Act as if…..

May 23, 2024

Maria Colossians 3, Covenants, Faith, Holy Spirit, Kingdom of God, Psalm 23, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Practice, Truth , , , , , , 1 Comment

“Assume a virtue, if you have it not.”  Hamlet to his mother

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12 NIV

Cousin Terry recommended a book written by Malcolm Smith entitled, The Power of the Blood Covenant. Yesterday morning I read from the chapter about walking in the Spirit.  The author’s premise (which tracks with the Bible) is that if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, then we are entitled to and have free access to ALL the covenant promises, rights and responsibilities that Jesus won for us.

How does that work?  I’m so thankful for the Gospel of John. In so many places, Jesus mentions that he himself is IN us and that we live IN him. Furthermore, he explains that he and the Father are one. The problem is that we don’t feel as though any of this is true.

I don’t sense the Spirit of God in me. I don’t see God’s wisdom, strength, power, peace, love, joy in me. But the Bible asserts that these are indeed mine to use since the Holy Spirit, the helper, lives in me.

As I was pondering our position vis-à-vis God and all the benefits that we are not to forget, I pictured a medieval walled city.  Imagine with me the lord or king of this city-state going out alone to make a peace treaty with a stronger and good monarch.  Our leader, our representative meets all the treaty stipulations. He accomplishes all the seemingly impossible feats of courage and self-control that are necessary to accomplish this ruler’s unheard-of standards. He does what none of us, his people, would dare or could do. 

Why not one of us?  The truth is, no one is worthy, nor are we equipped. Neither are we in a representative role to do our fellow citizens any good. But he is.

After signing the treaty agreement with his blood, he rides back victoriously with the good news.  We now belong to the most kind and powerful ruler in all creation and have been granted the privileges of his kingdom. Our life, our status has changed forever. It is a done deal. And we didn’t have to do anything. We just have to believe and stay in the Kingdom.

Immediately we notice a new flag has been hoisted and we are issued new clothes in different colors from the drab rags we wore.  With gratitude we dress ourselves in the same clothes as our new Over-Lord. As we are taught about all the changes to our status and the freedom from fear we have been given, we also learn a curious fact about our own city-state king. Even though officially co-equal with the Over-King, he submits to him.

Next we receive instruction and homework about how to act, how to treat others. We are to watch our own king and learn from him how citizens in this new government are expected to conduct themselves. Love, kindness, charity, forgiveness, humility are the new attributes we are to live into.

As we dress ourselves in our new clothes, we see different kinds of provisions being stockpiled for each individual citizen. We no longer have to worry about being defenseless against the many foes who come up against us. We are free to use new weapons to resist the enemy.

But we don’t feel different than we had the previous day, before our status changed.

This is a faint but inadequate picture of our position as those who belong to Christ.  We have been given ALL the gifts of the Kingdom of Heaven. Right now.  Along with the expectations of how to operate.

But if we don’t dress ourselves with the clothes of the Kingdom, we are in effect living as though we were mere mortals.

How do I see Mike and me working this out in our daily lives?  Mike has often commented to me, “Maria, what if we lived as if we really believed Jesus, if we really took him at his word?”

We often exchange a few ideas, yet end there with a sigh and : “Wouldn’t that be nice!”

Yesterday and today, I’ve been talking to myself, reminding myself: “Maria, you DO have Jesus’ peace, love, power, joy, wisdom, righteousness, self-control, and mind IN you. Don’t forget!  And you have all the gifts and resources that Jesus procured for you!  You don’t have to work for them, just enjoy them.”

Yes, life is hard and scary.  But I’ve gotten so good at ‘practicing the presence of being alone and dependent on myself’, that when I use my imagination poorly to contemplate a situation, I always reason without God and all his benefits. This time, I want to really live out ‘practicing the presence of God’.

The last paragraph I read this morning from Malcolm Smith’s book quoted Psalm 23:4: ….I will fear no evil, for you are with me. That’s a good place to start. For fear is Satan’s favorite and effective tool.

I’m reminding myself, that even though I will fail and forget today’s resove, this is a daily, an hourly decision that I can come back to at any time.

