Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

John 10:27 – 29

I am comforted and encouraged by this promise of Jesus Christ. It uses the simile of a sheep who is in the flock of similar sheep who are following Jesus.  The Shepherd knows each one!   They follow Him.  That blends them together as one, no matter what culture or age.

They are blessed beyond measure.  God gives them eternal life and they shall never perish.  This is indeed breathtaking!  They are ordinary human beings, loved by God who gives them eternal life.  They are secure in the arms of Jesus.  No one can snatch them away.  That bond is the most precious thing in all the universe.  With it, marvelous things happen.  Without that bonding, there is only unrest.

Remember, the One to whom we are bound is Jesus Christ!  He promises to never leave us for a moment.  We live in that reality!  Is there anything greater than that?  I think not.

Dear Anna Ruth can certainly handle the knitting needle and others.  Here is the border of a table mat.  I love the color and texture.

So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

1 Corinthians 11:33, 34

We casual readers might be missing a profound and eternal truth – you should all eat together.  Really?  The Jews have their kitchens as do the Gentiles.  They prepare all sorts of food, including the traditional ones that mark their identity.  It is these identity markers, I believe, that Paul is writing about.  When the believers gather to eat together, a meal that demonstrates their new self-understanding as followers of Jesus Christ, they should deliberately eat one another’s food.  This might seem to be a minor thing – for all cultures, eating together has profound meaning.

The Jews stressed their identity through food, explained carefully by their habits.  They did not consume blood, the Gentiles had no such prohibition, for example.  The Jewish festival table was a reminder of God’s love for them always.  There was no room at their ritual tables for Gentiles!

The followers of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles alike ate some high feasts together, probably eating some common food, certainly the cup of wine and pieces of bread of Communion.  Over the years I have come to understand the importance of cultural eating. It is the place for cultural expression!  We show who we are by our eating!

So the Spirit of the Lord is opening an entirely new way of relating for all would believe – eating together.  This sounds mundane but is profound beyond measure.  Our little white middle class congregation where we attend eat a common meal once each month – when all bring food for the enjoyment of all.  It is, to tell the truth, a cultural as well as religious experience, maybe mostly cultural.  When we enjoy the meal we do so with delight.  The secret of faith is to eat with all peoples of the earth who believe in Jesus.  Foods and drinks differ, the flesh and blood of Jesus never changes.

I need to let this truth sink in.  Food should link us with others, not divide!  I read again, you should all eat together. 

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God. 

James 4:7, 8

Resist the devil, confront him or run from him, all in the spirit of humility, and then come near to God. James is so practical and real in his teaching.  He is so simple, run away from the devil and come near to God.  Is there a simpler way?  I think not.  Can not all Christian ethics be wrapped in this admonition, run from evil and embrace Jesus?  That is how we stay near to God.

James is a practical as can be.  Yet, as simple and real.  He sees the battle raging as Satan tries to not only hold his own followers in his embrace but is determined to bring back believers to abandon God and follow him.  When we view life in this way everything falls into place.

At the heart of James’ teaching is not just fleeing from Satan, but even more important, rushing into the arms of Jesus, our eternal refuge.  Both are important!

I begin this week with this Scripture ringing in my ear, submit to God and run from the Devil.  Can it get simpler than that?  Lord, I understand, now give me the strength and grace to obey!

In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.  No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

John 16:26, 27

The Daily Light passages this morning promise that we are invited to pray, pray, pray.  This promise in the Gospel of John is a conversation between Jesus and those who love Him and believe that what he says is true.  It is faith grounded in the revealed fact that Jesus and his Father love us with singular love!

The secret is that the door is open for believers to pray!  That door is never closed – certainly never locked. Our lover, Jesus, knows what we need.  He stands ready to hear our prayer, we stand ready to speak our prayer in faith, believing that what Jesus says is truth we can depend upon.

I am beginning to understand how huge this blessing is.  I embrace it with all my heart, again and again.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22

The eternal problem – how can a sinless God relate to sinful people?  Or, how can sinful people hope to ever have fellowship with God?

This is a “God problem.”  We stand helpless.  He does not expect people to purify themselves so pure that they can enter the presence of God, the Holy One.  Yet that is exactly the argument of this passage, we are invited to draw near to God.   Not because we have earned the right or are good enough but because Jesus lived, suffered, died and was brought back to life.  We depend entirely on that, not on our own worthiness but on the promise of the Lord that we can come near!

How dare we?  Because the Blood of Jesus cleanses us and washes our bodies!  We read, we have been cleansed with the pure water of Jesus’ forgiveness.  This is believable only through the Spirit of the Lord.  It is not at all natural. If we embrace that truth and act on it, we are most blessed!

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalm 32:11

The Palmist stirs our inner beings, especially meaningful in the morning when we awake to a new day like today.  We can awake grumbling, or maybe listless, not feeling much of anything.

That is the old way, in the Lord Jesus we awake and begin right there to rejoice, and to be glad.   Even before we do anything, the Spirit of God is right there with us, inspiring us to follow him all day.

The response is to sing!  Sing songs suitable for the upright in heart to sing.

Lethargy is too often our challenge – we awake with complaints on our lips and troubled spirits in our hearts.  Our expectations are low and so we begin the day.  Little wonder that we are so fruitless and powerless.  We do not have the power to lift the load for others or for ourselves.

No, there is a better way, the chosen way, be glad and sing.  Oh, Lord, I choose to be glad and sing.

I am the Lord, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”

Leviticus 20:7, 8

This is the Daily Light opening verse for today.  It begins with the Lord speaking, reminding listeners that He wants to make us holy.  In this age, this may seem like a strange thing, holiness.  When has someone told me that he or she is enjoying this holiness?  This seems strange to our age.  Yet it is meant for us just like it was meant for the Children of Israel as they settled the Land of Canaan after years in Egypt.

The first words are arresting.  I am the Lord.  This is not just a bit of advice for some who wish to take note of, it is an eternal, settled fact.  It all begins with who God is.  He is holy!  An only He can make us holy.  We can desire holiness but it is a gift of God and is received, certainly not made by us.

As His people we must consecrate ourselves and be holy.  As to consecration, we have a part to play, for it is an act of the will.  “Today I consecrate myself to do the will of God.”   What does that mean, consecrate?  We should know because consecration and sanctification are almost the same.

Our culture does not speak like this.  Even today is seems so strange and esoteric.  As I write I am aware of the fact that this is not the daily conversation for us in our time, even among believers.  Yet, for God and his people, Israel, it was at the heart of their walk together.

I am the Lord, who makes you holy.  Only the Lord can do that, certainly not us!

I am amazed at the white flashes on this starling that comes now and again to our feeders.  This fellow has a wee bit of suet on the tip of its beak.  Love it.