Month: May 2019

Wearing a Towel

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Lately I realized that I only have a single pair of Jeans without a spot of paint. “You know that’s your own fault.” my wife told me.

Because I forget about changing clothes when I am in a hurry to start the next project, my jeans have made me a marked man. Everyone knows what I’ve been doing by the way I am dressed.

In that same way all the disciples immediately knew what Jesus was going to do as soon as they saw the towel. He was no longer identified by the teacher’s robe, now he was dressed for a servant’s job. It would be like seeing our pastor showing up in overalls riding in the back of the sanitation truck ready to pick up your garbage. “What could Jesus be thinking?” they asked each other. But in fact Jesus was for the first time revealing to them His true identity. He had not come to be a king (not yet).

The shock of seeing their master wearing a servant’s towel would only be surpassed when they saw Him on the cross. There as He hung from its splintered beams, without even a towel, He washed us all and as the servant of all took away our sins. What a humble Savior we serve!

 

Winning Over Anxiety

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I confess that in spite of my faith and many decades of experience that my biggest battle has been against anxiety. But I give thanks – though not at all for the stress – that during my lowest points I have put down my roots the deepest into my relationship with Jesus. I readily identify with Peter stepping out of the boat onto the waves. It seems that getting closer to Jesus always involves facing the storm. He is close by but to walk by His side requires trusting in practical terms His care in what appears to be impossible circumstance.

I have found that the secret is not just knowing about trusting Him at those moments but to truly and totally trust in His care. That is when His hand takes hold of mine and together we walk over the wave tops and back into the boat! Maybe that is why it was Peter who gives us the promise that in the very middle of our battle we can know the most that God really cares for us.

More Please!

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He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:32 ESV

Most of us remember the scene from Oliver Twist as Oliver stands in line with a tin bowl in his hand waiting for someone to give him food. A small spoonful of soup is given him and when he sees it he looks up then and hesitantly asks, “Please sir, I want some more,”

How many of us in our prayer life feel a bit like Oliver?  We have asked God for help, comfort or strength and it seems as if the almighty has been a bit stingy with us. In fact if we were being entirely honest we might complain that while the plates of others are full, our portion seems very small indeed.

But God isn’t running an orphanage. He doesn’t ladle out thin soup so He can feast in private with the angels and some of the most holy of the saints. In fact God has broken down the orphanage door, snatched us up and carried us to His own home! By the miraculous and amazing love of Jesus Christ He has paid off our debts and gladly adopted us into His family as sons and daughters. We belong to Him and the portion He has given on each of our plates is more than enough. Our difficulty is not in the size of our portion but in the size of our cup. Jesus himself drank down our bitter cup so that He could not only give us a little more but that He could freely give us all things!