Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.  I John 3:4 – 8

So, why did Jesus come to earth?  John is clear, “you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.”  This is absolutely essential to our salvation. Sin is front and center in John’s view, as in the view of all the Scriptures.  Eden introduces us to sin, Jesus Christ exposed sin and offered himself as an offering by which human beings can deal with the sin issue – by taking it away.  Heaven is sinless.  The time will come when sin will have been dealt the death blow.

A second reason for Jesus atoning work is “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”  Of course, we know that the devil will be thrown down in the end but for those who believe, the works of the devil are destroyed, crushed, doomed, NOW.  The ultimate drama is the backdrop for everything. In short, Satan rebels against his Creator, lures people into disobedience, is given a death blow by Jesus’ atoning work, is cast out of heaven, now seeks to keep people from following God but at the end of the age will be cast out completely, to his doom.

We as believers live in this reality.  We know the beginning and we know the end.  We are somewhere between the two, victorious through Christ but still pestered by Satan here on earth.

We praise God every day for delivering us from the jaws of the evil one and for pronouncing us as his sons and daughters, beloved and blessed beyond measure.

Once a year Mom and Jane put up 10 dozen ears of corn for freezing.  Here David is helping – with his own pocket knife!  We love this annual ritual.

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  I john 3:1 b

As John explains our unique relationship with the Father – sons and daughters, full and free – he seems to pause a bit and add this striking reminder.  In my words, “Do not expect that unsaved people will understand what is in the heart and mind of the saved ones.”   We should not be surprised that they do not understand what is happening to us.

That might be hard to accept and even harder to believe, but it is Gospel truth.  The only way the unsaved can understand us is if we compromise our belief in Christ’s atoning work.  We dare not, for a moment, allow that to happen.

John is astoundingly simple – there are only two ways, one for those who believe and another for those who do not.

I realize how frustrating it is for us believers to accept the fact that nonbelievers do not understand us.  We have a compelling need to be understood – by the world.  So, we try to make ourselves understood!   John confides with us that those who have never known the salvation in Christ cannot possible understand what is happening to us. How can they possibly understand?  They know only what they know.

Should we expect nonbelievers to fully grasp what it means to give one’s heart to Jesus Christ?  Only those who are experiencing the saving grace of Jesus Christ know the power and reality of the transforming work God.  For those who do not know or experience that grace, it is a confounding mystery.

John reminds us that this is the situation and will continue to be so until the Lord returns.  Hear the Word again, The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  So be it.

Beside our lawn swing a lush trumpet vine is now producing marvelous flowers. I enjoy the coy simplicity of this one.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  I John 3:1

As I look back over my life I think of one of the most amazing things – Anna Ruth loves me.  For almost 70 years!  To be honest, I am not loveable.  I am aware of that, today more than ever.  Yet she not only says she loves me but proves it every day by her actions.

How does this love business work? To begin with, it is not because we are so amazingly loveable. If that would be the case, who would ever love me?  Love, even human love, defies all descriptions. It depends entirely on the desire of someone to love another, no matter what.

It is that insight into love that causes me to bow in everlasting thanksgiving to Jesus Christ who loves me, all of me, all the time, with all his divine love. Imagine a love so strong that it looks on a weak, struggling human being as an actual “son of God.”   That is what I read here.  I am that recipient of transforming love, a love that I fail to fully understand but which I embrace and value more than anything in life.  I am thankful to be a son of Paul and Trella Jacobs.  That is joy enough. But to even begin to understand how I could be pulled into God’s love as his son – that is just too hard to even begin to grasp.  I am overwhelmed by this love.

John goes so far as to remind us that the love of God that draws us to Christ, to give our lives to him every day, is a confusing thought to those who do not know him.  The moment a person, a sinner, turns to Jesus for salvation, the truth of his love actually lives!  Those of us who are sons and daughters of God by the power of his love, and all that means, must realize that those who have not given their hearts to the Lord cannot understand, for a minute, what gladdens our hearts.  How could they possibly understand?  We know because we feel and know the love of God.  “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, NIV This is the joy of believers!

With whom does thou delight to dwell?

Sinners, a vile and thankless race;

O God, what tongue aright can tell

How vast thy love, how great thy grace!

From a Wesley hymn.

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. I John 2:28, 29

Our brother, the Apostle John, could not be more clear.  A person does not earn salvation by doing good but a person does good because the Spirit of the Lord is in him or her to do good.  This underlies John’s witness.

