THE RELIABLE WITNESS

Posted on May 3, 2022 by randscallawayffm

In any event or scary happening, such as a car wreck or a robbery; most times, there are witnesses.  Some step forward and tell what they saw.  Some do not want to get involved for fear of personal safety.   Those in charge of our protection want to know what happened so they investigate. When I taught science, one of the teaching projects was learning to investigate crimes.  We learned that witnesses are not as reliable as one might think.  Physical evidence trumps witnesses in convicting a person for the crime—unless all the witnesses tell the same story.

The gospels are evidence of the Truth of Jesus Christ by their same story.  It might be told in ways that fit their unique personalities but the facts of who Jesus is and what He did on earth are the same.  The Prophets told what would happen before it happened.  Jesus fulfilled every detail of the prophets’ writings as written centuries before He came to earth on God’s mission to save us from sin.  So, the reliability rate for these witnesses is proven to be one hundred percent accurate.

Peter is an eye-witness.  He was called by Jesus to leave who and what he was behind to follow his new Master.  Peter then spent time walking and talking with Jesus daily for three years. He was educated with real life lessons that were amazing and miraculous to this once fisherman.  Peter had the distinct privilege of seeing Jesus be glorified on a mountain where Jesus was joined by two great men of the faith who came from heaven to encouraged Jesus in His mission.  If that wasn’t enough, Peter heard the Voice of God affirm Jesus to all who were standing or kneeling on that mountain that day! 

Peter was closer to Jesus than most disciples, requiring intense equipping by the Master.  Peter’s assignment as “the rock upon whom I will build my church” would be challenging but completely necessary to lead believers after Jesus ascended back to heaven.  Jesus saw Peter’s potential.  Peter saw, heard, felt the compassion of Christ, and learned from Him.

This eye-witness knew what he was talking about!  Peter passionately teaches what he learned from Jesus, while expectantly waiting on the Master’s return, with eternal joy, love and peace flowing from his heart along with the mind of Christ in him.  Nothing will stop what Peter was given to say and do from Jesus.  Aren’t we thankful for Peter?  This is a life changed by Jesus for our benefit generations later.

“So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet…”  –Peter

PETER—THE ROCK

2 Peter 1, The Message

1-2 I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.

Don’t Put It Off

3-4 Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

5-9 So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

10-11 So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The One Light in a Dark Time

12-15 Because the stakes are so high, even though you’re up-to-date on all this truth and practice it inside and out, I’m not going to let up for a minute in calling you to attention before it. This is the post to which I’ve been assigned—keeping you alert with frequent reminders—and I’m sticking to it as long as I live. I know that I’m to die soon; the Master has made that quite clear to me. And so I am especially eager that you have all this down in black and white so that after I die, you’ll have it for ready reference.

16-18 We weren’t, you know, just wishing on a star when we laid the facts out before you regarding the powerful return of our Master, Jesus Christ. We were there for the preview! We saw it with our own eyes: Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight.” We were there on the holy mountain with him. We heard the voice out of heaven with our very own ears.

19-21 We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard—God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts. The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word.

Lord,

Focus my thoughts on you alone.  Help me to be a reliable witness to You!  I am sure, very sure, of who you are.  You have transformed my life.  You are indeed the ONE LIGHT in this dark world who guides us where we need to be.  I trust in You alone, dear Jesus.  Thank you for writing and speaking truth through me.  Your truth is all I seek.  May I be found in you as I wait for your return.  I love you, Lord with all my heart, mind and soul. Continue to grow your character traits in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS

Posted on May 2, 2022 by randscallawayffm

“After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.”

Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, “Follow me.”  John 21:15-19, The Message

Jesus showed up by the lake to make another appearance to His disciples after rising from death.  The disciples who knew how to fish where doing what they knew best—fishing.  Jesus appeared on the beach while they were out and had started a fire to cook some fish and bread for them.  Jesus served them breakfast after an early morning of fishing!  Jesus always knows what we need and when we need it!

From the boat, Peter is the one who recognizes him first and dives into the water to swim to His beloved Master.  After breakfast, Jesus takes Peter aside to “ordain” him into what Peter was created, molded, taught and shaped to be—a Shepherd of sheep—the “rock” upon whom Jesus would build the church.  But it begins with questioning Peter’s love.  “Do you love me”, asks Jesus.  He asks this question as many times as Peter once denied him.  Coincidence? 

