The Reign of Christ

 

We have not experienced the last chapter of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A careful reading of the Book of Revelation exposes that, in the last days, the reign of Christ will bear fruit on this earth.

The Apostle Paul describes those coming days using these words found in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26:

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

As believers recognize, Jesus has been victorious over sin, death, and Satan. But, I wonder if we fully comprehend that death is also an enemy of the Kingdom of God. Death results from sin. When sin is conquered by our Savior, death is also conquered. The conquering of death opens the way to eternal life.

At the beginning of another day, we need to pause to understand that our life with Christ begins the moment we acknowledge God’s gift to us of salvation. But, our life with Christ becomes fully realized in those last days when He is on His throne and reigns over all the earth. Then, and only then, will we see the miracle of His love and grace fully at work in our world.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Task is Complete

 

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?

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 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 attract 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 intended to make us work harder and, in his mind, more thoroughly 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 I always provided my staff with all of the resources they might need to effectively complete their tasks.

It took six drafts over the course of 18 months to finally gain approval for my detailed procedures. 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.

The Apostle Paul described the torture, death, and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as 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 that through Him we might become the children of God. Jesus conquered sin, death, and Satan through His death and resurrection. 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. On that day, we will all rejoice.

As we launch out into this new day, let’s not forget that we are moving on a pathway through history where Jesus has opened up a way to heaven, that the Holy Spirit urges us and helps us along that pathway, and that 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 © 2019 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.

On this day, as light 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—a pathway that leads us to eternal life with Him.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Delivered From 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, 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 sin and redeemed us through His own precious blood. While we cannot save ourselves, we have been saved by the only One who can bear our sins in 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 death and resurrection 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 © 2019 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 concerned. When a person has genuine, heart-wrenching needs, 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 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, “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 death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. God has given us new life as His dearly loved children. He has erased the stain of sin and embraced us for all eternity.

In the practical aspects of our human lives, God also supplies our needs. Time and again, when we are in genuine need, God comes to our aid with just what we 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 is exactly what we need.

As we begin a new day, let us rejoice that God’s love so fills us with hope we can say without hesitation, “Yes! God does supply all our needs!”

 

_{Copyright © 2019 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

I am not a patient person. Ask anyone who 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.

Recently, I encountered a situation on a website that 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 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. 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 wherever we can 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 © 2019 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 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 say we love our country, or we love the place where we live, or we love to eat a good steak, the word takes on even different shades of meaning. The problem comes from having a single word to express a whole list of various emotions.

Over the years, I shared many times that the New Testament Greek language has four distinct words for love: agape, storge, phileo, and eros. Each word has a very distinctly different meaning. All four words are translated “love” in the English language.

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 Greek word “agape”—God-breathed love. This is a love that arises within someone because God has chosen to breathe His 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 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 © 2019 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. 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 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.

In yet another situation, 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 make the corrections we need to make in our lives. Why? Because Jesus told us that it is very important for us to follow the 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 © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Wisdom Giver

 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

—James 1:5

Proper decision making requires four very distinct, but necessary, qualities: Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, and Discernment. The only possible way to make the right decision, except by mere chance, is to employ all four of these qualities.

“Wisdom” takes into consideration the factual information that “Knowledge” provides and adds in one’s emotional connections, or feelings, about those facts. “Understanding” considers the effect that the decision will have on the broadest possible context of the situation, or circumstances, involved. And, “Discernment” adds a spiritual, or supernatural, dimension to the decision-making process—it sees beneath the surface and interprets the motives and true agendas of others involved in, or affected by, the potential decision.

If we fail to employ all four of these qualities, we can significantly diminish the “rightness” of the decision we make. That’s why we should always do our best to become as knowledgeable as possible, obtaining all the facts possible. We should not rely on what we are told second-hand. We should always seek out first sources and rely on multiple sources to validate the facts we collect.

