TREASURE. Matthew 13:52.

Do you have any treasures, things that if lost in a fire would break your heart? I find it hard to think of treasures—but that may be because I have never had a house burn down.

But going through my parents’ home reminds me of treasures: irreplaceable albums and heirlooms. What are treasures you can’t replace? Jewelry? Guns? Photos? Paintings?

Jesus talked a lot about treasure.

Today I ran across a verse that made me curious so I read it in other translations—and the meaning became clear:

“Every expert in the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings from storage treasures both new and old” Matthew 13:52.

An expert in the law would be an expert in the OLD TESTAMENT.

And if that same expert were then to become a disciple (student) of the kingdom of heaven, he would begin discovering the amazing grace in the NEW TESTAMENT.

The Old Testament teaches us the joy of living with the discipline of observing the law; the New Testament teaches us the joy of walking in grace.

But many Christians dislike the law so much they can hardly read the Old Testament. Some are so burdened with guilt and the weight of their failures, they hate the law. But Paul says the law is holy and just and good, and that the law was his teacher, leading him to Christ. Romans 7:12, 7. And while many today might ignore the law completely, as though it never existed, Jesus said, “Do not think I came to abolish the law… I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17.

We walk in GRACE. We are forgiven and freed from the grip of sin. But the law remains a storehouse of TREASURE. Never neglect it.

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” Hebrews 12:11.

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If Moses and the law are no longer relevant, why do martyrs in heaven sing about Moses? “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” Revelation 15:2-3.

“GRIPPED BY GREAT FEAR.” Luke 8:37.

When you read the Gospels, it’s easy to envy those who knew Jesus on earth. How amazing to sit with Him at the Last Supper, or pray with Him in the garden? Or to pass out miracle-food to 5,000 people? Or see Lazarus come out of the grave?

But it was not all sunshine and rainbows. As John Eldredge puts it, when Jesus entered humanity, He invaded a world at war.

Christmas was an INVASION, the most powerful foe the devil would ever face was born behind enemy lines.

And Satan wasted no time sending Herod’s soldiers to destroy the child—and every other boy child for good measure. (I wonder what Jesus thought about those deaths—the hundreds of grieving families, the classrooms with no male students, the young ladies with no men their age to court them…)

Read Revelation 12—the Bible’s alternative version of Christmas. “The woman’s child was snatched away from the dragon and there was war in heaven…” Revelation 12:5, 7.

As Simeon held the baby, he told Mary, “a sword will pierce even your own soul” Luke 2:35. Being His mother would be tough. It would not be sunshine and rainbows. In fact, she would watch her son die a horrible death.

Jesus would confront hypocrisy, upset the status quo, and make everyone freak out. In fact:

This Man children loved TERRIFIED adults.

  • They were scared when they heard the Father say, “this is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.”
  • Scared when He cast out demons.
  • Scared when He commanded the wind and waves to be still.
  • Scared when He came to the disciples walking on the sea.
  • Scared when He told the paralytic to “take up your pallet and go home.”
  • Scared when He raised the dead.
  • Scared when He was transfigured with Moses and Elijah.
  • Scared when He boldly announced to the torch-carrying crowd that He was Jesus, the One they had come to arrest.
  • And scared when the tomb was empty.

Following Jesus is TOUGH. You will be challenged. Scared. Hurt. Exhausted. And why not? Jesus experienced these things—why shouldn’t we?

PRAY FOR COURAGE AND FAITH.

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ARE YOU WATCHING THE STORIES AROUND YOU? Luke 8:8, 12-15.

I am fascinated watching the stories around me—Mr. Most-Likely-to-Succeed actually does, while another flames out; gung-ho teacher quits after working 12 hours a day for two years, while another works half as much, but keeps at it for decades. Some destinies fulfill expectations, others are surprises. Most apples don’t fall far from the tree—but now and then one falls during a flood and floats away to a place unpredictable. God’s grace works miracles.

Jesus told about a farmer planting seed. Some fell on the road and was eaten by birds. Some fell on the rock, sprouted, then withered. Some was choked by thorns, unable to grow.

“Still other seed fell on good ground; when it sprang up it produced a crop: 100 times what was sown” Luke 8:8.

Jesus explained this parable. In these verses, I see the stories–the lives–of everyone I have ever known:

“Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those who receive the word with an honest and good heart, retain it, and by enduring produce a crop” Luke 8:12-15.

Do you see your friends in these lines? Do you see yourself? Are you choked by life’s worries? Or riches? Or pleasures? Or do you receive the word with an honest and good heart? Will you endure and be faithful so God can use you to bear fruit?

