Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, January 9, 2023.
If I am betrothed to a Husband, dedicating myself to Him, summarily rejecting the pursuit of all others and turning my back on the opportunity for any other life, if all that I am and all that I have has been committed to His trust and He never does anything on my behalf nor ever comes to receive and establish me, if our wedding is a lie, I am the most pitiable of all men.
Believing Christ and following Him comes with the tremendous risk of losing everything because it demands everything –a cost which I ponder often and one that those who claim to be Christian should count well (Luke 14:28-33).
If I am truly Christian, I have committed my life to Him. And if I am wrong, if I have believed a lie, I SHOULD BE the most pitiable of all men.
But, how am I pitiable if I continue to live as a bachelor, as someone free and available for courtship or even wantonly promiscuous –seeking selfish pleasure from any and everything that does not advance His interests as my Lord and that are unfitting for someone betrothed? How am I pitiable, if in the event that He never comes, I have not lost anything and my life looks like everyone else's?
Before we call ourselves Christians, we should ask, "Am I really engaged? Am I really committed to Christ? Do I believe to the point that I'm doing and giving up so much that I would be completely pitiable if what I believe turns out to be a lie?"
Lord Jesus, I believe You. Knowing you has transformed me. I believe you are the only begotten Son of God sent to save the world from sin that's killing us and to give life both now and in eternity to those who receive You. I accept Your proposal to be my Lord and Savior.
I believe the best thing to do with my life is to give it to You. Saving lives, giving Life, You on the throne as King of a kingdom that never ends –there is nothing more worthy to be a part of than what You're doing.
Help me to go all the way. Help me to not keep back parts of my life so I can maintain some independence, so in case I want to bail or in case the engagement fails. Help me to go all the way, to the extent that if You fail, I fail. Though, I don't believe that You will fail.
I believe in You and am trusting Your promises (John 14).
I am afraid, yet I am confident that You will not leave me ashamed. Help me to fully commit, forsaking all else, giving my possessions, position and power, wholly given to You, which is the only way marriage can occur. My earnest hope and desire is to be made One with You.
I trust You to prune me of everything that prevents our union and to keep me until that great day.
Help me to go all the way.
Amen.
"And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, December 12, 2022.
I believe I have received a Word. On this occasion, a word of correction for me:
I love money and it is preventing me from enjoying the "true riches" (Luke 16:11).
I am laboring "to take heed" as my Lord commands (Luke 8:18), to take hold of what I'm hearing, to chew it, drink it –consume it immediately, so that the Devil has no opportunity to steal it through distraction and deceit (Matthew 13:18) and so that I do not miss God while He's near. I do not want to miss my hour of visitation.
The Word that's burning on my heart is Matthew 13:44,
"the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field… and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
The man in this parable sees something of such worth that with "joy", sells all that he has to get it. To him, it is obvious that the "treasure" is worth more than everything that he has.
I, without question, see value in Jesus. I believe He's absolutely beautiful. But, I obviously don't see enough value to prevent me from thinking things in the world are still worth my affection and time. Obviously, I don't see enough value to forsake everything else to get it.
In an earlier chapter in my life I hit rock bottom by indulging in the very things that the world suggests will fulfill you: having stuff, living wild and being recognized, but it left me empty. So, I know intimately the worthlessness of worldly things. Jesus met me there and gave me the sweet, precious gift of faith that changed my life! Yet, here I find myself again enticed by the seductions of the world.
Therefore, I conclude, I don't see Him clearly because there should be no contest. So, I confess and cry out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Touch me again that I might see clearly (Mark 8:25).
I've tasted (Psalms 34:8) but I've not yet beheld (John 1:14, 1 John 1:1-4)
The man who sold all that he had for the treasure in the field was just a character in a parable, a story, but the apostle Paul was a real, living, breathing person who "beheld".
Jesus revealed himself to Paul and when Paul saw Him it was very obvious that Jesus was worth more than all that Paul had. He didn't even have to pull out his balance sheet. He writes,
"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ" Philippians 3:8
I want to see Jesus like that!
And, I can.
Jesus shows the way.
In both the parable of the man who found the treasure in the field and the parable of the merchant who found the one pearl of great price, they both "found" which indicates they were looking.
Jesus told us there's a treasure: the kingdom of God, wherein are the true riches. He alone provides the way. But, to walk through the Door, I have to leave everything behind.
I believe Him but do I believe Him enough to forsake everything I know to lay hold of the treasure He promises?
I believe I do.
In light of this revelation, I feel like I've been at the door, in the lobby, at the threshold of Paradise all this time and a door opens revealing that there is so much more. It reminds me of when David writes,
"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." -Psalms 84:10
Though I may have been just at the door all this time, a single day here is vastly better than one thousand in the world. I would rather stay here at the door in the house of my God, than a lifetime in the best place on earth without Him (aka impermanent, fleeting, "tents of wickedness").
But, I don't have to stay at the door. Jesus bids me come to see so much more.
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
God is dealing with me.
When we read the Bible, we can have a tendency to see characters that we like to think of ourselves as, such as a Mary, Peter or Paul, but God has been revealing to me that I'm often the Pharisee.
I'm thankful.
The Word is Light that reveals sin: values, positions, ideas and behavior that prevent me from fully knowing and enjoying God. I should not shrink back but come fully into the light to be completely exposed so I can identify the things I need to forsake and surrender to God.
God doesn't reveal these things to condemn me but so that I can confess the corruption of my heart and come to Him to be healed.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9
Right now, God is dealing with me on my love of the world and money. Those things are preventing me from fully knowing and enjoying Him –the only One who is truly good and the only One that truly satisfies (James 1:16-17). I repent and to the extent that He reveals it, I'm laboring to follow after Christ, seeking the Kingdom, forsaking the world and my life in it (more on this later).
Don't cover up. Confess. Come to a loving Father who's heart is to cleanse and restore you, not crush you.
Photo Copyright and Courtesy of Upper Darby Potter's House
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, December 5, 2022.
Some believe our savior isn't real, that we Christians worship a dead or fictitious Jesus, because He is no longer with us bodily.
But Jesus is even more real now than when He walked the earth because He has returned to what He always was –Spirit, with the Father as a member of God (John 4:24, 14:12,28).
We have Jesus more now than those who actually saw and interacted with Him in the flesh but did not believe. We who believe His Word by the gift and facilitation of the Holy Spirit truly have Him. We have Him spiritually and He is experienced in a very real way, in spirit and in truth –through loving Him (spirit) and obeying His Word (truth) [John 4:24, 14:19-23].
Having someone in a way where you cannot be separated (spiritually, because in the flesh you can be separated) and knowing them in a way that produces the effect of their presence (love, joy, peace), is more real than just perceiving them with our natural senses: sight, sound and touch.
When we have Jesus, the spiritual and eternal is more real than the physical and temporary and fruit is the verifiable evidence that even proves to the world that He and our fellowship with Him is real (John 13:35, 15:1-17).
**Note: To be clear, I do not mean to imply that Jesus was any less God when He walked the earth. I fully believe Colossians 2:9 that declares "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." I mean that what we could perceive and know of Him was less then than what we are able to now. Because of the awesome gift of the Holy Spirit, we can know and experience the Lord even more fully through the ever-increasing revelation of Jesus Christ as the Spirit leads us into all truth.
Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, December 4, 2022.
I enjoy grits.
A lot of people load them with butter, cheese and even stuff like shrimp.
All I need is salt.
Grits boiled in water and salt.
Without salt, grits become a mushy mess in your mouth with no flavor because everything tastes the same.
Salt altogether changes the flavor, bringing out the taste and even textures that would have otherwise been undetectable.
Salt accomplishes this feat because its taste is distinct. Its flavor is sharp, almost biting, like a minor key in a major chord, elevating the melody of the ingredients on our palette.
The world is a mushy flavorless mess. Everything tastes the same and the world doesn't even know what it's missing because Christians are like everyone around them. We, too often, are not set apart, peculiar or distinct.
We're salt with no flavor.
