Built up By and Through the Word

Jesus is the Temple. And we go to Him to worship and find our direction and our comfort and our mercy and our grace.

“¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1 (ESV)

Not only is Jesus the Temple where we worship, He is the Word of the LORD. I (we) have the pleasure of having the LORD with us always in Jesus. When we make our way to Him for worship we are not just entering the place where the LORD will “find” us, we find Him there as the word and can rely on Him for our everything.

“³²And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” – Acts 20:32 (ESV)

Here we find Paul speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He is laying out to them that they have all they need in Christ, and that he will be leaving them never to return again. Even as he will not be there to guide and carry them through the trials they will continue to face, He reminds them that they are not alone and that it was not he who was building them up and will continue to do so, but God.

We too often I believe feel as though we need someone at our side building us up and when we do not, we feel as though all is lost. Paul takes special care to ensure that the church at Ephesus know that they are not alone. They have the LORD by their side as He has always been and will always be. I (we) have to remember that as well. The LORD is always by my side and building me up.

“⁶Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6 & 7 (ESV)

Above you see that Paul reminds the church of Colossae of the same. They have the Temple that is Jesus and the Word of the LORD to build them up. They are not left to themselves trying to make it. They have Christ by their side at all times, when they received Him and as they move forward in Him.

I am not alone. I may be by myself physically, but alone I am not. Christ is always with me as the Temple and the Word of the LORD. He provides me with all I need to make it in this world. He is my provision and certainly a blessing to me. He builds me up when I am in need, not just in the past, but now and in time to come.

What are you in need of to be built up? Are you looking for that one to be with you and when they are not, you feel all alone? What if you turned to Christ to be built up as He was with you before, is with you now, and will be with you always to build you up?

Choose God’s Love

“⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8 (ESV)

If God is love, then how could He allow difficult things to happen to us. Well, that is a good question and one that burns up the airwaves when there is a tragedy. I am sure that everyone has thought it at some point, I know that I have which now sends me right to His word to understand.

Here’s the thing, James MacDonald says it well, “God’s love is a protecting love, but it’s not a preventing love. God doesn’t always keep hard things from happening. Here’s why. He has a higher purpose for our pain:” He is right. There is a purpose in God’s plan for us and He will stop at nothing to have that purpose fulfilled by us.

MacDonald lists three reasons God allows the hard things, to humble us, to restore us, and to refine us. We are God’s precious creation and He demonstrates it through His hard love for us.

God is in it for the relationship He has with us. That relationship is not there if/when we are not close to Him. Yes, He is still our Heavenly Father, but He wants to interact with us and not just be there. Sometimes He allows things to happen to bring us back to Him. When those hard things happen He is getting our attention and we should look straight at Him and let Him know that we hear Him and need His guidance and love in dealing with it. And then we should be asking Him about what else He wants from us.

Hard things happen to us and it is just that, hard and I am sorry for the difficulty we experience. I am human and will continue to be hurt when these things occur. In dealing with it, we have to remember to turn to God and jump in His loving arms. It is okay and expected to grieve. It is okay and expected to feel hurt. And, it is also expected that we turn to Him and allow Him to show us the way through it. Was He bringing us back to Him after some time of our drift away or was He strengthening our faith in Him to resolve.

God is love and that is it. He spreads that love to us in different ways. It may be comfort and guidance or it could be through restoration and refinement. Either way God loves us and wants the best for us. I choose God’s love.

What is your view of God’s love? Do you expect all comfort and grace? What if you see God’s love as His strengthening you in your relationship with Him through comfort and guidance and restoration and refinement?

Our Bodies Will Be Ours, Will New Earth Be As Well

Let me clarify a bit of the title. I am asking will the New Earth be a place familiar to us, or will it be a place we have never seen yet better than what we know.

Let me start with what we know. What is it about “home”? Well, for me home is familiar. It is comfortable, filled with love, and a place I can kick my shoes off and relax in. I remember when Lori and I and the boys moved back to Texas. We enjoyed our time in Maryland and would not trade it for anything, yet when we crossed the Red River into Texas, we felt the difference. We still had about 6-7 hours until we reached our final destination, but we were home. It was familiar and comfortable and a place we felt compelled to kick off our shoes and relax.

