more than a word

Believe! Believe in Jesus. That's the heart of the Gospel...right? But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? I think the Amplified Version of the Bible helps. The Amplified version takes the original Greek language and tries to find more than one word to help us understand the meaning of the original Greek word.

Here is John 3:16 from the Amplified Bible: ^"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."

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So to believe in Jesus means to: "trust in, cling to and rely on" Him!

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I really like this three dimensional view of believe because it creates a picture of my relationship, as it is intended to be, with Jesus...not just as a first step to salvation but as an ongoing need on a daily basis to depend on Jesus. I like to think of faith like putting my weight on each board of a bridge that is crossing a deep canyon. Jesus is like each board that I trust to support the weight of my life...the weight of uncertainty, of cares, of questions of the things that are beyond my knowing and doing. A good self-check is to ask myself frequently: "Am I putting my weight on Jesus or on myself (or others)?"

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Believe...a simple word that has great depth and practicality for this life and the next!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

when all is stripped away

Deuteronomy 32:¹² So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

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As Moses is about to turn his authority over to Joshua he leaves the people of Israel with a great poem or song. He recounts the story of God's faithfulness to reclaim His people and lead them from slavery in Egypt. The phrase above stands out to underscore a thought I have today. More than a thought...it is a question to consider. When you strip it all away...all the cares about the day, the problems that you are in the midst of, all the relationships with other people...even family members and friends...when you reduce the measure of your life to just you and God...just the two of you...How are you doing? Because, in a sense, that is what life comes down to. It is essentially measured by the quality of your personal relationship with God. Problems refine and train us, family members raise us and we cherish them, friends comfort and encourage, strangers become opportunities for service and outreach...but it is all ultimately about God...and you! It may be a good way to consider the start of your day and the end of your day to refocus where you are, when all is stripped away, with God. Are you close? Are you listening to Him and are you talking personally to Him? Are you anticipating Him to do something in your day?

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Wouldn't it be great to be able say with Moses that "the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him". Moses was using the singular pronoun 'him' to characterize the people of Israel in his song but we also have a singular relationship with the God who would "alone lead us".

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It is really personal with God! When all else is stripped away, where are you with God?

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blessings,

Rob Smith

finding the refuge

Psalm 61: ¹ O God, listen to my cry!
Hear my prayer!
² From the ends of the earth,
I cry to you for help
when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
³ for you are my safe refuge,
a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
⁴ Let me live forever in your sanctuary,
safe beneath the shelter of your wings!

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As I read the Psalms one of the recurring themes is of being pursued by enemies and seeking protection and safety. We may not have actual people coming after us as the Psalmist did, with arrows and stones. But we may have problems and temptations and spiritual, inner enemies that seek to do us harm. I love the language of Psalm 61, one of many Psalms that covers this situation. "Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge". The positive side of these kinds of serious problems and crises is that they can cause us to look for shelter in the one place we are sure to find it...in the Lord, Himself. If problems lead us to the Lord then we have come to the Lord out of our need. And as we experience the peace and protection that comes from bringing our cares and concerns to Him, our relationship with Him is strengthened and the next time we face difficulty we will come to Him. Before long, we are coming to Him even before we have a crisis because we long to be with the trustworthy One, who loves us and protects us and, more than anything, longs for our company.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

come wash your minds

What can we do to walk in peace when storms around us rage?

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Come to the bath of God's pure word and wash your thoughts with His.

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Replace your trust in self with Him and let Him be your guide.

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Allow the truth to satisfy the deepest part inside.

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Up climbing paths of hope and peace

Your minds, now clean, will climb!

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John 15:³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

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Ephesians 5:²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

sweet spot

In many sports there is a "sweet spot" that makes the difference. There is a sweet spot on the bat that delivers the most power to the baseball. There is a sweet spot on the golf club face that transmits the power most effectively. The tennis racket carries the best force from the center of the strings. In our lives we may still be searching for our personal "sweet spot" where we feel we are really connecting the best with the challenges of life. Often we think that our best years....our sweet spot years...our out in front of us somewhere. Now that I am officially "over the hill" physically (when you are 61 years old and have grandchildren there is no way that you can claim to be young in any reasonable way...apart from eternity's scale), I realize that much of the "sweet spot" of my life is past. And as I look back it's not like I hit a lot of home runs, holes in one or aced a lot of serves. But the sweet spot of life seemed to come as each challenge was faced and the Lord showed up. It is sweet to experience the help of the Lord in the midst of living. So are you looking for the sweet spot of life to come somewhere down the road? Or are you expectant of the sweetness of the Lord to show up here and now (and often in the most unexpected of ways)?

