On This Day: Listen to Jesus in Obedient Faith

   And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. (Mark 9:2-8)

   My first testimony is how years of spending time with God in his word and prayer increases what we notice even in familiar passages of scripture. It is so worth it to take the daily steps with God that turn into a lifetime journey with our Creator. 

   My second testimony is that one of the threads I repeatedly see in God’s tapestry is Paul’s expression, “the obedience of faith”. Paul speaks of this at both the beginning and end of the book of Romans. First he says, “we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations” (1:5). 

   And then Paul concludes Romans with this glorious expression,

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen (16:25-27).

   Thinking about everything I read through this filter, that God’s word is working to bring me into this obedience of faith, makes me listen to everything like God expects me to put it into practice. Yes, just like he’s the Father who just told me what he wants me to do!

   And the third testimony is that I love looking up the meanings of words in the Bible because sometimes the definitions are a succinct commentary on what is expected of me in the words I am reading. In this case, the word for “listen” implies obedience. It would alert a child that Father has something for them to do. It would call a servant to attention because an instruction is about to be given. 

   This morning, these three things were woven together so I could hear what my Father was saying to me. This includes a warning to guard against hardening my heart towards anything that may happen today because it doesn’t fit my profile of what God should be doing in my life. It includes a rebuke to any ways I am arguing with my Father about what he is allowed to do to me or through me. And it includes a most loving invitation to pay close attention to the Holy Spirit who will lead me to put into practice the very things the Father has spoken into my heart and mind through the “word of Christ”. 

   And I am sure that seeking to keep in step with the Holy Spirit today will prove to be just as personal as the way my Father in heaven spoke to me in my time alone with him this morning.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: To be Amazed and Ashamed of Jesus

   And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:37)

   And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)

   Today was a “big picture day”, which meant reading a longer section of Mark’s gospel to get a larger view of what Jesus was doing in his ministry and how people were responding to him and his work.

   Because of this, I noticed the change that took place from when Mark showed how astonished people were at the amazing signs and wonders Jesus was doing but then narrowed the spotlight to Jesus’ beginning to teach his disciples about the cross. 

   In this case, there is a familiar pattern in the way people can be so excited to be part of something amazing God is doing when it doesn’t touch on his will for their lives, and then ashamed of Jesus’ teachings about his cross of salvation and our cross of submission because of what it demands of them. 

   I have experienced some horrendous losses and grief because people discovered what I believe about the cross of Jesus Christ as the only means of purchasing our salvation. I have watched friends and family close their hearts to me because I can’t escape Jesus’ words that we who follow the Christ have a cross as well, one of submission to the Savior who died for us. 

   With the Christmas season already announcing its coming, it reminds us that many people will accept the warm-fuzzies of “peace on earth, goodwill toward men”. Some may express mild curiosity at our claim that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God came into the world as a baby. A few may even go so far as to be amazed at all the miraculous things Jesus did for people in his ministry.

   But to complete the thought that God’s peace on earth is only for those with whom he is “well pleased”, and that Jesus’ coming into the world was explicitly “to save sinners”, and that Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him” so that everyone would “know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified”, sends the same people away utterly ashamed of such a message of foolishness to this proud and blind generation.

   When I see the stage set with contrasts such as this, it challenges me to examine myself to be sure I am in the faith. If there is any part of the gospel I am ashamed of (including the part about denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, and following Jesus wherever he leads), I sure better deal with my pride that thinks I have a better way than Jesus presented. 

   After all, if Jesus would say to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man”, why would I think that the adjustments I imagine making to following Jesus would come from a different source than Satan himself?!

   And knowing that makes me head into this day wanting everyone to know how amazing Jesus is no matter what he calls us to do to follow him. Anything he asks of me will pale in comparison to the glorious salvation he purchased for me by his death on the cross.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Heart That Gets Us in Trouble

   And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-23)

   There have been times when I have been shocked to realize how different Jesus’ teachings are from the way churches live. And one of the most glaring contrasts is still between religion’s focus on externals and God’s focus on our hearts. 

   In the early 90’s, I read Larry Crabb’s book, “Inside Out” and heard this strange idea that church folks are more committed to their self-protection (keeping God away from their hearts) than they are to knowing and doing the will of God. Three decades later that is exactly what I have seen. 

   In fact, most church people I have known not only focus on externals instead of matters of the heart, but they have put considerable energy into making their churches like that and expend constant energy trying to keep them that way! The whole while we have the word of God filled with the good news of how God changes hearts. 

