Are you ready for a ground-breaking revelation? Life can be burdensome! Yeah, that's right, life isn't always pleasant and sometimes downright unbearable. Are you shocked? Probably not. You've, no doubt already heard the news and likely have had it delivered personally.
For those who embrace the Christian faith, however, it seems there isn't a however. Life is tough for us too. There is a however, however (cute play on words, huh?), that being many bearing the name of Christ face the troubles with grace and even a song of praise on their lips and joy in their hearts.
How is that possible? And why is it only some, not all who bear His name? First, let me affirm that it is possible to "rejoice always...in any and all circumstances" (Phil 4:4-12). And the power is found in the presence of Christ (v. 13). The specific promise is found in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you...and you will find rest for your souls."
OK, so tell us how putting on a yoke (burden) helps to relieve our burden? You are burdened by yourself, Jesus invites you to be yoked or to burden-share with him. He invites you to throw off your single yoke and join him in a double yoke. Jesus, then, will help you pull the load you found to be an over-burden, which is now lightened enough that you can make it. He does not get you out or over but through the difficult time.
Some don't have this help because they have simply taken up a religion, which leaves them pulling alone still, instead of entering into a relationship with Jesus that allows his Spirit to be a sure and present help in times of need. The yoke is on you but which one?
Jus' Askn.
I was just reading in Matthew 24:32, which warns, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." Keep watch of what? Watch the skies? Watch the signs of the times? What exactly are we to watch?
With all the books written on the signs of the end and the many warnings given by various religious leaders and groups of "the gathering storm" and "signs of the end," it appears that many, if not most, have decided it is the signs of the times or end that we are to watch.
Against the tide of religious and popular thought, I would like to challenge that notion for a couple of reasons: 1) if you were to see enough signs to suggest that His coming was imminent, just what would you do? What would you change? What about you or your circumstances would need to change in that event? And, knowing that there are things that you would need to change to prepare for Christ's return, why wouldn't you go ahead and do that now, regardless of when He will return?
2) Verses 33, 34 are a synonymous parallelism with verse 32, which clearly state, "If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
Get the picture? Since we do not know just when He will return, we need to keep watch of our own house, of our own life so that we will be ready whenever He may come. Don't waste time watching the sky or the signs of the times or listening to the latest "prophetic warning," instead watch your life and what you are doing - be ready now - today. Tomorrow might not come or you might not be here.
Jus' Sayn
As a rule, "everyone looks out for their own interests" (Phil 2:21). However, there are some people who really get it that the way of Christ or true discipleship is to show genuine concern for the welfare of others (v. 20).
This mindset of Christ Jesus is what propelled him to relinquish his divine porogative and empty himself, taking on human form and accepting the way of the cross on our behalf (vv. 5-8).
It is a rare quality, which comes as a gift of grace from above that allows one to set aside all personal interests and focus on the need of the other. When we see it in action, we are moved within. Sometimes we call these people heroes, sometimes we call them mothers, sometimes we call them true friends, but we always are encouraged by their selfless acts on our or other's behalf.
There was one disciple in the New Testament, "Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means 'son of encouragement')" (Acts 4:6), that so personified this trait, he could only be rightly called by it. Sort of like those people, who light a room just by walking in and we feel compelled to call them Sunshine.
This trait, this Barnabas Factor, if you will, that compels people to sacrifice self is what made this country great and what keeps it safe. God blessed America by giving us an abundance of Barnabas types. This blessed nation is the Land of the free by the hand of the brave - the brave who are willing to die that others might be free.
Wouldn't you say that this very Barnabas Factor from the Spirit of Christ is the very reason we ought to gives thanks to God in this country today and every day?
Just' Askn.
Writing of a time when "Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City" (Zechariah 8:3), the prophet proclaimed, “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you '” (v 23).
The implication being that when God's people live faithfully before him, they are also living befor others, who take note of that walk with God and be drawn to it. The faithful disciple, therefore, does not have to button-hole someone to share his/her faith because others will be holding on to your words, wanting to know what it is that you have, which is so clearly different.
