The Temptation of Christ

There are moments – few and far between – when I feel like I get it.  Today I feel like I get the temptation of Christ. 

Ever since I was a little girl I have wondered about that, wondered why it was so important, wondered how in the world Christ could even BE tempted – by the Devil, no less.  I have read that passage several times, talked about it with my husband, listened to pastors preach on it, to teachers at school teach about it, and today I feel like I get it.

It struck me that it wasn’t so much what Satan was offering to give the Lord, but what he was offering Him to miss. 

Remember when Christ was in the garden, right before the soldiers came to get Him, and He was praying and asked His disciples to keep watch and they fell asleep?  Do you remember His prayer?  "Father, please!  Please don’t make Me do this!  If there is ANY other way, please, PLEASE let Me do it THAT way instead of this one!  Please!"  Oh no, this Man did NOT want to die, not at all.  He saw the hook and wanted off of it.  And that’s kind of the beauty of it all, because He SO didn’t want to do it, but He did it anyway, because God said, "I’m sorry My Beloved Son, there is no other way, if there was, absolutely I’d do it that way for You."  And Jesus sighed and said, "Okay then, let’s get ‘er done."  And He died for our sins, all of them, past, present, and future – and you do realize that all your sins were future to Him in that moment, right?  So you can’t have any unforgiven sin when you become a Christian, get it?  But that’s another post.

So all these years when I’ve read about Christ’s temptation in the desert, how Satan offered Him this and that, it occurred to me just today, how tempting would that be to a man who’s beginning His mission to die?  "I’ll give You these things and You won’t have to DIE … just worship me … "  Yeah, pretty tempting, I think.  Because, you know, it was a pretty horrible death, and can you really blame Him for not wanting to do it?  So for someone to come along and basically say, "If You do these things now, You won’t have to die at the end of Your mission," I think that’s what the temptation was about, at the heart of it.  A "get off the cross free" card. 

Now, I could be totally off base, but today, it makes perfect sense to me, at last.  I sure as heck wouldn’t want to die for me or anyone else either and if the Devil came along and offered me a way out of it, I’d probably take it. 

Thankfulness

I am thankful today for answered prayers.  And maybe this post should go up on the faith blog as well, since it deals with those kinds of things.  But that’s what I’m thankful for today.  There are moments in life when the Lord just reaches out and touches you, sits down and has a cup of coffee with you, and tells you how things are going to be.  There are moments when He soothes your fears and reassures you that things are going to be okay.  There are moments when He laughs with delight like a schoolboy and cries, “Watch!  Wait ‘til you see what I’m going to do!  This is so cool!” 

For quite some time now I’ve been feeling like the Lord has been saying to me, “My majesty, let Me show you it!”  And let me tell ya, it’s mind boggling to behold.  I have been watching Him work in amazing ways in the lives of Darc and I for the last few weeks – things that I really can’t yet go into detail here – but please believe me when I tell you, God is here.  Right now.  In my house.  He’s been raising valleys and lowering mountains.  Obstacles?  What obstacles?  He’s been soothing, reassuring, comforting, and most of all, smiling.  You have no idea what it feels like to have the Creator of the universe smile at you, especially when there were so many years when it seemed like He didn’t.  There are times I feel like my head is going to explode with all the insights I’m understanding now, things that didn’t make sense before, all of a sudden are crystal clear with that, “OHHH!” sensation. 

So we’ve had a few breathless moments here at the Darc House.  Most times, in the lives of Christians, they have periods where they can look back and see that God had been working in their life at a particular point, but it’s almost always in hindsight.  And I have those moments too.  But right now, I don’t need to look back, because I’m looking around and seeing Him working now, in the moment, day by day.  And I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am for that. 

A Tale

I gasped, and stared, horrified, at the broken bits and pieces on the floor near my feet.  The pieces blurred and shimmered through my tears.

I felt His hand stroke my hair.  “Hush,” He soothed.  He sat on the floor and patted the spot next to Him, motioning for me to join Him. 

One by one, He picked up the pieces.  I watched, silent, as He reached in His pocket and produced a little bottle.  “What’s that?” I asked, curious.

“Watch,” He said.

He picked up a piece, applied some of the liquid in the bottle to the edge, picked up another piece, and joined them together.  Patiently, silently, He did that for what seemed like ages.

He held the finished product in His hands.  I stared.  “Some of the pieces are missing.”

“Yes,” He said.

“It’s not the same.”

“No,” He replied.

I stared.  “It’s kind of pretty, though.”

“It is, isn’t it?” He agreed.  He stood, and placed His handiwork on a shelf. 

“Can I hold it?”

“When you’re ready.  But the glue never dries, just so you know.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“So that each time you hold it, it won’t break again, but it will change shape.  It’s flexible.”

“That’s some special glue.  What’s in it?”

“Faith, Hope, and Tears.  It’s what I always use to fix broken dreams.”

“How will I know when I’m ready to hold it again?”

“You’ll know,” He said.  “When it becomes as beautiful to you as it was before it was broken, you’ll know.”

He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on my head, and left.

Funny with a zinger!

What to wear to church

One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally well read Bible. The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and jewelry.

As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it. As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor: "Before you come back here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in church." The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.

The preacher approached the cowboy and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."

"I did," replied the old cowboy.

"If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping here?" asked the preacher.

"Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He said He’d never been in this church."

Sunny Side Up

It seems to me that so many people hate Christianity and are always knocking it.  One of the things they seem to hate about it the most is the Hell concept.  “A loving God shouldn’t send people to Hell for all eternity!”  Just so you know, He doesn’t “send” people to Hell. 

See, I think people have this idea that they’re all going to Heaven, and that somehow God interferes with their plans and forces their Heaven-bound planes in a 180.  It’s really not like that.  It’s more like we’re on a sinking Hell-bound ship and God’s tossed us a life raft.  Jesus is sort of like a Coast Guard rescue ‘copter and we’re in the midst of storm-tossed seas, floundering in our own sin, and sinking fast.  The only people who are Heaven bound are those who jump in the raft.  Can you imagine anyone drowning yet rejecting the help that comes?  Me either, and yet that’s how those who reject Christ seem to me.  So it’s not that God is sending anyone to Hell – it’s that everyone’s already headed there and He offers them a saving chance.  We call that salvation. 

God is Holy, and Heaven is a holy place.  Un-holiness cannot reside there, in any form, or it would cease to be holy.  The only way for people to become holy is to accept the offer of Christ’s sacrificial blood as atonement for their sins.  If they don’t have that, they can’t become holy, and no-holy means no-heaven.  It’s pretty simple, really.  (Jn 14:6)

I’ve heard some of the other post-death places that other belief systems claim to believe in.  Some people think your soul just … ceases.  Nothingness.  There’s reincarnation – great, a chance to deal with this crap all over again – sort of like betting $10 on the instant replay and expecting different results, since you’re supposedly starting from scratch each time with no memories – and thus no “life lessons” from the “previous life.”  Some religions think souls just sort of wander around as ghosts, which is similar to reincarnation to me in some ways, you just don’t get the different body thing.  There’s the purgatory idea, which is not Biblical.  It implies that Christ’s death was fairly meaningless since you still have to somehow atone for your earthly sins post-death.  (Eph 2:8-9; Jn 19:30).  Some believe you go to live on another planet after death. 

Here’s the thing: if I don’t believe in any of those other religions and I die … not much bad happens.  At least, not in the “eternity” scheme of things.  Nothingness may seem bad at first glance, but when you get to the heart of it, if you cease to exist, you don’t know you’re in a bad way.  If I reject Christ though, I have the rest of eternity to know I mucked it up, in the biggest, baddest, worst way possible, I had my chance and I blew it. 

In accepting Christ, there’s no down side.  If I’m wrong about Him, well, things still won’t end too badly.  If I’m right, I have the biggest, best, most wonderful kind of eternity to look forward to – complete with total joy, love, peace, and comfort.  It’s a win-win all the way around. 

An interesting note, too, is the fact that of all the other religions in the world, none of them have a founder who claimed to have risen from the dead, except one.  Gotta love that “been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale” quality.  I’ll stick with the guy in the know.

~~Ness~~

Bells

I got this in the newsletter from the place where I get my homeschool program.  I thought it was cute, so I decided to spread the love. 

Some Funnies :)

Knock at the Door

A new pastor was visiting the homes of his parishioners.
At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door.
When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, Genesis 3:10."
Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.
Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid, for I was naked."

