shepherd – Page 5 – Broken Believers

He Was at Home

“A few days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, the news spread that he was at home.”

Mark 2:1

You can’t hide the presence of Jesus. There is a ‘built-in’ need for Him in the hearts of men and women. You can’t keep it quiet, it is an open secret. Believing people let it out in many ways. You can see it in their faces, and hear it in their voices. They become gentle and caring, where once was selfishness and anger. Peace is present, and a wonderful new thing called joy. They can’t help but share about their new guest, when they speak it spontaneously spills out.

Spring flowers can’t help their beautiful fragrance. There is a fragrance that announces that He is present. You might say that He takes over, just as a bright light takes over the darkness. When Jesus is present, His brightness pushes through the cracks and shines out every window. He cannot be contained or hidden. Love itself is invisible. But it has an effect on all who take it in. The very presence of Jesus transforms us.

My heart is now His home.

People travel and gather great works of art. They collect these things of beauty and culture. They will go out of their way to search for paintings and statues of grace and elegance, and finding them they will spend a great deal of money to obtain them. But no one or nothing can compare to having Christ as the honored guest. The poorest farmer can be the wealthiest man. No matter how quietly Jesus enters, His presence will soon make itself known. Where Christ truly abides, nothing but good will be observed.

“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”

Ephesians 3:17, NLT

Do You Love Me?

“When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

John 21:15-16

This is a favorite passage for believers throughout the whole world. I think the reason is that it’s a transferable concept; it is something that communicates well to a heart and life that is struggling very hard. If you think about it everything in the story is coming to us from two places. Either Peter’s failure, or Jesus’ grace.

Failure is a brutal teacher; but man, do you learn! Much of the teaching had already been done in Peter’s life. His denial and cowardice had already been worked out, and Peter then had to live with himself. He was defeated and very lost before this meeting on the beach.

Jesus’ heart is to reconcile his errant disciple with Him, and with Peter himself. Peter is stuck; in his own failure and denial, and he needs Jesus to touch him in His own impenetrable darkness. People who have failed God will understand this. We have been in the darkness, and only Jesus can rescue us from its empty pain.

We see what amounts to a ‘good’ interrogation. Peter, the failure, is asked over and over by Jesus the “Question”. “Do you love me? This is a simple and basic inquiry. “Do you love me?”

Peter in his pathetic state, is forced to generate a response to Jesus that destroys his own confusion and apathy. It’s neat to see Jesus pulverizing the foundations of darkness in Peter’s life. He does it with a skill and deftness that leaves us in awe of Jesus’ love. Peter had denied knowing the Lord three times. It is fitting that Jesus would ask His question three times as well.

For us, the questions keep coming. We are repeatedly asked, over and over, “do you love me?” We must process the penetration of the question. Do you really, really love Jesus? Is it a show? Do we really love Him, or is it just words, a misbegotten display of cultural appropriateness?

Jesus moves Peter into the light. Never again will he live in confusion and despair. His interview with Jesus has placed him there, into the light. Jesus’ incredibly wise questions led Peter to the place of authenticity. Peter, from this new place of completeness and recovery, is finally restored and healed.

But do we love Him? Do we turn the ministry we do, whatever that might be, does it come from a place of love and confidence. Our love for Him is the essential basis, the root foundation of all Christian activity. It’s all about the “love”. “Do you love me?”

1brobry-sig4 (2)

cropped-christiangraffiti1-3-1

When Jesus Becomes Real to Me, by Vance Havner

“He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:14

We do not make Jesus real by conjuring up a mental picture of Him long ago in Galilee and trying to walk in imagination with Him there. We do not have to go back two thousand years or travel to Palestine to find Jesus. There is a fad for that sort of thing, but so might one inwardly visualize any character of history. Such mental association may, indeed, affect one’s life to some degree, but it is far from the way Christ is made real to the believer.

The Holy Spirit has come for that purpose.

All things spiritual are from God through Christ and are communicated to us by the Spirit. It was expedient that Jesus should go that the Spirit might come. He does not testify of Himself but of Christ, and He makes the Lord real to the heart. It is not a mere mental exercise but the work of the Spirit that enables us to say, “He is real to me.”

—Vance Havner

Roadside Assistance, [Word]

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

¹I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
²My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

³He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
⁴Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.

⁵The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
⁶The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.

⁷The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
⁸The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.

Psalm 121, New Living Translation

“A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.”

Travelling in biblical times was not easy, everyone walked. Pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem (three times a year) would travel in large groups for safety and companionship. For many the journey would take five or six days, and it meant about 20 miles a day. This ‘song’ was sung corporately as the people walked; it contained truths that would encourage them. Perhaps these are lessons are still living for us today.

1 ^“I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
²My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!”

The hills or ‘high places’ are centers for pagan worship, so a singular question is asked. “Is this where help will come?” Verse 2 gives an affirming answer and declares a confidence in the Almighty God.

^{3 “}He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
⁴Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.”

God is very protective, He is hyper-vigilant over those who call on His name. There is never been a time when He is caught off guard. It is good for our souls to meditate on this constant security. He doesn’t sleep, ever.

^{5 “}The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
⁶The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.”

I once had the ‘joy’ of sacking bags of rock in the blistering sun in August. I caught myself scanning the sky, wishing for just one cloud to block out the baking heat. In the tropics, an umbrella is commonly used to shield oneself from the sun in the middle of the day. The reference to the moon is the idea that over exposure to it was as harmful as the sun could be.

^{7 “}The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
⁸The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.”

One of the most common images of God is that of a diligent shepherd watching over his sheep. The metaphor is used frequently and carries the connotation of continual care and attention. When I think on this it gives me great comfort.

********

These all are conditional promises that, although they are true, they won’t give you a pass through heartache and trial. But God promises to measure out each affliction with pain-staking carefulness. He is always, always, always present no matter what.

“What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.”

Psalm 84:5

Category: shepherd

He Was at Home