Author: gabrieltew

“I’ll meet you at our normal place tonight.” Caleb stood just outside the Beautiful Gate facing Abigail.

“After what just happened!? How can you pretend nothing has changed?”

“What has changed?”

“I’ve changed!”

“What has changed is that you have been pardoned; now you are free.”

“Yes, free from condemnation. But with my freedom I was told to sin no more.”

“That is what this rogue, self-appointed rabbi said.”

“Yes, and your fellow Pharisees authorized Him to judge when they brought me before Him asking Him to decide my fate.”

“That was merely a trap, my dear.”

“A trap that did not work. And why did you not speak up? How could you stand there, you as guilty as I, my partner in adultery, and say nothing?”

“My wife was in the crowd, as you know. How could I bring her to public shame?”

“Your concern was neither her shame nor mine! It was your own false righteousness that you protected! You are spineless and without a shred of decency. I do not know what either your wife or I ever saw in you!”

“Are you saying it is over between us? Abigail, you cannot mean that.”

“I mean it with all my being.”

“Just because a self-proclaiming Messiah told you to stop?”

“That man is the Messiah. Who else could be wise enough to avoid such shrewd entrapment while both upholding the Law and extending mercy to the guilty?”

“All He showed is that He is shrewd at saving His own skin.”

“And what of the Law, which you are obliged to enforce as a Pharisee? Are we to continue breaking the Law, the Law that prohibits a married man sleeping with another woman?”

“We have always said we would ask for God’s mercy.”

“Well, I just received it. And I will do as the Messiah said, go and sin no more.”

“How will you do that, Abigail? You have never had the strength; where will you find it now?”

“I do not know how I will do it, but I believe the man who released me from condemnation is the Son of God, and somehow He will make it possible.”

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“My mind will not change, Caleb. May God have mercy on you.” Abigail turned and walked away, down the streets of Jerusalem toward her home, praying with every step that she would again see Jesus, her Deliverer and Savior.

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” “…the accusers…slipped away one at the time…” “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” [the adulteress] said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I Go and sin no more.”

I’ve been meditating on 1 Corinthians 13 for months now. Every day, even though I’ve known this chapter for years, it seems I see something new in its words. 

The statement that’s most recently intrigued me is It always hopes. For context, this chapter is describing the kind of love God has for us – agape-love – and wants us to have for each other. Agape-love is the same thing as grace, which is unmerited favor. This chapter tells us what God’s favor looks like. Remembering with each phrase we read that it’s given whether deserved or not, we see in verse seven that it always hopes. This is amazing to me. God never loses hope in us. Even with our poor track record, projected failures and many shortcomings, God sees our future as a sure thing. 

Hope holds together three traits: something future, desirable and certain. So, God sees my future as something certainly desirable? “Oh God,” I begged, “help me understand this.” And He has. 

While God sees and knows everything, He also has the ability to choose His focus, thereby eliminating the peripheral. He can look at a positive factor in me with such laser focus that He completely disregards the contrasting negatives. And it’s on that basis that He never loses hope in me. Of course the real positive in me is that the Spirit of Christ dwells within me.

Therefore, He continues to invest in me, pouring resources into my life that anyone else, myself included, would consider a bad investment. He relentlessly adds to me relationships, opportunities, valuable resources and all kinds of lavishings because he believes in me. 

Why? Not because I merit them in any way. But it’s because His agape-love works that way. It always hopes.

God, being, as 1 John 4 says, agape-love, Himself, always hopes in us grace recipients. He never doubts we’re worth the investment; He’s always sure we’ll yield the desired results. 

“Well,”you say, “God must be wrong and I must be right, because that’s never been the case and I know that it never will be. My results are often negative, undesirable.”

One of the fundamentals that we need to get, once and forever, is that God’s Word is completely true. And it says that He always hopes in us. Once we accept that truth, we can begin to understand it. 

Understand this. God’s view (And His view is the correct one.) is that the results we yield are desirable to Him. Where we see failure, He may see our growth through a training exercise. Where we see sin, He may see a bad taste in our mouths for something we’ll steer clear of in the future. The point is that He sees results differently, perfectly. And that’s how He can never lose hope in us. 

This explains how God could say, through Jeremiah, that He plans to prosper us, to give us hope and a future.

“Come Simeon, we’re going to hear the Teacher” Simeon’s mother took her five-year-old’s hand to lead him away from his play things and play area.

