Expectancy (Advent 2023)

December 6, 2023

By itself, looking forward is not a virtue. Looking forward can produce anxiety. We look forward and fear. We look forward and fret the unknown.   Anxiety is constricting and heavy and distracts our thoughts.

But looking forward with faith is different. This is biblical expectancy. Expectancy lifts our gaze heavenward, invites us into the spacious place and sets our eyes upon the One who is coming. We see a biblical expectancy in the stories of the Magi, Simeon and Anna.

This advent season, let’s pursue a looking forward that is paired with faith. Doing so, we’ll have our heart and soul enlarged for His gift.

[Luke 2:22-40; Luke 3:15]

Return:  I AM Still Here

August 31st, 2023

There’s still time and there’s still hope.  Do you need to hear that today?  “Return to me,” says the Lord. The offer stands.

Grace pours from God’s offer.  Love flows.  We are given another chance.  The relationship is not over.  I AM here.  Return to me!

This isn’t clinginess from a needy God, but the glory of grace on display.  He doesn’t need us to return; he has every right to let us go our own destructive way.  And yet love compels our God to keep this offer open, for now:  Return to me!

Why?  Isaiah makes it clear: “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.  Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Is 44:22). Here it is in Hebrews: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb 9:27-28)

I have redeemed you; you are mine! My people, my beloved, my treasured possession.  Return now, because I am returning soon!

[Jeremiah 24:7, Haggai 2:17, Zechariah 1:3, Malachi 3:7]

I AM in the Process

August 24th, 2023

When we’re aware of the vast gulf between who we are and who we want to be, when we’re discouraged by the incomplete nature of so many important relationships, when we come to the end of our ability to reach our life goals – what word is vital for us to hear?  I can’t think of anything more comforting than the Lord oft-repeated refrain, “I am with you.”

The Lord is with you!  As we see from the example of Temple rebuilding process (Ezra 3-6; Haggai; Zechariah 1-6), God does not leave us in the process, even when we’ve messed it up.  He remains present, calling us to set our eyes upon him.  He remains close, assuring that he sees.  He does not forsake his children.

And so let us press on in hope, not by our own might or power, but by the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6).

“My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused” – God, to us, from Hosea 11:8

August 12th, 2023

Dear CCC Family,

I pray this communique finds you all delving deeply into the wonder of what it means to be a follower and lover of Jesus.  Oh yeah, and as we round the corner of whatever remains of summertime, may we all STOP!…to realize the truth of what’s written above.

Man, did those words above jump out and shout at me this morning.  Think about this:  God’s heart changes on His inside and His compassion is aroused.  But for whom?  For US!  For YOU!  For ME!  It’s as if He’s shouting it to us again, that I AM STILL HERE and my heart is FOR you.  Listen to the context that precedes the text above:  “How can I give you up, Eprhaim?  How can I hand you over, Israel?”  What He’s describing here in the form of a rhetorical question is this:  I am so deeply committed to you and invested in you, that it would be unthinkable for me to hand you over.  God says, how could I do such a thing?  I will never let you go!

Whatever circumstance you may find yourself in today, I pray that the Spirit would cause OUR heart to change and OUR compassion to be aroused as well.  Oh, the riches and abundance we can take comfort in God’s eternal word.

Come and See

August 4th, 2023

Our God came in the flesh. Our God is knowable. Our God wants to be known.  Jesus called his disciple John to “come and see” (John 1:39). So, it’s no wonder that John’s letter begins with the understanding of a Messiah who was seen, heard, touched – and deeply, personally known by those who follow him.

All these years later, through faith and by the gift of the Spirit of God, we too are called to be those who come and see.  Toward this end, what is filling our eyes and thus our souls?  Are we those who delight in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1)?  Are we those who meditate on what is true, noble, right, lovely and admirable (Phil 4:8)?  Or, alternately, are we so smitten with self that we limit our capacity to “come and see”?

With open eyes (Luke 24:31, Eph 1:18), may we continually seek to behold Christ, who is the “radiance of God’s glory”.  May we see him in the Word, see Him in his creation, see him in his people.  Through worship and prayer, may we be those who fix our thoughts (Heb 3:1) and eyes (Heb 12:2) on Jesus.

Trembling at God’s Word

July 21st, 2023

How do you approach the Bible?  Do you come humble, malleable, ready to submit, and ready to listen?  Or do you come with an agenda, as a master, seeking in some way to “use” the Word for yourself and seeking information?

