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Tag: trust
Overheard – He Came Back for Us
“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Mark 16:7
Gone to Galilee? But He just died Friday! We saw Him die on the cross. We watched them bury Him.
Gone to Galilee?
Why Galilee, an out-of-the way sort of place, about 60 miles (over a day’s walk) north of the gravesite?
It’s where Jesus grew up and ministered, but that’s about it. He had always been preparing to leave Galilee, to go Jerusalem, the Capital, where all the powerful and influential world-changers were.
Since they just crucified Him, if He truly was risen from the dead, seems He’d march straight to the palace or the temple and SHOW them He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Messiah of God Almighty!
Galilee? Nobody there but His followers.
Us.
He Came back to show Himself to us.
To the very same ragtag group of people who denied Him, misunderstood Him, forsook Him, and fled, He returned; to deserters.
Especially mentioned by name, to Peter, who had denied even knowing Him, He returned.
He came back for us as well. He has a message, is calling us, to travel to our “Galilee” to go back to the place where we fellowshiped with Jesus and to begin again. To follow Him all over again.
He will meet us there. In fact, He has gone on ahead and is already there.
The Disciples did not witness Him rising from the dead. They were gone. Out of it.
It is incredible enough to think that He could just decide to rise again, and to return to anyone. But he came back for us, to those who did believe and needed to know that He is alive, needed to believe again, and more.
The proof of the Resurrection is not the absence of Jesus’ body from the tomb. No, it is the presence of Jesus with His followers. The greatest promise of the Resurrection is not that we shall live forever, although that is great, indeed. No, the greatest message is that though we are still sinners, weak, and faithless like the Disciples, Jesus returned to US.
The Bible is not a book telling mostly how men kept seeking God. It is a record of how God keeps seeking US, despite our lack of faith.
And why?
The risen Christ has come back to change us from doubters to ambassadors. Jesus came back to us because He loves us.
I look back over my life at all the mistakes I’ve made, all the times I’ve failed, gone my own way, strayed, and each time, He came for me. He found a way to get to me even when I tried not to be found.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. I Corinthians 15:3-8
Here, Paul is writing to the poor struggling Corinthians, who were failing badly at being the Church. To those backsliding, sinful, divisive, faithless Christians, Paul preaches the Resurrection. He reminds them, and us, that the risen Christ chooses to return, to strengthen Christians.
How will we respond?
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-4
Related articles
- An Empty Tomb Proves Nothing… (rugglesferrymbc.wordpress.com)
The Solution
I suffered from going into the past to worry about a future that never came about.
However, I did stop worrying about the past-future-what-ifs and I’d like to share with you how to do it, in case you find yourself needing to know.
1. Stop imagining.
My kids tell a joke, disguised as a riddle, which begins: Imagine you are in a car rolling backward down a hill toward a lake. The troubles and frustrations described in the joke continue to the point of desperation. There is seemingly no way to survive being drowned in that lake when the question comes: What should you do? Once the victim of this joke tries every possible solution to this seeming riddle and then gives up, the joker gives the answer: STOP IMAGINING! At that point it is very funny.
If you tell it right, the relief in the air is almost palpable at that moment, because the listener latches on to the story because we all have imaginings like this from time to time.
You may have imagined worries, but you can have that palpable relief, too.
In real life.
Imagination is a wonderful tool, in its place—but stop imagining.
2. Take every thought captive and make it obey the truth.
Realize there is something or someone trying to take away your sanity and you need to fight to get it back. Tell yourself the truth, aloud, if needed.
Ah, but what is truth? How can anyone ever possibly know what might have happened?
Don’t go there!
Take that thought captive!
Here is the truth: You are not in control. You do your best with what you are in control of, and then other forces are in control of all the rest. You try hard to be in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time, and then, you let go.
The truth is that God is in control and you are not God. He rules the world. He determines. Not you. Not me. Not any malfunctioning gearbox, not any tornado, not any burglar, not any hormone, not any doctor, not any police.
