Offerings; January 21, 2021

Posted on January 23, 2021 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 16:17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

The principle of proportional offerings, established by God through Moses, has remained valid ever since. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” (2 Corinthians 8:12) Shortly after that he famously wrote, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) We tend to think in absolute terms, particularly financially, but God doesn’t, since His wealth is infinite in the first place. God doesn’t need anything material that we could give Him, but He wants our hearts, our love and devotion. Offerings are a very good indication of that, because we tend to get very emotionally attached to our finances. Tithing is an excellent starting point, because it’s an easy calculation, but the very fact that it’s a calculation makes some people balk, saying it feels like a tax instead of an offering. We need to be grateful that God has supplied enough that just a tenth of it is the amount we are to give. When people haven’t been raised with tithing, deciding to tithe after they have a real job can be quite a stretch, particularly if it’s a good-paying one. However, we need to remember Jesus’ famous observation to His disciples, one day when they were in view of the offering box at the temple. “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything–all she had to live on.’” (Mark 12:41-44) We have nothing to complain about!

I have tithed, and more, for many years, but compared to that widow I certainly have nothing to brag about! As a pastor I want to teach the believers the joy of giving, but since I benefit from their giving, that makes me feel awkward in talking about it. I think that’s something most pastors struggle with, but some seem to have no trouble begging for money! I will not do that, but the fear of seeming to do that has held me back from teaching this truth effectively. I certainly need God’s wisdom, and I need to take my eyes off of myself better. I am forever telling others to look at Jesus rather than at themselves or their circumstances, but I need to take my own advice better! With changing US administrations there is a great deal of uncertainty in the world. I’ve got to trust God and look forward to His resolution of everything, not hanging onto anything in fear. He has provided and He will provide, and as He has told me, I am to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I was under a lot of emotional attack yesterday, but You were faithful. Help me indeed give You everything, not just materially but emotionally and spiritually, in trusting obedience, so that I may be fully useful to You for Your purposes and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rules; January 20, 2021

Posted on January 22, 2021 by jgarrott

Leviticus 26:3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, … ‘”

The Bible has a lot of “if/then” places in it. We love to latch onto “the promises of God,” as we see them, but often we forget the conditions specified. What follows this verse is a description of a really idyllic agricultural society, but then verse 14 picks up with the bad things that come from not listening obediently to God. Thankfully, from verse 40 it speaks of what follows confession and repentance. Frankly, what we do matters! We are indeed saved by grace through faith, and not by what we do, (Ephesians 2:8-9) but actions have consequences. Over the past year the whole world has been focused on COVID-19. The deaths have been tragic, certainly, but statistics show that of those who have died from it, the average was over two “co-morbidities” per person. That is, they had more than one other condition that could have caused their death all by itself. And to be blunt, the most common of those was obesity, which ultimately comes down to lifestyle choices. We forget that our bodies are on loan to us by God, and we fail either to take proper care of them or to use them to do what the Owner desires. Such things have consequences! I keep coming back to the reality that God’s rules are far more for our benefit than they are for His. Just a few days ago I was remembering Jesus’ statement that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) We complain about God’s rules, not realizing they are all for our good. As John said, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:3-5) In other words, the path to a victorious life is obedient faith. That is actually one of the major messages of the whole Bible!

I have been on the receiving end of the good side of many of God’s promises, both from the obedience of my ancestors to God and from my own having some sense knocked into me. I have also tasted some of the negatives, and I have occasionally skated on some very thin ice. As a school teacher and as a pastor I am often in the position of one making the rules, and I need to be very careful that any rules I make are genuinely for the benefit of those to whom they are delivered and not arbitrary, and particularly not to stoke my ego. As much as possible I am to listen to what God says about each situation and transmit that faithfully, not distorting it in any way. And of course, I am to be focused first on my own obedience to God, and not be so worried about the other guy. (Matthew 7:3-5)

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed fulfill all of Your conditions for blessing and help others to do so as well, never from a “high horse” but always speaking the truth in love, so that together we may defeat the lies of the devil and walk in all that You intend for us, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fairness; January 19, 2021

Posted on January 21, 2021 by jgarrott

Leviticus 25:17 “Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.”