“Can’t I stay with Grandmother? There won’t be other children where the Teacher is.”

“You do not know that,” Miriam explained to her son. “Besides, I have a special feeling the right thing to do is to take you to see Him.”

Simeon relinquished the toy he’d been holding and gave in to following his mother’s leading hand. Maybe there would be children there to play with. So, Simeon made the best of his mother’s instructions. He would go without argument. 

Mother and son walked hand in hand across the town of Capernaum and entered their friends’ home where a couple dozen or so people had already gathered. 

The Teacher was sitting amidst a dozen men, the ones known as His disciples, who listened intently to His words which seemed to be intended specifically for them. Yet, all others in the house seemed just as curious about what He was saying. 

Simeon had picked up a fig leaf on the trek across town and was squatting on the floor near the Teacher and His disciples, using it to sweep back and forth as a make-believe broom. He was oblivious to the words all the adults were listening to with such interest; they were mere background noise to him.

But the Teacher got Simeon’s attention when He reached down, picked him up and placed him on His lap. The Teacher spoke to His disciples about being like the child sitting in His lap, but Simeon didn’t understand what He meant or even exactly what He said. 

All eyes were on Simeon and, even though children were not usually smiled at in public, everyone was smiling, some almost laughing. 

The Teacher kissed Simeon lightly on the cheek and placed him back on the floor; Simeon returned to his sweeping game.

Soon, the Teacher stopped talking and people began to murmur and move about the room.

Mirium took Simeon by the hand. “Let us return home, son.” Simeon and his mother walked out of the house and onto the street. As they navigated the busy streets of Capernaum, Mirium whispered excitedly to Simeon. “God used you today, Simeon. The Teacher made you an example for His followers. I am so very glad you went with me.”

Simeon felt glad, too.

He took a little child whom He placed among them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent Me…If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in Me – to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:36, 37, 42)

On St Valentine’s Day week, I want to offer some insights from my recent personal study. I hope you find this advice helpful:

1. Don’t require your spouse to earn your love. The love I’m talking about here is the Greek word agape, which is the same as grace (unmerited favor) and is the love with which God loves. Its description is found in 1 Corinthians 13 and includes, among others, the traits not self–seeking, keeps no record of wrongs, always trusts, and always perseveres. This is the most important kind of love for a marriage for two reasons: first, it will never give up. No matter what the other spouse does or doesn’t do, the agape-loving spouse will not withdraw their agape-love. The second reason is that it guarantees consistent love response. Whether the other spouse’s treatment is favorable or not, the response will be the same – it will be agape because agape is predetermined entering any and every situation. The spouse on the receiving end of agape will always be loved, no matter what. 

Of course, the ideal is that both spouses would love in this way. When that happens, that marriage has the very best thing a marriage can have – mutual agape. And if one spouse ever drops the ball, the other forgives because grace-love never holds anything against a person. 

2. Truly be your spouse’s best friend. Friends also use agape-love, but the friendship kind of love is based on the Greek word phileo. The difference in agape and phileo is primarily in scope. We Christ followers are to agape-love all people (most importantly our spouses) and phileo love the many we consider our friends. 

There are varying degrees of friendship; we all have some friends who are closer to us than others, and some of us have very, very close friends we deem best friends. To have the best possible marriage, we should each reserve the very best friend spot for our spouse. Two defining friendship factors are, first, that we are always there for each other, whatever the circumstances and, second, that we are able to confide in each other; best friends can share intimate feelings and information with each other that neither can share with anyone else. 

3. Consider your spouse your very closest family member. There’s another Greek word, storge, that represents the family type of love. If agape is for everyone and phileo is for many, storge is for few. Its scope is even smaller than phileo’s because family is even more exclusive than friendship. We have storge love for parents, siblings, children and kinsmen that extend beyond immediate family. 

Marriage was the first human family relationship that God established, and He intends it to be unique in many ways. It’s no accident, but totally logical, that the spouse is considered next of kin and first to receive inheritance. In the family of God, it is the marriage that’s represented by Christ, the bridegroom, and the Church, the Bride of Christ. In an earthly household, unity is primary in importance and husband-wife unity is primary among all the household’s relationships.

