A Beautiful Thing

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Pete

Apparently, there is good and then there is good! There is commendable or suitable and then there is most excellent and surpassing. There is praiseworthy and then there is precious. There is useful and then there is magnificent. There is a befitting thing and then there is a beautiful thing.

And while [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over His head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for burial.”

(Mark 14:3-8 ESV)

I paused at this passage this morning because I always pause here. Whether it’s this account in Mark, or the parallel accounts in Matthew (26:6-13) or John (12:2-8), I can’t help but marvel afresh every time I encounter this act of such extravagant worship.

The whole scene is mind-blowing. Jesus is in the house of a leper for dinner. The “woman” of Mark’s and Matthew’s account is identified as Mary in John’s account. Mary as in Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany. Lazarus, Mary’s brother, is doing what no one ever imagined he’d be doing, living. Martha, Mary’s sister, is doing what Martha always does, serving. And Mary? Well, Mary is doing what Mary does best. She is at Jesus’ feet and causing a stink again — literally! (Lk. 10:38-42)

So, I’m hovering over this passage and what sticks out is that she has done a beautiful thing. But only the ESV and NIV render it this way. For the CSB it’s “a noble thing.” For the other standard translations it’s “a good thing.”

Okay, for me there’s a difference between a good thing and a beautiful thing. But apparently in the ancient Greek language it can be the same thing.

So what’s the x-factor that distinguishes good works from beautiful works (Mt. 5:16). That makes good fruit beautiful fruit (Mt. 7:17). That makes a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Lk. 6:38) a beautiful measure (Lk. 6:38). Thinking maybe it goes from being just a good deed to a beautiful deed when it’s poured out for Jesus by faith.

She was anointing Him for His burial. That Jesus would die didn’t make any sense to her. Not from a theological point of view — she had been looking for a conquering Messiah. Not from a sentimental point of view — she had sat at His feet and been moved in the depths of her soul by His teaching. Not from a logical point of view — this is the One who had raised her brother from the dead, and now He was going to die? Nope. Didn’t compute. Yet she anointed Him for His burial.

Not that she was conceding death would win, but that she was believing that Jesus was who He said He was, “the resurrection and the life” (Jn. 11:25).

Jesus. Believing Jesus. Obeying Jesus. Loving Jesus. Exalting Jesus. Isn’t Jesus what makes a good thing a beautiful thing? I’m thinkin’ . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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Deja Vu All Over Again

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Pete

His disciples wanted to know when it would happen. They wanted to know what would be the signs. But, if I’m picking up what Jesus has been laying down in Mark 13, He wanted them to be more concerned with how they should prepare.

“And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mark 13:37 ESV)

Last night’s conversation was kind of deja vu all over again (Thanx Yogi Berra). Getting older has a way of making that happen. I was saved in late 70’s and one of the most popular books at that time was “Late Great Planet Earth”, a step by step mapping of the imagery of Revelation into the actuality of our “modern times.” It made the apocalypse fertile ground for speculation. Technology which was, at best, sci-fi in the 50’s was now present in the late 70’s and 80’s in a way that trumpets sounded and bowls poured out in Revelation were being mapped to realities experienced. This is it! We’re in the end times!

Now, in the 2020’s I hear the same conversations increasingly. Technology today makes the 70’s pale in comparison. The physical dynamics and logistics required for one government world control are so much more apparent. The groundwork and infrastructure for all to be deceived and follow a lie now resides on a little device most of us carry in our purses and pockets. No, this is it! We’re in the end times of the end times!

And, to be sure, we are. Our final redemption certainly is nearer than when we first believed (Rom. 13:11). But not so we can speculate, opinionate, debate, and separate. Nope! It’s so we might stay wake.

You can’t miss the repetition and progression in Mark 13. “But be on your guard” (13:9) . . . “But be on guard” (13:23) . . . “Be on guard, keep awake” (13:32) . . . “Therefore stay awake” (13:35) . . . “Stay awake” (13:37). Three “be on guard”s. Three “stay awake”s. So whaddya think we should be doing?

Be on guard. Take heed, says the NKJV. Watch! Be alert! That’s how the CSB puts it. Behold what’s going on. Have the presence of mind to see the pieces in play. Discern the times. But not for the purposes of trying to figure out when. Not to engage in trivial exercises of mapping imagery to actuality. But so you’ll stay awake.

Stay awake. Be alert (CSB). Keep watch (NIV). Jesus is coming on a day and at an hour which “no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (13:32). So, says Jesus, be ready.