Our Lord taught that one of the defining characteristics of those who are true salt (authentic disciples of Jesus Christ) is their relationship to money.
Luke 14:34-35 says,
“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
And, here's the verse that immediately precedes it:
"So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."
Luke 14:33
As Christians many of us have lost our flavor because we seek what the world seeks, –our heart's desire is material gain and to lay up treasure on earth (according to the pattern and value system of this world). Repent, with me.
Lord Jesus, I love money (material possessions). I repent! Give me your heart and free me from the love of money so that I may be salt for You to lead people into the everlasting enjoyment of the true riches!
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, November 28, 2022.
"How can I be certain about faith in Jesus Christ among so many religions?"
The same way you marry one spouse among so many options:
Someone makes an advance that reveals a different world of possibility.
You evaluate the offer to accept or reject and then commit.
You choose.
I don't know about other religions, but Jesus made that advance.
He came for you personally in the flesh and, even now, incessantly makes advances to declare God's Love to you.
As Abraham sent his servant for Rebecca, Jesus sends disciple after disciple in the flesh to you.
Jesus has propositioned you and proven His fitness as a suitor and His Love for you, His willingness to give everything for you, to be with you and to draw you to Himself.
The question is do you want the life and different world of possibility that Jesus offers?
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” -Luke 9:57-58
Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, November 19, 2022.
Don't be deceived by the smiles.
All was not well in paradise. It is a useful reminder that pictures on social media doesn't tell the whole story.
Moments after this picture was taken, Melissa and I had one of the biggest fights we've had this year.
There's struggle behind those smiles.
The moral of the story is that nicer things or fancier places doesn't fix the problems of the heart, that we're not perfect (nor need to be) and that you never arrive in marriage.
We should never become complacent. We must be careful not to forget that we have an adversary and that we're in hostile, enemy territory.
Either you're fighting to get closer or you're being pulled apart (by enemy forces).
I thank God for 21 years of glorious war. There's no one I'd rather be in the foxhole with than Melissa Luckett.
I hope to encourage the body of Christ at large and my married friends who are a microcosm of that body that they don't have to be perfect but persistent and to always be fighting toward each other -toward oneness in Christ, using the weapons of His warfare, by His grace and for His glory.
Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, November 18, 2022.
Marriage is the awesome and intricate process of God making two, one.
You don't get to 21 years of marriage accidentally, nor do you get there alone.
In celebration of this year's anniversary, Melissa and I visited our mentors, Pearson and Pepper Liddell who not only ministered to us during our stay but demonstrated hospitality in the most biblical sense. They opened their beautiful home in Hawaii to us and even provided a car for us to use. They anticipated our every need, even down to beach chairs and water bottles. We were wonderfully cared for and lacked no good thing.
They keep schooling us on how our homes and the picture of marriage are used to reflect God's character and to demonstrate how He loves. Through their marriage ministry we've made lifelong friends that, to this day, are people we call for help with this wonderful ministry and mystery called marriage. That community and accountability has been vital to the health of our marriage. As a result, Melissa and I are significantly closer to being one than when we began.
So, on this anniversary we give thanks for 21 years of marriage and for every person that helped to get us there.
Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, November 17, 2022.
I told a group of white brothers that one of the tensions that divide blacks and whites in the body of Christ is that participation only seems to work one way.
I said bluntly,
"Whites always want blacks to come to their stuff but [it seems] whites don't think it's worthwhile to go where black are hosting [namely, where blacks are leading]."
You know what they did?
They said, "Thank you."
What's perhaps more remarkable is what they didn't do. Because their hearts desire was for His righteousness and correction, instead of justification, they did not recoil, they did not deflect AND they did NOT necessarily agree with me. But, they stood on the sure foundation of Christ, willing to set whatever was necessary aside, in order to meet me there, to the end that other sheep of other folds that hear and follow the voice of Jesus would be One –one flock with one Shepherd. (John 10:16)
Join us.
Laymen Fellowship
Today, Thursday, November 17, 2022 6:30 PM
FIRST BAPTIST LONGVIEW CHURCH
976 LONGVIEW RD
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
