MARCHING ORDERS: ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS -- Devotional for March 31, from "Good Seeds"

Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and My people, Israel, to the land I am giving to them. No foe will be able to stand before you. Just as I have been with Moses I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Only be strong and very courageous; do not tremble or be afraid, but be careful to obey My law. (Joshua 1:2,5,7,9)

The greatest leader who ever lived has just died. His burial place is a secret known only to God. This is a good thing, for otherwise the people might waste precious time in pilgrimages to their captain’s grave, when God has another trip in mind – the claiming of the Promised Land. The time for mourning is over, the time for marching has come. Their general is out of the picture. Enter now his chief lieutenant, stepping forward, though shaking in his boots, to report for duty. As much as God values and honors every faithful servant of His, He never depends on just one. He has a whole army of servant-leaders in the making, each with his unique gifts, calling, task, and place and time of service. Woe to those who let tears of grief bind them to joys now dead, while blinding them to jobs dead ahead! Indeed, a new leader is waiting in the wings whom God has selected and prepared to take them forward on the next leg of the journey home. For the Israelites this journey would not be by way of pleasant “green pastures beside quiet waters,” but rather through “the valley of the shadow of death,” for there would be foreboding enemies to fight and conquer before they would reach the land flowing with milk and honey. Is not this the plight of every Christian of every age, including you and me today? “I beg your pardon,” says our Lord, “I never promised you a rose garden!” God’s marching orders do not mask the difficulties ahead: 1) You have a river to cross, representing an encroachment into enemy territory, marking an entering into the fray; 2) You will face real and present danger – evil foes with ugly faces, some outside the camp – others within. And, as if that were not enough, 3) There will always be that inner demon of fear to conquer: Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt; Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. But for those two dreadful foes God gives two promises far more precious than blue skies and rose gardens: 1) He will stand with us as faithfully as with those who have gone before us; and 2) He will never leave us alone with our enemy or fail to uphold us in our weakness. I can follow His marching orders, as long as I have the precious promises that go with them. How about you?

HATING THE SIN, LOVING THE SINNER -- Devotional for March 30, from "Good Seeds"

Have mercy on some; save others, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. (Jude 22-23)

Which one of these would receive your vote for the strongest Christian: 1) He who would walk into a bar to talk to someone about Jesus; 2) He who avoids “every appearance of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22)? To answer the question we need to determine which of these requires the most dependence upon God. Candidate #1: Just as we cannot be released from the eternal penalty of sin apart from the Sin-Bearer, so we cannot have victory over the daily power of sin apart from the in-dwelling Spirit of God. It takes heavenly resources to say “no” to all the questionable activities and indulgences that would lure us into their dens of iniquity. Evil lurks not just behind every bush, but in every store, on every TV and computer screen, and in every interaction with others. It requires constant vigilance linked with total dependence upon God to avoid every form of evil. Candidate #2: Who among us could claim the holy boldness of a Daniel, the spiritual aptitude of a Paul, the personal fortitude of a Peter, and the moral fiber of a Joseph, to walk into the flaming outskirts of hell, and not be burned? A bar is a such a suburb of perdition, a lair of Satan. What believer in Jesus could enter and not become prey? What Christ-follower could stay on the narrow road to heaven while engaging Satan-followers for the gospel who are glibly floating down the wide river of indulgence, addiction and perversion, to the treacherous falls emptying into the lake of fire? It takes much more than courage to speak and shine for Jesus – it takes a closeness to Him, and a level of commitment, far beyond that of the average Jack or Jill Christian! It requires the ability to talk the talk of the disciples of darkness, all the while walking the walk of the child of the King. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:22, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” What does this mean? One thing it surely does NOT mean is that I allow myself to be made into the likeness of the lost world I am seeking to save. Members of the CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association) mingle with outlaw bikers for the express purpose of leading them to Christ, but they never drink and carouse with them thinking that will win them a hearing. They know better than that! The strongest Christian, then, is the one who may wear the leathers and ride a hog, but keeps one hand tightly in Christ’s grip even while with the other he “snatches from the flames” of hell itself those in Satan’s grasp. He hates the sin-polluted garments, but loves the biker – or whatever other brand of sinner – all the way to the Savior!