In this chapter God instates a system that, if properly followed, would have resulted in incredible blessing, but which was actually followed very little, if I read the record correctly. “Sabbath years” don’t really come up in the Old Testament after this, and “Jubilee years” come up only in prophecy. The Sabbath year was and is sound agricultural practice, and is reflected in the practice of crop rotation today. They didn’t have chemical fertilizers, much less chemical soil analysis, so they didn’t know what the land needed to produce the best crops. The Sabbath year principle was to force them to give the land a “breather,” so to speak, and be replenished in various ways. The Jubilee year was for social renewal. Human society has a way of tying itself in knots, so God was saying that every 50 years they were to let the knots come untied. A major part of that was the whole principle of fairness, and that’s what this verse addresses. Today we would say that under this system land couldn’t be sold, but only leased. As it says in the verse before this, what was really being bought and sold was the productivity of the land. That would force the people to be more fair with each other and to fear God, as it says here. Someone who genuinely fears God is without question going to be the best sort of person to do business with.

I tend to agree that children are born with an innate sense of fairness, but I have seen that twisted and/or abused many, many different ways. Right now it is being abused by the “social justice warriors” who are insisting on equality of outcome (or so they say). The problem is, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, even within a family everyone is dealt a different hand of cards. What is needed is equality of opportunity, because it ultimately isn’t “fair” to give one person what another person has worked for. As I have written recently, I haven’t been the best steward of what I have been given; I haven’t worked for success. When I have been diligent, good things have happened, for the most part, and when I haven’t been diligent, much less so. At the same time, I have had to learn not to focus on whether things were “fair.” Frankly, from the human perspective they often aren’t. I have had to learn to release things to God and trust Him to use them for good. (Romans 8:28) Just yesterday I had a minor traffic accident, that my insurance agent said would probably be adjudicated as 80% my fault. I was indeed not sufficiently careful at a relatively blind corner, and complaining that things “aren’t fair” benefits no one. It wasn’t fair to the young girl driving the other car, either, but this will be a good step toward her maturity, if she will allow it to be so. I am to be grateful that there were no injuries involved, and that I have good insurance. Also, I am to express proper contrition to her, following up on a personal level for her benefit.

Father, thank You for the Scripture this morning, and for the accident yesterday. Thank You that my response was very different than it might have been years ago. Help me leave fairness in Your hands, rejoicing to be Your child and doing what You say to do, when and how You say to do it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pastoral Income; January 18, 2021

Posted on January 21, 2021 by jgarrott

Leviticus 23:20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest.

I had known it as a fact before, but it really struck me just now that the majority of offerings in the temple, though given to the Lord and holy to Him, were for the priests. How the priests used those things was their responsibility, since they were indeed holy to the Lord. That puts a very interesting slant on preachers who live opulent lifestyles. They are responsible to God for their stewardship, but the money that was given to them was for the most part really given to God, and those giving it are blessed by God. However, I would hate to be in the shoes of some of those preachers when they have to answer to God for what has been placed in their hands. The complete statement of, “They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest,” is the real kicker here. Any “full-time Christian worker” who is careless with with what they are paid for their service needs to do some real self-examination.

This of course applies to me, since I am a pastor, but at the same time my income from the church, being less than what I give the church in my own offerings, is of no concern at tax time. I have had someone be shocked when they discovered that I tithe even what I receive from the church. However, I don’t see how I could do otherwise. I certainly don’t think I live a lavish lifestyle, but people in general think we are better off financially than we actually are, because God has been gracious to us in many, many ways. I’ve gotten some pretty remarkable things out of the trash! What I take from this verse is that I am in no way to feel guilty for receiving things from people who give them because I am a pastor. Those things are offerings to the Lord, and holy, and my refusing them would be wrong on my part. Just yesterday I received a package of rather expensive dietary supplements from someone who wants the pastor to be healthy! I would not have chosen to purchase them, but they are an offering to the Lord, and as such are holy. I delight to act as God’s agent, speaking His words and extending His hand of grace, so I must not shrink from allowing people to respond to me with offerings. At the same time, I must never put a price on my service to the Lord, or be greedy in any way. The moment I do that, I lose all credit before the Lord.