4. Pursue intimate spiritual, emotional and physical connection with your spouse. Another Greek word for love is eros. It uniquely includes romance and sex. While agape is for all, phileo is for many, and storge is for few, eros is for one. It cannot be expanded, according to God’s intentions, beyond the one person to whom you exclusively commit your love for life – your spouse. 

Two vitally important truths about eros: 1) it does not work without agape; eros and agape must be intertwined. Otherwise, it will be all about self, which agape prevents. 2) It requires investment; it’s common for couples to invest in eros (being both attractive for and attracted to the spouse) early in the relationship but discontinue that investment as the months and years wear on. That’s a huge mistake. Eros (coupled with agape) protects marriage from sexual immorality and helps spouses maintain the closest possible intimacy, which is a must for the ideal marriage.

Significant and pertinent to this topic, the Bible was written in Greek (the Old Testament translated into Greek from Hebrew a couple hundred years before Christ, who surely spoke Greek as well as Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek). I believe Greek was God’s chosen language to express Himself to us in words, one of the reasons being that His idea of love could be well expressed in that language, including, doubtless, love as it relates to marriage.

The literal meaning of preposterous we see plainly in the Bible’s description of God, His Kingdom and His ways. The old adage getting the cart before the horse can serve as an idiomatic definition of preposterous. Pre means before, and post means after; getting what should come first and what should come last out of place, each in the other’s position, is what it means for something, or someone, to be preposterous. As carts can’t pull horses, so nothing else preposterous can function. Or can it?  When God does something, regardless of how it seems to us humans, it’s good and wise. 

Yet there are some examples of what seem, by our limited understanding, to be preposterous.

The Sign Comes After the Journey. Moses asked for a sign from God; he wanted something to validate God’s outlandish instruction to lead the Israelites out of Pharoah-dominated Egyptian slavery. 

The Lord accommodated. But the sign would come after Moses had obeyed, confronted Pharoah multiple times, pronounced ten miraculous plagues and convinced the Israelites to follow him into the wilderness through some impossible challenges and to the God-ordained destination. Moses would get his sign at the end of the endeavor, not the beginning. 

That’s preposterous. But a wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, God the Son would say 1,600 years later to the law enforcement officers (Pharisees) of the very Law God had given through Moses. And the sign He would give them would come three days after they crucified Him – His resurrection. 

In God’s system, validation can come after our obedience, and we need to adapt to His way of thinking, rather than requiring Him to adapt to ours. 

The First Shall Be Last and the Last shall Be First. This is pretty straightforward. If we want to achieve the highest position in God’s Kingdom, we should position others ahead of ourselves as much as possible. Servants are leaders, the humble are at the top and the least shall be the greatest. Those conventionally deemed worthless are the most valued and the most lost are worth leaving all others in order to save. It’s preposterous.

God Chooses the Foolish Things to Confuse the Wise. It seems we’re all lifelong sophomores. Sophomore means, literally, wise fool (sopho: wise; more: fool). A second year student has learned just enough to feel knowledgeable but still has more to learn than they realize. More study and maturity reveals more accurately where they stand in their knowledge. 

Mark Twain said he returned home from college and couldn’t hardly believe how much his parents had learned. A cartoon I saw put it this way:

Grandpa: A smart man said he knew much because he knew nothing.

Grandson: How did he know he knew nothing?

Grandpa: His wife told him.

God instructs us to not think more highly of ourselves than we should, to think of others as higher than ourselves, and to recognize that what humans consider foolish God may count as wise, and vice versa. It may be preposterous to us, but in God’s economy, it’s reality.
God Trusts Humans. This is the most preposterous to me. God, who is completely trustworthy does not get my trust, yet, though I am utterly untrustworthy, God trusts me. This should absolutely be the other way around. I have trouble trusting the one perfect in all His ways because I lack certainty; God knows for sure that I’ll mismanage the resources but gives them to me anyway. If you wonder what in the world I’m talking about, I’m basing this on 1 Corinthians 13:7. God, in His perfect love toward us, always trusts. This is preposterous, but such are the love and blessings of God toward us. 

As I do some years, I’m reading through the Bible in 2024. I’ve just this morning completed the book of Genesis, which ends with the story of Joseph, his father and brothers and their families having joined him in Egypt. By the end of the book, his father, Jacob, has actually passed away. If you’ve never read it or need a refresher, it would help to read Genesis 37 – 50 before reading this blog.