We should study those facts until we see how they all fit together. That will give us understanding of the context in which we must make our decision. Then, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us discernment, so that we will know the motives and agendas of others—even more clearly know our own motive and agenda. Finally, we need to have wisdom to understand how the facts interconnect with our feelings about the facts. Sometimes, that’s the hardest part of the decision-making process: correlating the facts and our feelings about the facts.

That’s likely why the Apostle James wrote these words to the early Christians, as recorded in James 1:5:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

God is the “Wisdon Giver.” He is the one who can best correlate for us the facts and our feelings about the facts. In any, and every, situation, God’s guidance will help us make the best decision that we can make.

So, as we begin another new day, let’s do what James suggests. Let’s ask God for wisdom for this day and every day. Let’s ask the One who loves us the most to give us this important quality. He will gladly do so. And, as a result, we can move forward employing all four qualities necessary to make excellent decisions.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Harsh Words

 

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

—Titus 1:15-16

No one likes to hear someone speak harshly against them. Over time, one of the biggest criticisms leveled against those of us who follow Jesus is that “Christian folks are just too judgmental.” In fact, that’s the way our culture encourages people to view “Christ’s-ones”—as judgmental, bigoted, and hateful.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Christians are not inherently judgmental. If we choose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we generally extend God’s mercy, grace, and love to all we meet. Why? Because that’s what Jesus would do.

But, what our critics fail to understand when they look at Christians is that the message of the Gospel balances two critically important elements. On the one hand, we are all sinners. We inherited the sin of Adam and compounded our inherited sinfulness by our own sinful actions. On the other hand, God has so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins. Those two elements are fundamentally necessary to an understanding of the Gospel.

Yes, when He was here on earth, Jesus extended great love to people who desperately needed it. But, He also spoke out against unrepentant sinful behavior and did not hesitate to point out the dangerous path on which those who chose to sin persisted to live their lives. So, part of the great love of our Savior is His willingness to speak out against sin.

Obviously, it seems far better if—in following this “love, but don’t fail to call sin, sin” posture of Jesus—we always speak with a gentle firmness, using words bathed in God-breathed love. And, frankly, that’s hard to do consistently. We walk a tightrope in this regard and always must seek to maintain a balance between mercy, grace, and love on the one side, and honesty about sin on the other side.

The Apostle Paul sent Titus to Crete so that Titus could “amend what is defective” in the struggling church on that island. To do so, Paul had to give Titus some clear marching orders and also make certain Titus knew what he was in for once he arrived at his destination. This prompted Paul to use words that many in our culture would label as harsh. Notice what Paul wrote to Titus, as recorded in Titus 1:15-16:

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Wow! Startling! But, was Paul wrong to call out the members of the church on Crete for their sinful behavior? No! In fact, Paul’s devotion to the Gospel required him to do so.

Of course, in directly addressing the sinners of whom he speaks, Paul would likely use more gentle words laced with kindness and love. But, when sin persisted, Paul would, no doubt, take the same kind of strong stand as the one he took in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5.

So, what do we do about the charges laid against us by the culture in which we live? I’m not at all certain we can do anything. Jesus told us that the world would hate us, just like it hated Him (John 17:14). We cannot do anything that will appease the hatred of the world toward us. But, we can fairly and accurately represent Jesus by making certain we rely on the guidance from the Holy Spirit to assure that we always balance mercy, grace, and love against an honest declaration against sinful behavior.

Let’s begin this new day by determining to stop pretending sin no longer exists among those around us. No, I’m not urging us to get up on a soapbox in the marketplace and speak harsh words. That would only make us into clowns that the world would far too easily despise.

But, when faced with the opportunity to gently and tenderly speak words of love in a situation where sin is rampant, let’s choose to state the truth of God’s Word without fear. In so doing, we become instruments that the Holy Spirit can use to force sinful behavior to come into the light.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Hand of Peace

 

“Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace.”

—Psalm 37:37

Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should serve as peacemakers whenever possible. As the Holy Spirit nudges us, we should willingly step in to promote peace. And, we must recognize that we promote peace in a variety of ways.

