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Posted on July 5, 2020 by beverlyeash

Jesus said others will know we are his disciples if we love one another. It isn’t if we attend church, build impressive structures, preach moving sermons, develop successful ministries or write inspirational blogs. Purely, it is if we love one another. Love for others was a marker of the early church; it attracted individuals even when they knew that association with these crazy Christians meant persecution.

How’s your love for others doing? Is it growing? What keeps you from really loving?

Jesus Film Project produced a movie on the life of Jesus based on the gospel of John. I love it for many reasons, but one is that the producers did an excellent of developing Jesus’ character. He is shown to be happy, smiling, laughing, compassionate, kind, caring, winsome…all the qualities I believe Jesus embodied. The following song by Chris Tomlin utilizes scenes from the movie. Take a few minutes to watch. I pray you might be blessed as I was.

May your Sunday be filled with worship wherever you are!

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Posted on July 4, 2020 by beverlyeash

This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach…I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. — God through Moses

Deuteronomy 30:11, 16

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. –Apostle John

1 John 5:3

This is my command: Love each other. –Jesus

John 15:17

Today is the day America celebrates independence from British control. It is the day she became a nation.

Independence is self-rule. After America’s colonization, there came a time when she no longer desired to be ruled by a system of government an ocean away. The colonies wanted to rule themselves, to be self-governing. There was war. The fledgling colonies won.

There are many ways to gain and express my independence. As backward as this may sound, my independence is best expressed and experienced in a loving relationship with God. There is no greater freedom than loving the One who knows me best. No greater protection than keeping God’s commands.

If you skimmed over the verses for today, go back and read them again. More than once we are told that the desires of God are not burdensome, they are not too heavy or too far away for us to reach. They are within our grasp.

Jesus makes it very simple.

Love others.

Therein lies my freedom. Happy Independence Day!

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Posted on July 3, 2020 by beverlyeash

The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.

Psalm 145:13-14

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

I don’t think I am the only one who is pandemic weary, COVID fatigued, dragging in my steps forward. Maintaining a growth mindset is a daily decision and one that, some days, takes more effort to sustain.

Jesus offers the solution. When we are weary, bent beneath this load, or any other, he offers to exchange it for his yoke. He offers rest, gentleness, ease! That sounds pretty good to me.

Today if you experience weariness, pause. Visualize the load you carry, give it a name. Then watch as Jesus switches your load for his. Notice that his is easy to carry; it is lightweight and restful. Bask in the humble, gentle way he teaches you (growth mindset) during difficult times.

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Posted on July 2, 2020 by beverlyeash

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story:  “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.  When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’  In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Luke 15:1-7

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day… I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-16

These two scriptures make me do a little happy dance. First, Jesus represents God exactly. He searches for anyone who has wandered away to bring them safely home again. Secondly, he doesn’t give a fig what anyone says about the ones he is pursuing. No one is too sinful, too dirty, too washed up, too far gone for his attention. Finally, all of heaven does the happy dance when one of these lost children come home!

Have you felt beyond hope and help? Your past is too dirtied, too messed up to be redeemed? Are you beyond rescuing? Well, he’s looking for you. He left the 99 on the mountain and he is looking through the brambles and under the rocks and he won’t stop until he finds you. His love is unquenchable!

And that’s good news!

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Posted on July 1, 2020 by beverlyeash

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:35-36

God has always been concerned for the people he loves. He delights for his children to live in safety and protection, but too often we wander off on our own. It is an ancient problem. Making use of the metaphor of sheep and shepherd, Ezekiel gave a harsh message to the leaders of his day.

You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

Ezekiel 34:4-6

So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd.

Zechariah 10:2

Jesus saw the people of his day with the same eyes that God saw Israel hundreds of years earlier. Compassion for their well-being overwhelmed him, concern for lack of leadership consumed him. Perhaps it is this overwhelming love for people that moved God to come down himself, in the person of Jesus, and provide the needed cure.

As I think on this, I am reminded of Israel’s rejection of God’s leadership and their request for a human king so they could be like other nations. God allowed it saying, “Do everything they say to you for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.” (1 Samuel 6:7)

God’s heart is to be our king and lead us through this life successfully, like a shepherd leads his sheep. Jesus illustrated it well while he walked this earth, still offering to be our shepherd.

Will you allow yourself to be led by an unseen shepherd to places of rest, satisfaction and safety?

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Posted on June 30, 2020 by beverlyeash

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Matthew 9:9-13

Matthew, the man who penned this gospel, was a Jew who chose to deal with Roman occupation through accomodation. He collected taxes for Rome, normally adding a little (or in some cases, a lot) to keep for himself. It wasn’t ideal, and his fellow Jews likely despised him for it. Peter, Andrew, James and John (Matthew 4:18-21) were already Jesus’ disciples, so his choice in Matthew was considered scandalous.

