Coffee With The Lord

Another pre-Thanksgiving reflection designed to help prepare your heart for Thanksgiving Day!

Many churches provide opportunities for members of their congregation to express their thanksgiving during Thanksgiving Week in a special Thanksgiving offering… I thought about that the other day as I read the following passage.  It is King David’s prayer of thanksgiving when he gave his special gift for the construction of the temple and urged the people he led to do the same…

I intend to personalize it as my prayer of Thanksgiving as I prepare a special Thanksgiving offering at the church I attend…  I recommend it to you.  Here it is…

“Blessed are you, O Lord…forever and ever!  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours! Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.  And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.  For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.  O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided…comes from your hand and is all your own.  I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.  O Lord… keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.”  (from 1 Chronicles 29:10–18 ESV)

I purchased this electronic device (my “smart phone”)… they said it would do all kinds of wonderful things.  That was not why I bought it, I bought it to do only one things for me – make and receive calls… and it did it well.  But then one day I discovered I needed something else accomplished.  I happened to pick up the instructions to the device and it said my device could do that as well.  I tried it, and it worked!  Since then I’ve tried it out on other tasks they said it could accomplish and “woollah!” it worked for those as well!  Gotta tell you I’ve been impressed!

Thought about that during my Bible reading this morning during “coffee with the Lord” as it relates to my experience of “salvation.”

I think I probably originally embraced what the Bible calls “salvation” to escape “hell” and gain “eternal life” in “heaven.”  I’m convinced “salvation” is effective for that.  But, since then, I’ve also discovered it is effective for much more than that!  The resources God provides through “salvation” are good for all of life – from “new birth” all the way through life, even in death, and on to my eternal inheritance!  In fact, I’ve discovered what it provides, sustains me though all kinds of trials that come my way.  God’s word declares that with my “salvation” comes a keeping power that will protect me all the way – every day – from here to my “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for me.”  Wow!  Makes my “smart phone” and the stuff it will do look like small stuff wouldn’t you say?

Oh, the passage!  Here it is…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this [salvation] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls!” (1 Peter 1:3–9 ESV)

Wow!  “Salvation” is a good deal wouldn’t you say!  Everything you need is in it!  More than you ever imagined!

Refugees!  We’ve been hearing about them in the news… we’ve seen the sad pictures of entire families from Syria who have fled their homes and are running for their lives.  Many nations are rejecting them, building walls to keep them out, fearful of who they are – uncertain of the “unsavory elements” that may be among them.  I’ve seen refugee camps in Middle Eastern countries I’ve visited!  I can only imagine what the refugee experience would have upon a person!

My Bible reading today included the plight of refugees…  The fact is, the epistle of 1 Peter was written to “exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1:1) – ancient countries now recognized as modern Turkey.  1 Peter was writing to suffering Christians who had experienced persecution for their faith.  They had felt the sting of rejection, often viewed with suspicion, facing unjust accusations because of their commitment to the Kingdom of God, their lives were at risk, their families in danger, their property had been destroyed (even confiscated).  And the sad fact was, some of the worst persecution had come from the religious community!  Imagine the impact on your psyche – your self-concept and emotions!

It was to people like this, Peter writes His opening words… “To those who are elect exiles … according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.  May grace and peace be multiplied to you!” (from 1 Peter 1:1-3 ESV)

What encouraging, affirming words!  They were “elect”… they were God’s chosen people!  “Foreknowledge”…. Their Heavenly Father was intimately aware of who they were, and what they were going through, and despite that (even because of that) in a special sense they were His chosen ones!  They had been set apart in a special way (“sanctified” by the Holy Spirit) for obedience to Jesus Christ.  And the, using Old Testament imagery, Peter reminded them that they had experienced the “sprinkling of His blood” – In other words Christ’s sacrifice as the “Lamb of God” had not only cleansed them from their sin, it had “set them apart as His own” in a very special way!

Sometimes we may feel like “exiles” – refugees because of our commitment to Christ.  We can feel that way because of what friends, family, colleagues and neighbors say and do as we follow Christ.  The broader culture has usually not embraced “the way of the cross!”  There are also devoted followers of Jesus elsewhere in our world who are suffering today for their faith in Christ who would identify fully with Peter’s words.  My prayer?  Oh Lord may the reality of Peter’s affirming words be communicated to their hearts, regardless of their situation, through the power of the Holy Spirit!