gkuhns

Category: Faith

  • How Then Shall We Live

    Ecc 1:1-18 CSB The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. (2) “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” (3) What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? (4) A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. (5) The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it returns to the place where it rises. (6) Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles. (7) All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. (8) All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing. (9) What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. (10) Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us. (11) There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them. (12) I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. (13) I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. (14) I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind. (15) What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. (16) I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” (17) I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind. (18) For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.

    In much wisdom is much grief.

    I don’t consider myself a wise man but I am, in biblical terms, somewhere in the middle of my life. Of course, I am a typical man so I am wondering what mark, if any, I will leave here.  Please forgive the introspective tone of what I have to share.

    What is the stuff of life? Is it relationships? Is it to help others? To improve their lives? Christ came to heal. [Isa 61:1-3 CSB] (1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;  (2) to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn, (3) to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify him. 

    God created the world for His own glory. So how can we as Christians bring Him glory? 

    We bring glory to God when we trust Him. Put our weight on Him. Put our faith in Him and let Him lead us. We can mess up our lives and our witness with our mis-understanding of what God wants and what He is about. We don’t want to mess up. We don’t want to make God look bad so we refrain from doing things that could make God look bad. The problem we often face though is that we don’t want to make ourselves look bad if God doesn’t come through with what we think He should do. What if we look like fools?

    Let us read that last sentence of the last verse I just read. “And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify him.” 

    [Isa 61:10-11 CSB] (10) I rejoice greatly in the LORD, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  (11) For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. 

    [Mat 5:13-16 CSB] (13) “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.  (14) “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. (16) “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  

    [Jer 17:7-8 CSB] (7) The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed.  (8) He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit. 

    [Psa 30:11-12 CSB] (11) You turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,  (12) so that I can sing to you and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever. 

    [1Pe 2:9-10 CSB] (9) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (10) Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

    [Eph 2:1-10 CSB] (1) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (2) in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. (3) We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. (4) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, (5) made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! (6) He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (8) For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift ​– ​ (9) not from works, so that no one can boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. 

    We are not saved by good works but we are created for them.

    [Heb 13:5-18 CSB] (5) Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. (6) Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?  (7) Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. (8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (9) Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by food regulations, since those who observe them have not benefited. (10) We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. (11) For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. (12) Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood. (13) Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing his disgrace. (14) For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come. (15) Therefore, through him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. (16) Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. (17) Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. (18) Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.

  • Where is Your Heart

    There are times in your life when you spend time thinking about what your priorities are and what you want out of life. Sometimes those times come unexpectedly and other times they come after an event that reminds you that life on earth has an expiration date.

    This week some of my family went to a funeral for a man that we have known and have worked with for 20 years. He was an older gentleman and his passing wasn’t unexpected or a surprise. He was 84 years old and had a family of 15. He had 105 grandchildren and I am guessing there will be a few more added to that number. I have to wonder what legacy Dan Detweiler will have. In 4 generations, will anyone remember that he existed? Will they know what sort of man he was? Will they even care?

    Do you know what sort of man your great great grandfather was? You had a bunch of them. Do you know any of their names? Do they matter to you? Have you ever wondered what sort of men they were? What about their wives? You wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for them and yet they most likely never crossed your mind.

    Do you want to be remembered? Do you want to leave a legacy? Do you need to be remembered to leave a legacy? Do the decisions you make have any importance? Does it make a difference if you make good or bad decisions? Who is affected by those decisions?

    I think they matter. I think every decision you make has long reaching implications. This should not paralyze you but make you free to live life joyfully. You matter. We all matter. That is why the work of Christ in your heart is so important. That is why Jesus came to die for us. Because we matter. The world will tell you that you do not matter to anyone but yourself and you need to make sure you are happy because nobody else will. They will tell you that you are alone and you need to make your own way. Is that true?

    No person lives alone to themselves. Every moment. Every motivation. Every purpose. Every beat of your heart is affected by someone else and every beat of your heart affects someone else. In countless ways and in boundless measure you matter. We all matter. That is why it is important that you make good choices. We need to live for good. We need to leave a good mark in the world we live in. We need to let the work of the Trinity work His wonderful work.

