I get by with a little help from my friends...a lot, actually!

It's wedding week at our house.  Contrary to popular myth, it's not crazy and stressful and tense.  Instead, it is sweet and exciting and blessedly anticipatory.  If I am crazy, it's "crazy thankful".  God continues to show Himself strong on our behalf, to display His favor and generosity and lovingkindness. 


Especially via our friends.


I have had frequent opportunities to sit back and weep with joy over the goodness He has sent through our friends. Not just for this wedding, but for the past two years.


This verse stands out to me - A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17)  Oh, how I have seen that be so true for me and my family!  We have had joys of new babies and weddings and awards.  We have had sorrows of disappointments and dying and rejection.  And we have walked through difficulties that are too painful to make public. 
Through the journey, friends have been there.  Notes.  Calls.  Texts.  Assuring us of love and prayers.
Flowers.  Food.  Tears to mingle with my own.  Rejoicing when we have had joy.  Remembering our needs and moving to meet them.
Friends have thrown parties, made bows and tent cards, transported kids, housed guests, arranged flowers, and been kind enough to have my needs on their radar. To think that my friends, in the midst of their very full lives, would even be thinking about the fact that it is "wedding week for the Chambers crew" is mind-blowing to me!  Maybe it seems "little" to you but when you ask me how my Mom is doing or how you can help for this weekend, or let me know that you are praying, well,  it's anything but insignificant to me. I feel most unworthy and that I must have exceeded my allowance of blessings, surely.


My heart is full.  I want to flood my friends with blessings in return.  I want to shower them with thankfulness and kindness.  But I know I cannot repay the love I am given so consistently.  Because it is given so freely, with no thought of recompense. 
So I turn my heart towards Heaven, praising the Giver of all good gifts.  Thanking Him for His generous supply to me through His people.  Asking HIM to bless my friends, as only He can do.


In the midst of my joy, He reminds me that, though my life is characterized by the presence and profusion of friends, He orchestrates times for every life - mine included - where the journey is single file.  There are places He takes us where no friends can go...except Jesus.  Caverns so dark that no light can penetrate...except for the Light of the World.  Waters so deep that we are overcome to the point of drowning...until we find the Everlasting Arms underneath us.


Situations where we know the psalmist is reading our mail when he penned this verse:
 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick.  And I looked for sympathy but there was none.  And for comforters but I found none.   Psalm 69:20


In those times, we find Psalm 18:24 to be abundantly true - There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. 


Friends are among the absolute greatest of God's blessings to us...but He does not intend for them to be to us what only Jesus can be.  (And when we expect (demand??) that of them, we are in for the greatest of disappointments, the deepest of hurts, and the most painful of sorrows)


Only Jesus alone is THE FRIEND.  The friend of sinners.  The friend who lays down His life.  The friend who always hears and always understands and always knows what is best for His own.


May Thy salvation, O God, set me securely on high.  I will praise the name of God with song and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.   (Psalm 69:29,30)


What a friend we have in Jesus.  Amen. And how I praise Him for providing so sweetly to me through His hands and feet...my friends!  Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, friends!

What is the most important thing?

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind’ .This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it – ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40
Let’s read this passage again today, now that we know the background. The Pharisees wanted to know which commandment was most important, which one should they concentrate on primarily. Perhaps they had looked inside their own hearts enough to know they couldn’t keep them all and hoped to justify themselves by at least keeping the most important one.
Jesus dashed those hopes.
He told them…and us…that all the commandments are rooted in one thing – Love. Our most important task in life is not establishing a career or having a great marriage or raising responsible kids. It’s not writing books or being famous or having laudable talent. It’s not even faithful church service or self-sacrifice for others.
It’s love.
Loving God and loving others.
I Corinthians 13:1-3 demonstrates the preeminence of love and the futility of all else - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Let’s ask the Lord to teach us what LOVE is this week….

What do I have to do to please God?

When the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadduccees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind’ .This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it – ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

The Pharisees and Saduccees were the elite religious and political leaders of the day in New Testament times.  The Sadducees were aristocrats, tending to be wealthy and holding powerful positions, including that of chief priests and high priest, and the majority of the 70 seats of the ruling council called the Sanhedrin. They seemed to be more concerned with politics than religion. Because they were accommodating to Roman leaders and were the wealthy upper class, they did not relate well to the common man, and vice versa. The common man tended to prefer those who belonged to the party of the Pharisees who were mostly middle-class businessmen. This group believed that the written Word (Old Testament) was inspired by God, but they also gave equal authority to oral tradition which is forbidden (Deuteronomy 4:2). The Pharisees sought to not only strictly obey these traditions themselves but also to hold such obedience as the standard for righteousness for everyone. This was their ticket to acceptance by God.

