Not Even His Brothers

I've often heard it said that family members are the most difficult ones to witness to about their need for Jesus. They know us too well is often the lament. This may reveal the fact that we're often hypocritical or that our old nature too often is on display. We surely need to give attention to our walk and our talk.

But we are not the only stumbling blocks in drawing others to Jesus. Just as some of us may have been before we came to faith in Him, we tripped over ourselves. We did not (would not) believe. While the door is always open to whosoever will come, we cannot come unless we are drawn by the Holy Spirit. We err when we think we hold the key to the decisive moment of entrance.

As I was reading today, I came to John 7:5, "for not even His brothers were believing in Him." Here is the Christ Himself who lived for 30 years in the same house with His brothers, and He is perfect. He always walked His talk. They knew Him very well as a brother, so there is more to it than the supposition of thinking family "knows us too well."

While our purpose is to glorify God in all we do, only God can draw people to Himself. And so we pray to that end. Jesus' brother James believed only after His resurrection, which is the foundation of the Christian faith. That was the pivotal point for James. That's when He understood fully his own need and the scope of redemption through Jesus.

We don't know what the pivotal point may be for a family member. But it is surely that they must understand their need and see Jesus as their redemption. We, ourselves, must walk in a manner worthy of our own calling in the meantime. And lest we think it's about us, know that it's about being an ambassador for Him.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

~ 2 Corinthians 5:20 

Image ~ A Close Game

Harry Brooker, 1848-1940

public domain

Sunday Ponderings ~ He Included Me!

Pondering 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 this afternoon and being reassured that God didn't call me to Himself because of anything that I have to offer.

It’s okay that I’m not among the wise, the mighty, the noble. God hasn’t chosen very many of them because they tend to boast in themselves. But He does choose some.

It’s okay that the world may think I’m foolish and weak. God typically chooses from this group because we tend to have little to boast about in ourselves.

He chooses few from the elite and many from the common.

 Bottom line: God doesn't want the issue confused. He wants everyone to know that

ALL wisdom

ALL righteousness

ALL sanctification

 ALL redemption

is in Christ Jesus and is God's doing.

“Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
~1 Corinthians 1:31

I'm so glad that He called to me! Has He called to you? Call back to Him!

For whoever will call upon the Lord will be saved.

~ Romans 10:13 

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; ²⁷ but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no man may boast before God. ³⁰ But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, ³¹ so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  

~1 Corinthians 1:26-31

 Painting ~ A Pensive Moment, Daniel Ridgeway Knight 1839-1924
Wiki Commons public domain

Both Need Jesus

I'd like to share a book review with you today from my daughter Laura. The book is The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
by Timothy Keller

~~~~~~~~

I read this book recently and wanted to share it. It's a short book that lays out the essentials of the gospel. Keller explains the Parable of the Prodigal Son in a way that illuminates the meaning of the gospel.

The book is laid out in seven brief chapters which aim to uncover the grace of God, as revealed in this parable. Keller shows how the parable describes two kinds of lost people, not just one. Most people can identify the lostness of the "prodigal son," the younger brother in Jesus' story, who takes his inheritance early and squanders it on riotous living. But Keller shows that the "elder brother" in the parable is no less lost. Together, the two brothers are illustrations of two kinds of people in the world. Jesus uses the younger and elder brothers to portray the two basic ways people try to find happiness and fulfillment: the way of moral conformity and the way of self-discovery. Both brothers are in the wrong.

Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors may be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life.

What both brothers, and both types of people, need is Jesus, whom Keller presents as "the true elder brother," the one who comes to our rescue at his own expense.

This book helped me to understand just how amazing and needed God's grace is for me, every day.

Salvation~Making It Clear

Often, when we talk to unbelievers about salvation, we aren't clear as to what it requires. That isn't helpful. It's good to consider the words we use. A few thoughts from Todd Friel....

He Included Me

Sharing a few thoughts with you today from my devotional reading in  Romans 9-11. The context is Israel's rejection of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ and His consequent extension of grace to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul says, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in..." I am grateful that God chose to include me in 'the fullness of the Gentiles.'

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek
for the same Lord is Lord of all,
abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.
Romans 10:12

I have nothing within myself that glorifies me or God. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Sin, going against God's holy ways, in my life brings death, separation from God. But God gave the gift of Jesus Christ to redeem me for eternal life with Him. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

God provided me with hope, grace, mercy, and eternal life. "For whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved" (Romans 10:13).

Because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God whom He sent to die for my sins, I now have peace with God. "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

No longer does condemnation await me. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).

Nothing can separate me from the love of God, because of Jesus Christ. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments
and unfathomable His ways!
Romans 11:33

Do you have peace with God?

Do you have hope, grace, mercy, and eternal life?

You can read more about the good news here.

He wants to include you as well.

The picture is my quiet time corner. 

The framed piece above the chair reminds me to 

"Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud."