God’s Promises; April 17, 2023

Posted on April 18, 2023 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:3-4 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Verse four here is quite famous, but it needs to be taken in the context of verse three. Verse three essentially describes the life of a righteous person. Where the NIV says, “enjoy safe pasture,” the Japanese says, “nourish sincerity,” in other words, be a person of your word. If we’re scheming how to bring about the results we want, we are not really trusting God and we’re probably not doing good. It is in this context that David can say boldly, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Actually, if we’re not trusting God and doing good, we aren’t delighting in Him either. It’s hard to delight in something you can’t trust. That’s a major issue in many marriages. I’ve read recently that dishonesty in relation to finances is as destructive as sexual infidelity, and I can believe it. That would certainly violate the “nourish sincerity” part of this passage! We are very good at pulling “promises” out of the Bible and completely ignoring the context, the conditions that are laid down for those promises to be fulfilled. God’s love is unconditional, but hardly anything else is. It tears Him up, but God can and will reject people He loves if they reject Him and refuse to walk in the obedience of love. David tasted both sides of this. This Psalm is a pean to the good things that accrue to those who are faithful to the Lord, but David himself experienced great heartache because of his own failures. We are very aware of the incident with Bathsheba, but he was also largely a failure at parenting. It’s very hard to relate rightly to your children if you don’t relate rightly to your spouse. David is both a good example for us in a number of ways and a very cautionary example for us in others. We need to put verse three here into practice before we try to rejoice in verse four.

Of course this applies to me as much as it does to anyone else. I have been enormously blessed, but every bit of it has been grace. I have a spiritual heritage that I think is unsurpassed, but I haven’t been consistently true to it. My needs have been met, but I haven’t always been the best steward of God’s provision. I have been used by God, but at times I have held back or chosen other things. I have a broad and fairly deep knowledge of the Bible, but my track record is spotty when it comes to putting it into practice. As I have said many times, James 1:22 wasn’t written just for me, but it certainly was written for me. I need to open my heart ever more to the whole truth of God, allowing it to work both in and through me as I am obedient to what My Lord says to me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed “nourish sincerity,” being totally honest with others and with myself because I am totally honest with You. May I indeed trust You totally and do the good that You desire of me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Christ in Me; April 16, 2023

Posted on April 17, 2023 by jgarrott

Acts 1:1-2 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

It’s been quite a few years now since I was first struck with one little word in this passage: began. Luke never saw Jesus with his natural eyes. He researched the facts of his Gospel and the first part of Acts while Paul was in prison in Caesarea, (Acts 24:27) and he was with Paul for the rest of Acts, from Acts 16 on. That said, he was absolutely convinced that Jesus continued to act and to teach, even though He was not physically visible. That’s an awareness we all need to have! We give lip service to “Jesus in me,” but we seldom act like we really believe it. Paul put it this way: “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) When you think about it, if Christ is in us, then we can have the hope that He will do anything at all in and through us, and that is glorious indeed. Luke was emphasizing that what he had recorded in his Gospel was just the beginning, that Jesus was alive and active in and through each of the people who had accepted His Lordship by faith.

This is extremely applicable to this morning’s message, which is on being like Jesus. Since He is in me, the way to be more like Him is to get me more out of the way! I have that “treasure” in an “earthen vessel,” (2 Corinthians 4:7) so the way to show people more of Jesus is for me to become more transparent. A common theme in fantasy fiction, as well as some mythology, is the “cloak of invisibility,” or power, or wisdom, or whatever. I don’t remember how old I was when I read a particular science fiction book that used that trope, but I did a lot of fantasizing about it, imagining myself as an “agent of justice,” or something of the sort. That’s a little silly, when I’ve got the real thing! I’ve got to remember that at this point it’s neither constant nor automatic, but it is still very real. I have experienced Christ speaking and acting through me numbers of times, and I certainly want that to continue and increase. However, I’m never to think for a moment it’s because of me, or that I am special. He is the Lord of Glory, and I am to be grateful any time I am useful to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. If I’m to include it in this morning’s message, show me where and how. May I be available and useful to You all the time, so that Your purposes may be accomplished in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Disciples; April 15, 2023

