A Matter of Perspective-- Colossians 3

A Matter of Perspective

Truly comprehending our position and standing in Christ, should leave no part of our lives unchanged.   Everything should be have a new or renewed look in our lives.  Because Jesus never comes into a life and leaves it unchanged. 

The time-table and developmental model is different for each individual person, but one thing is a definite in the life of a true believer in Christ-- change.  Maturity, development, consecration, sanctification, and  renewal; are all apt descriptors of our new life in Christ. All of these actions are indicative of the path walked by a disciple of the one and only true Lord. 

The question remains-- Does my life look markedly different than the life I led before I gave my life to Jesus?

Colossians 3:1-4 says, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 

-- We have been raised with Christ... Sometimes we seem to forget that we were actually dead in sin before Jesus saved us. So in our relationship with the Lord we have been raised to new life with Christ. Think of Lazarus, four days dead in the tomb. Then Jesus prays to the Father and calls, "Lazarus, come out." The bible says he came out with strips of linen and cloth wrapped all around him.  The trappings of death still clung to him. 

But Jesus would not leave him as he was, trapped in death... He said, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

We are raised just like Lazarus.  We still have the former things clinging to us, wanting to drag us back.  But Jesus still says, "Take off the grave clothes and let them go!"

--  What old "grave clothes" are still holding us down?  For me, more often than not, it's my pride that wraps me up and holds me down. When I see my o,d ways asserting themselves I need to turn away from them, confess them as sin, and walk a new way in Christ.

 I have been raised with Christ who is seated at the right hand of God. Why do I cling to my old ways instead of clinging to Christ?

Hebrews 12:1 says, 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. 

Running with Christ is running to win!

--Colossians 3:1 reminds us growing and changing in Christ is a matter of perspective. Paul tells us to, set our minds on things above.  Verse 2 says, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

--When we set our focus on the truths of God and living to please him, it sets us free from the trappings of this world. When I slide back into my old ways of sin I am shifting my focus away from Christ and back to the world again. 

--I'm not a shooter nor do I own a gun, but I know that success in shooting depends on a clear, focused, and steady aim. 

Our aim as followers of Jesus must be Jesus himself, our savior. 

Hebrews 12:2 says,  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

--This changes everything forever. When we aim for Jesus and keep our aim steady and true, our lives show evidence of true change. We can live out the love of Jesus here and now! He is our target and our model. Jesus is the way and the door to eternal life and life more abundant found only in him. 

According to Colossians 3:3&4-- We died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

--That is a new location and new identification for our lives  when we are taken into a saving relationship with Jesus. We ought to begin to take on the new attributes of love, peace, and joy; every single day as we live out our new life in him. 

We don't have to rely on ourselves and stir up any new human efforts. We simply need to shift our gaze and fix our focus on the all-powerful Lord Jesus. We steady our aim on Jesus and our behavior changes because he fills us and remakes us in his image. He provides the power as we yield our all to him. 

So, throw off the grave-clothes today an embrace a new and victorious life in Jesus!

Trust and Obey-- Leviticus 26

I love the words to this old hymn:

Trust and Obey... For there's no other way-- To be happy in Jesus, Than to trust and obey. 

Our relationship with the Lord is initiated by trust-- Faith in Jesus Christ is the key that unlocks the door of salvation. The bible says, Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

The moment we stop trusting in ourselves and begin trusting in Jesus for our sufficiency and salvation we are set free from sin. 

Obedience is evidence of our growing and thriving relationship with the Lord.   John encourages believers saying, (1 John 2:28-- NIV)

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

FF Bruce said, "Continuance is the proof of faith."

As we draw closer to the Lord he enables us to follow his word. In fact it becomes our joy to do his will and live according to his truth. 

2 John 1:9 says,Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

The question here-- Are our lives being marked more and more by faith and obedience each and every day?

When faith and obedience begin to mark our lives and become our daily pattern of living, there are definite benefits! Leviticus 26:3&4 says,

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 

God blesses our lives. He becomes our joy and our strength and supplies every single one of our needs. Intimate connection to God  is the only way to experience the truly abundant life! And that abundance comes directly from the presence of the Lord in our lives... Troubles and trials do not cease when we come to know Christ. But we will always have the wisdom and strength of God when we face trials. These hardships should spurn us all the more to rely on God. We realize we are blessed when we struggle because Jesus is always there to carry us through. 

Following the Lord is always a blessing because he is near and always working in our lives!

Leviticus 26:3,9,11&12 says,

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands... I will look favorably upon you... I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. 

