The Twitter of Life

Revelation 20:11-15

  

Our culture is changing in quantum leaps! Wasn’t it just yesterday that every kindergarten student read “Dick and Jane”? While last year my granddaughter, in her kindergarten class, used Chromebooks – whatever that is.

 

¹² I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God; and The Books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in The Books, each according to the deeds he had done. ¹³ The oceans surrendered the bodies buried in them; and the earth and the underworld gave up the dead in them. Each was judged according to his deeds.                  TLB

 

Is it possible that the Living Bible, or some other hip modern day translation, might

eventually refer to the “Book of Life” as the “Twitter of Life” or “Facebook of Life” or some other social media?

 

At the risk of sounding sacrilegious with this suggestion, just think about it? What is it that people post on social media other than what they’ve been doing? But do they tell everything that is happening; their every action, every thought, every desire, every emotion? No. Because if they did they wouldn’t have any friends left!

 

On the other hand, the Book of Life will. In social media we tell what we want people to know about us. The Book of Life will tell, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story”. Or David may have said it better with this abbreviated quote.

 

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me… You know

when I sit or stand; my every thought; where I am; what I am going to say before I even say it.                                           Psalm 139:1-4 TLB

 

The Twitter of Life may sound catchy, but final judgement is definitely not. It is a reality that all of us face, and it is only by God’s grace that we are free from “the lake of fire”

as our destiny. Instead, our destiny lies in a “new heaven and a new earth” living in the eternal presence of our loving Holy Father.

 

 

 

 

When I Grow Up I Want To Be

Mark 14:27-42

  

In 2006 Monster.com ran a commercial called, “When I grow up”. It featured a series of children who gave antithetical answers to the same question. See if you can relate to some of their answers.

 

“When I grow up I want to: file all day; climb my way up to middle management; be replaced on a whim; be underappreciated; be forced into early retirement”.

 

I don’t imagine that the disciples dreamed of denying Jesus during his most trying time; or to fall asleep when he needed them most; or that Peter hoped one day to deny Jesus not once, but three times just before he was crucified.

 

Before all of this happened, Jesus quoted a verse from Zechariah which was a prophecy

of how the disciples, his closest friends and followers, were going to respond to the series of events that would occur over the following 24 hours.

 

^“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.”    Zechariah 13:7 NIV

 

Zechariah was a prophet during the time when the Israelites were rebuilding the Temple. The verse Jesus quoted was followed by these verses.

 

^“Two-thirds of all the nation of Israel will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in the land.  I will bring the third that remain through the fire and make

them pure, as gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. They will call upon my name and I will hear them; I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:8-9 TLB

 

Isn’t this what happened to the disciples. Jesus used these difficult circumstances to refine them; to make them as pure as silver or gold. And doesn’t he do the same thing in our lives? Doesn’t he use those painful experiences, hurtful relationships or catastrophic losses to mold and shape us into the man or woman that He created us to be?

 

The children in the commercial had only unfulfilled dreams. They didn’t represent faith in the Living God who had a plan for their life. The commercial was selling Monster.com as a means for being a dream maker-come-true; but we know better.

 

 

There’s only One capable of this, and that is The Shepherd who is always with us.

 

 

Now Hear This!

Isaiah 46:3-13

  

According to Wikipedia, the phrase "Now hear this" is used in the United States Navy to instruct personnel to give their “full attention to an order or command that is about to follow”. When Navy personnel hear this phrase, they are to immediately stop what they are doing, listen closely and follow the instructions without question.

 

In today’s passage, Isaiah wrote his own version of “Now hear this”. Actually, it was God’s version.

 

³ “Listen to me, all Israel who are left; I have created you and cared for you since

you were born. ⁴ I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.       

 

⁸ “Don’t forget this, O guilty ones. ⁹ And don’t forget the many times I clearly told you what was going to happen in the future. For I am God—I only—and there is no other like me ¹⁰ who can tell you what is going to happen.

 

¹² Listen to me, you stubborn, evil men! ¹³ For I am offering you my deliverance; not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save you, and I will restore Jerusalem and Israel, who is my glory.”    TLB

 

 

God spoke these words through Isaiah to the people of Israel in a specific historical context. He was speaking to the remnant of Israel that had been taken as captives into a totally different culture including pagan idols and gods.

 

Now God was about to bring the remnant back to the Promised Land and He was reminding them of who He was, and who they were. But you get the definite feeling that the people of Israel have a history of being hard headed, stiff necked and stubborn.

 

Does that sound familiar? It does to me. How many times has God had to tell me something before I got it?

 

Now hear this Joe!

 

I have created you and cared for you since you were born. ⁴ I will be your God

through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age… For I am God—I only—and there is no other like me… ¹³ For I am offering you my deliverance; not in the distant future, but right now!

 

Look at your own life. God is sovereign. He is always at work in your life. There is no other like Him. There are many pretenders, but none can match Him. He is always with you, ready to deliver you; to bring victory to you.

 

Now hear this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purging Mammoth Cave

1 John 1:1-10

 

  

^5 “This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. ⁶ If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim.”      MSG

 

John lived continuously with Jesus for three years. Although he and his brother were known as the “Sons of Thunder” because of their temper, he was also referred to as the “one whom Jesus loved”. He had a very special relationship with Jesus; maybe closer to him than any of the other disciples.

 

It is from this dichotomous perspective of anger and love that he wrote the letter of 1 John which addresses a heresy of the day known as Gnosticism. It was a heresy that threatened the entire first century church.

 

In a tour of Mammoth Cave, when you are in the belly of the cave, your guide will turn

off all the lights. As a result, it is pitch black. There is no light in the darkness. In fact, you can put your hand so close to your face that you can feel your breath, but not be able to see your hand.

 

During the same tour, in the midst of the darkness, the guide may strike a match. That single match emits enough light for you to find your way along the trail. That small light eliminates the darkness that had surrounded you; it illuminates your path so that you won’t stumble.

 

This is a metaphor for your life. God is light; there is no darkness in Him. Yet, the dichotomy of living the Christian life is that there is a struggle between darkness and light in us. The darkness is a constant threat, but the light is always with us, ready to exhume the darkness.

 

Therefore, what can we do when darkness enters our heart our mind? We can strike a small match, and the light will purge the darkness.

 

 

 

^9 “On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.”                MSG

 

A Bear Claw

John 6:47-58

 

 

I have two breakfast meetings a week at Panera Bread and always order the same thing… a bear claw with three butters. Heat it up in the microwave and spread the butter so that it melts – it’s heavenly. But no matter how good it tastes, about four hours or so later, I’m hungry again.

 

The passage today follows the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. At this point, people are following him just to eat a meal. But he is trying to open their eyes for them to see that there is something more important than just food and drink.

 

“The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and

will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me.”            MSG

 

Jesus was making the point that the people had lost perspective; that their priorities were messed up; that they needed to refocus their lives on eternal values not temporal. Of course we all have basic needs; food, water, clothing and shelter, but in our affluent society our wants can easily begin to feel like needs.

 

The fact is though, instead of prioritizing “the real food and the real drink” we can easily run after a bear claw at Panera. Jesus is calling out to us across the centuries to remind us what is important; he is calling for us to live our lives in him.

 

It would be good for us to remember these words that Jesus spoke in Matthew 6: ^31 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these

things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”            NIV

 

Or, in the words of Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

 

It goes without saying but, seeking Jesus is way better than a bear claw; even with melted butter.