Father, this can be a complicated issue, and one I really don’t like to wrestle with. Thank You for Your abundant supply, given in many different ways. May I be the steward You want me to be, so that everything that goes through my hands, physically or otherwise, may accomplish that for which You intend it, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Absolute Honesty; January 17, 2021

Posted on January 19, 2021 by jgarrott

Leviticus 19:11-12 “‘Do not steal.
“‘Do not lie.
“‘Do not deceive one another.
“‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.'”

Much of Leviticus is detailed rules of all sorts. For many people it is their least favorite book of the Bible, and I’ll confess that for most of my life I have been one of them. I recently read an article by someone who was saying that he had a real encounter with the Lord through reading Leviticus, and right now I feel I can understand that. There is actually a lot of genuinely inspiring – and of course inspired – material in the book. Verse 18 of this chapter has what Jesus picked out as the 2nd greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40) These verses seem extremely timely and pertinent, considering all that is going on in the political world. They get specific about something that was one of my father’s guiding principles, and that I have tried to make one of my own as well: honesty. As I have told many people in recent weeks, the thing that has me most upset about what went on in the US election and has gone on since is the widespread disregard for truth. Actual vote counts, not to mention voter qualifications, were fabricated out of thin air in shockingly many cases, resulting in an outcome that cannot be seen as legitimate. All of that, and much more, has come about from many individual choices to say and do whatever fit a desired narrative, with honesty being totally beside the point. The Bible is the record of God’s interactions with flawed human beings. In stark contrast to most historical writings of thousands of years ago it doesn’t dress people up to present them in the best light, even when the person in question is greatly revered, such as David, Solomon, or even Abraham. The awareness of man’s predilection to do the wrong thing is why Leviticus can be very helpful. From our current viewpoint in time, many if not most of the commandments might seem to go without saying, but experience tells us that we indeed need to be told, until we have the Holy Spirit living inside us to keep us on the right path. When we do have Him, detailed lists become unnecessary.

I well remember when my father told me about the conference he attended in Yokohama as a single missionary at which he encountered the Holy Spirit in such a way that for the first time he really grasped what it was – and is – to be in Christ, even though the use of the term, and related ones, in the Greek New Testament had been the subject of his doctoral dissertation. The conversation is etched in my memory because it was during the brief period, from the first of March to the middle of May, 1974, that we really related as adult men, brothers in Christ, after I had brought my wife and children to Japan for the first time and before my parents left for the furlough from which my mother would bring back a box of ashes. In that conversation my father told me that the speaker at the conference had stressed “Five Absolutes” that are called for in our walk of faith. He was honest enough to say that he didn’t remember all five, but that one that had remained with him as a foundational principle was absolute honesty. I had certainly seen that in him as I grew up, but having him articulate it to me was very meaningful, and I have sought to maintain that same principle in my life. That’s hardly a popular lifestyle these days! Having that principle myself is what makes it so painful to see all the falsehood around me. However, I’m not to let that pull me down, but rather rest in the One who is Truth itself, and know that in the end, all falsehood will be swept away and only Truth will remain.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do continue to pray that Your truth would prevail, in government and in every area of life. Thank You for how so many falsehoods are being exposed. May indeed Your name be recognized as holy and Your kingdom come as Your will is done throughout this earth, as perfectly as it is in heaven. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sabbath; January 16, 2021