In this recent reading of Joseph’s life and times, a few lessons bubbled to the surface. Here are three of them:

1. Whatever evil comes against you, God will use it for good. Joseph’s brothers treated him wickedly. They ridiculed him, hated him, planned on killing him and ultimately sold him into slavery. But facing his brothers twenty-two years after their evils befell him, he’d seen those evil intentions evolve into good results. And Joseph’s perspective was now so clear, his heart toward them so pure, that he said to them, “It was not you who sent me here, but God.” 

Joseph recognized what we would centuries later learn from the quill of Paul the apostle. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called to His purposes. (Romans 8:28) Joseph went a step farther than recognizing that God had worked for good what others had caused; he said that God was actually the one who sent him into the troubles he would experience in Egypt. However, he didn’t let his brothers completely off the hook. “What you intended for evil, God meant for good,” he told them.

Oh man, if we could only remember in the midst of trouble that God will work it all out for our good! 

2. It’s ok to bless anyone, even if we think them ungodly. Pharaoh was the ungodly king of an idolatrous people. He considered God’s chosen people, the Hebrews, to be contemptuous. Yet Joseph used his God-given ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, and went the giant step beyond of offering the solution – and then executing that solution – to Pharoah’s and Egypt’s problem. In so doing, Joseph increased the nation’s wealth immensely. Of course, more than four hundred years in the future God would have all that wealth carried away in the hands of Joseph’s descendants, the Moses-led Israelites. But Joseph had no idea that that would happen; he was just being faithful with the abilities God had given him.

A millennium-and-a-half later, the ink of Paul would also affirm this Josephine principle. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14) Talk about blessing! Joseph was, himself, responsible for increasing Egypt’s Net National Product (NNP) by billions, maybe trillions, of dollars in today’s US money. Again, that wealth would serve, over four hundred years later, to aid the transition of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage to settling the Promised Land.

Some of us believers work for ungodly employers; our purpose there is to be a blessing to them. What they do with their resources is between them and God.

Oh, that we could be obedient to God in blessing those He places in our lives!

3. Trust that God sees your kindness, regardless of to whom you show it. Joseph was shrewd and skilled enough that he could’ve given less than his best to Pharaoh and no one would have ever known. But, as was evidenced in his resistance of Potiphar’s wife years earlier, Joseph remained keenly aware that it was God’s whose eyes he knew were watching. It was God he was serving, more than any person or people.

The wisdom Joseph used in taxing Egyptian citizens 20% during the seven fruitful years shows bold excellence.  A 14.3% tax would’ve carried the nation through the ensuing seven years of drought with no loss of wealth. Joseph clearly intended to grow Egypt’s NNP by some 40%. And having that additional capital (in agrarian currency, like grain and livestock) would allow Joseph more opportunity to invest and increase the nation’s NNP, which he did quite masterfully.

Again, Joseph could’ve compromised, since it was pagan Egypt for whom he worked. But in his mind, he was actually serving God, trusting that God would see and somehow use these resources for His own purposes. 

Oh, that we could be so aware of the watchfulness of God and His ability to use all things for His glory.

“The scouts have returned, Majesty, with their report.” General Cassius knelt before the king of Cardonia, who sat on his throne.

“You may rise.” The king gestured with his hand. “And their report is?”

“Twenty thousand troops have formed in battle array atop Mount Zidar across the plain, Sire.” 

“Twenty thousand! I had no idea King Kobar had such strength. Muster our entire army for battle.”

“Sire, the total of our troops now number only ten thousand. Shall we lure the enemy close to our fortress where the odds may be more favorable?”

“Do our troops have the skill for victory in such a situation?”

“Not really, Your Majesty,” Cassius hated to admit. “Most lack experience while many of the veteran warriors are injured or fatigued from our recent campaign.”

“Then let us send a delegation to negotiate peace.”

“Honorable King, the only pathway to peace with Kobar is surrender.” Cassius felt a knot forming in his stomach as the words left his mouth.

“True, but better to surrender than loss of life and city.” The same knot welled up in the king’s throat. “Prepare the delegation to negotiate for peace, first by threat, second by treaty, and finally by surrender.”

“The good news is that Kobar is a good and fair king, Majesty. Perhaps he will be kind to you.”

“Perhaps,” the king replied, “What choice do I have, anyway.”

“Greetings, King Kobar. We come with hopes of peace; King Senah’s general, Cassius is gathering the army as we speak.”

