“And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:34-36 NIV)
What are we to make of our culture today where the president is considered the enemy or the president’s enemies are considered the enemy? Or where Republicans hate Democrats and progressives hate conservatives? Or where social media fights break out practically every minute?
Frankly, I don’t know. I am perplexed in many ways. But what I do know is we believers need to heed the words of Jesus, lest we continue to add to the problem. We are commanded to love our enemies. Jesus doesn’t get into exactly whom these people are, so I assume He leaves it for us to decide. They may be the people who have the opposite political beliefs from ours, or the people who hold to a different religion, or people who look or speak differently than we do. Or it could be someone who betrayed or cheated us, or sought to do us harm. Regardless, it doesn’t really matter.
The command is simple and straightforward: Love your enemies and do good to them. If this makes you uncomfortable, it should. It is not natural, for one thing, to act lovingly toward those who are unwilling to do the same. It also can seem unfair and even unjust. But it doesn’t matter what it feels like or what we think about it. It is a command from our Lord. The only choice we have is to obey or disobey.
He had the same choice when He walked the earth. He had many enemies, but in the end, He chose to love them even though they hated Him (Luke 23:34). He only asks that we do the same.
But it is our bent to get caught up in the moment, to let our emotions get away from us and lead us toward hatred and mercilessness. We hold grudges, are harsh and lash out. And we rationalize our actions by whatever means possible. But, still, it doesn’t matter. The truth still stares us in the face even if we choose to look away. God is kind even to the ungrateful and wicked.
Today, consider this command of Jesus. Whoever you consider to be your enemies, He is telling you to love them, to be kind to them, to do good to them. It doesn’t really matter what they have done or how you feel about them. What matters is whether or not you will submit to Jesus and do what He commands you to do, which is no more than what He Himself did toward those who hated Him.
© Jim Musser 2017
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3-10 NIV)
It is a true love story. A single missionary gets a call late in the night to come rescue an abandoned baby. Not even thinking of caring for a child, she takes the baby to an orphanage the next day. But she can’t get the baby girl out of her mind and so visits her every day. Seeing she is getting lost in a sea of babies, she decides to take her home. In those early days, a connection forms and the woman begins to feel a love that only a mother can have. After four years of winding through a tedious adoption process, this single woman legally became the mother to a child she had loved since that rainy night she first held her in her arms. Since then, that baby has grown into a young girl struggling with her identity and her past, yet her mother’s love remains steadfast.
Adoption is never easy. It always requires a great deal of sacrifice in both time and treasure. If one is adopted, she is truly loved.
So when Paul says we have been chosen for adoption, we should sit up and take notice. It means God felt connected to us from the beginning and was willing to pay the cost to bring us home with Him. The death of His only Son was the price He paid, but He considered it worth it to have us as His children. And once He has us home, He lavishes His love on us. This is no begrudging Father forced by circumstances into an adoption. No, this is a Father who loves deeply and lavishes His love upon us freely.
Yet, as is true for most adopted children, no matter how much we are told we are loved by our Father, there are still doubts and we can sometimes lose ourselves in our search for validation. But He remains true in his devotion to us regardless because His love for us is that deep.
Today, know your adoption by the Heavenly Father is a sign of how much you are loved. He sacrificed what was most precious to Him in order to bring you home. Yes, you may be mired in struggles over your identity as a child of God, but your Father’s love for you remains steadfast.
© Jim Musser 2017
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.” (Psalm 119:103-106 NIV)
Since my early days as a follower of Jesus, I have often been dumbstruck by the lack of knowledge people who claim to be Christians have of the Scriptures. I have met elders in churches and people who have sat in the pews for decades that have little true understanding of what the Scriptures teach. And having worked with students for several decades, I think I understand why.
When my wife met Jesus and decided to follow Him, she says one of the transformations that occurred in her life was her desire to read God’s Word. She wanted to read it every day, and she still does. But in my work with students, that desire is rare. For many it is a chore and, if they would be honest, they don’t feel they get much from it. For others, there is a fear of it—either from the sin in their lives to which they would rather not be called to account, or from not being able to understand what they’re reading. And still others think they know enough to get by and may read more when they get to a point in life when they’re not so busy.
