Zondervan Inspire

The Life of Heaven

What would have happened if the rich man had served Lazarus and healed his sores (see Luke 16:19-31)? What would have happened if he had ripped down the gate separating them and stooped low to help the beggar? What would have happened if he had served Lazarus with the gifts he had been given?

The rich man would have entered into a relationship with Lazarus. He would have allowed Lazarus to lean on him for provision. In a profound way, the rich man would have assumed the role that Jesus reserved for one of the great men of Israel’s past. The rich man would have found himself in the place of Abraham with Lazarus the beggar at his side. It is this kind of interdependence that matters to God, and this is rightly seen as the life of heaven.

From Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes

by Jeff Cook

Any comments or testimonies today?

Living in the Shadow of Death

In the concentration camp I lived near a crematorium for months. I was living in the shadow of death. I did not know beforehand that they would release me a week before they would kill all the women my age. It was a human error and a miracle of God.

When you face eternity, and that was what was happening to me, you see everything so clearly. Here I was weak and sinful, and there was the Devil, much stronger than me, much, much stronger than me. But there was Jesus, much, much stronger than the Devil. And together with Him, I was more than a conqueror.

From I Stand at the Door and Knock: Meditations by the Author of The Hiding Place 

by Corrie Ten Boom

Any comments or testimonies today?

all right

After the death of her husband to cancer, Madeleine L'Engle writes, "We do not have to understand God's ways, or the suffering and brokenness and pain that sooner or later come to us all. But we do have to know in the very depths of our being that the ultimate end of the story, no matter how many aeons it takes, is going to be all right." Embracing mystery brings peace.

From When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

by Matt Rogers

Any comments or testimonies today?

good

If God would want anyone to live, surely [my friend] Baker qualified. Surely a man with a mission like Baker's would not be bested by leukemia. Surely a smile like his doesn't die easily. Yet Baker is dead. And his grave ought to give unrest to us all and shake us from our arrogance. If Baker could die, so can, and will, we all. None of us can be complacent. None of us is "safe." It should give us pause to think that one so full of life is gone—and so quickly.

The world that is does not permit a guarantee of protection. Evil and its counterpart, death, do not allow for that possibility. And if I demand from God what he has not promised, I risk corrupting my faith with bitterness and resentment when God fails to come through as I feel he should. I will never experience God as good in my pain if I am forever suspicious of his having allowed my pain in the first place. Baker knew physical safety was no guarantee. Thus, he was never angry at God. Rather, he experienced God as deeply, wonderfully good, right to the end.

From When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

by Matt Rogers

Any comments or testimonies today?

primary

You will have trouble (John 16:33): Jesus said this as part of his farewell address to his disciples, and he apparently meant it, because all but one of the apostles were killed for following Jesus. Faith certainly was not a shield against trouble for them.

"I tell you, my friends," Jesus says, "do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has the authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him"
(Luke 12:4-5).

As best I can tell from his words, Jesus seems to say we have too small a goal. We crave physical protection when something greater, of more value, is at stake. Our souls, that part of us which is eternal, which isn't dust and returning to dust, should be our primary concern.

From When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

by Matt Rogers

Any comments or testimonies today?

The Deadline Most of Us Try to Ignore

I'm continuing my walk through the the award-winning book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey.

From the book:

"As Paul sat in a Roman prison, reflecting on all the hardships he had endured, death loomed as a welcome relief. At least he would be with Christ, which is far better. At least his 'eternal glory' would outweigh all the troubles. At least he would get a new body, healed of stripes and bruises. He had one prayer, that 'Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.' Paul had found a way to fulfill Jesus' command, 'do not worry about your life.' He had come to terms with mortality and had no obsession with physical health. He realized that the time we spend on earth, with all its joys and griefs, triumphs and failures, is mere preparation. Paul was ready to die.

"For everyone death involves a process of letting go. Attachments, relatives, friendships, possessions, identity — everything that defines life for us, we let go in death. For a person in hospice, the deadline most of us try to ignore forces itself into view. For the Christian, death also involves an anticipation of new beginning.

"We let go bodies that have served us, not perfectly but well enough, in exchange for new bodies. We let go a known life, touched with grace and pleasure but also evil and pain, in exchange for the promise of a life perfected. We let go the muddle of doctrine and wavering faith in exchange for sure knowledge at last. And during the rest of life we prepare for that exchange."

Any comments or testimonies today?