XOXO -- Devotional for March 29, from "Good Seeds"

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (Romans 16:16; I Cor. 16:20;
II Cor. 13:12; I Peter 5:14)

Have you ever received a letter from a loved one that had X’s and O’s written all over it? Kisses and hugs are two wonderful ways to show love and affection to those closest to us. There is a huge variety of expression and a wide spectrum of meaning in the kiss: grandchildren blow kisses to grandma and grandpa; a father and daughter exchange “butterfly kisses” with their eyelashes; “Let’s rub noses like the Eskimoses!” goes the old song; Europeans and Russians meet and greet as complete strangers with a brief whisper of a kiss on alternating cheeks; parents and children say goodnight with “a kiss and a hug”; subjects in a kingdom kiss the hand of their Sovereign, as do devout Catholics their Mother Superior and Father Pope. Psalm 2:11-12 names the kiss as an expression of holy worship: “Approach the Lord with reverence; rejoice with trembling; kiss the Son, lest He become angry and you perish in the way.” But where was such fear of God when Judas kissed the Son, his Master, as an act of betrayal!? Was Solomon prophesying this act in Proverbs 27:6? “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” And regarding the kissing that goes on in the human family, everyone instinctively knows the difference in meaning between a kiss on the cheek, a kiss on the forehead, and a kiss on the lips. Yes, a kiss can range from the most innocent expression of affection between friends to the most vile act of betrayal between enemies. We see the spectrum of emotion and devotion of a kiss flowing from parental love to romantic passion, as it ranges from the most generic and public greeting between strangers to the most private, personal and passionate expression of ecstasy between two people in love. But now, understanding all this, where does the “holy kiss” mentioned over and over in the New Testament fit in? What is a kiss? It is no less than an outward expression of inward feelings of love and devotion. This is a behavior highly encouraged between members of the family of God. But it says, “holy kiss.” What makes it holy? The word means pure, separated unto God, cleansed from evil. The juxtaposition of these two words may sound like an oxymoron to those who can only think of kissing in terms of unbridled, self-serving passion. It is not to be so among believers. But it is also not to be so that we keep safe distances, putting up barriers of privacy, when Jesus wants us warmly greeting one another with intimate love from the heart, expressed in this sincere and pure gesture of mutual respect and affection: The Holy Kiss.

DISASTER MOVIE - Part Two -- Devotional for March 28, from "Good Seeds"

I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:21-22)

As much as science fiction writers love the Bible as a resource for their plots and scenarios, they totally miss its true message, encrypted in Scripture to feed men’s hearts and save men’s souls – not to pump up their adrenaline or fill up their pocketbooks! They miss the point in at least three ways: FIRST, the Bible is not reckless fantasy, but recorded facts. It is history of the past – and of the future – written clearly for our learning. SECOND, the God of the Bible is not an impersonal power to be reckoned with, or a fickle and arbitrary warlord to bargain with. Nor is He just another name for Fate or Destiny, putting a face on the Force that sees the universe through to its ultimate and inevitable demise. No, God is the Creator of a perfect world – albeit a perfect world gone wrong – but He will yet have things His way: a perfect world peopled with perfect creatures, all in His perfect time. But His Word makes it clear that achieving this will require the winning of men back to Himself. This He accomplished through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has done His part. Now He waits for men to reciprocate. But there will be those who will not hear His voice or heed His call, and for them there will be only one alternative: soul destruction in the place of torment and outer darkness. Talk about a horror film! Talk about a disaster movie! Such a destiny for the self-proclaimed enemies of God will be the greatest disaster – and tragedy – of all! But God does not look upon the Christ-rejecter with hatred in His eyes, ready and anxious to strike! No, His gaze is that of unrequited love, looking longingly after them with a torn heart, with the tear-filled eyes of Jesus as He watched the Rich Young Ruler turn away, rejecting the riches of God’s grace in favor of his own receding, deceiving wealth. THIRD, the final reckoning will finally come, to be sure, and the world as we know it will come to an end forever, but until that time, as the post-flood promise affirms, heavenly bodies will hold to their courses, and the earth will continue to sustain life in its beautifully delicate balance. It is the ultimate in arrogance to imagine we feeble humans could amass the power to destroy our planet, either with bombs or ecological mismanagement! This is the worst written disaster movie of all – more like a comedy (of errors!) The only global warming that will destroy the world is the one God will rain down on that final Day of the Lord. O ye modern prophets of doom, let THAT be the sermon you preach!

DISASTER MOVIE - Part One -- Devotional for March 27, from "Good Seeds"

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with an intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up…But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness (II Peter 3:10,12-13).