 

 

A Christian Puppy

A Baptist couple decide that they want to get a dog. As they are walking down the street in town, they notice that a sign in the pet shop is advertising "Christian Puppies." Their interest piqued, they go inside.
"How do you know they’re Christian puppies?"
"Watch," says the owner, as he takes one of the dogs and says, "Fetch the Bible." The dog runs over to the desk, and grabs the Bible in its mouth and returns. Putting the Bible on the floor, the owner says, "Find Psalm 23." The dog flips pages with its paw until he reaches the right page, and then stops. Amazed and delighted, the couple purchase the dog and head home.
That evening, they invite some friends over and show them the dog, having him run through his Psalm 23 routine. Impressed, one of the visitors asks "Does he also know ‘regular’ commands?"
"Gee, we don’t know. We didn’t ask," replies the husband.
Turning to the dog, he says, "Sit." The dog sits. He says, "Lie down." The dog lies down. He says "Roll over." The dog rolls over.
He says "Heel." The dog runs over to him, jumps up on the sofa, puts both paws on the owner’s forehead and bows his head.
"Oh look!" the wife exclaims. "He’s PENTECOSTAL!"

I’m okay, You’re okay

Not.

My husband and I were talking a few weeks ago, about Heaven, and non-believers.  We were discussing how people believe they’ll go to Heaven without the Biblical pre-requisite of belief in Christ.  There are those who don’t believe in the concept of sin.  Those who do believe in “karma.”  Some who do believe in God, but not Jesus.  They all seem to boil down to one simple little statement: “I’m a good person.” 

We seem to define a “good person” as someone who hasn’t killed anyone, or eaten people.  “I’m certainly a lot better than Hitler or Dahmer!  Why wouldn’t I go to Heaven when I die?” 

My husband’s response to statements like that is this, “Well, you may be better than Hitler, but are you better, or even as good, as Jesus?” 

It strikes me that we try to elevate our self-worth by comparing ourselves to a known evil, because surely we’re not as bad as they are.  Surely not!  We’re not sinful!  We don’t “need” a Savior.  We pay our taxes, we don’t steal, we’re not worthy of anything so terrible as Hell.  Jesus was a good guy and all, and okay, maybe He was perfect, but I don’t need Him to get into Heaven.  I’m a good person.

Except … we’re not.  The Bible teaches us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Rom 3:23)  Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.”  (Mark 10:18)  The fact of the matter is, we can never be good enough to earn our way into Heaven.  “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”  (Eph. 2:8-9)  This is a gift, we can’t earn it.  We can’t buy it.  We can only believe in it, in Him, to get it. 

During the course of our discussion, my husband suggested that non-believers might think that Heaven is filled with good people, that Christians are somehow good – but we can look around and see how many aren’t good at all, so why should they get a free pass?  “Well gee, Joe Christian over there cheated on his wife, and he gets into Heaven just because he’s a ‘Christian,’ when I’ve never cheated on mine?  He’s not so much better than me!” 

No, he’s not.  And here’s the kick – good people don’t go to Heaven.  Christians really aren’t “good” at all, we’re not any less mucked up than anyone else.  We have issues and baggage and faults, lots of them.  We do a lot of things wrong, we make mistakes, we screw up.  But we are redeemed.  We don’t get into Heaven because we’re good; we know we’re not good, we know we’re sinners.  We just accepted the gift of salvation that Christ offered, and we believe in Him.  There are no good people in Heaven. 

And did you ever stop to think – if even Hitler or Dahmer had accepted Christ before they died, they’d be in Heaven. 

See, it’s not about what you do, it’s about Who you know.  It’s about Jesus, not you.  And when you die, you’ll only get asked one question – theoretically speaking – when you get to those pearly gates: “Did you believe in My Son?”  If the answer is no, you’re not getting in, no matter how good you think you are, because good people don’t go to Heaven. 

That’s how much God loves you.  He knew you’d have no chance of ever getting to glory on your own merits, so He provided the way.  He did everything, so you could join the party, that’s how much He wants you there.  It’s come as you are, and all you have to do is accept the gift.  How’s that for a free ride?  He’s throwing a party, and He even gives out the gift too!  He bought and paid for it all, and you only need to show up with your pass, that He gives you, the name of Jesus.  Think of it as a present, sitting on a shelf, with your name on the name tag, just waiting for you, for 2,000 years now.  Seriously, how much love is that?  He’s been waiting for you, hoping you’ll come.  Because He loves you, and doesn’t want you to miss the celebration.  Will you come? 

Excuses Excuses!

No More Excuses!

The next time you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember…
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer.
AND*****
Lazarus was dead!
Now! No more excuses!
God can use you to your full potential.
Besides you aren’t the message, you are just the messenger.

Just Starting!

Give me a second, I’m just getting this page going!  Thanks!