Coffee With The Lord

There are mistakes people make in evaluating others – and then there are BIG mistakes!  Like looking at the “snotty nosed kid” down the block on a skateboard, terrorizing the neighborhood – writing him off – only to discover later he has become your banker (and you need a loan)! Or the teacher who has what they think is an “air head” of a student in elementary or high school only to pick up the newspaper and discover they have won a “Nobel Peace Prize” in physics.  Or the campus “trouble maker” that drove you “nuts” that becomes a governor or even president.  We write people off too easily and often evaluate them wrongly!

Well that happened with Jesus too – and take it from me (and what the Bible teaches)… that is a BIG mistake – a life-threatening mistake – an “eternal life-threatening” mistake…

So Jesus because of His teaching and miracle-working activity begins to “make a name for Himself”… and goes “home” to Nazareth for a visit… (and here the story begins right out of the Bible…)  

“And coming to His hometown He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?  And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’  AND THEY TOOK OFFENSE AT HIM! But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.’  AND HE DID NOT DO MANY MIGHTY WORKS THERE, BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF!”  (From Matthew 13:54–58 ESV)

Now THAT is a bad case of evaluation!  Thinking that Jesus Christ – Lord of all, Savior of the world, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Almighty God in human flesh, if you please God incarnate – is just the “kid down the street” – a mere human!  After all, what so special about Him?  Ties His shoes just like my kids… does carpentry with His dad… Look at His brothers and sisters after all – nothing special about them!  And His mother?  There are still stories going around about her and the circumstances of His birth!”

That’s a mistake in evaluation that will send people to “Hell!” – a mistake with eternal life implications (and quality of life implications)!  I mean, after all, here is what the Bible says…

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have Eternal life!” (John 3:16)

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12)

And quality of life? … Jesus speaking, “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly!” (John 10:10)

Hey, He’s more than just that guy from Nazareth… I mean, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

How do you feel… what do you do… when things go “from bad to worse?”

It doesn’t get much worse than the situation referred to in the introductory comment of Psalm 3: “A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom.” (Check out the story in 2 Samuel 15.13 – 17.22)  I mean, can you imagine the sense of rejection and failure!  Betrayed!  Plotted against by your own son!  Forced to run for your life because your own flesh and blood has attempted a coup against you!  Doesn’t get much worse than that!  And that is the background for what David cries out for and confesses in Psalm 3.

“Lord, how many are my foes!  How many rise up against me!  Many are saying, ‘God will not deliver him!’  But You, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts up my head!  I call out to the Lord, and He answers me… I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me!  I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side!  Arise, Lord!  Deliver me my God! … From the Lord comes deliverance!” (From Psalm 3 NIV)

I’ve learned something over the years… Most of the “greats” of the Bible have experienced the kinds of things that we face today!  When things are bad!… When they’re just terrible!… When a sense of rejection, failure or betrayal just overwhelm you… inspired words like those of David’s can be of great help!  Make them your own!  Pray them!  Confess them to God!  It’s great therapy… AND the Lord hears and answers those prayers… Ask David!!

Whenever I read Matthew 13.1-9 (the parable of the farmer scattering seed and the various soil types) and its explanation (vss. 18-23) I usually pay attention to various types of soil Jesus identified and the difference in fruitfulness.  Today, however, during “coffee with the Lord” I was impressed by the enemies of spiritual growth and fruitfulness Jesus identified… I want to be especially alert to them in my life!!

1) The “evil one” himself, who if he has his way will find a way to snatch away the seed. (vs. 19)

2) My own lack of “deep roots” so that problems or persecution keep me from bearing fruit. (vs.21)

3) The “thorns” – i.e. the worries of life and the lure of wealth and materialism – that choke out spiritual growth and fruitfulness.

I want to be alert to these enemies of spiritual growth and fruitfulness in my life!  I want to hear the message of the Kingdom, understand it, believe it and embrace it and allow the “Divine Husbandman” to work within my life to produce a bountiful harvest for my Lord!! (After all, I’m his “vine” and it’s His field, isn’t it?)!