The Throne and the Cross

Mar30

© Wendy Anne Clark, 2024

I remember a diagram we used to use with those surrendering to Jesus. It was a picture of a throne. “Who’s on the throne of your life?” we’d ask. The diagram, though useful in its way, barely scratches the surface of a deep and important part of the Christian life–surrender. 

A.W. Tozer writes, “In every Christian heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne ‘till he puts himself on the cross . . . “

We can draw the diagram and ask the question, ”Who’s on the throne of your life?” but it will take more than a few minutes to grasp the fulness of what the means or of what it means to truly surrender and let Christ rule. It will take some effort for us to understand how allowing Christ to sit on the throne of our lives will require that we take our own desires to the cross to die.

How do I take myself to the cross and die to myself so that I might live for Jesus? The short answer is “through confession and repentance,” but it will take much more time, thought, reflection, experience, and diving into Scripture to grasp the concept of confession and repentance and to move to the place of surrender.

While there may be some things that we quickly recognize as sin and confess and repent of, and come to surrender quickly, more often that surrender takes time. It occurs as a long process of self-reflection and examination, of acknowledgement and understanding, of confession–agreeing with God about our sin, and choosing to turn away from it–repentance. And sometimes we will find ourselves cycling back around again before we reach the place of complete surrender. Perseverance is required.

When we are surrounded by others, even others who call themselves Christians, who accept sin as “normal” or “natural,” which is often the case, the walk to the cross will be much slower, much more encumbered. We may have to drag ourselves to that cross, and we might not get a lot of support on the journey. We may not be celebrated by others when we finally get where we needed to be all along.

Sometimes we see and acknowledge parts of our sin and not the whole. Sometimes the Holy Spirit’s work is like surgery. It requires discovery of the problem, recognition that a drastic move is needed, surrender to the process, and then healing and recovery from the changes and maybe even loss that come with surrender.

The process of dying to self is not easy, and can be painful and even scary. Pulling self off the throne and yielding the seat to God is not a simple task. What the diagram of the throne fails to show us is that we often hang onto that throne with everything we have, and convincing ourselves to align with what God says is good and right and true might be the hardest part.

Through His physical death on the cross, Jesus shows us what dying to self in the spiritual realm will look like; we get a glimpse of it–and it is tortuous and bloody, messy and painful. Why do we expect that taking ourselves to the cross and allowing Jesus to rule over us will be comfortable or easy or without opposition? Are we paying attention? Have we noticed that so many give up and give in so easily, living a natural life, rather than a supernatural one?

The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian church, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, ESV).

It is no longer I who live.

Of this A.W. Tozer writes, “It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical ways, but it can be done.”

It can be done.

But it will require . . . determination and perseverance and seeking the truth, and honest self examination and confession and repentance and . . . surrender. 

(Tozer, A. W., From the Grave: A 40-day Lent Devotional, Moody Publishers, 2017.)

(background image: <a href=”https://www.vecteezy.com/free-photos/christian-cross”>Christian Cross Stock photos by Vecteezy</a>)

Another Year, Already

Jan15

© Wendy Clark, 2023

January 15

Tomorrow I will be 59. How is that possible? Wasn’t I just 29 a few days ago? How did the last 30 years go by so quickly and at the same time seem a lifetime ago? 

The incredible passage of time. When I was young, older people told me about it. Some warned, some lamented, some kindly informed. My mom mused, saying that she felt like she was “still twenty inside.” 

But I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t conceive of it. Difficult times seemed long. Time seemed slow. Looking back I realize that sense of time was a persuasive illusion. GOD, in His Word had told me otherwise:

“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Psalm 105:15-16).

I believed Him, but I didn’t quite understand how that could be. And then I began to see. 

The moments came, and the moments passed, and then they were so quickly gone. I learned that if I wanted to slow down the bullet train of time, zooming me through life, I should stop and savor. Others before me knew it. Walter Hagen wrote back in the 1960s, “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way,” and people started saying, “Stop and smell the roses,” and as I started to sense the incredible passage of time, I did. I stopped.

I learned to enjoy the moment, to be present in it, to pause and make memories that I could carry with me in my mind into the future. To never miss the moment of now in favor of reaching for some moment in the future.

So I ask, “GOD, what do you want me to do today? I want to please You.” Sometimes the answer involves planning and preparation that will take me into tomorrow, next week, next year, but always the answer involves paying attention to the people around me and walking in wisdom here and now.

I’m convinced that it is by GOD’s design that I become increasingly aware of the incredible passage of time and the brevity of this life. Seasons come and seasons go. In some places they are more difficult to perceive (like when I was growing up in Southern California), but here in Idaho, it’s not easy to overlook the pile of snow that reaches almost up to my back window.

Experience has taught me that the snow will melt, spring will come, mild and green and blooming; summer will follow, bright and warm, with long, full days; autumn will usher in beautiful colors and milder temperatures, and the days will start to get shorter once again. And then–I will be looking out my back window at the snow, the pile lower or higher, and I will be another year older. 

A long yawn or an intense sneeze, and I might miss it. That’s how it feels at this time of my life.

Wendy at 29, pregnant with her first child, uncomfortable, but ready–she could not sense it, this incredible passage of time. She didn’t know.

I don’t have a sense of how much more time I have ahead of me. Do I have 30 more years? More? Less? A lot less? One of my grandfathers died in his early 60s, another in his 80s, one grandmother in her 70s, but another at 52; my mom lived to be almost 80, and my dad died at 90. 

How much time do I have?  It is not a question that I concern myself with much. The amount of time seems far less important than the choices I make in using it.

I see the incredible passage of time written on my face and in the faces of my husband and  grown children, and I’m sometimes puzzled by the changes that seem accelerated. At the same time, I recognize GOD’s gentle nudge. This world is not my home. Today is passing. I won’t waste it. 

And perhaps ironically, I feel great peace in knowing that this is true.

True Love

Sep28

© Wendy Anne Clark, 2023

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”  –1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT

The world around us has its own definition of love, an ever-changing definition of love. But God tells us what true love is like, and His definition stands firm through the ages, no matter how people change. 

C. S. Lewis understood that what is ultimately for a person’s good is more loving than the things we do to give into a feeling in the moment. God’s love for us is also connected to our ultimate good and not necessarily to the things we desire for ourselves.

In his letter to the Romans Paul writes that “all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (vs. 28). If we keep reading, we discover that the “good” that Paul is writing about is that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Transformation–the kind that will require us to die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to shape us. This shaping will no doubt require some hard things, some painful experiences, some suffering. It might not always feel like “love” to us. It might not always feel like it’s working for our “good.” We can resist if we want to, but how we respond today is shaping us into who we will be tomorrow.

Come, LORD Jesus!

Jul4

© Wendy Clark, 2023

I’m reading through and studying the book of Revelation right now. I’m nearing the end. Have you read Revelation? It is a book in the Bible that has a promised blessing for those who will read it aloud.
(Revelation 1:3). This is the first time in reading it for me that the vision of the Apostle John seems not so much of a mystery. It seems so clear, even obvious.

I still have questions about parts of it, of course; some things are weird. But the justice of God and the finality of God’s justice makes so much sense. It just HAS TO BE. There is no way around it. And there is great comfort in knowing that it one day will be. No one escapes.

There have been other times in history when Believers read John’s revelation and felt certain they were near the end–there were so many signs:  evil was so obvious, self-interest so prevalent, the abuse of power, the oppression of people, so out in the open, with so many willingly participating and cooperating.

The rise of Nazi Germany was one of these times in history, but only one. Hitler, Satlin, Pol Pot–as evil and murderous and anti-God as they were, they will not compare to the  man who will rise to world power in the end. But every murderous tyrant throughout history has demonstrated for us why the system of evil, the world as we know it, must one day come to an end, a complete and utter end.

I watched the movie Priceless the other day, a movie based on true stories of human sex trafficking. I’ve been watching interviews about the movie The Sound of Freedom, which is also about true stories of human sex trafficking, focused on the selling of young children. More importantly, it is the story of the people who fight against this evil. 

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but those who have, say it is a good movie about a deeply dark subject. Tim Ballard, a former government agent whose story is being told in the film, talked in an interview with Jordan Peterson about the unbelievable, inconceivable nature of the evil he has encountered. We can’t fathom how deep and dark is the pit of human depravity, the things that we can be led to find attractive and appealing and to justify as acceptable and right by our own standards.

