Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"Are You Not Also One of His Disciples?"

"You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, "I am not." John 18:17

A remarkable example of self-confidence and what it produces comes from our Lord’s own circle of friends. In the last hours before His crucifixion, Jesus Christ had told His disciples that one of them would walk out on Him. With bravado, Simon Peter protested that even if the whole world should walk out on Christ, he would not! With complete self-confidence Simon Peter spoke, and in full possession of all his self-confident faculties, he did just what he boasted he would not do. Three times he was asked: “You are not one of His disciples, are you?” Three times Peter denied it and said, “I am not.”

Self-confidence prevented Peter from preparing himself for the crisis to come. In the garden, Christ prepared Himself. He prayed to His Father in an agony of bloody sweat and received power from on high. What did Peter do? He slept. Totally unprepared, he was suddenly faced by the question, “You are not one of His disciples, are you?”

There is not a single person within reach of my voice who cannot feel some sympathy for Peter. Though we stand for God, we are tempted to run out on Him when the going gets tough. We are tempted because we think that everything depends upon us. If Simon Peter is a classic example of self-confidence, he is also the finest evidence that the story does not have to end there. Peter turned to Christ in repentance and faith, and became a new man because of it.

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"Striking Back"

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him. Luke 22:50-51

I must confess that I feel a certain sympathy for Simon Peter. On that dark night when our Lord was betrayed, He saw the band of soldiers and knew what was going to happen. He took out his sword and struck back, cutting off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants. Who can blame him?

Then Jesus healed the man’s ear! What is the matter with Jesus? Here is Peter, one man ready to stand up for Him, and Jesus makes that man feel like a fool. In that moment of forlorn hope, striking out with a sword might appear to have been a deed of human gallantry, but actually it was an admission of defeat, which Christ was not prepared to grant His enemies. To strike back is to concede that Christ is no longer Lord, and that faith in Him will not work. If Christ is Lord, striking back is not necessary.

God is not pleased when we stand idly by when others are being treated unjustly. God wants His people to be strong enough to courageously rebuke those who do wrong, and generously forgive the same when they repent of wrongdoing. This is Christ’s way. It must be our way.

The grace of God in Jesus Christ is able to absorb and overcome every evil word and act. Christ has blotted out the charges against us, and heated passion is no longer the answer to the problem of evil. Forgiving love covers the multitude of sins.

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"Dying of Self"

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

In Edward S. and Elizabeth H. Fox’s book, Christ Is God’s Middle Name, children talk about God. On page 12 there is this conversation with Pete: “Who is God, Pete?” “He is against the devil.” “In what way is God against the devil?” “God is good.” “And the devil?” “The devil is bad.” “Then they mustn’t get on too well together?” “They fight all the time.” “Where?” “In people.” “Do they ever fight in you, Peter?” “Yes.” “How do you know?” “I can feel it.” “How can you feel it?” “I get all uptight.” That’s what Pete says.

There are a lot of uptight people around these days. They thrash around, with the battle going on inside them. What has to happen? They have to die with Christ, die to sin. Being baptized into Jesus Christ is not just a formality. It is dying with Him. It is becoming a member of His body. It is having Him live inside you. You have been baptized, said Saint Paul, into Christ Jesus. When that happened you were baptized into His death. The old self has to die in order that a new self can live and come alive again. It actually happens when people are crucified with Christ, and Christ lives in them. This is what the cross of Christ does to people. It destroys the old and creates the new.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave his life for Christ, used to say: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” That’s what it takes. There is no other way.

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"What Is Truth?"

"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. John 18:38

Several centuries before the birth of Christ, Diogenes walked the streets of Athens, clothed rather strikingly in a barrel, carrying a lantern in broad daylight. Whenever someone asked what he was doing, he said he was looking for an honest man. He was a cynic philosopher, graphically demonstrating a cardinal tenet of his system: that there is nothing absolute, no man altogether honest, and no complete truth.

In the hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, the Roman governor Pilate asked Diogenes’ question of the Savior: “What is truth?” The whole reality of God, His very nature, has been disclosed to the world in Jesus Christ. That is why Christ would say of Himself: “I am the … Truth” (John 14:6). The word for “truth” used in His conversation with Pilate means “without a veil.” When you look at Christ, you look truth in the eye. Stand before Christ and you see the truth face-to-face.

