He knows your name

Even as we begin this year, may we remember that He is with us

Confidence

I am confident and unafraid. (Isaiah 12:2) 

Confidence. It’s something we all want and need. But what’s the source of our confidence? The world says it’s because of who we are and what we are capable of doing. But as Christians, we believe it’s because of who God is and what he has already done for us. 

In today’s psalm response, Isaiah declares that he is confident because his “strength” and “courage is the Lord” (12:2). And in the first reading, Paul says we have confidence through our faith in Jesus (Ephesians 3:12). Of course, it’s easy to say that our confidence comes from God. But how can we make this spiritual truth affect the way we live each day? Here are a few suggestions.

Our true confidence lies in knowing, deep down, that we have a Father in heaven who loves us and is always with us. We can lean on him at all times, and trust that he will supply all that we need. So try to get into the habit of thanking God for his love and faithfulness. The more you consciously express your gratitude, the more confident you will become that God always has your back. 

It’s easy to feel confident when things are going well. But when we face challenges that we don’t know how to handle, our confidence can quickly shrivel up. Again, you can make the conscious decision to surrender the situation to God. Even if you don’t “feel” any different, even if you keep taking back your surrender, keep it up. God sees your faith, and he will find a way to show you that he is still with you to help you and to guide you. 

Finally, you can build your confidence in God by recalling stories about his faithfulness in the Scriptures and the lives of the saints. Remember how God parted the Red Sea when the Israelites were literally up against a wall (of water). Remember how God helped David defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:46). Remember how Mother Teresa pressed on against enormous odds to keep caring for the poorest of the poor. Tell yourself, “God helped them, and he will help me.”

We can never exhaust God’s strength and courage. So be confident that you can rely on the One who will give you all you need! 

“Father, you are my strength!”

from wau.org

Don't be hindered

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. (Matthew 9:13) 

Despised as a collaborator with the Romans, Matthew knew that his job as a tax collector was nothing to be proud of. Or at least he shouldn’t have been proud to be a tax collector. His hard-earned wealth only brought him contempt and rejection from his own people. He probably endured snide remarks from his townspeople, and it’s possible that he had begun to believe them. Whatever he thought, when he heard Jesus call him, Matthew did not hesitate. All his sinful ways, all the ways he had mistreated people, and all the unworthiness that must have accompanied such behavior dissipated. There was something special about Jesus, and Matthew was not about to let any obstacle—real or perceived—stand in his way.

It can be easy to buy into the lie that you are unworthy to answer Jesus’ call. Don’t believe it! Don’t imagine that your sins or weaknesses have convinced Jesus to pass you by in favor of a more worthy candidate. Remember what he said to the people who objected to his calling of Matthew: “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). We are all sinners, and still, Jesus calls all of us: “Follow me” (9:9). He wants you to be with him.

So don’t let your sins and failings hinder your yes to the Lord. Quite the opposite—they are the perfect opportunity to show the world how merciful he is. Tradition tells us that Matthew went on to evangelize the very Jews he had once scandalized. The evidence of his change of heart must have made a deep impression on many of them. 

Today, if you are feeling unworthy, remember Matthew. Remember God’s kindness and mercy toward him. Remember the freedom and joy he felt when he left his old life behind and accepted Jesus’ invitation. God has called you and chosen you because he loves you just as much as he loved Matthew. He wants to silence that voice of unworthiness. Whether Jesus is calling you to leave behind a pattern of sin, to grow closer to him in prayer, to serve your community in a new way, or some combination of all three, say yes. Jump at his invitation, and let him change your life.

“Jesus, thank you for the invitation to follow you. Help me to say yes to your call!”

So much more

Stretch out your hand. (Luke 6:10) 

Critics play an important role in the music world. They help the public to evaluate what is good, and by doing so, they set standards for music. But critics can also be closed to anything new or different. For example, one of Bach’s students called his music “turgid and confused.” A contemporary of Mozart called his music “overloaded and overstuffed.” One critic said of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: “It was hard to figure out what all the noise was about.”

You could say that some Pharisees of Jesus’ day had become like those critics. In their zeal to preserve the Law, they had attached their own limited expectations to it. One of those limitations was that they taught that curing the sick was forbidden on the Sabbath—unless the sick person was in danger of death. The man whom Jesus healed in the synagogue had only a withered hand, so that clearly didn’t qualify. These Pharisees weren’t willing to admit that God could go beyond their assumptions of what the Law was all about.