It aroused the hostility of the Pharisees for sure. They would never be seen eating with scum like this. But perhaps their social circles were a bit more sterile than what God demanded. Take a look at these scriptures written in 1400 B.C., 753-715 B.C. and 742-687 B.C. respectively.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 

Deuteronomy 10:12

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6

What can we bring to the Lord? Should we bring him burnt offerings?Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves?Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:6-8

The heart of God is clearly seen in Jesus, as he reached out to those the establishment discarded. Jesus didn’t introduce the concept of mercy and love for all people. That was God’s idea and he’s been saying it for a really long time!

How about you? What do your gatherings look like? Do you stay in safe arenas or stretch beyond what might be comfortable? Have you ever been accused of eating with “scum?”

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Posted on June 29, 2020 by beverlyeash

Have you ever experienced a miracle? An unlikely healing? An interruption of natural laws? I can’t say that I have personally experienced a miracle, although I know people who were healed when physicians said otherwise. Responses to a miracle today are likely just as varied as they were 2000 years ago.

Matthew 8 recounts several of Jesus’ miracles. He calms the storm, heals leprosy, casts out demons. The disciples respond with amazement, the Roman officer shows astounding faith, the word spread and many brought their afflictions to Jesus. This, Matthew says, fulfilled the words of Isaiah that Jesus would take our sicknesses and heal our diseases.

Not everyone was so excited about this movement.

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area. They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?” There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance.  So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.” “All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men.  Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.

Matthew 8:28-33

There are many details of this account we could debate. Why did Jesus not care about the herdsmen’s livelihood and send the pigs to their death? Were the villagers more comfortable with these violent men than they were with Jesus? What about this made the entire town ask Jesus to leave? How is this showing us who God is?

I don’t know those answers, but these verses remind me of another such incident in the Old Testament. This isn’t the first time people stood in the presence of God and asked him to leave.

“But when you heard the voice from the heart of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me.  They said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak to us humans, and yet we live!  But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.  Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive?  Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’

Deuteronomy 5:23-27

Standing in the presence of God is an awesome, terrifying experience. Some are amazed, some are drawn to him, some ask him to leave. As I ponder this, I wonder if I am truly open to a powerful move of God. Would I prefer he stays “on the mountain” speaking to me through a intermediary? Or am I brave enough to allow him to come close? Would I, like the townspeople, have said, “that is really cool what you did. But could you go to another village?”

What do you say? Are you asking Jesus to leave or asking him to draw near?

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Posted on June 28, 2020 by beverlyeash

Today I invite you to relax into your favorite chair, rest your head against the back and close your eyes. Take three minutes to listen to this reading of Psalm 8, noticing especially the psalmist’s emphasis on the holiness of God and the vast gulf between God and man. And yet, God is near, only a whisper away. He knows everything about you and still offers new mercies every day. Today is that new day and the tray is full of the mercies of God. Take freely from what he offers.

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Posted on June 27, 2020 by beverlyeash

God knows it all. He knows when I feel misunderstood, taken advantage of, overlooked, criticized or applauded, appreciated, seen. This song puts it all into words as only a song can. Sit back and take comfort that God knows.

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Posted on June 26, 2020 by beverlyeash

What do I do knowing that God knows all things. He sees all things. He knows my thoughts even before I think them. He knows what I am going to say before I say it. Jesus is an exact representation of the Father and Jesus clearly knew what people were thinking, even to discerning the motive of the heart.

I took a walk through scripture to see what others said about God knowing all things. This is what I found. At the end of Psalm 139, David responds to the all-knowing nature of God like this

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24

David invites God to investigate his thoughts and motives. Rather than hiding, he offers himself voluntarily. Perhaps you are uncomfortable with this searching, thinking you have things under control. Check out Jeremiah’s writing:

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

Paul says this in his letter to the Corinthians:

As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

1 Corinthians 4:3-5

Where am I going with this, you ask? I think I always know what motivates me and that I live from a pure heart. Sometimes I do. Other times I discover I am not as altruistic as I want to believe.

I am also guilty of “knowing” why others do what they do, ask the questions they ask, post what they post. Yet, I don’t. I can’t possibly know the motives and thoughts of another. That is God’s job and the only person I know who does it well is Jesus.

My encouragement – leave the judgments to God alone. As Paul said, it is for the Lord to examine us all. He will reveal the secrets of our hearts, the motivations of our minds and reward accordingly.

How about we get back to loving one another outrageously and leave all that other stuff to God?

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