“²³Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ ²⁴Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection the last day.’ ²⁵Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the live. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ ²⁷She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.’” – John 11:23-27 (ESV)

Martha understood that her brother Lazarus had died, she also believed that he would rise again as he was a believer in Christ. She was certainly sad that Lazarus had passed and earlier in the scripture passage she even exclaims to Jesus that if He had been there sooner, before the passing, He could have saved Lazarus from death.

When reading the verses, I can see that as Jesus speaks of death, He speaks of spiritual death as opposed to the physical death we attribute. Again, Jesus demonstrates His spiritual perspective and explains that this world is only temporary. My future, should I choose, is eternal and that spiritual death will not come as I fully believe and live in and as Christ.

I am a believer and this passage reminds me of that belief. As I continue to believe, I must also grow in that belief. I will be doing the work of Christ and in doing so, I will strengthen my belief in order that I can grow more peaceful here in this world as I wait for my time to meet my Lord and Savior face to face.

How strong is your belief? Are you working here for Christ? Are you growing more peaceful here in this world as your belief grows stronger?

“Seeing is believing”. I have heard that phrase a number of times in my life as I am sure that you have as well.

“³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Fathers is in me and I am in the Father.” – John 10:37-38 (ESV)

Jesus is answering the Jews questions as they inquire about how Jesus claims to be the Son of God. There is much more to the conversation and Jesus’ answers; verses 37 & 38 give a humanistic way of belief that most of us would agree with. Believing the words of someone is one thing, the proof of the action and witnessing the works solidifies our belief in that we clearly can touch and speak first hand of what happened.

Jesus’ words should be enough for me and a great majority of the time, it is. I would be remiss if I did not admit that witnessing the works of God are powerful for me and my belief. When I am witness to the works of God, I am more inclined to continue down the path I am going.

Now I do want to be careful and not get into the realm of Thomas and his need for proof that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead. I am speaking of witnessing the great works of God and taking what I see as confirmation of and encouragement to continue the path for which I was already working for Christ.

I am human and have the natural tendency to question what is going on. When it comes to God, I should believe as I hear, and should be looking to His works and at minimum believe what I witness.

Are you one that believes what you hear about God? What about when you see the works of God, what affect do they have on you? Are you able to believe through your witness?

This morning I am continuing to study believe, and am led to John 8 and looking at Jesus as the Light of the World.

“²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” – John 8:24 (ESV)

This is such a simple verse and extremely complex at the same time. The simplicity comes from the concept of belief to avoid death. The complexity comes in that the death is in sin.

I am a sinner and do not deserve to be saved from that sin. I will always be a sinner whether I am active or passive in that sin. Whether I am aware of my sin or not, I am a sinner. The roll of the eyes, the negative thoughts of others, walking by those in need are all potential sins and I may not even be aware I are doing them. For those, I am in need of salvation. But how?

By believing in Christ and accepting the free gift of salvation from Him. When I believe in Jesus’ saving grace, I am forgiven of the sins I commit, either actively or passively. The big change for me is that I work to avoid the active sins and greatly diminish the sins I am committing. Since I am aware of my sin, I am also more aware of others and begin looking for opportunities to come to the aid of those in need.

Without my belief in Jesus, I am doomed to be in active sin always and that sin keeps me from my Father. I will eventually die while in that sin and miss completely the glory of heaven. By contrast, when I do believe in Christ, I have acknowledged my sin and that I do not have to be in that sin. My acknowledgment and active attempts to avoid sin afford me the opportunity to live in Christ and rest on my inheritance in heaven.

Are you aware of the sin you commit? Are you looking for the way to avoid that sin? Will you believe in Christ and accept the salvation He provides?

I continue to think about how much credit we give to men of today when our credit should be going to God.

“⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” – John 1:6-8 (ESV)

I am human and I am looking for the next big thing as in my nature. Because of that nature, I will believe things that drive that narrative, and the immediately tangible is crucial to my belief. Whenever I am presented with that immediately tangible item, I tend to accept the giver as the one to which I should be grateful.

But, God is simply working through that person to provide for what I was needing at the time. John was provided by God as the messenger of Jesus to come. John was only a man and was not worthy of worship, he was only placed here to be witness of Jesus to come and provide a vessel to reach Him.

I am simply a vessel that can be used by God. I have a greater role than just to exist, but my role is not so great that I deserve to be praised. I am here so that others may see Christ and come to Him through me.

When you look back, how much do you worship the man? Are you able to reach Christ through others? Are you looking to be the vessel for others to reach Christ through?

As a leadership training professional an important thing to remember when interacting with others in the business world as well as our personal lives is to remove emotion when making decisions. Emotion clouds judgment and tends to make the interaction all about me as opposed to driving the decision in the best interest of the company or the family unit. For that very reason there is a need to have a “cooling off” period before communicating. There have been and will continue to be many times where I have written a communication 10 different times before sending as it took that many for me to get my senses back and remove the emotion.

“⁴For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” – 2 Corinthians 2:4 (ESV)

Paul here has written to the Corinthians as a substitute for a physical meeting. You can see in the wording of this verse that he is struggling with his emotions and wants to assure them that he loves them dearly. He demonstrates great restraint with them and simply writes from the heart to provide instruction without the emotional judgment that would be if he had been there in person.

Talk about showing his mercy. Paul, as we know, could be a ruthless man. He was if we remember “Saul of Tarsus” and was out arresting the disciples of Jesus at one point in his life. “Arresting” in biblical times was not asking someone to come down to the station as they were caught red handed in tax evasion, it was a violent act of brutality and overt acts. Because Paul was aware of his nature, he elected to simply send another with a letter to explain his position. It was through this mercy that Paul demonstrated an abundance of love to the Corinthians and spared them the wrath that he was sure would come as he was filled with so much emotion.