   One of the most significant prophecies about this is in Ezekiel 11:19 and repeated in 36:26. There God promises, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” 

   Paul spoke about this when he wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Corinthians 5:17). He included this focus when he spoke about baptism (something universal to the church throughout the whole world and all the rest of time), “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). 

   Churches should not be such a breeding ground for things like “evil thoughts, coveting, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness”. Jesus called these “evil things” and called us to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. 

   Because it is true that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9), we must confess the “evil things” in our hearts and set our minds on the Spirit who will lead us in the newness of life. 

   Hiding in arguments about externals did not work for Jesus’ opponents back in the day, and we cannot expect he will tolerate it from us now. He has a much better way for us and his love cannot leave us self-justifying a wash-your-hands policy that leaves people with hearts far away from God. 

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
(Psalm 24:3-5)

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: To Glory in the Word of God

   And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:9-13)

   Ever since I finished my five-and-a-half-month journey through a book of false teachings about God’s word, I have been amazed and delighted by how often Jesus spoke of the Scriptures as the word of God. 

   One reason this is so important is that the false teachers speaking against God’s word are as prolific as Jesus and the apostles warned. Many people who are snared by their clever reasonings miss the fact that both the teachers and their followers are confirming scripture as the word of God since God said that there would be many deceivers and many people deceived by them!

   I want to elaborate on how Jesus affirmed the scriptures as the word of God simply to encourage everyone that we who trust in God’s word will not be the ones who are ashamed in the judgment. It will be those who cry out in horror that they taught or followed teachings against the word of God who will be ashamed that they rejected the authoritative word of God in the scriptures.

   The reason Isaiah’s prophecy is affirmed as God’s word is because the Jewish understanding of the genuine prophets was that they were speaking for God. For Jesus to quote Isaiah and declare his writing as prophecy is to make him a spokesman for God and his book the word of God.

   If we follow how Jesus and the gospels addressed “as it is written,” we will see that it is the written word that is treated as the word of God. That written word is what we now have in the Old Testament part of our Bibles. 

   The quote from Isaiah is Isaiah quoting Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament. To quote Yahweh (know by the Jews of Jesus’ time as Adonai), is declaring the word of God, and the dominos of this quote being in Isaiah, being “what is written”, and being in “the scriptures” amplifies the declaration that we are dealing with the word of God.

   When Jesus taught something from the scriptures and called it “the commandment of God”, he was declaring it to be the word of God, but also emphasizing that it is authoritative over God’s people, as are the scriptures to this day.

   What we call the books of Moses are the first five books of the Bible. They are greatly under attack because the history they reveal is foundational to understanding the whole of scripture. When Jesus used Moses as his authority, he was affirming that what Moses wrote was God’s word. It should serve as a warning to the many people who are tampering with it to suit their agendas.

    I smiled when I saw that Jesus used the very phrase “the word of God” when summarizing all he had said about scripture, Isaiah, Moses, and what is written. The scriptures are the word of God, and this now includes everything we have in the New Testament scriptures.

   So many times in my journey through that book of false teachings I came back to the way Jesus replied to Satan in the wilderness: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). When we add to this that, “everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (I John 5:4), and, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), we must always “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). 

   And I love to share testimonies of how “the word of God” in the scriptures we have in the Bible speaks to me every day and builds up my faith to not only live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, but to encourage you to do so as well!

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: As the Word Unfolds Into Life

   When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. (Mark 6:53-56)

   My main focus in sharing is to encourage everyone with how God speaks to his people through his word. It is “living and active”, the Holy Spirit is always teaching us and reminding us, and living “by every word that comes from the mouth of God” should feel as real and personal as life can get. 

    Sometimes this means focusing on a small seed of truth that will grow in our lives if we receive it. Sometimes it is a “big picture” day where larger scenes come alive as the Holy Spirit shows how the threads of the tapestry are woven together. And other times it is like focusing on a few puzzle pieces that suddenly make more sense when they are combined to show something we have never noticed before.

   This morning, things felt like a bit of everything. The smaller details were added to the bigger picture in puzzle pieces that fit together so I could see not only what God was showing me in his word, but what he was showing me in myself. I am now watching for how the disciples’ hardness of heart affected their ability to receive Jesus’ revelations of who he was as the Messiah. I have long been on guard against the blindness of the religious elite who couldn’t even see what Jesus was doing because they were consumed with envy at his influence over the people. 