He is being taught through the questioning so he knows the depth of his love for his Master, the One who has been his shepherd him for three years.  At the end of the “deep dive” by Jesus Himself with soul searching questioning, Jesus ended this time with simply “Follow Me.”  Jesus knows Peter’s heart.  But does Peter know his own heart?  Can Peter simply follow Jesus with all that is in him with his love for Jesus driving his behavior?

What a precious moment in time this must have been for Peter!  Although the questions perturbed Peter at first until he “caught on” to what Jesus was “fishing” for in the conversation, we know Peter caught the meaning because of his behavior displayed in his later leadership.  As Peter writes this letter to other Shepherds, we are sure he never forgot this private moment with His Master Shepherd who said, “Follow Me”.

Peter now teaches us how to follow Jesus with all that is in us with the love of Jesus guiding us.

PETER—THE ROCK

1 Peter 5, The Message  (Emphasis mine)

He’ll Promote You at the Right Time

1-3 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

4-5 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

He Gets the Last Word

8-11 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

12 I’m sending this brief letter to you by Silas, a most dependable brother. I have the highest regard for him.

I’ve written as urgently and accurately as I know how. This is God’s generous truth; embrace it with both arms!

13-14 The church in exile here with me—but not for a moment forgotten by God—wants to be remembered to you. Mark, who is like a son to me, says hello. Give holy hugs all around! Peace to you—to all who walk in Christ’s ways.

Jesus said, “Follow Me.”  Jesus taught Peter well.  The proof is in this letter. 

Lord,

Thank you for allowing us to see Peter’s story unfold as he grew in your love, mercy, and grace.  He messed up; you forgave.  You taught him how to shepherd by your example.  You taught him how to love like you.  Now he shows others how to keep it simple by simply following you.  You are our Master Shepherd who teaches us by gently leading us down the path that leads to Life everlasting.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I will follow you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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STOP THE NOISE—WE CAN’T THINK!

Posted on May 1, 2022 by randscallawayffm

When my cousins would come over for a family gathering, the level of noise from all of us talking at once, trying to get our own way in a game, or trying to imitate the wrestlers we saw on Saturday Night would cause our parents to finally shout, “Stop what you’re doing, be quiet for a while, we can’t hear ourselves think!”  I’m smiling and laughing recalling some of those times of “love” expressed.  As that precocious, onery child who had different thoughts and ideas than most people, I remember thinking; how can noise cause you to stop thinking?  I learned quickly not to always say my thoughts out loud for I had enough experience and training to know that would not go well for me.  Thinking and acting on that thinking was a learning process.

There was a man in Jesus group of followers who didn’t stop to think before blurting out whatever was on his mind.  When faced with a new situation, he thought he had all the answers and told everyone.  When faced with what could be trouble for the group, he “shot from the hip” which means to act first, think later.  His ego prompted rash behaviors and caused a lot of problems for the team as he walked with Jesus in all kinds of situations.  He even cut off the ear of a would-be attacker.  Once again, he did this without thinking through the consequences of his immediate response to trouble.  He got perturbed at Jesus’ questions when probed about the depth of his love for Jesus.  He said, “I will never leave you” to Jesus, then a few hours later, denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times! 

Why did Jesus keep this guy on the team?

Jesus knew that learning to be like Him is a process that does not happen overnight.  Jesus knew Peter’s heart.  Jesus also knew the potential in Peter to be the rock-solid leader of the entire group after He would ascend back to heaven after saving the world of sin—our sin and Peter’s sins.  So, Jesus was patient with Peter while He taught this man who needed extra grace.  Jesus forgave and restored Peter when Peter repented.  No one knows better than Peter, the writer in this very passage, that learning to think like Jesus is lifelong, committeed process. 

Stop listening to the noise of the world.  Listen to the Voice above all others clamoring for our attention and hear, really hear from the One and Only who loves us most and will forgive us of all sin.  Because of his relentless love for us, there is nothing that we have done that He will not forgive. Jesus will keep us on “his team” of followers while He teaches us to think more and more like Him. The peace of Christ dwells in us as we learn to think more like the One who saves us. 

Peter figured this out and became exactly who Jesus said he would be—all for God’s glory and for the building of his church—that would be us!

PETER—THE ROCK

1 Peter 4, The Message

Learn to Think Like Him

1-2 Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.

3-5 You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself.

6 Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must), they will still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.

7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

Glory Just Around the Corner

12-13 Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

14-16 If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others. If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter. But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought. Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!

17-19 It’s judgment time for God’s own family. We’re first in line. If it starts with us, think what it’s going to be like for those who refuse God’s Message!