Posted on April 16, 2023 by jgarrott

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Growing up in a missionary family, the Great Commission has been in my awareness for as long as I can remember. I have heard it quoted countless times, but I still think the majority of Christians fail to understand it. Thankfully there are some teachers who indeed stress what I think is the half of this that gets largely ignored, and that is the matter of making disciples. The average American doesn’t seem to even know what the word means! I like that the Japanese here says “the people of all nations,” because we are prone to think of nations in terms of geography, when historically the term applied more to people groups. The thing is, everything and everyone belongs to God by right of creation, but our misuse of free will has put the majority of mankind in rebellion against our Creator. It is only by becoming His disciples that we enter into right relationship with Him. That’s not just a matter of saying a few words, though words are important. My grandfather Carver had an expression for how he felt many people thought of salvation: “Into bliss and out of blister.” In other words, “Say the secret words to escape hell.” Today, people don’t even believe hell exists! The thing is, the Kingdom of God is a matter of acknowledging and obeying the King, and that is what discipleship is all about. Lots of Christians want to leave out the word, obey, in verse 20! We want to be spoiled children, never corrected for anything. However, the Bible very bluntly says that such a child is not a true child at all. (Hebrews 12:5-6, quoting Proverbs 3:11-12) These days parental discipline is attacked, precisely because the devil wants us to reject the discipline offered by our heavenly Father. In Canada, you can be jailed for spanking your child! That’s not to excuse abuse, but it is to say that the devil intentionally conflates discipline with abuse. Discipleship involves commitment both to learn and to obey. We are called to be disciples and to make disciples for Jesus Christ.

It’s been quite a few years now since I discovered that my name, Jack, means “apprentice,” or “disciple.” That’s why it appears so often in nursery rhymes, as in Jack be Nimble and the like. I was actually rather pleased with the discovery, particularly since my full name is Jackson, in other words, “the son of a disciple.” I believe my father was a very genuine disciple of Jesus Christ, not to mention my mother and all four of my grandparents, and some of their ancestors as well. I have a remarkable heritage! However, all of that can fall apart at any point. If I am not a disciple, making more disciples, my ancestry doesn’t benefit me. In recent years I’ve been involved in studying Coaching, as opposed to top-down teaching, and it has been changing my perspective on discipling. Coaching was never modeled to me, so I haven’t known how to do it. Many people have spoken into my life, for which I am grateful, but I haven’t been very effective in coming alongside others and coaching them as disciples of Jesus Christ. I’ve just finished another book on the subject, and I pray that I will continue to grow as a disciple and a discipler, coaching people into the kind of relationship with Jesus that He desires, for His glory.

Father, thank You for all You’ve brought me through, and that You aren’t through with me yet. Thank You for bringing me to announce my retirement from school teaching. Help me move into the ministry that You have planned for me so that many true disciples may be raised up in this nation, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Loving Jesus; April 14, 2023

Posted on April 15, 2023 by jgarrott

John 21:16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

As much as I think Jesus enjoyed the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension, He still had some very important work to do in that period, and one of them was establishing succession. Peter was a natural leader, but he needed to lead on the right basis. Much has been made of Jesus asking Peter three times if he loved Him, with discussion of the use of agape and phileo, but the point is, love engenders obedience, (John 14:15) and Jesus wanted it to be perfectly clear to Peter that his love for Jesus needed to be expressed in loving service to Jesus’ flock. It’s interesting that the Japanese for this verse has Jesus telling Peter explicitly, “Pastor my sheep.” We might not think of pastoral ministry as love for Jesus, but we should. As John pointed out in his first letter, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21) And remember, John was the one hearing and recording this interchange between Jesus and Peter. I think all of Jesus’ disciples learned that love that doesn’t act is meaningless. After all, they lived with Jesus for over three years and then they saw Him give the ultimate expression of love by going to the cross for them. Not everyone is called to specifically pastoral ministry, but everyone is called to love God and love their neighbor. (Matthew 22:37-39) How that will be expressed is different for each individual, but it is inescapable for us all.

Of course this applies to me as much as it does to anyone, but the specific terminology in this verse gives me a real twinge. I first served as a pastor in a rural church in Virginia, not long after I graduated from seminary. I was moved to accept their call by a cassette tape “letter” I received from the Baptist pastor in Sasebo, where we had lived for two years before going to seminary. He knew that my grasp of written Japanese was not sufficient for all he wanted to say to me, and I’m grateful the Lord showed him how to do it verbally. (This was in 1978, before the Internet.) He talked about his trials in ministry, and some of the blessings, and I realized that if I was going to minister to Japanese pastors (which I felt was my calling) I needed to understand the whole business of pastoring a small church. Seminary, sadly enough, had seemed to be focused on ministering in big churches. Actually, that “small rural church” would have counted as a large church in Japan! When the Lord brought us to Omura I still didn’t see myself as ministering to one local congregation, but then the Lord started bringing people into His family through the English Bible class I taught, and in short order I had a flock, whether I wanted one or not. It has frankly been a struggle. I don’t feel I am gifted as a pastor, but I love to teach the Word. What I have had to learn has been that if I love God and love His Word, then I’ve got to love His sheep as well. Like Peter, I’ve got to “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) And that includes my sins as well!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your patience in teaching me to love You and love my neighbor. May I do that more and more effectively, so that more and more people may be drawn to repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Spiritual Growth; April 13, 2023

