tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43884344208251034812024-03-13T10:00:47.387-04:00The Encouragement of ScriptureSt. Paul wrote to the church at Rome words that speak to all the Church through the ages: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope."
It is to that concept, that the Word of God brings encouragement to the heart of those who will believe its message, this blog is devoted.Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-23182683381110339792015-02-14T10:16:00.005-05:002015-02-14T12:14:07.382-05:00The Follow-on Question<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps you remember the challenge the religious leaders brought to Jesus. You can find it in Luke 20. They said to Him: “By what authority do you do what you do? Tell us.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unruffled, Jesus turned the tables on them and said, <em>“I will also ask you a question: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”</em> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The elders suddenly realized their precarious predicament. If they said John’s baptism and teaching were from God, then Jesus would ask the reasonable follow-on question, “Then why didn’t you believe him?” But if they said John’s teaching was his own, or the teaching of others, the people would stone them because they held John to be God’s prophet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I thought of that exchange when I read this morning St. Paul’s comment in the first chapter of his letter to the Galatians: <em>"For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ."</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">From time to time over the decades I’ve heard some pontificate about the great apostle, whether he got his religious philosophy from himself, or whether he was a little ‘touched’ in the head. Maybe schizophrenic. Or bipolar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think we ought to expect Jesus to ask all of us today the same question about Paul as He asked those in His day about John.. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And we should be careful how we answer, because He will ask the same follow-on question.</span></div>
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Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-88646306304342586512014-11-23T11:38:00.002-05:002014-12-14T15:35:28.669-05:00Boldly Into His Throne Room<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So I’m reading in Hebrews this verse in chapter 4:
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>For we do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as
we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the
throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of
need</i> (15-16). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The word ‘confidence’ in Greek can also be
translated, ‘boldly.’ Thus, another
translation of verse 16 can read: <span class="text"><i>Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">And speaking of High Priest,
according to Moses, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies within the
Tabernacle only once a year to make atonement for the nation (Hebrews 9:7,
Leviticus chapters 16 and 17). But now, the Holy Spirit tells us we can “have
boldness to enter” that holiest of places by the blood of Jesus. Whenever we
want. As often as we want.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">You can’t make this stuff up. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Who’d ever think up a story of a God,
the supreme ruler of the galaxies, the final and decisive arbiter of life and
death, who would think this Being would permit – no, that He would <i>welcome</i> – His creatures to <i>boldly</i> enter His very Holy of Holies? No
religion aside from Judeo-Christian faith – none hold their god so near. So
personal. So gracious. So compassionate. So loving.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">But our God, whom we know as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from the time of Adam to this very moment as you
read this, our God <i>welcomes</i> us to enter
confidently, boldly, into His very throne room.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Whenever we want. As often as we
want.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Do you have a problem? Have a
need? Just want to talk? You can enter His Holy of Holies now. Confidently. Tell
Him what’s on your heart. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">He is always ready to listen.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">--------------</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can find my YouTube Bible study through 1 Peter if you click this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrYFBiiATKk"><b><span style="background-color: blue;">link.</span></b></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-31514153299416650782014-08-24T10:19:00.002-04:002014-08-24T10:21:20.710-04:00Encouraged to Reconcile<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here is another Scripture text that encourages me. I hope it will also encourage you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text"><i> “. . . . God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them . . . Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us;
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no
sin to be sin on our behalf, so
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)</i></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From conversations I’ve had over the
years, I think many people have a distorted view of God – and for good reason. Sometimes
the sermons we hear, or the books we read, or the conversations we have – even with
some clergy – can lead us to think of God only as a Supreme “no-nonsense” taskmaster.
We create a picture in our minds of Him standing impatiently at the edge of
heaven, whip in His right hand, an unblinking and piercing gaze scouring the
earth, just waiting for us to screw up. And when we do, He zealously fires off lightning
bolts of judgment to smite us with illness, accident, or some other dreaded
punishment for our sin.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scripture, however, presents
a totally different view of God. Certainly judgment awaits the hardened,
persistent, and arrogant rebel who refuses to bow the knee to the Creator. St.
Paul warned his readers a few verses earlier in this same chapter of 2
Corinthians:<span class="text"><sup> </sup><i>For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each
one may be recompensed for <sup>]</sup>his deeds in the body, according to what
he has done, whether good or bad.</i></span><i> Therefore, knowing the fear of the
Lord, we persuade men . . . .</i> (verses 10-11). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes, each of us will stand –
one by one – before God’s judgment seat. That image alone should create a reasonable
measure of fear within everyone. But for the penitent – and this is important –
for the penitent, even for the one who stumbles into and out of sin time and
again, for the truly penitent, God reserves only mercy. </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here again is what the Holy Spirit
tells us through St. Paul: <i>“W<span class="text">e are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal
through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text">Did you see that
word, ‘appeal'? The Greek word Paul used, </span><i>epikaleō</i><span class="text">,
carries with it the idea of pleading, beseeching, or exhorting. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes, God stands at the edge of heaven,
but not impatiently waiting for us to blow it. Rather, He stands with His arms open,
<i>pleading</i> with us, <i>beseeching</i> us, <i>exhorting</i> us, “Come, let’s reason together. Though your sins are as
scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
will be like wool.* </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Come,” He invites again and again . .
. and then again, “Repent. Be reconciled with Me and turn from the things you
know are wrong. They will only hurt you and those you love in the end.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And so, knowing of God’s great mercy,
why does anyone still choose to not be reconciled with Him who loves <i>each</i> of us so much that He offered His
son to die in our place?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*Isaiah 1:18</span></span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-37100333223974703822014-08-16T10:54:00.001-04:002014-08-16T10:54:10.470-04:00Bible Study in 1 Peter, lesson 4, now on YouTube<span style="font-size: large;">It is easy to read scripture texts that speak of serious, blood-curdling trials. The words fall across the tongue as if we are reading about the local weather report. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But for some of us, even today, these words strike deep into our spirit, our souls, our lives. The testing of our faith is not an easy journey. It brims over with great sadness, grief, mourning, anger, even bitterness. This is one of the things I talk about in this week’s study through chapter one of Peter’s first epistle. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You can view the 23 minute study here: </span><a href="http://youtu.be/oKSqIyds020"><span style="font-size: large;">http://youtu.be/oKSqIyds020</span></a>Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-15808722411402333672014-08-13T07:31:00.000-04:002014-08-13T07:31:21.141-04:00The Running Father<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><strong>Want to be encouraged? This Scripture in Luke is written just for us.</strong></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons . . . .</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (Luke 15:11). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">During one of his live performances, singer/songwriter Steve Angrisano talked about the Prodigal Son. “It is not only about the Prodigal”, he said, “but it’s also about the Running Father.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">You can find the well-known story of the Prodigal in Luke 15. The young man had asked his father to divide the inheritance he and his brother were to receive. He wanted his share now. He was tired of living under his father’s rules and authority. He wanted to get away, to live on his own, do as he wanted, when he wanted, with whomever he wanted, for as long as he wanted. In a few days, he packed his bags and left with a bag full of money, and soon surrounded himself with drunkards and prostitutes. Until a famine fell across the land, and it wasn’t long before the young man found himself broke, hungry, homeless, alone, and despondent. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">We don’t know how long it took, but eventually he came to his senses. “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!” he said to himself. “I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands”’ (verses 17-19). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">And so he set himself on the road home. I can imagine him, in my mind’s eye. Shoulders slumped, filled with remorse for having left home in the first place, offending his father, wasting his inheritance on sin and rebellion, wondering now if his father would even speak to him. Dread and apprehension smothered his spirit. He would not even lift his eyes from the dirt road as he shuffled along. Dust swirled at his ankles. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He wiped it away with his ragged cloak.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Onward he walked. For hours. Perhaps days. Edging closer to his father’s home. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Had he been confident about his father’s love, the prodigal would not have been looking at his feet as he drew close to the place of his birth. Instead, he would have seen his father in the distance, standing at the perimeter of their property, scanning the horizon, hoping his son would one day return. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">But the prodigal didn’t look up, and so did not see his father running toward him –almost at a sprint – arms open, face beaming, cloak flapping behind him as he raced toward his son. Not until he heard his father’s sandals slapping the dirt, did he look up and see. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">What did the young man think when he beheld his father’s radiant smile and dancing eyes? What did he think as his father embraced him, as he held him close in a long, so very long, lingering embrace?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">“Father,” the prodigal began, “I am so sorry. I was wrong. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Please, make me as one of our slaves” (see verse 21).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">But his father seemed to not even hear him. “My son! My son! You were lost, Oh, but now you’re found. You were dead, but you’re now alive. Oh, thank God, you’re alive. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Come into the house. Oh, my son, you’re home!”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">He was dead, and is now alive. He was lost, and is now found.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">What about you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you made a mess of your life? Not wanting to live under your heavenly Father’s rules and authority, you left Him to do what you wanted to do, when you wanted to do it, how you wanted to do it, for as long as you wanted to do it?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">And now you see your great error?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son to make an important point for you and for me about the Father’s love – about His great, overabundant love – for us. An important point perhaps especially for those of us who wonder if we have been gone so long and drifted so far that He won't now even talk to us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">The prodigal “came to his senses” and made his way home. Why not do the same?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as you take your first step, look up and you will see your heavenly Father scanning the horizon from the edge of heaven. Keep looking, and you will see Him running toward you, His arms outstretched, face radiant, as He embraces you. “Look!” He will shout at the angels. “My child was lost, and now is found!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My child was dead, and is now alive!” </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Don’t you want to go home?</span></span></div>
