Jesus - The Text Messages

January 31, 2023January 31, 2023

The Wonders of a Winter Walk

When I was in my teens, I loved to walk alone. It didn’t matter where I walked, but My favorite places were along quiet roads, in the woods, or along the railroad tracks.

I recall many instances of getting onto the tracks near my grandparents house in Tonawanda NY and walking as far as I wanted either southwest towards Buffalo or north towards Wheatfield. My favorite times for these walks was in the dead of winter: Gray skies, snow covered ground, a slight wind blowing the cold air into my face.

I loved the solitude of those walks when all that I could hear was the song of the Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, and other winter-tough song birds along with the crunch of the snow with each step I took. I cannot recall all that went through my mind in those days. What I do recall is a certain fearlessness. It never crossed my mind that it might be dangerous to walk alone in those places, to be frank, it rarely crosses my mind today when I take an opportunity presented by my location at the time, to go for a walk.

It may seem silly to the reader but my favorite walks were (and still are) taken on very cold days when I had to bundle up to stay warm. The reason for this may be stated by one word – home. Whether my walk began at my childhood home in Getzville, my grandparents house in Tonawanda, or my home today it always ended at a place where I was welcomed and loved, where it was warm and safe, and where I felt secure and at peace.

In a way, my whole life has been one great journey from home and to home. My life began as all life does, God brought me into this world by way of my parents. And while I didn’t really know it during those days, I was never really alone as I walked – never really alone; I would not be here today otherwise. While in those days my roaming may have been aimless wanderings, today I HAVE a destination: home. Not to Altair drive but nevertheless, a place where I am welcome and loved, a place of comfort and safety and a place of perfect peace and rest beside my Savior.

One day my journey will end and what a day that will be! I extend my hand to you….do you want join me? Care to go for a walk? By faith in Him, His home, my home can be your home too.

April 14, 2019April 14, 2019

Opened Eyes

It struck me as I re-read the account of Matthew concerning the last portion of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem (Matt.20:20-34) that so often we seek the WRONG thing when we have the Lord’s attention.

Consider that two of the disciples, James and John – the proverbial “Sons of thunder” (clearly because their father’s name Zebedee meant thunder) sought greatness in the coming kingdom. That it was pride driving their request is evident when, after their mother had petitioned the Lord on their behalf, Jesus asked (v.22):

“Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said. ” We are able.”

Later, as they were journeying out of Jericho, the Lord Jesus and His disciples encountered two blind men. Mark tells us that one of the men was Bartimaeus, he and another had apparently taken their usual place beside the road out of town to beg for charity from the passers by (Mark 10:46). When they learned that Jesus was passing by they cried out to Him and in mercy He stopped and asked them what He had earlier asked the mother of Zebedee’s boys (Matt. 20:32):

“What do you want me to do for you?“

The blind men quickly replied,

“That our eyes be opened.”

Just as quickly, the Lord (v.34) had compassion, touched their eyes and restored their sight “and they followed Him.”

Many people are coming to hear the message of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem today. Many of them as blind spiritually as Bartimaeus was physically. The reader of this post today may also be spiritually blind to the fact that Jesus didn’t come to make you great in this world – to prosper you; He came to make you whole – to free you from bondage to sin and pride and to give you life.

I have learned that even the lost and spiritually blind man prays. Do you have enough faith to believe that He to whom you pray has the power and desire to answer you? Can you believe the words of Jesus in (John 3:16) which declare that from love God sent His Son and the words of Paul in (Romans 5:8) which proclaim that God extended and demonstrated His love toward us while we were still His enemies?

Knowing these things, what will you say when the Lord responds to you? When He mercifully asks, “What do you want Me to do for you” what will you seek?

I pray it is for sight that you ask. For opened eyes to see and to follow after Jesus.

March 27, 2019March 27, 2019

Sent

As a general rule, I don’t like to get my hands dirty but that doesn’t mean I avoid getting them dirty.

For example, I love chicken wings and ribs but I hate having the buffalo and barbecue sauce all over my hands; does that stop me from eating wings and ribs – no way! There are also times when I need to work on my lawnmower or SUV but I hate getting my hands filthy from the work. In those times, there is the additional apprehension of not being fully sure as to HOW to fix what’s broken and sometimes that uneasiness will cause me to stall for a little while but because I need to get them fixed, eventually, I jump in, get my hands dirty and give it my best shot.

The reason I mention a few of my quirks to you is not to give you a better understanding of who I am but of who we are; you see, sometimes we as Christians attempt to avoid getting our hands dirty when it comes to reaching the world around us for Jesus.

In a recent Barna research survey on the subject, polls indicated that because of peer pressure, Millennials in general believe that it is wrong to share their faith with those who believe something else. Be that as it may, it has been my experience that MOST believers – Elders, Boomers, Millennials and Gen X-ers are reluctant to share their faith no matter how important they believe sharing it is. Based on that observation, let me ask you what Paul asked his Roman audience in [Romans 10 :14-15]:

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!””

The fact IS that every believer has been sent on mission to seek and save that which IS lost. Jesus said in [John 20:21]:

“Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

On the day of His resurrection, as the sun was going down and He appeared to His disciples (see John 20:19-23), their part in the ongoing redemptive mission of His Father was the only thing on the Lord’s mind.

The men were afraid when they saw Him so He declared peace to them and showed them the wounds that made perfect peace with God possible – wounds which the living Lord bore to prove His power over death. Those wounds, and His words, coupled with the great joy of His followers at the Lord’s appearing would make the formerly fearful followers of Christ some of the most courageous witnesses for the Lord that the world has ever known.

In the New Testament, on at least four occasions Jesus or someone speaking about Him made a do as I did statement to believers: In [John 13:34] the Lord Jesus told us to love others in the same way that He has loved us. In (John 13:15) after washing the apostles feet, the Lord instructed believers beginning with those disciples, to serve others as He has served us. In (Colossians 3:13) we are instructed to forgive others as the Lord Jesus Christ as forgiven us (Jesus said as much in Matthew 6:14-15); and in (John 20:21) as we just read above, Jesus sends His followers both in that day and in our own, in the same way and for the same purpose as He was sent by God.

In what ways are the ways that God sent His Son similar to the way His Son is sending us?

Donald McLeod suggested some similarities in his book titled, A Faith to Live By: Understanding Christian Doctrine; there he wrote:

“[Jesus] did not, as incarnate, live a life of detachment – He lived a life of involvement. He lived where he could see human sin, hear human swearing (cursing) and blasphemy, see human diseases and observe human mortality, poverty and squalor. His mission was fully incarnational (and intentional) because He taught men by coming alongside them, becoming one of them and sharing in their environment and their problems.”

Jesus was NOT afraid to get His hands dirty. His mission was to become like us, to live among us and to be involved with us ultimately dying for us so that those who would believe could find forgiveness from and be reconciled to God and so that those who believed on His name would live forever in the presence of God.

To be sent by Him as He Himself was sent is to be as involved in the lives of those around us as He was and is in ours.