Does that sound doable to you? If you have the Spirit of Christ in you, then FOR SURE all his covenant-won promises and privileges are yours.  God doesn’t lie. How about trying again, with me, acting as if all were true, taking God at his word, trusting him! That is called authentic faith.  

And if we slip back into old habits, acting as if we have to face evil times and hard circumstances alone? Then we repent.

We shift our thoughts back to what is objectively true, whether we subjectively feel like it’s for real or not.  

Slave to what? Slave to whom?

July 29, 2023

Maria 2 Corinthians 3, Acts 17, Freedom, Galatians 5, God's love, Holy Light, John 8, Kingdom of God, Love, Slavery , , , , , Leave a comment

Suppose I remark, “Say, friend, you claim to be a Christian, a believer and follower of Christ. Let me ask you; do you live as someone whose freedom Jesus died for?”

Your first response should be, “Maria, what do you mean by ‘free’? What freedom are you talking about?” 

I would explain, “I mean to what or to whom do you conform?” 

You might not be able to respond to my abrupt question. Or you may defensively shoot back, as did the Pharisees to Jesus, “Of course, I’m free!  Do you think I’m a slave or something?”

That’s no surprise. Often, we lack awareness of what really drives our behavior.

I’m not one to conform to societal pressures, but I am skilled at keeping myself on a short leash, one that is self-imposed.    

I thank God that three years ago, he broke into my little prison and started expanding my boundary lines. Having been released from bulimia earlier, and definitely not anorexic, I had, however, become skilled in a different form of food slavery, ‘orthorexia’.  That’s the concept that there is only ONE right way to eat.  It’s all about control in order to feel safe.

Against my desires at the time, the Lord started shining a light in my darkness. He perfectly timed some rational observations from three different people. My creative and dear friend shared truth about me, using gentle images. Then two loving family members boldly confronted me with uncomfortable truth about patterns of behavior I had developed over time.

Gradually, I have made significant strides and DO feel freer. But as we know, all growth hurts. For me, stage one of this providential forced change dealt with food and some rigid daily ‘routines’. But I now see there has remained another dark area I didn’t recognize.

‘In the fullness of time’, the Holy Spirit said, in effect, “Let’s examine some more of your self-imposed rules and practices.” More ‘freedom’ work beckoned.

Saying ‘yes’ to God’s loving invitation to greater liberty, I now sense that I am on a train speeding me toward a new place, where there are NO rules or laws, just a Person named Jesus. And his rule is Love. Love God and love others.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor 3:17

….. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

(all 3 from Berean Standard Bible)

Just what do I mean by being free?  What are we freed from?  We need questions like this to help us identify lies we believe. Especially those false narratives we tell ourselves. We create stories based on insecurities, fears, pressure we sense, resentments, envy, anxieties etc.

God is changing my perspective via books, podcasts, and conversations he sovereignly brings across my path. Like the good Bereans who examined God’s word for themselves when they encountered new teaching from Paul, (Acts 17:11), I now see principles and promises in the bible whose significance has taken on new meaning.

The freedom I am slowly embracing as I continue to meditate and study is beginning to release me from two categories of expectations. The first group are those standards of conformity that either I believe I SHOULD meet, the kind I imagine people have explicitly laid on me. 

The other group are actually more deadly, because those drivers of behavior bury themselves in one’s subconscious.  They are the unnoticed, unarticulated, and unevaluated.  Only when we have the guts and force ourselves honestly to bring to Jesus’ light our thoughts, our judgements and our self-woven narratives, can we judge whether they are true.

Right now, I am focused on noticing and breaking free of the ball and chains Maria has placed on herself.  One by one, the Lord is guiding me to identify and evaluate these controlling rules or boundaries.  I’m asking “Were those chosen habits fear-based or love-based?” Control is all about fear.

Each day, I feel a bit lighter, whetting a hunger for more of this freedom for which Christ died.

But here’s the ‘twist’.  Reread how Paul taught the Galatians in Chapter 5, pleading: “Don’t go back to your old slave master of rule-based righteousness.  Live in the freedom which you experienced upon hearing the good news of free grace. I know you Galatians, how you accepted Jesus’ offer of life and stepped away from the yoke of oppression.”