This attitude can affect us as well. We can view our own assumptions about God as being the only thing that matters, and end up limiting him as a result. But our heavenly Father wants to take us beyond our expectations, both of who he is and of who we can become. He is not interested in healing you just enough so that you can squeak your way into heaven. He is a generous Father. He wants to fill you with so much grace that you dance through his gates joyfully, bringing countless people behind you whose lives you have touched!

Do you think it’s possible that you can know the Lord even more deeply than you do right now? Do you think it’s possible that you might be able to pray with someone and see them healed? Don’t be like those music critics with their limited expectations! God has great plans for you. So go ahead and stretch out your hand in faith and see how God fills you with his life, his love, and his power.

“Lord, open my eyes. Help me to see how much you have blessed me in the past, so that I can be open to receive your grace in the future.”

from wau.org

"Take my yoke"

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Think about all the times we hear commands in radio and TV ads. “Start using your checkout account today!” “Don’t lose your reward!” “Buy now and save!” Such commands, clearly, are designed to stir us to action. 

Jesus sometimes speaks this way to us, too. In today’s Gospel reading, for instance, he issues a compelling command, one with promises attached that far outstrip any promise made by any advertiser. Come to me! he commands, and I will give you rest, he promises (Matthew 11:28).

And yet Jesus knows how easy it is for us to set aside his command to come to him and so miss out on his promise of rest. We have all kinds of reasons why we don’t come to him. Guilt or shame can keep us away because we feel unworthy to be in Jesus’ presence. Or maybe we are feeling overwhelmed, so busy trying to get things done that we just don’t feel we can make the time for God. Distractions, especially the “noise” we face every day from the myriad forms of media and entertainment, can make it difficult to quiet our minds and settle into Jesus’ presence. Or we might be tempted to think, “I’m okay. I don’t need to rest with Jesus right now. I can do this if I just work harder.”

Whatever the reason, Jesus still says, Come! Come to me when you’re feeling bad about yourself. Come to me even when you think you’re too busy. Come especially when you’re distracted. Come when you are depressed or anxious or lonely. Come, even if you think you can do something without me.

So what are you waiting for? Using your faith and your imagination, place yourself in Jesus’ presence right now. Tell him what’s on your mind—your burdens, your victories, your worries, your workload. Even tell him about your sins. He won’t judge you; he’ll forgive you! Then close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. You may not feel anything right away, but you can still trust that he is pouring his blessings on you—precisely because you came to him. 

“Jesus, I need your rest, so I come to you to take on your yoke and learn from you.”

from wau.org

Bearing fruit even in the midst of challenges (1 Peter 1:3-9)

As Christians we have been chosen to bear fruit. But at the same time challenges and difficulties come into our lives in one form or the other. Many of us may be experiencing this today. From family, to work, to school, there might be one hurdle or another that needs to be overcome. So how do we continue to bear fruit even in the midst of these challenges? Though this is a difficult topic Jesus reminds us In John 16:33 that in this world we will have tribulation. But we must take heart because He has overcome the world.

 In our main text, St. Peter was writing to the church in the Roman provinces, in present day Turkey, during a time of persecution in his role as the head of the church in Rome. Its interesting that in the midst of the hardship Peter first and foremost decided to remind them of what they already had as believers in Christ. In vs 3-4, he reminded them of the living hope they have in the risen Christ who has given them an imperishable inheritance. Why was this reminder important? One would have expected that the first point in Peter’s letter might be to empathize with the persecuted people, or maybe show them some survival techniques, rather he chose to first remind them of who they belong to, who they are and what they already have. 

