Point of Death

When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, [the nobleman] went to Him [at Cana] and implored Him to come down [to Capernaum] and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
~ John 4:47 (NKJV)

The twenty miles from Capernaum to Cana was a long journey in the time of Jesus—evidently an overnight roundtrip.

Is there any situation in your life at the point of death? A job? Finances? Health? A relationship?

You might spend two days working on it. But would you spend two days to simply search out God's help for it? How about just one full day?

If there's such a situation in your life, the question is worth asking.

Our Father in Heaven, You hold our lives and everything touching them in Your hands. Please give us strength of heart to seek You out and humble ourselves before You when something vital is slipping away from us. Please enable us to trust You for the outcome, and for Your timing, however long we wait.

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You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Playing for Points

My ten-year-old daughter loves to play Rummy, and often shows up at my elbow with a deck of cards. She's good enough to beat adults, and looks for any opportunity to do so.

I play for points—and take big risks for those points. I do crazy stuff like get a card that could be played different ways with other cards I'm holding, and discard that double-play card. That way, I've got more cards in my hand to score with, and a better chance of picking up the whole pile for even more scoring. I can rack up some huge points on a single hand.

The risk, of course, is that I get caught at the end with too many points in my hand. I watch carefully for game's end and try to meet it, while my daughter delights in catching me unprepared. If I lose a hand, I'm likely to lose big. But since we play for fun instead of for money or competitively, we're both happy no matter how the hand comes out, win or lose.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
~ 1 Timothy 1:14-15 (NKJV)

My most consistent source of failure (after my pride) is my tendency to go too far. "Yield + Zeal" is a guaranteed combination for success. But when zeal breaks out of a strong stride and breaks into a headlong sprint—without watching for the Holy Spirit's signals—and then fails to yield, watch for a colossal crash.

I really do try to watch carefully and avoid falling. I kick myself when I discover, too late, that I've gone too far because I forgot to listen to the Lord's cues. I nurse my pride and resolve I'm never going to run with such zeal again, but will use a little more restraint next time.

And then, inevitably, I remember:
Oh to Grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.

I know I can't possibly pay my debt to Grace. I'm nonetheless determined to make as big a dent in it as possible. While I learn new ways to rely on the Holy Spirit, I'm still willing to take big risks, always hoping for a big win—hoping for great glory to God.

I can afford to do so, because I'm not playing for a personal win, I'm playing for His points. I'll be happy at the end, whatever my hand, securely in my Lord's hand.

Comments are welcome 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.

Being Built Up

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman ... So when the Samaritans had come to Him ... many more believed because of His own word.
~ John 4:39-41 (NKJV)

With highly educated Jews, Jesus experienced conflict and rejection. He receives a warmer reception among Jewish common people (Mark 12:37). And when He comes to the Samaritans, who generally had even less knowledge of spiritual and religious matters than Jews, they accepted Jesus and His Gospel at once.

We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up ...
~ 1 Corinthians 8:1 (NKJV)

When one of my family members went through a "trying on Christianity" phase, he quoted the above verse and told me that he didn't read the Bible, because people who know the Bible are filled with pride. (He's now a committed Wiccan.)

Since any one of us might be inclined to take pride in our knowledge—and plenty of education (like plenty of money) can be a stumbling block to faith—can an argument be made for maintaining a certain level of ignorance?

By no means! The Bible encourages us to obtain knowledge. Here's how that verse from Corinthians continues:

We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
~ 1 Corinthians 8:1 (NKJV)

We might know our Bible and our theology and everything related inside out. But if our motive is to build ourselves up, either in our own eyes or the eyes of someone else (including God), we achieve the opposite spiritually.

On the other hand, if our motive in obtaining knowledge is to know God and become more Christlike—if we are motivated by love—the result for ourselves and others is edification, which means "being built up."

An interesting irony in experiencing the power of love.

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You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Cause for Celebration

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. He calls Himself the Bread of Life. He says His flesh is real food.

Food is our sustenance and satisfaction, our delight and signal of relationship. Food is both cause for celebration and our way of celebrating anything and everything.

Jesus—the Word of God, recorded for us in the Bible—is all of this for our souls and more.

So what does the Word of God say His food is? What, for Jesus, is sustenance, satisfaction, delight, relationship, and cause for celebration?

The Father's word—the Father's will and work.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." ... Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
~ John 4:31,34 (NKJV)

Our Father in Heaven, please make Your will as food for us. By Your Holy Spirit, please make Your will not only our food, but our continual cause for celebration.

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You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Urgency

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
~ John 4:28-30 (NKJV)

Jesus has just disclosed that He is the Messiah (or Christ) to the Samaritan woman. Did shivers run up her spine? Did she gasp? How big did her eyes get?

This is something too big to think over for herself, or mention later to her friends. She leaves behind her waterpot. She goes straight to the men. She conveys to them enough astonishment that they are compelled to interrupt their day and go check out the Jew at the well.

How often do we act with such urgency? We are convicted to make a contact, take action, or pick up a Bible, and we make a mental note to do just that ... later on.

And then 'later on' doesn't come.

I've heard it said that we have more regrets over things we failed to do than for things we did and wish we hadn't. I suspect it's true.

“Don't wait. The time will never be just right.”
~ Napoleon Hill

Comments are welcome 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.