Holiness is the very character of God.
And God says to us…”Be holy, because I am holy.”

I’m not sure we get it.

Holiness in us can only come as the result of a right relationship with God. And, a right
relationship with God can only happen by believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as
our Savior. It really is all about Jesus!

We need to recognize that our position in Christ automatically sets us apart from the
world. Peter calls us a “Holy Nation and the people of God”. He also tells us how to
live holy lives in I Pet. 1:13-16.

I’m just not sure we get it.

On Monday we are going to celebrate the life of my Mother-in-Law.

Opal Payne was an awesome lady who loved the Lord and followed Christ with her living.

She was holy!
Yesterday, Charlotte found a 3×5 card in one of her Mom’s Bibles. It had these words
typed on it: “Holiness is not the way to Christ – Christ is the way to holiness.”

She got it!

Let’s get it.

I heard this cute story recently and I just had to share it with you. A distinguished Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. When little Jimmy heard that he enthusiastically spoke up and said, “My Mummy looked back once while she was driving her car, but she turned into a telephone pole!”

Satan tries so hard to get us to look back. He uses people, many with good intentions, to remind us of painful memories and situations that are firmly nailed to the cross.

Apostle Paul makes a few statements in Philippians 3:13-14 that instruct us on how to embrace our future and not get bogged down in the past:

Phil 3:13-14 NLT … No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

Paul was focusing all his energies on forgetting the past and straining (making great effort) to accomplish his life’s mission. The past should not be a road block to the future and should not serve as a reason to quit the race God has called us to run.

I urge all of you to focus your attention on what is before you and give everything you have to accomplishing all God has called you to do. After all, who wants to turn into a pillar of salt or a telephone pole?

Jesus tells a bunch of stories in Matthew chapter 13.

I am a fan of short stories! I am a short guy without a lot of patience so short stories work for me.

Verse 44 of Matthew 13 contains what is perhaps the shortest story Jesus ever told.

Matthew 13:44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”

Jesus’ stories always have a point, no matter how long or short they are. Often, the disciples get Jesus to explain the meaning of the story which is great but no such explanation exists for this story. We have to research it ourselves and try to find out what it means. Read it one more time. Read it slowly and read it intentionally looking for a meaning. Read it as if Jesus were whispering this story to you now. Go ahead… slowly.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”

Read it again if you like. It’s a great story. For me it speaks of evasiveness, excitement and expectancy. It also speaks about dependency, desperation and delight. I get the impression that this Kingdom is worth everything and absolutely every possible attempt should be taken to fully realize the truth of this Kingdom even after it has been discovered. The short story says so much. But this blog is not here to tell you what the story means. This blog is here to simply point to the story and remind us all of the reality of the Kingdom.

An empty suitcase isn’t that difficult to carry. However, if you over pack it, it could be a struggle to lug around. After 25 years of traveling the world via planes, trains, and automobiles, I assure you heavy suitcases can be a royal pain in the backside. When you are the one carrying it you tend to pay more attention to the packing process.

Our hearts can act as a type of suitcase and if we are not careful, sin, the issues of life, worry, grief, bitterness towards people, fear, so many things, just weigh us down to the point where we feel we cannot go on. Every day can become drudgery and weariness of spirit can put us in the depth of depression and despair.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us we have a race to run. Our race is not a 100 meter sprint, it is a marathon. Can you imagine running a long distance race carrying a heavy suitcase? Your chances of finishing the race, let alone winning the race, would be slim. The same is true as we seek to run the race God has called all of us to run.

I encourage you to do as I have and millions of others have done. Open your suitcase (Your Heart) and get rid of everything Satan has slipped in there. Remember, he is sneaky and you will need to check it daily to make sure he hasn’t slipped some excess weight in there without you knowing it. If we want to faithfully finish our race we cannot be toting a heavy suitcase filed with Satan’s junk.

I believe that Christian people understand Christian truth.

I am convinced that much of that truth resides in the form of catchy clichés.

I am not a fan of clichés; however, I understand that clichés have become clichés because they often contain a certain amount of truth. What are the great Christian clichés you know?

God loves you.

God has a plan and a purpose for you.

God has placed you where you are for a reason.

They are clichés.

And they are true.

So, how are you responding?

If the truth is that God loves you and has placed you and has a plan for you, what are you doing?

I will be the first to tell you that God’s main interest is who you are, or who you are becoming, and that those are more important questions than, “what are you doing?” but the ‘doing’ question is not scrapped because you are busy ‘being’. On the contrary, God is at work in your ‘doing’ to help form who you are ‘becoming’. So, take a moment. God loves you. He has placed you. Are you honestly doing what God has called you to do? Are you being the person God has called you to be? If not, do you try to pretend (and get everyone else to think) that you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing? If so, (let me hit you with something hard,) you are living a lie and you are lying to God. You may think you are simply keeping up with the Jones, but as you display to the world that you are in fact living out the call of God on your life when all the while you know you are not, you are presenting falsehood. You are presenting this falsehood to God.

