John 20:24-29

"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” NKJ.

Thomas has the ignoble reputation of being “Doubting Thomas.” I wonder who first gave him that epithet. Certainly, it’s not in scripture, and yet it may not be without merit. It’s obvious that the Lord rebuked, however gently, Thomas for failing to believe even though he didn’t see. For doubting.

What’s interesting is that Thomas hadn’t dropped to a level of faith any lower than any of the other disciples. In fact, all he lacked was their same experience. The Lord had already appeared to them! So, the expectation wasn’t that all of the disciples were required to believe without seeing. There must be something else, then, in this account. Perhaps Jesus’ seeming admonition wasn’t an admonition at all, but rather a teaching lesson, one aimed more at those of us who would follow.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The word “blessed” means happy or fortunate. To me, that doesn’t make sense? How can not seeing Jesus make someone happy or fortunate? How is it fortunate not to actually see Him, to actually touch Him?

What does it mean to not see and yet believe? Hebrews 11:1 may give us the answer and the Living version, while still a paraphrase, says it very plainly:

“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.”

Also 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJ): “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Even though we cannot see it, it is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. We walk by faith, not by sight.

To not see and yet believe is to have faith, to trust. And there is so much in the Bible on faith! It must be very important to God.

• The just live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17)
• Our sins will be forgiven because of our faith (Matthew 9:2; Luke 5:20)
• We will be healed because of our faith (Matthew 9:22, 29, 15:28; Mark 2:5, 5:34, 10:52; Luke 7:50, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42; Acts 14:9)
• We can move mountains with faith (Matthew 17:20, 21:21)
• What matters to God is faith (Matthew 23:23)
• Fear will be gone; faith is the opposite of fear (Mark 4:40)
• God will take care of our needs because of our faith (Luke 12:28)
• We can move trees with faith (Luke 17:5)
• We can pray for others and they will be healed because of our faith (Acts 3:16)
• We can do wonders and signs because of our faith (Acts 6:8)
• Salvation comes only through faith (Romans 1:5, 3:22, 25; Eph. 2:8)
• We are justified by faith (Romans 3:28, 30; 5:1; Galatians 2:6, 3:11)
• Our faith is accounted for righteousness (it takes place of having to be fully righteous within ourselves) (Romans 4:5, 9)
• Salvation was offered to us, as the Gentiles, because of faith (Romans 4:16)
• We are strengthened because of faith (Romans 4:20)
• We have peace with God because of faith (Romans 5:1)
• We have access to God because of faith (Romans 5:2; Eph. 3:12)
• We can use our gifts (of the Spirit) because of faith (Romans 12:6)
• We stand (persevere) because of our faith (2 Cor. 1:24)
• We are supplied the Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:5, 14)
• We are blessed because of faith (Galatians 3:9)
• We are sons of God through faith (Galatians 3:26)
• Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17)
• We are unified, brought together, through faith (Eph. 4:13)
• We can quench Satan’s darts with faith (Eph. 6:16)
• We are righteous through faith (Phil. 3:9)
• We are raised with Christ through faith (Col. 2:12)

This is an amazing list! And it’s certainly not meant to be complete, but it does illustrate the importance of faith. It also shows us why we are blessed when we have faith, for without faith, we would have none of this. This all comes when we are willing to trust God without seeing! Unfortunately, we are people who like to see, who like to have things proven to us and even then we sometimes don’t believe. And when we demand that God prove Himself or His love to us, I think we place ourselves in the position of losing out on these many, many blessings.
When we are content to trust and not to demand evidence, when we are content to believe and not to doubt, we have access to all of this. And faith, like love, isn’t a feeling, but a choice. We choose to trust; we choose to believe. Or we choose to doubt.

We always believe something. When we doubt the Lord, it is because we are believing something else, usually either our own emotions or thoughts, or the circumstances around us. And yet we know that our senses can lie to us. They aren’t trustworthy.

Have you ever just eaten and you know you’re full? But then you go buy a hamburger joint and things smell so good and you have this craving?? Your sense of smell is lying to you. You aren’t hungry, but your sense of smell is so strong that it makes your brain say: Eat! Eat! Eat!

Or have you ever looked at an optical illusion? You just know that the picture is one thing, only to discover that your eyes lied to you and the picture is actually something else.

