Change You Can Believe In

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, 

that you should follow in his steps.

– 1 Peter 2:21

Early followers of Jesus were called Little Christs because their newfound faith had transformed their lives for all to see. This odd group of people from all walks of life — rich and poor, male and female, slave and free — were markedly different from the rest of society. They somehow had grown more caring and generous toward both neighbors and strangers alike, and they willingly sacrificed their time and resources to ease sorrow and correct injustice.

They had abandoned their old, selfish tendencies in favor of something much greater. In a word, they were changed.

And that says much for their leader — an obscure rabbi from a distant corner of the Roman Empire, who just happened to be God’s own Son. Few recognized that

at the time. But because some did and led changed lives while following Jesus, millions in future generations would in turn help to change the world for the better.

Modern-day Christ-followers must too set aside their selfish deeds and desires in favor of following Jesus’ example. Like those first disciples transformed by the words of the Sermon on the Mount, we should recognize that Jesus the Leader was also Jesus the Follower. Christ spoke constantly with his Father (God) in prayer and always sought his guidance.

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,” explained Jesus, “because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

It’s a radical approach that’s just as life-changing today as it was 20 centuries ago. And it’s also an approach that calls for personal action, commitment and sacrifice. But we can’t change on our own.

So whether you’ve been following Jesus for five years or 55, grasp every opportunity to become more like him, walk in his ways and see the world through his eyes. Then ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit — that personal, loving Power who makes it possible to leave your old self behind and become a new creation. Eventually, through the trials of life and the whispers of his leadings, we’ll become the men and women our Creator always dreamed we could be.

Doing a New Thing

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

If you had only 10 words to describe the Bible, timeless should be one of them. After all, one of God’s repeated lessons to us through his Word is that there are certain truths and principles that are as relevant today as they were 2,000 years ago. For example, it’s hard to argue that we don’t reap what we sow in life. If we spend our lives loving our neighbors as ourselves and otherwise make a positive difference among friends and strangers alike, good will result in one form or another. That was true then and still is today. Nothing has changed in God’s eyes.

While these fundamentals remain constant, another ongoing Biblical theme is God’s willingness to spring some surprises on those who think they know it all. That’s because

every once in a while, God likes to do a new thing. And he tends to accomplish his plans in some very unexpected ways and places through some even more unlikely people.

We can see this throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Moses had a speech impediment. King David was a shepherd boy. Jesus was born and spent his ministry in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire. And his disciples included fishermen, a tax collector and (depending on the translation) a terrorist. Even the apostle Paul — the great missionary who wrote several books of the Bible — initially persecuted Christians before he literally saw the light. The respectable religious authorities of his time were astonished. It just wasn’t what they expected.

Indeed, God chose an unlikely bunch to spread his kingdom on earth. And he used each and every one of them in ways that have shaped our walks as Christ-followers to this very day.

Let's now fast-forward to 2020, which has brought us all considerable change amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans have left their offices to work from home each day — or they’re looking for work following a sudden layoff or furlough. Toilet paper is scarce and many businesses have closed. But rest assured that better days are yet to come. And as Christ-followers, this time of uncertainty reminds us about the many ways our Creator intersects unexpected circumstances, people and places to achieve the greater good.

God continues to do new, amazing things to build his new creation. Let us all perceive it!

Death and Taxes

“Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

– Matthew 28:7

The saying goes that only two things in life are inevitable: death and taxes. And the prospect of either one is a downer, to say the least.

However, there’s good news on both fronts. Due to the economic and social uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS has granted a three-month extension for filing and paying federal income taxes. And here’s something even better to contemplate: Death isn’t so permanent and inevitable after all.

If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have absolutely nothing to fear! In fact, death is simply the transition between our relatively brief existence on Earth and an eternity of joy with Jesus. From Revelation — the final book of the Bible — we read that the troubles, tears and sorrows of life

will be a thing of the past. That sounds like something to anticipate rather than fear.

How is this possible?

In short, it’s the Easter story. After Jesus willingly accepted the death penalty on a Roman cross to pay for all our sins, he proved that he was indeed God’s son by fulfilling multiple Old Testament prophesies and rising again to life. The huge boulder that had just days earlier sealed his grave was rolled away. His tomb was revealed to be empty and hollow. And so also was the Devil’s greatest weapon against humanity: the threat of death.

It’s an image that reveals an obvious truth: one day, death will take you and me. But death can’t keep us because it’s been defeated through Jesus’ triumphant resurrection.

Regardless of what popular culture has made it, Easter is a special day that means much more than chocolate rabbits and colorful, hard-boiled eggs. It’s really a celebration about overcoming the inevitable and defeating the unbeatable. The apostle Paul sums up this reassuring news through Romans 6:5:

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

With death now out of the way, that list of life’s inevitables just got shorter. Happy Easter!

Words to the Wise

Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

– John 19:40

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is delaying the 2020 Major League Baseball season, it’s still a good time to remember one of the game’s longtime stars and colorful characters of yesteryear.

And who can forget Yogi Berra? The New York Yankees catcher, outfielder and manager was a 15-time All-Star and a three-time American League Most Valuable Player. What's more, he caught a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Berra also attained the sport's greatest honor through his 1972 induction into the Hall of Fame. But the St. Louis native was also well known for his "Yogi-isms" — unique words of wisdom about everyday life that left his listeners scratching their collective heads.

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it," Berra once said. Then there was this

bit of sage counsel: "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." And who could argue when he opined, "You can observe a lot by watching."

Although Yogi Berra's words were no doubt brilliant, Israel's King Solomon probably beat the Hall of Famer when it came to wisdom and discernment. In fact, Solomon asked God for wisdom — rather than wealth or fame — after he assumed the throne following his father's (King David) death. God honored Solomon's wise request with wisdom beyond human understanding. And great riches and celebrity soon followed.

Solomon was an effective ruler when he lived by God's standards, and he used his wisdom to administer justice throughout Israel. But despite this, Solomon tended to strike out in his personal life and make poor decisions when he took his eyes off the ball. It's through his years of "learning-it-the-hard-way" that Solomon penned Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book that summarizes many of the wise king's observations about life.

His first observation was that this is our one and only life. And it's only through God that we can find true happiness in it. Likewise, our lives are short. Therefore, we need to make the most of the opportunities God gives us each day.

Although our lives are brief, they are more like cross-country marathons than straight-away sprints. Jesus centuries later affirmed Solomon's observation: "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction," Christ warned his followers, "and many enter through it."  The takeaway is that we must enter the Kingdom of God via life's winding roads and narrow gate. The hard way is the only way.

Finally, Solomon wrote that everyone's hour will come when they leave this brief lifetime and pass into the next chapter of existence. And since none of us knows exactly when that will be, we all must be ready; for both when we'll die and for where we'll spend eternity.

With the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic anyone's guess these days, how can we prepare when life is so full of unknowns?

The first step on the guaranteed road to spiritual success is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior — the One who is ready, willing and waiting to wipe away all the failures of our past and give us new life and a fresh start.

If you think it's too late in life to start over, you still have time as long as you're still breathing. Yogi Berra's wise words sum it all up: "It ain't over 'til it's over."