WE ARE SPECIAL

I was up this morning at 4:00 am to catch the 6:00 am flight to Toronto. As I sit in the Calgary airport, I have opened my Kindle and read the first two chapters of I Peter. What a wonderful way to start the day!
Here is the old, great Good News for me and you this morning. "You were redeemed --- not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." We are important enough to God, He loved us so much, that He sent His one, unique Son to die for us. Old but great Good News.
In the second chapter we are reminded that we belong to a special groups of people. Peter uses words that would, in the OT describe only God's chosen Jewish people. Now however these words apply to all of us who have received Christ as Saviour.
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nations, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." Even at 5:15 in the morning, these words lift my spirits, cause me to smile, rejoice and praise our Father in Heaven. I hope they do the same for you today, whatever your circumstances.
You are special! Not because of what you have accomplished or what you own. Special because you belong to an amazing family -  a royal priesthood - a holy nation! You belong to God! Rejoice!

GOD WANTS HUMILITY

I've missed blogging these past several days. On Thursday I was returning to Calgary from visiting family in Vero Beach. My second flight that was schedule to arrive at 9:15 pm was delayed by engine trouble and arrived at mid-night. The last three days I have caught up on personal items (doctors, banks, mailings, things in storage, etc.), visits with Calgary friends and spending much of yesterday at Harvest Hills Alliance Church. All this with very intermittent computer time caused a break in blogs. With a 6:00 am flight tomorrow and two busy days in Toronto, I suspect I am about to miss some other blog days.
But at least today, let me share with you a great passage on humility from James 4:6 - 10. This passage contains a strong appeal for followers of Jesus to submit to God. Of course to submit to anyone's will demands humility. It involves, consciously or unconsciously deciding that the Other is more important, wiser - or both - than I am. This does not come naturally to most of us. It involves humility. So James assures, challenges and promises:
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then to God. --- Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up." Such important, life changing words.
From my late teen years I recognized that I would have to battle a strong streak of pride. Of course I could not realize then it would be a lifelong battle. As I sought to grow in humility, I found myself admiring professors, preachers, top executives, anyone that that displayed the important but not often evident quality of humility. While only God knew their inner attitudes, these men and women provided for me examples of people who were much more concerned about God and others than about their own ego gratification or their own prominence. I am always attracted to people who display humility (not the false attention getting kind but real humility). And I suspect you are also.
Before our great Creator God each of us should have humble, submissive hearts. The love and sacrifice of our Saviour should "automatically" humble us. And if we really "get that right", this should move us naturally and supernaturally toward humility in our realationship with people created by Him, for Him and in His image. We who follow Christ ought to be known for our love - and known for our humility. These two character qualities (closely linked) shine from the life of the One we follow. 

IT DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN

"Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness - without it no one will see the Lord."Hebrews 12:14 Think about all the things people will be pursuing today - a good grade, a promotion, a big sale, an important contract, a special purchase, a new experience, etc. And in the midst of their pursuits, relationships with people and with their God will be ignored or damaged.
Wise words for living - "pursue peace with everyone". It does not just happen. It is far too easy to offend someone; to take offence; to hold a grudge; to pass on critical gossip. We can be adept at bringing division with little effort. It takes significant effort to build and maintain peaceful relationships - especially with those we find prickly or difficult. Pursue peace today.
And holiness certainly does not come easily or naturally. Temptation to sin surrounds us and so easily bubbles up within us. When we meet mature believers who exude a level of holiness or godliness, we need to remember that this kind of character does not just come with time. It comes with effort, discipline and a love for Jesus that motivates a pursuit of holiness.
There is more to this pursuit of course. In fact the author of Hebrews speaks of the importance of God's discipline - and our right response to His discipline, in the verses preceding verse 14. Difficult times, times that really test us, times of discipline, God will use to grow us in righteousness and holiness, if we respond correctly.   

FAITH AND SUFFERING

We all love Hebrews 11 where we find the OT heroes of faith listed. What amazing examples of faithfulness and endurance. What great models of living by faith in One who we cannot see. I wonder if one day we may hear some of them recount for us how God brought them through times of struggle, challenge and doubt. Many of them would be able to tell marvellous stories of miraculous preservation or rescue.
However the Bible is always honest and clear. Living by faith in obedience to God does not guarantee an easy life nor does it guarantee that things will all work out fine in the end - at least not the end of earthly life. So the first example of faith is Abel - whose life was cut short when his brother murdered him. It does not reassure us that a life of faith will be long or happy. On the other hand there are examples of God's ability and willingness to rescue his people. Those who lived by faith "shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle and put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead - they were raised to life again."
Yet the writer does not stop there. Honest and realistic, he also reminds us that some people of faith "were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword --- (they) were afflicted and mistreated."
All of these God fearers - those who were miraculously saved and those who God allowed to suffer and to die - they have or will have their reward. The path for each of us will be different - some easy, some very difficult paths. We simply walk by faith trusting that whatever God allows into our lives will bring honour to Him, if we continue to faithfully endure.
I think of this as I read of the pastor who was sentenced to die in Iran. He apparently will have a new trial, I read this morning. This dear Christian brother may ultimately be released, remain in prison for life, or be executed. Only God knows. His calling is to remain faithful whatever happens. Our calling is to pray for him and for other believers like him, who in God's sovereign will, suffer for their faith. Theirs is a difficult but high calling. With them may we live each day in obedient faith.

OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST

I have never preached a series on the Jesus the High Priest. Probably at best I have preached a couple of sermons on this topic. Seems like I should have preached this more as I again read and meditate on the book of Hebrews.
At the end of chapters 2 and 4 we have those wonderful paragraphs that tell us about Christ's identify with our human condition. This identity makes Him a merciful and compassionate High Priest because he knows what it is like to be a limited human, "tested and tried". Many of us refer often to these two passages because they bring us comfort and confidence as we follow Christ.
There is another descriptive paragraph about Jesus our High Priest in Hebrews 7:26: "For this is the kind of High Priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted about the heavens." This is God's miracle. He has provided a Representative, a High Priest for us, who is "separated from sinners" yet absolutely, sympathetically identifies with us sinners. This truth amazes me again today!

Speaking (writing) as I was the other day about breakdowns in technological communication - I got caught again while on my 30 trip from Hanoi to Calgary. In my carry on luggage I did not need to carry two books plus my Bible. All I needed was my very light Kindle --- until it froze on me. Do I was stuck - I could buy a cheap novel in an airport store, but I didn't see any cheap or expensive Bibles for sale. So no Bible reading as I travelled. Books never fail you like an electronic book may do at just the wrong time. Hmmm, am I sounding "old fashioned"?

AIRPLANE MOVIE

I wanted to stay awake on my 9&1/2 hour flight from Seoul to Vancouver today. Hopefully if I stay awake until tonight (Calgary time) I will sleep well in spite of the 13 hour difference. So I watched parts of three movies, as well as reading, watching a comedy TV show and listening to Beethoven. The first movie I watched was Tree of Life. I remember reading about it when it first came out.
Some gorgeous cinematography that was mostly wasted on a small "in seat" screen. Some lines that could stimulate significant spiritual conversation. However I think God is not really part of the conversation that the movie tries to raise.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday I again think how sad that most Canadians don't believe in the One to whom they should offer thanks for their life, health, freedom, peace, prosperity, etc. How sad that they must settle for a "feeling of thankfulness."
How great it is to know our Creator through Jesus Christ and be able to thank Him every day. Surely we followers of Jesus should be the most thankful and the most optimistic people on planet earth. I am thankful to be back in Canada after 11 months away. And having spent these months in a country with no Christian heritage, I am grateful for the influence of the church and of the Bible in shaping so much of our legal system and providing the foundation of our freedom. 

DEPEND ON GOD ALONE

The past two weeks have been a major transition time for Jan and me. During this time, our communication lifelines have been unreliable at best. We moved out of our Saigon apartment on Sept. 23rd and spent one night in a hotel ($27 for a tiny but clean room with good shower and included breakfast). Then flew to Hanoi for one night in a hotel there (nice large room for $50, but little internet connection). Then we were off to Bangkok for 8 days in a hotel (great seminar, nice place, intermittent internet connection). Back to Hanoi for one more night in a hotel (only $39, but still poor internet service).
Finally last Tuesday we moved into our apartment. I had messaged several times to our realtor to have the landlord arrange for internet connection to be ready for the first day. Nope. Coming tomorrow - Yes, No. We will get internet within a few days we are promised. (It is a new apartment building only 15% occupied so there is some excuse, I suppose.) We discovered on Friday that while we have no internet connection, the lobby of our apartment building offers wifi. So Jan and I have made several elevator runs    from our 19th floor apartment to use the internet. How appropriate as we have struggled to keep up with emails, that when I went on the internet from the lobby, I was unable to access blogspot to make my post.
All of this to say, if my blog has appeared intermittent, I do have an excuse: travel, moving and poor internet access. I am writing this from an in transit hotel in Seoul where the internet connection is great (don't ask the price)! My first time to spend money on this kind of hotel, but well worth it. I arrived here at 5:30 am and don't fly out until 6:30 pm. So having a hotel room has been wonderful.
All of the above simply reminds me again how fortunate we are to have instant and constant access to God through our Great High Priest. Only He can be accessed always - no dependency on electricity, internet connects, etc. How great and merciful is our God.
Presently I am reading through Hebrews and I love the way this book begins with a strong emphasis on Christ's unique status. He is greater than even angels, those powerful heavenly beings. He is greater than even Moses, the greatest of human leaders. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Our God is absolutely, infinitely reliable and always available! Humans, with all of our ingenuity and abilities, even with our huge global companies, can never come close to providing anything like that.