The Task Completed

 

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”

—1 Corinthians 15:24

Have you ever labored hard and long on a difficult assignment, finally completed the task, and then felt enormous relief that what you set out to accomplish you have finished? Please allow me to explain the point I am trying to make:

I once labored to develop a deeply detailed procedure for the protection of department stores against damage by fire and allied perils. It was an assignment that no one else wanted. There was nothing particularly intriguing about department stores. They were not as “cool” as oil refineries, or pulp and paper manufacturing, or automobile plants, or food processing, or just about any of the hundreds of other types of facilities that the insurance company for which I worked happened to insure.

But, my career had often been like that. I seemed to be assigned the facilities that no one else wanted to serve: department stores, hospitals, colleges and universities, radio and television broadcast facilities, tanneries, glue factories, paint manufacturing, museums, arenas, furniture manufacturing, computer data centers, electronics manufacturers, and so forth.

To further complicate my assignment regarding department stores, the Senior Vice President of Engineering, to whom I reported, had a technique where he would go to the company library and check out key resources that his staff might need to complete their tasks. He did this with the intension of trying to make us work harder and, in his mind, more thoroughly, so that we would have to struggle to complete our assignments. It was a stupid tactic. There’s no other way to describe it. As someone who later in my career became a manager of a relatively large number of people, I learned from this foolishness and devoted myself to making certain that I consistently provided my staff with all of the resources they might need to effectively complete their tasks.

It took me six drafts over the course of 18 months to finally gain approval for my detailed procedure. For reasons I never discovered, the Senior Vice President of Engineering rejected each draft. Ironically, the sixth draft was simply the very first draft resubmitted with a new date and a slightly differently worded introductory paragraph. Of course, I had ten or twelve other projects during this same time frame. But, this was an enormous learning experience for me. I lost all respect for this Senior Vice President. His techniques were roadblocks—and not just for me. When he retired, his replacement, who had also worked for him, changed things dramatically for the better.

Nevertheless, when that procedure for department stores rolled off the presses, I felt as if a great burden had lifted. I had been handed an assignment and I eventually handed it back to the one who had given it to me as a completed task.

While my meager accomplishment was absolutely nothing compared to the divine action of our Great King, the Apostle Paul described the torture, death, and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as it will be seen at the end of history, in startlingly similar terms to the example I have outlined above. Please take note of Paul’s words—speaking of Jesus—as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:24:

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

God the Father sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to earth in order to walk in our shoes and become flesh, so that through Him we might become the children of God. Jesus conquered sin, death, and Satan through His birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus ushered in His Kingdom here on earth. We now inhabit that Kingdom because we belong to Him. As His ambassadors, we now testify about Him: who He is and what He has done.

At the end of this age, Jesus will return the Kingdom to the Father. All sin and darkness will be cast into the lake of fire. Only the perfection of Jesus’ holiness will remain. We who belong to Him will be fully transformed into His image. In that day, we will all rejoice.

As we launch out into this new day, let’s not forget that we are part of a pathway through history where Jesus has opened up a way to heaven, the Holy Spirit urges us and helps us along that way, and the Father waits to welcome us. May this reality make our hearts become filled with great joy and carry us through the task before us.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Firstfruits Resurrection

 

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

—1 Corinthians 15:20

As a member of a group, when faced with some new situation, are you the one who steps forward to have the first go at whatever task lies ahead? Or, like me, do you tend to hang back and observe how others tackle the issue, and then develop a strategy based on their success or failure?

There is something very special about those who will put themselves out there and go first. They have the joy of any initial success. And, they can comfort themselves, in any failure, because after all, they took a chance and did it first.

What if the situation was such that no one could ever have possibly tackled the assignment? No one else was worthy. No one else had the necessary power. No one else had the needed persistence. No one else had the grace and perseverance. In such a case, that one would always, and only, become the first, and the last, to take on the challenge. And, just possibly because that one had succeeded, others would be able to follow in those footsteps. That one blunted the roadblocks, created a pathway, opened up the possibilities, and helped guarantee the success of others.

We probably don’t think about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior that way. But, Jesus was, in fact, the only one who could have ever possibly taken on the penalty for the sins of the world. He alone had the strength, the power, the necessary holiness, the sinless perfection, the persistence, and the blessing of His Father. We cannot possibly imagine the pain He felt as the weight of the sins of all humankind fell upon Him.