“The only terms for your peace are full surrender.” King Kobar showed no lack of confidence.

“May we become allies by signing a treaty, my lord?”

“Why would I ally with weakness? Bring your king to me.” 

Stricken with fear, King Senah’s delegate knew he had no choice remaining. “May I comfort him with the news that you will spare his life?”

“His life will be better as my subject than it could ever be otherwise.” King Kobar had no hatred for Senah. “The more fully he surrenders, the better his plight shall be.”

The delegation returned to the palace with the message from King Kobar. King Senah rode out and ascended Mount Zidar and surrendered to King Kobar. 

King Kobar proved better than his word and reputation. The Cardonians were treated with provision and protection for generations; throughout King Jobar’s royal lineage, rulers were all kind to their subjects. 

So it is with you and me. We can either resist God or surrender to Him, so is there really a choice?

Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:31-33)

It takes a lot of wisdom and understanding to rear children so that they know grace firsthand by the time they’re adults. I don’t think I was successful at it in my parenting years because I didn’t understand how, or even that, it should be done. (Sorry, kids) 

If we want to know how to parent, where better to look than to our Heavenly Father? Think of His parenting life as spanning over human history. Ultimately, He introduced the grace phase, through His Son, Jesus. But He didn’t start with that approach; however, He knew that would be the final phase before we are glorified for eternity. 

In the first phase, God allowed mankind to develop without the Law; it wasn’t time for it yet. This is like the phase between birth and child-understanding, up through about age two or three; children can’t yet understand rules very well, so we teach them by reinforcing good behavior and correcting poor behavior. This is the phase when we try to convey two principles that may seem to the child to conflict with each other: our authority over them and our love for them. Also, like God did in this phase, we rely to a degree on the consciences God put in them when He created them. Whatever disciplinary or corrective action we take in this phase, the child needs to know we love them and are trying to help them become a good person.

Eventually, through Moses, God established the Law for His children. He was meticulous in prescribing the rules and the appropriate responses when the rules were broken. This is like when our kids get old enough to understand instructions and we can expect obedience from them. Their understanding is more important here than in the previous phase, when authority had been what we needed to establish. If you haven’t established your authority early in this phase, this phase will be very difficult because you have to play catchup, establishing authority and understanding for decision-making at the same time; but God makes all things possible. You’ll just need a lot of patience.

Then came the day God had prophesied and longed for – when He would send His Son to launch the grace phase. The Law had been in effect for about 1,500 years before someone (Jesus) fulfilled it (obeyed it completely). As part of the transition into grace parenting, Jesus demonstrated obedience to both the Law and the will of the Father.  That was a nice piece of parenting, Jesus setting perfect examples of obedience, sacrifice, justice and mercy; by the way, if you’re confused by the Son parenting us, remember that Isaiah called Him the Everlasting Father, and Jesus said He and the Father are one, and that if we’ve seen Him, we’ve seen the Father.

We need to bring our kids into an understanding of grace, which requires that the law be phased out. A ceremony marking this change of phase can be very effective. Once the phase has begun, if parents are still operating according to the law phase, the child will be confused, possibly resentful of parents’ not keeping their word, and probably doubtful that grace can really work, perverting the reality of the grace God offers us. Parents who hold to the law phase too long are like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, functioning as little more than law enforcement officers requiring more of others than they are able to do, themselves. 

It’ll be a very different, counterculture parent that really pulls off applying grace to their kids. Kids in their final days before and into college and/or career will, in the grace phase, experience the natural consequences of their actions, and, thereby, learn their lessons, but there won’t be additional consequences parents could impose for punishment. Rather, parents will function more like the Spirit that dwells within us, counseling them as they navigate life.

Kids moving into adulthood having been trained up as both recipients and conduits for others to receive God’s grace will be a shining light in their culture. What an awesome advantage, going into the adult world with God’s grace deeply ingrained in them! And that’s exactly what parenting with grace will yield.

Here are 4 ways to produce the motivation you need to accomplish your goals. They all begin with the letter C.

#1. Copy

There are people who live or have lived their lives in such a way that we can use them as models for our own lives. I, personally, don’t have one single person after whom I try to model my life, except, of course, Jesus Christ. But I see certain people as models for certain parts of life. For leadership, I want to emulate Abe Lincoln. For business, my father-in-law, George. For commitment to see something through to completion, my wife, Sharlene. For toughness, my brother, Jonathan. For non-fiction writing, Phillip Yancey. For fiction writing, Francine Rivers. For innovation, Steve Jobs. I use my kids, and even my grandkids as models for some things.

These models provide an image to shoot for in some way, and their images are so attractive that the idea of doing what they’ve done, in some sense, excites me. It motivates me.

I’m sure you have your system for using models for motivation as well.

#2. Chip

By chip I mean as, on your shoulder, something that rouses a bit of anger and determination, which serves as great motivation for accomplishment. 

The best model I know of for this kind of motivation is Michael Jordan. MJ was famous for using some slight made by an opposing player or coach as motivation to destroy them on the court at the next opportunity, whether that opportunity was the next day after the slight or a year later. Jordan could file these slights away and pull them up when the time came, place them on his shoulder as chips and display a wrathful vengeance that his opponents would rue. 

Shaqille O’Neal is another player who motivated himself with opposing players’ slights. He even once made up in his own mind a scenario that David Robinson had refused to give him an autograph when he was younger. Even though the incident never happened, Shaq so convinced himself that it did that he was able for an important game against Robinson’s Spurs to muster up a vengeance enough to play possessed by an intense anger with Robinson. Although I don’t condone taking revenge against other people, I am impressed with Shaq’s use of the chip for motivation.  

What’s important for us is that we use this type of motivation for accomplishment without the element of revenge. I’ve had people I respect laugh at me and even falsely accuse me. I try to use these chips for accomplishment, not against anyone. Vengeance is okay, but the Lord says He’s the one who has the right and ability to wield it. 

Personally, I use chips on my shoulder to make myself reach writing and ministry goals; this is the best use I can find for them  and they help people, rather than hurt anyone.

I encourage you to place a chip on your shoulder, but only for Godly accomplishment, not against anyone.

#3. Confidence

Things happen in our lives that serve as great confidence builders, and it’s next to impossible to accomplish anything without confidence.

In my college freshman English composition class, we were assigned to write a poem in the style of the Romanticism era. I wrote a poem I titled Prelude to Summer Dusk. My professor, Dr. Hayes, called me to his office where he said he suspected I had plagiarized the poem because it seemed like something Emerson or Thoreau would have written. I was both flattered and frightened. Dr. Hayes required me to explain the meaning of the imagery of the poem. Otherwise he’d assume I’d stolen it.

I was able to articulate the meaning of the poem, so Dr. Hayes accepted it and gave me an A for it. 

Being a writer wasn’t on my radar at that point in my life, but decades later, when I needed the confidence to believe I could be a good writer, I found it in remembering that experience with Dr. Hayes.

There are a handful of other experiences I remember to gain confidence for achievement. I’m sure yours are there for you, too, so let’s gather them to reach our goals in 2024. 

#4. Calling

Knowing our targeted goals are missions for God’s kingdom is motivating in itself. 

John 4 tells the story of Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman at a well. After their conversation His disciples encouraged Him to eat. “I have food of which you do not know,” Jesus told them. 

What food was it that He had? He answered that question with the statement, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.”

I’ve always been intrigued by what Jesus said there. I’ve asked God to allow me to experience that, that I would be so motivated and energized by doing the work God has for me that by doing it I can go without food. 

God hasn’t seen fit to answer that prayer completely yet, but I have seen an energy come from working at the things He puts in my heart to do. Coincidently, my need for sleep has decreased over the past couple of years; I’m ok with about five hours per night, and focusing on the tasks He’s called me to seems to be where I get my energy. Unfortunately, my desire for food hasn’t decreased.

Discovering what it is God has called us to do does provide a real boost for us, whereas, expending energy on ungodly pursuits can be extremely exhausting. 

I invite you this year to join me in pursuing God’s callings and asking Him for the energy to perform them effectively.

Sometimes the truth surprises us. There are three messages God has spoken to my heart in the past that I want to share with you as we enter into a new year. 

#1. God is pleased with you. 

In the nineties, I stood one Sunday evening before Dr. George Brackman, who had just peached a great message and invited the congregation up to see if God would speak through him a personal word to edify them. Dr. Brackman promised that he would speak only the message he felt God was giving for the respective person.

I was the first person in line. Dr. Brackman placed his hands on my shoulders and said, “I am pleased with you.”