God.
We read the stories all the time of those who escaped harm while doing the wrong thing. People hide from tornados in flimsy shelters and the whole building blows away except for the flimsy shelter. We read, also, of a tornado that swoops out of nowhere to pick up only one person and passes on to do no more damage. Burglars flee when someone rolls over in bed; other burglars take everything. Careless women have healthy babies; careful women deliver stillborn babies. And on it goes.
The truth is partly in the timing. When God determines it is time, then it is time. We all want to escape all danger, harm, shame, etc., but after doing all we can do, then the ball is in God’s court, and when it comes to THAT ballgame, God wins.
Of course, the fatalist will say, “Then why try?”
We must try hard to stay alive and to keep others alive, if at all possible, because life is a precious gift from God and we are to use it to His glory. We are not to become fatalistic or desponding, but to trust Him to make the best possible outcome from our entire life. We are to cooperate with Him, but not to worry about if He knows what on earth He is doing.
True freedom from worry over past-future-what-ifs came for me — and I hope, for you — with these thoughts:
- My baby did not die that day. (It took me a while to get that part.)
- Therefore, it was not God’s will for my baby to die that day.
- Therefore, it was impossible that he could have died that day.
There could have been NO what-ifs that could have changed that. Since then I have even met a family whose son was run over, with no lasting harm coming to him. It’s all about Who is in control.
And it’s not about you or me.
The glorious liberty that comes from the truth, can set us free from all fear of death and all guilt.
We should do our best and trust God. He can and will take care of the what-ifs.
This is truth.
I pray you can apply it to your life.
Years Ago . . .
. . . I left my children, one of whom was a teen (in the back seat) another, a baby (strapped into an infant car seat in the front) in the car while I stepped into a store to confirm an order.
Just for a moment.
The engine was off and in the parking gear. The town was population 100 or so, all friends and neighbors. The street was seldom trafficked.
This was a safe practice 30 years ago.
The baby was in that “twos” stage, when (we all know) it takes expert managing to control their little adventures. He was ready for adventure that morning.
We did not know he’d been studying how to extricate himself from his car seat.
He did.
The teenage child was in the midst of inexpertly admonishing him (from the back seat, remember) to get back into his seat, when the baby grabbed the gear stick and—in direct defiance of the manufacturer’s promises about parking safety specs—pulled it out of gear.
The car began to roll backward.
A grocery sacking attendant happened by at that moment.
And panicked.
And yanked open the door on which the baby was leaning for support.
The baby fell out.
The car continued rolling.
The sacker guy grabbed him, about one second before the wheel could crush him, tossed him back into the car, jumped in, stomped on the brakes, and put the car back in gear, averting further disaster.
He then proceeded into the store where he chewed me out, half explaining and half blaming me, in his total anxiety/trauma/relief-reaction to his recent activities with my children.
I, wondering what he was talking about, left my business in the store to check on my children. All was seemingly fine. They were somewhat upset, but the baby had learned the lesson and was totally compliant about being in the seat, into which his older sib had succeeded in returning him.
Outside of anger that the car could be taken out of gear, when the engine was off and the keys in my purse, contrary to new safety regulations, with which the manufacturer made loud claims to have been in compliance, I really felt only relief and thankfulness for how things turned out.
But that night, it started . . .
Overheard: Saving Satan
Surprised? Just think a bit: If you make war against someone, you have to believe he exists, don’t you? Right. So, the demons and their captain do believe Jesus exists, and, Scripture says, they at least have the sense to tremble at the thought, which shows they are not dumb.
Think some more: The old arch-nemesis can disguise himself in a multitude of ways, and it is obvious he has made his way into church membership in lots of places.
Right?
So, let’s see if you would agree he could join your church if he walked the aisle and asked the preacher if he could join. The folks at our church were fascinated with this exercise, and amid very quiet listening, got quite a few chuckles, which I will indicate here with asterisks (*).
Let’s ask all the typical questions we think are so important for church membership, and see if we would let satan join our congregation, as he has so many others before*:
- Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God! — Of course, satan would agree. The evil one knows this is true and can agree to it, if it serves his purposes. After all, this fact is the inspiration for his hatred.
- Do you believe Jesus was born of a virgin? — Again, he knows this is true; saw the star over Bethlehem, himself, right?
- Do you believe Jesus died on the cross? — You know, he’d be thinking, I offered Him a way out but He was too stuck on Himself to take it . . . but he would say, “Of COURSE!”
- Do you believe He rose from the dead? — Here he might hesitate. After all, it was his worst nightmare.* But still he would give a “yes” to this question.
- Are you willing to baptized as a sign of your faith? — He would never refuse baptism, would never have a problem with it. Of course, he might sizzle . . . *
- Will you commit to attending church weekly? — He might think: Thought you’d never ask!*— but he might say, “I won’t miss a single service! I’ll be there every time the doors open!”*
Sounds like a great prospect, so far, doesn’t he? Would he make it into the membership of your church’s congregation?
Now here is the final question:
- Are you ready to repent? Will you quit fighting God and start life over? Will you trust and obey Jesus Christ as your Lord in every area of your life?
And exactly at that point is where it all breaks down.
As it should.
Because faith, by itself, when it is not accompanied by works, is dead.
James 2:19 – You believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that — and shudder.
Wax Wanes
Sincerity
The word “sincere” mean without wax.
Really.
Well, we use it to mean believability, but “sin-” means without and “cere” means wax.
You see, long ago, when the best container for holding liquids was made of some sort of fired clay, of unknown quality and skill, it was totally easy to mess up and crack one of these containers.
Totally.
Not like having engineered, mass-produced, tempered glass, at all.
Even the vendors and potters, themselves, could accidentally cause a small crack to occur in the product.
Oops.
A rather useful way to fix this problem, back then, was to pour melted wax over it and let it soak in, to seal it, buff the wax to make it shine, and if no one noticed, you could pass the container off as whole.
Not a cracked pot.
The trouble often came, though, that when a homemaker poured hot liquid into one of these waxed pots, she would discover a leak and realize what she had: damaged goods. She might not know whether she bought it that way, or bumped it herself, unless she could observe wax floating atop the liquid.
She might not discover it until the next morning.
She never could prove she had not waxed it, herself, though, so never could get any satisfaction, aside from spreading the news to her friends, to help them avoid this vendor.
While she might enjoy that as payback, she still needed a new pot. One that was without wax, “sincere”.
______________________
I recently signed a letter “sincerely” and immediately thought of the word history. I asked myself: Really? Am I sincere? Am I laying a coating over cracks in my believability? Am I pretending? Is this the truth? If not, will I be discovered?
I did not answer. Maybe I did not like the answer. Instead, I wrote this post.
Safer.
Maybe I’m a cracked pot? Should I avoid all heated content? Is there any other way to fix it besides waxing it over?
Yeah.
Last week I opened my email to find a death threat. Whether this was spam or the real deal is yet to be determined.
The officer asked if I owned a gun and suggested I might want to keep it handy and be aware of my surroundings. These words sent me scurrying to the closet to pull out my Smith & Wesson. I loaded the pistol with bullets my husband had stored all these years.
Realizing we were low on ammunition, I let my fingers-do-the-walking in an attempt to find replacement ammo. A number of calls later I located a store and told the clerk I’d see them first thing next morning.
I tucked the weapon into a safe hideout and crawled in bed for what I hoped would be a good night’s sleep. Before closing my eyes, I asked God to keep me safe through the night. My gun was loaded. I knew how to use it. I was prepared.
This is a wonderfully-written, true tale of fear and foibles by DiAne Gates. Read more, here!
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