If good people barely make it,
What’s in store for the bad?

So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Lord,

I trust in you alone for my salvation.  I trust in You to teach me to be all that you created me to be and then do.  I trust you to forgive me daily of lack of focus at times.  I trust you to love me forever.  Help me to think more and more like you so I will respond and act more and more like you in this world so people will see you in me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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DELIGHTFUL DISPOSTION?

Posted on April 30, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Truth Bomb:  Who we are, what we do along with how we respond to difficulties matters to others who look to us in their efforts to do what is right and good. 

What a morning!!  My day as a mom, wife, teacher and coach began with the dog escaping from the backyard just before piling the kids into the car to get to our respective schools.  We chased down the dog, who was having great fun, and finally got him back to where he belonged.  I’m pretty sure he was laughing at us while getting all that attention.  But as for me, I was ticked.

Usually being early to school, I now rushed to my classroom to get all the materials ready and in place for the first graders who would soon come down the hallway.  What I didn’t prepare was my disposition.  I was still angry at the dog situation that occurred earlier.  My thoughts were making me disgruntled still.  The dog was to blame.  Running through the neighborhood yelling for the dog was to blame.  My own kids leaving the gate open were to blame.  It made my morning rushed not peaceful, stressful and full of dislike for the dog.

First graders came excitedly down the hallway expecting what they nearly always got—a smiling teacher who welcomed them with open arms at the door.  Because I was finishing the preparation for them, I was not at my “post” at the door.  Instead, they found me in the classroom.  They were met with a simple hello while my attention was on the resources. 

After a few minutes of settling in for the day, I noticed that snarly behavior was beginning to rise from my beloved first graders.  God told me why.  They were responding to what they saw and felt from me!  Ugh, I was ashamed at my own realization of a bad disposition.  I was corrected by God’s Holy Spirit in me.  Although humiliating, the correction was necessary.  A solution to the problem also came to me.

I stopped everything and shouted, “Do over!”  I told them that Mrs. Callaway had a bad morning before coming to school but they didn’t have to “catch” the illness of my own disappointment.  So, I told them we were going to begin this beautiful day all over again.  I told them to go out into the hallway and pretend that this never happened.  Surprised, but always up for something different, they dutifully went into the hallway.  I shut the door for a nano second and then opened it, stood in the doorway smiling and welcomed each student to a brand new day.  That changed everything! 

What a lesson I learned that day!  Who I am, my inner disposition, affects my behavior and the behavior of all those around me.  Do we want the best?  Then think and act the best!

So, what is best?  Ask this question:  Are my thoughts, attitudes, with resulting behavior beautiful, holy, humble, gracious and kind—or not?  If life isn’t going well around us, we must first look inside ourselves to examine what is radiating from our own being.

“Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.”  –Peter, the Rock

PETER—THE ROCK

1 Peter 3, The Message

Cultivate Inner Beauty

1-4 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.

4-6 Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.

7 The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God’s grace, you’re equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don’t run aground.

Suffering for Doing Good

8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Whoever wants to embrace life
    and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
    Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
    run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
    listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back
    on those who do evil things.

13-18 If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.

Lord,

Indeed, what you say goes for you have the last word on everything and everyone!  I’m not the judge, you are.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for correcting me when my disposition reflects the opposite of who I really am in You.  Thank you for saving my soul, making me whole and holy before you.  Thank you for listening to me while I seek your voice above all other voices in this world.  Thank you for speaking to my heart.  Thank for being with me. Continue to teach and transform me, all of me, including my inner disposition, so nothing stands between our intimate relationship.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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BUILDING

Posted on April 29, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Randy and I enjoy creating new additions to our home and yard.  We love building new ways to display God’s beautiful creation of flowers and trees.  Our backyard has become a place of solace and peace when we finally take time to rest from the work.  When we can’t go outside, we plan what we can spruce up on the inside of our home.  In all of these projects we have learned many lessons of building details to achieve excellence in the outcome of what we dream and envision. 

We learn that all projects begin with measuring.  Measuring details are a must when trying to fit a new structure in an old place in an already established yard.  Will it fit?  Where is the best place to fit it in?  How will we line it up to be straight with the fence behind it?  Is the fence straight enough to use as a place to begin measuring?  How far out should it come?  All these questions and much more are part of the thought processes when constructing gardens or structures, right?

