Max and Grace

Max and Grace

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” I Peter 2:2

From encouragements in the Word of God to the message of success books, we are challenged to keep growing, no matter what age we are and no matter what we have attained to. The book of II Peter, the last recorded words of one of the pillars of the church, closes with a call to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”, to a continual lifelong pursuit of growth in our understanding of the Lord and His ways. I’ve been amazed lately, as I read scriptures that I’ve read many times over, at how the Lord is revealing more and more, taking me deeper and deeper. There is more in God and in life for each of us to discover if we’ll make the effort.

Maxwell wrote “God never puts anyone in a place too small to grow”. Dodds wrote “It is not the fast tempo of modern life that kills, but the boredom, a lack of strong interest, and the failure to grow that destroys”. And that lines up with the oft repeated adage that “when we stop growing, we stop living”. The Roman scholar Cato began to study Greek when he was over 80 years of age.

When he was asked why he was tackling such a difficult task at his age, he responded “It’s the earliest age I have left”. But Cato’s example is more important than it looks on the surface. Unless we try to do something beyond what we have already mastered, we will never grow. And that applies to both spiritual and natural pursuits, there is always room to grow.

Yesterday, I visited my new nephew and niece in Binghamton, New York. Max and Grace are twins, born last Tuesday, both weighing under 5 lbs, the smallest babies I have ever seen. Max got hungry during the visit and it made me think of the verse above that calls us to be like newborn babies. He may be tiny but his lungs work just fine and his message of “Feed Me Now!!!” was loud and clear. If we could have the same desire, the same hunger level as Max, the same craving for more of God, we would see growth in every area of our lives.

Let’s stop making excuses, stop putting if off and make the commitment to grow in every area of our life.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Mirrors

Mirrors

Between rush hour in Cincinnati and road construction in Kentucky, yesterday's drive to Nashville took almost 11 hours. Something that happened earlier in the day had me thinking about how important mirrors are. Sideview mirror to pull out, rearview mirror to check traffic, and the other sideview mirror to change lanes, can you imagine what the drive would be like without having mirrors to navigate with?

Earlier in the day, I had rented a rototiller and tilled up our garden. After finishing, cleaning the tiller, I headed back to Home Depot to return it, with a drive-through diet coke on the way. When I got to Home Depot, I glanced in the mirror only to find a huge mud streak on my face. No wonder they were smiling so much at McDonald's, they must have thought I had war paint on. But at least the mirror saved me from similar embarrassment as I walked through Home Depot.

Using mirrors is scriptural in case you wondered. In Exodus 38:8, they took the mirrors of the ladies and used them to line the bottom of the basin they washed in when they entered the tabernacle. Every time someone came to wash they would see themselves reflected in the mirrors and see themselves as they really were.

The Word of God is to be like a mirror to us as we read it (James 1:23-25), revealing areas in our lives that we need to clean up or change, showing us things that we can't see ourselves. The same thing can happen in conversations where we're talking about someone else but we see ourselves and our shortcomings in what is being talked about.

Whether we're reading our Bibles or a good book, talking with family or friends, or just observing and listening to others, we want to take advantage of the many mirrors life offers. Paul said in II Corinthians 3:18 that one key to being changed into the Lord's image, into reflecting Him to the world, is to see ourselves reflected like in a mirror. Doing that, and acting on what we see, will cause us to be transformed into men and women whom God can use to reveal His glory.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

At All Costs

"At All Costs"

One of the most heroic events of World War II took place in the Philippines in 1945. On the night of February 2, 1945, 900 men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment dashed through 60 miles of enemy territory (held by 50,000 Japanese soldiers) straight into the city of Manila. They were under orders to take both the civilian and military prisons and hold them at all costs until the army could reach them.

For three long weeks those 900 men held the prisons against furious counterattacks by a determined Japanese army, saving the lives of more than 4,000 prisoners. The story's impact on me was heightened by the fact that the writer of the story was the son of parents who who were both rescued by those brave soldiers.

It reminded me of the men in II Samuel 23:14-17 who broke through the Philistine lines to draw water from a well for King David. They risked their lives for the sake of the king they loved.

In the New Testament, it is said of Paul and Barnabas that they were men "who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". I John 3:16 tells us "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

While most of us will never fight with natural weapons, there are, nonetheless, battles to be fought, men, women and children to be rescued, defended and saved from the enemy. The battles we are called to will be fought on the battlefield of prayer and our greatest weapon will be the Word of God spoken over the lives of our children, family members, and friends. Each of us will be required to lay down our lives, to sacrifice comfort and convenience for the sake of winning the battle for the souls of those we love and for the cause of Christ.

We are told to defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, to rescue the weak and needy (Psalm 82:3-4). The men of the 8th Calvary Regiment provide us an example of sacrifice, of courage, and of sustained heroism that we can learn from. In the face of fierce enemy attacks, they stood firm and rescued many people. Your life can have that same significance if you will choose to fight the battles the Lord is calling you to.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Warning Labels

Warning Labels

Ever since I was diagnosed with glaucoma, I faithfully read the warning labels on products at the store, things like decongestants, cough syrup, and flu remedies. The warnings are all similar "If you have high blood pressure....., if you are pregnant.......," and they are meant to keep you from taking something that will harm you.

What got me thinking about warning labels recently was reading a story in the Bible about a Canaanite woman who went to Jesus because her daughter was sick and needed a miracle. When Jesus discouraged her by declaring that His mission was to the lost sheep of Israel, she pressed through, responded in faith and received her miracle. The amazing thing as you read the New Testament is that it was easier for the non-religious people, like this Canaanite woman, to come to Jesus in simple faith than it was for the religious people of the day.

The religious people had developed a formality in their beliefs; serving God became more about form than about faith. It became more about the outward than the inward, more about appearance than about true devotion to God. And the result of all that was a wrong focus that caused the religious people to miss the Saviour they were waiting for.

That's why I'm proposing a warning label on Christianity: Beware of Religion. The small print underneath could say something like "The true believer is one who has an inner relationship with Christ" or "Make sure you have a relationship with the Lord-don't just go through the motions". Or how about "Religion is the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living God-if this occurs, seek help immediately".

Remember, it's about our relationship with the Lord, a connection, an intimacy that allows His life to flow into us and transform us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church