Posted on January 19, 2021 by jgarrott

Exodus 34:21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

When you think about it, this was a very shocking command. In an agrarian society, weather and seasons take priority over everything else, because nature doesn’t wait for our convenience. That makes this command very counter-intuitive, but it is simply a clarification of the fourth of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:8) I see at least three reasons for this commandment. The first is very simply that God knows how He created us, and when subjected to uninterrupted labor we burn out very badly. Numerous studies have shown exactly that, proving that God’s commands are not capricious. The second reason is to remind us that God is our supply, and we are dependent on Him. If we are working constantly, we think the outcome is all the result of our own efforts, and we forget that we actually control only a fraction of our lives. The third reason I see here, and actually the one that jumped out at me as I read this passage just now, is that this is to free us from the tyranny of the urgent. Any farmer will tell you that plowing and harvest don’t wait for your convenience, given weather and the like, but here God is commanding us to make Him our first priority, even over important things that “can’t wait.” This is a vital lesson, even if our daily lives have little to do with weather and seasons. If we insist on doing “what has to be done” at a time when God has said to rest, we are placing ourselves above God and saying that our issues are bigger than He is. There is one note here that even Jesus made, and repeatedly at that: we aren’t to fail to take care of the animals – and by extension people – in our care. (Luke 13:15, 14:5) My wife, who had to milk two cows every morning and afternoon, before and after school, brought up that point. An unmilked cow is not a happy animal! Jesus famously proclaimed that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) We aren’t to be slavish about all this, but God’s commands are for our benefit.

In contrast to my wife, I wasn’t raised on a working farm, and as missionaries my parents were regularly very busy on Sundays. Even so, whenever possible they scheduled a nap for Sunday afternoons, Sunday lunch was either at church or a restaurant, and Sunday supper was generally quite simple. As a pastor myself, the same applies. For that reason I try to keep Mondays free, not accepting school classes then, but I have to confess that distinctions blur even for me. I need other ways to maintain the awareness that God is my supply, and to keep Him as my first priority. I too suffer from the tyranny of the urgent! However, most often that urgency comes from procrastination and/or a failure to plan in the first place. If I do things promptly when I have time, it is far easier to obey the Sabbath principle.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I could be called semi-retired at this point, but it still makes a real difference how I organize my life. Help me follow Your schedule for me, not lagging behind and not rushing ahead, so that Your purposes for me may be fulfilled as You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Giving to God; January 15, 2021

Posted on January 18, 2021 by jgarrott

Exodus 23:16 “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.”

I am struck by the distinction between the “Feast of Harvest” and the “Feast of Ingathering.” We are largely separated from an agrarian economy, but in theory at least we base Thanksgiving on the second of those festivals, ignoring the first. I realized just now that celebrating harvest when you’ve only gotten the first sample is a statement of faith that the rest of the crop will come in. Those who live on farms even today know that a lot can happen between the first of the crop and the last, depending on weather, insects, and any of a number of other things. Just because you’ve gotten some doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed the whole crop. That makes it all the more pointed that verse 19 specifies, “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.” We tend to want the best stuff for ourselves! Again, having gotten away from an agrarian economy that distinction has lost its punch, because one dollar is the same as another. The point, however, is a matter of priorities: give to God first, and give Him the best. Sadly, the vast majority of Christians, even, give to God only what is left over after they’ve taken care of everything else. In a financial pinch, the first thing to go is offerings. That frankly is ignoring the reality that God is our source of supply; apart from His grace we can’t gain anything. When we give God the best first, we are declaring our trust that He will supply all that we need, and we are to thank Him again when that happens.

This is something the Lord taught me back in 1973. Cathy and I were both raised in homes that practiced tithing, giving to God a tenth of all income right off the top. However, as a young family with a child, me going from job to job after having gotten out of the Army, we never had a tenth left over at the end of the month. Finally, we decided to step out in faith and write a check as soon as the money came in, before even the rent came out. That was hard, believe me! However, that month we actually had a little left over at the end! In the 48 years since then we have never gone hungry, even in times I was completely out of work. This is a principle I have tried to transmit to those in my care, but the response has been spotty at best. The prevailing attitude seems to be that giving an offering is like an admission fee. People tend to give 1,000 yen a service (about $10) regardless of their income. That misses the whole point! I frankly don’t know how to get this truth across. This distinction between Harvest and Ingathering might just be the key. In any case, it is the Holy Spirit who needs to imprint this on people’s hearts and minds, so much prayer is called for.