In His glorious resurrection, Christ opened up a pathway for us to follow in His footsteps. Just as He conquered sin, death, and Satan, so we also will become conquerors. He became the firstfruits of the glorious vine of salvation. We become the fruit of salvation, too, because He led the way. As the Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:20:

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

As a new day dawns upon the world once more, let us rejoice that our Savior is risen from the dead. Let us praise Him for the sacrifice He made in our behalf. And, let’s move forward along the pathway that He opened up for us, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit—a pathway that leads us to eternal life with Him.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Delivered From Eternal Death

 

“Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.”

—Proverbs 10:2

As a child watching cartoons in the early 1950s at the dawn of the age of television, the “good guy” would often be captured by the “bad guy.” In one particular cartoon, a rich man was captured by a bad guy who punctuated his disdain with the words:

“You won’t be able to buy your way outta this!”

And that, my dear ones, is the exact state in which you and I find ourselves when we stand before a holy God, as the terrible, awful, horrible sinners that we are. We are so stained by the sin curse passed down from Adam to our parents and on to us, and by the stain caused by the sins we have committed on our own, that we will never be able to buy our way out of the eternal death that we deserve.

Fortunately, the One who loves us has already paid the price for our sins and redeemed us through His own precious blood. While we cannot save ourselves, we have been saved by the only One who could bear our sins, taking our place on the cross of Calvary. King Solomon put it this way, writing in Proverbs 10:2:

Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.

The redemption price for our sins was certainly not an ill-gotten treasure. It was a divine plan of the very God whose holiness our sin has offended. He, and He alone, made provision for our salvation through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of His one and only Son, Jesus.

Today, as a new day begins, let’s celebrate the joy that is ours in Christ. We are redeemed! The price has been paid! We are free from sin, and death, and Satan! Hallelujah!

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Supplies All Our Needs

 

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

—Philippians 4:19

As you read this blog post, if you sit in a lean-to made out of cardboard, if your stomach is empty and aching because you haven’t eaten in three days, if you have no money to buy food or clothing, if you have lost your family for a variety of reason, if … Then, my insistence that God will supply all our needs may fall on deaf ears, as far as you are personally concerned. When a person has genuine, heart-wrenching needs that remain unfulfilled, then it is difficult to imagine that God is a supplier of needs.

But, the truth remains that God does, indeed, supply all our needs. The context of what the Apostle Paul wrote in the Book of Philippians applied directly to his own physical needs. He was writing to the Christians at Philippi about the way they had so generously given gifts to help him in his time of significant personal need. After thanking them for their generosity, Paul ends with these words found in Philippians 4:19:

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

In other words, Paul is writing to the Philippians with great conviction:

“Just as you have so generously shared with me, so I know God will meet your needs, as well.”

And, of course, Paul was right. He was right regarding the Philippians, and he is right concerning you and me, too.

God will, and does, supply our needs. No doubt our greatest need is the need to be free from the penalty of our sins. God has supplied that need through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of His precious Son, Jesus. As His dearly loved children, God has given us new life. He has erased the stain of sin and embraced us as belonging to Himself for all eternity.

In the practical aspects of our human lives, God also supplies our actual needs. Time and again, when we are in genuine need, God comes to our aid with just what we truly need. We may not always recognize His gift. In fact, we may sometimes resist, or even resent, what He sends our way. But, we can be assured that, upon closer examination, we will learn that whatever God sends us is exactly what we need.

As we begin a new day, let us rejoice that God’s love so fills us with hope that we can say, without hesitation:

“Yes! God does, indeed, supply all our needs!”

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Gentle Patience

 

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

—Ephesians 4:2

Sadly, I am not a patient person. Ask anyone who truly knows me. They will attest to my decided lack of patience. And yet, I am often stopped in my tracks by someone who extends patience to me. Patience is, after all, an expression of grace. Please allow me to illustrate my point:

Recently, I encountered a situation on a website I visited that raised my hackles. I felt that the webmaster—whoever he or she happened to be—had done a very sloppy job in presenting information on what I felt was a critically important webpage. So, I reached out to someone I knew in that organization and made my opinion known.

Frankly, as I sometimes do when I’m impatient, I used hyperbole in describing the deficiencies with the website. I ranted. I raved. I poured out my strong opinion using many not-so-kind words.

The response I received knocked me back into my chair. The person wrote back the most patient, kind, even loving, note. He thanked me for my concern. But, in the most gentle possible way, he pointed out the excessiveness of my word choices and the lack of reasonableness in those portions of my complaint where I had gone “over the top.” He explained the reasons why certain choices had been made. All in all, without giving even one inch of ground, he acknowledged me and my complaint in a way that made it impossible for me to feel I had not been heard.