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Psalm 119:¹⁰³ How sweet your words taste to me;
they are sweeter than honey.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Now

Some reasons to celebrate the "now" of living:

Romans 5: ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

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Romans 5:¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

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Romans 6:⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

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Romans 6:²² But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

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Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

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It is not only Friday, before a holiday weekend.....it is Now!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Unity

There is such peace when everyone in a team or committee or group are aligned and unified. When the stress of divisions is gone and there is agreement on the essential direction and purpose there is this great experience of "oneness". The apostle Paul spoke about unity in the body of Christ in the book of Ephesians, chapter 4:

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4 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

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Unity is something we should work toward and work for and work on with each other in the church. It requires work because we have many failings and we are very different, with differing views of life and the world. Unity doesn't seem to require total agreement or elimination of all the differences. But, as those who have put our faith in Christ, we have been made one in Him. From God's point of view we are one body with Him. The differences are supposed to become complementary rather than contradictory as we are forged into a common focus. My former pastor, Dick Woodward, described this as "unity without uniformity".

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We learn in verse 13 of this chapter that unity is the mark of maturity that signals a church is ready to move forward effectively! The church that is united is the church that most accurately and completely transmits and reflects the full image of Christ to a world that needs Him desperately.

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¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

kingdom in your home

It is wonderful to consider how the Lord designed the opportunity for maximum fulfillment to be available to everyone, no matter what their station in life. God's design provides the greatest of satisfactions as individuals come to grasp the revealed love of their maker and they are restored to Him. He provides the greatest of human relationship experiences in the marriage bond of man and woman (and close friends even beyond marriage). He provides the greatest of gifts in providing children to parents and the greatest growth opportunities in children growing, and being raised to maturity. He showers people with spiritual gifts and personalities that are formed to help each other as they struggle with life's challenges. What great rewards and satisfactions come from facing the everyday challenges of living.

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And yet...man is so often not satisfied. He thinks that he must add to these satisfactions by conquering, by accumulating, by controlling. Man thinks, so often, that he needs to add to God's plan. Perhaps we should take some time to appreciate the wonder of God's design for living that provides the opportunity for fulfillment to every person. We like to rank each other in a high-low way. But, we are all low and we are all lifted up and we are all able to find our high calling in our great God (through the Son's path)!

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Ephesians 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

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blessings to all!

Rob Smith

all about children

This past weekend I have attended a range of church services that spanned baptism to first communion to memorial service. How quickly life, here, passes. And we seem to move so fast from infant through childhood through adult years to complete the journey. But it occurred to me that the child aspect is one we really never fully escape. We begin there, as a child and grow up to celebrate having our own children. And then we are very occupied with raising those "generation next" people. When they are grown and launched we await grandchildren and so enjoy returning to play with them as children once again. But, in the Lord, we remain children, always, of our Lord. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans, chapter 8, verse 14: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." When we are born again through the germination of faith in our hearts to receive Jesus as Lord we become those children of God. As verse 15 says "you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children." The passage goes on to explain that God places His Spirit within ours to resonate with our own spirit that we now belong to him and it becomes totally natural to call him Father. As children of God there are two interesting consequences that Paul discusses: (1) we are heirs of God's glory and (2) we are sharers of his suffering.

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Before we can fully inherit the glory that lies ahead, even beyond our death to future events, there is a time when we walk through days that can be very challenging and even foreboding. But it is here, as children, that we learn that God walks every step with us. Verse 31 sums up this passage: "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" Now there is a good lesson for children to learn!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

release Jesus!

So it occurred to me, as one who has put his trust in Jesus, that Jesus lives in my heart but wants to get out! I like to put my face on everything I do and maybe let Jesus linger in the background somewhere like some kind of family heirloom or personal treasure. I know that He promised that He'd never leave me...never abandon me. I know that He promised to take up residence inside my personality. So.....why not let Him out...let Him through...let Him show up in the thoughts, words, actions, emotions and especially in the interactions with others.

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I need to start bringing out Jesus and releasing the Jesus within to a world that needs to see Him, hear Him, feel Him and especially know Him.

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After all, it was the Jesus in someone else (actually more than one someone else) that reached me to begin with!

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It's time to release Jesus...let Him out and show Him to the world, one conversation, one act of service, one reflective thought at a time.

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1 John 4:

¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

¹³ And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. ¹⁴ Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

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blessings and love in the personality and name and presence of Jesus!

Rob Smith

meditation on the 23rd Psalm

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I have been meditating on Psalm 23. I am beginning to see it as a road map for my life. The guide of my trip is the Lord, as my shepherd. He became my guide when He made me lie down through trials as a young man and caused me to understand that I needed His leadership to discover life and to find the path through life. As it says in the early verses of the psalm, I found that I needed Him to find the green pastures of meaning and purpose and truth. As it says in verse 3, I found that life really isn't all about me...it's all about Him...my walk is for "his name's sake". Verses 4,5, and 6 provide a progression to describe the trip that I am on. Every day I walk in the shadow of death...that is the nature of human life. We are always a heartbeat away from eternity. And forces of evil surround us and seek to pull us off the right path. But God is greater than those forces and holds the keys to life and death, as well. He has a three step plan in his leadership: (1) His rod and staff comfort me: His personal discipline and comfort touch my life and help guide and restore me, (2) He prepares a table before me, despite the presence of enemies that may surround me. So he is committed to providing whatever I need, even in the most trying and dire of circumstances. (3) He anoints my head with oil. Beyond provision, he has great spiritual purpose for my life that is unique to my life. The oil is the Holy Spirit's call on my life. (4) And so my cup overflows with all needs met, a holy calling on my life and enemies vanquished or held at bay.