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Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-27444057403596014572014-07-25T13:29:00.001-04:002014-07-25T13:59:26.296-04:00Can We Call Him, "Daddy"?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It saddens me -- it really does -- when people (even with post-graduate degrees in theology) say Christians haven't the right to call the heavenly Father, 'Daddy."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I cannot imagine not knowing the embrace of God in such a way as one who knows Him as 'Daddy" can know His embrace. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I do not at all mean it is appropriate in the least to be flippant with Him. He is G-O- D. Creator. Judge, as well as redeemer and savior. I remember an event that occurred in 1973, shortly after I committed my life to Him. I was walking beside a warehouse on the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, chatting with God. I don't remember our conversation, but I do remember looking toward heaven and telling Him, "Lord, do Your thing."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The last syllable hardly left my lips when an enormous and ominous weight fell over me. His Presence was so heavy I leaned against the side of the warehouse to prevent myself from falling.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And a 'voice' filled my thoughts. 'Filled' is not quite the correct word. Overwhelmed? Overpowered? Took control? He said to me in the clearest of 'voiced': "I'm not your friend."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I knew what He meant. My mother used to say the same words to me when I got a bit too sassy for my own good.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God taught me very early in my Christian life He is not one to 'mess' with. He is not one with whom we can 'pal around' and horseplay. He is God. Holy. Holy. And holy once again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But that does not mean He is not our Daddy. Nor does it mean He objects to our calling Him that when we call Him that out of love and intimacy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I published this (below) about a year ago to my Contemplative blog. After recently reading comments stating it is wrong to call the Father, Daddy, I thought I would publish it to my Encouragement of Scripture blog because, well, I hope you will be encouraged by Scripture. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If you know Jesus as your savior through His atoning sacrificial blood, if you know Him as your God, King, and Lord, be assured, Scripture encourages you to draw close to your Father in heaven -- and if you wish, to call Him, Daddy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “<b>Abba</b>!</i> [Aramaic word for Daddy] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Father!</i> (Galatians 4:6)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">a song</span> for Him <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . . whose name is the </i></span><span class="small-caps"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, and exult before Him. A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely . . . </i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Psalm 68:4-6)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I call Him Lord so often I sometimes forget He’s my heavenly Daddy. I’m sorry when that happens. ‘Lord’ conjures for me a more distant relationship than the intimate bond ‘Daddy’ invokes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In prayer last week, that intimacy stirred thoughts once again of my earthly father. Those who’ve followed my blogs for a while know Albert left me and my sister in 1954.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was four, Andrea was not yet two. He wouldn’t keep out of other women’s beds, so Mom finally told him to pack his valise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Andrea and I rarely saw him afterward. Three, maybe four times over the next decade and a half. Then, in 1968, when I was eighteen, I asked Mom to set a meeting with him at my paternal grandparents’ apartment. I wanted to know his side of the story. I wanted to know why he left me and Andrea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My mind’s eye still sees him as he sat in the wing-backed chair in front of the living room window. I sat cross-legged on the carpet a few feet from him. Andrea and Mom sat on the sofa to my left, my grandmother on the flowered upholstered chair to the right of the couch. My grandfather softly drummed his fingers on the dining room table to my right. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Why did you leave?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Albert hardly hesitated. He looked me in the eyes and said, </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Because I wanted to.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That was 45 years ago. His words remain as chilling as if he spoke them last month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t know why that memory recently resurfaced while I was in prayer. I forgave Albert in November 2011 for what he’d done to me. The Lord had interrupted my prayer time and asked if I would forgive Albert. His question caught me by surprise, and I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Would I forgive Al for casting me aside like a piece of trash? More to the point, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could</i> I forgive him?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I’d like to,” I finally answered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What happened next still warms me to think of it. The memory of Albert saying what he did remained – and yet remains – chiseled in my mind, but the memory then took a sudden and extraordinary turn. I was no longer sitting on the carpet. Instead, my heavenly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daddy</i> was sitting on the carpet and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> was sitting in His lap. His arms encircled me and I snuggled deep into His embrace. His warmth surrounded me. I could hear His heart beat, feel His breath on my hair. A great sense of quiet washed over me. I knew I was at home, at home in His arms. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Home. Oh, the security, serenity, the love and hope that word arouses within me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Albert’s words, “Because I wanted to” no longer stung as they had in 1968 because now, in 2011, I could snuggle deeper into Daddy’s embrace. Albert’s cruelty dissipated like a mist burned away by the sun as my Daddy held me yet closer – because He understood how those words ripped a hole in me. I remember as I write this how – as this scene unfolded in my memory – I broke into a grin, looked him in the eyes and said without hesitation: “I forgive you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why shouldn’t I forgive the man? How could I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> forgive the man? I was sitting in my real Daddy’s lap. Albert was never my father. He only impregnated my mother. He was no more my father than if he had raped her and she conceived. But my Daddy in heaven – oh, my Daddy has never left me, no matter how many reasons I gave Him in my life to do so. And even when I didn’t know it He was there, all the time, His arm around my shoulder, whispering encouragement to a young boy, who became a teenager, and then became a young man who would one day become the man at 64 who joyfully lifts his hands in worship of his Daddy in heaven. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sitting in my heavenly Father’s arms, how could Albert’s cavalier rejection hurt me? I could feel only sympathy for the man who missed a lifetime of opportunities to be my earthly daddy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is it any wonder why I am so in love with my Daddy who art in heaven?</span></div>
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<br />Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-29657257557328755782014-06-29T12:53:00.000-04:002014-07-05T12:54:12.164-04:00Love Him, or Like Him -- There's Work to be Done<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Every time I read the last chapter of John's gospel I slow down at the exchange between Jesus and St. Peter. If you have a Bible that translates in the margin the Greek words used for 'love' in that passage, you will find the dialogue come alive for you. I published this essay in my book, </i></span><a href="http://www.richmaffeobooks.com/"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Lessons Along the Journey</i></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i>. I modified it for this blog because of its encouragement.</i>-----------------------------</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve grappled with forgiveness, commitment, holiness, and a dozen other spiritual markers along my journey with Christ. Even as I write this, the grappling continues. <br /><br /> Yet, as I reflect over the decades, I can clearly see one predominant thread woven through each lesson learned. It is this: God loves me. His love was there when my father left me. I was five. His love was there during my teen years when I got lost in unspeakable sin. It was there when I raised my fist and accused Him of not caring about me. It was there when . . . when . . . .<br /><br /> Truth is, it’s always been there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Several years ago, as I read the exchange between Jesus and St. Peter in the last chapter of John's gospel, the Holy Spirit opened my heart to a lesson that summarizes the essence of Jesus' relationship with those who call Him lord and savior.<br /><br /> The New Testament writers used two words for “love” – <i>phileo</i> and <i>agape</i>. Phileo (fil-EH-oh) carries the idea of tender affection. Agape (ah-GAH-pay) is often used to describe God's unconditional, merciful, and enduring love – the kind of love He commands us to have for Him and for others.<br /><br /> One morning, as I read the twenty-first chapter of St. John’s gospel, I paused at verses 15-17. The margin of my Bible includes the Greek words used for “love” in this passage. I include the words in parentheses below:<br /><br /> "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love (<i>agape</i>) me more than these?” He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love (<i>phileo</i>) you.” He said to him, "Feed my lambs.”<br /><br />"He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love (<i>agape</i>) me?” He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love (<i>phileo</i>) you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">{<b>Now note the change in the verb Jesus uses}</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />"He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love (<i>phileo</i>) me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love (<i>phileo</i>) me?” and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love (<i>phileo</i>) you.” (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.” <br /><br />As I meditated on the passage, I wondered why Peter responded to Christ’s agape with phileo. A modern version of the conversation might sound something like this: <br /><br />“Peter, do you love me with all your heart?”