Chet Bandy

Lord

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Today’s word to describe Jesus is Lord which is defined as ruler or master. Would you say Jesus is your ruler or master? If you asked me this question, I would be quick to answer yes. However, when I really sit back and reflect, unfortunately, He is the Lord of my life some of the time and in some things, but I have to admit He is not all of the time and in all things. He’s the Lord of my Sunday mornings when there is church, and He is the Lord of my Thursday nights when we have our scheduled weekly small group. But, everything in between…again..some of the time when I think to consult Him and to make Him a part of some aspects of my life.

It is often easier to go to Him as your Lord when you have nowhere else to turn or you know you have no control anyway. Last year, we were faced with some major decisions in how to treat spinal stenosis in my neck which had already caused me to lose strength and functionality in my right hand and threatened my ability to walk long-term without surgery. I learned one big thing, when it comes to certain things like your health, we are often times forced to make Him Lord and give Him control because there is literally nothing we can personally do to fix it. Looking back, this probably should have been much more stressful with questions like do I have surgery or try another route first, which type of surgery when there are multiple options, which doctor do I trust, will my symptoms get worse and will I lose my ability to use my hand or even walk, and will I need more surgeries in the future? However, we leaned on Him and prayed not only for healing, but for wisdom, guidance, and clarity to make the best decisions. He gave us peace through it all, and not only did He provide an unexpected surgery option different than what Mayo and other doctors were performing for my conditions, but He made it clear this was the route to go. At the same time, we were faced with a major decision on whether to change my role within my career at Northwestern Mutual. Again, we made Him Lord and prayed through these decisions and the direction was clear without much stress or anxiety. Out of necessity, I learned how He can make major things not seem as big and stressful when we make Him Lord.

Then, why do I get stressed about a little thing at 2:00 on a Tuesday or wondering if my to-do list will get done or when our kids are acting up? Simple…I am not making him Lord of the small, everyday things..only the big things. My opportunity for growth in my relationship with Him is to make Him Lord of these little things. Not making Him Lord of these things robs me from gratitude for all He’s given me and the joy of everyday life with my family, friends, and in my career.

Why do we do this? Some may wonder if He even cares about the little things. Why would the God who created the sun, moon, stars, and the universe really care about my little problems? Simple..He created us. For us who are parents, think how much we care about our kids’ problems. We would do anything to help..to a fault sometimes. Think about our kids when they create a Lego or block tower. They are so proud of their creation. And in turn, they are very protective of it and get really upset when their younger sibling wrecks it. Why? Because they created it. The creator cares immensely about their creation. Each one of us are His special creation as Psalm 139:13-14 tells us.

Why else don’t we make Him Lord of the little things in our life? We don’t think we need it, and we think we can handle it on our own. But…it’s obvious we can’t or we would not get so stressed and upset about the small stuff. Many suffer from anxiety about things that are relatively minor in the big picture of life on this Earth and especially in the big picture of eternity.

How can we improve at making Him Lord of our life, and especially the little things where many of us need the most improvement? There are many ways such as reading His Word daily, attending church regularly, and joining a small group. However, I believe what all of these things really do is help us develop an awareness of His presence in our life which leads to a relationship with Him through the conduit of prayer. As a decoration in my parents’ house reads, “Prayer is the ultimate wireless connection.” This is how in the big moments and the small ones in life we offload our problems to Him and ask for His help. We realize we may not have this, but He’s got this and He’s got us. As a recent article in The Wall Street Journal my brother sent our family on the power of prayer stated, connecting with Him in prayer is like heading up a huge mountain with a heavy backpack and then handing it off to Him. Believe it or not, He wants us to. He asks us to. We are his creation, and He as our creator wants our hearts and for us to acknowledge that He is Lord and give everything to Him.

“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 11:28-30

Please pray with me…

God…please help me make you the Lord and ruler of my life. Help me to know that you, as my Creator, truly care about and are in control of not only the big things, but also the little things that will come up in my day today and every day. I thank you for this and for showing me your ultimate love by sacrificing your only Son on the cross for me. I love you. Amen.