When the Son returns He wants to find faith in action (Lk. 18:8). He wants to walk in on His servants busy doing the work He’s asked them to do (Mt. 24:45-46). He doesn’t want to find them snoozin’ at the wheel or distracted and entangled by things of this world. He wants kingdom people who are actively anticipating the kingdom and engaged with kingdom work. So stay awake.

It’s not about figuring out exactly the when. Not about matching up all the pieces of the what. It’s about the how of waiting. About being awake. Ready to see Him. Active to please Him.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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The Yoked-to-Provoked Connection

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Pete

Hovering over Psalm 106 this morning and a well known quote comes to mind from Ralph Waldo Emerson (technically, a well known quote comes to mind and I have to Google it to find it was by Emerson).

“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

Psalm 106 sparked the memory of that quote not because it enforces it, but because it presents a Mr. Hyde antithesis to Emerson’s Dr. Jekyll truism. Psalm 106 is an anti-progression of Emerson’s thought-to-destiny connection. As the songwriter recounts his people’s history, he spends a fair amount of time on the yoked-to-provoked connection.

Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead; they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

(Psalm 106:28-29 ESV)

The psalmist expands on this later in the song:

They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them . . . they mixed with the nations . . . They served their idols . . . They sacrificed their sons and their daughters . . . they became unclean by their acts . . . Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people . . .

(Psalm 106:34-40 ESV)

They yoked and they provoked. Disobedience in the beginning led to destructive behavior later on. Sowing seeds of idolatry eventually resulted in the soiling of their character. Being yoked to the ways of the world around them ultimately provoked the God of heaven above them.

Oh, thank God for the cross! Praise Him for the well-worn path to Calvary where we trek, again and again, to confess our sins knowing He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn. 1:9). It is not kindling God’s anger we fear as much as it is breaking His heart. Not that we won’t discipline those He loves, He will. But less than fear of discipline, it’s fear of disappointing our loving, gracious Father who loved us to the point of giving His Son for us.

So, I note that it can start with seemingly small things. Less about rejecting God outright and more about giving the world an invite. Not about removing the way of Christ but about adding the way of the world.

Sow a yoking, and you reap an idol; sow an idol and reap disobedience, sow disobedience and you reap destruction, sow destruction and reap discipline.

Or something like that. I’m no Emerson.

Maybe leaving it to the Scriptures to summarize is a better approach:

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

(James 1:14-15 ESV)

Oh, to be faithful in the small things and on guard against our own desires. To value, as much as lies in me, fidelity to the Savior and His words, over the “it’s no big deal” claims of the world and their alluring call. To believe that an unhealthy yoking can lead to an unwanted provoking. And then to flee from temptation and cling to the the truth.

Possible by the grace of God. Desirable for the glory of God.

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The Presentation

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Pete

I’ve got a road trip to take this morning so limited time for noodling and note-taking. Captured again by Paul’s divine jealousy in my 2Corinthians 11 reading. Thought I’d go back in the archives and pull out something to post. Came across a short post from May 2017, a few months after my wife had gone home to be with the Lord. Hit me like a ton of bricks. True then. True now. While there is so much to consume me in the present, how I need to never lose site of the presentation.

Here’s that short thought . . .

This morning I’m hovering over the first few verses of 2Corinthians 11. Over the years, it’s been a common place to pause after my daily readings and noodle on Paul’s “divine jealousy” for the somewhat dysfunctional church at Corinth. But this morning, given where my heads at, my thoughts are less about Paul’s intense desire that those He brought to Christ should determine to live with “a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (11:3b), but that, ultimately, the goal of the betrothal is the presentation.

I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

(2Corinthians 11:2 ESV)

Paul was the matchmaker. These Corinthians the bride. And the end game, their presentation to Christ.

And as one betrothed yet not presented, I realize how easy it is to become attached to being engaged and how hard it is when others go on before us.

But as I savor Paul’s heart for the Corinthians, I’m reminded that it really is about going home. That the calling we seek to live out here and now is not the end game, but simply the road to be traveled. That, as good as sensing the presence of God by the Spirit of God is, it will pale in comparison to being in the presence of God and looking upon the face of His precious Son. That while we can, by faith, taste and see that the Lord is good today, there is coming a day when we will feast at His table.

Sue has been presented. I am still betrothed. Hers is to rejoice. Mine is to remain.

. . . to keep on keeping on.

By His grace . . . for His glory.

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A People Watcher

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Pete

Ask me what Jesus did in the temple and my immediate answer would be that He cleaned house, overturning tables, shutting down commerce, and evicting money changers (Mk. 11:15). Ask me, what else? And if I thought about it long enough, I might remember that He also taught in the temple. But that He sometimes was also in the temple just people watching? Nope, don’t think I would have come up with that. But He did.

