Tag Archives: Hebrews

We Are Torches Ablaze For God

torches

One of the most commonly shared experiences has got to be lighting candles on a birthday cake. You know how it goes: you take one candle & light it. Then you light the other candles with it until they are all lit.

That is exactly how the Holy Spirit ignites our hearts for the Gospel; individually, until we are all burning. Even the smallest candle has the potential to set a whole forest ablaze. That is how Grace grows! LIKE AN INFERNO!

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. – 1 John 1:7

A candle without the Flame is useless. It’s just wax & some string. But the candle ABLAZE becomes powerful (Psa. 18:28). Now it’s a beacon (Matt. 5:14-16). That shift is solely due to the Source: God, who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).

He kindles us (Luke 12:49).

As lanterns for the Gospel we carry the light of God’s truth through this present darkness (Eph. 6:12). A torch cannot help but burn & bear light. Neither can we (John 12:46; 8:12)!

We, the kindled, the ignited, the aflame – spread those sparks into a roaring wildfire.

William L. Watkinson said “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Yelling at the night never did any good. No, we overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

Now, don’t expect the world to like your torch (John 15:18). Don’t expect a Thank-You card & some flowers. No, light DESTROYS darkness. So for them, its self-preservation. Don’t be surprised when the world turns on you. They like it in the dark, can’t stand any light, & don’t want His light cast on their dark. They like to be covered in a blanket of shadows.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. – John 3:19

It is the appearance of light that kills darkness. Light douses dark. Darkness can’t extinguish the torch. Never! No, darkness has to flee (John 3:19).

With one word, the darkness is vanquished. That word is JESUS!

– If this blessed you, please like & share!

Inspired by: X Ambassadors, “Torches”

Like Kids Playing in the Street

icy street 2

The road in front of our house was nothing but ice, so of course Charlotte wanted to go ice skating on it. We were crossing the street & she stopped to play around. I let her do that for a little while, but then I told her to come in. Like any other kid, I had to tell her multiple times before it got through that I was actually serious. Eventually, I had to go get her. For some reason this was all a great surprise to her & she appropriately made a big fuss.

Here’s what WAS going through my head:

  • She’s going to fall on that ice & get hurt.
  • She’s little, so any car coming might not see her.
  • Its icy, so any car coming may have a hard time stopping.
  • It’s cold out here & warm in the house.
  • I have hot chocolate inside ready for her.

Here’s what was NOT going through my head:

  • I don’t want her to have fun.

Someone who has not accepted Jesus, is like that kid playing in the street. There are cars coming. There is ice everywhere. The sun is going down & it is getting dark.

Love isn’t sitting complicit as they are play. Love is warning them to get out!

Of course, we can’t physically go get people out of the street like I did with Charlotte. We lovingly tell them the truth (Eph. 4:15). We tell them how warm the house is & what a wonderful feast there is inside (Isa. 25:6). We tell them how we also used to play in the street until our Father beckoned us safely away (Luke 15:32). We pray that message pierces their hearts as it did ours (Acts 2:37). But then, it is up to them to turn away from the street & to the Father (Deut. 30:19).

You know what? I did go over there & ice skate with Lovey. Sorta. I held her hands as she scooted across the ice. I walked along beside her & held her up. She slipped a few times, but I never let her fall. I just reassured her, “I got you. I got you. Don’t worry.”

Then after a bit, I carried her inside & we had hot chocolate. God will meet you where you are & if you let Him, He will walk along beside you & hold you up. When you slip, He will never let you fall.

He has you (Isa. 49:16). He has you (Heb. 13:5). Don’t worry (Phil. 4:6).

– If this blessed you, please like & share!

Propitiation

I John 2:2
I John 2:2

Stick with me on this one.

Got a church word for you today: propitiation. From the Greek hilasterion “to appease/that which expiates/the gift that procures divine favor.” It’s used only once in the New Testament:

“And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” I John 2:2 (KJV)

“Propitiation” is also alluded to with the Ark of the Covenant, particularly the mercyseat or atonement cover in Hebrews 9:5. The mercy seat was sprinkled with atoning blood on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14). This all represented that the sentence of the Law had been carried out changing a judgment seat into… what? A mercy seat. Still with me?

Propitiation means that God is satisfied with the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross. It is not a representation. It is literal. Jesus’s literal blood has been sprinkled for us to atone for the sentence of the Law. Changing what would be judgement into… what? That’s right: MERCY.

Isn’t that incredible?

Let me put it to you this way: Imagine a courtroom where the judge declares the defendant guilty and then has an innocent bystander pay for the crimes of the defendant. Outrageous, is it not? But that’s exactly how it works. “He is righteous, so much so that a sacrifice for sin had to be provided. He is loving, so much so that he provided that sacrifice Himself.” (Millard Erickson “Christian Doctrine”)

Like the song goes, “He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay.”

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” Romans 3:23-25 (NIV)

  • Jesus is our advocate. (1 John 2:1)
  • Jesus is our mediator. (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 12:24)
  • Jesus is our interceder. (Romans 8:34)
  • Jesus turns our seat from one of judgement to one of mercy.

I heard it put like this: Jesus goes to bat for us.

Jesus is our propitiation. He is our atonement. Without Him advocating and mediating and interceding we could never pay the debt owed. We would be thrown into prison. Our sentence would be for life without parole.

Without the shedding of His precious blood, we would be doomed.

May God’s Love be with you

Weight Loss

Hebrews 12:1
Hebrews 12:1

Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story once that always stuck with me. It was called, “Harrison Bergeron.” It told of a future where the government forced people to wear “handicaps” in order to make everyone equal. If you were really graceful, you wore heavy weights to make you clumsy. If you were handsome, you had to wear a hideous mask. That way no one felt insecure or sad about not being as graceful or as handsome as anyone else.

Anyways, there’s a scene in which a beautiful ballerina is on TV. She is weighted down with 200lb weights because she is so incredibly graceful. She is masked because of her great beauty. Of course, her dance is not very good. It’s been “handicapped” so much that she is now average.

This is political fiction. However, the tragic image of that ballerina trying so hard to perform even though she is so clearly hindered perfectly illustrates how sin can literally weigh us down.

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us” (Hebrews 12:1, HCSB).

Think of it this way: sin has actual weight. We are told to lay aside the sin. We all know that. But we are also told to lay aside the weight. Extra weight slows our progress. Sin slows our progress. Sin ensnares us. It trips us up. Just like the ballerina weighted down, if we are full of the weight of sin, our performance will suffer.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24, NIV).

David was a man who knew the weight of sin. He knew all too well just how ensnaring it can be. But he also knew the sweet freedom that comes with throwing off that weight. He knew how much easier it was to continue on the path of righteousness without it!

Want to lose some unnecessary weight? Lay aside sin! But please don’t dare think you can do this weight-loss program on your own. Ask Jesus for help. He’s the only one that can take every weight and the sin that SO EASILY ensnares us, and cast it aside so we can join him in the light.

May God’s Love be with you