Father, thank You for this insight. I do pray for Your anointing so that the believers may be liberated from the lying, poverty mentality the devil wants them to have and step out into the abundance that You intend for them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Humility and Assurance; January 14, 2021

Posted on January 18, 2021 by jgarrott

Genesis 41:16 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Here we have the key to all of Joseph’s success. His past successes in interpreting dreams could easily have gone to his head, but instead the opposite happened. He has assurance that God can and will do what is called for, and he is also firm in his awareness that he is no more than a tool, a mouthpiece. Had his attitude been any different, the outcome would have been very different. He had gone from being a favorite son to being a slave, and then from being a slave to being a prisoner, and as a result of his humility and faith, at this point he goes from being a prisoner to being Prime Minister. I feel sure it was his humble but confident submission to God that most impressed the Pharaoh. When he suggested a course of action in verses 33-36 I don’t think he was thinking of himself as the one in charge! It was that attitude that probably convinced the Pharaoh to designate Joseph as the man of the hour. These days that attitude seems to be in short supply. It isn’t very popular to give God credit for good things. In contrast, natural disasters are called “acts of God!” There is a sometimes delicate balance among the conflicting factors of assurance, conceit, humility, and self-hatred. The answer to it all is ultimately focusing on God. The more and the better we do that, the more assurance we will have of His love for us, as well as the deeper conviction that every good thing we have is from Him. God had used all that Joseph had gone through to bring him to the place of releasing everything into His hands, without becoming passive. That too can be a delicate balance! We are to be active in our obedience, completing faithfully every task the Lord has for us, (Ephesians 2:10) but releasing the results into His hands, refusing to be anxious about anything.

This is an area in which I have fallen off of the balance beam more times than I could count! God has been incredibly gracious toward me in the area of ability and gifting, but I have let that devolve into conceit, on top of being a poor steward of those gifts and abilities. As an example, when I entered college at 16 I was tied for the highest aptitude test scores in my class, but I failed two classes in my freshman year. I wasn’t good at applying myself, and was lazy in many ways. I never joined the organization (though I qualified for it), but I was a good example of the reality that only a small percentage of the members of MENSA hold jobs that genuinely benefit society. I would not have been a good Joseph! Today, at 72, I have to remind myself that God can still use me, despite my multiple past failures. As Paul said, it isn’t a matter of the vessel, but of the contents. (2 Corinthians 4:7) Japanese society tends to punish the exceptional. There is a well-known proverb that says, “The piling that sticks up gets hammered down.” (A lot of people mistakenly substitute “nail” for “piling.”) As a pastor, I desire to instill faith and expectation in the believers that God can and will use them for His purposes and His glory. We need to trust that He is bigger and stronger than our weaknesses and failures!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for telling me that this year I need to work on being a better planner, even though I don’t know precisely what tomorrow will bring. Help me trust You enough to let You guide both in planning and in following through, so that I may be a faithful steward of all You supply, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Denial of God; January 13, 2020

Posted on January 16, 2021 by jgarrott

Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Primitive peoples had very little understanding of the physical universe. Their cosmology certainly didn’t have the earth rotating on its axis and revolving around the sun, so they had a fundamental anxiety about everything, really. That’s why there are so many festivals around the winter solstice, for example, when the days stop getting shorter and start getting longer. That makes this a very important proclamation from God to mankind, because it gave them peace of mind. This has been an important thing to remember as climate has changed over the centuries, particularly suddenly with such things as massive volcanic eruptions that blanketed the earth with ash, as recently as Krakatoa in 1883, causing record cold winters and poor harvests. The whole story of Noah is recorded so that we will understand that God is reliable and not capricious, but He is certainly not to be trifled with. Today there are many who ridicule the ignorance of ancient peoples and claim to have “advanced” to the point of “not needing religion.” The problem with that is that without an awareness of our Creator, there is absolutely no rational basis for morality. We see the results of that all the time today, as generations of school children have been taught that they are nothing more than the accidental byproducts of evolution. If that were true, there would be no reason to condemn the acts of such people as Mao, Stalin, and Hitler. Just the other day I watched a video talking about how Nazi medical personnel, and specifically nurses, killed thousands upon thousands of handicapped children, convinced they were doing the right, “scientific” thing, but that pales in comparison to the millions of infants that have been aborted in their mothers’ wombs in recent years. Such things are not possible on such a scale when people remember that they are created beings, and as such are accountable to their Creator. In recent years several scientists have realized the almost impossible odds against life existing on earth as it does, and have come to faith in a Creator as a result. We shouldn’t need a deep understanding of astrophysics to stand up against the denial of God, particularly among those who are actively poisoning our young people against the idea of moral accountability.

