All in Salvation
As you well know ladies, the enticing bouquet of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was too much for the happy pair in Eden, once that crafty snake got his way. So God drove the two out, placing a guard on the gate to keep them from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). Purity had lost to desire.
Our first grandchild, barely over a year old, had somehow broken a front tooth. We could not figure out how it happened because his tooth had barely come through the surface of his gums when our daughter discovered it.
“…One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25)
The blind man tells the story of Christmas. He was born in darkness and remained in darkness… until Jesus came to him. In his hopeless state, the blind man couldn’t come to Jesus, so Jesus came to him.
Hop aboard, ladies. We’re taking a ride up the Oregon coast this week to see some amazing sights in God’s creation. First stop, a touch of grandeur in Redwood National Park. The California or coastal redwood, scientific name sequoia sempervirens, grows only in a narrow strip of land from northern California through Oregon, close to the coast yet not too close as it doesn’t like salt spray. Plentiful rainfall and summer fog of the region are just what they need—fog drip accounts for 30% of the yearly water supply. The “redwood” name comes from a bright red, fibrous bark when freshly exposed. They boast the tallest—Hyperion, at 379’—but cannot match the 102’ girth of the General Sherman, a non-related sequoiadendron giganteum in the Sierra Nevadas.*
No suspicion of a cancer diagnosis was in my mind that day—it was just a routine checkup. The shock of the radiologist’s brief clinical explanation caused me to sense a surreal atmosphere. I visualized to-do lists and calendar pages flying through the air like paper airplanes landing directly into the wastebasket. Recovery from shock was gradually realized in a few days when a reservoir of inner peace began to flow.
Nestled in the middle of the Psalms are three verses that describe the blessed life of a believer. The psalmist begins by describing a believer’s heart. Blessed are those….who have set their hearts on pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5). In other words, blessed are those who have a longing in their souls and a determination in their minds to journey through life with Jesus.
Our friends told of an unexpected adventure on their vacation while in southwest Oregon. They were staying in Grants Pass and traveled west to Gold Beach. After checking a map of the area, they determined to return a different route. And so, they headed toward Agness. As they traveled, they passed a sign indicating Agness was straight ahead. The further they went, however, the worse the road conditions became. First the two-lane road became extremely curvy. Eventually, it turned into a one-lane road, which led straight to the sign in the picture above: This is it! Agness. Welcome. Population: small. What you can’t tell from the picture above is that the road was a dead end. There was no city; there was nothing but trees.The road they had been traveling led to nowhere. As they turned around, they saw another sign that said, “Come back!”
The God we worship, the God of Scripture, is a lot of things: wise, powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, loving, forgiving... And on any day, most of us a need a God who possesses these qualities and more.
Almost daily, while at work, I encounter a tedious battle. It’s the battle of gaining access to websites. First, I enter the website address. Once there, I type in my username and password. Then I find out that I must reset my password because I haven’t visited that site in over thirty days. I’m running out of new password options (and patience), but I try one more time. After my password is accepted, a verification code is required. I must choose to receive the code by cell phone text or email. I choose by text because it’s faster. I wait for the text to come through, then enter the several-digit code into the appropriate box before it expires and finally click “OK”. Next, the security questions must be answered correctly. Finally, I’m at the Home page and I must remain active on the site so that I’m not automatically logged out.
We’ve come full circle from the dust of creation to the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” of death (Genesis 3:19). One for one we die, that much is certain. Inevitably then, the final big question will hang in the air: where am I headed after I die?
The big, big questions bleed into each other, don’t they ladies? Of necessity, meaningfollows my answer to being. Once I understand that I live and move and have (my)beingin God, I can more easily determine what will bring meaning to life for me.
The apostle Paul is on a roll. The city of Athens was a junkyard of idols(Acts 17:16, MSG), befitting the myriad of gods they represented. Add to that this detail: “The Athenians had a foolish notion that they were self-produced, and were the aboriginals of all mankind…that the first men sprung up in Attica like radishes.”* Laugh not, ladies. One wonders if our culture has taken a step back in time—oh, not graven images, but idols of fame, fortune, and self; not radishes per se, but persistent theories of evolution.
Jesus told a short story to a group of grumbling religious leaders to illustrate a poignant point—God will intensely search for those who need His love and salvation. He used a desperate woman, of all things, for his story. She’d lost a coin worth a day’s wage. She had only ten and one was lost. She lit a small oil lamp, the only source of light in her small windowless home, and searched carefully until she found it. She then invited her women friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. Jesus adds in verse 10, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner who repents.”
What goes through your mind when someone with a bad cough sits beside you? Do you pray, Lord, don’t let me catch what he has! Being in public while physically contagious isn’t good. But believers are all called to be spiritually contagious. We are to go forth and spread the gospel of Jesus.
The woman near me in the waiting room began to talk. She told me her age, how she met her husband, about their first date, how long they had been married, that her brown hair was not dyed, and much more. Frankly, I was amazed at the amount of personal information she shared.
“I like it when it storms because we get to eat ice cream!” a neighbor child told my daughter. That is a little odd, I thought at the time.
The deliberate “I am” metaphors in John culminate in a peek at the Jesus who not only provides life and light, but who produces fruit in those who believe in Him while they are still on earth.
Jesus’ “I am the gate”, and “I am the good shepherd” metaphors bewildered His listeners. At the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) their questions continued: “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24). Again they tried to stone Him, and again He slipped away, across the Jordan, where many believed (10:31-42). He was there when news came that His friend Lazarus was sick.
The Pharisees bombarded the “light of the world” with questions, in total denial of His “I am” claims. When Jesus stated, “before Abraham was born, I am!”…they picked up stones to stone him (John 8:58-59). They knew He was claiming to be God; but it was not yet His time so He slipped away, continuing on to heal a man born blind. The man believed and worshipped Jesus; the Pharisees remained in their sin (9:1-41).
The crowd by the Sea of Galilee was mystified. First, they had been fed well the previous evening, all 5000 plus of them, from “five small barley loaves and two small fish” (John 6:9). Then Jesus had sailed across the lake without a boat—how in the world (6:22)? Miracles were foremost on their minds. Give us more they said, manna for this day too, "bread from heaven”, so we can believe you were really sent by God (6:29-31).
