As you might guess from the scant smattering of recent posts, I have been busy. I actually took a little vacation from blogging not too long ago, knowing I needed a little more time to catch up.
The juggling act has yet to calm down.
Please excuse me from posting for a little while. My plan is to devote some more time to prayer, and ask the Lord to help me see what I need to put down BEFORE anything crashes. You can be assured that I'm grateful if you'll uphold me in prayer as well.
I hope the Lord will clear the way for me to be back with more posts very soon.
With love to all,
~ Anne
Images by Dr. Suess, © 1957, 1985
Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast ... saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
~ John 12:20-21 (NKJV)
This incident, described only in the Gospel of John, is a largely overlooked treasure. I've never heard it mentioned in a children's Bible story or lesson, in a sermon, or in discussion. Perhaps, because most Christians are Gentile rather than Jewish, we think it unremarkable that non-Jews would be interested in Jesus. Indeed, Jesus' response seems to diminish their request.
But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."
~ John 12:23 (NKJV)
As Jesus says more to His disciples (verses 24-26), they surely experienced another familiar "we have no idea what He's talking about" moment. What happened next was decidedly uncommon, as Jesus turns and speaks directly to God.
"Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
~ John 12:28 (NKJV)
Is the voice of God heard so often that it seems uneventful?
Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."
~ John 12:29 (NKJV)
When we do hear from God, do we try to explain it away? When we encounter seemingly random passages of Scripture, do we pass on by to something easier to apprehend?
"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."
~ John 12:31-32 (NKJV)
The Greeks didn't pass on by, and they received far more than they hoped for. They asked to glimpse the Man greeted by shouts of "Hosanna!" and "King of Israel!" They were given the treat of hearing the voice of God. They were informed that Jesus' hour meant changes for the whole world. And they received the good news that Jesus intended to include "all peoples" in His kingdom.
He will likewise give us more than we request if we will but ask, seek, knock.
Father, You are so very good to allow us to hear Your voice, whether audibly, in the whispers of Your Spirit, or through Your precious Word. Thank You for opening to us the treasures You have hidden in Scripture. Thank You for making us partakers in Your kingdom.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
"Fear not, daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey's colt."
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
~ John 12:14-16 (NKJV)
A crowd gathered for the high holy days of Passover certainly contained people wearing their best cloaks. Yet they willingly laid them across the road to be tread upon by a donkey. Their shouts of "King of Israel" surely fell upon the ears of Roman soldiers. After six centuries of waiting for another son of David to sit upon Israel's throne, their expectations of Jesus surely matched their bold actions.
Did any of them actually think of King David? He likewise threw off his king's cloak, dressed himself in the attire of the ministers, and praised "with all his might" as Jerusalem welcomed the Ark of the Covenant—the presence of Most High King entering His city.
Did the Palm Sunday crowd understand that they welcomed not only royalty but divinity?
If His disciples didn't understand the significance of their actions (as John's Gospel says), perhaps walking with the Son of God had become ordinary to them.
I daresay that each of us reaches the point where walking with Jesus becomes a little too ordinary. Perhaps it is inevitable that such times occur upon the approaches to a personal Calvary. When we again face the altar, where something else must die, we cannot help but offer sacrifice, and then worship anew our Lord who is God and King.
You are holy, Lord, enthroned in the praises of Your people. Renew our love and recognition for You daily. Please invite our worship. Please give us strength of joy in sacrifice.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.
~ John 11:53 (NKJV)
There were a handful of occasions when Jesus outraged people, and they spontaneously rose up in the effort to kill Him (second degree murder). Then the day arrived when Jesus became so inconvenient for the Pharisees and Jewish leaders that they plotted His death (first degree murder).
Murder is always a matter of degrees.
Jesus explained that lust is adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28). Likewise, hatred is the seeds of murder in the heart (Matthew 5:21-22).
Murder always begins with hatred of a person found to be inconvenient.
There are those people who perpetually annoy us. The arrogant know-it-alls and the repeated screw-ups and the awkward social-inepts. The one-step-aheads, who stand between us and an ambition.
And then there are the people who really are out to get us.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
~ 2 Timothy 3:12 (NKJV)
At what point to do we look at another individual and decide that our lives would be better if they were dead? We may not think in those terms. Perhaps we dream of either (s)he or me quitting a job so that our paths will no longer cross. Or we hear they're absent due to sickness and wonder how long a break we'll get. Or the day comes when they're no longer in church, and in our relief to see them gone, we have no sorrow over what becomes of them.
We wish only that they might become dead to us.
Such are the seeds of hatred, bearing fruit in curt speech, a cold shoulder, or an inward smile at misfortune.
Each of which chips away at a person's well being, a tiny dagger of murder.
"... I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you... If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them."
~ Luke 6:27-32 (NKJV)
Lord Jesus, thank You for the example of love and grace You gave us. Please enable us to see people as You do, and to be Your ministers of love to every neighbor, even the inconvenient and hateful ones. We do it only by Your power in us.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
We had this conversation in our Michigan home yesterday morning, as the kids woke up after forsaking their bedrooms to sleep by the wood stove.
"It's 9 degrees out."
"Yuck."
"It'll get warmer. They forecast a high of 19."
"That's double!"
I'm not sure if my little one was thinking that's double cold, but the remark did get me thinking about how relative temperature is.
While the Fahrenheit scale is based on zero degrees being the coldest temperature Mr. Fahrenheit measured outdoors (with 100 being the warmest), and the Celsius scale is based on water freezing at zero and boiling at 100, both scales measure only what is familiar to human experience.
Scientists say "absolute zero" (the absence of all heat) is - 459.67° F. I don't know (and didn't find) what the hottest scientific temperature might be, but I'm guessing that it's also something I won't ever experience.
Recent cold has seemed downright intolerable. But if I consider absolute zero—the complete absence of any heat—zero Fahrenheit seems quite sufficient.
And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
~ 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
I'm inclined to think of God's grace the same way. We have good days that feel like high 70's with a gentle breeze and the sun shining pleasantly upon us, and we consider His grace sufficient. Then we get those zero degree days when circumstances seem downright intolerable.
But our conception of "zero" is relative. Think for a moment of what "absolute zero" grace would be. What would life be like with the absence of all God in our lives—the forecast for those who reject Him? Such a thought enables us to quickly recalculate our perspective and immediately see how abundant the His grace is on even the bad days.
I don't yet have experience with how high the Lord's grace goes, but I understand it goes something like this:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
~ 1 Corinthians 2:8-10 (NKJV)
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