Our senses–and our brain interpreting those impulses–can lie to us. We can think that something is one way only to discover that the truth is quite different. So when we trust, believe, have faith in our circumstances as being the truth of God, we can actually be believing a lie. God calls us to trust Him because He’s trustworthy. He calls us to have faith because it is through faith that the conduit to believing Him and allowing Him is opened. The Spirit is freed to work in our lives when we have faith.

Now does that mean that He will necessarily change our circumstances? No. Hebrews 11:39 tells us that even those great ones in the Old Testament who had faith didn’t receive the promise. Why? Because God had something even better planned! When He leaves our circumstances alone, it is because He is doing even a greater thing. We need to trust that His plan is far better than anything we can imagine.

I think that Jesus admonished Thomas, not to rebuke him, but rather to teach us about faith, to give us that promise! Rather than being Doubting Thomas, perhaps he is rather Thomas the Example. Thomas is like us, wanting to see, rather than to believe, because seeing is easier. But Jesus calls on us to believe because having faith is far better than seeing . . . at least in this life.

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Daniel 3:15-18

Daniel 3:15-18

[Nebuchadnezzar said], “Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?"
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." (NKJ)

Living: “If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand, Your Majesty. But if he doesn't, please understand, sir, that even then we will never under any circumstance serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have erected."

God is able to deliver, but even if He doesn’t, we will continue to serve Him and not sin.

How often do we place the strength of our faith on our circumstances? On what we think or expect God to do, rather than on His character? How often do we put our faith aside when hard times come, thinking that by being believers we should be excused?

There isn’t much said about these three men in scripture. They are mentioned earlier in Daniel as being with him in refusing to sin by eating foods forbidden by the Law and they are three of the ones Daniel set up as governors. But other than that, there is no mention. In other words, they weren’t great preachers. They simply worked in a foreign place, kept themselves clean of the sin of that society, and were willing to give up their lives for God. Actually, that’s a lot! Think just about living in a foreign place. No familiar foods. Away from your family. Strange language, strange customs, always wondering what the next “impossible” demand might be. These young men had very little security in their lives aside from their faith.

When the Israelites were first taken into captivity, King Nebuchadnezzar decided to take the best and the brightest and train them for his court. Daniel and these three young men were among those chosen. The king, believing that giving them the best of life would produce the best in them, sent all kinds of delicacies for them to eat. But Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego felt that these things would defile him and so declined, preferring to eat simply vegetables and drink water. They could have eaten the same delicious food as the king, but knowing that the king didn’t have a kosher kitchen, remained eating plain simple foods. In other words, from the beginning, they were giving up, living sacrificially.

You might think that simply having to live in a different country as a slave might be enough sacrifice in one’s life to satisfy God. But God is, I think, much more concerned with our character than our circumstances. His purpose is never to reward us here in this life, but to prepare us for the next. And a far greater sacrifice faced the three young men when they were faced with being thrown into the furnace.

The fire was so hot that the men who threw them in perished. And while the three young men were saved, miraculously, without even a singe on their hair, they had no idea that God would work a miracle. They were simply willing to serve Him, even if it meant dying for Him. Are we? Are we willing to serve God to the point of dying for Him? Are we willing to give up all creature comforts in order to remain pure for Him? These accounts were given to us in scripture in order to be examples for us (1 Cor. 10:11). The question is . . . will we heed the example, step up the pace, and learn to live one hundred percent for the Lord?

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

2 Peter 1:3-8

2 Peter 1:3-8

“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. [5] Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; [6] and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; [7] and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NAS)

I was reading my Wesley devotional this morning and it focused on this passage. I was intrigued by two sentences ending the short devotional: “Our diligence is to follow the gift of God. And diligence is followed by an increase of all His gifts.” Earlier Wesley explains the significance of the word translated here as applying:

“Giving all diligence—a very uncommon word which we render giving. It signifies bringing in over and above; implying that God works the work, yet not unless we are diligent.”

I looked at Strong’s and it gave, as the definition of pareisphero: to bear alongside, i.e. introduce simultaneously. (Strong’s G3923). The NASB Greek & Hebrew Dictionary gave, as the definition: To bring in, to supply besides (NASB Greek 3923).

This passage intrigues me because I think it is an excellent concise description of the process of maturing as a believer. So I’m going to pull the passage apart in order to understand it.

For by these (v 4) looks back to His own glory and excellence. So by His glory and excellent come His precious and magnificent promises.

Why?