A film genre people never seem to tire of is the disaster movie. Why is it that we revel in widespread, even universal, destruction? Could it be that there’s a certain mystical, almost grotesque comfort in the thought that no matter how righteous or wicked people are, they all will be swept away together in that final “act of God.” Yes, when the tsunami, earthquake, stray comet, malevolent men from Mars, or in the case of the movie I just saw, a runaway solar flare, makes its appearance, everybody dies! “Misery loves company,” they say, so let’s all go down together! Well, I suppose I can be mesmerized by this spell as much as the next guy – hey, I shelled out the shillings to follow this sci-fi flick, didn’t I! But I was amazed how vividly Hollywood’s ingenious computer-generated graphics portrayed the final destruction of human beings and their precious cars and structures and cities – how the whole earth and its works were suddenly destroyed with an intense heat – almost exactly as Peter prophesied it! Movie producers seem to love searching the Scriptures for subject material for disasters of “biblical proportions”! Too bad they don’t read a little further, for then they would discover, to their great surprise – and for their own salvation – the back story, the deeper meaning, that even the most casual Christian understands. But it’s a story these men will never portray, while remaining outside the camp of God’s grace, for they see God as the undiscriminating Bad Guy in the Sky, the ultimate “God”zilla monster to face down, the universal enemy of the human race who, when on the attack, causes nations and cultures formerly at war with one another to join forces against this hated Immortal Power. Of course, this is exactly how God’s rebellious creatures have always viewed Him, until they come to see by faith His true identity: Father/Creator, and Lover of our soul. He has done everything to win back his wandering prodigal sons, and now, He patiently waits. But the time of waiting will one day be over, and that final war will begin. It will be over in an instant, and the result will be a new world “wherein only righteousness dwells.” “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought we to be?” (verse 11). That’s the climax and conclusion of the most vivid disaster movie of all – one you dare not miss! Your survival, and eternal life, depend on it!

MY FAMILY: MY MISSION FIELD -- Devotional for March 26, from "Good Seeds"

Parents, bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4) Husband, cleanse your wife by the washing of the Word. (Ephesians 5:26)

The Great Commission is directed to each and every Christian to “make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). The world is our mission field. But in breaking down that mission field into workable areas we see three things to be true: 1) The primary focus for ANYONE WITH FAMILY TIES is that family. This would include anyone with living parents, siblings, or other blood relatives. Don’t focus on the unsaved world at large, those you don’t know, or contacts through friendship, work, or other means, at the expense of giving your primary attention to your own kindred. If Jesus condemned the Pharisees for exempting themselves from caring for their own relatives when needs in other circles seemed more pressing, would He not do the same to us? 2) A MARRIED MAN is exhorted to “cleanse his wife by the washing of the Word” (Eph. 5:26). His love for her, expressed in nourishing and cherishing (verse 29), is second only to his love for his Lord, who is the ultimate source of married love. A spouse will walk either closer to or further away from the Lord in direct proportion to the quality of nourishing and cherishing received from the partner. Even an unbelieving spouse can be nourished, or sanctified, in this way by the believing partner (I Cor. 7:13-16). A man cannot save his unbelieving wife, but she must be his chief target of witness, even as he remains her primary link to the Savior. I would not consider myself a good Christian leader, worthy of following, if my own wife did not look up to me as an example of godliness, and did not receive from me the encouragement and help in her own walk with God. Someone said, “The greatest mission field you’ll ever have is within the four walls of your own home!” And this is doubly true when the home has children. 3) Moses commissioned PARENTS with the responsibility to teach their own children the Word and ways of God (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). My godly influence in the church and society at large is emasculated if my authority is weak, inconsistent or non-existent at home, with my wife and children. Who would listen to a man in the marketplace who is ignored or disrespected at home? The New Testament confirms the ancient Jewish exhortation with the words of Paul, “Fathers, DO NOT exasperate your children, that they lose heart, but DO bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21).

WORSE THAN AN UNBELIEVER -- Devotional for March 25, from "Good Seeds"

But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. (I Timothy 5:8 NLT)

According to the Bible the worst condition to be in is out – outside of the family of God. These are those who the Bible says are “without God and without hope in the world” (Ephesians 2:12), and who, when losing a loved one, must “grieve as those who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13). And yet, it seems, there is another group even worse off than these, for Paul calls them, “worse than unbelievers.” These are people who claim with their words to be in the fold of God but deny it by their works. There’s no worse deception than self-deception, for the one person most prone to fall for your lies is you! And who are the sorry individuals in this lot? None other than those who neglect the care and feeding of their own blood relatives! The Bible says these people contradict whatever they say they believe by the things they do, or in this case, what they don’t do. Actions will always steal the floor from words, for it is surely true that “What you are speaks so loud no one can hear what you say.” As “Faith without works is dead,” so belief without commensurate behavior is a lie. “By their fruits you shall know them.” Paul calls such ones worse than unbelievers in that even people who don’t know God still normally take care of their obligations in such matters. Just look at the oriental cultures. In fact, a whole separate religion, called Shintoism, has grown up around caring for (and then worshipping) their elderly. Jesus found some “worse than infidels” right in the midst of the most religious of the land, the Pharisees. They had concocted a loophole in Jewish law called CORBAN, which permitted them to take the money earmarked for the care of their aging parents and place it instead into their temple coffers and pet religious projects. The Bible says that the practical responsibility of every Christian is to care for others – and the closer the relationship, the greater the obligation. How many widows and others with legitimate needs have been turned over to public assistance because they have uncaring kin? The impersonal government welfare system is a poor substitute for a son or daughter, nephew or niece, whose family ties qualify him or her to give the quality of care totally unknown in secular world.

Worse by far than an infidel,
That’s what a man must be
Who follows his dreams
And self-centered schemes
While neglecting his own family.