Posted on April 14, 2023 by jgarrott

John 21:4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

We’re back to Jesus having fun with His disciples after His resurrection. Jesus had some serious business here, but I still think He got a kick out of appearing to His disciples this way. I like the poetic way the Japanese expresses the time of day: “As dawn was starting to color the night.” It’s really no wonder they couldn’t tell who it was standing on the shore, because it was still pretty dark. Peter’s reaction to John recognizing that it was Jesus is rather touching to me. In contrast to his going out and weeping bitterly after denying he knew Jesus, now, after having had a personal encounter with the risen Jesus, he can’t wait to get close to him again. He probably could have swum the 100 meters to shore more easily in the loin cloth he was wearing in the boat, but in honor and respect for Jesus, he put on his outer garment anyway. I’m sure it warmed Jesus’ heart to see his response. Not all of the tests God gives us are painful. I think Peter passed this one pretty well, and he only had to get wet! The thing is, God enjoys growing His children, stretching and maturing them for their good, and we should decide to enjoy the process as well. I’m often reminded of the wisdom expressed in Hebrews: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

I’m in the middle of another training exercise at the moment myself, confronted with the decision of when to retire from my school teaching. It was triggered by something the school did, but not requested by them. At this point they have no idea how I responded to the incident, but I’ll be going to teach this morning, and I need to discuss it with them. Most of the staff I’ll be seeing are former students of mine, so there are likely to be a lot of thoughts and emotions involved. That said, this is a lot easier and better than if I were being fired, or than if I had a major health issue making me unable to continue. I just found out that my younger daughter is also in a very intense training experience, though it is quite different from mine. I need to support and encourage her, and others around me, as we all continue to grow through our trials, to be more and more of what God designed us to be in the first place.

Father, thank You indeed for all that You are doing. My daughter’s situation, being health-related, is perhaps more traumatic than mine. I ask for a fresh infusion of faith for her, that she may be able to stand against the lies of the enemy and have peace and joy regardless of what is going on in the moment. We indeed all have our issues, but You are not only far bigger than them all, Your grace is certainly sufficient for us all. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Thank You. Praise God!

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Faith and Sight; April 12, 2023

Posted on April 13, 2023 by jgarrott

John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This chapter presents problems when it comes to writing on it devotionally, because there is so much here. I have literally written a book on verse 21! This verse hits me at the moment because it is so strongly echoed in the passage on which I spoke for our Easter service: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9) Peter was in that room when Jesus said this, and he had seen it play out in many people’s hearts and lives. We are indeed visual beings, with a strong tendency to trust our eyes. Stage magic is entrancing precisely because it plays games with our visual perception. However, modern technology is really attacking that, with “deep fake” videos that look entirely real but are actually computer generated. It used to be said that “the camera doesn’t lie,” but there are now all sorts of ways to make it do so. Paul couldn’t have imagined this sort of thing, but he spoke the solution to it nonetheless: “We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7) In this era of digital illusions, that’s all the more vital!

Having been taking pictures since I was in elementary school, this is very close to home. I’ve worked as a photo lab technician, back in the analog days, and tricks that required a lot of skill and practice at that point are now accomplished with a couple of clicks in the computer. In the Army I was asked to do a special “portrait” of a rather disliked senior officer who was being transferred, transplanting a monkey’s face onto his official portrait. The result was beautifully framed and presented to that officer by his commanding General at his farewell dinner! It was a grand success, from the standpoint of those who had asked me to do it, but it took several tries and a good bit of time, when today it can literally be done with three or four mouse clicks. Knowing that, I have all the more reason to depend on faith and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, rather than on anything my senses tell me. After all, I have had moments of fellowship with the Lord in which I was more sure of His reality than I was of my own! Just yesterday something happened that seems to indicate a major change in my direction, but I am not to rely on my senses or on my emotions. I am to fix the eyes of my heart on my Lord and not be distracted by the world, visually or otherwise. God has plans for me, but I will not fulfill them by depending on myself in any way. He alone is faithful and powerful, and will bring His will to pass.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Yesterday’s events really stirred me up. Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told me to do, so that I may hear You accurately and follow You faithfully and fully, to accomplish Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Being Like Jesus; April 11, 2023

