THE BOTTOM LINE

We Americans tend to be pragmatic & conscientious about making sure that we get the most return on whatever resources we have personally invested in something. We ask, “What’s the bottom line?” Or we want to make sure we “get the most bang for our buck.”

There is a part of this that is very biblical. We are called to be good stewards & to get the most from our investment of time, energy, finances, etc.

But sometimes over-emphasizing what we think is the bottom line can blind us to a lesson that Jesus taught His disciples in Mark 14:3-9:

While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

They learned something unforgettable thru what appeared to be an irresponsible act – anointing Jesus with perfume worth a small fortune. This reflected 2 “bottom line” things in the Kingdom of God.

One is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Like the woman’s offering of something very valuable seemed a foolish, pointless waste of resources, Jesus’ death of the cross first appeared to be a colossal waste of a life God had blessed.

Another is same the reckless abandon that motivated her to sacrifice her treasure. We can, & must, surrender our whole being to God – past, present, & future; abilities, resources, & dreams.

You see, these things are the real bottom line.

CHRISTMAS IN THE DARK

It's Christmas Eve today. Where we live it's usually sunny & bright, but the last few days it's been dark & overcast. Today we got up & felt kinda draggy, & it just didn't seem like Christmas Eve.

That got me thinking about all when Jesus came. There was nothing observable in the world that indicated that anything positive was going to happen. The world was a dark place spiritually, with oppression & racism. 

Demonic beliefs & practices were on the rampage. Women, children, & the disabled weren't valued. There was nothing to indicate that there was any change coming.

Today, it's just the same. There's a lot of hatred & racism being expressed. Those in government who are supposed to serve us seem to be serving themselves. 

In many ways the church really struggles. Nothing seems to be happening spiritually that's uplifting, liberating, transformative, & empowering to people.

So, nothing appears to have really changed, at least outwardly. Much appears to be like it was when Jesus came.

One thing I've learned is that God doesn't usually work in blatant in-your-face ways. He usually works behind the scenes in ways that we can't see with our eyes. But the transformation IS coming and we WILL see it with our eyes.

Jesus transformed this world thru His first coming 2000 years ago that we can't even imagine from our perspective today.

He is coming again, but He has more changes in mind to do in you & thru you before He returns.

Be encouraged & look for His coming. But keep your eyes open for the things that he's doing today. 

THE RIGHT ITCH, THE WRONG SCRATCHER

Everybody knows that there's something wrong with their lives, with our culture, & with people in general.

We all feel the itch.

The problem is, what do we use to make the itch go away?

When you look at all the possible solutions, there are 2 bottom-line ways to see the problem. One is that it's on the outside & it needs to be fixed by changing things that are wrong there. 

The other way is to see that something inside us is wrong & needs to be fixed.

If I'm not a Christian & believe that the root of problems is on the outside, I'm probably going to be about social, economic, & political justice. I'm going to try to fix the systems in which we live.

If I'm a Christian & take the Bible seriously, I will believe that the root of the problem is on the inside. I'm going to find out what God says about the inner transformation of people, families, & communities. That's what the gospel is all about. It changes us from the inside. 

If we're going to try to fix what's wrong with us from the outside, it's really only going to be like putting the proverbial Band-Aid on cancer. 

But if we want effective solutions, it's something that's got to happen on the inside of us. As we turn from our sins, surrender the throne of our hearts to Jesus Christ, He will transform us.

 
The great thing is that the gospel does affect outer conditions of people - the economic & political systems, along with race relations. 

But it only works when we first let Him fix what is wrong on the inside.

THE OPPORTUNIST

I was reading in Luke chapter 4 today about the temptation of Jesus & something interesting jumped out at me. At the end of the temptations, verse 13 says that when the devil had finished every temptation he departed from Jesus until an opportune time. That can be translated a more convenient time or appropriate time.

From this passage I learned something really important to help us to keep things in perspective.

Did you know that the devil doesn't drive the events or the processes that we go thru? He doesn't have the authority or power to do that. All he can do is seek opportunities and convenient times to try to disrupt God's plan for our lives. That's because those things are actually in the Lord's hands.

The devil could only tempt Jesus because it was an opportune time. Jesus went to the cross when He did, not because the devil said it was time, but because it was the time that the Father had set for Him.

So, whether we're going thru a season of victory, season of discouragement, season of sickness, season of challenge, season of growth, or a valley & dry time, it's because God is leading us according to His timetable. In those times the devil may very well seek opportunities, but they are only in the times that he thinks he might be able to discourage us or derail us.

But if we're committed to God's plans, process, & priorities, we can be sure that His plan for us will succeed according to His timetable.

LORD OF THE SABBATH

Reading through the Gospel of Luke, I ran into something really interesting. It's a series of Jesus doing things that "violated the Sabbath."

In 4:31-41 He spent probably 6-8 hours, beginning in the synagogue then going to Peter's house to continue until sunset, healing people. The Sabbath goes from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, so He must have had a point to make by apparently stopping at the end of the Sabbath.

In 6:1-5 Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath because His hungry disciples went thru the fields harvesting the grain so that they could eat it.

In 6:6-11 Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. When the leaders saw that they were enraged at him.

In 13:10-17 He was again in the synagogue on the Sabbath and healed a woman who wasn't able to stand up. He said that she had been bound by Satan. One of the leaders responded that she should have come be healed on one of the other 6 days of the week.

In 14:1-6 Jesus had a meal at the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees (right in the belly of the beast). A man was there with extreme swelling in his hand & Jesus healed him. I don't know if the man was a plant, if he just showed up, or if he came there with Jesus. But it was the Sabbath day, in the home of a leader of those who criticized Jesus for breaking the Sabbath, that Jesus healed him.

Jesus gave a number of responses to His critics. But the one that really got them was in 6:5 - “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 

Why would this bring out the greatest anger in them?

Because He was saying that He takes precedence over the Sabbath. He created it. He gets to say what is appropriate on the Sabbath. This was a claim to Deity. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He is the God who created & ordained it.

Since He is your Lord & mine, that means that He calls the shots. He says what is right in our lives. We can get mad like the leaders did, or we can rejoice like Jesus' hearers did.

Whatever our response, He is still Lord. Of the Sabbath & of us.

GABRIELLE

We just watched this for the first time the other day, but it's going to be one of my favorite episodes of Bonanza. 

It's not just because the little girl, Gabrielle, is so cute (kinda like Shirley Temple). She is, but she is also a good, mature, stable person in the midst of a lot of tragedies and hardships in her life. 

Gabrielle is contrasted with her grandfather who also experienced injustice in his life but allowed it to destroy him.

The thing that especially intrigues me is that the people responding to her and wanting to help her think what she needs is to be given things & have things done for her. She is constantly saying "I want to go where I'm needed." And her grandfather is the one who really needs her.

A huge secret of serving people is that it's not enough just to give to them or do for them. It's to understand that they want to be needed. They want to give. They want to serve. They want to do things.

Even with good intentions, we can do people a great injustice when we want to be the ones to do for them, because too much of that will disempower them.

One of the great things about the Gospel is that we come to know Jesus Christ we grow in our relationship with him, but not simply because of our need. We experience these blessings from God so that His grace can flow through us and meet the needs of others. 

But, it doesn't stop there. It then empowers them through the transforming power of the Gospel to pass it on to others.

I encourage you during this Christmas time watch this episode if you're able to look it up on YouTube or somewhere else. Then let the Lord take you where you're needed.