Dear Trekker,
Greetings to all trekkers far and near as we enter a new year. This month completes 12 years of writing a monthly MEN (model, encourage, nurture). The journey has been long…but it continues. God is good, and as the popular Gospel song says, “all the time!”
Believing and banking on the fact God is good, I keep thinking, “Why then is God always made out to be the big bad ogre up there somewhere in the sky? The killjoy spoiling all the fun! So I will simply deny He exists and do as I like, when I like, to whom I like.” I smiled when the new President quoted in his inaugural address Psalm 133:1, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) live together in unity.” How can we live together in unity (and prosper) if we deny the Great Unifier even exists? Psalm 133, by the way, is very short – only three verses! And the closing comment of the Psalm is telling: “…for there (living together in unity) the Lord bestows His blessing, life forevermore.” Yes, God is good! And the name of Jesus Christ was spoken repeatedly in inaugural prayers, if you missed it! One nation under God may be looking up again…more often!
So, as we enter a new year, let’s remember, God is not the problem in our day or any day! The Scriptures teach that “we all have sinned (missed the mark) and have fallen short of the glory of God, but each of us is justified freely by his grace through the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus” Romans 3:23, 24). A problem we face as believers is often our focus on sins, especially those of others, instead of focusing on God’s gift, an outpouring of his grace and goodness. We memorize Romans 3:23, but don’t minimize Romans 3:24. Tie the two thoughts together. We’ve screwed up, but God’s love and goodness and initiative is available to rescue us all!
The problem is…do we really believe it? Any wonder that the only sin that will damn us forever is simply unbelief!
I have been mediating this month on John’s Gospel, Chapter 3! John 3:17 should always be quoted with the oft quoted John 3:16 (like Romans 3:23 and 24). You know John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But it must not be disconnected from John 3:17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” Killjoy? Bad ogre in the sky spoiling all our fun? Hardly!! He knows our frame! He knows we are but dust! He knows our sin. And the last thing He wants is our separation from him! Such separation is the real damning result of doing “our own thing.” No, for love of us, he came. His goodness sent him! He does not condemn… He provides the escape hatch from the prison in which we live. Yes, only one sin separates… failing to believe who he was (and is) and what he did 2,000 years ago.
But you say, read on Jim… verses 18-21. God does condemn! Well, yes, but more no! Whoever believes in him is not condemned (present tense, now), but whoever does not believe stands condemned already (currently, now) because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” That is Jesus, the Christ talking, his words to Nicodemus…lumping us all together! Unbelief is the sin that destroys!
Yes, it’s a paradox! After healing the man blind from birth, Jesus said (John 9:39), “For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” But love and grace always trumps judgement. It is so sad that man loves the darkness and death of eventual judgement when he can bask in the light of love. The Apostle Paul outlines it simply in Romans 8. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation (judgement) for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life (love and grace) set me free from the law of sin and death (judgement)” (Romans 8:1,2ff). And of course, the response to God’s love and goodness is always the same…do we or do we not choose to accept and believe in the Gift of all gifts. I like Brennan Manning’s comment: “…only Jesus revealed God is a Father of incomparable tenderness, that if we take all the goodness, wisdom and compassion of the best mother and father who ever lived, they would be only a faint shadow of the love and mercy in the heart of the redeeming God.” Yes, God is good…the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).
And a good, loving God desires to give good gifts to his children. Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, is somewhat blunt and matter-of-fact… “If you, then, though you are evil (fallen and fleshly) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law of the prophets (Matthew 7:11, 12). Just today I remarked to friend wife, “You know honey, the best way we can truly be Jesus with skin on is to keep our promises to others.” The loving and good and giving God always keeps His promises to His children.
The Apostle James captures these same thoughts : “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created” (James 1:16-18).
God assures us that all things are working together for the good of those who love him (that’s you and me) and are called according to his purpose! My, my, if God be for us (in this triumphal way), who can be against us? God justifies us; who can condemn us? We are more than conquerors through him who loves us (Romans 8:28ff).
We mark the years, ticking them off, after Christ lived and died and rose again for us, giving us also his Spirit, 2,000 years ago. 2017 is just another year for us to discover anew God is good and faithful and loving to mankind. He will keep His promises; let us keep ours to Him and to His people by shouting from the rooftops…God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!
Enjoying the New Year already!
Your friend, Jim Meredith