And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.

(Mark 12:41a ESV)

Jesus sat down and watched the people. Jesus was/is a people watcher. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

Somehow the Teacher got a break from teaching. A few moments when, rather than be surrounded by the crowd, He could sit off to the side and watch the crowd. Jesus, out of the spotlight, yet not out of the picture. Not commanding the center of attention, yet never ceasing to give attention to what was happening on the fringes.

I’ve done some people watching in my time. Not much in these “order from Amazon” days, but, in the days when the mall was the primary venue for merchandising, I occupied a bench on more than one occasion (usually because I was waiting on someone else to finish their shopping) and just sat and watched crowds go by and individuals interact. They did their thing unmindful of my watchful eye. No reason to be mindful of me, I was just a guy sitting on a bench.

But Jesus wasn’t just some guy sitting down opposite the treasury. He was the Son of God cloaked in flesh. The Word who created all things watching all the things He had created. Not just sitting there with little concern or thought for others, but the Omniscient One aware of all other’s thoughts. Off to the side, yet in the middle of everything.

That’s why He noticed her. The poor widow dropping her two small coins in the offering box. And why He knew that she had given “out of her poverty” and had “put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mk. 12:44b). She didn’t do it to be seen by anyone else, yet she was. Nobody appreciated the sacrifice she was making through the common act of tithing. But He did. She was invisible to everyone else. But not to Jesus.

Jesus, God fully God, is a people watcher.

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths.

(Proverbs 5:21 ESV)

You show steadfast love to thousands, but You repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

(Jeremiah 32:18-19 ESV)

And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

(Hebrews 4:13 ESV)

He is a people watcher. Thinking that’s a good thing to keep in mind. Not for fear, but to be faithful. Not to perform, but to rest in that He is ever present.

His eyes ever seeing. His grace always sufficient. His glory the only goal.

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A Double Harvest

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Pete

Sometimes you have to hover over a passage for an extended time to figure out why it’s there. Sometimes you really need to chew on the words, verses, and paragraphs to figure out the point. Other times? No so much.

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

(2Corinthians 9:6 ESV)

Sow bountifully! That’s the point. Talk about a gimme! The law of the harvest should govern more than our gardens, it should govern our generosity.

What’s more, in this section of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, where he’s encouraging the saints to make good on their intention to send a gift to hard-pressed believers in Jerusalem, he wants them to understand the connection between God’s grace in meeting their needs and their generosity towards helping out with the needs of others.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. . . . He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way . . .

(2Corinthians 9:8, 10-11a ESV)

Grace abounds, good works should abound. Enriched in every way, generous in every way. Affluent by God’s sovereign determination, ready to spread the wealth according to God’s providential direction. God’s graced people should be God’s generous people.

But what also grabs me is that sowing bountifully provides a double harvest.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others . . .

(2Corinthians 9:12-13 ESV)

Not only does generosity seed a harvest of blessing for others through our good works, it also overflows as a harvest of thanksgiving from others for God’s glory. We freely give of what we’ve undeservedly been freely given, and God is rightfully given what he is rightfully owed, worship.

A double harvest. Our giving, our generosity, while a blessing to others, also produces the fruit of others blessing God.

So, sow bountifully. For others good, for God’s glory. Thanksgiving overflowing, because of grace abounding.

God’s grace. God’s glory.

That’s the point.

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An Act of Grace

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Pete

Honestly, it’s not really all that intuitive. Not how you’d expect the numbers to add up. But I guess that’s as a good a description of grace as any — it doesn’t add up.

AFFLICTION
+ ABUNDANCE OF JOY
+ EXTREME PROVERTY
WEALTH OF GENEROSITY

Noodle on that. Adds up for you? According to Paul, that’s how the math played out for the churches in Macedonia. And, writes Paul, this manifestation of head-scratching generosity was the grace of God.

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

(2Corinthians 8:1-2 ESV)

Paul wanted the Corinthians to know the unusual way the grace of God had showed up among some churches in northern Greece. The manner in which these brothers and sisters demonstrated amazing grace had invaded their midst was through their own amazing generosity. They gave to the needy in Jerusalem “according to their means, . . . and beyond their means, of their own accord” (8:3). Not only were they willing to part with disposable income they didn’t have, but “they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints” (8:4 CSB).