The God who loves you.

The God who has a plan and a purpose for you.

The God who has placed you where you are for a reason.

Honest to God, it is time we all stop quoting the clichés and begin acting on the truths they reveal.

Matt 4:19…”Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” (NLT)

I love fish. I have always been a lover of fish. To say the least, I have had more than my share of fish and chips in my years of living!!!

My perspective about fish changed a few years ago when some friends took me to a fish processing plant. There I got to see how the fish is taken from the large fishing boats, cleaned, packaged, and presented in filet form to cities all over. I was informed by some of the locals that the majority of the fish they process would never see a freezer; it would be served fresh.

As I watched this process I heard God speak to me. God showed me what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. It would demand hard work and long, long hours. To be a fisher of men you have to understand that fish are not caught in a deep fried form with fries on the side. There will be “stinky” situations that will demand we have a strong spiritual stomach. They will be less than perfect and they will need to be cleaned (by God and not by people) and that process could take some time. Being a fisher of men will certainly have its challenges.

I am encouraged to know that if we catch the fish, God will clean the fish. If you are up for the challenge I say let’s go fishing.

I love fish don’t you?

Psalm 119 is well known because it is the longest Psalm in the Bible.

In fact, most people I know avoid this Psalm and its 176 verses. If it seems a little long to you too, then I have great news! Just two Psalms back is the shortest Psalm in the Bible, 2 verses.

As a short guy, I have a special appreciation for this short Psalm. So small, yet so powerful! Straight to the point!

Let’s look at it.

“Praise the Lord all you nations”

Talk about inclusion! This isn’t a Lord for just the Jews. All nations, Praise the Lord. Pretty self explanatory really.

“extol him, all you peoples.”

OK, we don’t use ‘extol’ much anymore, but it means to give high praise. Really, this is an echo of the first line with a slight addition. The first slight addition is that the praise we are talking about is really big and the people doing it are not just collective nations, but collective people! This might be the first case of someone saying, “Your Vote Matters!” God wants to hear you!

“For great is his love towards us”

There is a reason for this High Praise. God’s unequalled love. It’s as if God puts His love in a love radar and points the gun right at you. Are you ready? BLAST!!!! God’s great love is all over you! Now, look at this next part!

“and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.”

Often I will remind people that the Old Testament doesn’t talk much about heaven and hell or afterlife at all. But here is a clear case of how long God’s radar blast of love is for you. It lasts forever. A faithful forever! Growing up, my dad had a radar detector in his truck and it would beep when a police officer shot your car with a radar gun. If God were the cop and you were the truck, the beep would never end. Even when God’s love gets annoying, He still shoots His faithful love all over you. This love lasts forever.

“Praise the Lord.”

Seems like an easy enough idea. Give it a shot!

I hate headaches. That’s why I love my sunglasses. I make sure to put them on every time I go outside because if I don’t, I get these crazy headaches. I think what happens is I spend the day squinting and I don’t even realize it. After a few hours of squinting, I have a killer headache. So, I fix the problem by wearing sunglasses.

I don’t get headaches often. The other thing that gives me headaches is not eating. If I go for too long without eating, I get a headache. Easily enough, I just stop and have a sandwich and the headache is gone.

There is one other headache giver.

People.

Sometimes people ruin my day! They get in my way, they desire my attention, they create some offense. I have found the secret to dealing with that headache too. 1 John 3:11 “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” Now, I try to avoid the word ‘should’ but in the case of people, it does me good to remember that I should love whoever comes close to me.

Here is my formula.

I stop my headache by recognizing the cause of the headache is me and my lack of love.

I turn up the love dial and recognize that whoever is near me is a person, a person God loves.

I love them the way I think Jesus would.

I hate headaches.

If the above gives you headaches then I recommend a good pair of sunglasses, a sandwich and to always remember you should love one another.

Chapter two of the book of Esther is easily broken into several episodes with one major task, introducing us to Esther. The first three sections flow like this, (1) Xerxes discovers he wants a new Queen, (2) Esther is taken to the harem, (3) Esther becomes queen.

Let’s look at these a little closer.