Paul later wrote, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone" (Col 4:6,7).
Peter echoed this sentiment in saying, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Pet 3:15).
The disciple's life, because of the faith and hope which lie within and radiate outward, is drawing and compelling others to find out more about this life and the power, which makes it possible. The calm in times of difficulty and the grace in times of blessing are so attractive to a world saturated in self that that is angry in trials and greedy in prosperity.
The disciple's life is to shine like a beacon in the darkness (Matt 5:14-16). Does yours?
Jus' Askn.
The quip, "Take it like a man - blame it on a woman," goes back to The Garden of Eden, where Adam tried to lay the blame for his sin on Eve: “The woman you put here with me —she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Gen 3:12). Better yet, he was implicating God as he charged, "you [God] put her here with me."
Sorry gals, I'd like to let you off the hook but the woman didn't stand up any better than the man, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (vs. 13). I don't know that the snake tried to pass the blame on anyone, he may have said, "Hey, I'm a snake! What did you expect?"
What I do know is that blaming others instead of taking responsibility for one's sin or woeful state of being has not lost any momentum over the millenniums. We blame our parents for our bad attitudes, poverty for our anger, victims for our abusive behavior, our bosses for our poor performance - you name the sinful nature or act and we'll name someone to blame, someone else, that is.
The problem with that, however, apart from not being true as we are free moral beings vested with the personal power to choose regardless of pressure to one side or another, is that forward progress or healing comes from confession (see James 5:16).
Denial keeps us under the power of our sin as we affirm our helplessness to change due to the influence of others. Conversely, confession affirms our God-given power to choose other and better. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13).
Jus' Sayn.
God is sovereign, meaning that he acts independently of outside forces and that his will cannot not be resisted. But, in his sovereignty, God has determined that man is allowed free will as seen in John 1:11, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."
This means that God allows man the right and the ability to actually "quench the Spirit" (1Thess 5:19). Not to say that man can stop the spirit from acting in the worldly or accomplishing His ends, but man can quench or resist the Spirit from working on and in his own heart. As Revelation 3:20 reveals, the Spirit of The Lord "knocks on the door," not knocks it down.
God's sovereignty allows him to force his will upon us but his love offers us a choice. The right to accept or reject his will in our lives is both a great privilege and a grave responsibility. We can choose to accept the grace that allows us to become new creations (2 Cor 5:17) or we can choose to remain "without hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12).
The choice is yours. The Bible pleads with you, "do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thess 5:19), but God allows you to decide on life in the spirit or death in the flesh. What are you doing with that choice?
Jus' Askn.
When one says, "You can't judge me," the truth is that they aren't willing to accept their judgment. Or, at least, they say they are not accepting it. The anger heard so often in those disclaimers reminds me of Shakespeare 's famous words, "thou protesteth too much," suggesting that they really do accept the judgment, which is why they are so upset.
The other side of not accepting another's judgment is the inward rejecting of one's right or ability to judge. That inward resistance reflects an assessment of another's right or power to judge as well as your right and power to reject it. Listen to the apostle Paul's disclaimer, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself" (1 Cor 4:3).
Paul didn't go around being offended by the judgments of others, he simply didn't care what they thought or had to say. He knew who he was and what he was about to a degree that the opinions of others had no real bearing on his life. That is with one notable exception.
He cared very much what God thought. He accepted the judgment of God as right and good - as the only judgment that did matter and one that mattered always. It is the one you and I should care about above and to the exclusion of all others. Again, the words of the apostle Paul ring clear, "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me" (1 Cor 4:4).
So, worrying about what others think or leaning on what you think are both a colossal waste of time and energy, in and of themselves. Taking into account what others say and reflecting on what you believe, however, have merit when corrected and/or adjusted by the Word of God. God is the Judge - others are only counsel.
Jus' Sayn.
