Jesus

The Other Brother

May 20, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’
Luke 15:25-32

“That’s not fair!” Every parent has heard these words ring loudly in their ears. The inevitable response we generally default to is “Life isn’t fair.” And it’s true. Life isn’t fair and the world doesn’t care about what is fair by your personal standards. That means actions have consequences – sometimes unintended and undesired, even undeserved. But life isn’t about what is fair or equitable. It’s about how you respond to the circumstances around you. It’s about how you respond to your own circumstances as well as the circumstances of others.

Often lost in the reading of the story of the prodigal son is the response of his older brother, who remained at home working in the fields while his younger brother wasted away his inheritance. Any reasonable person would likely agree that he was justified in his anger and disgust at his father’s celebration of the return of this wasteful son. But if you look closely at the response of the father, you’ll find that the older son was just as wasteful with his own time.

Relationship Exposes Everything

Have you ever been disgruntled because you were passed over for a promotion that you felt you deserved? Didn’t get the recognition that your peers received for a job well done? Didn’t get that raise, even though you felt you were more committed to your employer than the slacker who did get their raise? It sounds unjust, but in each case, the focus isn’t on the job, the work performed, or even the other person – the focus is entirely on yourself and what you believe you deserve. Self-centered attitudes lead to self-centered living, and when your eyes are completely on yourself, you’re blind to the opportunities that are truly before you.

The older son in this case could only see that he deserved everything that the younger son received. He had been faithful. He had put in the work. He hadn’t squandered his father’s wealth. And he spent all his time waiting for his father to give him more gifts of appreciation for his work. Meritorious rewards for a job well done. What the son didn’t realize is that he wasn’t a hired hand – he was a son. In the same moment that his father granted the inheritance of the younger son, not only did the nature of the younger son’s relationship to the father change, but his own relationship changed as dictated by his own attitude of ingratitude. Instead of seeing his father as such, he saw his father now as an employer with whom he needed to seek approval. And that approval would be measured by the rewards he would receive from his father for his work, as opposed to his position in relationship to the father.

Relationship Defines Everything

When you are a hired hand on a farm, you have limited access to the resources of the farm. When you are a son of the farmer, you have much greater access to those same resources as defined by your relationship to the farmer. The same goes with the older son. He had spent “these many years” serving the father, yet he wasted all of his time waiting on the approval of a father from whom he was already approved.

“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (Luke 15:31) All of this time he was serving the father, his attitude of service redefined his relationship with the father. In the same way, the Pharisees to whom this parable was directed defined their relationship to the father based on merit – their ability to keep the law and live in obedience to the letter of the law, often to the exclusion of the spirit of the law. As a result, more deference began to be given to the oral traditions of the rabbinic interpretations of the law in the Mishnah than to the heart of the law in the books of the Torah. Their relationship to God became a matter of obligatory subjugation which they in turn enforced upon the people around them in legalistic fashion. As a result, they missed the blessing of a relationship with the Heavenly Father who love them and wanted to extend to them grace.

Relationship Rebuilds Everything

Which brother are you in this story? So often we want to identify as the younger brother, the repentant “hero” of the story, although the true hero was the father who demonstrated grace in the midst of overwhelmingly deserved judgement. All too often, however, we more accurately identify as the older brother. We sit in judgement of our brothers and sisters who humbly return to the father in repentance, recognizing their dependence on a relationship as a child of God, rather than as a hired hand. Even in their own repentance they come fearing a change in relationship as they come home seeking to be treated “as one of Your hired servants.”

A servant/master relationship is very different from a father/child relationship. A servant/master relationship is predicated on merit, work, and earned favor. A father/child relationship is predicated by the blood and love of the father. If your perspective of your relationship to God is that of one who must work for His favor, then you are missing out on the blessings of freedom that is only found in the realization of your position as a child of the King. And the sooner you realize this relationship, the sooner you can join in the celebration and count yourself as having been lost, and now found.

A New Creation: Preparation

May 10, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:11, 12

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that I’m a bit of a sports nut. You can probably blame that on my grandfather and my parents. Growing up in rural South Louisiana, summers were filled with farm work and baseball. Fall weekends were harvest and LSU football. It has been said that the two state religions of Louisiana are Catholicism and LSU sports, with the New Orleans Saints a close third. You’d be hard pressed to prove me wrong.