Posted on April 12, 2023 by jgarrott

Luke 24:44-45 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

It strikes me that Jesus had a really good time during the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension. The cross was behind Him, He no longer had physical constraints on His activities, and He got to spend time with these people He really, genuinely loved. He’d lived with them 24/7 for over three years, and now they had been through enough that they could begin to absorb some of what He had been pouring into them. I’ve always been a bit amused at His having to ask for something to eat in order to prove He wasn’t a ghost, and I imagine He was, too. He and the Father had deliberately left the wounds in His hands, feet, and side as further evidence He wasn’t some sort of “body double,” but I don’t think those wounds gave Him any pain at all at this point. I personally think He enjoyed His ministry all along, but now that the cross was taken care of, everything left was enjoyable. I was greatly blessed several years ago to watch Matthew from The Visual Bible, that takes the straight text and has people act it out. (We have it on VHS tape, which indicates the age!) One thing I especially like about it is that the actor playing Jesus was a dedicated, Spirit-filled believer, and he prayed earnestly for how he should play the role. As a result, it comes across that Jesus is delighted to be who He is, doing what He is doing. When a leper is healed, you can’t tell whether the leper or Jesus is happier about it! I think sometimes we get the wrong idea about what it means “to be like Jesus.” We sing those words in various songs, but much of the time I don’t think we have any idea what that means. Jesus was serious, certainly, because he had a lot of very important work to do, but I don’t think for a minute He went around with a long face all the time. As I’ve mentioned before, Josephus recorded that Jesus had some pretty wide mood swings, weeping over Jerusalem one minute and rejoicing over someone’s faith the next. To be like Jesus, we too need to face evil unflinchingly, but at the same time rejoice in God’s grace, His victory in which He has given us a part.

One of the many statements by Dennis Prager that have blessed me is that we have a responsibility to be happy. It’s not that he ignores evil or that he wants us to, but as a devout Jew, he says that belief in a loving Creator essentially requires optimism. My title for both of the messages I preached at Easter this year was Joy, and I really do believe God desires that for us. Paul famously told us in more than one of his letters to “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) I think that’s precisely what Jesus did, and I indeed want to be like Him! I am not to be flippant, or make people think their suffering is unimportant, but I am to “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) If I will do that, then people will be drawn to Christ through me, for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. There’s a lot here I believe You want me to communicate to the believers. I ask for clear guidance so that it may be Your Word indeed, accomplishing that for which You send it, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Simon Peter; April 10, 2023

Posted on April 11, 2023 by jgarrott

Luke 24:33-34 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

It was probably Don Francisco’s musical description of Peter’s encounter with the risen Jesus that implanted this most firmly in my mind, but at any rate, I have loved this story for a long time. That Jesus would meet personally with the one disciple who most vocally and publicly denied that he knew Him so expresses Jesus’ character! The first person He appeared to was Mary Magdalene, (John 20:10-18) who was not only a woman, she had been infested previously with seven demonic spirits. (Luke 8:2) It would seem that Peter was the second, and then these largely anonymous disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus is always interested in the little person, the downtrodden, those to whom the world wouldn’t give a second thought. That shouldn’t be surprising, when He told us that the Father even keeps track of how many hairs we have on our head! How neurotic would a person be to be caught up in that sort of thing about themselves? We have great difficulty grasping just how individually God cares about us. It seems to me to be analogous to naming all the ants in an anthill! Only God is big enough, powerful enough, loving enough to do that. As I have commented numbers of times before, He sees and accepts us as we are, but He doesn’t leave us as we are. He knows how we need to repent and change and grow, and He is always urging us in that direction. Peter was certainly transformed by his encounter with the risen Christ, but he still wasn’t perfected, and Paul had to call him down for hypocrisy at one point. (Galatians 2:11-14) That’s just one of many ways that Peter should be an example and an encouragement to us. God is always ready for us to make the course corrections we need to get back on track with Him, to manifest His power in and through our weakness, for our blessing and His glory.

This certainly applies to me! I feel like my experience of the Lord in November, 1972, though brief, was just about as dramatic as Peter’s mentioned here. Like Peter, I was transformed but not perfected. In the years since then the Lord has been incredibly patient with me, teaching me some lessons again and again until they were worked into me. Like Paul, I am very aware that perfection will only come when I am through with this body and fully present before my Lord. (1 Corinthians 13:12) He knows what He is working on, and what He has for me to do along the way. I am not to dismiss anyone as useless to God – including myself! I need to keep remembering the example of Peter, and act accordingly.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for yesterday and all it held, for speaking through me both at the sunrise service and here. Thank You for all the children who came for the Easter egg hunt, and for the many parents as well. I pray that what they heard and experienced would stay with them and bear rich fruit, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Preconceptions; April 9, 2023

Posted on April 10, 2023 by jgarrott

Luke 24:11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

As I tell people frequently, one thing I like about the Bible is that it doesn’t dress people up, but rather presents them honestly. These were the Apostles of Jesus Christ, but they couldn’t bring themselves to understand and believe it when the women were telling them the best news since Creation! Part of that was the general societal attitude that women were far inferior to men, essentially incapable of rational thought. Jesus’ attitude toward women, allowing them to sit and listen to His teaching, was downright revolutionary for the time. One of the revolutionary things about the early Church was the way they treated women as “heirs with you of the gracious gift of life,” (1 Peter 3:7) but the message doesn’t seem to have penetrated sufficiently at this point. The other factor in their lack of understanding was that the news didn’t fit their preconceptions, regardless of the messenger. This is an issue for us all the time. We set up scenarios in our mind, and when events don’t match them, we tend to cling to the scenarios rather than the facts. We claim to believe in a supernatural God, but at the same time we forget what the definition of “supernatural” actually is! We fall for scams and other deceptions and fail to believe and trust the almighty Creator of the universe! Easter is the best news that could ever be, because Jesus’ resurrection proves that those who are in Him by faith have overcome sin, death, and hell. We need to let the Holy Spirit break the boxes we tend to put Him into, opening our minds and hearts to the magnificence of God’s plan of salvation, for us and for all mankind.

I will confess to being dulled myself to the glory of Easter. Not as severely as Christmas, but still it has tended to feel like not entirely welcome busyness. What a sad loss! Thankfully, God in His mercy has brought me out of that this year, at least to some extent. I’m the speaker at the Sunrise Service, and of course we have our regular Sunday service. At both, my title is Joy, though the messages are far from identical. I think the message has started to penetrate my own heart, and I expect it to do so even more as I deliver it. I want others to receive the Gospel in faith and joy, so my own response needs to be the same! Around 30 years ago the Lord spoke through me, in a little 2-person prayer meeting, “Don’t be amazed at what amazes others, but expect great things of Me.” I need to remember that! I have long felt that James 1:22 was written expressly for me, but it gets even more pointed when I myself am the messenger! Today on Easter morning, but not just today, I need to keep my heart open for everything my Lord wants to say to me, however and through whomever He wants to say it, and apply myself to follow through in faith and joy.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You are doing in and around me, and even in spite of me. Help me not be in the way, but rather flow with Your Spirit according to Your will for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Completion; April 8, 2023

Posted on April 9, 2023 by jgarrott

John 19:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This was the final demonstration of Jesus’ faithfulness. He wouldn’t escape His body until He had fulfilled every prophecy about the death of the Messiah. The NIV very understandably uses the expression familiar from just about all English translations, “It is finished.” However, the Japanese uses an expression that I think puts a finer point on it: “It is completed.” Jesus had been given a job to do, actually from the point He arrived in Mary’s womb but then explicitly from the point of His baptism by John, and here He wraps it up. Going through what for most of us is unimaginable pain, not fleeing even though He could have, He fulfilled His role as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) As the following verses make clear, further prophecies were fulfilled after this, but Jesus had no direct input into them, so His role was indeed completed. We don’t know all the details of God’s plan for us, in contrast to Jesus’ level of awareness, so we have to operate in faith that we are indeed taking care of everything asked of us. However, we do have two statements by Paul to encourage us: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) And, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) Paul spoke from personal experience, because as he approached his own martyrdom he was able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8) We need to learn from Jesus, and even from Paul, to follow through with all that we are given to do, but we aren’t to be anxious about it, but know that God who gave us the task will enable us to indeed complete it.

I am personally very aware that this isn’t an easy thing for us to figure out. At the time my father woke up in heaven after heart surgery, he was exactly halfway through a project translating the New Testament into contemporary Japanese. About 30 years later the part completed was indeed published, but that doesn’t fit our usual human definitions of completion. In more general terms, very few people leave this life without dangling loose ends. The picture of Einstein’s desk taken the day after he died is justly famous. Having already outlived my father by over 10 years, this is something I think about! My task, as I see it, is to ask the Lord for His plans for each day and then apply myself fully to follow them. The temptation is always there to cook up my own plans, but that has never ended well. However, I have experienced God doing things through me that amazed me, and I am very aware that I can’t take the credit. I am to accept whatever assignments I am given, and let the Lord define “completion” and “success.” My goal is very simply to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

Father, thank You for this reminder. I am very aware of my own weakness, in faithfulness as in everything else. Help me let Your strength flow through me, so that Your purposes for me may be completed indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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