Are we experiencing these benefits in our lives?

I love the words to this old hymn:

Trust and Obey... For there's no other way-- To be happy in Jesus, Than to trust and obey

The Bread of Life-- Leviticus 24

The Bread of Life

I just can't help it! ... Wherever I look in the Old Testament, I see Jesus! Over and over again our Lord and Savior is present throughout the entire course of the redemptive history  of God and his people. The latest place I've found the Savior is in Leviticus 24. 

Leviticus 24:5-8 says,

You must bake twelve loaves of bread from choice flour, using four quarts of flour for each loaf. Place the bread before the LORD on a pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two rows, with six loaves in each row. Put some pure frankincense  near each row to serve as a representative offering, a special gift presented to the LORD. Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the LORD. The bread must be received from the people of Israel as a requirement of the eternal covenant. 

This offering was a sign of the eternal covenant between God and man.  In the time of the old covenant the bread was given as an offering from man back to God. When Jesus came and the new covenant was ushered in, the bread of life was given by God to man. 

Jesus said, (John 6:27) Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. 

-- Jesus came to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law. Including being the bread of life. He was a perfect and spotless offering for sin given to a perfect heavenly father. He met the requirements... He paid the price... He did all the work required by giving his life on the cross... By putting faith in Jesus we accrue all the benefits of this righteous work. 

(I love that Jesus says he, as this bread of life, receives God's seal of approval! ... Faith in Jesus is the one and only God approved method to be made right with him!)

Jesus said, (John 6:32 & 33) I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 

--Reliance on the old ceremonies and sacrifices was met and surpassed by the perfect offering Jesus presented in laying down his life for the sins of the many.  He came down to give life eternal to those who would put faith in him. 

John 6:35 says, Then Jesus declared, "I am the  bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

--Jesus meets every single one of our needs. His presence in our lives is all we need. The ever-changing circumstances of life will waver and shift continuously, but with Christ we are constantly secure and safe in his strong embrace!

--I am constantly amazed and satisfied by the work and sufficiency of Jesus in my life.  I need only look at who I was as a person just a few years ago and compare it to who I have become today. The more I have given Jesus first-place in my life the more he has transformed me by his grace and power. He is daily my bread of life. When I feast on him... His love... His word... His truth... The more he pours out through:  The words  I speak... The attitudes and feelings that fill my heart and mind... The actions that I carry-out... The ways I interact within the relationships I am blessed to be a part of...

They are all radically different only because Jesus is living and reigning and ruling in my heart and life. 

Who I am as a teacher is totally different than who I was just a few years ago. 

Who I am as a husband is dramatically different than who I was when I started out. 

Who I am as a man has changed completely since Jesus has been given more and more control of my life. 

I can only stand now and praise God for the glorious gift of the bread of life. The more I partake of it the more my life becomes like that of Jesus!

Relationships that Honor God-- Leviticus 19- Part Two

Today I read through Leviticus 20-22... But I'm still drawn back to the ideas presented in Leviticus 19. Human beings are the crowning jewel of God's creation. Genesis 2:7 says, The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 

God made humanity with the very imprint of his being. He breathed (and still breathes...) the breath of life into each and every human being. We are made in the image of God and bear that image. 

That's why it is imperative that we treat each and every person we meet with honor, love, and respect. Each person... Whether we like them or not is a being created in the image of God. So we are expected to treat each one with dignity. 

Leviticus 19 contains several commands that relate to human relationships and how we must proceed within them...

Leviticus 19:3 says, Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father...

Leviticus 19:9&10 say, When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop.... Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God. 

Leviticus 19:11 says, Do not steal... Do not deceive or cheat one another. 

Leviticus 19:13 says, Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

Leviticus 19:15 says, Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the LORD. 

Leviticus 19:16 says, Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people... Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened. I am the LORD. 

Leviticus 19:17 says, Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. 

Leviticus 19:33 & 34 says, Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living  in the land if Egypt. I am the LORD your God. 

It is clear over and over again in these verses that kindness, love, and respect can only start with you and I. We each have a personal responsibility to show love to those we come into contact with. It happens with one person at a time... One interaction at a time... One thought at a time... One word at a time... One action at a time...

We have a choice right now to mark our relationships with nothing but honor, kindness, respect... And above all these-- Love, from this day onward. Love binds them all together and gives them life. 

Whoever we chance to come in contact with today should walk away with the distinct impression of being loved and respected. 

Relationships that Honor God--Leviticus 18 & 19-- Part One

How we relate to other people deeply matters to the LORD. 