I immediately rejected that word. It couldn’t be true. What Dr. Brackman didn’t know was the battles with temptation I often lost. God and I were all too aware of them and there was no way He could find me pleasing. I left church that night believing Dr. Brackman had simply missed it.

A few days later I was reading the Book of Matthew. Chapter 3 records Jesus’ baptism by John. As Jesus came up out of the water the sky opened and the Father spoke from Heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Suddenly, I realized that I was in Christ; God said of Christ Jesus in whom I am well pleased. Therefore, it was true. God is well pleased with me, solely because I am in Christ. 

One of the nuggets of knowledge I gained in 2023 came from my friend Justin Huber. Justin pointed out that, when the people went, under the Law of Moses, to atone for their sins, the priest’s concern wasn’t for the sins of the people as much as it was for the quality of their sacrifice. They didn’t review their sins, but, rather, inspected the lamb, making sure the sacrifice was pleasing. If the sacrifice was acceptable, so, too, would be the people.

Even though God is omniscient, He is able to focus on specifics. Focusing requires a de-emphasis of the peripheral. Because of our faith in Jesus, God focuses on Jesus, voluntarily moving our sin to the de-emphasized peripheral. Because of His focus on His beloved Son, He is well pleased with us.

Please remember through 2024 that God is pleased with you.

#2. You are a blessing, not a burden. 

Pastor Jimmy Evans’ story is that he felt he was a burden throughout his life. His life’s circumstances, including the people in his life, caused him to feel that he wasn’t worth what he was paid or the benefits he received from anyone in his life.

One day, while Jimmy was in prayer, the Lord spoke to him, saying You’re a blessing, not a burden. God was letting him know that he wasn’t a burden to people, as they had made him feel; rather, he was actually a blessing to them. But when I heard Pastor Evans tell his story, what I sensed God was saying to me was that I am a blessing to God, not a burden to Him. This was surprising to me. I’d never thought God would consider me a blessing. It was my sin that drove Jesus to the cross. My burden is light, Jesus said, but that meant the burden He would place upon us, not the one He carried for us, right? 

Then I realized that it wasn’t my sin that drove Jesus to the cross; it was His love for me. It seems counterintuitive to me, but, somehow, God considers me a blessing, not a burden. The mystery’s answer, I believe, is found in His love. He loves us so much that He considers us a blessing.

Please remember through 2024 that you are a blessing, not a burden.

#3. You can do anything you want to do. 

If you’re wondering if 2024 can be a year of accomplishment, it can. If you doubt you can achieve your goals for this year, you can. Do you wonder if you’re smart enough? You are. Strong enough? You are. Enough? You are. If you can? You can.

As a music major in college, my primary instrument being voice, my junior recital was a series of songs in German by Robert Schumann called Liederkreis. It was a very challenging undertaking, and, being the undisciplined student and musician I was in those days, I procrastinated, positioning myself to need a near miracle to be ready a week before the recital. 

I made up my mind, buckled down and worked day and night those final few days. By the time of the recital, I was prepared.

If I do say so myself, I nailed the recital. I didn’t miss the minutest detail of notes, words, inflections, dynamics, anything. Every single point of correction my teacher had made in the weeks prior, I performed correctly in the recital. To my delight, I received a standing encore ovation.

But my voice teacher, Dr. Bostic, wasn’t impressed by ovations. He made his own judgments about his students’ performances. Very demanding and not at all easily impressed, Dr. Bostic was the most highly respected voice teacher at our college. Indeed, he was the chairperson of the music department.

Backstage, I saw Dr. Bostic in the line of people to congratulate me. When he reached me he shook my hand and said something to me. Then he pulled my hand so I would be sure to hear him and he said it again. You can do anything you want to do. His eyes pierced me. 

This may have been the first compliment he’d ever given me; but it was more than a compliment. It was a deposit of encouragement, the fruits of which I have fed on for decades now. 

If you think back across your life, I’m pretty sure you’ll remember a time when you accomplished something you feel very good about. We can use those memories for confidence and motivation.

Every time I face a difficult challenge, I picture Bostic’s face and hear those words. 

You may recall a time when someone spoke very encouraging words to you. Death and life, Proverbs says, are in the power of the tongue. Let those life seeds grow into a harvest you’ll reap this year.

Please remember through 2024 that you can do anything you want to do.

Happy New Year and may 2024 be a year of accomplishment for you!