Last summer, we took on the challenge of erecting a new storage building. We wanted something to not merely store our yard stuff, but would be attractive enough to add to the yard’s beauty—not take away from it.  After studying how to do this, we learned that you must begin with a strong foundation before doing anything else.  That was the hardest work of all!  The foundation had to be dug deep into the ground beyond shifting dirt and mulch and be anchored to solid concrete corners to assure stability. 

The foundation had to be perfectly aligned or the rest of the pieces of this structure to be built would not fit into place.  Randy dug deep.  The foundation placement was measured many times to assure success.  He began by aligning the first corner.  Once the first corner is squared, we could line up the other corners to it.  When the foundation was set in place on solid ground, he began building one wall at time on the true measure of the solid foundation. 

We finished this project after a week of hard labor. Sometimes we had “do overs” and took apart what we thought was right but wasn’t.  That can be frustrating, but if you want it done right, you do it over.  All said and done, our building looks great and is attractive on the outside.  But will it withstand the high winds our Indiana storms can bring we wondered?  That was tested many times since then.  The building did not move.  In fact, we think it is more solid and trustworthy than our home!  We know what’s underneath and how the storage building was put together!

You can probably see where I’m going with this real story of hard work.  As we constructed the building, we were reminded of Peter’s teaching in this very passage we are reading and studying today.  (There’s a sermon in everything if you look for it!)  Peter gives us perfect, clearly stated directions for constructing lives built on Jesus.  Once we believe and follow Jesus, His Holy Spirit helps us build our lives as a place, a holy sanctuary, where God dwells.  This lifelong “project” of building our lives will take hard work and begins with a clean sweep of the old life, daily getting rid of all that is in us that is not God. 

Building Godly lives means aligning ourselves with Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone—the True Measure of structuring our lives into a holy place where we “grow up mature and whole in God”.  Jesus is Savior and Lord upon which all of life is measured excellently. Will there be “do-overs”?  Oh yes, friends, but God knows our imperfections and provides perfect forgiveness with ways to realign the construction.  These are the lessons we learn in the maturity process of building our lives for God.

PETER—THE ROCK

1 Peter 2, The Message

1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.

The Stone

4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:

Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
    a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
    will never have cause to regret it.

To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,

The stone the workmen threw out
    is now the chief foundation stone.

For the untrusting it’s

. . . a stone to trip over,
    a boulder blocking the way.

They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.

9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

* * *

11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life in your neighborhood so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

13-17 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.

The Kind of Life He Lived

18-20 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.

They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

Lord,

I believe.  I want to build my life on the Solid Rock, aligned with the chief Cornerstone of my existence as a believer.  All my trust is in You.  All my hope is in You.  You are the True Measure of life with You.  I will measure my life against You alone and no one else.  I want to walk in your steps daily.  It is a harder, less traveled path, Lord, but I know whom I have believed.  I desire what you desire for me.  I want to walk in your ways, with your peace in all kinds of storms with your Light guiding my path.  You chose me.  I choose you.  You are God. Abide in me, for I know the paint is still wet on my construction!  You’re not finished with me yet!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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PETER—THE ROCK

Posted on April 28, 2022 by randscallawayffm

There was a huge ruckus in the church nursery caused by one little toddler who was telling all the other children what game they were going to play with how to play it.  If they didn’t comply, by command they had to go to the far corner of the room.  When this challenging child was picked up after services by the grandmother, the caregivers told of the child’s bad behavior.  Her reply was priceless.  “Yes, she has leadership potential all right!” 

There will always be someone in any group of gathered people, no matter what age, who will rise to the top with an inside motivation, good or bad, obnoxious or appealing, pushy or persuasive, that others in the group are drawn to and defer to as the “leader”. 

Peter, this rough and tumble fisherman, with little formal education, shoot from the hip problem solver, has leadership potential.  Jesus recognizes Peter for who he is and what this man can become.  Jesus knows his potential.  Jesus knows our potential.  When God formed us in the womb, Jesus was there.  Hold that thought as we begin a study of Peter through his letters to the church.  Read the gospels to explore the whole person of Peter, who gave up what he wanted to follow his leader, Jesus. There were many submissive lessons he had to learn before becoming who Jesus said he would be—The Rock.  Why The Rock?  Jesus told him where he was headed before he got there.

“Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.”  Matthew 17:17-18, Msg

Eugene Peterson helps us to understand even more about Peter in his introduction to Peter’s letters.  He writes;   

“Peter’s concise confession—“You are Messiah, the Christ”—focused  the faith of the disciples on Jesus as God among us, in person, carrying out the eternal work of salvation.  Peter seems to have been a natural leader, commanding the respect of his peers by sheer force of personality.  In every listing of Jesus’ disciples, Peter’s name is invariably first.”