This all adds up to developing a habit of not reading the Word, which often remains long into their adult lives. If we call ourselves followers of Jesus, then this is a habit that has to be avoided or, if established, must be broken. As would be the case for a husband or wife with the habit of not listening to what his/her spouse has to say, a relationship with God is not sustainable if we are not listening to what He says. And the main way He speaks to us is through His Word.
What each of us need, if we do not have it, is a hunger similar to that of my wife to read the Word of God. And knowing her, the answer to getting it is simple: opening up our lives to Jesus. Because we were created by Him and for Him, the more we open ourselves to Him, the more we will hunger for Him. What gets in the way often is our openness to other things besides Jesus. My wife was wholeheartedly pursuing them when she met Him. What changed was she let Him take control and those other things took a back seat or were completely removed.
Today, do you find yourself hungering for God’s Word? If not, then perhaps it’s time to take a look at why that is, because anyone claiming to follow Jesus should be longing to read and understand His Word. So ask the Lord to reveal what is going on with you that is blocking this desire. And, do one more thing as well. Say to the Lord something like this: “Lord, give me a desire for your Word.” Not only will He answer your prayer, but the Word of God will come alive for you and, as with David, will give you the understanding to help you to live a righteous life.
© Jim Musser 2017
“I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:21-24 ESV)
If you are like me, you were up late last night watching the Super Bowl, one of the most exciting football games in its 51-year history. It was worth staying up for, but all of us faced the reality this morning that it’s Monday and we have to go to work or to class.
This is why Mondays in modern times are so despised. Talk to most people on Monday morning and they will complain about having to get up early and start their weekly routine. They may also throw in how much they are looking forward to the weekend. Mondays get no respect. I haven’t checked, but I’m sure a popular hashtag campaign is, or could be, #IHATEMONDAYS!
Here’s the thing, though, if you are a follower of Jesus: Monday is a day the Lord has made, so we are to rejoice and be glad in it. His words, not mine. I say to students a lot that following Jesus is an intentional task, that the cultural currents are strong in the opposite direction.
It may seem like a small thing, but complaining about Mondays is not to be the mantra of believers. Rather, we are to recognize Monday as a day (like every other day) created and given to us by the Lord. It is a day, like every other day, where we can give thanks for the Lord’s mercies, which are new every day and rejoice in the fact He made a way for us to be saved and have hope for eternal life.
Complaining is the cultural norm and about Mondays it is practically universal. But complaining is frowned upon in the Scriptures. One way in which we can shine brightly is the way in which we rejoice rather than complain.
Today, on this Monday, regardless of how late you were up or how tired you are, rejoice because this is the day the Lord has made, His mercies are new, and in Jesus you have eternal life—some great reasons to be excited about a new week!
© Jim Musser 2017
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:13-15 NIV)
In a conversation with a student recently, we were discussing others’ attitudes and viewpoints of Christianity. He said one of his roommates viewed it as a “crutch” for people too weak to deal with life on their own. Another, he said, saw it as just one of many options from which to draw moral direction.
The great challenge for those of us who truly know and follow Jesus is to explain Him to a world long infected with corrupted understandings of Christianity, and to make sure we don’t infuse our beliefs with the same corruptions. Like the Pharisees, many see a relationship with God formed around following strict rules—the “thou shalts.” Certain behaviors are required and when they are fulfilled, God is pleased and one is in good standing. This was the Pharisees’ view and many have adopted it down through the ages. Go to church, be a good and sincere person, and that is enough. Jesus forcefully condemned this view.
Another view is that Jesus is on equal footing with other moral, religious teachers, such as Buddha and Muhammad, or, in modern times, Gandhi. People searching for moral meaning, then, should study the teachings of all these men in order to find their own ethical code by which to live. But, as C.S. Lewis noted in his classic book, Mere Christianity, Jesus didn’t give us that choice. As Lewis said, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Many view Jesus as a founder of a religion. He was nothing of the sort. He is the Son of God who came to earth for one reason—to make it possible for humans to reconcile with God. Religion says we can do that through our own moral efforts. The Scriptures, on the other hand, tell us there is nothing we can do, that we are helpless (Romans 3:23). And Jesus said He was the only possible way back to God (John 14:6). Following Him rather than rules, obeying Him rather than trying to carve out our own moral way is the only path to salvation.