Our perspective about the Word shapes the way we approach it. Our belief influences what is happening spiritually as we read the Scripture. The heart that glorifies God is one that trembles in reverence before the Word-giver (Is 66:2).

One perspective-shaping, tremble-forming practice that has ministered to me is to come to the Word praying the IOUS (acronym from John Piper’s book, When I Don’t Desire God):

Incline my Heart (Ps 119:36), Open my eyes (Ps 119:18), Unite my heart (Ps 86:11), and Satisfy me in your presence (Ps 90:14).

I encourage you to read the full context of those four verses, and then to begin praying them in faith when you approach the Word. Together, may we learn to tremble before God’s Word that we might love and know HIM, which is eternal life (John 17:3).

Be Not Conformed

July 13th, 2023

There’s a spirit of the age which seeks to press us into its mold (Rom 12:2). How do we resist conforming to this misshaped pattern?  Daniel gives one helpful example.

Pressed to compromise his faith and identity in God, Daniel “resolves not to defile himself” (1:8). Though he was being trained for service to the king – a job he would excel at for a lifetime – Daniel realized early on he needed to resist false and pressing patterns.

As Sinclair Ferguson writes, “somebody in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace knew enough about the human heart to see that most men have their price, and that good times, comfort, self-esteem, and a position in society are usually a sufficient bid for a soul” (TPC, p. 31). These bids are placed countless ways in every generation.

What about us? What price, what comfort, what applause, what acceptance – what is sufficient in exchange for our souls?  When the world makes these bids for our soul, it’s no time to compromise. Saved by the cross of Christ, filled with the Spirit and renewed by the Word, may we be those with the courage and clarity to resist the misshaped pattern.

A Forever Home

July 6th, 2023

Sometimes I see the world through misty memories of past peace or joy.  But these visions are more idealistic than real.  Is that a problem?  Yes. Doing so changes my present faith – and not for the better.

Captured by unattainable ideals, even if they’re good, we can miss what God is doing right now.  We can become spiritually distracted.  We can’t trust the Lord yesterday (or tomorrow).  He invites us to himself today.

Perhaps your present life is shaped by an unattainable past ideal, too – a physical home, a relationship, a season of life? What is the solution?  Ezekiel called God’s people in their time to look forward to their forever home – not as an imaginary ideal, but the Lord’s promised presence.  “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Ezek. 37:27).

Now, in our time, God is fulfilling this promise through the ascended Jesus and poured out Spirit. We trust him today, and the promise extends beyond the limitations of our minds. I AM with you, always with you, even to the end of the age.

I AM Still Here: In the Distant Place

June 30th, 2023

Faith enables us to say, “God is still here.”  Even when we’re not where we want to be, even when we’re walking in the consequences of our sin, even when the world’s bent towards desolation has fallen hard upon us – we trust God is with us.  In all our distant places (Jer 30:10), he whispers, “I AM Still Here.”  Can you hear?  This is our unshakeable reality.

Here’s more good news: As He’s with us, He always acts to save.  For example, consider the mercy God shows amid His judgment of Judah by Babylon.  We read, “the land enjoyed its Sabbath rests… until the seventy years were completed” (2 Chron 36:21).  He lavished rest on the land, even while punishing and purifying His people. Why is this merciful?

Though they did not deserve it, He was preparing the place for them. It was a place of peace, a place of rest and joy. He was acting to save. Likewise, our Lord Jesus is preparing a place for us too, a place where we will be with him (John 14:3). Even when we’re in a distant place, God is at work for nearness – nearness which has a glory that far outweighs all our trouble.

I AM Still Here

June 25, 2023

When I forget who I am, I forget God’s perspective.  When I lose track of my identity as a child of God, I lose track of peace.  When I doubt who I am in Christ, I doubt God’s sovereign love.

What happens to you? When who you are in Christ is threatened, either internally or externally, where do you go with that?  What do you do?  When foundations crumble or shake, our common question is, ‘Where are you, God’?

God has a resounding answer throughout His Word: I am still here, right here, with you.  I am with you for your good and for your transformation.  I AM your identity.  You are hidden with Christ.  Your foundation will hold because your foundation is ME.  Will you trust me?  Your house may need renovating; your life may need regenerating; your perspective may need resetting – but because I am with you, your future is secure; you are inheriting a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

In a time of great shaking and questioning their identity as God’s people, this is God’s message to his people: “The days are coming, when… I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land… I am with you and will save you, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:3, 10).