Every spring and summer until the middle of high school, I would gather with the same basic group of friends on our local little league baseball team and three times a week we would gather in a field behind one of the coaches homes to practice. Typically practice would last for 2 hours a day, but it wouldn’t start until everyone had a chance to get their homework done and then would be done in time for dinner, bath, and bedtime. In the summer we would play our league games three nights a week and in some seasons, when there were odd numbers of teams, there would be the occasional doubleheader for one of the teams.

All of those games, you could tell who came prepared, even as young as we were. The teams that prepared well and learned the game and played the fundamentals were typically the teams that would win the league that year. The teams that played around and didn’t execute and didn’t prepare typically would find themselves at the bottom of the standings by the end of the season.

In college, I still participated in intramural sports. Softball, flag football, basketball. Even tennis. I really started to get into tennis during my junior year of college. I love the aerobic aspect of the game, the adrenaline rush of running back and forth after a yellow ball with an aluminum Wilson racket. One of the greatest tennis stars I can recall in recent years made an amazing quote that has stood by me for a number of years and it’s true of all athletes or competitors of any kind:

In the sports arena, I would say there is nothing like training and preparation. You have to train your mind as much as your body.
Venus Williams

I would dare say that this truth extends beyond the realm of sports, but into the realm of business as well. However, perhaps the most important application of this truth is in matters of spiritual growth. There is nothing like proper training and preparation for you put into practice the truths of Scripture so that you can properly understand the value of the Word of God as it applies to your life and how to live out the gospel in your daily walk.

The Battle for Soul

One of the many overarching themes of the Scriptures is the theme of transformation. Transformation in the life of the believer begins when we start changing the way we think about our reality and our lives in the grand scheme of the Kingdom of God. And to complicate matters, there is a war of the will that continuously rages in the hearts and minds of believers – a war that will never abate until we reach the golden shores along the crystal sea of Heaven.

The world we live in seeks conformation to the ways of the flesh. The world is constantly trying to get us to think in a manner that is the antithesis of what the Word of God teaches. The world teaches that it is okay to occasionally tell a lie in order to protect someone’s feelings. Now the world teaches us that the standards of behavior prescribed by God’s Word are antiquated and they attempt to support these truth with so-called “science” when in reality the truth is far from scientific. In fact, denial of the truth of God’s Word is what God the world in the shape it is in to begin with.

“He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say…'” (Genesis 3:1) It is the first inkling that there was something wrong in the realm of the spirit. A creature spreads the seed of doubt in preparation for the rebellion against the King of Creation. But it is the seed of the accurate knowledge of the Word of God that combats the seed of doubt. The woman’s response was not only to repeat God’s Word, but her first error was to add to it: “neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” (Genesis 3:3) It is one thing to know the Word of God, but it another thing entirely to add our own “wisdom” to it. But the serpent’s lie gave the woman confidence in her flesh: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

This is the same appeal to the flesh that we wrestle with every day – appeals to fleshly appetites, personal pleasure, and self-importance. It is the same battle that is waged today, but to win the battle, we must be prepared for the attacks to come. Throughout the epistles of Paul, we find him appealing to the battle of the mind, the struggle for obedience to the Word of God against the wisdom of the world. It is here that the transformation begins by filling the emptiness of the heart through transformation of the mind.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12

Renewal of the Mind

The world seeks to conform us to its will. To seek after our own appetites. To seek after our own desires. To seek after our own wisdom. But it is the wisdom of God that makes the transformational difference in our world. “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Our world is constantly inundated with new philosophies that promise deliverance, but fail miserably because it is grounded in appeals to the self and to the flesh. Critical race theory is grounded in the search for vengeance, masquerading as an appeal for justice and equality. Modern interpretations of “separation of church and state” seek to guarantee freedom from the influence of religion in the public square, instead of the original intent to prevent government from imposing a state-mandated religion. The list goes on and on, but none of these new philosophies are have any roots in the God of Creation.

Paul constantly reminds his readers to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2). ” To the Roman believers, he writes “For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5) It is the “things of the Spirit” that make a difference in the world. It is only the things of the Spirit that can bring transformation in the hearts of every believer.

