Roses of Grace

There's a proverb that goes, "Never trust a skinny chef."  Why not? Well, it becomes clear after a moment—if the chef doesn't appear to eat the fruits of his labor, then there's no reason for you to believe that his fruits are any good. Why should you take the risk for something that won't benefit you?  It's similar with the Christian walk. We're called to shine out the glory and grace of God with all our might, and to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. So often, we take that to mean that we need to walk with purity and holiness—and we should. But there's another side to that command. Walking worthy of our calling isn't walking to show people that we're worthy of the calling. It's walking so that people can see that the calling is worthy.   What do people desire most? Happiness. What is the only way to gain happiness? Well, fellowship in Christ—one of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, after all, is joy. Evangelism is...

There are moments of joy in the lives that we lead, and then there are moments of pain.  Sometimes, you feel weightless. Like nothing has ever been easier than to trust God with everything, because you know how strong he is and how much he loves you. You feel like you have a song inside of you, and that nothing could ever cause that song to falter even for an instant. You're in David's green pastures of Psalm 23, and the still waters are sweet.  But then the Psalm moves on to the next verse, and you have a taste of the valley of the shadow of death.  What happens in times of grief? Of pain? Many of us are experiencing them right now, this very moment, and are probably feeling lost. Grief comes to everybody, no matter how sheltered your life may have been up to this moment—I'm speaking to myself right now, since just a couple years ago I'd never gone through a trial of the same degree that I've come to understand now, whether the understanding came through my own ex...

Today I have an exciting announcement: the Rebelution has published one of my articles!  If you don't know the Rebelution, it's a website designed for Christian teenagers who want to go beyond the low expectations of the world and serve God with their lives. It was started by Brett and Alex Harris when they were 16, and since then it's been a huge encouragement to many teenagers and young people—including me.  Brett and Alex also wrote the book Do Hard Things as a manifesto of what they stand for. It's a wonderful book. If you can get your hands on a copy, then I would highly recommend reading it! My article is titled The Truth About a Christian's Self-Worth . I enjoyed writing it, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share it with you! I'll be back to my normal posting schedule on Wednesday, so stay tuned for another article then.

Over the past six weeks—wow, I can't believe it's been so long—we've reviewed the entire story of the Bible. Obviously, we've simplified some things, and skimmed over others that we didn't have time to cover. It's one reality of writing about the Bible: you'll never have time to do it all, because there's just so much richness. Every word is from God.  However, I'm guessing that a large part of my audience grew up like me, in the church. (If you didn't, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that; it's just my guess.) And therefore, we know these stories. Really well.  What's the point of this series, then? It's just review.  The purpose of this exercise is manifold, so I'll just go through the top three reasons I've spent the last month on a consecutive retelling of the Biblical narrative.    It helps us present the Gospel.  When I was preparing for my baptism in my church, my pastor asked me to give a short Gospel present...

Praise be to God, because God has won. Jesus of Nazareth is alive once more, and he's with his people in Israel. Talking to them, walking with them, eating with them—it almost feels like old times. Except that now, everyone is aware of Jesus's Godhood. And the saving work of the cross is finished. But after some time, Jesus knows that it's time for his life on Earth to come to a close. And after forty days with his disciples in Jerusalem (you didn't think we were done with the number forty, did you?) he prepares to say goodbye.  He gives them a promise. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you," he tells them, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Holy Spirit is going to help them, and they will do great things for God. Having spoken his final words, Jesus is taken up to heaven in a cloud. The cloud hearkens back to the Old Testament image of the prophet Elijah...

A story without hope is nothing but a dark night without any stars.  At the moment, that's where the disciples are. The night has been dark these past few days; the darkness even fell at an unusual hour, right in the middle of the afternoon when Jesus died. Their hope is gone. There is no silver lining—their Messiah, who they had believed was the "way, the truth, and the life," now has no life in him at all. They're doubting his truth, and the way ahead looks bleak.  Meanwhile, Jesus's body lies in the tomb where they put him. A man named Joseph from the town of Arimethea donated the tomb so that he wouldn't be buried in a pauper's field, and would at least be given the dignity of privacy in death. He is wrapped in burial clothes, almost like the swaddling cloths that his mother dressed him with as an infant.  He lies there, lifeless. The Sabbath day passes. On Sunday, three women who had been his followers make the walk to the tomb. They're carrying f...

The moment that Jesus has predicted has come. Judas slips out of the dinner room after Jesus gives him the "go-ahead," so to speak—Jesus's foreknowledge extends to him telling Judas, "What you are going to do, do quickly."  With that, Judas is gone. He makes his way to the Pharisees and tells them that he'll lead them to where Jesus is, for the payment of 30 silver coins. 30 silver coins would be worth just under $200 in today's money, according to this blog post—the Savior of the world, sold for a pittance.  Meanwhile, Jesus has taken some of his closest disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He needs the strength. Prayer isn't just an option for Jesus; it's how he speaks to his Father, and it's an intimate and personal conversation. It's necessary. And Jesus knows that the night ahead is going to be the longest in his life.  Jesus asks his disciples to stay awake and pray with him. But as they're weak and tired, they fall a...

