We have all heard a child’s typical response when things do not go his or her way...
"That’s not fair!"
If we are honest with ourselves, it isn’t something we completely outgrow.
Even when we have grown up, we find out that life can sometimes prove difficult and things do not always turn out the way we would wish.
We don’t get the job we felt sure would be ours.
Somebody else gets the promotion we felt we deserved.
A loved one becomes ill and dies at an age we think is far too young.
In these and similar circumstances we find ourselves saying or at the least thinking, "God, that’s not fair!"
Yet, God has been more than fair with us.
Being incapable of saving ourselves God provided for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son , so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
What did Jesus give up for our sake?
To begin with, He gave up being in the immediate presence of God, the Father.
He took on human form and as a result subjected Himself to the same human conditions we experience… cold, hunger, thirst, and fatigue to name but a few.
He subjected Himself to throngs of people many of whom just wanted something from Him.
He subjected Himself to a ministry of reaching out to those without hope. Those rejected by society who had little to offer in return.
He subjected Himself to hate.
He subjected Himself to those who plotted to kill Him.
He subjected Himself to a mockery of a trial.
He followed the Father’s will even though it meant He would be subjected to a painful and humiliating death on the cross.
Jesus subjected Himself to all these things and even more.
He subjected Himself to these things for us and because it was the Father’s will.
This resulted in a struggle between His human nature and His Divine nature.
Mark 14:36 (NET) - He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will."
Fortunately for us, His Divine nature prevailed.
In all of recorded history, there is no one more familiar with unfairness than was Jesus.
Jesus gave up so very much us and He endured so very much for us.
Yet Scripture makes it clear that He never once said…
THAT’S NOT FAIR!
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, September 9, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, September 16, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
So Many to Feed
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote about the many miracles of Jesus.
Yet, of all the miracles of Jesus, only one appears in each of these four books.
That miracle is the feeding of the five thousand with a two fish and five loaves of bread.
Matthew’s account takes place in Chapter 14.
Mark’s account takes place in Chapter 6.
Luke documents this miracle in Chapter 9.
John relates this in Chapter 6.
In each account, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish and gives thanks for them. Then has his disciples distribute them among this vast crowd.
After everyone had eaten and was satisfied, the leftovers were collected and filled twelve baskets.
I have always found it fascinating that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in each of the four gospels.
Not even the raising of Lazarus from the dead was documented in this way.
I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the fact that He led each of these authors to include this miracle in their individual account is sufficient for me.
I cannot help but feel that each man was also sufficiently impressed as well.
Who wouldn’t be?
Think about it from their perspective when it happened.
You and the His other disciples are with Jesus surrounded by a throng of humanity.
Jesus takes pity on them and then looks directly at you and says, "You feed them."
You take inventory of your supplies. Five small loaves and two meager fish.
How in the world can you make these few items feed so many.
The answer is obvious. You can’t.
You can’t, but Jesus can!
Matthew 14:18 (NET) - "Bring them here to Me," he replied.
So you do.
Then you watch to see what happens.
Matthew 14:19 (NET) - Then He instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Although some two thousand years have passed between that miracle and today, many more still hunger not only physically but spiritually as well.
SO MANY need to be fed.
"But what can I do," you think to yourself.
You can almost hear the echo of His reply, "Bring them here to Me."
That is the task at hand.
Bring them to Jesus.
With His help, nothing is impossible.
Philippians 4:13 (NET) - I am able to do all things through the One who strengthens me.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 19, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, August 26, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
Yet, of all the miracles of Jesus, only one appears in each of these four books.
That miracle is the feeding of the five thousand with a two fish and five loaves of bread.
Matthew’s account takes place in Chapter 14.
Mark’s account takes place in Chapter 6.
Luke documents this miracle in Chapter 9.
John relates this in Chapter 6.
In each account, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish and gives thanks for them. Then has his disciples distribute them among this vast crowd.
After everyone had eaten and was satisfied, the leftovers were collected and filled twelve baskets.
I have always found it fascinating that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in each of the four gospels.
Not even the raising of Lazarus from the dead was documented in this way.
I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the fact that He led each of these authors to include this miracle in their individual account is sufficient for me.
I cannot help but feel that each man was also sufficiently impressed as well.
Who wouldn’t be?
Think about it from their perspective when it happened.
You and the His other disciples are with Jesus surrounded by a throng of humanity.
Jesus takes pity on them and then looks directly at you and says, "You feed them."
You take inventory of your supplies. Five small loaves and two meager fish.
How in the world can you make these few items feed so many.
The answer is obvious. You can’t.
You can’t, but Jesus can!
Matthew 14:18 (NET) - "Bring them here to Me," he replied.
So you do.
Then you watch to see what happens.
Matthew 14:19 (NET) - Then He instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Although some two thousand years have passed between that miracle and today, many more still hunger not only physically but spiritually as well.
SO MANY need to be fed.
"But what can I do," you think to yourself.
You can almost hear the echo of His reply, "Bring them here to Me."
That is the task at hand.
Bring them to Jesus.
With His help, nothing is impossible.
Philippians 4:13 (NET) - I am able to do all things through the One who strengthens me.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 19, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, August 26, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Why do bad things happen to good people?
That is one of the questions that have nagged at Man’s mind for generations.
I could take the easy theological option and simply say that there aren’t any good people and close, but I won’t.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NET) - For there is not one truly righteous person on earth who continually does good and never sins.
That certainly would be an answer, but I suspect that is not the answer that people are seeking when they pose that question.
Perhaps it would be better to reformulate the question.
"Why does God allow bad things to happen?"
I suspect that this question is closer to the mark.