As a result, the psalm closes with verse 6 that confirms goodness and mercy shall be my portion while I live on the earth and, best of all, there is eternal life awaiting me when I must die...which is also part of God's plan.

The plan is complete and the Shepherd's guidance satisfies. His care is personal, thorough and designed for this world as well as the next!

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blessings!

Rob Smith

living in hope

I have been very encouraged by the hope we have in the Lord over the past few days. Sometimes I get discouraged and disappointed in relationships with others or in personal shortcomings but when I read a psalm like Psalm 16 I realize that the real hope that I have comes from a sharp focus on the Lord (and not on myself or on othe people or things). Here are some of the hopeful promises from Psalm 16:

He is our protection (¹ Keep me safe, O God,
for I have come to you for refuge. )

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He is my personal inheritance...I could never inherit more from another (⁵ Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.)

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He has given me a good and pleasant life. (⁶ The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
What a wonderful inheritance!)

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He is my personal guide. (⁷ I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.)

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He shows me the path that leads to eternal life, to be with Him forever! (¹¹ You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.)

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With gratitude, in hope, I can say with the Psalmist, David, ⁹ No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice! (exclamation point, mine...)

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Rob Smith

The blessing of trouble

We are getting into the Psalms now for our MiniBible College study. One of the themes that stands out to me is the prevalence of "trouble" in the form of enemies and trials. It seems that in many of the Psalms there are evil forces that are bent on doing harm to the writer. But this morning, as I read Psalm 5, it occurred to me that there is a positive side to "trouble". When trouble comes it tries to get us to join. When we refuse to join, it tries to destroy us. When it tries to destroy us we look for resources to protect and defend us. When we find that we do not have those resources within ourselves we turn to God. I think this is the blessing of "trouble". Verses 10-12 of Psalm 5 capture this well:

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¹⁰ O God, declare them guilty.
Let them be caught in their own traps.
Drive them away because of their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
that all who love your name may be filled with joy.
¹² For you bless the godly, O Lord;
you surround them with your shield of love.

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I think it is wonderful how God can take trouble and trials and turn them around for triumph of faith and increased relationship quality between Himself and the men He loves!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

The Disciple

We saw that the Vision of the church, as it began in the wake of Jesus' ascension, was to boldly proclaim Christ and His resurrection, even at the risk of personal freedom and safety. The Apostles chose to obey the Lord rather than the commands of men to stop preaching. Another dimension of the early church was to pass on the role of ministry to another spiritual generation. Just as the Apostles had started as Disciples, or followers, of Christ during the three year earthly ministry, so they developed disciples to continue following Christ...so that the message of salvation through faith would continue. The first prominent disciple of the Apostles was Stephen. He was one of several men selected by the Apostles to minister to the church in practical ways so that they could minister the word in spiritual ways. Along the way, Stephen matured in faith and developed deep roots in the truth. The book of Acts says in chapter 6, verse 8 that Stephen was a man "full of God's grace and power" who "performed amazing miracles and signs among the people". It is interesting that he was not one of the original Apostles but he was a disciple and he had matured to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

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It occurs that the early church showed that Vision was a challenging call to proclaim Christ no matter the cost. Becoming a disciple was no less daunting. Stephen was called as a disciple to this Vision and, unlike Peter and John, who had been punished but spared, Stephen was stoned to death as he testified to the purpose of Christ's life, death and resurrection.

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Is our Vision today so different? Are our disciples today called to any less? What do you think?

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Vision

Many are calling for a fresh Vision for their church. Folks want an exciting new dream to pursue on behalf of the Lord. Churches can become like products that compete for customers and seek to gain market share with rapid expansion. I have been reading the early chapters of the book of Acts. If ever there was a time for Vision this was it. The infant Church has lost its Head, as Jesus has resurrected and now ascended to Heaven. They are the ones who remain to carry the torch and spread the news of forgiveness through faith. So what is the Vision that plays out in those early chapters? We see the Apostles, especially Peter and John, laying their lives on the line before the chief priests who had just condemned Jesus. Having performed a miracle healing of a lame man, they were brought before the counsel of priests and were thrown in prison. But they were set free when the priests saw that thousands had already believed their testimony. The Vision of the Apostles was obedience to Jesus, to never stop sharing the Gospel and never stop ministering and touching others in His name, regardless of the price that might be paid. I believe that the Vision is the same for us today. We need to be prepared for two things: to boldly live out our faith in word and deed and to be prepared for (a) the blessing of God and (b) the opposition of Satan. The Vision of the Church walks the edge of the line between life and death. But we should be more than excited by this Vision...we should be full of hope. For we know how the Vision will ultimately be fulfilled.

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Acts 4:13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

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blessings,

Rob Smith