30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 36: The Lord Jesus Christ

Some who may be reading these posts will ask, “Dennis, why did you wait so long to get to thanking God for Jesus?” I don’t have a good answer. Please understand that I am not thankful for only one "thing"each day; I am only writing about one thing each day! What’s important to me is that today I am thanking God that He loved me (you, us, everyone!) so much that He gave His Only Begotten Son, so that by believing in Him, I (you, we, everyone) will not perish, but have everlasting life. (You’ll recognize John 3:16, I’m confident.)

Another one of  my favorite Bible verses is Titus 2:13-14, which says “…we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.”

(For a previous entry on the “Blessed Hope” click here. )

One of my favorite singing groups is a quartet called “GoodNews.” (By happy fortune, GoodNews is singing in our church this coming Sunday morning! Come and join us there!) One of the members, Russ Sears, wrote a song that the group sings called “Thank You for the Blood.” With credit to GoodNews and Russ Sears, the lyrics of that song are reproduced here:

Many times I’ve thanked You for the food I’ve eaten
I have often thanked You for blessings from above
But if I’ve forgotten to tell You that I’m thankful,
This is what I’d say to You
For Your perfect gift of love.

Thank You for the blood shed on Calvary;
Thank You for the blood poured out just for me.
Pure redeeming grace; flowing, cleansing flood.
Jesus, let me tell You thank You for the blood.

Written in the Bible is the blood atonement
Of the sacrificial lamb that covered people’s sin
The Father had a plan to pay sin’s price forever.
I want to show my love for Him,
This is where I will begin.

Thank You for the blood shed on Calvary;
Thank You for the blood poured out just for me.
Pure redeeming grace; flowing, cleansing flood.
Jesus, let me tell You thank You for the blood.

Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;

Jesus, let me tell You thank You for the blood.
Jesus, let me tell You thank You for the blood.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 28: The Blessed Hope

Yesterday I wrote about “Hope”. Today, I am thankful for something a little more specific: the “Blessed Hope” that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have. The Blessed Hope refers to the Return of Jesus Christ, as He promised when He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection.

The expression comes from Titus 2:13: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ…” (KJV)

I am thankful for the specific promise and prophecy concerning Jesus’ return. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is John 14:1-6. In particular, the part where Jesus tells His disciples: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (vv. 2-3, KJV).

In the words of the Apostle John at the end of the Book of the Revelation: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

If you believe in Jesus Christ, post it in your status message...or be exposed as a "poser"...

The following message has been circulating among my Facebook friends "status messages" this morning:

"I believe in Jesus Christ. One face booker has challenged all believers to put this on their wall.....In the Bible it says, if you deny me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of my Father, at The Gates of Heaven. This is a simple test. If you love God and you are not ...afraid to show it, repost this."

The unspoken accusation in that message is: "if you don't repost this message, you either 'don't love God' or 'you do love God but are too ashamed or too afraid to say so publicly.'" I absolutely reject this kind of statement.

I believe in Jesus Christ. I do not need anyone to "dare" me or to "shame" me into saying so. Neither will I "dare" or try to "shame" my friends, family, or total strangers into saying so. Jesus ALSO said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27). The FB status going around that tells me to post it in my status is reminiscent of the chain letter that threatens 7 years of bad luck to the person who breaks the chain. I do not criticize those who do post that status message--I commend you for stating where you stand on the issue. Even so, we are called to ENCOURAGE one another, not to try to coerce one another using shame, or even greed, as motivators.

If you need to test your faith and or courage, there is a better "test" than your Facebook status:

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

If you are still in doubt, pay attention to this:  "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of Godso that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:12

Making your Facebook status the litmus test of your faith seems kind of silly, doesn't it? If you want to testify about your faith in Jesus Christ, by all means, do so. If you want to honor Jesus in your Facebook status, do so. But please, don't do so in order to impress or appease someone else who might be wondering about you. That sounds an awful lot like what Jesus said to His followers about those who love to pray out in the open:

 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6).

Doing what we do as Christians in order to be noticed by men, Jesus says, is one of the things that "the hypocrites" do. 

There is a higher motive:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24)

By all means: do bear witness of your faith in God our Heavenly Father, the Creator of Heaven and earth. And surely do bear witness of the Only Begotten Son of God, God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of all humankind. Please do not, however, seek to please God apart from Faith, and, insofar as other people are concerned, "... let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16.

God KNOWS whether you believe in Him or whether you don't. Don't testify to others to PROVE anything to yourself or to your friends. Testify to others because you truly have compassion on them and have love for them, and earnestly desire that he or she "should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16b).

I DO believe in Jesus Christ. More than that, I have repented of my sin and received His forgiveness. He has given me a "new birth", I am "born again." (John 3).  I am "in Christ" and therefore, I am a "new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

I don't ALWAYS say so publicly. I have missed many opportunities to bear witness of my faith in my Savior. I regret those missed chances, and I have asked Jesus to forgive me many times for my failure to speak. (He has always forgiven me and cleansed me from my unrighteousness -1 John 1:9. He's good like that.) Think about those times when you were confronted or challenged or dared to do something, and you hesitated, looking to the left and right to see whether anyone was watching you. When the Holy Spirit of God nudges you to speak or act as He directs, then DO IT PROMPTLY and don't bother to look around to see if anyone else is noticing. Just look at Jesus--meet His gaze, and do as He asks. 

May God bless you all today.

"Jesus Laughing" -one of my favorite imaginings of the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior, King and Master.