So that (still v 4) we might become partakes of the divine nature, having escape the corruption of the world. The corruption of the world is sin. The divine nature is both perfect and eternal. Thus, the promise is that we are partakers of that which is perfect (without sin) and eternal (everlasting) because He promised it so. That is the result of salvation.

Now for this reason (v 5) refers back to the promises that we have received: being made without sin and eternal. Because of that, and applying all diligence. I agree with Wesley that this phrase—applying all diligence—is the center of this entire passage. Without it, the entire dynamic falls apart because it separates us, as believers, from the first part. God does the first—giving us the promises of being partakers of the divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world—and we do the second.

In a second, this is similar to If-Then promise, only grammatically set about opposite. It’s actually more of a Because He did-We should do kind of structure. The ending of the structure is also different. In an If-Then promise, if we do something, then God has promised that He will respond in a certain way. In this passage, God has already done His part, but if we fail to respond as we should, then a certain result takes place.

• God has granted to us His promises: (1) partakers of the divine nature and (2) escape from the corruption in the world (sin)
• If we apply all diligence (v 5) in doing a set of things, then we will end up being neither useless nor unfruitful. In other words, we will end up being useful and fruitful.

What are the things we are to apply with all diligence?

• v 5: moral excellence, and then . . .
• v 5: knowledge, and then . . .
• v 6: self-control, and then . . .
• v 6: perseverance, and then . . .
• v 6: godliness, and then . . .
• v 7: brotherly kindness, and then . . .
• v 7: love

This sequence begins in v 5 with the Greek word epichoregeo (Strong’s G2023). The meaning is “to furnish besides, to aid or contribute, to nourish.” The NASB dictionary fully defines it as “to supply.” The English dictionary (Merriam-Webster Online) gives three main emphases for the word supply: to add as a supplement, to provide, to substitute. I think that definitely the first two apply: to supplement and to provide. So, then we look at the sequence. Now, this is a very interesting sequence, particularly when you think about the focus in contemporary churches where we often stress that we are to love each other, but we seldom talk about personal moral excellence. We seem to think that if we begin with love, that all other things will follow. But, it seems that Peter is telling us that there is a long journey prior to learning to love and the first step of that journey is moral excellence followed by knowledge, then self-control, then perseverance, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, and then, finally, love.

Love is very difficult. I think most of us would admit that. To love our neighbor (who is awful), to love our enemy (who harms us). These kinds of love are very difficult. But to have moral excellence? That is easier, just not as comfortable discussing, because it means that there are things in our lives that we need to toss out. And some of those are near and dear to our hearts. I won’t make a list because it may be that my list will be different from yours. But what are the things that draw me into the world? That distract me from prayer, from confession, from study? What are the things that promote my pride, my hard-heartedness? It’s very likely that we easily can identify these things (though we would rather not). In our walk toward love, these are the things that we should begin with, supplying this portion with all diligence. When we give up these things completely, then we are ready to move onto the next step which is knowledge of our Savior and His heart for the world.

Are you ready? I want to be. That is my prayer for today.

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

God isn’t McDonald’s.

I’m gone from home for a week, living out of suitcases, hotels, and, unfortunately, fast food restaurants (if you can put “fast food” and “restaurant” in the same sentence). Unlike children who usually clamor for their favorite junk food, most of us know that after a day or two your body rebels at eating fast food. I’m grateful for the microwave and small fridge in my hotel room and a super Wal-Mart that sells salads!

But the point is this: Most fast food joints are now promising your meal within so many minutes or it’s free. And you get it: all the sawdust, processed sugar, and dirt (yes, dirt!) you can eat and within five minutes, no less. And I think we’ve become so accustomed to having what we want when we want it that we’ve forgotten: God isn’t McDonald’s. (Thank goodness.) The really good things in life most often don’t come in five minutes.

Wisdom . . . patience . . . knowledge . . . love. None of those things develop within us in five minutes or even five days. Some not even within five years! The really good things in life take time. Thankfully, for our God, time is never an issue. He never runs out of time because He created it. Father God can change anything, fix anything, and heal anything because He has enough time to do it. He always has enough time. And He encourages us to trust Him with that time to do what He has already promised He will do.

The Bible is full of promises about waiting on God. And what does it mean to wait on God? It means giving Him enough time to do what He already wants to do in our lives.

Psalm 27:14 (NKJ): Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!

Psalm 37:7a (NKJ): Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Psalm 37:9 (NKJ): For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:34a (NKJ): Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land;

Proverbs 20:22 (NKJ): Do not say, "I will recompense evil"; wait for the Lord, and He will save you.