God loves his people. And a long time ago, back in the days of Egypt , he made a way to protect them from the angel of death.  "Take a lamb," he had Moses instruct the people, "a firstborn lamb, spotless and pure. Then kill it, and paint the blood on your doorposts, so that when the Lord goes through in judgement, he will pass over the houses of those who love him."  Israel did, and their children were spared. Ever since then, they have celebrated the Passover feast as a way to remember the great and wonderful deeds of the Lord. Over the years, it has become tradition to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem itself, and hundreds and thousands of people flock to the city every year. Jesus and his disciples are coming to the city, and Jesus finds a young donkey to ride in on. This is a reference to a prophecy from the book of Zechariah, and it’s a bit counter-intuitive—what kind of a king do we expect to ride on a donkey? Shouldn’t he use a great white stallion? But Jesus ...

My purpose for this series is to highlight how the Bible can be read as if it's a long continuous narrative. But inside that long narrative, there are many sub-stories, and last Friday, we saw the beginning of possibly the most important "arc" contained in Scripture.  If that was the introduction and setting, this is the rising action. This is the section where the conflict begins to ramp up, and the characters react to resistance and shape the rest of the story. This is Jesus's public ministry, and he's just getting started.  A notable character that we soon meet is named John. John is, on the surface, quite an odd man. Living in the wilderness and eating bugs, he's not the kind of person you'd really expect to be the fulfillment of a long-standing prophecy that has been awaited for generations. But that's exactly what he is. John is Elijah . He is the one sent by God to pave the way for the Messiah, and his life fulfills the same purpose as Elijah...

Throughout this whole series, we've seen instances of foreshadowing. Time and time again, we've been pointed to a coming Savior: the seed of the woman , a shepherd king , Elijah . But we haven't yet seen what's to come of all these prophesies. Today, we've finally made it.  500 years after the final exile of the Jewish people, the children of Israel are under the rule of a new empire: Rome. This had been prophesied during the control of the Babylonians by an Israelite named Daniel, and has finally come about.  Against this historical backdrop, an angel named Gabriel—a heavenly being unlike anything mankind has seen before—is sent by God to a teenage girl named Mary. Mary isn't very exceptional, as girls go; we don't know much about her history. We do know, however, that she's engaged to be married to a young man named Joseph, and that she's most decidedly not married to him yet.  Gabriel gives Mary a message. Soon, he says, the promised Savior will ...

Unfortunately, the heights that Israel reach don't last forever.  After David dies (and after some disputes over the succession of the throne are resolved), his son Solomon takes over. God grants an unusual level of wisdom to the new king, as per his request, and he governs his kingdom well—but it isn't enough to save Israel from the curse that all men are under .  Solomon, being a king in the thousands BC, has certain temptations that he struggles with. First of all, he tries to make Israel great—sounds fine on the surface, but his motivation is not God-honoring. He takes the large and grand palace that he lives in, and builds another, larger and grander. The amount of horses and chariots he has at his disposal skyrockets; a small thing, but one that represents a larger problem at hand.  Solomon's greatest achievement during his rule is the temple. Built over many years by the most skillful of craftsmen, the temple is truly magnificent. No more does the presence of God d...

Does the word "foreshadowing" seem like a word to you anymore? Because there's just so much of it here that there's no way we can catch it all.  Saul's kingship is bringing the nation of Israel to a moral low. They're plagued by war with the surrounding Philistines, and it seems like their troubles will never end.  Enter: David.  David is a farm boy from small-town Israel (he's born in Bethlehem, a city that, surprise, is hugely important later), a shepherd, who doesn't look like he'd know how to handle any real combat. He's always been the youngest of his family, the underdog. As a shepherd, he's had to defend his flock from the dangers that surround them; lions, bears, and wolves, he's had to learn to fight.  One day, the prophet Samuel comes to the house of David's father and anoints him as the next king of Israel. It's unheard of, picking the youngest son for such a high honor. But Samuel does it, and David's family wo...

It's like God's people have been given a newly created identity. Having been brought out of captivity in Egypt by the power of the Lord God Almighty, they immediately pledge to serve him forever, and that they'll always remember all that he's done for them.  And then, immediately afterwards, they fail.  After the Israelites have completely exited Egypt, they face the challenge of crossing over the Red Sea, a large body of water that the Israelites have no way of passing over. Even worse, Pharaoh has changed his mind about letting them go, and is pursuing with chariots and horsemen. It doesn't look good for the people of Israel—until God tells Moses to stretch out his hand above the waters, and the sea miraculously parts to either side. Israel walks through, and the waves crash down upon the Egyptian armies, leaving God's people untouched.  The Israelites rejoice, and continue onward to Mount Sinai, where God gives Moses a list of commandments for his people to f...