“In the early church, his influence was enormous and acknowledge by all.  By virtue of his position, he was easily the most powerful figure in the Christian community.  And his energetic preaching, ardent prayer, bold healing, and wise direction confirmed the trust placed in him.”

“The way Peter handled himself in that position of power is even more impressive than the power itself.  He stayed out of the center, didn’t ‘wield’ power, maintained a scrupulous subordination to Jesus.  Given his charismatic personality and well-deserved position at the head, he could easily have taken over, using the prominence of his association with Jesus to promote himself.  That he didn’t do it, given the frequency with which spiritual leaders do exactly that, is impressive.  Peter is a breath of fresh air!”

“The two letters Peter wrote exhibit the qualities of Jesus that the Holy Spirit shaped in him:  a readiness to embrace suffering rather than prestige, a wisdom developed from experience and not imposed from a book, a humility that lacked nothing in vigor or imagination.  For what we know of the early stories of Peter, he had in him all the makings of a bully.  That he didn’t become a bully (and religious bullies are the worst kind) but rather the boldly confident and humbly self-effacing servant of Jesus Christ that we discern in theses letters, is a compelling witness to what he himself describes as ‘a brand-new life with everything to live for’.”

With brand new life thinking, breathe in a fresh breath of air provided by the Holy Spirit through the writings of Peter inspired by God, driven by Jesus in him.

PETER—THE ROCK

1 Peter 1, The Message

1-2 I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

A New Life

3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

8-9 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

10-12 The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

A Future in God

13-16 So roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

17 You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,

The old life is a grass life,
    its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers wilt,
    God’s Word goes on and on forever.

This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.

Lord,

I was that child that needed to be taught how to lay down what I want for what you want to do in and through me.  Continue to transform me to be all you created me to be.  You know me.  You see me better than I see myself.  Lead me—for I want to be led.  You are God. Only you are God.  I am not.  As long as I as live, here or there; I want to be led by You.  I worship You alone.  I trust in You alone.  You are the Rock I cling to in brand-new life living.

In Jesus Name, for Your Glory, Amen

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PANDEMIC WANDERINGS

Posted on April 27, 2022 by randscallawayffm

The world has experienced and is still experiencing a sickness of pandemic proportions.  Covid swept over the world like a sudden Tsunami, taking loved ones away from us.  No one seemed to be in control of it.  There was no end in sight for a long while.  It got political, as most things do, as men and women tried to “explain it”, jockey for position, seeking the image of power to profit from it.  But for those whose loved ones were dying in hospitals and couldn’t be with them while they were dying, most turned to God—finally.  Some waited until all hope was exhausted before turning to God.  Believers and non-believers questioned why God would allow this to happen.  Most true believers knew to go to God first and pray.  It was a “Job moment” in time when the pandemic was at it’s worst. 

As we read the last chapter of James, I am reflecting on this pandemic experience over the past couple of years and realize it isn’t quite over yet, but has been calmed down with medical solutions now available.  I observe how people have dealt with the this situation in their own lives.  I discover that all of our mental, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and physical abilities were tested.  And I ask, what did this pandemic reveal in us?  What needs to be healed so we can be made whole again from this experience? 

This last chapter of James has one verse that is most often quoted when teaching about prayer: “Are you hurting? Pray.” And we do pray.  But do we wait to pray until all human hope is lost, until something so great and so overwhelming happens that fear drives us to pray?  If we wait to pray until we are at the end of our human efforts, then we are missing out on God’s love, care, guidance and support for us that is available hourly, daily and forever! We are missing out on the most important, intimate, personal loving, real relationship we will ever have on this earth!    

When we read the book of Job, we learn that he was a very righteous man, but he had had to figure this out, too.  Job believed in God but he also believed he could handle life on his own.  Job’s lesson was that through good times and bad—God is God and we are not.  God is in control.  God loves us. God provides for us.  Good things do not elevate us to being God.  Bad things do always mean we are evil.  All things, good and bad, are in God’s hands to be used to grow and shape us, build us into all He created us to be.  At the end of Job’s lesson of testing He declared, “And yet will I trust Him”. 

Who do we fully trust?

The greatest pandemic of all has been going on since Adam and Eve fell to evil’s temptations to turn from God with evil’s suggestion for them to become God themselves.  These very thoughts and behaviors are what got Satan, the fallen angel, thrown out of heaven and banned from God’s presence.  We fall for evil when our own sin—unconfessed, separates us from God.  We think we can handle all of life on our own.  This futile effort is the sin of trying to be our own god. Being lost, turning from God to be our own god, is the real pandemic.  However, it is a sickness that can be healed.  “Are you sick? Pray”, writes James. 