<br />“Lord, I have great affection for you.”<br /> “Feed My lambs.”<br /> “Peter, do you really love me?”<br /> “Lord, I think you are wonderful.”<br /> “Tend My sheep.”<br /> “Peter, do you have great affection for me?”<br /> “Lord, you know I do.”<br /> “Feed My sheep.”<br /><br />Two things caught my attention in this exchange between the Lord and Peter. First, Peter must have felt miserable about his thrice denial of his best friend and Lord. But then I noticed how the Savior tried to help Peter move beyond his guilt. When Peter wouldn't say – couldn’t say – he loved (<i>agape</i>) Jesus, the Lord came down to his level: “Okay, my friend. Do you have affection (<i>phileo</i>) for me?”<br /><br />How like Christ to be so gentle to our wounded spirits.<br /><br /> And second – and this is equally important – after each <i>agape/phileo</i> exchange the Lord’s charge to Peter was essentially the same: “Feed My sheep.”<br /><br />In other words, “Peter, I know you feel guilty, but your repentance restored our relationship. Your sorrow and continued guilt are unnecessary. Don’t let them keep you from your task to tend My flock."<br /><br />How like the merciful Christ to call us out of our sorrow. How like Him to renew our relationship – vessels of clay that we are – and set us about the work He’s given us to do. <br /><br /> I need that gentleness and mercy. And I imagine you can probably use a dose of it yourself.<br /><br /> When we feel unable to tell Him, “I <i>agape</i> You,” the Savior tells us it’s okay if we just <i>phileo</i> Him. And when our sorrow overwhelms us, the Shepherd comes alongside, puts His arm across our shoulders and tells us, as He always tells us, "I <i>agape</i> you."<br /><br /><i>“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”</i> (Romans 11:33). The penitent's sins are forgiven. All of them, forgotten. All of them, washed in the Blood of the Lamb.<br /><br /> Now, let's get about doing His work. </span><br />
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Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-92176617046365609562014-06-28T13:30:00.000-04:002014-06-28T13:30:08.144-04:00Commentaries -- Be Cautious
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to
be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth</i>” (2 Timothy 2:15)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I use several English translations of the
Scriptures during my routine study through the Bible. Doing so helps tease out
important nuances – nuances that can be missed when translating from one
language into another. I typically have used the Catholic Revised Standard Bible
and the Ignatius Study Bible (my recommended Bible for Catholics), along with
several Protestant translations such as the New International, the New King
James, and the New American Standard Bible (my recommendation for Protestants). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For decades I have cautiously used Bibles
with commentaries printed alongside the biblical texts. I know the text itself is
fully inspired by God, but the commentaries are simply the opinions of editors
and theologians. And while their comments can help increase our understanding
of various passages, those same comments can misguide us because, unlike the
biblical writers who wrote under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, commentaries
by editors and theologians are just that: Commentaries. Opinions. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Moses, Isaiah, Hosea, Luke, Paul, and the others cannot be
wrong. Editors and theologians can be.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Several weeks ago I retired my worn New
American Standard Bible and replaced it with a New American Inductive Study Bible
(NAISB). I purchased the NAISB because it has what has become a unique feature
in modern Bibles: It has 1.5 inch margins that permit me to jot down my
thoughts as I read. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The other day, as I turned to St. Paul’s
first epistle to Timothy, I perused the editor’s introductory comments. This is
part of that commentary:</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Paul
also was concerned about the church at Ephesus. Timothy, his faithful
co-laborer, was pastoring that strategically important church. Possibly
concerned that he might be delayed and that Timothy might need instructions to
set before others as an ever-present reminder, <u>Paul wrote to his beloved son
in the faith an epistle that would become a legacy for the church and a pillar
and support of the truth . . .</u> .” </i>(underline is my emphasis). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This editorial comment perfectly illustrates
the danger inherent in an uncritical reading of any Bible commentary – whether
in a Catholic Bible or a Protestant one. In this case, unless we are familiar
with First Timothy, we would miss the theological error nestled in that last phrase about
the “pillar and support of the truth.” The editorial comment can lead us to
believe Paul’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">epistle</i> was the pillar
and support of the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is
not at all what the biblical text says. Here is what St. Paul wrote: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup>“</sup>. . . <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I write</span> so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in
the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).</i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Holy Spirit, writing through St. Paul, wants
us to know it is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Church</i> – not the
letter Paul had written to Timothy – but it is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Church</i> that is the “pillar and support of the truth.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Based on the plain sense of this text
(there are others, of course), and on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">context</i>
of this text, Catholics believe Scripture undergirds the Catholic view of apostolic
succession and the authority given by Christ to the Church to support and infallibly
teach truth regarding faith and morals. One would never come to that conclusion
by only reading the editorial commentary.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"All
Scripture,”</i> the Holy Spirit reminds us through St. Paul, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; <sup> </sup>so
that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”</i> (2
Timothy 3:16-17). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is important for Christians to make a
habit of reading the Scriptures – to read them often, and prayerfully. It is
also important for us to remember that while commentaries can be useful tools
of Bible study – commentaries can be wrong. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-8807869564564903762014-06-07T17:43:00.000-04:002014-06-07T18:46:36.733-04:00The Invitation<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em><br /></em></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>The Spirit and the Bride say,
“Come.” </em>(Revelation 22:17)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">When God says something once,
we do well to pay attention. But when He repeats what He says – I think that means He really, really wants to make a point. </span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">That’s what I thought when I
recently read again His invitation to me – and, of course, to anyone who cares
to hear it: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Spirit and the Bride say,
“Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty, Come.
Let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost [Come]</i>
(Revelation 22:17). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">As I laid the Bible on my lap,
I remembered what God said several hundred years earlier, through the prophet
Isaiah: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Come, everyone
who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come,
buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not
satisfy? (Isaiah 55:1-2a).</i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Then another
text came to mind, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">“Come to Me, all who are weary and
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> <sup><span id="en-NASB-23489"> </span></sup>Take My yoke upon you and learn
from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light." </span></i><span style="font-size: 18pt;">(Matthew 11:28-30). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">At that point
my memory went into overdrive as scores of similar invitations across the
length and breadth of Scripture floated through my thoughts. And I wondered why
some think there is a better offer waiting for us from elsewhere. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> can tell
you from four decades of experience, there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>
no better offer. We can live a hundred lives over, even ten thousand lives
over, and we will never receive a better or more genuine appeal.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">On December 24, 1972 I responded
to God’s RSVP with a simple, “Yes, Lord, I come. With all my dark past, with all
my hunger, and with all my thirst – Oh, Lord, I come to You. Quench the longing
of my soul.” </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Indeed, since that day in
1972 I have repeatedly, perhaps hundreds of times, reminded myself of my RSVP. Our
Father’s invitation is too gracious, too abundant, too life-giving – and too
important – that I do not want to forget how badly I need Him day by day.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">What about you? </span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-31190658836052780242014-05-15T11:50:00.001-04:002014-05-15T11:51:14.915-04:00God Delights in . . . .You<span style="font-size: large;">[<i>Jesus said to his disciples]: I have much more to tell you, but
you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will
guide you to all truth</i> (John 16:12-13a).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">[<i>The
Holy Spirit says of Himself] . . . then was I beside Him as his
craftsman, and I was His delight day by day, playing before Him all the
while, playing on the surface of His earth; and I found delight in the
human race (</i>Proverbs 8:30-31).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . . because the love of
God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has
been given to us</i> (Romans 5:1-5).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Scripture readings played in my mind for days after I heard
them during the Mass. The more they played, the more I contemplated
their interconnectedness. And the more I contemplated their
connectedness, the more relaxed my spirit grew.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus
tells us through the gospel reading that the Holy Spirit guides us into
all truth. That was not new information to me. I’ve known the Holy
Spirit’s guidance through Scripture for more than forty years. But as I mused over the readings I
learned something new. Actually, I learned it again: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God <i>delights</i>
in us. More to the point, the Holy Spirit reminded me through the
Proverbs text that while God delights in us, He also takes <i>delight </i>in <i>me</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He considers <i>me</i> of great value. Even while I was shaking my fist in His face during my
younger years, God loved me nonetheless. He loved me so much that He
gave His Son to die for me (Romans 5:8).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And He gave His Son to die for <i>you</i>, too. Why? Because He delights in you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And
because He takes delight in us, St. Paul could write the words of our
second reading: All who have placed their faith in Christ stand before
God <i>justified</i> (from a Greek word meaning “to be declared without guilt”). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Think of it for a moment. Those who approach God in humble faith through the sacrifice of Christ are justified – <i>declared by God to be without guilt. </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Without guilt! Cleansed of our sin. Free from the eternal consequences of our sin. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Hey! God’s
not mad at us. He’s not looking to get even with us, to whip us into
conformity. To teach us who’s boss. To throw us into hell. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The
Holy Spirit took the time that weekend to remind me through those texts
that He really, really, really delights in me. He loves me. Without condition.