Now, naturally at least, people without a lot material means tend to be pretty careful about saving it up to prepare for their own future. Penny-pinching only makes sense where there’s little prosperity present. Even more so if you’re one of these Macedonians trying to scrape by amid “extreme poverty.” Add to that tough times, a “severe test of affliction”, and the natural tendency is to be even tighter with your cash. It’s no longer about saving for a rainy day, it’s about getting through the present storm. And yet, when the need of the saints in Jerusalem hit their radar, they responded beyond their means. How come? “Abundance of joy.”

Though it was hard in their circumstance, it was well with their soul. Though they weren’t sure where the next meal might come from, they had tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Though they walked by faith, they were sure that God would “supply every need of [theirs] according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Php. 4:19). For they were sons and daughters of the Father. They abided in close communion with the Son. They walked in heavenly context with unearthly power by the Spirit.

They had been raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly places and thus were possessors of “every spiritual blessing in heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3, 2:6). Though their bank accounts on earth kept over-drafting, their treasures in heaven were overflowing. And so, they personified the grace of God in their actions.

AFFLICTION
+ ABUNDANCE OF JOY
+ EXTREME PROVERTY
WEALTH OF GENEROSITY

It just doesn’t add up. Unless of course the math has been modeled for you already by Someone else.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.

(2Corinthians 8:9 ESV)

Those who have known the grace of God should manifest the grace of God. God’s people should be among the earth’s most generous for they have generously received of divine abundance. Not because they were worthy, but because of their great need. Not because they could ever pay it back, but because they would have the opportunity, in the name of Christ, to pay it forward.

. . . see that you excel in this act of grace also. (2Corinthians 8:7b ESV)

Because of the joy known through His overwhelming grace. For the privilege of giving Him the all deserved glory.

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Give Me A Man

Posted on April 29, 2021 by Pete

If David is a type, or foreshadow of Jesus, then is Goliath a type of Satan?

Goliath of Gath — literally, “the splendor” of “the winepress” — was an imposing figure. He stood over 9 feet tall and was massive enough to carry over 125 pounds of armor on his frame. He wielded a spear as thick as a fence post, the spearhead alone weighing in at over 15 pounds (1Sam. 4-7). And his over-sized appearance was only matched, and then some, by his over-sized ego.

Arrogantly, he goes rogue, stomps onto the battle field, and issues a challenge (there’s no indication it had been sanctioned by his commanders in chief, but really, no one even in his own ranks was big enough to stand up to him).

And the Philistine said, “Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”

(1Samuel 17:8b-10 ESV)

Give me a man. Sounds like Satan.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

(1Peter 5:8 ESV)

But in his arrogance, while he’d delight in chewing on any man, Goliath wanted the man. Israel’s best man. The man who was above all men. The strongest and bravest and most accomplished of all Israel’s army. For when the giant defeated that man there would be no disputing his unmatched power.

That’s why he was so ticked when David walked out towards him with a sack of rocks and sling.

And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

(1Samuel 17:43 ESV)

I’m a lion, not a dog. I am power, not some powder puff. He was insulted. Enraged. So belittled by this apparent boy who walked onto the battlefield, that he couldn’t see straight. But soon, he wouldn’t see at all.

Was the prince of darkness also confused when the Command of the Lord’s Army entered the battlefield of earth as a human infant? Did he feel disrespected as his demonic minions were later cast aside by a Rabbi of unimpressive stature, one having no form or majesty that anyone should take note of Him (Isa. 53:2)? Was the cross the ultimate insult? “This?” thinks the enemy, “this is what you come to battle a lion with? I said, ‘Give me a man, ‘and now you come to me with these Roman sticks? Am I a dog?” No, Satan, you are done!

And the son of Jesse approaches, a foreshadow of the Son of God entering the arena to do battle with the enemy once and for all, and he speaks,

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. . . . that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear.”

(1Samuel 17:45, 46b-47a ESV)

I hover over David’s victory. Resisting any temptation to place myself in the story in his sandals. I’m not David in the story, I’m in the ranks of those who were oppressed by the enemy, in fear of the enemy, and needed another to provide deliverance from the enemy. I’m to resist the devil (James 4:7), not run onto the battlefield seeking to confront him. I am to put on the whole armor of God so that I can stand firm against his schemes and weather his assaults (Eph. 6:11), not seek to engage him so that I might slay him. For he has already been defeated. The greater David, Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of David, the Son of God, has fought the fight, defeated the enemy, and won the battle. And that, not with a bag of rocks, but through a wooden Roman cross.

Satan said, Give me a man. And he got more than he could handle.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.

(Colossians 2:13-15 ESV)

A Man by God’s grace. The Man, Christ Jesus, for God’s glory.

