Great Cost, Great Blessing

Posted on by Pastor Lou

Read
Luke 18:24-30
Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”  Verse 28 (NIV) 

Reflect 
On occasion when finances were very tight, and life was difficult I asked the same question Peter asked. Of course, I did not give up as much as the disciples but the chance to be a partner in a housing business was given up and the chance to build my own house and sell it with good profit and then do it again and again, was lost as well. When I saw friends, who had gone on with their business lives and lived with ease there were those small pains of having forfeited a life of financial gain. 

Peter exclaimed, “We have left all we had to follow you!” And Jesus understood Peter’s concern. Jesus knew that his closest followers had left valuable relationships behind to follow him. They had left their homes, wives, children, aging parents, and promising careers. They had left the most crucial relationships people have in life. It was not about wealth or power for the disciples; they had left family relationships and all the blessed conversations and memories that go with them – all for the sake of being with and following the Son of God. So, they needed reassurance. 

Jesus explained to a fearful Peter and a frightened crowd that the blessings of full life in God’s kingdom happen both now and in the life to come. Jesus held out the promise that leaving family relationships for his kingdom vision would result in healing and restoration. Jesus promised that no one keeping company with him would be shortchanged. The life that God has called me and my wife to has not always been easy, but it has always brought a full life of rewards. God is so very good! 

Andre Crouch wrote a song that expressed this so well.
“If Heaven was Never Promised to Me.” 

But if heaven never was promised to me,
Neither God’s promise to live eternally.
It’s been worth just having the Lord in my life.
Living in a world of darkness,
You came along and brought me the light. 

Pray 
Lord, we know that life on this earth can be tough. Help us to look forward to the time when all is healed in your eternal presence. In your name, Amen. 

Unless the Lord Builds the House

Posted on by Pastor Lou

Read
Psalm 127
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
Verse 1 (NIV)

Reflect
As a young man in the house building industry, I used to think to myself that I did a pretty good job building the house. Once I became a believer this verse and this Psalm had a special place in my heart. My life, whether as a carpenter or any other career, would be empty without Jesus at the centre of my life.

That is the point of Psalm 127, unless the Lord is the one directing our lives there is little purpose to life. This doesn’t mean we sit back and expect God to do all the work. Rather, as we begin to plan around a new normal and re-opening in this pandemic, we need to include the Lord in our plans. We need to ask ourselves, “What would I like to accomplish in this new normal? And how will I go about it?” Unless we plan with God, we will fail utterly. We need a higher goal than making a living, or getting ahead, or planning for retirement. We need to plan with God’s purpose in mind. As the writer of Proverbs states, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21 NIV).

God has a plan for us. We are called to be kingdom builders in this pandemic recovery, each of us in our own way and in our own place. The question for all of us is: How will we use our gifts, our talents, our resources, our dreams to be a part of God’s building program?

The recovery to this pandemic should include the heart, mind, and soul of God’s people. Pray that God will give many of us opportunity to be difference makers and kingdom shapers in our community, in our neighbourhood, and in our culture. To God be the Glory!

Pray 
Thank you, Lord, for inviting us to help in building your kingdom. Show us your plan and help us to build with you. Amen. 

Compassion, Humility & Healing – Part 2

Posted on by Pastor Lou

Read 
2 Kings 5:7-19
“Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”  Verse 15 (NIV) 

Reflect
I am amazed at video evidence that so many people are not willing to wear facemasks during the pandemic. Health experts say it is simple and one of the best ways to reduce the spread of the virus. Yet there are so many excuses as to why people will not wear them. By and large that is all they are, excuses.

Naaman is on a journey to seek healing from leprosy. He first goes to the king of Israel, but that king is not the source of healing. Elisha hears about this visitor from a foreign land and invites the king to send Naaman to him.

Naaman arrives at the house of Elisha, expecting to get a royal welcome and healing from the prophet himself. But instead a servant comes out and tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman’s expectations almost derail his hope filled journey. Military leaders are not given to take orders, especially from the servant of a prophet!

In this critical moment, however, Naaman’s own servants redirect his thinking. These unnamed servants respectfully challenge Naaman not to turn away from an “ordinary task” when he would have willingly done a much more difficult thing. Naaman wisely listens to these servants, humbles himself, and dips into the Jordan River.