Without permutation. He delights in me. He loves me – even as much as He
loves Jesus (John 17:23). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And He feels the same way about you, too.</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, if only I – if only <i>we</i>
– can mature in our faith to the point where His promise takes root –
and blossoms – only then can we finally experience the confidence in our heart that
the Word of God offers us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, Holy Spirit. Please make it so.</span>Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-8942916280913646842014-05-05T20:17:00.002-04:002014-05-05T20:36:52.302-04:00You Can Tell It<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i>Those
who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made
well. And .
. . the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging [Jesus] that he might accompany
Him; but He sent him away, saying,</i></span><i> <span class="woj"><sup><span id="en-NASB-25285"> </span></sup>“Return to
your house and describe what great things God has done for you.”</span><span class="text"> So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great
things Jesus had done for him.</span></i><span class="text"> (Luke 8:36-39)</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">I think one of the more miserable lies
Satan tells Christians is along the lines of: <i>You don’t know enough about the Bible
to tell others of God’s love and the forgiveness through Jesus Christ that is
free to anyone who asks.</i> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">But to believe Satan’s lie is to make God an
impotent creation of our own imagination. If our God is who the <i>Scripture</i> says He is – who created all
things both visible and invisible by simply saying, “Let there be . . .”, then
surely He is able to do something so simple as to use you and me – even in our temporary ignorance of God’s
word – to bring others to faith.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">We do not need a theological degree – or even
Church ordination – to tell our own story of how Jesus changed our life. But oh,
what God can do for others through our story – a story we can then post to
Facebook, Google-plus, Linked-in, or any other social network site to which we
belong. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">So, how can you tell your story? Here is a
rough template you might use to tell others about your Jesus:</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">1. What was your life like before you met Jesus? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">2. How has Jesus changed you? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">3. When did you realize you needed to follow Him
and be forgiven of your sins? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">4. If you were baptized into the Church as an
infant, then tell about the time you realized your faith needed to be an ‘adult’
faith, a ‘confirmed’ faith.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"></span></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">5. How has He changed your life circumstances? Or, if He has <i>not</i> changed your circumstances, how has He helped you cope with
those circumstances now?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">6. If you could tell others only one thing
about your Jesus, what would you wish to tell them?</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Pope Francis recently tweeted: <i>God’s love is not generic. He loves every
man and women, and He calls them by name. </i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Christian, God can use your story to help
someone else learn of His deep and very personal love for them, whom He knows by name. Will you tell them
what great things God has done for you?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-76872017441467658312014-04-23T19:56:00.000-04:002014-04-23T19:56:29.417-04:00Like a Snap of the Fingers<span style="font-size: large;"><em>Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come . . .</em> (Ecclesiastes 12:1). <br /><br /> As I read Solomon’s words my thoughts traced back to an article I’d read years ago about former Beatle George Harrison. A year before his death at age 58, Harrison confessed that the last forty years of his life passed so quickly, they seemed like the snap of his fingers.<br /><br /> I wouldn’t say my last forty years passed that fast. They seem more like a few months than a quick snap. Nonetheless, forty years in a few months is pretty fast, and for those who take the time to consider the clock’s haste, Harrison’s comment resonates with wisdom.<br /><br /> And with warning. <br /><br /> Solomon discovered near the end of his life what many who are older try to convince those who are younger: Like a relentless drum-beat, our calendar pages drop like autumn leaves in a wind storm; and the time will come, for each of us, when our time runs out. <br /><br /> When that happens, we will be glad to have remembered – and served – our Creator. <br /><br /> While we had the time. </span>Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-5961242208835820782014-04-18T12:11:00.000-04:002014-04-18T12:11:17.750-04:00Into Thy Hands -- the Seventh Word<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Call to Me and I will
answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.</i>
(Jeremiah 33:3)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
last seven words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross
are among the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the last of the seven:
</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">(Luke 23:46)<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Can the Father be trusted, even in our darkest and most desperate
moment? It’s an important question to articulate aloud because doubts course
through our minds anyway. And God hears those questions in our thoughts as
easily as He hears them from our lips. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Can He be trusted to do what is right and good at all times
and in all situations? Jesus answered the question for Himself, for although God
from God and Light from Light, Jesus was also at the same time fully man – with
all the emotions of any other person. He knew fear, and hunger, and thirst, and
grief, and loneliness, and anger . . . <span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And pain.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus did not want to die. Three times in the garden He
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Father’s will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why would He do that? Many reasons, certainly. But one floats
now to the top of my mind – because He loved His Father more than His own life.
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and of His reciprocal love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Good Friday is good because even as the Father’s beloved Jesus
carried that cross to Golgotha, God at the same time demonstrated His love for you
and for me in that while we mocked His Son, cursed Him, shook our fist at Him
in defiance – the Father watched His Son die for us.</span></div>
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</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">What darkness envelopes you today? What sadness, or emptiness,
or loneliness, or pain overshadows your soul?<span>
</span>And if not today, then wait a while. Life is full of such things as can tear
our soul to its very core. Jesus loved His Father so much that even in His
darkest moment He remained confident that the Father’s love was so deep and
abiding that nothing – not even death – could separate them. And so Jesus is our
preeminent example of what love for the Father can do for us in our dark times.
Love for God can generate hope, and hope will never disappoint because God’s
love will unfold in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us – a love so
deep and abiding that we will know, in the very core of our soul, that nothing
will separate us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Can God be trusted? What do we think? What will we do?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-19073669421666593242014-04-16T19:53:00.000-04:002014-04-16T19:53:27.639-04:00Sealed With a Kiss<span style="font-size: large;"><em>And He shall be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge . . .</em> (Isaiah 33:6)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When I was a teenager during the 60s (long before email) boyfriends and girlfriends often sent handwritten notes to each other and penned these letters -- SWAK -- on the back of the sealed envelope. They stood for "Sealed With A Kiss."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I do not think it coincidental that during the past several months, as I permitted myself to get spun up about the political issues facing America, a passage in Isaiah grabbed my attention, and with it, the memory of SWAK resurfaced: <em>And He will be the <strong>S</strong>tability of your times, a <strong>W</strong>ealth of salvation, wisdom <strong>A</strong>nd <strong>K</strong>nowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure (Isaiah 33:6).</em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Despite what seems to be storm clouds on the horizon, and regardless of the machinations in places of political and financial power across our nation and world, God reaches toward those who trust Him, toward those who love Him, toward those who seek Him in obedience -- and Seals them With A Kiss.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Surely, our trust in God is our <em>stability</em> during these troubled times. And for those who believe Him, He is a wealth of <em>salvation</em>, <em>wisdom</em> and <em>knowledge</em>. Our fear (and reverence) of Him is our <em>true</em> treasure.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And <em>that</em> is something to encourage us.</span><br />
<em><span style="font-size: large;"></span></em><br />Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-49746065043692518762014-04-08T20:32:00.000-04:002014-04-08T20:35:20.243-04:00It is Finished -- The Sixth Word on the Cross<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="WordSection1">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has
the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> . . . . (Revelation
3:7)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The last
seven words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are
among the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the sixth of the seven:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“It is finished” </span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(John 19:30)</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Perhaps
no other statement of Jesus on Golgotha’s hill means so much to me as “It is
finished.” I spent weeks contemplating why that is true, and decided the answer
is best illustrated by an incident that happened to me 55 years ago.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My
friend Steve and I were eight years old. When my family visited his we often
explored the undeveloped land near his new home. During one visit, as we played
in and around houses in varying degrees of construction, we spotted a field of
cattails. “Let’s play hide and seek” he challenged. In a moment he was racing
through the cattails while I counted to 100.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The cattails swayed gracefully in the autumn
breeze as I chased after him, pushing farther into the midst of the field. They
were tall cattails . . . taller than I, and so thick I could push through them
only with great effort. But soon they were no longer my concern. The darkening
sky caught my attention and I stopped to scan in all directions. It was a
futile effort. I couldn't see anything except the thin pale stalks around me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Hey, Steve!" I called
aloud.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">No answer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Steve!" I shouted against
the rustling grasses. “Where are you? I'm not playing anymore." My stomach
churned.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then I heard him in the distance,
"Riiiiichard!"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Here! Over here," I shouted
back. Breathing faster, I pushed into the wall of weeds. "Steeeeevennnnn!