Things of the Spirit

But what are these “things of the Spirit” that we are to set our minds upon? Well, Paul explains to the church at Philippi: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8) There is only one source of truth that meets these specific standards and that is the truth of the Holy Word of God.

However, it can be quite a daunting challenge for a new believer to start to understand the Scriptures. Transformation takes time, but it more importantly it takes humility and submission to the Holy Spirit. It means laying aside our preconceived notions of what is true and taking Him at His Word. As a believer, you have access to the Holy Spirit living in you to guide you in understanding the truth of His word. “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. ” (John 16:13, 14)

As a point of practical application, I would recommend beginning your exploration of the Word of God in the beginning. Starting in Genesis 1 and slowly, with an open heart, seek His truth about who you are and the world around you. I would also recommend studying the Gospel of John alongside Genesis. Both begin at the beginning and together you can see the intricate weaving of the truth of who Jesus is and His role in Creation and His role in recreating you into His image.

Fruitfulness of the Spirit

As you pour yourself into the study of Scripture and seek to absorb all that you can about who God is, who Jesus is, and how the Holy Spirit transforms the landscape of your life, you will begin to see changes in your heart and behavior that will draw others to want to know more about this transformation. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)

The fruit of the spirit are those characteristics that your heart will begin to take on that will demonstrate a change in your motivations and your behaviors. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:25, 26) It is this fruitfulness that will multiply within your own heart and fill the emptiness that was once characterized by submission to your flesh instead of submission to the Word of God.

Remember, from the beginning, God has always been about the work of illuminating darkness, organizing chaos, and filling the emptiness. In order to fill the emptiness, He must create an environment that is conducive to supporting that which He intends to create. In the process of recreating you into the image of His Son, He will illuminate the darkness that has kept you blind to the truth of who you were created to be, set you a foundation upon which to build your new life, and begin preparing you for what He has in store by transforming your heart and mind through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you. Only then will you have the vision to see the future and all of the joy that it will contain as you walk with Him from day to day.

A New Creation: Foundation

May 7, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:9, 10

On August 9, 1173, the foundation was laid. Five days later, construction of the bell tower at the began in the Camp del Miracoli mere feet away from the Pisa Cathedral Five years later, trouble began to be visibly apparent as the soft soil began to give way on a shallow foundation. It took 482 years of stops and starts in construction due to continuous foundation repair, multiple wars, and financing difficulties for the bell tower to be completed with the installation of the final bell in 1655.

It was here that legend holds that Galileo conducted his experiments on free fall gravitational acceleration. During World War II, Allied forces suspected the Germans of using the bell tower as a lookout observation post and were prepared to destroy it, but the beauty of the architecture of the cathedral, the baptistry, and the tower saved it from being attacked.

Over the next 800 years after the initial foundation was laid, the Leaning Tower of Pisa would continue to list until in 1990, the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees. Between 1993 and 2001, remediation construction work was done to correct the lean to a less dangerous 3.97 degrees, in order to prevent collapse. In 2018 it was reported that the tilt was reduced further by 4 centimeters to 3.9 degrees. The remediation efforts are said to keep the tower stable for the next 200 years, before there will be a need to remediate again.

Fickle Foundations Falter

Fickle foundations foster faltering followers. Jesus knew the value of laying proper foundations before beginning to build a house. His earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter, so it is reasonable to assume that he [Joseph] was aware of basic construction principles and would likely teach these principles to Jesus. I have a good friend, Matt, who owns a home construction business in Austin, TX and he once described the process of building a home in the dry arid land of central Texas.

He described how before you even lay the foundation of the house, you have to drive concrete pillars deep into the bedrock of the Texas soil. While central Texas soil is typically rather hard, it’s constantly shifting and loose making it critical to set a deep firm foundation when building a home. Otherwise, you will eventually have to spend thousands of dollars on inconvenient foundation repairs that are typically not covered by homeowners insurance due to natural settling of soil.

Jesus drew on this comparison near the end of the Sermon on the Mount:

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
Matthew 7:24-27

Foundation of Faith

The foundation that Jesus refers to are the principles of faith that He laid out through the Sermon on the Mount. Beginning with the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:2, He describes in intricate detail and wonderful illustrations what the life of a disciple looks like. Poor in spirit. Mourning over sin. Hungry and thirsting for righteousness. Merciful. Salt. Light. Not given to anger or lust. Faithful. Not vengeful. Loving your enemies. Charitable. Prayerful. Fasting. Peaceful. Measuring your priorities in light of the Kingdom. Nonjudgemental. Humble. Ultimately fruitful.

