stubbornness to repent!  How patient is God and marvelous His works to provide opportunity to repent by faith in Jesus Christ.  Faith in ourselves or tradition cannot save, but Jesus is a Saviour we ought to forsake all to follow.

Life Without Regrets

The more I consider it, the more I am convinced regret has no practical benefit for those who wallow in it.  While feelings of regret can prompt us to consider our ways and draw valuable life lessons from the past we can practice, regret itself never invites us to look to the future.  Regrets chain us to a past we cannot change and all the "If only..." and "I wish..." thoughts and desires we could entertain are fantasy  the current reality rejects.  Regret is intrinsically self-focused, for it demands we be our own saviour by figuring out what we should have done.  It weaves an unrealistic image of how things could be, even ought to be, and we are to blame things did not turn out differently.  Regret can be a willful denial and rejection of God's power to redeem evil for good like we read about countless times in scripture and have also experienced ourselves.

Regret presents a mirage and lie that we alone have the power to determine our future, essentially removing God's sovereignty from the picture.  It is the true our decisions have consequences that impact the future, but we would be foolish to assume a righteous decision always has an outcome we agree is positive.  To allow what we perceive as a negative outcome to dictate what we should or could have done in the past is to trade a biblical perspective for likely a selfish one where only our decisions matter and have all the power the change our lives.  If our regret is a matter of sin, regret ought to lead us to repentance.  Once having repented of sin and put it far from us, the power regret once wielded over us is broken by Christ and we are enabled by God's grace to look to Him in the future.  Most of the time it is not sin we regret but the uncomfortable situation we find ourselves in presently we wish we had power to change.  Holding onto regret suggests we prefer to change our past behaviour and masks our need to be changed by God now.

In one sense, regret can be a personal hell we make for ourselves.  Regret is akin to perpetual mourning over the past without hope moving forward.  Having the ability to remember is a blessing from God, yet memories for those tormented in hell will cause them to be plagued with perpetual regret.  In the story Jesus told of the rich man who suffered in Sheol, he was told by Abraham in Luke 16:25, "...Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented."  The rich man could remember all the good things that brought him comfort in life when he could not even access a drop of water to cool his tongue.  He also was able to remember his brothers and begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to them.  He wanted Lazarus to do for him and his brothers what he had not bothered to do during his entire life.  Apart from the physical pain the previously rich man was subjected to, memories and regrets would have been part of his continual torment apart from God forever.

Paul was a man who could have saddled himself with many regrets, seeing as he persecuted Jesus and his followers before coming to Christ in faith.  Instead of doing some sort of self-imposed penance, he embraced repentance for sin and received forgiveness from Jesus.  Paul did not hide his past because it had no longer held him guilty; he did not waste energy lamenting what he could not change and Jesus would redeem.  He wrote in Philippians 3:13-14:  "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul did not see himself as perfect in the past or present, and at the same time did not beat himself up over past mistakes or bask in self-congratulatory affirmation over his current state.  Failures and success were put behind him as he reached forward to a glorious future with eyes on Jesus, focused on fulfilling the call upon his life by God.  This is a posture Christians do well to maintain, for following Jesus is a life not to be regretted.

Our Father's Business

As a lad Jesus told Mary He "must" be about His Father's business in Luke 2.  This obviously was not the family carpentry business run by Joseph, for Jesus was not handing out business cards and discussing the benefits of quarried stone over hardwood with the scribes and Pharisees in the temple in Jerusalem.  While everyone headed home from observing the Passover, Jesus remained behind for days listening to the doctors of the Mosaic Law and asking questions.  In that ancient culture asking questions was not a sign of ignorance but the way one showed mastery of a subject.  The Jewish leaders were stunned by the understanding Jesus displayed concerning the word of God.

It was a common practice in Jesus' day the son would follow in the footsteps of his father and be trained in the same trade.  This is observed with Zebedee and sons James and John who were fishermen.  The Bible tells us Jesus did follow the custom of adopting the trade of his "dad" Joseph, and people who believed they knew Jesus dismissed His teaching because they did not believe He had authority to weigh in on matters of God and Law.  Mark 6:2-3 says, "And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! ³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" And they were offended at Him."  The townsfolk viewed Jesus as a carpenter the son of Joseph and not the Christ, the Son of God.  They were offended by His wisdom and miraculous works because Jesus was an unexpected source.

As Jesus traveled through Judea preaching repentance and the kingdom of God, He graciously chose many disciples to follow and serve Him.  Many of these were very unlikely choices which included fishermen, a zealot, a Roman-employed tax collector and even Judas who would betray Him!  Apart from Judas, these men by the power and grace of God would be enabled to expand beyond their natural sphere of influence and make an impact for the kingdom of God wherever God sent them.  A time came when Andrew and Peter no longer washed and mended nets but brought men into the kingdom of God by the power of the Gospel.  John went from suggesting they call fire down from heaven upon those who rejected Jesus to writing many times, "Little children, love one another."  The transformation Jesus made in His followers inside and out is remarkable to behold in the scriptures and regularly in people to this day.

The Saviour Jesus Christ who called His disciples to follow Him is the One we must follow and continue so doing.  It would be a great shame for us to drift from obeying the commands of Christ, living in the reality of the Gospel and exhorting Christians to walk in holiness and love to stoop to weighing in on politics, medical advice and controversial topics as experts.  It would be entirely possible for Peter to continue fishing professionally whilst proclaiming the Gospel without contradiction, yet it would be an odd thing indeed to claim he was an authority on Roman taxation because he knew a former tax collector.  In the body of Christ there is great diversity between each individual member and the distinct function of each part.  It is also evident the purpose of all the parts are the same, to unite under the guidance and service of Jesus Christ Whom we glorify as the Head of the Body, the church.  I sometimes use one hand to crack the knuckles on the other hand to provide relief from aching joints, and this illustrates the point:  brothers and sisters, as we follow Jesus together allow the LORD to use others to adjust us to better coordinate our efforts to walk obediently in love towards all with grace upon grace.  In this way we too can wisely be about our Father's business.