Paul obviously is free, yet in at least three places in the New Testament, (Romans 1:1….Titus 1:1….Galatians 1:10) he described himself as a ‘slave of Christ’, a doulos.

What’s up with that? Ah, this is the beauty of the distinction.  Paul was no slave to a set of rules, but he willingly gave himself to a living Person to be his servant. Out of stupefied wonder at God’s electing love and grace.

We, too, are no longer slaves to a system of rules.  We live in a new category called beLOVED ‘son/daughter’ and ‘bondservant and friend to Jesus.

Where does someone start? Where is the entry point to this Kingdom of the Freed?  There’s one narrow door or gate by which we gain access. And it is purposefully narrow.  If someone still carries ‘baggage’, he won’t be able to pass through. You know, those costumes of carefully-crafted identities and self-righteousness coverings.  No, we must come naked, just as we are in reality. We step out of crafted coverings into this new world spacious and lush, but with boundary lines of love whose design guards our freedom.

As bondservants, we keep our eyes on King Jesus who is Love personified. We, always refer to him for direction, wisdom, provision and help.

Now doesn’t that sound inviting?  Come! Won’t you join me on this quest for true freedom? We need each other to remind us of the liberty we actually possess.

Focused on the wrong thing

July 1, 2023

Maria Anxiety, Kingdom of God, Luke 12, Worry , , , , , Leave a comment

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  Luke 12:29 NASB

Do you ever find yourself amazed at how the Lord persistently brings to your attention just what he INTENDS for you to put into practice?

These Holy Spirit messages don’t come with a hint of exasperation, as in:

‘What is wrong with you, woman!  I’ve been showing you this for years now.  Are you a slow learner, or what!’

On the contrary, although, for the record, I am a slow learner.  Whether in acquiring another language or memorizing scripture or simple life lessons, I require LOTS of repetition.  For instance, throughout our marriage Mike has exhorted me over and over to go for a larger-sized pan or container in the kitchen than I think I’ll need.  Irrationally I default to one too small, reasoning that: if I use something smaller, it’ll take me less time to clean.  Predictably, I end up transferring the food to the larger pot or dish and extend my washing-up time.

Over the past twelve months, a successive series of physical challenges have exacerbated my already-obsessive focus that I by nature bring to any new topic. I have ‘binged’ on videos about nutrition, sleep, pain, little ‘t’ traumas and emotional healing.

But Christ’s holy spirit, determined to redirect me away from what might be a ‘good’ thing, that is taking care of my body, to the best thing, God, himself, has changed his means.   He has raised the volume of his communication with me from whispered guidance as described by Elijah to bullhorn-style but loving instruction. It’s become obvious to me this week that up to now, I have heard, but ignored his softer, quieter voice.

Yes, he has unceasingly shown me that my focus is completely misplaced. This morning, the Spirit pointed me to Jesus’ teaching as recorded by Luke when our Lord exhorted his followers to seek foremost his kingdom. In a bit of research, I learned that another word for ‘seek’ (Greek Zeteo) is ‘to focus on’.

That bit of Greek word study hit its intended target.  I have been focusing (seeking) and investing an unhealthy and inordinate degree of energy and thoughts on my body. Furthermore, through practice, I have become a minor expert in concentrated anxiety. 

Luke’s manner of describing the habit of anxious thought or worrying struck me particularly when I looked up the Greek. Appearing only once in the New Testament, Luke employs a graphic image to illustrate what Jesus meant when he warned us of the dangers that befall us in fretful thinking.  Occurring only once in the New Testament, meteōrizomai means to rise up and down, unmoored, like a ship tossed about in a storm.  For me and maybe for you as well, we often create our own tempests through our wrong thinking.

Last night, reading R. T. Kendall’s latest book, The Sermon on the Mount, I copied down Luke 12:31 (ESV) Instead seek his kingdom…… With that teaching fresh in my mind, coupled with what the Holy Spirit brought to me this morning, I found myself dumbfounded by the two uses of the word, Seek.