The first command that God gave Adam and Eve was “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) But what does it mean to be “fruitful”? What does “fruitfulness” look like?

Fruitfulness is a sign of the capacity to reproduce. You cannot “multiply” unless you are “fruitful”. Fruit in the botanical world is born through the joining seed of the pistil to the stamen of a flower. This process of reproduction produces a fruit that contains within it the seed that produces more plants of the same kind. Different fruit trees can be cross bred to create new kinds of fruit. However, in many cases this can produce inferior fruit that cannot reproduce properly.

Fruitful trees also require care to prevent damage. Sometimes it requires pruning of dead leaves and limbs in order to grow healthier limbs and leaves and produce sweet peaches and plums. Pruning can indeed be quite painful in the spiritual life because it is a cutting away of that which is dead and diseased and negatively impacts the ability to produce good fruit.

A Fruitful Foundation

A life that is characterized by a properly laid foundation is a life that is fruitful for the Kingdom. The fruit of the kingdom is a fruit of obedience to the Words of Jesus, which produces the fruit of the spirit as described by Paul in Galatian 5. Paul begins by talking about putting aside the “works of the flesh”, the pruning of the unfruitful life. “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) Almost all of these will find a negative parallel in Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on the offensive and explains what it means to be fruitful: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)

Fruitfulness begins with crucifying the flesh, the carnal passions and desires that lead to sin and separation from God. It is a conversion process of transitioning from self to sacrifice. Fruitful foundations foster faithful followers. In order to be fruitful for the kingdom, you must begin with an appropriate foundation. The beginning of building a life in Christ is beginning with the foundation of the Word of God. It is imperative that believers make the regular study of Scripture a priority. It is not optional. It is critical and will make all the difference in the world as you walk with Him.

It is also important, especially with new believers, that study is guided and that a mature believer is available to answer questions and encourage the new believer in the study of God’s Word. There are many passages that will likely not make sense to a mind that is not yet fully transformed and renewed. That is why God gifted believers as “apostles [missionaries], prophets [preachers], evangelists, shepherds [pastors], and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:11-14, commentary notes mine)

If you are new to the faith, find a teacher of Scripture who stands firmly on the foundation of the inerrancy of the Word of God. If you are a teacher of Scripture, stand firm on the foundation of the inerrancy of the Word of God and seek out those who need to be taught the principles that produce fruitful lives. No other foundation has been able to stand the test of time. No other foundation ever will.

A New Creation: Illumination

May 5, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:4-5, 12, 13

The Hurricane Lamp

Growing up in south Louisiana, the inevitable hurricane season brought with it the danger of losing electrical power. Often it would be days before the linemen would make it out to our secluded property to restore power. However, my father was always (and is still) a master of preparation. He always made sure we had batteries for the radios and flashlights and candles (with matches) tucked away in the utility drawer. My favorite was when he would break out the old hurricane oil lantern that we would generally keep on the dining room table. There was something about this old lantern and the green oil in the bottom reservoir with its cloth wick that always captured my imagination.

Even when we still had power or if the reservoir had no oil, I would fidget with the small wheel crank on the side that would lower and raise the wick. When lit, the more the wick was exposed to the air, the brighter the flame to enlighten the house. When the wick was lowered, the flame would reduce and inevitably extinguish. Sometimes I would fidget so much with the wick that it would completely retreat into the oil reservoir or completely out of the oil, rendering the lamp useless. Reflecting back on this childhood experience gave me a renewed understanding of Jesus’ words when He said “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

The Lamp in the House

There are some symbolic images in Jesus’ metaphor that often go missed when reviewing that passage. An oil lamp in Jesus’ time typically was composed of 4 elements. First, there was the lampstand. In a common peasant home of the day, a lamp was a simple piece of clay pottery with a pinched indention near the front, opposite the handle of the lamp. The lampstand was the most prominent visual feature of the lamp itself. Often, the lamp would also be placed on a clay dish in order to capture any potentially spilled oil in case the lamp was tipped over.

