Category: discipleship

  • A Decaying Legacy

    Our true legacy is in Christ

    old pier posts on Fraser River - a legacy of times gobe by. Where is your legacy?

    There isn’t much left of this old pier on the Fraser River. A few  nearly rotted-out pilings mark the spot where it once stood. What was its story?

    Was it used to moor small craft? For logging? Fisheries? All are possibilities along this stretch of the river. It once served a purpose, but now it sits largely forgotten and will eventually decay, slowly rotting away until nothing remains to show it was ever there.

    Places like these, along with old abandoned buildings, capture my imagination. I wonder what their story was, and long to hear the tales they could tell if they could speak.

    Alas, they remain silent, unable to share their history and legacy. As I pondered the ruins, I wondered what my legacy would be. How will I be remembered? It’s a natural question.

    Few of us leave a legacy that lasts more than a couple of generations. Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, relatively few have left behind a mark remembered more than two or three generations. Even most of those faded into obscurity over the long haul. 

    Wealthy individuals spend fortunes to ensure their names live on in hospitals, libraries, and sports stadiums. Yet those things are eventually replaced, renamed, or fall into ruins.

    While it would be nice, in a way, to leave a legacy here on earth that lasts forever, it’s not going to happen.

    I hope that the legacy of my life results in a few words from Jesus when I arrive in glory.

    In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a master who entrusts some currency to some servants. Two of the servants are faithful to invest it well, but the third does not.

    To the servants who were faithful, Jesus says, 

    His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Mathew 25:21 ESV

    I long to hear those words. In truth, I haven’t always been faithful, and the times I have been, it was only with this help. Still, I long to please the one who died to save me.

    My performance won’t impact my salvation. We are saved by grace, through faith in His finished work. Yet He loved me enough to die for me, how else can I show my gratitude?

    I pray that your legacy is to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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  • Harbor Mouse

    Scripture can never mean what it wan’t intended

    Mouse shaped rock in harbor Blaine Washington

    I snapped this photo of a rock in the harbor at Blaine,  Washington. It is nothing spectacular; when I looked at it, I looked like a mouse to me.

    Of course, I know it isn’t a real mouse, but looking at it reminded me that things are not always as they appear.

    Just because something sounds biblical or has a Bible verse attached doesn’t make it true. I’m not saying the Bible is untrue. I believe the entire Bible is God-inspired and entirely trustworthy.

    All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

    People can misuse Scripture intentionally to mislead. They can also misunderstand what the Scriptures teach and unknowingly teach error. I’m certain we have all done that on occasion to one degree or another.

    We’ve given someone a “word of encouragement” that doesn’t mean what we think it does. We interpret a passage to support what we want it to mean, rather than what it teaches. We “claim a promise” that isn’t a promise to us or even a promise at all.

    A common example is “Train up a child in the way he should go;
    even when he is old he will not depart from it.”     We claim this “promise” from God when our children go astray. This quote is a proverb (Proverbs 22:6), not a promise. A proverb is a general truism, not a guarantee.

    When a child or loved one strays, we must pray for them. We know God is loving, merciful, sovereign, and answers prayers. Still, we don’t know His plan or His timing. God can, and often does, restore those who have wandered away.

    Scripture can never mean what it was not intended to mean. We can jump through all sorts of hermeneutical hoops to make it seem to mean something else, but it’s still only going to mean what God intended.

    His Word is trustworthy. God never lies, nor does He fail to keep His promises. We need to read and study the Word in context and be sure to understand what it meant to the original audience. The Scriptures were written for us, not to us.

    Trust in His Word and His character. He loves enough to send His Son to die on our Behalf and His Spirit to indwell us.

    Hold fast to the truth.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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