   But the main thing I am always watching for is how people related to God in the Scriptures because I want to know how God wants me relating to him in the “obedience of faith” every day. 

   In all this, one thing stood out more brightly than everything else. Mark made sure to tell me that the people recognized “him”, they came where “he” was, and wherever “he” came, the people brought their sick and implored “him”. 

   When I combine that with the reminder of the disciples’ hardness of heart on one side and the religious elite’s blindness on the other, it tells me to come to Jesus personally no matter what hardened disciples or hypocritical blind guides have to say. Jesus is available to us by grace through faith so we can seek him right now where we are, and receive him in repentance and faith so that he will make us well in the fullness of eternal life. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: When Hardness of Heart Hinders the Mind

    And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:48-52)

   Does it matter to you that your mind might be hindered in understanding God’s word because your heart is hardened against applying it as fully as God is speaking it to you?

   Yup, that’s the point of this passage. The reason the disciples were so astounded about Jesus walking on the water was because they hadn’t let themselves process what it meant that he had just multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed 5,000 people. 

   This is serious business because I have witnessed it so many times. People sit in church complaining that they really didn’t get anything out of a message, or they aren’t really getting anything out of their time with God in his word, when the problem is that they have hardened their hearts against letting themselves admit the implications and applications of God’s work in their lives. 

   Two other Scriptures help with this. First, 

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. (II Corinthians 6:11-13)

   This is another way of describing the hardness of heart in the disciples. The believers were restricted in their affections by choice. They also had the choice to “widen your hearts also”. Paul and his companions had exemplified hearts-wide-open fellowship and ministry. The restriction of affection and attachment between them was on the part of the church. 

   The same applies to Jesus. He is never restricted in his freedom to relate to us in love, grace, and mercy. He wants attachment with us more than we know it exists. What we are lacking with him is because of how we restrict our hearts with self-protection, and how that restriction limits our understanding of him.

   Second, 

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15)

   This illustrates how we are the ones who give in to the desire for self-protection, restrict our affections towards God, and then blame him that we don’t get it what he is saying in his word. 

   Right now, we are three groups of people. The narcissists don’t see anything wrong with them and it is always God and the pastor who are at fault if they don’t get something. The religious practitioners see this may be a struggle, but it clashes with their self-dependent way of deciding how far God can go in making them like Jesus. They will keep thinking about how this might apply without ever doing anything about it.

   On the other hand, the poor in spirit hear of this hardness of heart and mourn how much it is real in their lives. They meekly surrender to Jesus to fix this in them and let themselves hunger and thirst for the righteousness of having a heart that is absolutely unrestricted in affection, thought, or will. These are the ones who are blessed in their relationship with Jesus Christ, and I know this is the kind of church I want to be in, even if it is only a few who desire it.    

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Taking a Break with Jesus

   The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. (Mark 6:30-32)

   Life is busy. My Christian worldview has me running a race that even my entrance to the “senior years” will not slow down. Activities may decrease. Projects may take longer to complete. Exercise routines may need adjusting. But the life of faith has no limits by age, and there is always something to do in the kingdom of God, even for the most aged of his disciples. 

   On the other hand, I have had many experiences in church life where the pressure to perform, to run things, to keep people happy, to meet targets and goals, and to keep programs going, was so not kingdomish that there was a very unnecessary weariness for those we called “the committed”. 

   When I see Jesus’ concern for his disciples after sending them out on a work assignment, I see his heart in showing us that it is his own interest to ensure our times of rest. As always, we can’t turn a historical description of something God did with others into an absolute rule that applies to everyone all the time. However, we can look at what scripture reveals elsewhere about Jesus’ interest in both our work and our rest and see how this experience with the apostles affirms and illustrates a vital facet of our Savior’s love for us. 

   Along with what I shared yesterday that “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17), there is the necessity of walking with Jesus in ways that give rest to our souls. Some people serve Christ with great energy and enthusiasm because they know how to rest with Jesus in their souls. Others feel weary just hearing that God might have something for them to do to “serve one another in love” because they have never attached to Jesus in a way that calms and quiets their souls.

   My encouragement is to get to know Jesus according to his invitation, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-20).

   At the very least, seeing how Jesus cared for his disciples' need for rest should affirm to our own hearts that he has the same interest for us. And even with the miserableness of the man-cold that has no comparison in the… okay, just kidding… I have felt that restfulness of my soul to have had a prolonged and comforting time with my Lord in his word, in prayer, and in sharing what God gave me for the building-up of others. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)