Secondly, there was the oil, which fuels and controls the flame. Typically the oil in question was olive oil or some other plant based oil. Olive oil, however, was not prohibitively expensive as it was quite common and easily accessible in the Mediterranean. While not expensive, it was a priceless commodity as its diversity of use extended beyond mere fuel, but also to cooking. In some places in the Roman empire, it was used as a form of soap and shampoo that would congeal and then be scraped off the body or rinsed out of the hair, carrying away the dirt and grime of the day.

Thirdly, there was the wick, which displays the flame for all to see. The wick would typically be a small piece of cloth or a piece of wood reed that would be soaked in the oil and then placed on the pinched indentation, with one end still in the oil to soak more as the fire would burn down the wick. The wick served to not only display the flame for the house to see, but also to demonstrate a control of the oil so that the oil didn’t burn through too quickly.

Finally, there was the only external element that was required for the lamp – air. This is perhaps the most important element necessary for the lamp to burn. While the oil acts as a fuel and catalyst for the lamp, without oxygen the lamp would not be able to be ignited or burn. The more air that is available to the wick and flame, the brighter the flame will glow. If the wick is not exposed to the air, eventually the wick would burn out, even with the oil available.

In the typical Jewish family home, it was the responsibility of the father or mother to light the lamp and place it in a place that would give light to as much of the home as possible. In rare cases, some families would have multiple lamps, but this was not the norm as most homes in first century Judea had only one or two rooms, or in rare cases of the more affluent, a third room. In a two room home, a lamp would typically be placed high in the doorway connecting the room so that both rooms would have access to the light.

The Lamp of the Christian Life

In the Christian life, the lamp represents the totality of your kingdom existence. The lampstand represents your God-assigned place of influence. This is wherever you are. The people with whom you associate. Your friends. Your family. Your professional colleagues. Wherever you go, you are displaying what light or darkness you have in your life. If your lamp is burning brightly, then all can see your place in the kingdom. But if you are a believer, yet you hide this fact from those around you, then eventually the flame will burn out from being snuffed under a the bushel of your pride.

The oil within the lamp represents the Word of God, that which is the catalyst for the flame to burn. It is what controls the flames and gives it substance. It fuels the flame and gives it warmth. Without the oil, the wick will burn brightly, but extinguish quickly as the wick is consumed. The oil is there to serve as a control for the wick, so that the fire burns brightly, but sustainably.

The wick itself is your behavior on display for all to see. This is where the flame is most evident. When our behavior is controlled by obedience to the Word of God, the flame glows steady and controlled. The flame burns longer and extends through the night providing light within the darkness.

The final element, the air, represents the most important factor in the work of the lamplight of the heart – the Holy Spirit of God. Without the air to give life to the flame, it will quickly extinguish, even with the presence of the oil. Instead, all you will see is choking smoke. The more air that is evident in the flame, the brighter it glows, but when the wick is lowered into the oil and incapable of consuming air, the flame will go out. In the same way, without the Holy Spirit giving life to the flame burning in your heart, that flame will quickly be extinguished even if fueled by the Word of the God. It is the Spirit of God that gives life to the Word of God. Otherwise, the Word becomes a dangerous weapon choking out the light and filling our heart and lungs with poison.

The Purpose of Light

Light, especially the light of the lamp, has several key purposes. First, it is to provide vision. In order for the eyes to see, there must be light present. Light helps us to not only see one another for who we really are, but it helps us to see ourselves for who we really are. Have you ever tried to look in a mirror while in a dark room? It’s impossible to even see yourself without turning on a light. If you’ve ever walked into a dark room, reflexively we all naturally begin reaching for and fumbling for a light switch. The Light of Christ in the life of the believer helps you to see and have a vision of life that is different from a life walking in the darkness without Him.

Secondly, light provides clarity. The more light that is available, the better you can see clearly what is around you. The brighter the light that shines, the less the shadows obscure what is tangible before you. In the same way, the light of God’s illumination in your heart gives clarity to the world around you. You can see more clearly the pathway ahead and avoid the pitfalls and potholes that you will inevitably encounter along the way.