Lamb of God

Today our words to describe Jesus are “the Lamb of God” as we read He’s called by John the Baptist…

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

We know going all the way back to the book of Leviticus that the Israelites offered animal sacrifices and commonly for the forgiveness of their wrongdoings. Of course, we also know about the sacrifice of a lamb and blood on the door to keep their firstborn from being killed during the infamous Passover while the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians before being freed. John the Baptist was also likely referring to the words of Isaiah which most all Jews he was speaking to would have known.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Isaiah 53:7-8

When we think not only about Jesus sacrificial death the cross, but also how He handled the moments leading up to it from being captured in the garden, to going before the Pharisees, and then in front of Pilate and the crowd…I don’t know if there is a better way metaphor than the ones Isaiah used or much better of a way to describe what He represents than the Lamb of God as John the Baptist refers to him.

I could try to write more on this topic, but I really feel like I can’t expand much more on this than the picture John and Isaiah give us.

I will say I don’t often refer to Jesus in prayer or in words to others by this name, but every time I hear the song Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace) by Hillsong I do get the mental picture of Him going to the cross for you and me like a lamb to slaughter and the room suddenly always gets really dusty somehow causing my eyes to water.

Can you see the love in His eyes?

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me, oh
I once was lost
But now I am found
Was blind but now I see

Oh, I can see it now
Oh, I can see the love in Your eyes
Laying yourself down
Raising up the broken to life

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me, oh
I once was lost
But now I am found
Was blind but now I see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyYoe678yI

Invisible

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”

1 Timothy 1:17

Our word today to describe God is invisible.

For most of us it can be concerning that God sees and knows EVERYTHING we think and do. Yes, there are good things we all do that we want credit for from God and others. For many, their top love language is “words of affirmation,” so they want to be told good job by their spouse, parents, boss, or friends, and the idea of God saying when they meet him in Heaven, “Well done, my good and faithful servant..” may bring tears to their eyes. But, for every good thing each one of us have done, there are likely more thoughts, words and actions we just assume no one ever knows about…including God. However, Proverbs 15:3 reads, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on evil and the good.” Job 34:21 also says, “For his eyes are upon the ways of a man, And he sees all his steps…” He’s omnipresent and knows and sees all.

Unfortunately, this can cause many to struggle to come to Christ and believe their past wrongdoings cannot be forgiven. They believe past sins of theft/fraud, adultery, pornography, an abortion, drug use, being a poor parent, killing someone whether on accident or on purpose, or even just really bad words said to a family member or friend are just too much for God to look past. Even believers have a hard time coming to grips with this and letting go of past sins they know an invisible God has seen. Many are still holding on to that one sin they just can’t fully come to believe God has FULLY forgiven when they can’t even forgive themselves.

To me, that’s one of the many unbelievably cool things about God…He gives us so many examples in His Word that any and all sins can be and are forgiven through the cross and belief in Jesus, and not only that, but that He can then use those sinners to do amazing things for His glory and a great purpose. In fact, the author of 1 Timothy, Paul, formerly known as Saul, had persecuted and killed those that believed in Jesus. Just a few verses earlier he says in 1 Timothy 15-16, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt, wrote the book of Genesis, and first received the Ten Commandments killed a man. David was of the direct lineage of Jesus, wrote most of the Psalms, and who God called, “a man after his own heart,” was an adulterer and had his good friend killed over a woman. His disciple and New Testament author Matthew was a tax collector who likely cheated people out of money. Rahab was a prostitute but was used by God to help protect two Israelite spies so they could win the battle of Jericho and then later was also part of the blood line of Jesus. The list could go on and on.

Paul also says in Romans 8:37-39…

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The fact that God is invisible causes us to have a healthy fear and reverence for God to do the right thing, yet thankfully His life, death, and resurrection let us know that because we won’t always do the right thing and will make mistakes (some really bad)…He loves and forgives us no matter what.

Check out this powerful song by Ryan Stephenson, and please…share it with a friend you think may need to hear these words today. It may not just change their day…it may change their life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_xQ4NYtDQ

His Holiness

Today’s reading is Jude 24.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,…”

Our words to describe God today are “His holiness.” Merriam-Webster defines holy as “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one in perfect goodness and righteousness.” I’ve also heard holy described as separate or set apart.