The last verse, sometimes not emphasized, but of equal great importance tells us: “My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.” 

If our beloved family member had the symptoms of covid, we would rush them to the doctor to get help to heal them.  James tells us it is the same who those among our family and friends who have wandered off from God, “go after them”.  We will have rescued our precious loved ones from the pandemic of death and destruction forever. 

“Are you sick?  Pray.” 

Pray with ceasing.  Pray without giving up.  Yet, will I trust Him in my life to make me whole again.  Pray for your loved ones who are sick.

The rest of James outline clear symptoms of lives wandering away from God.  The prescription?  Jesus Christ.

JAMES—ACTIVE FAITH

James 5, The Message

Destroying Your Life from Within

1-3 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You’ll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.

4-6 All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.

* * *

7-8 Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.

9 Friends, don’t complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.

10-11 Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

12 And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don’t add words like “I swear to God” to your own words. Don’t show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can’t be used against you.

Prayer to Be Reckoned With

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

19-20 My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

Lord,

You have used James writings to open my eyes to the real pandemic, the real hurt.  It is our own sins unconfessed.  We make excuses, seek riches and fame, wander away from you and complain and judge each other in the process.  When bad times come, we try everything in our power to avoid it instead of coming to you to grow us through it.  I confess of all my sin before you. I am not God.  All my trust in back where it needs to be—in You alone.  Only you are God.  I am not.  Grow me still, for yet will I trust and thank You.

In Jesus Name, Amen

And I’m singing…In Everything Give Him Thanks by Ron Kenoly

In everything give Him thanks, give Him thanks
In everything give Him thanks
In the good times praise His Name
In the bad times do the same
In everything give the King of Kings all the thanks

With all of the good things that came his way
It’s no wonder you could hear Job say
“The Lord giveth and He taketh away, so I’ll still give Him thanks”
But when the tables were all turned around
And all of Job’s wealth came crashing down
Job’s faith in God had taught him to say “I’ll still give Him thanks”

In the good times I’ll praise His name
In the bad times I’ll do the same
In everything I’ll give the King of Kings all the thanks


And in those dark hours when there’s no one around
And Satan tries to tell you that God has let you down
In every dark hour the best thing I have found
Is to give God the thanks
For He has never, He has never failed me yet
So why should I start now to worry or fret
In everything, in everything I won’t ever forget to give God the thanks
In everything give Him thanks, give Him thanks.
In everything give Him thanks. we’ve got to give Him thanks
In the good times praise His Name
In the bad times, church do the same
In everything give the King of Kings all the thanks

In my trials, and in my test
When I’ve tried and I know I’ve done my best
In everything I’ll give the King of Kings all the thanks

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NOPE, NOT TODAY SATAN!

Posted on April 26, 2022 by randscallawayffm

It was the day before the celebration of greatest importance in a pastor’s family and church.  While Randy was at church putting final touches on his sermons and on other preparations, I was home preparing for the grand meal I wanted to serve our family.  Everything was going wrong.  “The devil is in the details” is a saying that is true at times.  When we are anxious, overthinking, and overwhelmed by the details we created; that is when we are most venerable to the attacks of evil who is jealous of what we are doing in Jesus Name. 

Even the mixer stopped that Saturday morning while stirring up batter for a cake!  So, what do I do?  Without thinking it through, or unplugging the failing mixer, I hurriedly stuck my fingers into the top of the beaters to see if I could “fix it”.  Well, I did—fingers and all.  Fortunately, I pulled back before much damage.  Anger at myself and the situation caused me to stop all preparation, walk around the kitchen and call out to God while defying the evil one who was trying to frustrate me more.  My battle cry of prayer went something like this, “NOT TODAY, SATAN!  You will not rob me of the joy of this occasion, the joy of preparing for my family or the joy of presenting your truth to those who will come tomorrow.  So, Lord, in your name, the Name of Jesus, rid my mind, heart and soul of this distraction and meddling, rid my home of this spirit, defeat the foe and deliver us from evil and evil’s schemes to bring us down!  In Jesus Name, Amen!

I will never forget what happened next.  Extreme calm overwhelmed my anxiousness and anxieties with the peace of Jesus Christ.  I felt evil immediately clear the room.  It was as if Satan said, “I’m not messing with her, she’s a freak for Him.”  Truthfully, it was the power of Jesus who cleared the room and cleared my mind with His peace.