That’s it!  I’ve been focusing my attention, letting myself BE consumed by the wrong matters.  For me, I need to give up that almost all-consuming meditation on what will make my body feel good. The Holy Spirit is directing me to shift my day’s purpose into focusing on or seeking the conscious presence of Jesus and his enabling grace. 

What a contrast!  The one has become soul-sucking and the other promises to be life-giving.

Curtain Call

January 19, 2023

Maria 1 Corinthians 2, Kingdom of God, Uncategorized , , , Leave a comment

“All the world’s a stage.”

 William Shakespeare in As You Like It

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

My friend Deb works as a dedicated teacher’s aide to a little autistic girl in a K-4 class. Serving this child is her sole assignment. She guides her in paying attention to the classroom teacher in order to catch all the instructions and follow the articulated sequential steps for each learning assignment. Deb knows just what her charge needs having spent every school day morning with her over the past 5 months.

Similarly, our Friend, God’s Holy Spirit, knows us intimately, having lived IN us since we were transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus to live forever with the Triune God. In this realm, we have been assigned to a new life-giving theater or stage. No longer are we held captive by the evil scriptwriter, director and prison guard.

Recently, this metaphor of our Kingdom lives being played out daily on God’s stage has captivated my imagination. As I imagine the Kingdom of God as a theater, I picture myself showing up for another day’s drama.  The point at which I lay my head on my pillow is the close of that day’s drama. Slowly I am realizing that how today’s business ended is not at all an accurate basis for predicting tomorrow’s scenes.  If I try to forecast what will be expected of me and prep for it, I only rob myself of the restorative rest and energy I’ll need for tomorrows’ drama.

But, in God’s theater where I now live, I sometimes forget my new home, where I live. I can quickly fall into old habits of worry and anxiety. These are nothing but long-practiced reactions that created a groove in my brain. I spend little energy in being sucked back into these routines. I knew my lines well for nothing new ever happened in my former prescribed role as a pawn in Satan’s drama.

But each day in God’s drama, new, fresh and creative describe the dimensions in which I live and work. As Jamie Winship, my favorite author from last year, has written, our minds only deal in what has worked up to now. The mind has no fresh, new ideas. It only knows the past.

But here’s the good news about our infinite God who is always doing something new. He is the Creator and it is his nature to generate the novel, imaginative, and freshly beautiful. Stunning us brings him joy.  Sure, our daily scripts include the hard and painful, but we trust him, for he is good, wise, holy, righteous and wise. And he has eternal kingdom goals in mind

This kind of thinking is transforming me. I picture God the Father as the Holy Screenwriter.  Jesus is his Director, to whom each of us as Jesus’ student report morning by morning. Reassuringly, his Divine Spirit, aka our Acting Coach is ever present. 

The Spirit greets us with eager anticipation as soon as we awake, just as my friend Deb welcomes her small student with a smile.

Jesus hands us no script.  He and the Spirit alone have the Father’s playbook. But no worries, all has been prepped and planned. Our Coach supplies what we need at the right Kairos moment.

To me, it feels like I’m an improv actor, since I don’t know the day’s plans. This metaphor keeps me concentrating on the present moment.  I watch Jesus for cues.  I pay close attention to what my brother and sister actors are doing around me. I have my ear tuned and open to the Spirit, with whom I engage in ongoing dialogue.

I’m learning not to even think (or predict) what I will need for the day. How could I possibly imagine the day’s events, my interactions with people who cross my path, since I’m not privy to future plans.  My responsibility is to rely on Jesus and his Spirit.  My Coach is prepped.  He has at the ready all props and and costume changes I’ll require for the day.

Since there is no need to be anxious, I can relax and look forward to all that is new, beautiful and challenging the Father has in store.

So far, this seems to be a far less stressful to approach each day.  And I am growing quicker at catching myself ‘planning and worrying’ in the middle of the night. I remind myself of the futility and waste of God-ordained restorative time for one of his beloved family cast members.

What is the Kingdom worth to you?

December 22, 2022

Maria Kingdom of God, Matthew 13 , 1 Comment

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! Matthew 13:44-46 NLT

Did you watch any of the final games of this year’s World Cup in Qatar?