That is why Jesus describes this path as narrow and one that few will find (Matthew 7:14). In our pride, we want to be in charge; we want to be the ones to achieve our own destiny. And this is why religion and the pursuit of morality capture so many.
Today, recognize that religion and moral pursuits lead in the exact opposite direction people think they are going. These will never be enough to bridge the gap between them and God. Only Jesus can do that. Anything else always will come up short.
© Jim Musser 2017
“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (II Corinthians 3:12-18 NIV)
I was thinking of a young woman this morning who, for many years, has been on a path of destruction and still has not recognized her plight. Her childhood was difficult—her parents divorced and for years they used her and her siblings as leverage in their fight with one another. She loved them, but grew to hate them. And her hate, as it is prone to do, turned inward. She began to slowly destroy herself. Poor choices led to a bad marriage, a divorce, jail, losing custody of her kids, and still she remains blinded to her desperate need. She has surrounded herself with those like her and considers her life normal. She once knew of God, but now denies His existence.
Hers is an extreme case, but I have known many people who are similarly blinded. Most are consumed by hate, bitterness, and self-loathing. Most, like this young woman, have had difficult childhoods, or been the victim of a particularly traumatic event. And the experience plants a seed of anger or hate in their hearts that, if not confronted and rejected, will enslave them, cripple them, and perhaps destroy them. Exactly what our enemy intends. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). But he does it in a very crafty way. Strangely, people like this willingly participate in their own harm. They unknowingly become partners in his scheme. Alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders, very dysfunctional relationships, extreme perfectionism are all tools which he uses, but there are many more.
Often our culture relies on recovery programs and counseling to deal with these issues, and, as a trained counselor, I do see their benefit. However, on their own, they will not be able to set people free to see and experience the truth. Only Jesus can do that. For some, this may seem cliché and I will admit that this view has been applied in an overly simplified fashion, but it is still the truth. If we are so afflicted, then the veil over our hearts must first be removed by Jesus in order for us to truly see reality and be led into freedom from that which has for so long held us in bondage.
This is my continued prayer for the young woman. And if you know of anyone in similar circumstances, this should be your prayer as well. And if you happen to be in a destructive pattern in your life, then cry out to Jesus for help. He indeed can set you free.
© Jim Musser 2017
“When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: ‘Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.’
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: ‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?’ Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.” (Nehemiah 6:1-4 NIV)
My wife and I listened to a news piece this week about the development of smartphones. According to one of the developers, the phone most of us carry around with us was intentionally designed to keep our eyes engaged with the screen. Because all of the apps are advertising-driven, designers focused on keeping users engaged. So the phone buzzes or dings when there is a message, or a bright red number appears to indicate how many notifications we’ve received. Think about it: these devices were created intentionally to distract us, to draw us from one thing—a conversation, a book, a time of reflection, or responsibilities to which we are committed to fulfill—to a device that holds great financial potential to a select number of companies! Yes, there may be some benefit that comes along with our devices, but the main goal is not to serve us, but for us to serve them.
Nehemiah found himself in a similar situation. He had committed to the responsibility of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, but there were parties that had another agenda, so they sought to distract him. They wanted his focus elsewhere so as to achieve their goal. But Nehemiah was resolute. “‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” He successfully dealt with the distraction by knowing what his priority was and being committed to keeping it before him.
I think we would do well to apply Nehemiah’s strategy in dealing with our world of distractions. Ask yourself this question: What are the priorities of your life? If you are a follower of Jesus, let me suggest a few. Spending uninterrupted time with God reading His Word and praying. Loving others by giving them your sole attention in conversations. Spending time looking up and around, instead of down, reflecting on God’s creation.
There are many more, of course, but this can be a good start. And be prepared for the distractions that will seek to draw you away from doing them. Our mutual enemy has a very different agenda and so will seek to deter you from the one the Lord has for you. But, like Nehemiah, you will need to have your “great project” in the front of your mind and always ready to defend it against anything or anyone seeking to take you away from it.
Today, as did Nehemiah, know what your priorities in life are and then be strong against any attempts to distract you from them. In doing this, you won’t complete a wall, but you will build a great and fulfilling life.
© Jim Musser 2017