Where are you?"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Over here!" He sounded
closer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At last, I heard him crunch‑crunching
nearby. In a moment we faced each other. Sweat beaded on our flushed faces.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Where were you?" I accused.
"It got dark pretty quick and I figure we'd better be gettin' home."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"I was looking for you," he
defended himself.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Well, come on," I urged,
not wanting to waste any more time, "let's get outta here."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Which way is out?" he
asked.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: auto;" />
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection2">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I stared at him. "Don't you
know?"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He shook his head.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"But . . . but you live
here."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Yeah," he started,
"But I've never been here before. Especially not in the dark."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We stared at each other a moment
longer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Well," I said finally.
"Let's go this way," I pointed to the left. Without speaking, we
lunged against the weeds. It was a long time before either of us spoke.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"I think we're lost," I said
softly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Steve didn't answer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"What do you think?"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He ignored me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"What are we gonna do?" I
stopped. Fear gnawed at me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"I don't know," he shrugged
his shoulders hopelessly. He’d been crying. "Maybe if we called out for
help?" he whimpered.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Hellllllp!" we chorused
together. "Hellllllp!"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We listened . . . . And we tried
again. And again. And again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Maybe we should pray,"
Steve said.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection3">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wiping the sweat from my face, I
nodded agreement. Neither of us was being raised in religious homes. In the
years our families had known each other, the only time we ever heard God’s name
mentioned was as a swear word or a casual exclamation of surprise. But now,
lost in a tangle of fear and desperation, we both knew this situation called
for help far beyond our capabilities. We closed our eyes and begged God to help
us find our way home.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After a time, the ground grew soggy beneath
our muddied shoes and we broke through to a clearing. The calm bay waters
lapped the shore at our feet. We could see the lights of homes across the
water.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Doesn't look very far
away," Steve suggested.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I shook my head. "No, it
doesn't," I answered, lost in thought. "D'ya think we could swim
it?"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We stared across the water. Finally, I
sighed in resignation. "Maybe not." And so we once again turned back
to the weeds, sobbing freely as we trudged on. Every now and then we prayed
aloud, "God, please help us. God, please help us."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then suddenly, it happened. Just like
that. We broke through to a clearing. Wood framed houses rose before us . . .
the same ones we played in earlier that day.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection4">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"We made it!" Steve shouted,
his eyes dancing. "We made it, Oh thank you, God! We made it!"</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As the years passed, life took me
through many twists and turns. Memories of how God answered our desperate
childhood prayer drifted into the forgotten recesses of my mind. I was too busy
with life to think of such long-forgotten terrors.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But those twists and turns more often
than not brought me into other fields of weeds, weeds so tall I no longer knew
which way was out. The sun hardly filtered through the unyielding stalks of
lust, envy, arrogance, pride, and greed. And every now and then, when I broke
through to a clearing, I discovered disaster awaiting my next move.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I don’t know why it took so long, but
I finally realized I needed help beyond my own ability. I had come to the end
of my hope, my strength, my intellect, my understanding. So once again I prayed
to the One I had for so long ignored. I asked first for forgiveness of my many
sins, and then asked for help in finding my way out of the moral darkness
enveloping me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And that’s when it happened. Suddenly.
Just like that, I broke through to the clearing. God opened my eyes to His Son’s
sacrificial death, a death I so very much deserved, but a death Christ paid for
me. I needed God’s forgiveness. In return He not only forgave me – but He showed
me His love was greater than all my rebellion. And I knew I was home.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Home. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Just like when Jesus said, <i>“It is finished.”</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Because of the years I lived in
rebellion, I didn’t know Scripture called me a child of the devil.* But when
Jesus finished His work on Golgotha He gave me the right to become a child of
God.** Oh, I love to remember it! To me – the one who repeatedly spit in God’s
face, who led others into mortal sin, who even killed his child in an abortion
clinic – Jesus offered my penitent soul the right to be called a child of
almighty God.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“It
is finished.” </span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Struggling as often as I did to turn
my life around, I didn’t know Scripture declared me a captive of Satan.*** But
when Jesus declared, “It is finished”, His blood ransomed me from the devil’s grip
and set me free.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“It
is finished.” </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My sins earned me God’s wrath.**** Like
the sword of Damocles, it hung over my head. But, oh, when Jesus said, “It is
finished” God directed His wrath, wrath I so worthily deserved, onto Jesus’
body.*****</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“It
is finished.” </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Yes, no longer lost. No longer a
prisoner. No longer a child of darkness. When Jesus spilled His blood on
Golgotha and said, “It is finished” He meant it. His work of salvation was
finished. And no power on earth or in hell could – or can – change it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">*For example, 1 John 3:8</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">**For example, John 1:10-13</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">***For example, 2 Timothy 2:25-26</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">****For example, Ephesians 5:5-7</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">*****For example, Isaiah 53:5-6 </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-36368089098354878562014-03-28T17:58:00.000-04:002014-03-28T18:10:31.198-04:00He Saw Your Face<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><span class="text 2Kgs-6-16" id="en-NASB-9691">So [Elisha] answered, “<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-9691E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup>Do not fear, for <sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-9691F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup>those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”</span> <span class="text 2Kgs-6-17" id="en-NASB-9692">Then Elisha prayed and said, “<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-9692G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)"></sup>O <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord </span>opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of <sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-9692H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)"></sup>horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.</span></em> (2 Kings 6:16-17)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I often reflect on the crucifixion during my time each day with the Lord. Some time ago an image played in my mind, an image that has stayed very close to me since then.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">From a distance, perhaps a football field away, I saw the Lord hanging by His hands and feet. His breathing was labored. He groaned each time He pushed against His feet and adjusted His position for what measure of comfort He could find as He hung there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As I watched the scene unfold in my mind, I remembered the Lord's statement to Peter, after Peter drew his sword in the Gethsemane Garden: <em>"Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"</em> (Matthew 26:53).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A Roman legion comprised of 6,000 soldiers. In essence, Jesus said to Peter, "I have, right now at my disposal, 72,000 heavily armed angelic soldiers who are within moments of swooping into this garden to save me."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As I watched the Lord suffer on the cross, I suddenly saw those legions. They appeared from nowhere and surrounded Golgotha. Each angelic warrior held a glistening sword at the ready. Their muscular bodies leaned forward in anxious anticipation, waiting for their Lord and King to simply look in their direction, nod His head -- and they would have overrun the jeering onlookers in an instant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">An <em>instant</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But Jesus didn't look at the angels. Instead, I saw Him -- even though He was so far away in my mind's eye -- I saw Him as clearly as I see my own face in a mirror -- I saw Him looking at me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Somehow, just as Satan could show Jesus, through a portal in eternity, all the kingdoms of the world "</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204:5-6;&version=49;"><span style="font-size: large;">in a moment of time</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">," in some way Jesus saw <em>my</em> face as he suffered on that cross.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And He saw <em>your</em> face.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In that moment, a truth I have always known became a little clearer to me. Those spikes did not hold Jesus to that wood. Seeing my face, seeing your face, kept Him there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Seeing through the fabric of eternity our need for His embrace, seeing our hurts, our emptiness -- Jesus saw me and you as only He could see us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That is what kept Him on that cross. Our faces -- the faces of you and me whom He loves so very dearly . . . who He longs, even now, as I write this and you read this, even now He longs to embrace us to His chest and whisper into our ear, "I love you."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">No. Spikes did not hold our king.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Seeing our faces held Him there.</span>Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-54031347615335790072014-03-21T11:30:00.000-04:002014-03-21T11:40:08.780-04:00To Fix It<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i>Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;</i></span><i> </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They will behold a
far-distant land. . . </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i>and no resident will say, “I am sick.” </i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i>The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">(Isaiah 33:17 & 24)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Some say I’m a ‘pie in the sky”
kind of guy.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">As if that’s a bad thing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">But when I see or hear or read </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">or know from experience</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">the unspeakable horrors of life,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">the unbridled and deepening moral
depravity,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">of death and bondage,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">disease and destruction,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">despair and desolation . . .</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">things over which I have no
control.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">things over which no one on earth
has control –</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Is it wrong to long</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">for the promises of God?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Promises like:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Your eyes will see the King in
all of His beauty,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">in all of His radiance,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">in all of His </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">majestic, ineffable splendor;</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Yet there is more.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Our eyes will behold that