    We all know this. We want to do this. We want to be good and we really to take ourselves as good. We know the motivations of our hearts and we know the things we intended. We judge ourselves as needing only a bit more work and then we are perfect. We know this is laughable but we still believe it.

    What messes us up is the fact that we do not exist in a vacuum. We are surrounded by good and evil influences. Depending on your circumstances you will generally think that the world is either a fundamentally good or a fundamentally evil place. What is difficult is to believe that the other might be true. That the world might be different than we perceive it. That we do not have a complete understanding of Creation. That there are things that we cannot explain. That we might be wrong in some way that matters. That we may need to repent. To change.

    One fundamental understanding we need to have is that our hearts are wicked. Among others, here are some clues to that truth.

    Jeremiah 17:9 – The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

    Mark 7:21-23 – For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

    Romans 1:21 – Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

    Romans 3:10-18 – As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat [is] an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps [is] under their lips: Whose mouth [is] full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet [are] swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery [are] in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

    Matthew 12:35 – A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

    Psalms 51:5 – Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

    1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    Psalms 118:8 – [It is] better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

    I want to focus on one of those verses for a bit. Matthew 12:35. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and was warning them to repent.

    [Mat 12:33-37 KJV] 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by [his] fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

    This gives us another clue to the nature of our hearts. We do have a choice about what treasure is there. The CSB translation of this verse, Mat 12:35 “A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.” We can choose to put good or evil material there. Through the work of Christ, we have that option. That ability.

    What is in your heart? Have you been putting good treasure there? How do you put good treasure there? Do you consider the things you read? Do you consider the things you listen to? Do you consider the choices you make on what media you will consume? When was the last time you chose to not consume something because it was unhealthy? What about the thoughts that you dwell on? What about the friends that you choose? Do they affect the decisions you make? Who do you let tell you what is acceptable and good? Do you consider?

    I will tell you that reading the Bible, praying, and fasting are the best ways to build good treasure in your heart because those things are good. There are other good things that you have opportunities to do. As you do those things, you are putting good things in your heart because those things are good. What you choose to do with the time you have is what determines what is in your heart.

    Where do you want to go? Are you bent toward evil? Do you want what is good? Is your heart in a good place? How can you tell? I will remind you that you are not alone in the world and that is why it matters. You are not alone. Every choice you make will affect someone else in some way. Even the thought life and emotional life you lead matters.

    If you are not in the place you want to be, I recommend doing something about it. If you believe there is nothing you can do about it, you are believing a lie. The grace of God will enable all who want to know Him. It is a divine promise.

    [Jer 29:13 KJV] 13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

    [Zep 2:1-3 CSB] 1 Gather yourselves together; gather together, undesirable nation,  2 before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the LORD’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the LORD’s anger overtakes you.  3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the LORD’s anger.

    [Luk 11:9-13 CSB] 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 “Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? “

    Are you searching for God with all your heart?

  • The Faithfulness of God

    One of my favorite stories of the faithfulness of God is when Jesus calmed the storm on the lake of Galilee. It is one of the few times when Jesus interacted with nature to teach a lesson.
    Jesus was traveling the countryside teaching with parables and healing people. On this particular day, He led them to water and requested that they cross the lake to the other side. Sometime during the journey, a storm whipped up. I’m guessing this was an unusually bad storm because the disciples were afraid for their lives. One of the gospels even mentions that the boat was taking on water. I wonder if the devil wasn’t behind it, but we’ll leave that for another discussion.
    The disciples woke Jesus with the frantic cry that they were all going to perish. Jesus stood and rebuked the wind. The accounts all agree that there was immediately a great calm. The weather didn’t obey sullenly. It obeyed completely. [Mar 4:40-41 CSB] Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? ” And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
    When are caught in an unexpected storm in life, we do not need to be afraid but have faith. God is good and even if Jesus doesn’t miraculously calm the storm, we’ll still be ok. Even if we drown.
    God’s purposes are so much larger than we can understand, and His grace and mercy are so much more profound than we have imagination. To remember this is to have faith. To rest in this is to believe that He is good and righteous and holy and that He loves us.