I was raised in a home that was both strongly intellectual and deeply spiritual. On top of that, I’m old enough that I missed most of the flood of practical atheism that has swamped our educational institutions over the last half century or more. For that, I am deeply grateful. However, the question remains of what I can do about the current state of things. As an educator myself, teaching Medical English to Japanese medical personnel, I have some real opportunities for influence. However, that doesn’t touch America, where my parents were born and raised and which I care about deeply. I am largely limited to prayer, but I must never take that lightly, either as a responsibility or as an opportunity. After all, I can talk to the Guy who’s in charge of everything! I do believe He’s bringing things to the climax described in the Revelation to John, but I’m not to become passive in response to that belief. I’m not worried about timelines, and I don’t want to waste time and energy plotting where we are in Revelation or Daniel or whatever, but I am to be praying faithfully for God’s will to be done in every situation of which I’m aware, and in this Information Age that’s a lot! God alone is totally faithful and reliable, and I must never forget that.

Father, thank You for this reminder, particularly as so many things are in turmoil. I do pray for every work of the devil to be destroyed, (1 John 3:8) even when I can’t see how that could happen, so that more and more people may be freed from the devil’s lies and brought to salvation, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Invitation; January 12, 2021

Posted on January 14, 2021 by jgarrott

Revelation 22:17  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I know I’ve written on this before, but it’s just too magnificent to pass up. This is the ultimate invitation. The only things not mentioned in this verse are repentance and faith, but verse 15 covers those who refuse to repent, and by this point in the book, faith is a given. Many have accused Christian faith of being exclusionary, of being elitist or even racist, but nothing could be further from the truth. As this verse says, the invitation to eternal life is to whoever recognizes their need and desires God’s free gift. There is nothing more colorblind than the Gospel. That’s one of many reasons the current push to “identity politics” is actively anti-Christian. There are absolutely no distinctions of race, gender, or anything else in this verse. As it says clearly, God’s Spirit issues the invitation and the true Church, which is the Bride of Christ, issues the same invitation. Any church that fails to extend the invitation to all risks excluding itself from the Bride of Christ. And then there is the statement, “Let him who hears say, ‘come.’” If we have really heard God’s invitation, we are then to relay it to those around us. The percentage of the world’s Christians who have never shared the Gospel with anyone is huge, and tragic. There is a secular proverb that says, “Love isn’t love until you give it away.” The same may be said of the Gospel. If we don’t share it with anyone, do we really understand that it is Good News, in fact the best news in the world? I actually think not. Different personalities will use different methods of evangelism, but anyone who has a living relationship with the Lord of life is going to share Christ with those around them. I have observed that the more a person shares Christ, the more real Christ is to them personally. If you feel like Christ is far from you, try telling someone else about Him!

Given my home environment, I think I believed the Gospel from the time I had distinct beliefs about anything, but it wasn’t until God baptized me with His Spirit in 1974 that I started actively sharing Christ with total strangers. In fact, the sudden realization that I was doing that for the first time in my life gave me the assurance that God had indeed been true to His Word, as He brought Acts 1:8 to my memory. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” With my personality and gifting I have no fear of speaking to people or even large groups, but I am told that it’s not too common for someone with Teacher gifting to become a missionary. That said, I don’t feel I’m very effective as an evangelist in Japan because I tend to dump too much on people who have no foundation to receive it. And of course, there’s the added factor of Japanese being so ethnically aware that they have trouble accepting that what I, as a Caucasian, am telling them applies to them as a Japanese. However, nothing is impossible for God, and I am to keep spreading the Seed, trusting God for the harvest in His time.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the privilege of extending Your invitation to those around me. Help me do so with joy, speaking Your truth in love, so that Your Spirit may be free to work in the hearts and lives of my hearers, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Posted in Christian, encouragement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment