Coffee With The Lord

I’ve gotta say… It’s just an incredibly beautiful spring day in North Texas!!!

And wouldn’t you know this was part of my Bible reading this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord!”  (I gave it this title in the margin of my Bible… “A SONG OF SPRINGTIME!”)

^“By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the One who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might! ^… Those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs!

“You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy!  You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.  You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.  You crown the year with your bounty!  Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance!  The pastures of the wilderness overflow!  The hills gird themselves with joy!  The meadows clothe themselves with flocks!  The valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy!” (From Psalm 65:5–13 ESV)

I hope “Spring has sprung” where you are living… If it hasn’t, give God time – it will!  In the meantime enjoy the pic from North Texas and “A Song of Springtime” from the Bible! … And WORSHIP!!!

Sometimes Christians act like little children – “tattle tales” on a playground – they run to their teacher and say… that group or person over there (as they point emphatically with their “spiritual” finger) don’t believe exactly like we do, they don’t play by the same “spiritual” rules, they’re not doing the Lord’s work just like we do it! Someone needs to stop them!! They’ll ruin everything!!”

How do you think the Lord responds when we act like that?

Good question! Do you think He says, “Thank you for that important information! You’re exactly right! I’m going to go over and put a stop to what they’re doing right now ‘in my Name’ and on my behalf!! Or does He respond with a rebuke to the “Tattletale” – just like a good parent or teacher sometimes does on the playground?

Well, fortunately we’re not left in doubt… There is a situation just like that described in the Bible…

“John spoke up, ‘Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group!’ Jesus wasn’t pleased. He said ‘Don’t stop him! No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not our enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving someone a cup of water in my name is on our side! Count on it – God will notice!’ On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t! You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck!” (Paraphrase of Mark 9:38-42 from The Message)

I just gotta say, I don’t want to behave like a spiritual “tattletale!” Somehow I don’t think the Lord has changed his attitude about it. I admit, there are some things that really matter – like the truth of “the Gospel” or the clear teaching of Scripture on a subject! But simply complaining that a fellow Christian isn’t in “our group” or differences in “ministry style” or making a big deal about minor differences of opinion in doctrine, won’t win the approval of the Lord.

The point? Don’t be a “Spiritual tattletale!” It won’t work with the Lord!

You’ve got to get this picture… The king has returned from conquest!  He has been the mighty victor – the enemy has been defeated!  The streets are filled with cheering people as he rides into the city.  The aroma of the spoil of the victory fills the air … some of sweet and pungent spices from far-away places – other odors, not so pleasant, the smell of death.

That is the scene behind 2 Corinthians 2.14-16 – one of the passages I read this morning during “coffee with the Lord”

“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession.  Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.  Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.  To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?”  (New Living Translation)

We lived in enemy territory under the dominion of a tyrant king.  But Jesus, our Savior, engaged the battle to deliver us, and He won!  We – those He has redeemed and rescued – are the spoil of his conquest.  Our lives produce a fragrance in His victory parade.  To those who accept His victory and sovereign rule our lives and testimony bring hope … we produce the fragrant odor of life!  To those who resist His reign in their lives, however, there is the ominous odor of death.

I want the liberating victory of Jesus to be evident in my life!  I want the fragrant odor of His conquest in my life’s battles to bring hope to those around me!  And I’ll pray fervently for those who are rejecting the Gospel – the “Good News” of His victory over sin and Satan… I certainly prefer the odor of life to that of death!!!