We are taught that God is good and yet bad things happen even to those who have faith in him.
Similarly, there are those who publicly state that they do not believe in God and yet things seem to be going their way.
Nothing more clearly illustrates the fact that bad things happen, even to the best of us, than the account of Joseph in the Old Testament.
Joseph was given prophetic dreams by God along with the gift to interpret dreams. This caused his brothers to despise him.
Genesis 37:5 (NET) - Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more.
Joseph had another dream and he told it to his father and his brothers. This resulted in yet more trouble for Joseph.
Genesis 37:10-11 (NET) - When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him saying, "What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said.
Later, Joseph’s father sent him to check on his brothers. As he approached, they planned to take his life.
When Joseph arrived, they stripped him of the coat his father had given him and threw him into a pit.
As a caravan approached his brothers concocted another plan.
Genesis 37:28 (NET) - So when the Midianite merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites then took Joseph to Egypt.
Thus, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. They then compounded their wrong by telling their aged father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
Once in Egypt, Joseph was purchased as a slave by Potiphar. Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph and so he put Joseph in charge of all the affairs of the household.
But, just when it seemed Joseph was having things go his way for a change, Potiphar’s wife began making sexual advances to him.
Joseph rejected these advances and as a result, Potiphar’s wife lied to her husband implicating Joseph as the wrongdoer.
Genesis 39:20 (NET) - Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in prison.
Yet even in prison, the warden recognized that God was with him and even put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care.
While in prison, Joseph interpreted dreams for two of the prisoners including the king’s cupbearer.
Joseph listened to his dream and told him that in three days, he would be released from prison and once again serve the king.
Joseph asked this man to remember him and mention his plight to Pharaoh.
Even when the cupbearer was restored to his former position, just as Joseph foretold, he was quickly forgotten and remained in prison.
Two years later, Pharaoh was troubled by dreams of his own.
No one in Pharaoh’s service could interpret his dreams.
Finally, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and Joseph was brought into the presence of Pharaoh.
Joseph correctly interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was made the second highest official in the land.
Joseph was second only to Pharaoh himself.
God then used Joseph to store enough food to keep many from starving to death during a severe famine.
Among those saved from death were the brothers that sold him into slavery in the first place.
Joseph was the victim of many wrongs, yet God used the combination of all these wrongs ultimately for good.
Sometimes it appears that absolutely nothing is going the way that it should.
Yet appearances are deceiving.
God has a plan.
We will not always understand the facets of this plan, but then again, we are not supposed to.
What is of paramount importance is to trust that God’s plan is perfect and that He understands that plan perfectly.
That, is the essence of faith,
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 12, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, August 19, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
That is one of the questions that have nagged at Man’s mind for generations.
I could take the easy theological option and simply say that there aren’t any good people and close, but I won’t.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NET) - For there is not one truly righteous person on earth who continually does good and never sins.
That certainly would be an answer, but I suspect that is not the answer that people are seeking when they pose that question.
Perhaps it would be better to reformulate the question.
"Why does God allow bad things to happen?"
I suspect that this question is closer to the mark.
We are taught that God is good and yet bad things happen even to those who have faith in him.
Similarly, there are those who publicly state that they do not believe in God and yet things seem to be going their way.
Nothing more clearly illustrates the fact that bad things happen, even to the best of us, than the account of Joseph in the Old Testament.
Joseph was given prophetic dreams by God along with the gift to interpret dreams. This caused his brothers to despise him.
Genesis 37:5 (NET) - Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more.
Joseph had another dream and he told it to his father and his brothers. This resulted in yet more trouble for Joseph.
Genesis 37:10-11 (NET) - When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him saying, "What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said.
Later, Joseph’s father sent him to check on his brothers. As he approached, they planned to take his life.
When Joseph arrived, they stripped him of the coat his father had given him and threw him into a pit.
As a caravan approached his brothers concocted another plan.
Genesis 37:28 (NET) - So when the Midianite merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites then took Joseph to Egypt.
Thus, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. They then compounded their wrong by telling their aged father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
Once in Egypt, Joseph was purchased as a slave by Potiphar. Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph and so he put Joseph in charge of all the affairs of the household.
But, just when it seemed Joseph was having things go his way for a change, Potiphar’s wife began making sexual advances to him.
Joseph rejected these advances and as a result, Potiphar’s wife lied to her husband implicating Joseph as the wrongdoer.
Genesis 39:20 (NET) - Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in prison.
Yet even in prison, the warden recognized that God was with him and even put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care.
While in prison, Joseph interpreted dreams for two of the prisoners including the king’s cupbearer.
Joseph listened to his dream and told him that in three days, he would be released from prison and once again serve the king.
Joseph asked this man to remember him and mention his plight to Pharaoh.
Even when the cupbearer was restored to his former position, just as Joseph foretold, he was quickly forgotten and remained in prison.
Two years later, Pharaoh was troubled by dreams of his own.
No one in Pharaoh’s service could interpret his dreams.
Finally, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and Joseph was brought into the presence of Pharaoh.
Joseph correctly interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was made the second highest official in the land.
Joseph was second only to Pharaoh himself.
God then used Joseph to store enough food to keep many from starving to death during a severe famine.
Among those saved from death were the brothers that sold him into slavery in the first place.
Joseph was the victim of many wrongs, yet God used the combination of all these wrongs ultimately for good.
Sometimes it appears that absolutely nothing is going the way that it should.
Yet appearances are deceiving.
God has a plan.
We will not always understand the facets of this plan, but then again, we are not supposed to.
What is of paramount importance is to trust that God’s plan is perfect and that He understands that plan perfectly.
That, is the essence of faith,
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 12, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, August 19, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
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