During the time of challenges it is easy to lose sight of the victorious life Christ has already secured for us on the cross. You can imagine that the daily struggles of surviving persecution might constantly be in the forefront of the minds of these persecuted Christians. Peter saw the need to first bring back their focus to the foundation of the faith; Jesus. To continue bearing fruit even in the ups and downs of life, we must fix our eyes on Jesus. The Lord Himself reminds us in John 15, that we the branches, need to remain in Him, the vine. To remain always takes an effort especially when there are other factors trying to gain our attention. Peter is drawing our minds to the need to spend even more time in prayer, scripture study and fellowship during times of difficulty in order not to lose sight of Jesus and His work on the cross for us. He reminds us of the need to keep in mind that we have access to an unfading inheritance, kept in heaven for us which is shielded by God’s power. Inheritance bestowed from a will is always finite. Either its supply reduces or its value diminishes. However St. Peter is reminding us of what we already have, our heavenly inheritance which is guarded by God Himself. What a blessing!!

 In Ephesians 1, St Paul reminds us of this inheritance: We have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing, in Christ we have been chosen to be holy and blameless in His sight, in Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins and in Him we have the promised seal of the Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.  In order to remain fruitful during challenges we have to remind ourselves of these truths. We have to remind ourselves of who we are, whom we belong to and what we have.

Secondly, St. Peter reminds us in vs 6-7, that our challenges are a means to an end and not an end in itself. In verse 7, Peter comments that our challenges should be seen as a way of refining our faith, bringing honor and praise to Jesus. We see this lived out in the lives of the apostles as we read in the book of Acts, where after several floggings and imprisonments the apostles still moved ahead spreading the gospel with a renewed resolve. Their faith was strengthened to continue to bear more fruit. To be fruitful in challenging times, we need to consider our challenges as opportunities for growth in the faith. In Hebrews 11 we read of the great women and men of faith who had travailed through several conditions to bring glory to God through their fruits. From Abraham to David we see how holding on during challenges enabled them to grow from strength to strength in their faith, bearing the fruits we now see and read about.  We see this same mindset in St Paul. He writes in Romans 5:8: “Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. Again he states in Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Its necessary that we have this outlook in our lives that we see our challenges as opportunities for growth which lead to fruit bearing bringing glory to the Lord.

Thirdly, to be fruitful in the midst of challenges we need to remain connected to the community of believers. St Paul writes in Hebrews 10:25 “²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The need for community cannot be over emphasized. Right from the beginning of the church, in the book of Acts, we read of how believers met for fellowship with the breaking of bread and the reading of scripture. The essence of community living is seen highlighted throughout scripture. We see this sense of community among Jesus and His disciples right to the early church communities established by the apostles as they moved evangelizing from place to place. By remaining connected to the community we receive encouragement to move ahead in our times of difficulty through the sharing of testimonies and communal prayer. The community of faith serves as a huge resource for pulling through challenging times to bear fruit for the kingdom. A typical example of the effect of community living can be seen in the life of Barnabas. We read in the book of Acts 9 of how Barnabas stood by Paul in his time of difficulty when the rest of the disciples were afraid to associate with him due to his history. Because of the action and encouragement of Barnabas, Paul became an integral part of the mission of spreading the gospel. I pray that we will become even more, a people of community, that our challenges will drive us closer even as we share and encourage one another, so that as a unified body of Christ, we will bear lasting fruits for His glory.

Lastly, to remain fruitful in the midst of challenges, we must learn to totally rely on the Holy Spirit. In John 14 Jesus reminds us that He will not leave us as orphans. He will send us His Spirit, and we see this being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Brothers and sisters, we have the Holy Spirit, our comforter and our advocate. He speaks to us and we must learn to listen and rely on Him. The saving action of the Holy Spirit is seen so many times in the scriptures. We see this clearly in the book of Acts where a persecuted and fearful group of disciples are transformed to bold bearers of fruits for the kingdom. From Peter to Paul, we read about how on several occasions the Holy Spirit ministered to and used them as vessels of honor to bring hope and deliverance even in trying moments. Today the Holy Spirit is still available to us. Its crucial that we rely on Him just as the fathers of the church did. In our difficult moments we must choose to hold on to Him and not focus on the situation around us. We must not give up.   

My sisters and brothers, we have been called to a life of bearing fruit yet our lives may be filled with one challenge or another. By focusing on Jesus, spending time with the community of believers, having the right mind set in approaching our challenges and relying totally on the Holy Spirt, we can continue to bear fruit even in the midst of it all. I pray that the Lord will continue to give us the strength and the resolve to  bear fruit for Him regardless of the circumstance. Amen.

Worship Closet: Reckless Love by Cory Ashbury