Live NOW!

Plans are important. Anticipating future needs and making preparation for those moments is wise. A decade ago, I started to take little steps toward the goal of stepping away from full-time ministry at age 66. When that time came, I was financially ready and emotionally prepared to hand over leadership of the congregation I served for many years.

Now let me seem to contradict that opening paragraph by saying this – LIVE NOW! 

If we allow ourselves to be distracted today by a fascination with some event in the future, we will surely miss the opportunities that are unique to the moment.

The preacher, Jeremiah, taught this to the Lord’s people who had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, who were carried off to the city of Babylon, some six hundred miles from their homes. Some of their leaders assured the people that the Lord would surely intervene so they would return to Jerusalem in a short time. These lies were attractive and comforting to those who were struggling in a new land;  lonely, and afraid.

God told Jeremiah that the exile would last for 70 years so the preacher taught the people that it was important for them to get on with life. "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have." (Jeremiah 29:3-8, NIV)

Jeremiah told them the truth – “You are not coming home anytime soon. Your grandchildren will return so you must get on with life here, full of hope, but not empty dreams!”

At the outset of this new year, we can find great wisdom in that passage for our own lives!  Peter tells us that we are “aliens and strangers” here on this earth, but it is our present home, so we must carry on with life – even as we hope for the time when God takes us home.  We honor our God and bring glory to our Savior by being good citizens, industrious, and praying for our community. 

If we step back from engaging with our culture, living with excellence, as ‘salt and light’ because we are focused on the Second Coming of Jesus or waiting on the outbreak of some great spiritual revival, we miss God’s best right now.

There is great comfort in the promise of the “Kingdom to come,” in the anticipation of Heaven’s home. We do well to remember that we are a people of eternity, living with the long-range vision God gives to us. In tension with that, however, is the call to live for Christ in the present, finding His grace and being a blessing in the world.

After telling the exiles in Babylon that they were in it for long haul Jeremiah finished his message with promise. "This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:10-14, NIV)

They were people of the present with hope for the future. So are you and me!

Jesus told a parable (a story that teaches a spiritual principle) to His disciples. It was about a nobleman that was going on a long trip. Before he left, he entrusted his wealth to three servants. That nobleman told them "Occupy ‘till I come." (Luke 19:13, KJV) In other words, they were instructed to use the resources given to them wisely, to invest them in life!  Two of them did just that and were commended for their faithful diligence. One hid the treasure, keeping it safe, but unused. That servant was condemned! 

So, here is the phrase for those of us who are pilgrims, looking for a heavenly home. “Occupy ‘till I come!”

Here is a word from the Word, Jeremiah’s words to exiles that address us as well.  “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  (Jeremiah 29)

Live NOW, for the glory of God.

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(Video of this blog at this link)

No more guilty shame

We all know the sting of shame. It drives some to despair, others to extravagant attempts to prove their worth to themselves or others. Some try to erase shame by denying their words or actions, pretending it never happened, or at least not in the way others think. Others move to a new place looking to start over with some past disgrace hopefully left behind. 

Feelings of shame and/or inferiority leads to all kinds of dysfunctional behavior. Paradoxically, shame over some past experience may even drive a person to more self-destructive choices.

At the heart of Christianity is the promise of forgiveness and restoration, that we need no longer hide our failures or pretend that we are better than what we know of ourselves. In Christ’s love shame can be erased! The Scriptures says “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2)

The word ‘righteousness’ is not part of our everyday vocabulary so we may miss the assurance found there. God says that Jesus was crucified, hanging there on the Cross in shame, so that we can, through faith, become ‘right,’ without guilty shame in the Presence of a Holy God. He became ‘sin,’ bore our shame, so that we can not just be forgiven, but pardoned and justified!

There is a story in John’s Gospel that reveals the old way of religion that increases shame with the New Way of Christ that removes the terrible curse. "The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?"

As those men shamed that woman Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. It seemed like He was ignoring her pain while they kept badgering him. Finally, He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin." (John 8:3-11, The Message)

He neither denied the reality of her failure, nor did He heap guilty shame on her. He gave forgiveness and pointed to a new way of life. Can you imagine what she felt at that moment? At one moment an outcast, publicly humiliated; in the next, a person of worth, shown great grace and deep love!

And this is the same Jesus who loves you and me! As we begin the New Year, let’s not be driven to religious perfectionism or attempt to hide our own sense of shame by pointing out the flaws of others. Instead, let’s be loved to life and become those who offer amazing grace to those who live in shame.

Remember the whole story of the Good News of Jesus. He calls us to live the potential life of the Spirit, seeing through His eyes who we can become in Him. We cannot perfect ourselves, but we can be ‘made righteous’ by His gift of love. The Cross is for us both a symbol of terrible shame and tremendous glory, for there the worst of sin met the amazing grace of God.

Let the word from the Word today occupy your thoughts throughout the day - "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." (Colossians 2:13-15, NLT)

Are you living in shame? There is no need to stay there any longer.
The One who knows you best, loves you most!

______________________

Video of this blog at this link-  https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55