He does not discourage a person who is not born again from doing good.  John would be the first to encourage everyone to do good.  It is good to do good.  It is even better to be good.  But that is not the point.  The point is that those in whom the Spirit of the Lord lives will do good.

I use the expression “do good” to open the meaning a bit more of John’s word of doing “what is right.”  In these powerful sentences John does not clarify what doing “right” is.  He simply says, “if you know that he (God) is righteous…”  then you can discern what doing “what is right” is.

This is not simply a play on words. It is at the heart of the saving power of Jesus Christ.  We are saved to do good or to do good works, we do not do good works in order to be saved.  As I hear the heart of John, that is what he is teaching, otherwise he would go into a long discussion of what is right and what is wrong. That is not his point here.  He simply says that if the Spirit of God is leading a person the result will be that that person will do what is right, what is good.

I thank God that I was brought up with a strong emphasis on living as a Christian.  I probably knew that first, I must give my entire heart and will to God and yield to his guidance alone, but experiencing that was another matter.  If you are like me, that was always the nub of the issue.  Am I ready to continue to turn over to God the direction of my life or am I going to try to run it on my own?  I am now 88 years old and I find that I must continue, even today, to relinquish control of my life to the Lord Jesus.  Only then am I at rest.  I am learning to “continue in Him.”

My desire is to be found among his “dear children” as John calls us.   May that be your desire as well.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ps. 23:6

Of one thing David was sure, really sure, undoubtedly sure, it was that God’s goodness and love will never fail. Maybe David, in his old age, thought back on his life and shared his learnings in this amazing “Song of a Thankful Sheep.”  So it is all here. Green pastures, refreshing waters, all is sunshine and fine. Then we need to move through dark, frightening gorges, surrounded by hungry enemies, to new, often higher, pastures. Is that not an accurate picture of life with Christ?  I, for one, together with Anna Ruth, my wife, find it so.

I, now 88 and Anna Ruth, now 89, can look back on a lifetime of walking the Way of Life in Christ, together.  We often needed one another to keep going no matter how we felt or how daunting the challenges. We walk the walk together.

So then?  God’s goodness and love will be there in fullness all the days of our lives here on the earth.  We have life yet to live.  Of that we need to celebrate, every day, through light and darkness, through joy and pain, through struggle and rest.

The time will come when we will have a new “dwelling place,” heaven itself where we will see God’s goodness and love more clearly than ever, much more so.

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  With this as my hope I welcome the day and open my heart in prayer and adoration.  Our home forever!  Join us on the journey.

I photographed these frog eggs yesterday, realizing that they will last in this newly laid position for only a short time.  The fecundity of these frogs is staggering.  If only a fraction of these hatch, where will all the frogs live?  We are already crowded!  I am trying to understand our frogs!

 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4

I am leaving my meditations on I John for a bit.

These days I have been soaking in the truths of Psalm 23 – the lush meadows, the refreshing waters, the protection of the Good Shepherd.  All is well.  Wonderful.  But, then what?

For our welfare we need to go to another meadow, a higher one, perhaps, not necessarily of our own choosing, but our Shepherd knows we need to move to new pastures.  We need new pastures where the old becomes new, where we can find nourishment and rest for our souls.  That means that we must pass through scary or demanding transitions, from where we are now to new pastures for our welfare and for the benefit of the Shepherd.

A person very near to us is just now in transition from the familiar to the unknown. The person has experienced God’s blessing for many, many years in more or less the same meadow.  Now, horrors, the person must pass through the valleys and perils to get to the new meadow that is unfamiliar and daunting.  It is not an easy time; in fact, it is more demanding by far than continuing as is.

The Psalmist describes it as passing through “the darkest valley.”  It is dark indeed.  Enemies lie in wait to catch you, to break your faith in your Shepherd.  It is a moment of weakness that is like despair. Furthermore, we walk alone, the path is so narrow.  It is one of the greatest challenges in our walk with Christ.  All believers experience this at times.

Such crucial times can weaken our faith or strengthen it. Blessed is the person who depends on the shepherd with all his heart, soul and mind as he takes one small step after another, in the dark!  The way is not clear, dangers lurk in the shadows.  The secret is to trust the shepherd.  “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

With fullness of faith we lift our heads, in the dark, and listen to the loving voice of the Shepherd, “Come higher.”  Then move on!