far-distant land</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">beyond space and time </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">and dreams and imaginings,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">a place </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">where He wipes </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">all tears </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">all tears</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">all<i> </i>tears</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">and sorrow </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">and heartbreak</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">from our eyes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Oh! It is not wrong to long</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">to be held in Daddy’s arms</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">and watch <i>Him</i> fix it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Oh, come Lord Jesus.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Your people</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">need you so</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">to fix it.</span></span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-85585450390543683292014-03-18T19:05:00.002-04:002014-03-18T19:17:16.590-04:00Not About Me*<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">*For from Him and through
Him and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen</span></i><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"> (Romans 11:36).<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It's all about Jesus. Always
has been. Always will be. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It always should be.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I ought to think of that
before I start complaining about His business. Like the Mass, for example.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My wife and I had hardly left
the sanctuary one Sunday morning before I groused about the service. “I wish
we’d sing modern choruses instead of centuries-old hymns . . . I thought the
priest could have made a stronger point about that Gospel passage . . . I’d
like it better if we knelt for prayer . . . I wonder why . . ."<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then I noticed my emphasis: <i><i>I</i></i>
wish. <i><i>I</i></i> thought. <i><i>I’d</i></i> like. <i><i>I</i></i>
wonder. My problem became disturbingly clear: I think the Mass – even life, if
I’m honest – is all about me.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it’s not. The Mass, and
all we do before and after we come into His presence is about the One through
whom all things were made ‑ heaven, earth, mountains, seas . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about Jesus, through whom I receive
reconciliation to the Father, forgiveness and redemption.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“<i><i>For by Him all things were created</i></i>,” wrote St. Paul, “<i><i>both in
the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for
Him. . . And in Him you have been made complete . . . having been buried with
Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working
of God, who raised Him from the dead”</i></i> (Colossians 1:16; 2:10-12 NASB).</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can't help but notice Scripture’s
emphasis: By <i>Christ; </i>through
<i><i>Christ;</i></i> for <i><i>Christ;</i></i> in <i><i>Christ;</i></i> with
<i><i>Christ</i></i>.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not a thing in there about <i><i>me</i></i>.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps if I entered the
Eucharistic Celebration centered more on Him and less on me, I wouldn’t be so
quick to grumble. If I cultivated a deeper relationship with Christ through the
week, I wouldn't be bored with that holy hour on Sunday. If I meditated on the
Mass readings before I left for church, the Holy Spirit might have more
kindling to spark my passion for the Mass.
If I entered the sanctuary early enough to pray, my heart would be ready to
worship long before the Celebration began.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I focus on me, it's easy
to find fault with the priest, the choir, the temperature, the baby crying in
the back. When my focus is on Him – through whom all things were made – then
all things fall into proper perspective.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #29303b; font-size: large;"><i>*from my first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/We-Believe-Forty-Meditations-Nicene/dp/1602662053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395184509&sr=8-1&keywords=we+believe+forty+meditations+on+the+nicene+creed">We Believe: Forty Meditations on the Nicene Creed -</a>- which still needs to be revised according to the update translation</i></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #29303b;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span>
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-76932033877042456082014-03-14T15:35:00.000-04:002014-03-14T15:55:54.291-04:00Shadows<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">“This sickness is . . . for the glory of God, that the Son of God may
be glorified by it.”</span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">John 11:4</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lazarus was dead. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“If you’d been here,” Martha wept, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“You could have saved him.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Live long enough</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and life’s shadows </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fall over us </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">full of loss </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and sickness</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and sadness </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and heartache </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and pain.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And I ask Him,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">can He be glorified </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by my shadows so dark </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and desolate</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and black </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and oppressive?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If not, then Lord, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">deliver me!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If yes, then Lord, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">help me let you </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">be glorified</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Amen</span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-17645762432659297872014-02-22T14:44:00.000-05:002014-03-14T19:52:41.976-04:00Thirsty<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Ho,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> (Isaiah 55:1)</span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The last seven
words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are among
the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the fifth of the seven: </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am thirsty.”</span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(John 19:28)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It started in the Garden. The
savior prayed with such anguish, His sweat mingled with His blood and dripped
to the ground. It was in the Garden that soldiers beat Him with their fists,
pulled His beard, spit in His face. Then they dragged Him into the city and
shuffled Him from Pilate to Herod, and back again to Pilate. They whipped Him without
mercy, without hardly giving Him time to catch His breath. Then they pressed a
crown comprised of thorns into His forehead. Blood oozed into His eyes and
tracked down His cheeks. Mocking soldiers then laid the cross across His
shoulders and forced Him to carry it to the hill, the hill that looked like a
skull. The hill where He would die. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am thirsty.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Before the soldiers nailed Him to the cross someone offered Jesus a sponge dipped in vinegar mixed with gall (Matthew 27:34). The vinegar they offered Him was weak wine commonly
used in Palestine to quench thirst,but the gall was a bitter liquid with narcotic and
anesthetic properties. Soldiers often gave it to prisoners about to be crucified
as a way to dull their senses so they wouldn’t fight against the nails being
hammered into their limbs. Sometimes friends gave it to those hanging on the
cross to lessen their agony.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>"I am thirsty."</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Jesus tasted the gall He
turned away. He would not drink the drug. He would finish the Father’s plan to
its fullest course and its fullest cost. A short while later, when they nailed Him to the cross, someone gave Him
the plain vinegar. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am thirsty.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">After all He’d suffered by
the time they’d hammered spikes into His hands and feet, I do not doubt He was thirsty. I am sure thirst consumed Him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Think of it. Jesus was the Lord of Heaven. The King of the Universe. He never needed to thirst.
Or hunger. Or suffer pain. Yet He demonstrated by His life and by His death a
‘hunger and thirst for righteousness.’ Even on the cross, He would accomplish His Father’s will. That is why His death – and His thirst – serves as an
illustration for us. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In his Confessions, St.
Augustine wrote, "God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are
restless till they find their rest in you.” And the psalmist wrote: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As a deer pants for the water</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so my soul pants after thee</i> (Psalm 42:1).
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Restlessness. Thirst. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We who belong to Christ
through our faith and baptism <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“have been
crucified with Christ. It is no longer [we] who live, but Christ lives in [us]”</i>
(Galatians 2:20). When the Holy Spirit enters our lives He always creates
within us a restlessness for God. A hunger for God. A thirst for God. If we are
not restless for God, if we do not increasingly hunger and thirst for Him, we
ought to wonder why.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am thirsty.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Many things at first seem to quench
our spiritual thirst, but in the end serve simply to anesthetize us to it. The
Holy Spirit spoke of those counterfeit thirst-quenchers as “the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16). But
counterfeits can never fully satisfy. The only place to quench our God-designed
thirst, our God-designed restlessness, is at His fountain, devoting ourselves
to a daily drinking – a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lifelong</i> drinking
– from that fountain through reception of the Sacraments, daily prayer,
Scripture study, and humble obedience to the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am thirsty.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nothing but spiritual drink
will ever satisfy our spiritual thirst. Nothing. Because God created us that way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-29485647051778594462014-02-13T11:13:00.001-05:002014-02-13T11:13:20.836-05:00The Other Side of the Door<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The last seven words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He
hung on Golgotha's cross are among the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here
is the fourth of the seven:</i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">--------------- </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?</i> (Matthew 27:46)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">As
our home Bible study wound to a close, a young mother ran out to her car for a
package she’d forgotten. She left her two-year-old daughter with half a dozen
adults in the living room. But when Berea saw Mommy leave, her face froze with
panic. She ran as quickly as her little legs could carry her and stretched in
vain for the doorknob. Her screams brimmed with terror, as if she believed
Mommy would never to return from the other side of the door. <br />
<br />
One of the other women lifted Berea into her arms and tried to calm her. But it
was no use. The toddler wanted no one but Mommy. And mommy was gone. <br />
<br />
A few moments later, Berea’s mother returned. When she opened the door she
lifted Berea into her arms, rubbed her back and spoke tenderly into her ear. The
child quickly quieted down. Mommy had returned. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Some
theorize Jesus cried out, <i>My God, My God,
why have your forsaken Me?,</i> only to draw attention to Psalm 22 in which the
psalmist prophesied of Christ’s crucifixion nearly a thousand years before it
happened (see Psalm 22:11-18). When Jesus quoted the first line of the psalm,
they say, it was to demonstrate His fulfillment of that prophecy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I
think there was another, far more significant reason. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">St.
Luke tells us that while Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, imploring
the Father to take the cup He was about to drink from His hands, Jesus’ sweat <i>‘became
like great drops of blood falling down on the ground”</i> (Luke 22:44) . Bloody
sweat is a rare, but well-documented physical phenomena called (<i>hematidrosis</i>) known to occur in some
people suffering extreme stress. Jesus dreaded the crucifixion not only because
of the physical pain He’d suffer, but He also knew what it would mean when He
took upon Himself the sins of the world. The prophet Isaiah is only one of many
Old Testament prophets to speak about the results of sin:<i> <span class="text">But your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear</span></i><span class="text"> (Isaiah 59:2). </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;">Separation. From God.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;">The Holy Spirit says this about Jesus: <i>“T</i></span><span class="text" style="font-size: large;"><i>hough He was in the form of God . . . .
[He] emptied Himself,</i></span><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-size: large;"><i> </i></span><span class="text" style="font-size: large;"><i>taking
the form of a slave, being born in human likeness”</i></span><span class="text" style="font-size: large;"> (Philippians 2:6-7). And so, being </span><span style="font-size: large;">fully God and
fully Man, Jesus experienced all the frailty of humanity – hunger, thirst,
pain, cold, heat . . . . And now He was about to experience in our place what
He in His deity could never experience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Separation
from the Father.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">St.
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: <i>[The
Father]<span class="text"> made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him</span></i><span class="text"> (2 Corinthians 5:21)</span>. And in his letter to the church at Galatia, he
added:<i> <span class="text">Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us </span></i><span class="text">(Galatians 3:13).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">As
the most holy Lord Jesus hung between heaven and earth, He did not simply take
our collective sins on Himself, but actually <i>became</i> Sin – <i>became</i> Sin –
so you and I who are ‘in Christ,” you and I who trust Him as our redeemer, our
reconciler, our savior, could become the very righteousness of God. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh!
Think of it!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;">Jesus, who knew the incomprehensible intimacy of the Triune
Godhead, for the <i>first time</i> in
eternity was separated from His Father. For that one moment – oh, but for the
eternal God that moment must have seemed forever – for that one moment the
Father turned away from Him who had become Sin. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;">No wonder He cried out, <i>My
God, My God. Why have You forsaken Me!,</i> for in some mysterious and inexplicable
way known only to the Holy Trinity, Jesus was suddenly on the other side of the
door. Suddenly separated from His Father. Suddenly alone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;"><i>That</i></span><span class="text" style="font-size: large;">
is the fathomless horror our sin caused Him. Your sin. My sin. And, for anyone who cares to see, <i>that</i> is also the irrefutable evidence of the matchless love
the Son has for the sinner – you and me – so we would not have to be forever separated from God, forever on the other side of the door.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text" style="font-size: large;">Thank you. Oh! Thank you, Jesus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Father of
mercy, like the prodigal son I return to You and say: "I have sinned
against you and am no longer worthy to be called your son." Christ Jesus,
Savior of the world, I pray with the repentant thief to whom You promised
Paradise: "Lord, remember me in Your kingdom." Holy Spirit, fountain
of love, I call on You with trust: "Purify my heart, and help me to walk
as a child of light. —</i>Author unknown</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-72108387853462127882014-02-09T17:39:00.001-05:002014-02-09T17:56:26.420-05:00To His Last Breaths<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The last seven words (statements,
actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are among the most
encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the third of the seven: </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i>When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he
loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “<b>Woman, here is your son.”</b> Then he said to the disciple, “<b>Here is your mother</b>.” And from that
hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:26-27)</i></span><i></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Most
representations of the crucified Jesus are remarkably sanitized. Rarely have I
seen more than a few streaks of red paint around the wounds in His hands,
forehead, feet, and side. But that is not at all what Jesus looked like when He
died. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">It started with
flogging. Soldiers tied Jesus’ hands to the whipping post and stripped off his
robe. Then one of them swung rock and bone- embedded whips against Jesus’ back,
buttocks, and legs, slicing into His flesh until strips of skin hung from his
body. Small veins and arteries oozed and spurted blood with each heartbeat and dripped
down His back, His thighs, His legs. The pavement at His feet was moist with
dirt and congealed blood.<br />
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">After the vicious
beating, Jesus dragged his cross to the execution site where soldiers tossed it
to the ground and threw Him onto it. The spikes they hammered through His
wrists and feet tore through exquisitely sensitive nerves. Electrifying pain
exploded along His limbs.<br />
<br />
As He hung between heaven and earth, breathing became an all-consuming
struggle. Gravity pulled relentlessly on His diaphragm, forcing Him to
repeatedly push against His feet and flex His arms to breathe. Yet, every
movement intensified the strain on His ravaged nerves, and each breath forced
His bleeding back against the splintered wood, reopening the raw wounds. Every
breath, every movement, every moment on the cross inflamed His torture. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">It is that
picture in my mind of His horrific and bloody death that makes His Third Word –
this one to His mother and His disciple – so poignant. And it is there that I
so often miss the significance of the moment.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Jesus – his
eyes alternately glazing over from dehydration, exhaustion, and throbbing pain,
and then focusing on the soldiers gambling for his clothing, and the mob
cursing and jeering – at one point His eyes locked with His mother’s. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">I have
sometimes wondered what she was thinking as she watched her only Son suffer. It
must be a parent’s worst nightmare to bury a child, and Mary was living that
nightmare. Surely Simeon’s prophecy bit at her memory, “<i>A</i></span><span class="text"><i> sword will pierce through your own soul”</i></span><span class="text"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">(Luke 2:35).</span><i></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Jesus gathered
His rapidly waning strength and, in the language and culture of the day, fixed
His eyes on hers and spoke tenderly, “Woman, here is your son.” And to John, He
said, “Here is your mother.” In 21<sup>st</sup>
century language, He said, “My dear mother, My work is nearly done. John will now
take care of you.” And to His beloved disciple He said, “John, I am counting on
you to take care of My mom. Treat her as your own mother.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">St. Paul would
say decades later, <i>“W</i></span><i>hoever does
not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the
faith and is worse than an unbeliever”</i><span style="color: #333333;"> (1 Timothy 5:8). St. James would write, <i>“</i></span><span class="text"><i>Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the
Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress . . .</i></span><span class="text">
(James 1:27)</span><span style="color: #333333;">.