In Christ’s suffering on the cross, the truth about death becomes clear: it is an enemy to be feared. Christ suffered and died in our place, took our punishment upon Himself. In Him there is divine forgiveness because God wanted it to be so. This is the truth. You can walk away from the truth as Pilate did, with the cynical question, “What is truth?” Your question may have application to every situation in the world except this one. When you meet Christ, you need no longer ask, “What is truth?” He is the Truth from God, ultimate reality itself come to redeem the world from its sin.

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"Could I Help It?"

Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you." Matthew 26:25

A Greek determinist philosopher had just beaten his slave. The slave protested, “Don’t you believe that I was predestined to make this mistake?” “Yes,” the philosopher replied, “and I was predestined to beat you for it.”

If ever there was a man who might have pleaded that he was the helpless victim of circumstances beyond his control, it was Judas Iscariot. He might have said, “Could I help it?” Doesn’t the Bible say that Satan entered into the heart of Judas; that Judas betrayed Jesus in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled? What part, if any, did Judas play as a man with moral choice in the drama that turned out so tragically for him?

Judas decided and acted. It was not a robot who formulated the plan to betray Jesus. Judas was one of the Twelve, a trusted associate and friend. He went and asked a familiar question, “What will you give me?”

This is not the end of the story. Judas might have changed his mind. Before and since that time, people have decided to do what they know to be wrong and then have changed their minds. Some are moved by fear of discovery, others by thoughts about the consequences. Nothing moved Judas to change his mind, however. As a free man, he decided to betray Jesus. As Judas freely betrayed Jesus, Jesus acted freely to save us. He did not "have to" die, because He was without sin. But He "gave" His life freely as a ransom for all men.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Friend, Why Are You Here?"

Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for." Matthew 26:49-50

It looked as if Judas was doing the right thing. He came to Jesus, sought Him out. The armed friends he brought could have come along in order to protect Christ against His enemies. Judas greeted his Master with a friendly kiss, but our Lord cut through all pretensions and appearances with one question: “Friend, why are you here?”

Meet Christ, and sham is dispelled. Tell me how good a person you are and I shall have to believe you, for I have to judge by appearances. But tell Christ how good a person you are and He will not have to judge by appearances. His question confronts us all with shocking force: “Friend, why are you here?”

Christ is always interested in the why of our actions, not just what we do. It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Judas is an outstanding example of this. He came to Jesus for the wrong reason, kissed Him for the wrong reason, and brought along his people for the wrong reason. His actions looked good, but they were essentially evil.

“Friend, why are you here?” This is Christ’s searching question to you today – asked not in condemnation but in invitation. By His invitation you will live. Christ’s invitation is His promise that He will deal with that old self of yours and bring about a new man within you, loyal and loving, faithful and true.

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"Is it I, Lord?"

They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?" Matthew 26:22

At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “One of you will betray Me” (Matthew 26:21). Each one asked, “Is it I, Lord?” With one exception, they had not given a single thought to the possibility of betraying their Lord. Yet each one recognized the possibility.

We must always recognize our own willingness to sin. A notable example is to be found in the TV quiz scandals, which occupied public attention in the U.S. only a short time ago. A young man told how he was guaranteed $1,000 for his first appearance on a quiz program, although the audience was given the totally different impression that he would receive only what he won. He said he consented to this arrangement after “intense moral struggle.”

After that, his guarantee was raised to $8,000. Soon publicity and popularity “went to my head,” he told the special sub-committee of the United States House of Representatives. “I was winning more money than I had ever had or ever dreamed of having. I was able to convince myself that I could make up for it after it was over.” Giving in to the second temptation is much easier that yielding to the first.

You may have had the same experience. If a warning had not sounded, if some divinely sent memory or incident had not arisen to head you off, where would you have ended? If you are not sure that you need a Savior, follow the example of the disciples. Look at your own heart, and then look at Christ.

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"Sacrifice"

And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2

A Christian hymn writer called Christ’s death an “awful sacrifice.” It does call forth awe; the sacrifice God required was the death of His own Son. Christ’s death was not an accident; it was not just the death of a martyr. It was God’s deliberate act. Carrying out His eternal plan. With His eyes open, Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing that He was going to die.