Isaiah 30:18b (NKJ): Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJ): But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 49:23 (NKJ): You will know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.

Here are all the things these verses promise that God will do when we agree to wait for Him:

• Strengthen our hearts
• Inherit the earth
• Exalt us to inherit the land
• Save us
• Bless us
• Renew our strength
• Not be ashamed

There are blessings waiting for us if we wait on the Lord. Now waiting on the Lord is hard because it means we wait. We don’t plan, we don’t do; we simply wait. We pray, we trust, we wait. In this culture of making “to do” lists, planners, and go-go-go, it’s hard to wait. Those around us may think we are crazy for waiting. But when we wait, God works miracles!

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Colossians 3:22-23

“You slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not only trying to please them when they are watching you but all the time; obey them willingly because of your love for the Lord and because you want to please Him. Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters” (Liv)

I suppose many in America have been watching the news reports about a certain actress who has been sentenced to jail for her failure to obey previous court judgements. What’s stood out to me is her protests that she is doing what she was supposed to do. Obviously the judge disagreed. But it made me think of many of my students who will do what they think is the minimum required and then protest when they find that the minimum (what they thought was the minimum) was simply not enough.

We have created a society where we think that doing the minimum is enough, in fact, more than enough. Rather than strive to do our best, we seem to want to reserve our resources for other endeavors and, instead, are only willing to give the minimum to others. This certainly isn’t the will of the Lord for the Lord wants us to give our best—even more than our best—to others as if we were giving to Him. Paul admonishes us to “obey [our masters] willingly because of our love for the Lord and because we want to please Him” (v. 22). The fact is, even though very few exist as true slaves these days, we are partial slaves. When we are at work or at school, we are not our own; we are, in a sense, slaves to those who rule over us, our masters whether those masters are our bosses or our teachers.

What Paul says is interesting in its completeness. He says: “You must always obey your earthly masters.” The sense isn’t that we are to do those things that are illegal (if they are asked of us), but rather, as the verse concludes, that we are to obey them even when they aren’t looking. So, even when our bosses don’t expect our best, we are still suppose to give it. We are to “work hard and cheerfully at all we do.”

The NKJV has an interesting translation: “obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart.” Not with eyeservice. In other words, not just for what others might see (and then commend us to), but as unto the One Who sees all we do. We are to work hard, to do our best, because ultimately we serve God.

The Lord Jesus always asks us to go the extra mile:

“If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away” (Matthew 5:40-42 NKJV)

The hardest workers, the most cheerful, the most committed . . . that should describe each of us all the time. We serve the King of Kings! There isn’t a better boss than He!

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Psalm 34:1

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Life is crazy right now, simply crazy.

I’ve been doing a lot of retrospection lately. I’m 56 years old. Both of my moms—my real mom and my biological mom—died at 63. That doesn’t mean that I will because my days are in the Lord’s hands, but it has given me pause. What if I only have about five years left? What legacy do I have?

Usually we think about legacies as to what we will leave here on earth: our children, some contribution that improved humanity, some impact on the future. But any of those legacies assume that this world will keep on keepin’ on. It won’t. The apostle John, in his vision, saw the earth destroyed and replaced by a new creation:

Rev. 21:1 NKJ: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

So, any legacy that I might think of leaving here is a mote issue. Who knows how long it will be before the Lord returns and changes everything? Even if it’s thousands of years, anything that I leave here will eventually be destroyed. No, the legacy that I need to leave needs to be in heavenly terms, needs to effect the relationship that I have with the Lord.

The apostle Paul talked about the futility of what we do and how we need to put our treasure—our legacy, as it were—in heaven:

1 Cor. 3:10b-15 NKJ: “But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

There is a legacy that we each are building, but it isn’t a legacy here. It isn’t with our children, our churches, our jobs, or anything else in our lives, but rather what we are doing for Christ. Now, we can say that something is done for Christ, but if it is done with the wrong motives, it will burn and not last. And yet, we can also do something that seems so inconsequential, and yet that will be the thing that last because we do it to please the Lord.

How can we bless the Lord? With praise, with thanksgiving, with trust. I’m convinced that the Lord is much less concerned with changing our circumstances than He is with changing our character. Why? Because it is through our character that we build those things that will last. When we focus on the Lord by blessing Him, by praising Him, regardless of what’s happening around us, we are building those things that will last.

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.