And speaking to those who thought
themselves religious, Jesus responded, <i>“</i></span><span class="text"><i>Moses
said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father
or mother must surely die.’ But you say that if anyone tells father or mother,
‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering
to God) — <sup> </sup>then you no longer permit doing anything for a
father or mother, thus making void the word of God” </i></span><span style="color: #333333;">(Mark 7:10-13).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Despite his nearly
incomprehensible agony, Jesus continued to do what was right and necessary. In one
of His last acts in life,<span style="display: none;">HH</span> He
made certain His parent would be taken care of after His death.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">True religion
is not simply attending Mass, receiving the Sacraments, devoting ourselves to prayer
and the study of the Scriptures. True faith requires we take care of others –
and especially our parents, if they are still alive. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">Are we tender
toward them? Patient? Do we treat them with dignity and respect? Do they need
financial help? Do we often call or visit? Do we model the Christian lifestyle
they taught us and lived before us during our years in their home? St. John, in his third epistle wrote: <i>I have no greater joy than to hear of my
children walking in the truth (</i>3 John 4). Oh, how great a joy it is for
aging parents to know their children walk in Truth.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">To His last
breaths, Jesus took care to take care of His mother. How ought we who
follow in Christ’s footsteps behave toward our parents?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-43735512040545569292014-01-30T13:03:00.002-05:002014-01-30T13:03:55.415-05:00Matchless and Enduring Grace<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Yet
even now, says the Lord</span></i></span><span class="small-caps"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-variant: small-caps;"></span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">,</span>
return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.</i></span><i> Return to the Lord</i><span class="small-caps"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-variant: small-caps;"></span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">,
your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love, and relents from punishing.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span>
</span>(Joel 2:12-13)</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The last seven words (statements,
actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are among the most
encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the second of the seven: </span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise. </span></i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">(Luke 23:43)</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two men, hanging between heaven and earth, nailed to crosses
on either side of the One in the middle. Two men, thieves, struggling against
death, knowing it was only a matter of time before death finally sunk its
talons into their souls.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And they watched the Stranger in the middle. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One thief knew he deserved to die. He’d broken the law, and
now was paying the penalty. The other, even in the midst of dying, joined the mob
at the foot of the cross in mocking, cursing, and blaspheming the Stranger in
the middle. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But the broken thief would have none of it. <i>What are you doing?</i> he rebuked. </span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Do
you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?<sup> </sup>And
we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for
our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And
then he did what everyone must do at some time in their life. No. Rather he did
what everyone must do <i>repeatedly</i> in
their life. He turned to the One in the middle and pleaded, </span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“<i>Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:40-42)</i></span></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Repentance
does amazing things in and for our soul. It lifts us to where Jesus hangs on
the cross, face to face with His nailed and bloodied body – brutalized because
of our sins. As the Hebrew prophet Isaiah foretold centuries earlier, <i>He was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and
by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all
turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.</i>
(Isaiah 53:5-6). Repentance frees us from ourselves, from our arrogance that
binds us to eternal death. It teaches us humility and unveils for us our fleeting
mortality and our desperate need for an eternal savior. Repentance brings us
into an intimate relationship with the King of Glory reserved only for the
penitent. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Jesus,
remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” The penitent thief spoke less
than a dozen words. Short prayers from the heart are as efficacious as long soliloquies.
</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jesus, remember me.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Oh,
how the King loves to hear our plea born in a penitent heart so He, in return,
can promise, as He promised the dying thief, </span></span><span class="woj"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Truly
I say to you . . . you shall be with Me in Paradise.</span></i></span><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">” </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks
be to God for His matchless and enduring grace.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-2222239128260379822014-01-27T12:49:00.000-05:002014-01-30T13:00:53.857-05:00Forgiveness Incomprehensible<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Romans 8:35</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> The last seven words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are among the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the first of the seven:</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(Luke 23:34).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The more I think about that
statement, the more I am intrigued. And encouraged.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Forgive them.</i> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just a few hours earlier, in
the Gethsemane Garden, soldiers led by the Jewish priests surrounded Jesus and the
disciples. Peter drew His sword and came within a hair of cutting the skull of
the high priest’s servant. He sliced off His ear, instead.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But Jesus would have none of
the fight. “Put back your sword, Peter,” Jesus commanded. “Don’t you know I
could call just now to my Father and He would put at my disposal 12 legions of
angels to defend me?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Roman legion consisted of
6,000 soldiers. In other words, the Lord could have called for 72,000 angelic warriors,
swords unsheathed and glistening in the firelight, and the ground would have
been drenched with the blood of those who’d come to drag Jesus away. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But He didn’t call for them.
Instead, God-in-the-flesh-of-a-man, God their Creator, the Almighty God permitted His
creatures to spit at him, pull His beard, punch him in the face, and haul him off
to court.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And now, hanging bloodied and
bruised on an old rugged cross, crowds of priests, soldiers and rabble mocking Him,
cursing Him . . . . </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I wonder sometimes if the
thought crossed His mind even for a nanosecond to glance toward His Father and
ask for those angels. If it did, He put it from His mind and said instead – <i>Father, forgive them. They don’t know what
they are doing.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Forgiveness. It is why we can
come anew to Jesus, perhaps especially as we approach the Lenten season in our continuing journey
toward the Kingdom. There is no sin so grievous, so dark, so vile that the
grace of God and the mercy of God cannot – and will not – cleanse with Christ’s
blood. What is it St. John wrote in His
first epistle? <i>If we walk in the Light as
He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses us from all sin.</i> (1 John 1:7). And St. Paul’s encouragement to the
church at Ephesus: <i>In [Christ] we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace</i> (Ephesians 1:7).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Forgiveness. It is why we can
stay with Him today, wherever we are in life and whatever we've done wrong. <i>If we confess our sins,</i> St. John tells us, again in his first
epistle, <i>God is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</i> (1 John 1:9).
When the penitent walks out of the confessional he or she has God’s absolute
and inviolable assurance of forgiveness. As the Holy Spirit promises through
the psalmist: <span class="text"><i>For as
high as the heavens are above the earth, s</i></span><i><span class="text">o great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.<sup> </sup>As
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from
us.<sup> </sup>Just as a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust</span> </i>(Psalm 103:11-14).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text">Forgiveness. It is the reason
we can journey with Him wherever He leads us. As St. Paul wrote to the church
at Rome: <i>If God is
for us, who is against us?<sup> </sup>He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He
not also with Him freely give us all things?<sup> </sup>Who will bring a
charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;<sup> </sup>who
is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.<sup> </sup>Who
will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?</i></span><i> . . .<span class="text"><sup> </sup>For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans
8:31-39)</span></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text"><i>Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text"><i> </i></span><span class="text"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text">When we sin, when we slash
the whip once again across His back, when we drive another nail into His
bleeding hands, how much do we really understand what we are doing? How much do
we know how it grieves Him? How it breaks His heart? If we had the remotest
clue, I don’t think we’d be so cavalier to do some of the things we do.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text"><i>Father, forgive them.</i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text">But if the Scriptures teach
us anything, it is that there is forgiveness with God, complete, unhesitating, and
unqualified forgiveness to the penitent. And that is precisely why you and I
can come to Christ, stay with Christ, and journey with Him wherever He leads
us. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text">Thanks be to God.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388434420825103481.post-67064134542143894332014-01-19T17:46:00.001-05:002014-01-19T17:46:19.955-05:00Wilderness<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span>In those days Jesus <span> </span>. . . was baptized by John in the Jordan. . .
. <sup> </sup>And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the
wilderness. </span></i><span class="text">He was in the wilderness forty days,
tempted by Satan . . . . </span><span>(Mark 1:9-13)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The verb St. Mark used for “drove him out” – <i>ek<em><span>ballō – </span></em></i><em><span></span></em><span>ca</span>rries
the idea of being compelled to do something. The word for ‘tempted” – <em><span>peirazō
– </span></em><span>carries a sense of being tested to see how a person will behave in a
particular situation.</span><em><span> </span></em><span>And so t</span>his was no cake-walk for the One who
is fully God and fully Man. Forty days. Hungry. Cold. Alone. Battling His enemy’s relentless subtle and not-so-subtle attacks. A place of stark, barren deprivation.
And yet, just before the Father impelled Him into that place, He called Jesus His
“beloved Son.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A <i>beloved</i> son. It
almost defies my ability to reason it through. A beloved son, yet driven by the
Father into the wilderness for soul-searing tests. I wonder if the writer to
the Hebrews had those days in mind when he wrote of Jesus, “<span class="text">Although
he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered</span>” (Hebrews
5:8).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A beloved son. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I committed my life to Jesus in 1972. I know I am His beloved
child. And many times I too have wandered the wilderness during my decades-long
journey with Christ. Confused. <span> </span>Bruised.
Alone. And the enemy has never failed to whisper his subtle and not-so-subtle lies
in my ear, such as: “If you are a beloved child of God, why has He left you
alone in this desert?” Or, “If you want out of this mess – here’s how to do it”
– which always involved some sin-laden decision he’d also help me rationalize
away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“<i>Father, make me into the image of Jesus</i>.” Isn’t that our
prayer? Isn’t that our heart’s cry, to imitate our Savior? To follow in His
footsteps? To bear our cross as He bore His? Trials often fall over us because
God has <i>impelled</i> us into the desert
to nurture our faith, to test our mettle, to show us what we will do in that
wilderness, even should it last 40 days, or 40 months – or even 40 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Although a beloved son, Jesus “learned obedience by the
things which He suffered.” So too, we should not be surprised by our own
wilderness in which the Father can transform us into the image of Christ. As
St. Peter wrote, “<span class="text"><i>let those suffering in accordance with God’s
will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.</i>”(1
Peter 4:19).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Yes, Holy Spirit, help us entrust ourselves
again and again into our Creator’s faithful hands. Amen.</span></span></div>
Rich Maffeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499633873603333492noreply@blogger.com2