I am heartbroken over some of my fellow believers who have become so strident, even hateful, in their attacks against political forces that do not align with their preconceived ideas of how our nation should be governed. I can’t help thinking about the oppressive government of Rome at the time Jesus walked this earth. The Roman government was far more vile than we can even imagine, especially toward any person who was not a citizen of Rome. And, if you lived in a land that Rome had conquered, it was very difficult to become a citizen,.

At the same time, Jesus spoke of our need to recognize the value of making peace. In Matthew 5:9, Jesus told the crowd gathered around Him:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Some interpret this passage to mean that Christians should never go to war to protect their nation from threatening foreign powers. I personally believe that Jesus was talking about a much more intimate setting than a national threat. After all, He was speaking to people who were politically powerless and were living under the captive hand of Rome.

When Jesus urges peacemaking, I believe He is talking about a daily attitude of extending compassionate peace toward the people who cross our pathway in the normal course of daily life. It is so easy to turn our faces away from those in genuine need. Whenever we do so, we help rob these ones of peace in their lives.

Sometimes peace comes in a helping hand, a gift of a meal, the provision of a place to live, an assistance with a legal problem, a monetary gift to tide someone over, an advocacy for someone who cannot advocate for himself or herself, and a dozen other ways in which we can provoke peace to flood into someone’s life.

I once knew of a woman who had lived on the streets for three years. She had lost her home and her family because of her addiction to alcohol. She told how she had abstained from drinking for all of her early life. Then, in her mid-thirties, at a casual neighborhood party, she took her first drink of an alcoholic beverage. She took that drink mostly so that she wouldn’t stand out from the crowd, or become a target of mockery. That one single drink led her down the path to more and more drinking, until alcohol ruled her life and, subsequently ruined her life.

One day, a businesswoman passing by in a car on her way to work saw this down-and-out alcoholic woman in her peripheral vision. The woman was living in the corner of a vacant lot. Her only shelter was a stitched together series of corrugated boxes.

Suddenly, the businesswoman felt God nudge her to stop. She pulled her car to the curb, got out, and approached the homeless woman.

“Can I help you?” the businesswoman asked.

“Nobody can help me,” the woman replied. “I’m beyond help. Leave me alone.”

“I’d really like to help you. What can I do?”

“Go away! Leave me alone! There’s nothing you can do for me. Can’t you see that?”

Reluctantly, the businesswoman returned to her car. But, the image of that homeless woman would not leave her mind. Over the course of the next few hours that image moved from her mind to her heart. At lunch time, the businesswoman left work, went to a grocery store and bought some food. Then she stopped at a used clothing store and bought a warm coat.

She returned to find the homeless woman still sitting in the corner of the vacant lot. The businesswoman approached and said, “I’ve brought you some food and a warm coat.”

“I don’t want your charity!” the homeless woman shouted. “Leave me alone! Go back where you came from!”

The businesswoman set down her packages and went away. As she started her car, an enormous grief came over her. Tears streamed down her face. When she finally composed herself and started to drive away, she noticed that the homeless woman was putting on the warm coat. That small act made the businesswoman smile. A bit of hopefulness arose in her heart.

The next day, and the next day, and the next day, week after week, the businesswoman would stop on her way to work and give the homeless woman some food or clothing. The homeless woman stopped yelling at her and they began to have small conversations. Over time, the homeless woman started to tell a little of her story—how she had become enslaved by alcohol and lost everything.

After several months of building a relationship, the businesswoman finally convinced the homeless woman to seek help at a nearby parachurch-sponsored shelter for women. That began a long process of the homeless woman getting sober, and clean, and ready to get a job. The businesswoman acted as her sponsor, eventually helped her find a small apartment, and helped the formerly homeless woman settle into a new job.

After working for just over a year, the two women talked one day about the family the one woman had lost. The businesswoman found an attorney who would help make a reconnection with the lost family. A period of carefully supervised visitation began. A lot of healing of many hurts started to take place.

Today, the formerly homeless woman has a solid job, has developed a relationship with her children, found some equilibrium with her former husband, who had remarried, and has seen her life turn around. Why? Because that businesswoman, a follower of Jesus, extended peace into the life of someone who so desperately needed peace.

It is my sincere belief that, if each of us would set his or her heart toward becoming the kind of peacemaker that Jesus was talking about in His “Sermon on the Mount,” we could change our world—the world immediately around us. If every “Christ’s-one” did that, we could change all of the world.

King David wrote Psalm 37 in response to evildoers, political opponents and others, that he found inhabiting his world. He writes eloquently about all the various aspects of a righteous response to sin, corruption, and degradation. Among the stanzas of David’s song are these words found in Psalm 37:37:

Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace.

As we begin a new day, let’s seek peace in our own lives and in the lives of those whom God brings across our pathway. Let’s become peacemakers by putting away harsh, disruptive words, and by embracing an attitude of trust that God remains in control. He has given us specific work to do. And, we must begin to do it for the sake of His great Name.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Come to Me

 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

—Matthew 11:28

Have you ever worked hard on a project for several hours when someone who cares about you comes to you and says, “Hey! Why don’t you take a few moments to rest? You’ve been working hard all day.”

Those are comforting words and wise ones, too. Sometime we get so involved in the tasks at hand that we forget our bodies, minds, and spirits need to pause and recharge. It’s good to have someone who cares about us enough to remind us that rest is a vital part of effective living.

In our spiritual lives, we are constantly battling the forces of the Enemy, Satan. He wants to destroy us, turn us against ourselves, bring us to our knees with weariness and despair. We need to be reminded that it is very appropriate to make certain we pause in our battle long enough to get the rest we need.

Someone who cares about us the most is our Lord and Savior Himself. Jesus extends this invitation to us, as recorded in Matthew 11:28:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

As we launch out into another new day, let’s listen to Jesus and come to Him for the rest we need. Even on a day when we are working on behalf of His Kingdom, Jesus wants us to make certain that we make a determined effort to restore us to top condition. What a marvelous indication of how very much He loves us.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Turn Around Time

 

“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

—Psalm 34:11-14

If you’re traveling along in your car or truck and you miss a turn, how long do you continue to drive forward until you turn around and go back to the place where you got off course?

One day many years ago, I rode from Hartford, Connecticut, to Rochester, New York, with a business associate—a trip of about seven hours. He was, and is, a fine man. Trained as an engineer, he has a really sharp brain and is also a very kind and considerate man.

Along the way of our trip, he decided to get off the interstate highway and take some back roads. He stated that he wanted to have more pleasing scenery than the interstate afforded. We had plenty of time to get to our destination. As a passenger, I did not feel it was appropriate for me to object. So, we were soon cruising along at a much more relaxed pace looking at the central New York State countryside.

We didn’t have a map. But, we both knew the general direction to our destination and felt we would arrive without a problem. Then, suddenly, we encountered a detour. A flash flood the day before had caused the main road to cave in and a construction crew was in the midst of repairs. The detour took us out across the nearby rural landscape. We went over several different back roads.

At one point, I thought I spotted a detour sign that someone had knocked down. It was almost out of sight. It was only by chance that I saw it. As we cruised by, I told my colleague that I thought we had missed a turn. Instead of stopping immediately and driving back to the spot where I had seen the downed sign, he continued onward. I truly believe he thought we would find another road that would takes us back to the main road.

We drove for miles and miles. He made several turns onto various country roads. Finally, we realized we were desperately lost. He stopped, walked up to a nearby house, and asked for directions. After a long conversation, he returned to the car and we continued to drive, making numerous turns along the way.

An hour later, we were back on the main highway. But, in just a couple of miles, we once again came upon the road crew repairing the damaged pavement. We had gone backward in a huge circle and had burned 90 minutes in the process. Off on the same detour, we did so more carefully, came to the downed sign, made the turn, and in just a few minutes were back at the main road beyond the repair site. The detour had taken ten minutes this time.