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The Full Potential of Grace

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Pete

Cleaning up and re-posting something from this day’s readings 10 years ago.

Grace. Amazing Grace. Wonderful Grace of Jesus. Grace Greater Than My Sin. Unmerited Favor. God’s Richest At Christ’s Expense.

If there’s a single word that captures the gospel it could very well be grace. And I shuddered a bit this morning as I read in 2Corinthians. In this letter written to a church, these instructions written to a body of believers, Paul says to these saints:

We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain . . .

(2Corinthians 6:1b ESV).

Some suppose that the reference here is to salvation. That it’s a warning not to reject God’s offer of free (for us not for His Son) forgiveness — for “Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation” (6:2 ESV). Could be. But the sense I get as I read the chapter is that, continuing on from chapter 5, Paul makes an appeal to maximize the potential of grace and not render it void through continuance in living after the world and in the pursuit and indulgence of sin. I especially think this based on what I see as the other “bookend” for this section:

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

(2Corinthians 7:1 ESV).

Catch that? We are to cleanse ourselves so that holiness will be brought to completion in the fear of God. While we are saved by grace, and while we are to live in His all sufficient grace, we are to also seek to allow grace to complete the work begun in us. To determine, by His grace, to pursue holiness. When we do, it is then, I think, that we are not receiving the grace of God in vain.

The work of grace is intended to go way beyond our spiritual rebirth. It is the foundation for our sanctification, for the taking on of the character of Christ. But, should we determine to be “unequally yoked” with those outside of grace — with lawlessness, darkness, and idols (6:14-16) — then we are in danger of receiving the grace of God in vain.

We can take the riches of God and ignore the potential to make eternal investments and lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven. We can take the seed of the living Word implanted within us and be careless with watering it and nurturing it so that it bears fruit for His glory. We can take all the tools which God has given to us to participate in the divine nature and, instead, leave them in the toolbox and seek to build nothing upon the foundation laid by Christ. Oh, how I shudder at the thought of receiving God’s grace in vain.

“For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.’ ”

(2Corinthians 6:16b-18 ESV)

Oh, the privilege of grace! To be made a place where God desires to dwell. To be called His people. To be owned as His children. “Do not!” says the heart of the apostle, “Do not receive it all in vain!”

Instead I am to pursue it, by His grace. To be a welcoming habitation for the Lord, by His grace. To own as precious beyond precious, the title, “People of God”, by His grace. To lean into the Spirit of adoption who resides within and, as a child of God, cry out, “Abba, Father!”, desiring no family above His, by His grace. To say no to the world, to the old nature, to the voices of those who walk the path of destruction, by His grace. And to embrace the call to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God. By His grace.

It is Amazing Grace. It is Wonderful Grace. It is Grace Greater Than My Sin. It is God’s Riches At Christ Expense. And, as much as lies within me, I desire that it will be grace that achieves its full potential in me.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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Swallowed Up By Life

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Pete

The best is yet to come. For the believer that’s always a true statement. No matter how good it has been, the best is yet to come. No matter how good it is, or might get, the best is still yet to come. And, no matter how bad it’s been, or it is, or it might become, guess what? The best is yet to come. That’s a promise to claim!

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened — not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

(2Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV)

An earthly tent exchanged for a heavenly building. A temporary dwelling fashioned from the dust of the earth replaced with a permanent house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The child of God prepared for this very thing. Take it to the bank. For the Spirit indwelling us is a guarantee of the reality awaiting for us.

And here’s what I’m chewing on this morning: we are going to be swallowed up by life.

Don’t think I’ve ever heard that phrase used at a funeral. We’ll talk of someone who has died as having “departed” or “passed on.” As we mourn differently than others who have no hope (1Thess. 4:13), we might even encourage one another in our grief by referring to a brother or sister who has left us as having been “promoted into glory.” But what if, as we laid their mortal body in the ground, we reminded ourselves that their mortality has been swallowed up by life?

A dear departed one more alive now than ever before in their life. Those who have gone before now fully, tangibly enveloped with a love we can but sense from within. Those who have traded in the tents of their sojourning, now in the presence of the Author of Life (Acts 3:15), as He fulfills His promise to give them life and life more abundantly . . . superiorly . . . extraordinarily . . . surpassingly . . . more exceedingly (Jn. 10:10).

Swallowed up by life. We know it’s coming. Don’t know when. Don’t know how. But we know that while to live is Christ, to die is gain (Php. 1:21). For we know that to be “away from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8).

And then, we will thank Him, face to face, for His amazing grace. Even as we behold Him, face to face, in all His awesome glory.

The best is yet to come! Amen?

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