I have to continually remind myself to remove the emotion from the more heightened interactions to be sure that I am able to demonstrate my abundant love through mercy provided by Christ.

When something comes up, how do your react? Are you one that allows your emotion to overcome your sensibilities and you “fly off the handle”? Are you able to control your emotion and provide mercy to demonstrate your abundant love for others?

“¹Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. ²The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. ³He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. ⁴He determines the number of the stars; he give to all of them their names. ⁵Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. ⁶The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.” – Psalm 147:1-6 (ESV)

Verse 5 above is where I began my study this morning. As always, I find it important to read before and after the verse to better understand the context as opposed to just taking a snippet of information and developing a thought from that. When I look before verse 5 there is a lot more to consider than just than the first half of the verse.

God does not just take those that come to Him. As seen in verse 2, “He gathers the outcasts”. God is out looking for any and all that will call Him Lord. All that accept His gift of salvation will be saved. Verse 3; “He heals”. Verse 4; “He gives” the stars their names. Our Lord is greater than I can imagine, and I have grown up knowing Him.

When I finally get to verse 5, I am reminded of the power and understanding God has. He is able and does anything for His children, me. His power is abundant enough that I will need nothing with Him in my life. Thank you Lord and Praise Your Name!

Are you aware of all that God gives? Will you seek Him out as He seeks you? What are your thoughts on Gods abundant power and understanding?

How much mercy am I afforded with God?

“¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” – Psalm 51:1 (ESV)

An abundant amount. More than I can imagine. More than I deserve.

I am a sinner and for that I should be accountable, and I am. But not the way I should be. As a child of God, my sins have been forgiven by my Father in heaven, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. He knew I was a sinner and died for me on purpose to demonstrate His abundant mercy and steadfast love.

I have it pretty good when I look at how God has treated me for my life in this world so far. He has forgiven my sins, given me salvation, and adopted me as His son so that I may inherit all when I reach heaven. All of that would not be possible without the abundant mercy and steadfast love He has for me.

I can only wonder how much different things would be for me without His abundant mercy and steadfast love. Where would I be? Who would I be? Christ has given me the chance to show others the mercy He provides and just how abundant that mercy is.

Are you where you should be in Christ? Are aware of the mercy He has given? What are your thoughts on the abundant mercy provided by Christ?

“¹⁷For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” – Romans 5:17 (ESV)

Adam sinned freely. Yes Eve ate of the tree first, it was Adam that did so on his own even through he knew it to be wrong based on his conversations with God. That one sin led to the open sins of the world. Without that one act of disobedience sin was realized in the world. That one sin led way to my existence and my sins.

Adam opened the world for sin, and Jesus Christ opened the world for salvation. Jesus’ death on the cross, done freely, covered the sins of the time and all of the sins of the future. All I had to do was to accept the gift of salvation and live my life striving to be more like Christ every day. The one act of love led way to the forgiveness of my sins.

Abundant death was the work of the time as a result of the sin committed freely by Adam. Abundant life is the work of now as a result of the death on the cross committed freely by Christ.

I am grateful for my Lord, Jesus Christ and the gift He gave freely for me, even when I was 2000 years away.

Are you living in death at the had of the sin committed by Adam? Or, are you taking part in the life given thanks to the death committed by Christ? Will you accept the abundance given by the one man, Jesus Christ?

“⁴⁵The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of he evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45 (ESV)

I know a number of people that on the surface are nice and cordial to the people they meet. They smile and laugh and interact, but once the back is turned they become another person that is full cross words and a complete lack of respect. I find it difficult to work with those people for when I do I am not sure what is truth and what is simply manipulative.

When I read the verse above along with the passage, I see that this is certainly something that is not new. The fullness of the heart of people is made known. For “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”. I see that what is in the heart, is in the heart and eventually it will spill out where it is not wanted to be. Eventually the evil ones will display their evil. Eventually the cross words will be spoken. And just as, eventually the good in someone will be seen, and eventually the love will be heard from their lips.

The expectation is for me to love everyone with the love of God. I will admit, it is hard. I find it exhausting to demonstrate love with everyone, especially with those that have displayed their true selves to be less than loving to all.

But, God’s love rings true. When I am true to the love in my heart, it will be displayed in my actions. Even when others will not want to see it, I will still demonstrate the love of God for them. Even with those that are not loving themselves, I will show them the love of God in my actions and words. I will show the abundance of love in my heart.

How do you act with those around you? Are you acting out of love in the face of someone and then evil when the back is turned? Which is abundant in your heart that will come out?

This morning as I continue to study abundance, I was led to Mark chapter 12 and to the passage of “The Widow’s Offering”.

“⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’” – Mark 12:41-44 (ESV)

Oh how often have I seen those that make a “splash” with their giving. I have witnessed the making of a spectacle and then making sure everyone knew they had given. I have been to charity events where there is “bidding” for auction items and the winning bid is for the cause, only to witness those with the largest pocketbooks gleefully yelling proclaiming to everyone just how they “won” the item.

I do not want it to sound as though I am speaking of everyone, because charity and causes and the Lord work with all that is given. What I am stating is that the abundance is not as meaningful as the giving from the heart and sacrificing one thing for another. The poor widow gave of her means to fulfill needs and Jesus was more moved by the “penny” she gave than the large sums from the abundance of others.

When you are giving, where is that coming from? Are you giving from your abundance? Are you giving from your means to fulfill needs?