I didn’t. But we started googling the outcome of each day’s matches during dinner prep. I’d say, “Mike, what happened in World Cup today?” 

This world-captivating sports spectacle would have passed me by, were it not for my friend Roberto from Argentina. He and I connect several times a week as he practices his English, and I my Spanish.  It’s through Roberto that I have learned all that I now know about soccer.  My world has expanded!

Normally, I would have rooted for France in last week’s final, because I have loved France and the French language ever since I was 14 years old.  But, with a closer personal connection to Argentina, I turned my back on France (à tous mes amis français, je m’excuse!) and supported Argentinia.

Mike and I arrived at church on Sunday just as the competing champions jumped into this last battle for the FIFA  2022 World Cup trophy. I didn’t pray for Argentina to win.  But I did hope that this country so needing some good news would pull it off with Messi’s prowess.

Thank you, Jesus, that Argentina did have a good day and the entire country has been celebrating, temporarily distracted from their government’s devastating financial policies.

Yet, more than the victory, what has stunned me is learning just how life-enhancing many Argentinians deemed their presence IN Qatar would be.  According to a European day-after analysis of the game, I heard that a lot of these South American soccer fans had sold homes, or postponed buying a car just to buy an airplane ticket to the Middle East to cheer on their team.

Not sure that this was true, I searched on line and found the following report:

Argentinians who forewent buying a car or a house and took all their money.

After confirming this over-the-top passion for their country’s national team, the Holy Spirit caused me to see our innate driving human passion and desire for the sublime.  If some fans would sell all they owned for an experience as fleeting as World Cup soccer, then I have to ask myself, “Maria, just how excited ARE you that you actually have received, free of cost, such a great salvation and place in God’s forever Kingdom, namely the one ruled by King Jesus?”

May my joy over this gift from God at least come up to the ‘it’s-worth-all-I-have’ level of some of Argentina’s fans for their boys.

What do you see?

August 26, 2019

Maria Kingdom of God, Matthew 6, Thinking , , 2 Comments

Matthew 6:33:  But SEEk first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

What are you looking at right now? Whatever it is, IT is feeding your mind RAW DATA.

And because we are human, our minds don’t leave raw data alone.  We try to make sense of it, to draw conclusions.

Another word for SEE is BEHOLD.  Both testaments use the Hebrew, Greek or Aramean term that translators have rendered as BEHOLD.  When I searched on line for the number of times the term BEHOLD is used, I found this website.

The author tells us BEHOLD appears 1298 times in the Bible.

Here’s why this is important. We choose.  We choose WHAT we see, what data we take in, what we focus on.

So which data stream do you want to allow into your mind?  What do you want to be the raw material of your conclusions which will

  • influence your feelings
  • guide your decisions
  • impact your body
  • color all your interactions with others?

This is no trivial matter.  You CAN choose what you focus on, what you SEE with your mind’s eye.

This day, I am exhorting myself:

  • Maria. SEE God!
  • Behold, that is recall, focus on all the details you know, Maria, about our triune, eternal, power-filled, good and living God.  If the details are from the Bible, then they are true. They are facts.
  • If you’re SEEing, looking at your earthly circumstances, you can’t be certain that they are what they seem.  You can’t be sure of the data, so be skeptical about your conclusions.

Why be skeptical?  Because, for one, we are finite. Moreover, we don’t know what God will bring about tomorrow.  But we can be sure of Him, the One who doesn’t change. He is the most important Fact in the universe.

So what are you looking at most of the time?

 

 

Which one of the 10 servants are you?

November 3, 2017

Maria Kingdom of God, Luke 19, Service, Work , , , , , Leave a comment

My time!

My rights!

My agenda!

My priorities!

My money!

My day!

My needs!

If I’m honest, this is how I think more often than I’d like to admit.  I know, in my head, that this thinking is not only false but wicked.  After all, I am a Christian. That means I was bought with a price – Jesus’ blood.  The Godhead swapped His life for mine.  He died so that I could live, but not live ‘business as usual’.

I KNOW this, but functionally I still think of these days and years in this body as belonging to me.