Naaman obeys, somewhat haltingly, and he is healed. A journey that began with an unnamed servant girl from Israel ends with Naaman testifying that there is no God in the whole world except the God of Israel. Naaman’s unnamed servants are ordinary people whom God uses for his extraordinary purposes. Because of their words, a follower of God is given new life in the waters of the Jordan.

Pray 
Gracious heavenly Father, thank you for the healing that comes when we humble ourselves before you. Thank you for the community of faith that can encourage us on our journey to you. Amen. 

Compassion, Humility & Healing – Part 1

Posted on by Pastor Lou

Read
2Kings 5:1-6
“If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Verse 3 (NIV)

Reflect
Kindness and compassion sometimes appear in the most unlikely places or unlikely people. One of our special needs people suffers from fairly regular occasions of discomfort and pain that cause him lots of distress. From time to time when I check on him, I will ask him how he is feeling. Each time he struggles to get in a position that he can look at me and says: “Louis, I am happy.” Talk about melting your heart. I am trying to show compassion and he is telling me that he is not just “OK”, but he is happy. 

If anyone had an excuse not to be used by God, the servant girl of Naaman did. She had been captured by the enemy. She had been taken from her family, her people, and her land. She was a stranger and a foreigner, and now she was a slave in the household of Naaman.

If anyone had an excuse not to be compassionate or kind, this servant girl did. Many people in her circumstances might have taken great joy at the suffering of their master. Naaman was afflicted with leprosy, a deforming disease that separated people from their community and eventually caused great suffering and death. And yet. this slave girl was moved to be a servant of the living God. When suffering entered into her household, she wanted to see that suffering relieved and her master healed.

In our passage, the phrase “If only …” is the phrase that turns the story from one of hopelessness to a great God story. When we read this story carefully, we see that it is a story of compassion and hope. This unnamed servant girl’s careful cry to her master’s wife starts Naaman on a journey that will eventually lead him to Elisha and an encounter with the living God. An unnamed servant girl has a heart of compassion and kindness,that leads to a life that is changed by the power and heart of God.

Pray
God of healing and hope, there is so much suffering in our world, in our neighborhoods, and perhaps even in our families. Lord make us instruments of your compassion, healing, and hope. Amen.

Rich Man / Poor Man

Posted on by Pastor Lou

Read 
Luke 16: 19-31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.”Verses 19-21 (NIV) 

Reflect 
I think because my parents knew the hardship of coming to Canada with two kids and only two suitcases, they also knew the hardships of those who just did not have enough. Although I do not remember my family being generous in a monetary way, they were always there with food, clothing, and the labour of their hands (and our hands as well). One thing was certain, there was never any negative or bad talk about poor people around our house. It was not allowed. 

Jesus and the prophets of God who brought God’s Word to the people, had sympathy for the poor and often rebuked rich people who were selfish and did nothing for the poor. In this parable, the poor man Lazarus, who died, was carried by angels to Abraham’s side in heaven, and the rich man was sent to hell, where he was in torment. 

The rich man had lived for his own pleasure and had ignored the message of Moses and the Prophets. Lazarus had no comfort in life, but in death he received the blessings of life with God in heaven. 

I have read that this parable was a comfort to many slaves in the American South in the 1800s. One of their spiritual songs speaks of God as the “Rock of my soul” in “the bosom of Abraham” – an expression referring to “Abraham’s side.” Where could those slaves find justice when their children were ripped from their arms and sold down the river, when the earthly powers and people were stacked against them? But the Lord saw their plight and he will bring justice to their oppressors. 

In this parable, the rich man’s sin was not that he was rich; it was that he refused to care for a person in need. His stony heart ignored the call to share food with the hungry and to provide shelter and clothing for people in need (Isaiah 58:7). There are still many who look for kindness and justice and search in vain to find it. As followers of Jesus we are called to be that kind word, that hand up and the voice of justice and peace. 

Pray 
Lord, instill in us your heart of compassion, and lead us to do some good with the earthly treasures you have given us. In the name of the Jesus who has compassion on us, Amen.