New Life'n

This man eats with sinners

No one serious about God would do that, right?  Answering, he says it's normal for someone to search for something they've lost; the lost thing is valuable and important to him, and he goes all-out to get it back.  When he "eats with sinners," he's looking for something that's lost.  He's talking about you and me and our friends & family and the whole world. 

Maybe the search for the lost, valuable thing looks and feels a little like this,,, 

"In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents" (Luke 15:10)

(video by 36 parables)

Would you rather have a map or the guide?

I'm constantly reverting to my default -- asking, OK, what do you want me to do?  Not that it's a bad question.  It's just that sometimes I act like that's the only question, or the most important one. 

Thomas asked that kind of question (John 14:1-7).  Jesus had said not to be troubled, to trust him and his father, that in his father's house were many rooms and he was going to prepare a place and he would come back and take them to be with him.  Then he said, you know the way to where I'm going.

And Thomas thinks, Father's house?  Where is that?  And he says, we don't know where you are going so how can we know the way?

Jesus doesn't give him a map or directions to get there.  He just says it's with the father, which is their problem: We don't know where that is, so you have to tell us how to get there!

It's almost like they didn't hear him say, "I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."    Then he says the part we always remember -- "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

Don't need no map.  Don't need no directions.  Not when I have THE GUIDE.  Stick with him and he personally takes me where he wants me to be -- which is wherever he is.  But then the troubling, unasked question I hear is --

Is being with me enough?  Or are you more interested in what you think I want you to do and where you think I want you to go?  Of course I have a will for what you do and where you go, but do you want that MORE?  Do you want that FIRST?  Would you actually settle for my will, without ME?

What Jesus has done

Hebrews 9 and 10 -- from memory and with the passion it was written with.

Ryan Ferguson lives in Greenville, SC.  More HERE.

Free Bible software

Bible software can cost between $100 and $500 (or more), depending on the extra books you get with it.  (This place has discounts).  But even the most basic software can help you study your Bible more effectively. 

The free one is e-Sword -- I've heard some good things about it.  You can download it for free, although it could be nice to make a donation.  I've used WORDsearch for 10 years, but don't really like the new version since they merged with Bible Explorer, so I still use an old version.  The premier Bible software might be Logos.  All of them have a learning curve, but then you've given yourself a tool to possibly better know what the Bible says.

It took me a while to get used to studying the Bible on my computer, but I do it all the time now.  It really helps me in reading thru the whole thing, because I just save where I was and when I come back to that window, it picks up where I left off.  I've read thru the Old Testament 3-4 times and the New Testament dozens of times that way.  It also enables me to just click on cross references, instead of turning pages to look each one up, so I can quickly put together a large list of verses on any given subject.  That leaves more time for thinking, praying and meditating on the meaning and application. 

So, the good part about Bible software -- you can find things and study the Bible and collect passages on what the Bible teaches much faster.  The scary part -- now you're more accountable for having learned more and having more time to apply it!

I saw something

...that made me look up the word DISPLAY.  It means a setting or presentation of something in open view.  It also means

• a clear sign or evidence
• an ostentatious show designed to catch the eye
• something exhibited or presented in visual form
• a pattern of behavior exhibited by male birds in breeding season

Pretty much, "display" means something to be seen -- it's not private and unseen.  The thing I saw that made me think was not a Christmas display.  It was where God said he made his people

for the display of my splendor -- Isaiah 60:21

Ever wonder why God made you?

Getting what you need

Doc's exact words at the follow-up appointment to my surgery:  That swelling is normal.  It will go away.  If the tape doesn't come off by itself by next week, you can take it off.  Go do whatever you want.  The whole thing took about a minute.

I asked him about the anaethesia, because originally they were going to do a light "twilight sleep" but then talked about doing the whole knock-out punch.  I wanted to know, because there were no side-effects and I woke up quick, and I wanted to know if I handled a general anaesthesia well.

"Uhh, well, I'm not sure...I do a lot of these," and he hemmed & hawwed a little about what they probably did.  I think he felt a little awkward not knowing.  So did I -- I thought, Gary, of course he doesn't remember, he walked in after you were all prepped and knocked out and did his slash-slash thing; he's a specialist, he doesn't treat the whole person.

And I immediately thought of that woman walking up to Jesus, suffering for so long and wanting so bad to be helped, and she doesn't want to bother the great healer, and she just touches Jesus' clothes and he spins around and wants to know what's going on.  He wants to look her in the eye -- as if he's saying, you don't just get to come to me for the thing you want and then hide from me...who are you?  And she gets her relief AND she tells him her whole story in front of everyone.  He wanted her.  Her story.  Her pain.  Her whole life mattered.  Like he was saying, you get all of me (not just the part you want), and I get all of you, too.  Package deal.  His terms.

I don't expect that of any doctor -- it's way too up there.  The doctor who heals when doctors can't is big enough and cares enough and there's plenty of him to go around.  Only one of him is needed.

"May our hearts get such a lesson in the love of the Father, that, instead of being depressed by trying circumstances, or elated by what are called providential interpositions, we may know that we are the objects of this wonderful love, and are being educated into it by the only One who knew it in all its power as He walked here below through this wilderness world." -- from Hungry Heart #7 - 25.

No wan go boom

The Piedmont Gas guy said the reason we smelled a little gas was because the fireplace had a wrong fitting.  Later, we had the heating and cooling guy out for something else, but he said they didn't work on fireplaces.  I wondered if I could do it myself.  I made a drawing of the connections in the gas line in the fireplace and we stopped at Northern Supply. 

