Hi Everyone!

Yesterday, we looked at several incidents in which Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders – scribes and Pharisees. They were trying to trap Jesus for doing what was, in their eyes, a violation of the Sabbath command. It was an alarming picture of how deceptively impure the human heart can be.

This past week in my personal Bible reading, I was reading in Proverbs 4 and when I came to verse 23 it caught my attention because of my preparation for this particular sermon.

“Keep your heart will all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”

Heart refers to the center of our inner being, where we do all of our thinking, feeling, choosing, desiring….etc. I think part of what it means to keep or guard our hearts is being aware of what’s driving our actions. Where is our motivation for doing actually coming from?

Our motivations can become misplaced, when we place greater priority on lesser things. The Pharisees placed greater priority on obeying the law (and the extrabiblical traditions passed down them) than they did on love for God and others.

The question is: What is going on inside of my/your heart? Are we living from a place of dependance on God, trust in Jesus and a desire to glorify God or is our motivation driven by self in some way?

Ask God by His Spirit to bring understanding and conviction, knowing the Lord disciplines those He loves (Hebrew 12:6)

We recently started a study in the gospel of Mark. If you’re not familar with this particular gospel, it is a very fast paced, action oriented biogrpahy of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.

Mark tells us nothing about the birth of Jesus or his early childhood as do Matthew and Luke. Mark quickly gets right down to Jesus proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It the good news that has come in the person of Jesus, and is demonstration of God’s love toward people and of his glory.

This coming Sunday, we are going to be looking at 1:35-45. There we get begin to get a picture of what following Jesus looks like. Verse 35 really got my attention. It says that, after a busy day of ministry and life, healing, teaching and casting out demons, Jesus got up early, left wherever he was sleeping and found a quiet place to be with His Father.

There were crowds waiting near by, calling for him to do more miracles and wonders. We know that later, the crowds sought to almost forceably make Jesus king. This was NOT what he came for  though!!

Jesus came to proclaim the good news of God’s love to the people who were walking in darkness. And Jesus, feeling the weight of his mission, draws close to the Father, in quiet, humble submission and communion. It’s what He needed to fulfill his purpose and it’s what WE ALL need to fulfill the plans and purposes God has for US. 

Honestly, I didn’t expect to see marriage so clearly portrayed in the story of Ruth. I, of course, as you all do, know it is a story about love – the love between Naomi and Ruth flowing into the love between Ruth and Boaz. But it’s more than just a human love story. It’s a story that vividly tells of God’s love for His people, despite their turning from and forgetting Him. 

Don’t you long to see, in practical ways, just how God loves His people? and not only how, but how much God loves His people? The events in the account of Ruth and Boaz invite us to glimpse at God’s design for marriage through the way Boaz cares for Ruth. God’s design for marriage is that it is to be a reflection of the way God relates to us. 

Three key characteristics of marriage emerge:

(1) Rest – not physical rest, marriage is a relationship in which God has designed for us to be nurtured and flourish. Is my spouse being nurtured and flourishing in our marriage relationship?

(2) Provision – not only is marriage a source of physical provision, but “man does not live on bread alone” so that marriage is a source of spiritual provision where we provide opportunities for our families to pray, worship and study the Word to enjoy God together.

(3) Protection – This is a significant theme in the story of Ruth – who is a window that, initially, nobody but her mother in law is looking out for. Ruth finds refuge and protection in her relationship with Boaz. She is safe in his “wings”, and we are all safe under God’s wings. Is my spouse “safe” in our marriage relationship?

Now, of course, we go through seasons in marriage when it’s hard, and we will ultimately fail and hurt our spouses, but it’s in the ways we relate in the midst of those hurts and failures that portray the compassion, kindness and forgiveness of the Lord is a most powerful way. 

I’m praying for all of our marriages to continue to grow, and if necessary healed, as a reflection of the Lord’s kindness.

Blessings…

As we are journeying through the book of Ruth, a story that illustrates the pain and suffering we experience through the loss of loved ones, I was encouraged by this truth from 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. To summarize the passage, or at least one of the truths we see there, we could say this: “Death is swallowed up by life”!

Paul describes our bodies as tents or temporary dwellings places but that we have an eternal home with God – a house which is not made by human hands! We groan as we go through life in these temporary dwellings. Our lives are filled with sadness but also with joy. We experience a full range of emotions from despair to anger to happiness.

The Greek word for groan is “stenazo” and conveys the idea of “deep, involuntary expression of distress, longing or burden”. When I’m struggling to enjoy the moments of life with my two youngest children I will often leave out a very obvious sigh, informing everyone nearby that dad is getting maxed out! I am feeling distressed and longing for more joy in the moments of our days that make up a lifetime. Of course, many of the struggles we face are more raw and painful then parenting young children, but the expression of distress and longing is similar.

This is the kind of groaning that Paul describes as distress but also a longing for something more! However, the reality of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ means that our stories don’t end at death. Paul says in verse 4 that “death is swallowed up by life”.  Jesus, through His death and resurrection, “removed the sting of death” (1 Cor. 15:54-56).

Jesus says in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Brothers and Sisters we should, we need to, remind ourselves of this truth often. Though we experience sorrow it isn’t the end of our story.