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Counting the Cost

I've been working my way through the award-winning book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey. I say, "Working my way through..." because it's not a book you can read quickly—there's much on which to meditate. For example:

“Charles Edward White, a college professor in the state of Michigan, spent several terms as a visiting professor at the University of Jos in Nigeria. While there he visited a missionary graveyard in a quiet garden beside a chapel on Nigeria’s Central Plateau. Most of the graves, he noticed, were small: two- and three-foot mounds to accommodate child-sized coffins. Thirty-three of the fifty-six graves, in fact, held the bodies of small children. The tombstones went back as far as 1928, and old-timers in the mission could tell him the stories of only the most recent deaths.

“Professor White listened to these and other accounts of missionaries who had come to Nigeria in full awareness of the dangers, and of their children who had no such choice and succumbed to those dangers. He imagined the sorrow of households that no longer heard the happy cries of a three-year-old, that lost a first-grader just as she was learning to read.

“‘The only way we can understand the graveyard at Miango,’ White concluded, ‘is to remember that God also buried his Son on the mission field.’

“For a missionary couple who stand beside a mound of earth in a garden in Nigeria, no logical explanation of unanswered prayer will suffice. They must place their faith in a God who has yet to fulfill the promise that good will overcome evil, that God’s good purposes will, in the end, prevail.”

We're called to follow Jesus at the cost of all we hold dear. I have to ask myself, "Am I willing to follow Him no matter the cost?" If I'm going to be a follower, I must (see Luke 9:23-24).

Any comments or testimonies today?

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Saying Goodbye to a Friend

I’ve got a funeral to attend today. It’s not the usual relative or friend, at least not a human friend. But the grief is none-the-less real.

My oldest daughter’s bird died yesterday. Sammy was quite the entertaining critter. She mimicked the sound the phone makes when someone dials it, often fooling us into thinking someone was making a call. She would hang upside down in her cage and show off, trying to get our attention (thus garnering the nickname “bat bird”). She would greet us when we walked in the door with a cheerful series of chirps. She loved to sing along with music, especially praise and worship music (I think she favored the newsboys). She even figured out how to open her cage door.

We’ll miss the cheerful chirping, friendly greetings, acrobatic shows, and even the annoying pecking of her cage bars. She was a true friend, and she will be missed. Thankfully we have a God who cares about the minute details of our lives, and is touched by our pain even as others may see it as trivial. So careful is his attention to the details of our lives that he has the very hairs of our head numbered (see Matthew 10:29-31). He’s touched. He cares. He loves. He comforts.

Any comments or testimonies today?

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Riding Out Life's Storms

I think we struggle with why God lets bad things happen because we know that God has the power to prevent bad things if he wills. We have a hard time reconciling God’s goodness with his allowing evil to exist (and sometimes flourish). We’re not alone. The Psalms are filled with examples (e.g., Psalms 42, 43, and 44). However, the psalmist always comes around to a key point: God, I don’t understand why this is happening, but I know you’re good and you love me. Please do not delay in bringing about justice.

We live in a fallen world filled with sin, disease, evil, and death. As redeemed followers of Jesus, we’re the invaders in enemy territory, ambassadors of a better kingdom. God’s love, mercy, and grace are being extended to all people, which is why he is delaying in bringing about final justice.

The fact is we will continue face trials while on this earth. As we do, we need to realize that they have a purpose (James 1:2-4). We need to remember that God is always good and that he has our best interests in mind no matter what (Romans 8:18, 31-32). We often cannot see it clearly, but God will eventually bring all things around for our good (Romans 8:28-29), and we can be confident he will walk with us through the trials (Hebrews 13:5).

Paul, the author of Romans, knew trials very well yet remained steadfast in his devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). That’s a good example for us to follow.

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Grieving with Hope

As we remember the Campus Crusade students and other believers who lost their lives at Virginia Tech last week, we do grieve, but with hope. Yes, they will be missed by their friends and family, but it’s not the end. There will be a blessed reunion one day.

You may ask, “How do you know this?” I Thessalonians 4:13-14 assures us of our eventual reunion: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him (NIV).”

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead—the foundation of our faith—assures us because it ensures our resurrection and reunion with other followers of Christ. So grieve, but with hope, and pray for the families and friends of all lost in the murderous rampage. Pray that God will take this evil and turn it into good for all those affected by it. A God of miracles can certainly do this (Genesis 50:20).

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