I found a kit that had all the pieces, including what looked like the one I needed.  But, I still wanted to hear someone say, sure you can do that yourself.  So I asked.  I showed the clerk the drawing and said, I think it needs a new fitting right here -- it's supposed to be pipe-flange instead of flange-flange, I guess.

He looked at me.  You just said the key word -- "I guess."  That might be something you don't want to mess around with.  You might want to go with an expert.

When it comes to something that might blow up in your face, it's not enough to have an opinion and to think you have an answer.  Some things aren't that kind of thing -- like gas appliances.  Now for lesser things, like how to live life and raise kids and be married, and what happens when you die -- those things you can have an opinion on and guess at.  One person's opinion has the same credibility as another, right?  Let's not be dogmatic about it.  Everybody has an opinion about religion, right? 

But gas, now that's serious.  It could blow up and burn you and destroy your property and even take your life.  Serious, definitive things like that.  For your protection, you need to rely on something that's knowledgeable and sure, right?

That's how I feel about Jesus and the Bible.

Mary and the pain of serving God

From Mark D. Roberts --

She was surely aware of the painful implications of this miracle. She would appear to be an adulteress. She would dishonor her family, perhaps even be disowned by them. She would dishonor her fiancé/husband, and in all likelihood be rejected by him. Moreover, if his anger or sense of righteousness demanded it, he could have her put to death according to the law.

In the best case scenario, Mary would not be stoned to death, but would live her whole life as a woman of questionable morality, somebody about whom people would whisper when she wasn't around, or even when she was.

And how does she respond?  "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word"  (Luke 1:35-38).  And then she sings!

To be sure, no human being apart from Jesus Himself has received more honor than Mary. But it's most unlikely that she enjoyed any of this adulation in her own life, at least not until after the resurrection of Jesus. What Mary actually experienced socially was closer to disgrace than grace.

More HERE.

The heart of a hug

I'm thinking about God's love and compassion and acceptance. 

I'm also thinking about how God can give his mercy and compassion, how he doesn't just decide to be lenient and be a nice guy and say, aw shucks, c'mon over here and give me a hug.  Yes, he feels kindness and mercy towards me, but he still dished out what I deserved -- he just didn't dish it out on me, but punished himself (his son) in my place.  And he did that without me asking and even when I hated him and was his enemy.  And it hurt -- him.

Without him giving sin what it deserves, there isn't any mercy or compassion or forgiveness.  And even then, after he takes his justice out on himself, I still don't get the benefit until I agree that I deserve what he took. 

Why do I deserve to be punished by him?  Let's see.  He made me.  I was all his idea and his making.  I wasn't my own idea and I couldn't create myself.  But after he thought of me and planned me out and then made me, I said, Hey thanks for the life!  And I took it for myself.  I was indifferent toward him.  Actually worse -- I was actively hostile.  I didn't want to think about any interference with my own ideas of life in general or with my own life.  I was totally dead to any claim he had on me or any purpose he had for me.  I did everything without him and made things and projects and relationships substitutes for him.  And that doesn't even count my sins, all the bad stuff I did.  Outside of that, I was a great guy, a nice guy rebel -- not an in-your-face sinner -- like a son who is polite and sounds respectful but has no intention of listening to dad. 

So I'm thinking about how he offers forgiveness and compassion, but it's offered after a legal kind of thing where a judge said, well you know someone has to serve time for this before you get the pardon, and Jesus does the time and takes the rap and gets the chair and so since justice is maintained and the crime is payed for, THEN I can get the forgiveness and compassion -- if I agree and believe that I need it and that I get it only because of what Jesus has done in my place.  So I love the end -- the compassion and my welcome into God's arms; and I love the compassion of Jesus' suffering for me that provided that compassionate welcome for me. 

And I'm also thinking of when the religious leaders were talking about how Jesus "welcomes sinners and eats with them."  And Jesus told two quick stories and a longer one.  The first story was about a man with many sheep who lost one and went looking for it.  The second was about a woman losing a coin and looking for it.  The assumption of those two stories seems to be that that's the normal thing to do and of course anyone would look for something they lost, even if they had others like it.  It belongs to them, they want to find it. 

And Jesus mentions the rejoicing when the lost thing is found and then says that in the same way there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who...who what?  Is found?  It seems obvious that's what he means, but that's not what he says.  He says, "over one sinner who repents."  Apparently, God's finding the lost thing -- person -- is related to the person changing his mind.  The finding and the repenting are kinda the same thing, almost interchangeable.

And then he goes right into story #3, the so-called Prodigal Son, who seems to say to dad, I wish you were dead so I could have my inheritance now, and then goes crazy and blows it and is miserable.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, his dad loves him so much he's always looking and waiting for him to return.  But dad can't give compassion and mercy and acceptance until his son changes his mind and comes back. 

And the guy does come to his senses and realizes he was foolish and wrong.  But he doesn't stay in the pig pen and feel sorry for himself, or write a letter to his dad.  No, he changes his mind -- repents -- and is not only willing to go back to dad on dad's terms...he actually turns around and goes back, with no expectation of having anything his way.  THEN he receives the incredible, compassionate, and undeserved, welcome home. 

So, I love the hug.  But I don't want to forget why that hug can be given.

Four steps to transform your life

I started doing this 10 years ago.  I would be a different man if I hadn't.

Before I reveal the four steps I want to reiterate that while the advice could transform your life, it most likely will not. As with most life-altering advice, it is simple, easy to implement, and even easier to ignore. Statistically speaking, the odds are great that you’ll ignore this advice. Therefore I encourage you to stop reading now; you’ll only be wasting your time reading further.

HERE'S THE 4 STEPS.