People are God's special creation. We are crafted by God's mighty hand. God breathed his spirit into human beings. We are the only part of creation that was and continues to be made in God's own image. We bear the image of God... So when we show love, honor, and respect to other human beings, we are honoring God. When we insult, cheat, or hurt other human beings; we are bringing dishonor to God and doing damage to a unique creation who bears the image of God. 

As I read through various commands in Leviticus 18 & 19 I am struck by how much God cares about the way human relationships are carried out. He wants us to care for, love, and respect one another-- no matter what. 

In Leviticus 18 the LORD details several commands related to sexual relationships. God gave sex as a unique gift to men and women who have entered a committed and loving marriage relationship. It is the highest form of human intimacy and is a reflection of an intimate relationship with our loving creator. When Jesus saves us he comes to live in us in the presence of his Holy Spirit. This is a deeply intimate connection. We see whispers of this in a God honoring marriage of a man and a woman.  The gift of a sexual relationship within the bonds of that marriage is a portrait of God's intimate connection to us through his loving son Jesus. 

Sexual relationships are also an area that are easily twisted ad defiled by sinful human beings. They can become one of the darkest and most harmful areas of life if we let selfishness, lust, and a "me-first" attitudes take control.  

Marriage-- God honoring marriage-- is about giving yourself completely to another person. A husband gives himself to his wife... And a wife gives herself to her husband. As it says in Genesis-- The two shall become one flesh. I must no longer seek my own good first, but the good of my wife first. The same must be true of my wife toward me. We serve one another in love. Each one seeking the other's benefit in everything we do, say, and think.  

Ephesians 5:25-28 says, Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves his own body. 

I honor God and his work in this world when I lay down my own life for my wife. When I forgo self and seek to give to her to meet her needs, I show the love of Christ. That's why the call in Ephesians 5:23 that tells wives to submit to their husbands is correct. If a man is living out the biblical mandate for a husband, his heart is always and only focused on honoring God and laying down his life for his wife. If a husband loves his wife, like Christ loves the church, then both halves of the marriage relationship will work in perfect, loving, harmony. Each one serving the other for their good-- always and forevermore!

Before the LORD explicitly lays out directions and commands connected to human sexuality he says this to his people-- (Leviticus 18:5) If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the LORD. 

This has been and continues to be completely true in my life-experience. It is especially true in my marriage! I have a wonderful wife. She is so loving toward me and I seek to show her just as much love. We try to always honor one another. And my heart is constantly seeking to lay my life down for her and to serve her in love. The more we obey God and honor God in our marriage relationship the more God blesses our lives. In following the word of God and following Christ we are definitely finding that "life more abundant" that Jesus promised.

Listening and Doing-- Leviticus 10 & 16

Upon reading through Leviticus 16 today, I was struck by one more observation related to Leviticus 10. (I told you I had a lot to share about this passage!)

In the aftermath of all that happened to Nadab and, the two son's of Aaron who offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, we a presented with a brief scene involving Moses their uncle and their father Aaron. 

The two sons had just been consumed by fire from the LORD's presence. And Leviticus 10:3 says, Then Moses said to Aaron, "This us what the LORD meant when he said,

               'I will display my holiness

                through those who come near to me,

                I will display my glory

                before all the people.'

God is holy... Absolutely holy. There is not even a hint of imperfection in him. What he does is holy and he will always show himself as holy... No matter what the cost. Part of God's holiness and perfection is that he always says what he means and means what he says. If God were inconsistent in this, he would not be absolutely holy. That's why Nadab and Abihu were struck down for what they had done. God had told them to proceed with this ceremonies in a particular way. They chose to devise their own method and it had deadly consequences. God showed himself as holy by saying what he meant and meaning what he said. He displayed  his glory by demanding faith in his words and obedience to his specific commands. 

Leviticus 10:3 ends by saying, And Aaron was silent. 

There was nothing Aaron could say. He trusted in God and reckoned God as holy. He had continuously experienced the LORD's holiness and power since he and the Hebrew people  had left Egypt. What could he say? ... Aaron knew God meant what he said and said what he meant. 

There is evidence of Aaron; this humble, teachable, usable servant of God's heart in Leviticus chapter 16. 

God had continued to use Aaron as high priest and continued to prepare him fully for service. 

Leviticus 16:2 says, The LORD said to Moses, "Warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses; if he does, he will die. For the Ark's cover-- the place of atonement-- is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover."