Ask God to plant His word deep in your heart so you can bear tremendous fruit for Him!

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Authority.  Matthew 28:18.

On my first day as a newly licensed attorney, I walked into my new office and my new secretary told me my new Texas Bar Number, which she had located online. She knew it before I did. Within an hour, the boss suggested I sign a motion for him. From that day on, my name was on all the motions and briefs and I was signing them as fast as I could draft them.

But without membership in the state bar, I could not have signed motions. Only attorneys admitted to the bar and listed as “attorneys of record” in a case can sign pleadings and motions.

As an attorney, I possessed LIMITED AUTHORITY to file papers with the Court.

Soon I began to travel a great deal for work, sometimes spending as much as five days out of town at a time. One day I received a prescription on a Friday afternoon, and was leaving town that night. My symptoms had flared up and I needed the refill before leaving, but my doctor had neglected to add the dosage. It was a medication I had taken “as needed” for decades, and I told the pharmacist the dosage, but she refused to fill it.

“I have to hear it from your doctor.”

I was running out of patience. “But the doctor’s office is closed now—and if I were to reach him, you know what he would say? He would ask me: ‘What dosage do you need?’”

“Either way, I’ve got to hear it from him.”

I knew the pharmacist was simply doing her job. But we had gone round and round and I was frustrated—my doctor’s failure to add dosing instructions was about to ruin my week. But my brother is a doctor—and he had an active Texas license at the time.

“You know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna go home and call my brother who is a doctor—and he actually takes the same medication. You can expect to hear from him, and then I’ll be back.”  And that’s exactly what happened.

As a doctor, my brother possessed LIMITED AUTHORITY to prescribe medicine.

The exercise of lawyer authority and doctor authority is strictly limited. We all possess limited authority—over our property, our pets, our children, our decisions.

Jesus possesses unlimited authority.

Jesus taught with authority: “The crowds were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had AUTHORITY, not as one of their scribes” Matthew 7:28-29.

Jesus possesses the authority to stand before God the Judge as our attorney. He is “our Advocate with the Father” 1 John 2:1.

He has the authority to forgive sins, Matthew 9:6.

He has the authority to heal diseases with a word, Matthew 9:6.

He has authority over weather: “the wind and sea OBEY Him” Matthew 8:27.

He has authority over spirits. The demons recognize His authority, asking “What have you to do with us, Jesus? Have you come to destroy us before the appointed time?” Matthew 8:29.

He has authority over death, John 11:38-44.

Is there anything over which Jesus does NOT have authority? No.

Jesus said, “ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN UNTO ME” Matthew 28:18.

God, help us understand YOUR authority, as we live in this world of bosses and employees, teachers and students, parents and children, and hierarchies and organizational charts of all kinds. Give us insight into Your divine authority as each of us lives “as a man under authority, with others under me” Matthew 8:8.

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*Pictured is the Norman Rockwell painting THE PHARMACIST, a 1955 advertisement for Upjohn Pharmaceuticals.

DO YOU EVER HAVE DOUBTS?Luke 7:20.

If you have doubts, you are not alone. Many heroes of the Bible found themselves doubting God: Abraham, Moses, and David among others.

Think about John the Baptist. He was touched by God while still in the womb—he leaped inside his mother when he heard the voice of Mary nearby. His whole life was escorting the Messiah into the nation of Israel. He knew he played the role of Elijah, crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!” Mark 1:3. God brought the Jews to John by the hundreds.

When Jesus showed up for baptism, the Holy Spirit spoke to John and he KNEW he was looking at one “whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” Luke 3:16.

And he probably thought: Yes, I have known my cousin for 30 years and of course, he is the long-awaited Messiah. Why didn’t I see it before?

John baptized Jesus and heard the voice only he and Jesus could hear: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” Matthew 3:17. After that, the ministry of Jesus attracted crowds larger than anything John had seen. And John explained to his disciples that Jesus’s growing ministry was the whole point of John’s life. He summed it up: “HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE” John 3:30.

John understood that God had given him a front-row seat to the life and work of the Savior. Jesus even said, “among those born of women, there is no one greater than John” Luke 7:28.

But who had doubts? JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD DOUBTS.

From a dungeon, John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask a question: “Are you the One who is to come or should we look for someone else?” Luke 7:20.

What did Jesus do? Did He criticize John, or say—”How could you doubt ME? You are my herald, my announcer, my agent, my press secretary. How can you ask such a thing?”

No. Jesus encouraged him. He knew the devil’s lies.