Why is it strange to note that King Xerxes wants a queen?
A close examination reveals what I believe is the theme of the book by offering a major foreshadowing of events to come. The first sentence of chapter two sets the stage for the conclusion of the book! Of course, we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Notice, “Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti…” What do you remember about Vashti? Here is what we know, she was so beautiful that you could parade her in front of nations and there would be no doubt that she is the most beautiful woman ever! We see here that Xerxes is not interested in hunting for a new lady, he remembers Vashti. I may have to add a piece of my own imagination here, but go get a Bible, turn to Esther chapter two and see if I am not right on this point. Do you see in the next line, verse two of chapter two, personal attendants of the King have to suggest what to do! “Come on king! There’s other fish in the sea! Let’s make a beauty pageant, search the whole kingdom for the hottest young virgins to please you.” Now, this isn’t just a beauty pageant, each girl gets a chance to have a night alone with the King to prove how much they love him! OK, for the sake of keeping this story rated PG (although most of us can see it would be rated at least a real strong R for sexual content) let me simply draw your attention to the connection between verse one and two. King Xerxes is remembering his old queen. He is remembering the good times they use to have together until he kicked her out. I would go as far as to say he is sitting around completely depressed over his loss. His attendants offer him a remedy to his depression, young virgin women for his pleasure. Verse 4 “This advice appealed to the king” – I’ll bet! (I hope you read your Bible with an adult head and a sense of humor!)

What is foreshadowed here? The king longs for Vashti, but that is impossible. He has made a declaration against her and now he must live by it. The almighty ruler is a prisoner to the decisions and laws he makes.

That brings us to scene two, the choosing of girls to fill the harem. At last, here is Esther and she is described as “lovely in form.” Imagine being a Jew living back in Israel reading about one of yours being considered for this position. What a feeling of pride! The king goes looking for a hot new queen and who is it that stands head and shoulders above the rest on the hotness chart, its one of our own. Of course it is! So, perhaps Jews who have returned to their home are taking a small moment in the story to cheer for one of their own. Now, there would be a struggle inside these Jews as they imagine that one of their women is about to spend a night with the king of a barbaric culture, but still she is more beautiful than everyone else! While this pride might be an initial reaction, let me remind you that ultimately there is a divine hand at work here. No one knows it yet, but for us who know the end of the story, Esther is being brought to this position for such a time as this.

There is another hidden gem in all of this. This story is a narrative but verses 5-7 are not part of the story. They are an introduction to Mordecai and his ancestors. I don’t want to give it away yet, but Mordecai and a gentleman named Haman are enemies from generations ago. Mixed in among all the hot girl talk is a story of two cultures, one of which must be destroyed. Add to the mix, God has chosen sides. God has issued a death sentence on a community of people and that death sentence has not been fulfilled to its fullest. Esther is a strong, beautiful woman who God is strategically placing to annihilate the enemy of His people.

The final of the three scenes is upon us. Esther is about to be selected as queen! Notice that the narrator places Esther in a separate paragraph than the other girls in an attempt to soften the reality of the fact that she gets all dressed up to go spend the night with the King. Also notice that Esther takes very little with her even though she has access to anything. She takes the dress that her eunuch Hegai suggests and she is off to see the king. The king was “attracted” to Esther in the NIV Translation but in NASB he “loved” her more than any of the other girls. He gives her a crown and a holiday and the deed is done, God has positioned His victor square in the middle of all evil and the evil which is to be destroyed doesn’t even recognize it.

There is so much to digest in this first section of chapter two but there is one over arching narrative. God is at work and God’s work is moving forward. This is almost cliché. What makes this a little more than a pretty cliché is where and when God is moving. God moves His agenda forward in the unexpected area of the Kingdom of Persia, not simply the promised land where the Temple has been rebuilt. God has not selected a King, Judge or Prophet to further his Kingdom’s agenda, He has selected a young woman who hasn’t raised her hand to go and who has no idea that she has been chosen by God to correct a mistake of Israel’s first king and to bring physical salvation to all current Israelites.

God displays His character through this story. His agenda will move forward. His agenda can be accomplished through you even if you are the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. God’s Kingdom is bigger than any earthly kingdom. The Kingdom of God is unstoppable and it is moving on all fronts. Chapter two ends with a hard working guy, just doing his job – and what do you know, God is moving there too. We’ll look at that next time.

Here you are.
The ball is in your hands and all eyes are on you.

What are your options?

You can drop the ball and quit. Let all the pressures overwhelm you, bow to your fears.

You can hold on to the ball and never make a move, of course to do so would render your position useless and you would be benched and a substitute would be called upon to take your shot.

Or, you could throw the ball which offers two possible outcomes.
You can completely flub;
miss it by a mile or an inch,
either way – you miss!

Although, you could hit the target;
with exact precision or the sloppiness of an amateur,
either way – you make it.

Throw the ball.

Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”