God went on to give very specific directions about when and how to approach the atonement cover of the Ark of the Covenant. And Aaron had already shown himself a workman approved for the LORD's service. He was ready to be used for God's glory no matter the cost.  Was Aaron perfect? No... We need only to go back to his shenanigans with the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai to see evidence that he was not.  But Aaron had one excellent attribute... He was a listener... When God spoke Aaron listened and his actions followed suit. 

Are we listeners? That's a good question for us to ponder. Are we as James wrote, Quick to listen-- slow to speak-- slow to become angry...?  God does speak and move in our hearts. The question is: Are we taking time to listen?

We will make mistakes and wrong choice in life... We will slip-up at times... But what do we do in the aftermath?  Do we stop-up our ears, dig in our heels and pridefully continue wallowing in sin? Do we continuously perpetuate the pattern of sin and disobedience?  Or do we stop and listen? Do we listen to that still small voice calling us back to himself... Calling us to turn away from wrong choices-- Calling us to give our hearts to God-- Calling us to go his way from that point on. 

That's what Aaron displayed in Leviticus 10 and 16 and onward into his life and ministry. That's the kind of heart and attitude God wants us to have too.  A listener's attitude... A humble heart... And a moldable spirit. Then God can use us and continue to make us more like his son. 

Leviticus 10-- Part 2

There's another big subject to touch on when you reflect on Leviticus 10.... The fear of the LORD. 

Leviticus 10:1&2 says, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the LORD by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he commanded. 

So fire blazed forth from the LORD's presence and burned them up, and they died there before the LORD. 

Wow! This was the consequence for the two sons of Aaron. They took the word of the LORD too lightly. God had commanded specific and precise steps for approaching him and bringing offerings and sacrifices to him. Nadab and Abihu either didn't listen to these directions or didn't care about them or thought they knew better or some combination of these missteps. No matter what their motivation, they didn't follow what God had commanded them to do. The reckoning was immediate, dramatic, and final. 

It is hard not to sit back and thank God for how patient he has been and is with me. It would be chilling to count all of the times I've chosen to sin and go my own way in life... But over and over God  has shown me so much grace and mercy and love, it is mind-boggling! The awe-inspiring fact is I have never deserved any of his great and beautiful gifts. But he has indeed lavished them upon me time after time. 

The danger comes in taking these gifts for granted and treading lightly in the midst of God's amazing grace. God is love... God is full of mercy... God is full of grace... Yes! All these attributes of our awesome God are still true today. They are still operating fully in the lives of men and women-- girls and boys; right at this very moment. 

But this same God is absolutely holy-- completely pure-- the all-powerful ruler of the universe-- and the sustainer of all things! (Including my very next breath... It's all in his hands.)

How do we operate in this reality? 

We must learn to rightly fear God. 

Proverbs 9:10 says, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy one is understanding. 

--People try to qualify this verse's simple meaning all the time. They say, "Oh, fear just means-- respect, honor, or awe... God doesn't really want us to fear him..."

That word-- fear, means all those things... But it also means-- FEAR. 

If we know who God really is... How powerful and holy he is... How he is sovereign over every single thing in this universe... How can we not rightly fear him?  

--People do not fear God when they make him into something less than he really is. That's what Nadab and Abihu did. They did not rightly fear God for who he really was.  They did not believe in what he said they must do. They showed it by their actions and flippant approach to the things of God.  They shrank God down to their own size or smaller.  They put Hod in a box and hoped to hold down the lid with their own feeble strength. But these actions had deadly consequences.

 Simple trust in God-- Trust that he meant what he said...

Simple obedience to God's commands...

These two actions and attitudes would have totally transformed Nadab and Abihu's lives!

The longer I walk with the LORD, the more I learn who he really is and this always leads me to a place of awe and worship... And, yes... Fear. 

I think of the way I related to my earthly father as a kid and relate to him even now... I love my father. He is a wonderful caring man.  But I knew who my father was (and I still do). I knew what he stood for. I also knew what pleased and displeased him. I knew if I took him too lightly there would be consequences.  And fear was a healthy part of that equation. But along with that real fear was an overwhelming desire to please and honor my father with right choices and loving obedience.

That's how we need to relate to our heavenly father too. He loves us and wants us to trust in him and follow him. He wants us to honor him by trusting in his word and worshiping him daily in our words, thoughts, and actions. When we humble our hearts and trust that God means what he says it transforms every single thing in our lives.  Today is the day o begin the walk toward wisdom by learning who he is... Rightly esteeming and fearing him... Then trusting and following him from here on.