1-27-25<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A guest message this week. I have just returned from the Inauguration, and will resume with some interesting thoughts on it, next week.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat are your expectations for your life?\u201d our pastor asked the congregation this past Sunday as he preached on the Book of James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My husband and I began jotting down some of our personal and family goals and dreams. The pastor then asked, \u201cDo you feel disappointed with God over dreams that haven\u2019t turned out the way you wanted them?\u201d Our answer: Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve had a rough few years involving having to sell our house at a loss; our son born prematurely; moving; a job layoff; and a job for my husband that is not where his ultimate passion lies, and which requires a long commute. We are strongly committed to our faith and try to please God in all we do. We are driven people who have, in the past, been able to dream something and make it happen. We have alternated between feeling peaceful and trusting God, and feeling restless and angrily questioning Him. We have prayed \u201cYour will be done\u201d\u2026 and we have prayed \u201cAre you there? Are you listening?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n James 1:2-4 says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.<\/em> This is a hard one. It is hard to be thankful for the trials in the midst of them. It might be easier to look back, when things are (you hope) in a better place. But when the storm is raging and you feel like you\u2019ve lost your footing, it can be hard to stay joyful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Farther in James it says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it\u2014not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it\u2014they will be blessed in what they do<\/em> (1:22-25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We always thought about \u201cdoing\u201d the Word as assignments: God says to care for others; God says to be generous, loving; etc. But Jesus calls us to something deeper instead of merely a task-oriented faith. When we look into God\u2019s Word, just like looking into a mirror, we discover who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The picture isn\u2019t always pretty. We are sinful creatures who fall short of God\u2019s holy standard, incurring His punishment. But the Good News is that Jesus loves us so much that He rescued us and took our punishment for us by dying on the cross. When we \u201clook intently\u201d into that truth, then nothing else will matter and no trial will shake us because we will have the joy of knowing we have such a loving God who saw our real need. Sure, we feel we have other needs \u2013 for example, for a job, or food, or security. But our ultimate need was for a Savior\u2026 and Jesus already met that need. This is true love and what Jesus offers us. Not just a list of tasks to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible can teach, pastors can preach, but sometimes this lesson can speak to us the loudest and clearest from unexpected places. In 1971 a homeless man understood this truth\u2026 and shared it in his own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n English Filmmaker Gavin Bryars was working on a documentary about the homeless around London. One man of the many captured on film sang a quiet chorus to himself over and over:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus\u2019 blood never failed me yet, never failed me yet. This actually was not used in the film, but it haunted Bryars, who eventually added an accompaniment to the man\u2019s simple song, extended it, and turned it into a recording. Many people have since heard it \u2013 Tom Waits and Jars of Clay have made recordings too \u2013 and it has touched millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is powerful! This man had nothing that we might consider worth singing about. Contemporary Christians often spend more time focused on \u201cworldly\u201d desires than spiritual needs. That\u2019s not to say we shouldn\u2019t be concerned about our life\u2019s details or to pray about them, but what would happen to our daily lives if we were to come back to a focus on what really matters: our salvation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever other trials this anonymous, forgotten man faced, he looked in the \u201cmirror,\u201d recognized his true need for a Savior, and proclaimed that to others, where he was, in the way that he could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I haven\u2019t been able to get this song out of my head all week! This simple, quiet, musical prayer reminds us that absolutely nothing is more important than Jesus\u2019 gift of salvation that he gave us when He died on the cross. That\u2019s all. The economy might fail us, but His blood hasn\u2019t. Employers might fail us, but His blood hasn\u2019t. Health might fail us, but His blood hasn\u2019t. Our own plans might fail us, but His blood hasn\u2019t. He loves us so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n My daughter Heather shared these thoughts some years ago when I first started these messages. It is impossible, I think, not to hear the song once and not want to listen again, and again. Its truth becomes stronger. \u201cPoor homeless man\u201d? No, he was rich in the knowledge and understanding that he was a son of Jesus our King. Knowing the Truth, and rejoicing in it: a simple task, after all. Life grows complicated; we lose sight of things; but the profound truths are simplest, and should not be left behind.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 blood never failed me yet.
This one thing I know, For He loves me so.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n