Why did Christ submit to the brutality of crucifixion? Why did He feel the whole weight of God’s wrath upon Him?

This is what the whole story of His life and death is about: God made Him to be sin for us. Christ absorbed and attracted to Himself all the sin of all who have ever lived or who ever will live. He became sin in our place. Offering Himself as a sacrifice He was slain in satisfaction of the divine dictum: “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). That stern requirement fell upon Him in all its fury.

Christ paid the penalty for you because He loves you. The only response to such love is love. The response to true love must be true love, or it is no response at all.

Christ held nothing back. His sacrifice was complete and perfect, a sweet-smelling and fragrant offering to God. Let Christ’s sacrifice move you to love as He loved, to give yourself as He gave. Let it kindle in your heart the pure flame of love, an offering fragrant to God because Christ, the Savior, has made it so.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Cleansing"

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Matthew 8:2

The Gospel writer Matthew tells that, when Christ came down from the mountain where He had delivered His famous Sermon on the Mount, great multitudes followed Him. In the crowd was a leper who worshiped Him saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus put forth His hand and touched him saying, “I am willing … be clean” (Matthew 8:3). Immediately his leprosy was cleansed, healed.

In God’s language the word cleansing has a strong meaning. It means to purge, put away, cause to disappear all that is foul. The Bible does not hesitate to say that all of life has been polluted by sin, and that men are morally degraded because of their subservience to sin. This is a fact of life, which requires no proof. Indeed, evidence for its truth can be found on the pages of every newspaper as well as in human relationships everywhere.

The evidence can be found in our own lives. We are involved in all that is wrong with the world because of the fact that we are people. Because every one of us is involved, God’s great cleansing operation was no simple task. Only the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, could bring about the great cleansing which is the hope of mankind.

You need a cleansed heart purged through the blood of Christ, who offered Himself without spot to God for the specific purpose of bringing to you the cleansing and renewing power of God. Hear Christ and hold onto Him by faith.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Purpose"

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41

Tomorrow morning you will go back to work. Some of you will be off to factory or office. Others will begin their rounds, calling on customers. Still others of you will stay home to clean the house, care for the baby, or shop for food.

What keeps all of us so busy? What is the meaning of all this? If there is a purpose, where does it come from?

If life and history have a purpose, someone must have given them that purpose. The watch you carry in your pocket or wear on your wrist has an extremely complicated mechanism. Most of us do not understand it very well, yet we use our watches all the time. Why? Because they have a purpose—a purpose given by the man who made them and by us who use them. So our lives have a purpose, given by God who made us and shaped by the way we live.

How can we know God’s purpose? How can we become a part of it? Not by sleeping life away, nor by giving ourselves over to the mad pursuits with which people try to escape the reality of life. Life has purpose—purpose given by God. We become a part of that divine purpose only when we take God seriously.

You are invited to be Christ’s disciple by faith in Him. In this faith you will discover a new intimacy with God, a new steadfastness and purpose that only faith in Christ can bring.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Mercy Seat"

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

In Old Testament times, God made His presence known. He was in the cloud that followed Israel by day and in the pillar of fire that watched over the people by night. The glory of His presence could be seen about the tabernacle whenever the people made camp.

Inside the tabernacle, beyond the sanctuary and in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant. This sacred object symbolized the first agreement God had made with His people based upon the law requiring ceremonies and sacrifices, all of which reminded the people of their constant dependence upon God and His mercy. The Ark was covered by a lid that was sprinkled by the High Priest with the blood of the sin offering. On each side of the lid stood figures of the cherubim, their wings outspread, casting shadows upon that sacred spot in the center of the lid where the blood was sprinkled. That spot was called the Mercy Seat.

There is a mercy seat, a place of mercy for all, and that place is Calvary, the cross of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. At the cross of Christ, God made it evident that He dwells no longer in a place but a person. When Christ said, “I am the Way and the Truth, and the Life,” He was not just being mystical or metaphorical. He was saying that from now on He would be the exclusive way to God. Here men would find mercy. The cross offers forgiveness and life to all. It knows no color, no language, no creed. It knows only divine love.

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"Ransom"

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

Christ’s ransom never fails. You cannot play dead after having been freed from the power that holds the world captive. To believe in Christ is to come alive.

