On This Day: When ‘God is love’ Gets Angry

   And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. (Mark 10:13-16)

   Today was the third time in the past couple of weeks that it has stood out what Jesus said about children. 

   First, Jesus said that whoever receives a child in his name is receiving both him and the Father at the same time (as unthinkably wonderful as that is!).

   Second, Jesus warned that anyone who would cause one of his little ones who believe in him to sin would be better off tossed into the sea with a millstone around his neck than face Jesus’ judgment on such evil. 

   Third, today’s reference shows Jesus responding with indignation to his disciples trying to prevent children from coming to him. And it is this expression of pure and genuine emotion from Jesus I found so captivating this morning. 

   The first thing that came to mind was some heartbreaking scenes of watching parents literally traumatizing their children to keep them from trusting Jesus in “the obedience of faith”. This morning, God made very clear how he feels about such abuse!

   The second focus was a journey down the heartbreaking memory lane of adults who were traumatized as children simply because they believed in God and wanted to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Today this was made clear as well, that God’s response to those childhood traumas was one of indignation against anyone who deliberately hindered us from coming to Jesus Christ.

   The reason anyone tries to stop children (or the child-hearted) from coming to Jesus is because that is Satan’s will and work. Paul said it like this, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). Satan will do anything, and he will use anyone, to keep people from seeing God’s glory in Jesus Christ.

   But when Paul continues, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6), we now need to include Jesus’ “indignation” as God’s glory shining out through the face of his Son. 

   In this past year, I have discovered a strong movement of false teachers telling people that God, the Bible, and the way of God’s kingdom need to be rewritten to be “more Christlike”. But today I see Jesus himself showing God’s love for children in his indignation against those who hinder them from coming to him. There is no such thing as a loving God who tolerates sin against his Little Ones. 

   I was amazed this morning at how God touched my own wounded heart in this area. He brought to the surface my heartache about seeing beloved children deliberately turned away from the Savior. And he took me back to my childhood trauma and showed me his indignation about what was done to me. 

   Since I know that what comes next is Jesus’ affirming that we must be like little children to enter his kingdom, it amazes me that he would address childhood trauma head-on with an expression of the most loving response a child could ever see, the indignation of God himself standing against anyone who would keep them from his Son. 

   I hope this encourages you to deal with any part of this that applies to you so that you are coming to Jesus yourself and helping others to do so as well. Whether he shows you something he is doing in his Little Ones that you can join, or brings to mind the children and child-hearted who need your prayers, come to Jesus with all your heart and ask him to help you help others to join you.

© 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 Creator’s Final Word on Creation

   And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

   And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mark 10:1-9)

   I absolutely LOVE God’s word on creation. No apologies. No explaining things away. No denying real science. Just knowing that what the Creator teaches about himself and his creation is like coming home to reality. 

   When I read how Jesus was again surrounded by crowds who had gathered to hear him, and how “again, as was his custom, he taught them”, I felt like he was doing that exact thing for me this morning. He was attaching to me in my time with him even while he was also meeting with his disciples all over the world who were coming to him as I was.  

   When I then read through these familiar words, one thing stood out more strongly than ever: Jesus is “the Word” of God giving us the final word on “the word of God”. 

   The apostle John began his gospel account with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus is here called “the Word” to communicate (in the most beautiful way, I should add) how personal God is in speaking to us. But what is really important for us is to see that Jesus is “the Word”, he was “WITH God”, he “WAS God” and he created everything.

   The scriptures we have in the Bible are constantly called “the word of God”. As God speaks to us through his Son, the scriptures begin to be called “the word of Christ”, God speaking through his Son.

   When Jesus’ religious opponents kept trying to test him and trap him, it was to make him say something contrary to the scriptures, the word of God, because that would prove he could not be the Messiah. No matter how many times they failed, and no matter how often Jesus embarrassed them and exposed their hypocrisy, they hated him so much that they could not stop trying to destroy him (narcissists that they were!). 

   However, what Jesus did here was what he did all the time, he held up the word of God as the plumbline of truth and let his opponents show everyone how far away their hearts were from God’s word. 

   The warning in this is how Jesus identifies the Pharisees’ problem as “your hardness of heart”. Many people are just as heart-hardened against God’s word as those religious hypocrites were back then. To mention creation even in churches is becoming a source of contention when God’s word is so clear on the matter.

    This morning, I simply testify to the glory of Jesus Christ as “the Word” giving us the final word on creation by magnifying “the word of God” in what it reveals. God’s word is God’s word, so it tells us the truth about where we came from, who we are, why we are here, what’s wrong with us, and what God has done to make things right between us and him. I have never found one claim against Jesus Christ and creation that has a leg to stand on, as they say. But God’s word is continually proven true, not only in creation, but in its description of the human condition. 

   Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness by declaring scripture, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). And we defeat Satan’s lies by continuing to live by the words that come from God’s mouth as given to us in the scriptures we have in the Bible. 

   This morning was just one more way “the Word” declared the final word on “the word”, and I happily go into my day walking with my Creator in “the obedience of faith”. 

© 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 Big Ones Make Little Ones Sin

   “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42)

   Once again, I can give testimony to two things. First, I can share what God spoke to me about today as a distinctive lesson from his word. 

   Second, I can emphasize how God continually speaks in the most personal ways through his word so we know what he is saying about things we are facing, we can identify what he is doing, and we can recognize how to join him in his work. 

   One thing I often share with people is that our time with God should begin by fessing up about how we are doing. When we make a habit of acting like the child who is coming to our Father in heaven for parental attachment, we can tell him what’s up with us and then watch to see and hear how he will address those things when we open his word. 

   Today this came together as I was lamenting to God the loss of some Little Ones who were turned away from Jesus. It’s one of those special days that hurt more than others. I expressed my grief at what was done to me in my personal loss, but I poured out my heart in mourning what was done to the children by convincing them that Jesus could not be trusted. 

   The above text was what I came to next. It was just there. I can honestly say I hadn’t seen it coming. But it clearly told me how God views the situation no matter what I see happening.

   The point for me is that God’s specific word this morning is to assure me that justice is in his hands. Whatever he does with such things is scary. Jesus deliberately used a terrifying image to assure us that his judgment against people who cause the Little Ones to sin is far worse than his illustration.

   This took me to a picture that is described in even greater detail as the horrible judgment on people who turn away and do harm to the Little Ones. 

   For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)

   This is what God spoke to me about this morning. It’s clearly just what I needed to hear today. The specific word encourages me to leave justice in God’s hands. And the personal application to my heartache and grief this morning affirms how real and personal God is to speak to his child through his word every day of my life.

   Since yesterday’s word was so clearly about how receiving the Little Ones into the company of our hearts assures us that we are receiving the Triune God at the same time, it is easy to see how to examine our hearts to clear up any ways we may have caused Little Ones to stumble, to bring to God any wounds of how Big Ones have caused us to sin when we really didn’t want to, and to be completely honest with our Savior about opening our hearts to him and his Little Ones in whatever ways we have opportunity today. 

   It IS a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God when we are causing Little Ones to stumble. But it is a return-to-joy thing when we receive the living God into our fellowship as we receive the Little Ones he sends our way. 

© 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 Prayer is the Only Answer

   And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29)

   This is one of those hit-the-bull’s-eye arrows of God’s word that left my cringing and smiling at the same time. 

   The cringe part is the conviction that prayer is one of the most heart-exposing callings of our walk with God. 

   The smile part is to realize that this is why I was so blessed with the realization that God telling his disciples to “listen” to Jesus meant with an intention of obeying what he said. That he said there is a kind of demon that can only come out by prayer means he expects his church to pray for people’s freedom in Christ until they are free.

   My biggest difficulty with a “pray without ceasing” kind of everyday living is the nagging influence of discouragement. Sometimes that comes because a prayer has not been answered my way. Other times it comes because other believers have lost the heart for prayer so persevering becomes more difficult. 

   I often find myself recognizing that I am on a “this time through” a passage of scripture. I can’t camp in how God spoke to me last time I visited that text. My quest is to know what he is speaking to me about this time, and how he wants this to apply to anything I am going through.

   So, this time through this account of the disciples’ failure to drive out a demon, with the “listen to him” now filtering my understanding, I see this as God addressing that I must repent of any ways I give up too easily in prayer, or in praying for certain people and their needs. Discouragement is sometimes just self-centered childishness that thinks I am the center of the universe and if things aren’t going my way, I don’t have to do what I’m told. 

   But this is also the “correcting” side of Scripture that shows me what God is calling me to put into practice. It isn’t something that only applied to those apostles. It is a lesson to us when the things we are doing in ministry aren’t working but the needs are still staring us in the face. Some things can only be done through prayer because that is how God tests us to make sure we are trusting him and not ourselves. 

   The universal application to all believers is that we are told to address everything in prayer. That includes every need, but it also includes every ministry opportunity, no matter how impossible they appear to us. The instruction of our Savior (through Paul) we all must listen to in “the obedience of faith” is:

   Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

   Let’s not say we didn’t just “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”. Instead, let’s admit we heard our Savior’s voice, and follow him where he leads in applying this to our lives and anyone who needs our ministry. 

© 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: 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.)