I wonder, in our spiritual lives, how many times we keep going along a wrong pathway when, instead, we should stop, turn around, and go back to the place where we first lost our way and take the better pathway. King David understood the necessity of turning around when he had taken the wrong path. Notice what he wrote in Psalm 34:11-14:

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

As we begin another new day, let’s determine to seek peace and pursue it. If we find ourselves on the wrong pathway—one that leads us into sin—let’s stop, go back, and determine to stay on the pathway that God has opened up before us. Let’s not become tricked into taking a wrong turn that will lead us away from God’s best for us.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Trust Begets Trust

 

Some people are naturally trusting. They enter every relationship with a positive attitude and always look for the very best possible outcome. It doesn’t ever occur to them that the persons with whom they have developed relationships might, at some point, prove untrustworthy. Frankly, I envy these open, accepting, and positive-attitude people.

Then, there are people like me. Because of my personal history, dating way back to childhood experiences, and because I am inherently and extremely shy, for all of my adult life I have approached every relationship with suspicion. I expect any new person who crosses my pathway to eventually betray me. It is quite likely that my generally negative attitude toward trust has proven so off-putting to many people that it has created a self-fulfilling prophecy, time after time.

Nevertheless, I have decided to put aside my own predispositions and prejudices and see if I can share with you the importance of trust.

If we are going to faithfully and persistently share with other people what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives, we have to be viewed by those other people as individuals who are worthy of trust.

The Prophet Isaiah has made this statement in Isaiah 26:4:

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

In our relationship with God, we must learn to trust Him implicitly and continually. He will never betray our trust. He will never let us down. He will always surround us with His loving care. We can count on Him in every situation.

If we are to become trustworthy, with God’s trustworthiness as our example, where do we begin? By trusting in God we will find that, more and more, we will become worthy of trust. That’s because trust begets trust. Furthermore, we can and should follow the example of King Solomon, who wrote these words in Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

We begin to learn trustworthiness by depending or leaning on God. He has given us His Holy Spirit to come along beside us and lead us along the pathway that God has opened up before us. If we set aside our own selfish wills and place the entirety of our beings into God’s loving and tender care, we will begin to experience the reality of trusting in Him.

Out of that experience, we can develop within us the kind of trust that will prompt those around us to begin to listen to what we have to say and perceive that our words come from hearts that are worthy of trust.

Let’s begin this new day by redoubling our efforts to trust in God and build within us a trust that has as its foundation His trustworthiness. If we do that, we will become more and more effective in our role as ambassadors of the Great King.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Foolish Anger

 

Have you ever yelled at the television set in your living room or family room? Are you sure? I’m quite confident that you have. Okay. Maybe you didn’t yell out loud. But, in your spirit, you yelled at the TV.

Why do we do that? The people provoking us to anger on the TV can’t hear us. Right? And, by yelling at the TV we are disturbing the other people in our home—not to mention that we may well appear very foolish.

Anger is a powerful emotion. It is one of the emotions that our enemy, Satan, uses to try to knock us off the pathway that God has opened up for our lives. And, right now in our nation, there seems to be plenty to be angry about, especially if you find yourself at one extreme or the other on the political spectrum.

It is very easy for us to forget that we are, first and foremost, citizens of God’s Kingdom. Yes, I know that God is a God of justice. He does want His children to stand up for righteousness. But, I am not at all certain that He condones the use of harsh words in our Facebook posts or Twitter tweets, or Instagram photos, or Pinterest Pins, or Snapchat conversations. Even if you feel you are expressing “righteous indignation” on behalf of some group you believe has become disenfranchised, you dare not “fight fire with fire” because that’s not God’s way of mercy, grace, and love.

King Solomon, at the end of his life, penned these words of wisdom found in Ecclesiastes 7:9:

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

As we begin a new day, let’s determine to control our anger in a renewed way. Let’s not allow Satan to provoke us to anger about things over which we have no control. We can’t change the mind of some pundit on television. We can’t change the mind of most of the people who read our posts on Facebook or Twitter, either.