As I stated, he did not yield any ground whatsoever. He defended the choices his webmaster had made. But, he did so in such a patient manner that he truly extended great grace to me. I was taken aback by how effective his response was in diffusing my impatience. His patience became the perfect antidote for my impatience.

The Apostle Paul understood the value in learning how to extend grace at every turn. Notice what he wrote, as recorded in Ephesians 4:2:

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

As we begin a new day, let’s learn from Paul’s admonition. Let’s extend the grace of patience whenever we can, as we walk along the pathway of our lives. Let’s put away impatience and strive to allow the grace of Christ to manifest itself in what we say and what we do.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A New Command

 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

—John 13:34

The word “love” has become one of the supercharged words in our currwnt culture. In the English language this word has so many shades of meaning. We may say to someone we admire and appreciate: “I love you.” But, the word doesn’t hold the same meaning that it does when we speak of loving our spouse. When we say we love our children, the word has an even different shade of meaning. When we talk about something we favor—our native country, a car, boat, vacation home, ice cream flavor, movie, television program, restaurant, sporting event—the word “love” takes on yet another even different meaning. The problem comes from having a single word to express a whole list of various emotions.

Over the years, I have shared many times that the New Testament Koine Greek language has four distinct words for love: agape, storge, phileo, and eros. Each word has a very distinctly different meaning. In the English language, all four words are translated “love.” (It is important to note that only agape and phileo actually appear in the Koine Greek text of the New Testament.)

Speaking to His disciples, Jesus gave them this instruction, found in John 13:34:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

In this verse, our Lord uses the New Testament Koine Greek word agape—God-breathed love. This is a love that arises within someone because God has chosen to breathe His divine love into that person. Agape is a totally selfless, totally committed, totally unending love. It survives no matter what may happen. It deepens as time passes. It creates an inseparable bond between the one who loves and the beloved.

As we begin a new day, let’s ask God to give us His God-breathed agape love for our fellow believers. If we do this, we surely will experience a great outpouring of God’s grace in our relationships with each other.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

No Greater Commandment

 

“There is no commandment greater than these.”

—Mark 12:31

The most simply stated, yet hardest to follow, instructions from Jesus are summarized in Mark 12:30-31:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

It is hard for us to truly Love God with the totality of our beings. So many other distractions tend to pull us away from unswerving devotion to Him. The depth of love God expects us to show Him consumes all four of our human modalities: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. It is equally hard for us to truly love our neighbors because we humans simply do not consistently get along with each other very well.

Recently, I received a phone call from a friend asking for my comments regarding a situation my friend described, in his own words, as follows:

I was thinking the other day about someone I have known for a long time. Over the years, I have come to care about this person very much. But lately, this person seems a little irritated with me and acts a bit cold toward me. Of course, it could be my too-active imagination. But, I don’t think it is. I have racked my brain trying to figure out what I may have done to offend this person. I cannot remember anything that I did or said that would have prompted this reaction toward me. I’m sure other people would respond to my observation and just say: “Aw, forget about it!” But, I can’t. If I wasn’t so “chicken,” I would go to this person and try to find out what’s going on in our relationship.

In contrast to my friend’s dilemma, in my own life there are people with whom I do not particularly get along. And, the amazing thing is I strongly suspect that they don’t even know how I feel about them, or care. That’s the odd thing about human relationships: sometimes the people we care about get irritated with us and sometimes other people create irritation within us. So, it is hard—very hard—to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Another situation offers this illustration:

I have some dear friends who lately seem to have a difficult time loving God with all four of their human modalities: heart, soul, mind, and strength—emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Things have not worked out in their lives as they expected. They believe they have been uniquely faithful to God. But, they now believe He has failed to hold up His end of the bargain.

These dear ones are, in fact—deep in the core of their beings—angry at God. So, they now live in a way that seems to have created a new god, one who appears quite different than the God they formerly worshipped.

It’s easy for me to think that they should reevaluate the expectations they had of God in the light of Scripture. Of course, it’s easy to criticize from the sidelines when I’m not “walking in their moccasins,” so to speak. I sense the depth of their pain. But, I can’t help but believe they need to reconnect with the true God who loves them.

It is probably a good thing for us to do a spiritual checkup from time to time. Do we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Then, we should ask God to help us implement the corrections we need to make in our lives. Why? Because Jesus told us that it is very important for us to follow these two greatest commandments.

Perhaps, as we begin a new day, it would be helpful to make today a day for a spiritual checkup. How about it?

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}