Remember—

“DON’T DOUBT IN THE DARKNESS WHAT GOD TOLD YOU IN THE LIGHT.”

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EMOTIONS. Luke 7:37-38, 47.

We are emotional creatures.

I have heard some describe their emotions as a “roller coaster,” but I think emotions are more like waves in the sea. The amount of energy in motion does not really change, but as the sea floor gets nearer to the surface, the waves become more dramatic. We all feel emotions, but some of us experience them as the slow roll of the deep ocean. Others experience them as the surf breaking and pounding on the beach. But we all have emotions—and the same amount of water is moving in each of us, though it is not as obvious if you are one of those in whom “still waters run deep.”

Are your emotions involved in worship? I don’t mean do your emotions look like someone else’s. But does He bring you joy? Does His love and forgiveness bring you gratitude?

Chuck Colson said his conversion was a rational decision—and that’s a great thing in a man like him. But I’m sure as he grew in Christ he developed emotions about his Savior. It’s inevitable.

If you love God and spend time with Him, you will become passionate about Him.

I want to love Jesus more. I want to love Him this way:

“A woman in town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of fragrant oil and stood behind Him at His feet, weeping, and began to wash His feet with her tears. She wiped His feet with the hair of her head, kissing them and anointing them with the fragrant oil…” Luke 7:37-38, 47.

We should all love Jesus like that. We should work our MINDS to study the Bible like Ezra, the only man the Bible repeatedly calls an expert in the word.

But we should also love Jesus with the PASSION of this woman who anointed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

Now THAT is worship!

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THE AMAZING THRILL OF GREAT WORK. Matthew 11:28-30.

Have you ever experienced thrilling work? Been caught up in something bigger than yourself, knowing everything you do matters, that this will make a difference, that maybe this is what you were MADE TO DO?

Have you worked to the point of exhaustion, yet felt the peace of knowing you were using your energy EXACTLY as you should?

People have experiences like that in many settings: A mission trip sharing the gospel or rebuilding a church or drilling a water well. Or pursuing a dream: warming up in Athens during the final week before the Olympics. Or revising that first novel. Or memorizing lines for a role in a Shakespeare play. Or assembling pieces for an art show.

But burnout is possible in every field—as well as in the unpaid parts of our lives. Household chores, marriages, and difficult children can make us as weary. No wonder everyone knows an addict—addictions are the only relief many people understand. 

But Jesus knows how weary life can be. We are steeped in sin, surrounded by broken, hurting people. No one has enough money and bosses are never satisfied. But Jesus offers relief. He wants to LIFT YOUR BURDEN.

“Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus does not promise to remove your work. He still wants you under the yoke. He needs you working!

But He will shoulder the burden WITH you. And He can bring meaningfulness and rest and joy to any work. Stay close to Him, your GREAT PARTNER in work. He will make your yoke easy, even thrilling. And He will give you rest!

I have experienced this so often in my career! I know it to be “FACTS.”

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AGENCY: Adult-Like Faith. Matthew 8:5-10.

Have you heard about the power of childlike faith? Have you ever faced a prayer need and wished you possessed the seemingly magical power of the faith of a child? Jesus said to come to God like a little child (Luke 18:17) and many can share testimonies of the amazing ways God has answered the simple prayers of children.

But God blesses the faith of adults too. In fact, just as there is childlike faith, there is what we might call “adultlike faith.”

If you struggle to pray with the pure believing faith of a child, perhaps you can pray with the faith of an adult who understands power, authority, and agency.

When you possess agency, you are the one making decisions. Children have less agency than their parents, but they do have agency, and it should increase daily. Parenting might be described as giving children a little more agency each day, while also teaching them how to handle it. A psychology paper[1] defines agency as being in the driver’s seat. Those with agency—those making their own decisions—do not feel as though things HAPPENED TO them, but instead, feel as if they are IN CHARGE. 

Comedian Rafael Barbosa does a bit about his first apartment: “Man, I recently moved out from home for the first time ever. It’s a little apartment man, but honestly, it’s already gone to my head. Like, just saying I have my own place feels like I’m saying I’ve got stocks and bonds. I’ll be using technical terms when I walk into my friend’s house. I’m like ‘Yo, this place got square footage? Man, check your lease, man.  Mine’s got square footage, Bro!” Barbosa goes on to joke about trying to pick up girls by carrying his lease around as a conversation starter. “I just let it hang out the pocket a little bit.”

What Barbosa is enjoying is the satisfaction of AGENCY. You feel it when you have money in your pocket. You feel it when you have a new job. Or when you get your first driver’s license or buy your first car.