But, we can exhibit God’s abundant love when we carefully and reasonably share the concerns we have with whatever we observe in our culture or society. We can do so without harming others. Even when we feel that we have been attacked by those who categorize all “Christ’s-ones” as bigots, racists, homophobes, sexists, fascists, progressives, or whatever label is currently in use.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to guard our hearts and minds, we will be able to extend every grace to those who think differently than we do about politics, culture, even church. We do not need to be at war with anyone. In a gentle and tender way, we can stand for righteousness without needing to resort to behaviors that mimic the way of the world.

As citizens of God’s Kingdom, our residency has been bought with a terrible price—the very blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s enough violence with which Christians should have to deal. Let’s become instruments of God’s peace, even in a world that is going off the rails. Let’s put aside anger and embrace holiness. That will make God, who loves us with His everlasting love, break out with a big smile.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Shield Around Us

 

“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”

—Psalm 3:3

In the most recent weeks, every day I think to myself, “Can this horrible division in our nation get any worse?” And, every day I find more and more hostile, divisive, and nasty rhetoric spewing forth from both sides of the political aisle. This rancor must stop!

As has often been the case in the last forty years, people are targeting Christians and blaming them for everything that is happening in our social, political, economic, cultural, and systemic worlds. The criticisms are not fair. But, they are very real, nonetheless.

And, sadly, some of the harshest criticisms are coming from the left and right extremes of Christianity itself. Some of the most stinging and hurtful accusations, words that feed the hostility and division, are coming from Christians fighting with each other.

As we believers in Jesus, and His resurrection power, become more and more marginalized, we can rightly feel we have nowhere to turn. But, that is a lie of Satan.

When King David found himself under attack from a particularly persistent enemy, David wrote these words of praise to God found in Psalm 3:2-6:

Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”

But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

In the midst of one of the most hurtful times most of us have ever experienced in our lives, God is able to deliver us. We must remain faithful to the message of Christ, as the embodiment of God’s mercy, grace, and unfailing love. If we do, we will find that God is, indeed, our shield and our deliverer. May we determine, as we begin a new day, to refrain from evil words and a condemning spirit. Instead, let’s make certain our words build others up, rather than tear others down.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Sure Response

 

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

—Romans 8:31

In most of our lives, there is enough chaos that it is very easy to become distracted from the things that really matter. All it takes is for some unanticipated repair to our house, apartment, or vehicle, and we lose track of the things on which we should focus our attention.

Or, maybe one of our children or grandchildren has an accident or illness. Perhaps we receive a bill that is for an amount far greater than we had hoped. Or, we discover that our husband or wife has spent money—even on necessities—but those expenditures have pushed us into a debt too deep to climb out of easily, especially when we haven’t received a raise in the last five years, or, even worse, we lost our job many months ago and have no prospect for a new one.

In the midst of the uncomfortableness that can so very easily plague us, we need to remember that we have a sure response to whatever happens in our lives. The Apostle Paul states this certain response, when he writes to the Christians gathered at Rome, as recorded in Romans 8:31:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

No matter how difficult our circumstances may seem in the moment, God is for us. Even if we have fallen into a deep hole and have languished there for many years, God is for us. When trials and difficulties come, when disappointment and discouragement grips our lives, when things don’t seem to be going our way, God is for us.

Let’s cling to that truth, as we begin a new day. And, let’s allow the Holy Spirit to lift us upward in response to the sure knowledge that God has our back. He will provide what we need. He will see us through our darkest hour. He will bring us out of darkness and into the light of His great day.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Has Become My Salvation

 

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

—Exodus 15:2

In the happiest times in our lives, we often express our joy by singing. Even if we don’t think we sing very well, in the privacy of our own home or our car, or truck, we burst into song when something brings us overwhelming joy. This is certainly not a new phenomenon.

The Patriarch Moses had just experienced one of the most mind blowing occurrences in his life. In obedience to God’s direction, Moses had marched the children of Israel to the edge of the Red Sea. The Egyptians were in hot pursuit. The only way of escape was to step off into the storm tossed waters.