The New Earth will be like that. We will be familiar with the surroundings. We will be comfortable. We will feel the love there. We will know people. We will feel compelled to kick off our shoes and rest. So yes, the New Earth will be ours as well. We will know the place as our home and find comfort there.

“¹Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” – John 14:1-2 (ESV)

Randy Alcorn wrote the following that I believe captures what we will find, “This damaged creation cries out to be repaired, and it is His plan to repair it. He’s going to remodel the old earth on a grand scale.” Christ is fixing all the cracks in the wall. He is remodel the kitchen and painting the bedrooms. Jesus is mowing the grass and adding new landscaping. He is fixing the fence and putting on a new roof. But even with all of the fixing up, we will know that we are home. The creak in the floor when you walk in the front door will still be there. The layout from the kitchen to the back porch will still be the same. And He will be there to great us and welcome us HOME.

What is your thought as to the New Earth? Do you believe it will be all new such that you have never seen before? What difference is the feeling to know that it will be familiar and you will know the New Earth to be the place of comfort and rest that you remember, only back to before it was broken?

What Else When We Die?

As I keep reading and studying, I am reminded that when we die, we are not just “there”. We are not lifeless and without form. So it stands to reason that we are not lacking consciousness either.

“⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. ¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ ¹¹Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” – Revelation 6:9-11 (ESV)

Randy Alcorn pointed out the above passage in the MasterWork study I am working in. Here we find that those who were martyred for their faith, are waiting for the return of Christ. In their waiting, they are speaking with Him, recognizing His sovereignty, questioning Him to understand, and comforted in their waiting. All of these indicate that when we die and meet Christ in the intermediate Heaven, we are still who we are and that we conscious, and continuing to learn and work to understand.

When you look at the verses above and I mean really look at them, you not only see the consciousness and learning, but you also see the anticipation and to some degree, sorrow in the waiting for it all to be over. But how can that be if there is no more sorrow in Heaven. Well, that removal of sorrow is in the New Heaven and not the intermediate or present Heaven we go to in death. The New Heaven, New Earth is the place of eternal glory for all. We may not experience and personal suffering any longer in the intermediate Heaven, but we will still experience sorrow for those who have yet to join us and are still being persecuted on Earth.

So, here is what I know about Heaven when I die and what I am looking forward to. I will pass from the suffering in this world. I will no longer be under attack by the evil one. I will be with my LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. I will be there worshiping and waiting on His return and reunited with my body. I will have a form of some kind and be distinguishable from others. I will be conscious to learn and understand. I will still experience sorrow for those who are still suffering. I will be anticipating the time when we will all be together again in Glory of eternal Heaven and the New Earth when it comes down after the battle has been won.

How are you seeing yourself in Heaven after you pass from this world? Are you just a lifeless being? How about this, you have a body, a mind, a soul, and are still learning and waiting for the suffering of others to end and the return of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ?

Turn to One Another

The LORD is coming. This much is certain. I know that it is as the LORD has told me so in His Word. There will be death and destruction and all of the evil will be vanquished at His hand. Those who have turned to Him and accepted the salvation gift in their hearts will be spared this destruction. I will be turned to comfort in that time.

“⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ⁶And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” – Malachi 4:5-6 (ESV)

I will not have to figure out where to turn for comfort, the LORD will take care of that. He will send the one to turn me. I will recognize the time to turn and will do so, to where they will comfort me and I will comfort them. I know that the verse above indicates fathers to children and children to fathers, yet I chose to believe that the LORD will ensure that the turning is to the one who will comfort and not specifically fathers and/or children. Just look at the verses below.

“¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” – Luke 1:17-18 (ESV)

The thing is, we will be turned to one another for the comfort that will be needed in that time. We are not meant to be alone. We should be in community with one another for that comfort. I know that I am grateful for the men I study God’s Word with. Where we are together intimately for about 90 minutes a week, we can turn to one another for comfort any time. We are a community of believers and that community is strong in the LORD.

The LORD knows that we need comfort. He has sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper and comfort while He prepares our place in heaven. And to go along with the Holy Spirit, He has provided us the community of believers to turn to as well. We must turn to one another for our comfort and/or when they need comfort themselves.

Where do you turn when you are in need of comfort? Are you turning to solitude to just deal with it? What if you were to turn to a community of others who believe as you do for comfort and love in your time of need?

The LORD Hears Our Desire

I have to believe that no matter the circumstances, the LORD hears my desire. He knows what is in my heart.

“¹⁷O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;

you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

¹⁸to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”

— Psalm 10:17-18 (ESV)

I am the afflicted. I am oppressed. It may not seem as such based on the world we live in today, but it is true. All who are devoted to following the LORD are or will be persecuted. I need the LORD to get through this world and all of the evil that is presented in it. The evil one is there continually and is looking for any moment to divert me away from the LORD. Whether it is in public, in the media, in private, evil is there lurking and waiting.

“¹⁶The Lord is king forever and ever;

the nations perish from his land.”

— Psalm 10:16 (ESV)

It is in the LORD that I find refuge. The LORD knows my desire. He knows it is difficult. He knows I need to rule over it. And this is the reason He hears my desire. I must desire Him and when I do, He hears my desire and comforts me. He protects me. He guides me. He loves me. He is king.

Where is your desire? Are you desiring in the world? What if you were to desire the LORD and allow Him to comfort you, protect you, guide you, and love you?

The LORD Comforts as Mothers Do

I remember as the boys were growing up and running around with reckless abandon. They would go 900 mph (seemed like it at least). All was well until that inevitable fall and scraping of the knee and palms of the hand. Out came the waterworks (at least when we were watching), and they would come over to the parents. And who more importantly would they come to, the momma. And what would she do, hug them and kiss it and suddenly it was all better.

“¹³As one whom his mother comforts,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

— Isaiah 66:13 (ESV)

My knee scrapes may not be much on the physical side any more, but I still need comfort, the hugs and the kiss to make it all better. The LORD is here for that now. I can go hard for the LORD and know that when I fall, He is there to comfort me and hug me and kiss the wound to soothe.

Who are you leaning on to make it better when you fall? Are you out there trying to do it all on your own? What if you were to come to the LORD for comfort, hugs, and kisses, as He is always there?

Share All in Christ

It should go without saying that when one belongs, they belong to all. That goes for our relationship with Christ as a paramount to our belonging to Him. I have to share all in Christ.

“⁵For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” — 2 Corinthians 1:5 (ESV)

As Paul addresses the Corinthians, he points out that he and Timothy (especially) share all in Christ, the sufferings and comfort alike. He wants the people to know that it is not always what is wanted, it is sharing all. He also points out that all that he and Timothy share in Christ is taken on for the people and for others.

“⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.” — 2 Corinthians 1:6 (ESV)

It is in all that Paul and Timothy are committed for others. They are serving for others. They are doing for others. They have taken on all of Christ to share with others and make things easier for them to bare. Yet, they are also aware that the people will share all with them and in Christ so that things are easier for them to bare.

“⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” — 2 Corinthians 1:6 (ESV)

Paul and Timothy shared all in Christ and we are to do the same. For me that means that I am part of the inner circle of Christ’s and He walks with me everywhere I go and we share in the afflictions and comforts together. I am loved by Christ so much that He does not allow for me to walk alone. He is with me all the way and not just watching, but engaging in all with me.

I share all in Christ. I share in the persecution, the afflictions, the ridicule, but also the love, care, and comfort. Christ is my partner through it all and what I experience He has already experienced and will guide me through it. As Paul states above in verse six, “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,”. Paul and Timothy were just doing the same as Christ did for them and sharing all in Christ. I have to remember to do the same with those around me, share all in Christ for the better of everyone.

What are you sharing in Christ? Are you looking to share only that which is deemed good for you? What if you shared all in Christ and followed His lead and that of Paul and Timothy and did it for the benefit of others and not just for you?