Next, light provides color. Isaac Newton’s masterful work Opticks describes how light can be broken up into a spectrum of color and that all of the colors of the world we see are a reflection of that light. The sky itself is a prism diffusing and refracting light causing the horizon to change colors through various times of the day from yellow to orange to blue and back again. But when the clouds come in and obscure the sun, or the storms roll in and bring darkness and rain, it doesn’t mean that the sun has ceased to exist. Above the clouds, the sun is still shining. In the same way, above the storm clouds of life, the Son is always shining.

Finally, light provides glory. When we “shine a light on” someone, we are drawing attention to them or their accomplishments. Everything that was created was created to bring glory to the creator, as a painting brings glory and accolades to the painter. And God’s crowning achievement of creation was humanity itself, in which He bestowed His own image. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Let There Be Light

The first step that one must take to emerge from the darkness of a life of sin is to allow the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to enter your heart. The first thing God did in creation was to speak into the dark void of existence and bring light into the Creation. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3, 4) In an instance, with a spoken word He illuminated the darkness exposing the emptiness and chaos, so that He might set to work bringing order to the chaos and filling the emptiness that only He could fill.

It is really very much like a light switch coming on in your heart and mind and with properly developed eyesight, you can begin to see life in a whole new array of colors. He is the Light of the world and it is truly His light that must burn in our hearts. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Darkness is blinding. It can be disorienting. It some cases, it can even be paralyzing. The most problematic thing about darkness is that it has no substance, yet it carries some devastating impacts upon the presence and activity of life. When ever the lights are extinguished in a room unexpectedly, the first response is typically an audible gasp of shock. But when the lights are turned back on, there is also the inevitable sigh of relief.

If you want to know more about this light and the life you can have where you can see the truth for what it really is, please reach out to a trusted Christian friend and ask questions. If you don’t know any Christians in your life, but still want to know more, please reach out to NeedHim.org and have a chat with someone who genuinely cares about you and introducing you to the Savior. Or you can reach out to me personally via social media.

To Whom It May Concern

November 5, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
Psalm 20:7,8

Image credit: Protestors swarming the Detroit vote-couting center – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/elections/100000007436552/detroit-protest-election-center.html

As we sit anxiously awaiting the results of our election that is now 48 hours past, I was reflecting this morning on the last several months of prognostications and even so-called prophecies from the pulpit of victory for a favored candidate. Prophecies uttered that offer hope in form of a leader of an earthly kingdom. Prophecies that ultimately have done nothing to advance the gospel of reconciliation between man and God. Prophecies that have done more to divide the Bride of Christ rather than unite her. And my heart breaks, because when we the church practice religion for the purpose of advancing an earthly kingdom, we have lost sight of the Kingdom of God that transcends all earthly kingdoms.

Yes, earthly governments have their place in God’s ordained order. Romans 13:1 makes it very clear “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” There are times that God will provide a Godly leader as a time of respite and other times that God will allow an ungodly leader for the purpose of discipline and the testing and strengthening of our faith. You need look no further than the books of 1 and 2 Kings to see this cycle repeated over and over again.

Was God not sovereign over the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah even when ungodly kings ruled and instituted pagan religions that allowed for the sacrifice of children to the god Ba’al, Asherah, and Molech? Was God not sovereign when He chose David, a man described as one “after God’s own heart,” to lead the nation from under the ungodly rule of Saul, only to watch him fall to the sin of adultery, covetousness, and murder? Was God still sovereign when the people of Israel were carried away to live in exile in Babylon? Was God still sovereign when He allowed His only Son to be nailed to a cross for the sins of the world?

Of course He was still sovereign. Of course He was still on His throne. Of course He still loved His people. We cannot possibly know God’s immediate plans in the here and now. But I guarantee you, He has a plan and He is working it to completion.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8,9

Now let me be clear: I’m not saying that the church should not be involved in governmental affairs or the electoral process. By all means, as a citizen of this country, we have a duty to exercise our Constitutional privilege to vote and right to voice our religiously informed conscience at the ballot box. I’m not disputing that. But I am worried that the attitudes with which we exercise our rights muddle the vision and distract from our ultimate allegiance to God’s Kingdom.

My friends, I beg you to be patient. I plead with you to allow the results of the election to play out. But more importantly, I beg you to keep your eyes on the King of kings and Lord of lords. Regardless of how this election turns out, He will still be on His throne. So what if your candidate doesn’t win. Our ultimate allegiance is to the Kingdom of God and His Kingdom has stood the test of time and will continue to stand against the very gates of Hell itself.