What is the sickest, darkest, most horrendous thing that you can imagine giving you pleasure? According to Ballard, your imagination can’t come even close to the horrible things that people find pleasure in. 

Jordan Peterson talked about how getting from where you likely are in your thinking and imagination right now to where deep, abased, depravity resides requires millions of decisions, searing your conscience over and over and over again, over time molding and shaping your heart to a place where it delights in depravity. It dwells there.

James, the brother of Jesus, writes about the progression of sin in this way:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-16, ESV)

Our own desires lure and entice us, and we must decide how we will respond to them. Will we reject them? Flee from them? If we lean into those desires, they will take root, grow, and give birth to sin in us. That sin, if we continue to nurse it and then feed it solid food, protect it, shelter it–it grows up. Fully grown sin brings death.

There’s a progression that must take place to create a Hitler, a Stalin, a Pol Pot, a child sex abuser. It’s a long, dark progression that takes place in a human heart, and it involves the step-by-step cooperation of the individual.

The book of Revelation shines a light on the complete depravity of the human heart apart from the redeeming and transforming presence of God. At the end of human history God will allow those who reject Him to live as they desire, fully, and without His restraining presence in the world, feeding all of their own unrestrained passions and desires, but not without consequences. The consequences are deeply embedded in the carrying out of the desires. They can’t be separated from each other

The deepest, darkest things going on now, bringing brought into the light of day for us to see will pale in comparison to the things that people will do to each other out of their own love of self and rejection of God in those final days.

How clear it will be who we are without God! How obvious it will be that we need the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to live and walk according to God’s ways. We will understand why our best life is always lived on God’s path, according to His plans and purposes.

John’s revelation shows us that humans will always serve a master. Will it be God, who is good and perfect, holy and just, compassionate, merciful, truthful, faithful, trustworthy, almighty, wise? Or will we serve the master who is evil, cruel, selfish, deceptive, divisive, destructive, foul, depraved, corrupting, decaying? Will we serve him to our own demise?

Moses stands before the people of God and explains a clear choice they have to make. Here is what God is offering you–but God’s offer is attached to obedience to Him. You must listen to Him, believe Him, follow Him, obey Him, submit yourself to God and God’s ways. Moses tells the people that this is the message to them from God:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20, ESV)

Will you choose God? Make no mistake, there are consequences attached to your choice. Moses says that the consequences are life and death.

In Revelation we see the playing out of those who say a definitive “no” to God’s rule and reign in their hearts. They know that what they are seeing is the judgment of God, and still they refuse to worship Him and walk in His ways. They know by experience the emptiness and suffering associated with their own depravity, and still they choose their own depravity.

It is because of this deep depravity played out–human desires going to their necessary conclusion–that the final judgment of the LORD, though fierce and terrifying, will be celebrated and bring great joy for those who are safe in Christ Jesus. And so, after all of the horrifying things that the Apostle John saw and recorded, he ends his account this way:

“Come, LORD Jesus!”

May we stand with the Apostle John, saved by the blood of Jesus poured out for our sins on the cross, having chosen to follow God and to walk in His ways, and say with confidence and anticipation of great joy, “Come, LORD Jesus!”

Changed and Changing

Jan16

I’m not the person I once was and not the person that I will one day be. And that’s very good news. 

Today, I have lived 59 years.That’s amazing to me and somewhat unbelievable. Wasn’t I in my twenties just moments ago? In truth I’ve been planting many seeds in my life in the past 30 years (and more). As I look back at the growth in my life in the past 30 years, what does the crop look like that I am harvesting now?

I’ve learned to love better, much better. I’m more patient in difficult circumstances and with difficult people. I’ve learned how to wait well, to wait on GOD as a loving Father and to be more compassionate with hurting people. I treat people more gently and with more kindness. 

I feel peaceful most of the time, no matter what manner of chaos is going on around me. I live with deep joy.

All of these things have grown in me, not because I am someone outstanding or amazing, but because over time I have learned to surrender to the prodding of the Holy Spirit in my life, day after day after day. I have come to understand the benefit of surrendering quickly and fully to the Holy Spirit, to not try to battle it out with the GOD of the universe. I have experienced His goodness and His grace, His great kindness and tender mercy.