The two groups were largely opposed to one another…except in their desire to discredit and eventually destroy Jesus.  Scripture shows us time and again how these people tried to trap Jesus by asking religious questions that would inflame Roman leaders or give them grounds to humiliate Him before the people.

The above passage is one of those attempts.

Instead of holding out one command or law as priority above all others, Jesus boils them all down to two principles.  He says that everything Scripture teaches us is based on the preeminence of these commands.  Therefore it will serve us well to see what He says…and to evaluate ourselves against His standard.  His standard is  LOVE… For today, ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light into your heart.  And to speak to us about LOVE.


How are we doing in the most important thing, the thing upon which all of Scripture rests?  Loving God and loving others. 

 

Above all else

The Preeminence of Christ

 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  Colossians 1:15-17

 

Not only is God all-powerful, and good and sovereign, so is Jesus.  Because He is God!  Before the Earth was formed, in Eternity Past, Christ existed alone with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  In perfect union and harmony, they fellowshipped together and created the world all that is in it.  And it is their existence that gives us life and holds all things together.  Yes, this is a perplexing truth but praise God we worship One who is greater than our understanding!  He alone is worthy of all our affection and our praise!  Hallelujah that we belong to Him!

I believe that the reason Christians should study science is to discover the glory of God.  I don’t think that true science contradicts or threatens the truth of God’s Word at all, but rather as we learn more and more about the world He created, we uncover glorious truths about Him.  One of my favorite scientific truths stems from something very exciting that I learned about this verse, particularly the part about “in Him all things hold together”.  Now, I don’t need any “support” from the world to “prove” the truth of Scripture but when something in science illustrates the Truth of God’s Word, it causes me to jump up and down with excitement over the glory of God.  This is such a truth..

In all living cells, there is a molecule called laminin.  This protein acts like a glue which keeps the parts of the cell from falling apart; it’s the stuff that helps anchor  cells to the membrane and is critical for the maintenance and survival of tissues. Well, that’s all very interesting but what does that have to do with Jesus? This: if you and I could examine this “glue protein” under a microscope, we would see that its structure is the shape of a cross. For real!  Check it out on Wikipedia and see for yourself.  It is certainly no accident that our glorious Creator chose to form this protein in the shape of a cross, knowing that one day technology would enable His creatures to discover Him even in the details of cells. Truly, by Him are all things held together.

Today, let’s rejoice that every aspect of our lives – down to the microscopic level of our cells, all things are held together by the One who loves us and gave Himself for us. To Him be the Glory forever.  Amen.

God is great, God is good

For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods; Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps. Psalm 135:5,6

Today our focus is on His omnipotence. Just to give us a glimpse of this attribute let’s unpack this verse from Psalm 135.
1. He is great. He is mighty and powerful. This truth has potential to be absolutely terrifying were it not for the rest of Who He Is, which is found in verse 3 of this same passage: Praise the Lord for He is good; Sing praises to His name for it is lovely. Indeed He is powerful but hallelujah He is not a despot but rather a benevolent ruler who loves His people!
2. He is above all gods. Yes, there are other powers at work in this world. “Gods” who wield influence and wreak destruction. That is true. But our God is above them all. The forces of evil cannot touch our lives without His permission (Job 1:6-12). Our God is sovereign; it is He who is in charge. We need not fear when things seem out of control because He is always in control. Even though we often cannot understand His plan, we can be confident that He is still on the Throne, ruling with absolute power and love.
3. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like He is in charge. Terrifying things happen all over. Too close to home. In our own lives. Things we would not have chosen or even the things we fear the most. But this verse assures us that we can trust Him because He is accomplishing His plan. Job 42:2 tells us plainly I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. And His purposes are good!! Even if we are distressed for a time here, it is not without purpose and His plans for His people are good. All sorts of verses give us that confidence, especially Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.

Today, let’s bow before His Throne, realizing He is sovereign…and we are not. Let us entrust our lives – and our families’ lives – to Him, knowing that He is at work for His glory and our good.