A Formula for Repentance

Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.

Daniel 9:13

There is great power in the simple formula of turning from your sin and giving attention to God's truth. In this passage, Daniel is repenting on behalf of his people. God has allowed them to be conquered and sent into captivity in Babylon because of their sin. God is punishing His people, yet they don't respond how they should. The right response would be for them to repent or turn from their sin and turn back to God's teachings to see what He would have them do. But Israel doesn't do that.

We are often no better. Although we think God may be punishing us for our sin and we readily admit that we do things we should not, we do nothing about it! We never quite get around to following Daniel's simple but powerful formula for life change. You want to get right with God? Turn from your sin and give attention to His truth. You want to avoid judgment? Turn from your sin and give attention to His truth. You want to grow closer to God, live a life more pleasing to Him, and be more like Jesus? You can accomplish all of these things by turning from your sin and giving attention to His truth. 

Put this into practice today. Don't plan on it. Don't think on it. Don't strategize how you are going to do it. Simply do it. Turn from the sin in your life and give attention to God's truth as revealed in His Word and see if He won't bless you. 

Water from the Temple (W.o.W. Rewind)

 I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar...He said to me, “This water flows toward the...Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 

Ezekiel 47:1, 8-9

Did you know that the Dead Sea is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean? It's so salty that only microscopic bacteria and microbial fungi can live in it. No fish or aquatic plants live in the Dead Sea at all. This, of course, is how it got its name. It is a dead sea, a harsh environment in which nothing can live.

I don't know about you but there were times in my life when my soul felt just this dead and inhospitable. Scripture assures us that this is true of all who are apart from Christ. Until Christ enters our lives we are completely and utterly dead in our trespasses and sins. But just like the Dead Sea, we are not beyond God's reviving touch.

In Ezekiel 47 we read in the prophet's vision that one day a river will flow from God's temple into the old Dead Sea and bring a revival of new life! This sea that is so famously inhospitable to life will one day teem with fish. The shores will bustle with activity as fisherman stand along the shores. And fruit trees will grow there on its shores year round without fail (v. 9-12). What a beautiful image of God's ability to breathe fresh life into dead people and things!

Whether this passage is metaphorical or whether we should look for a literal fulfillment in the future, I don't know. Either way the prophet's point has been made. We serve a God who can breathe new life and spiritual vitality into the most dead of places and human hearts. 

But how can we gain access to this living water? Only through Jesus! Notice that this river originates from the temple. This temple was where heaven and earth overlapped. It was where God dwelt on earth. But when Jesus took on flesh that changed. Now it's in Jesus that we find heaven and earth intersecting, and it is only through His atoning blood that we access this reviving, living water. Consider Jesus' words in John 7:37-38: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

No matter how dead, parched, or soul-thirsty you may feel today, God can revive you. Look to Jesus! Even believers can begin to feel a bit thirsty for God, especially during periods in which we are neglecting our relationship with the Savior. Jesus is the spiritual rejuvenation you need! So spend time with Him today. Read His Word, pray to Him. Seek hard after Him and be revived!

Disciple: True or False?

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

John 8:31

Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews who had believed His message, and what He says to them reveals several important truths. First, Jesus reveals that there are true disciples and false disciples. You and I know the same is true today. Not everyone who claims to follow Jesus really does. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian, is actually saved. So how can we tell a true disciple of Jesus from a false one?

Jesus tells us that true disciples hold to His teaching. A more literal translation would read, "If you continue/remain/abide in my word, you are really my disciples." False disciples have a bad habit of getting bored with Jesus' message and moving on. They may be drawn to it for a little while or even believe it for a period of time, but eventually they fall away from Jesus' teaching. True disciples don't do that. True disciples never grow tired of Jesus' teaching. They settle into it and make a home for themselves, abiding in His word. 

So, if you want to be a real, true disciple of Jesus you must continue in His teaching. How have you been doing with that lately? Are you remaining in His word? Be a true disciple. Settle in and nourish yourself with a steady diet of Jesus' message from His Word. You won't regret it. 

Love People Not Money

Delilah is only mentioned 7 times in all of Scripture. And in fact all 7 of those come in only one chapter. She isn’t mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, yet her name is universally known. She is introduced in the text in this way…

Some time later, [Samson] fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. (Judges 16:4)

It says that Samson loved her. It doesn’t say she loved him. In fact, nowhere in the entire story does it say that Delilah loved Samson or had any feelings for him at all. This begs the question, who or what did Delilah love?

In the next verse, five Philistine rulers come to Delilah with an offer, a bribe. They promise to give her 5,500 shekels of silver (about 28 pounds) if she will seduce the secret of Samson's great strength out of him and tell them his secret. What did Delilah do? Without hesitation, the very next verse, vs 6, says, 

So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” (Judges 16:6)

There is no hint that Delilah was conflicted about this. There is no hint that it was a difficult decision for her. She immediately went to work trying to earn that money.

So who or what did Delilah love? She certainly didn’t love Samson. She loved money. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” That is certainly how it played out in Delilah’s life. Her greed made her more than willing to deliver Samson over to captivity, humiliation, slavery, even death. It didn’t matter to her as long as she got her money. You may think. “I would never be like that!” Don’t be so sure. The love of money is a slippery thing.

We used to live next door to a young family with three girls. We were great friends with this family and would spend time together often. One day when our families were hanging out one of their little girls got upset because she didn’t want to share a toy with her sisters. I watched her father walk over and lovingly ask her this question. “Do we love things or do we love people?" Then he said, "We love people. Not things.” That cut me to my heart! This father was teaching a lesson to his young child that I hadn’t learned and applied to my own heart yet. 

As Christians we are called to love people and use things. Anytime we allow ourselves to begin loving things, we will find ourselves using people. Be careful that you don’t allow love for money and things to creep into your life, because it will cause you to do terrible things. You will hurt people. You will lie to people. You will neglect people and betray them. And all for what? For just a little more money. And you will end up like Delilah. You will have a nice fat bank account, but you will be empty and alone, isolated by your greed and awaiting God’s judgment. Take this lesson from Delilah’s life. Love people not money.