I have responded to the hunger and thirst for the Word that the Holy Spirit has stirred in me, and it has continued to grow more deep and vast, and my view of Scripture has grown richer and more intense. It’s been opened up to me in a way that Wendy in her twenties only dreamed of. Consequently, I have grown consistent in seeking GOD through His Word and have gradually expanded my morning time with Him, wanting so much more.

I sense GOD’s presence so very close to me all throughout the day now, every day. If I feel fearful or anxious, my first and immediate response is to go to GOD as my loving Father in prayer and worship. He is my refuge. He comforts me, leads me, and holds me. He faithfully draws out all fear and worry. In His presence is perfect peace.

I knew GOD well when I was 39. I’d had babies and cancer and healing. I knew Him even better at 49.I’d had failures and successes and walked in more confidence and less fear.

At 59 I realize that I’ve only begun to know Him. In the past decade I’ve relied even more on my heavenly Father for strength, comfort, direction, and provision. With my family I uprooted my life, resettled in another state, changed careers, started a ministry, and left behind a wonderful life for an equally wonderful, entirely different one.  I’ve lost both of my parents and have celebrated the lives they lived serving Jesus. I’ve moved into a new season where my siblings and I are now in that “older” generation.

And throughout all of these changes, I’ve continued to grow in my knowledge and understanding of GOD. And He is wonderful. I suspect that throughout Eternity I will be learning, growing, and knowing more and that there will be no end to the expanding depth and richness of understanding about who GOD is and how deeply He loves me.

I’m not done growing and changing. New challenges have revealed new places in me in need of GOD’s tender transformation, and I am confident that He will continue to refine me as I continue to cooperate with all that He wants to do in my life. 

And whatever this next year holds for me, I know that GOD will be faithful to His promises. He will never leave me (Hebrews 13:15), He will supply everything that I need (Philippians 4:19), and He will work out all things for my good (Romans 8:28).

The last birthday of my fifties. The last year before turning 60. Ready.Set.Go!

Christmas, the Beginning of a Bigger Story

Dec12

© Wendy Clark, December 2022

Christmas is the celebration of the coming of the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. No, “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It is who He is–Messiah, the promised Deliverer, and He comes anointed to accomplish a specific assignment.

Think back to Moses and how at his birth there was a fearful king who tried to kill all of the male babies of the Hebrew people. Moses was protected, and Moses would grow to be their deliverer, leading the people out of slavery after 400 years.

Jesus is born after 400 “years of silence.” God hadn’t given the people a new word, recorded and passed down, in all of that time. Don’t be confused and think that means that God withdrew and wasn’t present or paying attention or actively working in the world. Every detail surrounding the birth of Jesus seems to say otherwise and shows that God was waiting until a time that He, Himself had appointed (Mark 1:14-15). At the very least it was 400 years of purposeful silence.

In Jesus’ infancy, there is another evil king who begins killing Jewish baby boys, out of fear that a new king will be born in his own generation. Jesus is protected and grows to be the promised Deliverer, the Messiah, who will “save his people from their sins.” 

Just as Pharaoh in Egypt was right to be afraid of the birth of Moses, King Herod was right to be afraid of the birth of Jesus, not because his earthly throne was in immediate jeopardy, but because of the Kingdom of God that Jesus would ultimately usher in: a Kingdom of justice and wisdom and righteousness and holiness. Kings like Herod can never stand boldly in the presence of Holy God. None of us can. We all need Jesus to deliver us–to save us from our sins.

I recently listened to a professed “progressive Christian” pastor preach about how he rejects the teaching of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He sees that teaching as rising out of a violent and punitive culture and in no way related to our lives today. I say with confidence that, no matter what the young pastor claims, he is not a “Christian” at all because Christianity rests on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. The whole of Scripture, from beginning to end, is wrapped around the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, the teaching that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).

Can anyone read the letter to the Hebrews or the letter to Romans and not see that Jesus came to deliver us from our sins? If you aren’t sure of the answer to that question, then I encourage you to start reading both of these letters, in a clear, straightforward way. What is Paul saying? What is the writer of Hebrews saying (whether or not that is Paul)?
The young “progressive Christian” pastor finds the teaching of the blood sacrifice offensive, and he is not alone. The Apostle Paul tells us that many will stumble over the cross and the teaching that Jesus came to die for our sins in our place to be the atoning sacrifice that was required to pay the penalty for sin. 