Friends, this is serious stuff that James clarifies for us.  We are either for Christ or for Satan.  When under pressure, who do we choose?  Who do you choose when things are going well?  Who drives our behaviors?  Who are we thinking about most and who do we follow?  Whose voice do we hear above all other voices with hearts ready and willing to obey?  We only have two choices. 

Choose wisely.  Seriously choose Jesus.  You will not regret this choice. 

This is a matter of life or death.

“Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”

JAMES—ACTIVE FAITH

James 4, The Message

Get Serious

1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

4-6 You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

11-12 Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

16-17 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.

Lord,

I seriously pray all these words of James over me, my family and friends who love you.  Continue to transform my mind, fill my soul and tenderize my heart for you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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AND WHEN WE OPEN OUR MOUTHS—BE WISE

Posted on April 25, 2022 by randscallawayffm

James gets right to the point of true wisdom that encourages, so will I.  He writes about the tongue, that sometimes ugly but necessary part of our anatomy.  Our tongue helps us to chew on our food so digestion is accomplished in a healthy manner.  Our tongue can also help us form and chew on words that help or hurt.  There doesn’t seem to be an in-between.  Help or hurt.  Here is the larger thought:  Our tongue is not on its own, it is controlled by what is in our minds.  So, who controls our minds?  What are we feeding our minds?  Our mouths spew words that come from our hearts and from the depth of our souls.  So, what are we feeding our hearts?  Who fills our souls?

It seems then, that when we are tempted to open our mouths—don’t.  Ask God for wisdom first. Friends, how many problems in our relationships could be deescalated if we thought first, with God’s help and wisdom, before opening our mouths!

What if we THINK before we form mindless words that will slide over our tongues to set an already fiery situation to a roaring blaze?  Can we THINK before words flow from our broken hearts that will break the hearts of those who broke ours?  How about we stop and THINK before words spring up from the depths of souls fed by polluted wells of limited knowledge. When prompted by emotion, assumptions and presumptions to open our mouths—don’t.

THINK—the great filter for our words to pass through with prayer to God

Ask these questions before words are formed:

T—Is what I am about to say my personal opinion or the TRUTH of God?

H—Is what I am about to say going to be HELPFUL to the person and the circumstance?

I—Is what I am about to say going to INSPIRATIONAL, building up the person to whom the words are spoken?

N—Is what I am about to say even NECESSARY?  Is a silent hug the best for this moment?  Personal opinions are rarely necessary.

K—Is what I am about to say going to be KIND, graciously said from God’s Spirit of love within us?

When we open our mouths—don’t.  THINK first.  This is the James way to “Live well, live wisely, live humbly.”

JAMES—ACTIVE FAITH

James 3, The Message

When You Open Your Mouth

3 1-2 Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

3-5 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

5-6 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

7-10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

10-12 My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Live Well, Live Wisely

13-16 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish plotting. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Lord,

May my heart, mind and soul which spills out of my mouth, over my tongue come from your Spirit living in me—not from imperfect me.  Help me to think before I speak.  Help me to Live well, live wisely, live humbly led by You.  Transform my thinking until my behavior is pleasing to you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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RELENTLESS LOVE OF GOD DRIVES AN ACTIVE FAITH

Posted on April 23, 2022 by randscallawayffm

I have always been amazed from childhood through adulthood with the Solar System designed by our Creator.  No matter what I think, say or do, have an opinion about or feel in my heart, the earth will continue to travel around the sun while I sleep.  This will happen without my control, while I am asleep during the night.  In the darkness, my part of the earth is turned from the sun in its orbit around the sun.  The sun is at the center. In a matter of hours, my part of the earth will face the sun once more and light will cover my part of the earth.  God created the heavens to work in this way, perfectly and systematically.  Don’t you love a good plan that works?

Weather is created by this perfectly designed system, too.  All weather, which is reported on hourly, whether we understand it or not, is designed by God who created all things to accomplish His good and perfect will.  Everything was created for us to enjoy and manage without the responsibilities of being the Creator.  But sometimes we are tempted to think we are as good as our Creator and can do what He can do so we try to take control.  How foolish is this?  Maybe we need to revisit the basics.

We humans were created to worship our Creator.  We were created to love Him back AND to love each other with the kind of love He had for us—faithful, unconditional and relentless—by choice.  We are not puppets.  God created us with unforced, free will to love Him back because that is the best way to love someone.  But, being God, our Father and the Origin of our being, He also knew the choices we would make. 