Secondly, I ask that you carefully reconsider your attitudes towards those that vote differently than you. Such judgement is unbecoming of the very fabric of our American society. More importantly, especially within the body of Christ, such judgement will keep us divided and at each others throats. Forgive one another. Love one another. Live the gospel like your life depends on it, because quite frankly, it does.

Finally, we must repent of our self-centered covetousness. We must repent of using the pulpit for the purpose of advancing an earthly kingdom with shallow prophecies designed to offer false hope in a fallible kingdom. We must repent of taking our eyes off the cross and fall our our knees at the feet of Jesus in humble submission to His Lordship. Then, and only then, will we ever know true peace.

The Path Through the Pain

October 26, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”
Matthew 8:23-27

Are you willing to follow your leaders into battle? Many people do so blindly every day. Soldiers follow the orders of their commanding officers, trusting that the officer has the intelligence necessary to win the battle ahead. Business teams follow their own leaders into the battle of commerce, trusting that the strategy that has been communicated to them is effective and profitable. Students follow the instruction of their teachers, trusting that the education they are receiving will serve them well in the years to come.

Jesus’ disciples followed Him, and they went blindly trusting Him. And they weren’t ignorant of the dangers that potentially lie ahead. The Sea of Galilee is known for sudden storms caused by uplifts of air from the Mediterranean to the west that come in and strike the mountains and then rise up and form storms on the other side of those peaks. Additionally, the region of Israel is also known for being at the northern end of a tectonic plate that comprises all of the Sinai Peninsula to the south. This tectonic activity is largely responsible for the formation of the Red Sea that separates Egypt from Saudi Arabia, as well as the formation of the Gulf of Suez on the west of the Peninsula and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all knew the potential dangers of setting out on the Sea of Galilee that could strike without warning as it was their careers as fishermen that prepared them for these dangers.

Yet, when the storm arose and the ship began to be overrun by the waters, they became afraid. And this was no small storm. “There arose a great storm” is translated from the Greek phrase “ginomai megas seismos”. In essence, we are talking about a gigantic, mega-earthquake. And Jesus was sleeping through it all. As they trembled in fear, they awoke their Master, who rebuked their lack of faith in the One who has already demonstrated His power over disease and infirmity. Then He stands and rebukes the very power of nature itself. And they stared in wonder and admiration at the fact that even the unpredictable powers of nature were at His command.

The term “ginomai” is actually a theatrical term which means “to come upon the stage” or to make a sudden grand entrance. “Surprise! I’m here!” If there is anything that 2020 has taught us this year, it’s that life is unpredictable. That is an inescapable fact. War, disease, fires, hurricanes, political unrest. Who would have predicted a year ago that everything we have experienced this year would come to pass. And yet, too often I have seen disciples who have chosen to follow the Savior cower in fear as if Jesus was not present or “asleep at the wheel.” Too many of us have put our faith in our political leaders to resolve our problems instead of crying out to the only One who can command the storm. We blame “climate change” on one another instead of the natural shifting of nature over time that has occurred for thousands of years.

We must never forget that Jesus not only got into the boat, but as His disciples we got in the boat with Him, knowing full well the dangers that lie ahead in this life. Being a disciple of Christ doesn’t mean checking your brain at the door. God can still use your career and all of the knowledge you have gained in the world to serve His kingdom and provide you with a fresh perspective of His power and authority in this life. The fishermen among the disciples knew what they were supposed to do when the storm strikes, but for some reason they believed those skills no longer mattered to the kingdom. The appropriate response was not to freak out in fear, but rather to anchor deep trusting in the mission of the Master.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, I implore you – remember that He’s on the boat with you. His presence is not negated by the arrival of the storm. Sometimes, the storm is simply a test for you to use the skills and competencies that you already have to serve the Master. Instead of running in fear to Him, try trusting in what you already know to be true. Trust that Jesus has a purpose for the pain. There is a reason that He chose the path through the storm instead of going around it. That reason is build an opportunity to trust Him and believe in what He has called you to do and that is to follow Him through the storm, knowing the dangers that lie ahead, and trusting that He will calm the storm with simply a word. Live your life in wonder and admiration of the One who can see you through it all.