Category: Christian Living

  • Big Foot and Good People

    At least one and maybe both are mythical

    I did it; I captured Bigfoot on film. Not the Yeti, the American Coot, whose big feet enable it to walk atop water vegetation with ease. Similar terms, but with completely different meanings. 

    That happens all the time in discussions of faith and religion. Someone will say, “I believe in God,” but what God? The God of the Bible or from another faith or even something you’ve crafted in your head? Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, pantheists, and more would give you a different definition of God but use the same word.

    Someone will tell you that they are a good person. What is good? By whose definition are you good? Do you mean you think you aren’t as evil as someone else, or that you make fewer mistakes than someone else? Do you mean you do enough good things to make up for the bad?

    I don’t know if Bigfoot is real or mythical, but most think it’s mythical. If so, it has more in common with good people than you might think.

    The Bible has some hard teaching on that subject.

    And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Mark 10:17-18

    The rich young ruler wasn’t a particularly evil man; in fact, from what follows, most people might say he was good.

    You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:19-22

    He seemed to have at least tried to keep all the rules of the Law. It would have been impossible, but at least he made the effort. Still, he wasn’t a good person.

    Or perhaps you can say, I keep all the commandments, and I don’t love wealth like the ruler, so I’m good. Still, Jesus would say you aren’t good. Only God can say that.

    The bible says we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and if we say we are without sin we are liars deceiving ourselves (1 John 1:8). That’s totally contrary to what the world teaches. Other than Jesus, God made flesh, no one has ever been good, at least in God’s eyes.

    That doesn’t mean we are without hope. The gospel clearly proclaims that if we trust in Jesus by faith, we will be born again and forgiven. We are covered in the righteousness of Jesus until we get to glory, where we will be without sin.

    If you haven’t come to Christ yet, open your heart today. If you are already His, rejoice that He loved you even when you were far from God and came to set you free.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I finally caught ‘Bigfoot’ on camera, but it was an American Coot, not a legendary creature. That same kind of mix-up happens when someone says they believe in God or that they’re a good person.

    TAKEAWAY

    If you think you’re a good person, ask yourself by what standard you’re measuring “good.”

    You can keep every rule you know and still fall short, because Jesus said only God is truly good.

    If you’ve trusted Jesus, you’re covered by His righteousness, not by how good you’ve managed to be on your own.

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  • Snatched from the Fire

    Mercy without excusing sin

    I often hear people say the Old Testament has no value today, and I completely disagree. I was reading in the Minor prophets this morning and hit a verse in Amos where the wording immediately brought to mind some parallel passages.

    I was in Amos, and the Lord is rebuking Israel for their unfaithfulness. He had rescued them from harm and yet they still rebelled.

    “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord. Amos 4:11 ESV

    That reminded me of another verse, one I wrote about recently. Satan is accusing the High Priest before God. The Lord extends compassion and mercy without excusing the sin.

    Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Zechariah 3:1-2

    A burning stick pulled from the fire suggests something (or someone) being pulled from the very precipice of danger. The stick has already begun to burn; it will be unsalvageable shortly.

    That, too, led me to the New Testament book of Jude.

    But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.  Jude 1:17-23 ESV

    The metaphor of the burning branch is clear in the New Testament as it stands, but our understanding is enriched by seeing it through Old Testament eyes, as Jude’s audience would have.

    There is an interesting progression in Jude’s letter.

    Jude 22 — mercy toward those who doubt

    Jude 23a — actively rescue those in greater danger

    Jude 23b — remain morally separated from the contamination itself

    That combination is very much at home in the Old Testament: compassion for the person, intervention to rescue the person, and rejection of the sin/uncleanness.

    Jude’s audience were living in dark times with many mocking and oppressing them, and things were getting worse. Does that sound familiar? Yet they were to be merciful, offer the grace of God and reject sin.

    That’s the way Christians are called to live. It isn’t a New Testament “thing”; it’s been God’s way from the beginning.

    May we find ourselves living and preaching the gospel and snatching others from the very fires of Hell.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    A verse in Amos this morning tied together the rescue images in Amos, Zechariah, and Jude, all showing God’s mercy without excusing sin. Jude’s call to show mercy, rescue the endangered, and still reject sin isn’t new; it’s the same pattern God used long before the New Testament.

    TAKEAWAY

    Amos, Zechariah, and Jude all picture someone already burning, pulled out before the fire consumes them.

    You’re called to follow Jude’s pattern toward others: mercy for those who doubt, active rescue for those in greater danger, and a clear rejection of the sin itself.

    You can trust that pairing mercy with truth isn’t a New Testament invention. It’s how God has dealt with people from the start.

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