But this is first-level agency. There’s more. Bosses exercise NEXT-LEVEL AGENCY. 

Next-level agency is the power to direct the activities of OTHERS.

Bosses can direct employees to complete all sorts of tasks. And when you are the boss directing the actions of employees, those employees become (wait for it…) your AGENTS. The law says the boss is the “principal” and the “agent” acts on his behalf.

The Roman Centurion understood this. He was the officer-in-charge of 100 men. He knew all about agency. He controlled the lives of 100 soldiers. When his servant became paralyzed, Jesus said, “I will come and heal him” Matthew 8:7. 

The Centurion objected. “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

[He could have said, “I am an AGENT, with AGENTS under me.”]

I say to this one ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it” Matthew 8:8-9. How did Jesus reply? “I have found no one in Israel with such great faith!” Matthew 8:10.

We encourage childlike faith, a faith without questions or doubts. But God also honors the grownup faith that can only come through years of experience in a world of authority and agency.

The faith of the Centurion might be described as “ADULT-LIKE FAITH.” The officer clearly has no doubts, skepticism, or questions. Anyone with doubt would have insisted on bringing Jesus to the house just in case. The Centurion has the un-doubting faith of a child. But he has more–he has the experience-driven faith of an adult who has spent years operating in a realm of agency. It is his “adultlike faith” that gives the centurion the confidence to encourage Jesus not to waste time traveling to the man’s house when He can simply say the words from where He stands.

This Gentile, this formerly idol-worshipping Roman, understands that when a principal speaks the command, the agents must obey. And Jesus has proven Himself to be able to speak to men, women, illness, weather–anything. When the LORD speaks, the UNIVERSE obeys. The centurion figured it out: Jesus is the LORD of the universe.

No wonder Jesus said He had not seen anyone in Israel with faith to match the centurion’s.

Lord, grant us the faith and trust of children. But as we grow, develop in us a mature understanding of power and agency. Give us the adult-faith of the centurion. Give hope to those who struggle with doubts and questions, knowing our faith will grow by experience, even the experience of agency in the seemingly unspiritual world of business.

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[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5002400/

More Blessed than Mary. Luke 11:28

Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that their ancestors loved Solomon, “but one greater than Solomon is here,” and the people of Nineveh listened to Jonah, “but one greater than Jonah is here.” Is that bragging? No. He is speaking the truth in love. They needed to hear the truth from Him directly.

Then a woman says, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you.” (That’s an interesting thought from a mom.)

How does Jesus answer?

“Even more blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” Luke 11:28.

Could there be a woman more blessed than Mary? A mother more honored than Mary?

Yet Jesus says WE are more blessed than she if we:

(1) Hear the Word of God, and

(2) Obey it.

Are you hearing the Word? At home? In your car? At church or school? With friends? In your private reading?

And are you obeying His Word?

Both are important. Don’t miss your chance to be “even more blessed” than Mary.

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Your Mouth is Number One! Proverbs 18:24.

The reason we should eat healthy is because food is the number one way you interact with the environment.

Forget air pollution or germs or sunburns or floods or poison. The biggest impact on your health is what you SWALLOW.

In the same way, we must control our words, because our words are the number one way we interact with the world.

How do you share God’s love, and the hope and joy people need so badly right now? Through WORDS of HOPE. Nearly everything you will ever do to make a difference for Christ, you will do with WORDS. And people are listening!

But can you control what you say? YES!

Paul writes, “Do not let unwholesome words come out of your mouth, but only such a word as is good for encouragement, that it may give GRACE to those who hear” Ephesians 4:29.

James is even stronger: “If anyone thinks he is a Christian and does not bridle his tongue, he is deceiving himself and his faith is worthless” James 1:26.

What about Jesus? Did He ever speak on the tongue? Yes.

Jesus said, “The good man out of the good treasure in his heart produces good, and the evil man, out of the evil treasure produces evil, for OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKS” Luke 6:45.

Whatever is in your heart is going to come out. May our hearts be filled with God’s hope and love and grace and peace and joy.

Jesus also said that we will have to explain our bad words: “On the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak” Matt. 12:36.

And that makes sense—because words are IMPORTANT. Your words are number one. They are the most powerful thing you have, after your prayers.

Consider Proverbs:

“DEATH and LIFE are in the power of the tongue,” 18:24.

And “a gentle tongue is a TREE OF LIFE, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit” 15:4.

Your tongue has the power of life and death. Use it wisely.

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