Blog

This morning the first words my eyes read were “Taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who trust in Him!” (Ps. 34:8). Indeed, following Jesus is the happiest of all lives that we could possibly live. Later in the morning, my eyes read of Jesus in the wilderness dueling with the devil. Lies, Lies, Lies! Ugh, these intrusive thoughts. So, then I asked myself the question, how can this be the happiest of all lives when we fight with intrusive thoughts so often? “Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, involuntary thoughts, images, impulses, or ideas that suddenly enter a person's mind and cause distress, discomfort, or anxiety” (Thanks, ChatGPT). Sound familiar? Paul said that when he wanted to do good, evil was right there at his side. It might be worry, fear of failure, lust, control, revenge, self-rejection, pride, the list could go on. Martin Luther’s advice is sound. “You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”

Even if people don’t know the source, many have likely heard of the “The four horsemen of the apocalypse.” That concept comes from Revelation 6 and the opening of the first four seals of the scroll received by the Lamb (Jesus). As I have mentioned previously, some people believe that all these events are historical, some believe they are present and some, like me, believe these events are yet to come.

It shouldn’t be that hard to remember, I experience it every time I go out to my garden and every time I get bit by a mosquito; the whole created order is groaning, along with humanity, and waiting for the final redemption. I forget this sometimes. While the humans are the ones that Christ died for, the whole created order matters to God and is awaiting the final redemption. Romans 8:22 reminds us, “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” That’s intense groaning! That final redemption has not happened yet, but we wait in hope for the Day.

Recently I read, “We live in a Jesus-haunted but Biblically illiterate culture.” The author went on to describe how this combination creates an environment for believing the lies of the enemy. People have interest in Jesus but because they don’t know the Bible, they will believe anything they hear about Him. If we are going to worship Jesus “in truth,” we’ll need to know how He has described Himself in the Word. The One we read about in the Gospels is the same One we read about in Revelation.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had several phases to your career. Early in my career I was the lead engineer at a company who designed and built custom manufacturing equipment. I would design machines on a CAD system, then go out to the toolroom and fabricated all the components and put the machine together. I became known as a person who was really good at designing and building machines, but then I got a new job at a new company managing groups of people and directing projects. The people who knew me as the machine builder had a hard time thinking of me as anything but a machine builder. Fast forward in my career and I made another change. I left the company where I was known as the guy who leads large teams of people working on strategic business projects and started my own business selling wood and building custom furniture. I had a team of one (me).