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ  the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Corinthians 1: 22-25). We preach Christ crucified.

Read all of 1 Corinthians, and it is clear that one thing that the Apostle Paul wants us to understand is that there are teachers among us that aren’t teaching the truth of the Gospel.  Pay attention and be aware.

When talking to people about the Gospel and trying to determine where another person stands, I often ask this question: “Do you know Jesus as your Savior?” If the person says yes, then I ask this: “Can you describe or explain what that means to you?” Whatever the person says next is very helpful in bringing clarity and understanding to the conversation.

One time, a young man responded by saying that Jesus saved him from his depression and his fear and his anxiety and his loneliness . . .  and continued with a very long list that was lacking one specific and important word. Those of us sitting across the table from the young man looked at him and waited. One older gentleman prodded, “Brother?”

The young man then began in a kind of frantic way, “But I’m not a sinner. Jesus didn’t save me from sins. I don’t need saving from sins.” Then we knew where we were in the Gospel conversation. No spinning around trying to figure out how we weren’t communicating clearly. He didn’t believe that the Gospel is about salvation from sins, the blood atonement of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which the Bible clearly teaches. And from that point we were able to come to clarity about how we consider the Bible to be an authority over us and our thoughts, feelings, and opinions, but this young man considers the Bible to be one voice among many voices and of less authority than his own thoughts, feelings, and opinions. The “progressive Christian” pastor that I referred to earlier also eventually came around to sharing that same perspective about the Bible.

Christmas has significance, but the birth of Jesus is the beginning of something that is completed at the cross and confirmed through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We aren’t celebrating the birth of a baby who was born a long time ago and grew to be a good and wise teacher and then died and was buried long ago, his body now decomposed as everyone who died before or since. What is the point of that? There are many people like that throughout history, and we haven’t established in their honor elaborate and extensive celebrations that occur all over the world with decorations and parties and music and gift giving and stories and movies . . .

So if we do nothing else during this Christmas celebrating season, let’s meditate on this from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(Philippians 2:5-11)

Let Christmas remind us that Jesus is still alive and is coming back, and we will all recognize who He really is. Let’s take seriously the Apostle Paul’s teaching that “today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2) and respond to God’s invitation to draw near to Him through Jesus–and His death for us in our place on the cross. This is the significance of the birth of Christ and the heart of what it means to be a “Christian,” a follower of Christ, the Messiah. All of what it means to be a Christian begins with this understanding.

Son of God and Son of Man

Dec12

© Wendy Clark, December 2021

Son of God

Hannah, my youngest, my late-in-life child, born after I had cancer and chemo, after we stepped out to adopt unsuccessfully twice, after many miscarriages, after I surrendered to God saying, “If I’m not going to have any more children, I’m okay with that, God,” that child–has always been beautiful, loved by pretty much everyone she spends time with, smart, funny, and unusually profound. Even when she was little, sometimes we would be sitting in a room full of adults, and Hannah would say something that would be so interesting, that the room would go silent, and everyone would turn in her direction.  Here’s one memory of that, related to Christmas.

Hannah must have been no older than about four, and our homeschool group was making manger scenes. Hannah made three baby Jesus figures for her manger scene.  I said, “Hannah, you know there was only one baby Jesus, right?”  She said, “Yes, Mom, I know that, but there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one, and I didn’t know how else to show that.”

If you’ve missed that somewhere along the way, don’t miss it this Christmas, that Jesus is God made visible to us.  “Son of God” doesn’t describe an act of God the Father, birthing or creating Jesus, but the intimate relationship that God the Father shares with Jesus. Look at how the writer of Hebrews explains this:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Jesus is “the exact representation” of God the Father, the best way for us to see what God is like. God the Father, made the universe through Jesus the Son. Jesus was present at creation and participated in creation. The Apostle John explains this just before he begins to write the account of Jesus’ ministry. It is important to John, who lived and traveled with Jesus, that you understand who Jesus really is.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:1-3, NIV). “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NIV).