But the Father is gentle and continues to press His Truth into me through daily Bible reading.  As He did yesterday with Luke’s account of the ten servants and the money entrusted to them.  Here’s the first part of Jesus’ parable:

Luke 19: 11-15 The Parable of the Ten Minas

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

**

As the parable continues, the newly crowned king returned and immediately called for an accounting of resources entrusted to each of the ten servants in his absence.  Three men’s interviews are described.  Servants 1 & 2 had put the king’s resource to good use and turned a profit for him.  They received commendation and were invited to take on new jobs under the recently crowned king, each one with proportionally greater responsibility.  Clearly, they had proven their dependency and faithfulness. The third guy rather foolishly expressed his unfavorable and distorted view of the king as mean, hard, and demanding.  Out of fear, this steward had held on to the king’s money and had not put it to good use as instructed.

The king announces severe consequences and this man is carted off.

What got me thinking was the absence of any mention of the other seven servants.  What about them?  Did they simply squander the king’s money?  Did they abscond with it, fleeing from the kingdom?  I know that parables usually have one main teaching point. We should not, therefore, read too much into them.  But the actions of these seven unmentioned stewards have stimulated my imagination.

But more helpful than finding out how the story might have ended is reflecting on how to apply Jesus’ principles to me.

I want to be one of the two trusted servants.

I want to receive Jesus’ commendation and to know that I did what He wanted and that I pleased Him.

If that is my heart’s desire, then the first step is the sobering fact that this is NOT my life.

The parable simply put is about Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and departure to be crowned King.  The majority of the stewards, the Jewish people, did NOT want Jesus as their king.

If we take the numbers as an indication for today, then 20 % of those who know about Jesus believe Him and serve Him with gladness and faithfulness.  And they will be rewarded when He returns with newer, more challenging and fulfilling work in the new Kingdom.

Is it too far-fetched to consider THIS ENTIRE life on earth as a training ground in being a faithful servant in the Kingdom of God?  A life-long course in stewardship?  And if that is so, then nothing my hands touch is mine.  It all belongs to Him.  So what kind of questions should guide my daily, hourly thinking about the things He has entrusted to me?

For starters, something like: How best do I use this extra money?  How best shall I use the ‘free time’ I see in today’s schedule?  How best can I perform the job with which God has entrusted me this day?

May I be found faithful not only when the King returns but this very hour.

What are you looking forward to?

January 22, 2017

Maria Crucifixion, Kingdom of God, Mark 15 , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

“Well what d’ya expect from him!” my cynical friend spit out after waiting yet again for a habitually late friend to show up.

Humans let others down.  Partly due to our sinful and selfish nature and partly due to how God designed us.  Creatures have limits.  Only God is limitless, perfect and consistent.

Expectations about others tend always to leave us disappointed.  As David Zahl, pastor of an Episcopal Church in Charlottesville says, “expectations are planned resentments.”

What if we were to change the WHAT or WHOM we place our expectations?  What if we were to place our hope in what is 100% guaranteed?  That’s a no brainer; if we did so, we would avoid disappointment.

I read just this morning about Joseph of Arimathea, one of Jesus’ rich disciples who according to Mark 15:43 was “a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God”;

What does that tidbit about his focus communicate?  Nothing short of the direction of his life!

After Jesus announced, “It is finished!” and died on that Friday outside of Jerusalem, this courageous man Joseph, along with the well-known Pharisee Nicodemus, took the bold step of requesting THAT AFTERNOON an audience before Pontius Pilate.  What they did was risky.

Their lives and their reputations at stake, the two sought permission to take Jesus down off the cross and bury Him.

That account is the last written about them, but not the end of their story.  I have no doubt that they are present with the Jesus they hoped in and staked all on.  No disappointments there.

So as this first month of the new year approaches the end, you might feel disappointed already:

  • with yourself and your lack of ability to keep up a resolution
  • with a friend or family member who has let you down, again!
  • with a job or activity you hoped would satisfy
  • with the way an organization acts

I’m learning that every created being or thing in this world on this side of the Cross will let me down, most especially me!  The path to peace and joy is to place our expectations in the only Person who doesn’t disappoint – Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

I ask again: What are YOU expecting and looking for?