In the old days when desirable young people were auctioned off as slaves, a young woman was offered to the highest bidder. Every time the price went up, a certain man would bid higher until finally he purchased this slave girl for himself. He paid a tremendous price, much larger than she would ordinarily have brought on the market. Quietly he handed her a slip of paper and then disappeared into the crowd. On it was written one word: “Free.” He had bought her and set her free. Frantically she looked around the crowd, endeavoring to catch sight of his face but she could not find him. In her frenzied search she cried out: “Who is this man?”

Well, you know who the man is. He is the subject of every one of these broadcasts: His ransom puts the little slip of paper into your hand this day no matter who you are or where you live or what kind of life you may have led. On that paper is written one word: “Free.”

You can treat this good news as if it were too good to be true. You can look upon it as having no value at all. Or you can think of it as being valuable for other people but not for you. It is for you. Jesus Christ bought your freedom. Glorify God in your body, for He has ransomed you.

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"Atonement"

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." Luke 23:47

If there had been communications in the first century of our era like those of the present time, the newspapers and broadcasts in Jerusalem and Palestine would have been full of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. He was a public figure. What is more, He was a highly controversial public figure. The triple execution near the busy Jerusalem road, which attracted a large crowd of spectators and was attended by circumstances of an unusual nature, would certainly not have been overlooked in the news.

One reporter might have said: “There was a judicial lynching yesterday on Golgotha. The popular Galilean rabbi was crucified because He dared to defy the vested interests of our time, and the part the Romans played in this proceeding was just as despicable as that of the temple authorities.” The ordinary man might have commented: “You can’t beat that crowd at City Hall.”

Another editorial writer might have seen it differently: “Yesterday, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, nipped a serious revolution in the bud by executing an inflammatory rabbi who claimed to be the Messiah.”

Today we are still asking, just what did happen on that cross? What is the meaning of the life, suffering, and death of Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth? We do not know everything about that cross and its meaning, but we can see its jagged edge protruding into human history. We know that when we look at the face of Christ veiled in tragedy, the very face of God is there.

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"Modern Idols"

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Genesis 35:2

The season of Lent is a good time for housecleaning homes and hearts. It is a time set aside by the church for going into the corners of life which people have had a tendency to neglect. Jacob discovered in the corners of his household a monstrous problem calling for drastic action: “Get rid of the foreign gods,” he said, “and purify yourselves.”

Idolatry is seeking of self rather than God. It echoes Satan’s words, which started all of this process: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). True worship of the true God recognizes the great gulf existing between the quality of life we are disposed to live and the sacrifice of God’s only Son on the cross.

God is a God of justice and also a God of love. In the cross of Christ, justice and love have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. The real God is a relentless pursuer who gives no peace until our religiosity is transformed into repentance and faith.

The words of Jacob have a modern ring: “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you.” Love for God allows nothing else to take first place; only God can hold that place. With this love the god of materialism goes out the window. That insanity that makes men pursue things as if they were gods is replaced by a new and holier affection. Life acquires a new center and a new direction. That center is God, and that direction is God-ward.

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"I Give Myself Away"

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:15

Jesus Christ gave Himself away. He was prompted to give Himself away not out of self-interest—no man ever forgot himself so completely in the process—but rather because of that deep feeling of personal attachment, which St. Paul called “love.”

Christ was for all people. When He died, He died for all. His hand reaches out to all, and His loving face seeks response from everyone into whose eyes He has looked. People of every condition, class, and color are the target of His love and concern. Good people, decent and law-abiding people like St. Paul himself, experienced His love. So did immoral people like the woman taken in adultery.

Christ wants you to give yourself away just as wholeheartedly and just as unselfishly as He gave Himself away for you. He wants you to dedicate yourself wholly to His purpose.
I know that this is possible because I have seen men and women who have responded to the great, mysterious, incomparable love of Christ with a love and gratitude and appreciation which would not let them stop short of giving themselves away. They are the kind of people who have power to change the world. The whole course of their lives has been changed because the love of Christ has taken hold of their hearts.

Martin Luther was one of these people. He once said, “If anyone would knock at the door of my heart and ask ‘Who lives here?’ I would answer, ‘Martin Luther once lived here, but Martin Luther has moved out and Jesus Christ has moved in.’”