God gave Moses specific instructions. As soon as Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, God sent a mighty wind that opened up a pathway on dry land while the waters stood high above on each side of the pathway. The children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea. As soon as the Egyptians pursued them, God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea once again. As soon as Moses did this in obedience to God, the water closed over the Egyptians and they drowned.

In response, Moses sang a song of joy and worship to the Lord. This song included the following, found in Exodus 15:2:

“The Lord is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Moses didn’t need any other defender—just the all-powerful hand of God—and neither do we. As we begin a new day, let’s learn to rely on the “Defender of our Souls.” God stands ready to protect us, to save us, from all who would harm us. He is the one who has become our salvation and our defense. Like Moses, the only logical thing for us to do is the praise Him and exalt His holy name.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Message to a Governor

 

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

—Zechariah 4:6

As I write this blog post, I am utterly amazed at the turmoil that our most recent Presidential election has caused and that has persisted for over two years. Never in my life have I heard such strident and profane exclamations hurled at an elected President. As a follower of Jesus, and someone who is a political, social, intellectual, and spiritual Conservative, I am flabbergasted at the rhetoric I am hearing on a daily basis from both sides of the political spectrum.

This is not the first time in history that someone has ascended to a position of power and brought controversy with him to the seat of authority. In ancient Judah, a leader named Zerubbabel was appointed governor of a group of Israelites who returned to their own land from captivity in Babylon. Zerubbabel had the support of certain factions within the returning peoples. But, he also had an equal and more vocal opposition to the legitimacy of his authority.

The Prophet Zechariah found himself in the most uncomfortable position of having several messages directly from God that he was expected to deliver publicly to Zerubbabel. These messages were not going to make the new leader happy.

Zerubbabel considered himself a savior of the people. But, God had to remind him that—as a human being given a huge task to accomplish, namely the restoration of the Jews to their rightful land—Zerubbabel would be quite incapable of doing this in his own strength and power.

Here is part of the Prophet Zechariah’s words from God, as recorded in Zechariah 4:6:

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

In other words, “Zerubbabel, it doesn’t really matter that you consider yourself the savior of your people. The fact that you want to make Judah great again may be an honorable goal. But, you do not have the strength nor the power to do this by yourself. You are a mere, puny human being. And, you are a sinful one at that, since all humankind is stained by the sin of Adam and by the sins they commit on their own. Your only hope is to depend fully and completely on God. If you do that, God will be your strength and your power. With God’s divine help, you will than, and only then, be able to accomplish what you desire.”

I wish that more people, even those who claim membership in the Kingdom of God, would understand that without Him we can accomplish nothing of eternal value. Let’s not be numbered among the ignorant when it comes to understanding that: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Resurrection Power

 

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

—Philippians 3:10-11

Observing our current political scene, or the activities in most places of work, or, sadly, sometimes even in our homes, it doesn’t take long before we can spot those individuals who have become addicted to power. Power has the ability to enslave someone in the same way that narcotics, or pornography, or a host of dozens of other elements of substance abuse can.

In fact, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902), an historian and moralist, known more commonly and more simply as Lord Acton, expressed the following oft-quoted opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

But, of course, not all power is bad. As followers of Jesus, we desperately need the empowering of the Holy Spirit in order to live our lives in a manner that moves us ever-forward toward spiritual maturity and greater holiness. We rightfully strive to become more and more like our Savior. That takes a unique brand of God-given power.

The Apostle Paul expresses his desire for a continual influx of godly power in these words from Philippians 3:10-11:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

The greatest expression of power on this earth came when Jesus overcame death and Satan and rose from the grave. In an act impossible for a mere mortal man, the God-man Jesus overcame it all and, though once dead and in the grave from Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning, is now fully and completely alive.

Each new day, we need to ask God for that resurrection power in our own lives. We need to implore Him to grant us ever more of the Holy Spirit’s divine assistance in helping us become the true disciples we want to, and need to, become. So, let’s not hesitate to ask this day for a great outpouring of resurrection power in our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}