The “Word” in the Greek means “the expression, the utterance that flowed out of God’s mouth.” Jesus is God and pours out of God. Think about that for a few minutes. When God spoke the universe into existence, Jesus was that expression, the words that flowed out of his mouth.  The Holy Spirit is described as the very breath that God breathed, so that when God breathed life into Adam, that life was by the Spirit of God.

God and his Word and his Breath–three in one–perhaps beyond our ability to understand. 

Maybe it’s easier for us to comprehend the relationship of father to son and the spirit that moves between them, connecting them and making them one, and yet all three also separate and distinct in their identities and their roles. The Bible makes it clear that there are three separate persons–with a shared will, perspective, and purpose–separate and distinct from each other, and at the same time, completely unified.

Many have tried to explain this.  Maybe it’s like an egg that has a shell, a white part, and a yolk and is still all one egg.  Maybe it is like water than can be water and steam and ice and still be essentially the same thing.  These descriptions fall short of what the Bible teaches about God as three in one.

Jesus doesn’t explain how this works; he simply states that it is.  Every time Jesus says “I AM,” He uses the expression that God uses when he speaks to Moses and Moses asks for God’s name.

Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (Exodus 3:13-14). 

What did God just say to Moses?  God’s name translates to something like this:  I am the one who has always existed and who will always exist.  I exist in myself, by myself.  There is no other like me.

Jesus uses this same expression of God’s name to describe himself, which is why the Jewish leaders become so enraged against him and also why it is impossible to view Jesus as simply a good man; good men don’t go around claiming to be God.

Here are seven of these statements just from the testimony of the Apostle John.  In each of these statements Jesus identifies himself as God, I AM GOD who is .  . .

“I AM the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)

“I AM the light of the world.” (John 8:12) 

“I AM the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7,9) 

“I AM the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) 

“I AM the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14) 

“I AM the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) 

“I AM the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5) 

Jesus also says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and those who oppose him pick up stones to try to stone him to death and “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

If you have never heard that Jesus actually taught that he himself is God and the Son of God, not just a prophet of God or a good man sent by God . . .

If you were taught that Jesus was just a man . . .

If you’ve never really thought about Jesus much at all . . .

Consider this particular conversation that Jesus has with his disciples:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-17, NIV)

Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man” and then commends Peter for recognizing that he is also the Messiah and the “Son of God.”

If you aren’t sure about all of this or even if you are sure but haven’t given it much thought lately, I encourage you to take some time before Christmas day and read through the Gospel of John, the Apostle John’s account of his encounter with the Son of Man/ Son of God.

As you read, ask and answer these questions:  What does Jesus say about himself?  What does he do?  What does he ask his followers to do?  If all of this is true, what implications does it have for my life? 

Next time . . . more about the Son of Man.

Moving Again

Apr17

© Wendy Clark, 2021

Only our friends who live in this valley will fully understand this news, but the owner of the house we rent let us know yesterday that he needs to move back into the house in July, so we will be house-hunting and moving once again.  (I can hear the groans from this side of the screen.)

I’m happy that it isn’t about him wanting to sell the house while the market is hot or about wanting to rent it as a vacation home, but moving is well, not my favorite thing, and we will be moving to our 5th house since we came to the valley in 2014.  We lived on Pine Street in Hailey, then 1st Street, then 3rd, and then here in Bellevue. (Each of the other houses we had to move because they went on the market. If you want to understand what is going on here in the housing market, this information should help.)

We are truly thankful that we were able to live in this house for over two years, and it has been a really good place to live. We are truly not worried about where we will go (though I know that will sound crazy to some). I’m not looking forward to sorting and packing or to figuring out where we will live next, but there is a part of me that feels good about having some time to sort through things that have been stored and lighten the load and about the possibilities that moving brings.

If you are wondering why it is we are not worried in a time that we probably should be worried, it’s just that the faithfulness of God to take care of us has already been firmly established.  I will retell those stories as we move into this new season, but there have been so many times that we needed somewhere to go and that it looked like there was nowhere to go, including the time we moved into this current house, that worrying seems to be wasted energy.

But please do pray for us, and please let us know if you have any leads on a house in the valley, and please pass along that we are looking. And now’s the time to cue up the exciting, suspenseful music because here we go again.