God knew we would be easily distracted when tempted with shiny, choice objects of pride, importance, arrogance with thinking more highly of ourselves.  His first humans fell for it.  Admit it, at times we, the created, think our ideas and ways of managing life are much better than The Creator.  We are ludicrous to think that we know more that the One who brough all into existence with mere words spoken!  But we are that foolish at times.  The Creator of humans also knew that we would be ashamed by our human condition of self and sin, when life as we controlled it, would all fall apart, and we would need a Way, a bailout, to find our way back to Him. 

Because His thinking is beyond all He created; He also designed The Perfect Plan for all humans to solve our own created problems of sin and resulting death from a place of Love that the world had never known and didn’t expect.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)  Jesus, God Son, was the Word of God who came from God to earth and moved into the neighborhood of humans.  (See John 1).  

However, there was one created and who formed an army of demons who directly opposed God and His Plan.  The Tempter is the enemy of God, a fallen angel of self-importance who thinks the opposite of all that is God.  This self-proclaimed enemy of God was thrown out of the heavens before we were created as humans. He was and is revengeful, full of hate, and ready to do battle with all that is connected and consumed by God.  His goal of revenge against God is to consume us with hate, pride, self, envy—all that is not God—that will lead to our separation from God resulting in death forever.

The Enemy works harder than we do to tear down the faith we say we have by tempting us to do nothing about our faith!  “Be complacent, have it your way, you need to rest, you deserve it all, they don’t need you to tell of Jesus, let people find out on their own like you did.  The sick, jobless, hopeless and jailed can find their own way out of their predicaments—that’s not your problem.”  These thoughts are sponsored and planted in our minds compliments of our enemy to deactivate our faith. 

We’re in good company, though.  The enemy of God tried to tempt Jesus, God’s Son!  The enemy followed God’s Son into the dessert to harass and tempt him while He got alone with God to prepare for his mission to save the world from sin!  The enemy failed and did not win with the One and Only who knew no sin.  So, the enemy worked double time with all God’s people in charge at the time who had no relationship with God. 

The enemy, who has limited power with the same deceitful tools used over and over again, must have had great fun when Jesus was mocked, spit on and harasses by God’s created humans who knew Him not and who nailed him to a cross.  The tempter jeered at Jesus, as God’s Son hung there in excruciating pain. using people he had captured and convinced saying, “Come down, enough with this, you have the power to avoid this”—all words from the enemy. 

But Jesus, the Perfect Plan created by God, who loved by God in obedience with action, did not budge.  Jesus, His Son with “whom His Father was well pleased” stayed and endured it all because of His great love for us, his created.  Our sins, created by us, applauded by the enemy, were nailed to the cross that day.  All the sins of the world.  Once and for all.  Paid in full—His life for ours.

Friends, this Love of God to us and in us drives us to love Him back and to love each other like He loves us. This holy relationship with God is what drives our faith in Him to obey Him, to do what HE wants, in Jesus Name, led by His Holy Spirit, all for His glory.  When we feel we are better than our Creator—that comes from the Enemy who was kicked out of heaven for wanting to be God himself.   Avoid the enemy at all costs for that is the best way to love and please God.  “Without faith it is impossible to please God” the writer of Hebrews reminds us.  Without an active, alive in Christ, obedience to God; our faith we say we have is dead, like a corpse, James teaches.  Yikes.

We must gratefully remember, at the beginning of the light of day, when our part of the earth greets the sun, what it cost Jesus to take our place on the cross, so that our faith, our believing, that He paid our debt of sin in full is cemented into our being.  This foundation of faith, this loving God back, because of the work of Jesus, is so we can also be called “friends with God” as Abraham was—all because he believed and then ACTED on his faith in God.  THIS is what spurs us to act in faith to God. 

JAMES—ACTIVE FAITH

James 2, The Message

The Royal Rule of Love

1-4 My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

5-7 Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn’t it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren’t they the ones who scorn the new name—“Christian”—used in your baptisms?

8-11 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.

12-13 Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Faith in Action

14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that weave of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

THE BOTTOMLINE—

Faith without doing something about it, is not faith at all—a corpse.  It begins and ends with the Love of God, done in the Name of Jesus, all for His glory.

Lord,

You have taught me again the depth of your love with reminding me of the foundation upon which my faith is built.  I repent.  Forgive me of avoiding the work that comes with my faith.  Show me your ways and I will walk in them.  I’m listening.  I want to please you.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

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