He is the only thing that is truly holy and without sin. No matter how hard we try to be holy and do the right thing…we will mess up. I don’t know about you, but I can’t even get through a prayer without being distracted and thinking about something besides God. I find myself getting mad at my kids during an online church service for something they probably should not be doing, but are my thoughts and actions the way that Jesus would react and want me to do so?…likely not. The list could go on and on so I’ll stop. I’m sure I’m not the only one, and I imagine all who are reading this can relate.

Isn’t it ironic though that our words to describe Him today are “His holiness,” yet our verses today are really about how He makes us holy?! That’s just like Him isn’t it? I mess up time after time, but through the events that happened this last weekend nearly 2000 years ago, these verses tell me that He keeps me from stumbling more than I would already. But knowing that I will still stumble, He presents me completely blameless before the Holy Father. As I’m writing this on Easter, our Amazon Music is playing Reckless Love by Cory Asbury, and I hear the lyrics…”I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still you give yourself away…oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God..”

Humbling isn’t? He didn’t have to…but He did…He took all that suffering and all that pain..so that through His Holiness…we are made blameless and holy, too. Thank you, Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GGJ8cyYNzQ

Our Guide

Today’s readings are from 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5, and Hebrews 7:22 as we focus on the word guide to describe God.

A good friend of mine, fellow believer, and fellow Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Advisor, Josh Waite, shared something very interesting with me a few years back which I now share with my clients. I’m not a mountain climber, but Josh is. In recent years, he climbed the highest peak in the continental U.S., Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington, with his siblings in memory of his late father. He shared with me that most people who die climbing some of the world’s highest peaks do so on the way down…not on the way up as many would be lead to believe. They think when they have made it when the reach the top, and they get complacent on the way down. However, the 2 things that help climbers complete a successful journey up and down the mountain are having a map and a guide. This is a good way to describe how we help our clients in retirement planning, and it is in times like we are experiencing today in the financial world that having a map (a financial plan) and a guide in us to help coach them through the challenges becomes most critical. Josh has actually written 2 books on this topic called Up and Down the Mountain for both corporate executives and medical and dental professionals.

The map for climbers shows the best route to take to get down the mountain and fully complete their journey. Fortunately for us, our God has also given us a map in his Word, the Holy Bible. A regular map shows you the route to take, but does not tell you anywhere on it that you will face unexpected and unknown challenges making the journey longer and much tougher. However, thankfully the map God has given us in His Word tells us there will be pitfalls and challenges like those many of us are facing right now with Covid 19 and its trickle down effects. Pastor Mike Baker once said that God doesn’t tell us exactly what specific challenges are ahead for us because we would probably freak out, and we would probably mess things up thinking we can do it better than His perfect plan. Again, He does tell us though we will in fact face challenges (yes..even Christ-followers) and that those challenges mold and shape us into who He wants us to be prior to the great joy that lies ahead in verses like James 1:2-4, James 1:12, 1 Peter 1:6-7, and John 16:33.

Thankfully, not only did God gives us a map in His Word, but he also gave us his Holy Spirit in Acts 2 as our guide which is our word for today. In 2 Corinthians 1:22, it tells us the Holy Spirit is on our hearts. He is always tugging on your heart and telling you where to go..to Jesus. Even though we don’t always go where the guide, the Holy Spirit, is telling us, just like we don’t always go the way the voice on Google Maps or Waze tells us, we end up realizing the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts and telling us the way to go would have been much better..just like we usually realize when we don’t follow the Google Maps or Waze voice. Sometimes the voice on our GPS can be wrong though…but 1 Corinthians 5:5 tells us the voice of the Holy Spirit as our guide, which we can hear in our hearts leading us to Jesus, is guaranteed to be the best route.

As I mentioned earlier, my friend Josh taught me most people die on the way down the mountain because they get complacent thinking they have made it after reaching the top. We are much the same in our lives. We think we have made it and are victorious when we have really just hit some base camps along the way, and we think we can make it without Him. But, since birth we are all really headed down the mountain in descent because each day we are closer to our last day on this Earth, not knowing when it will be. Every single one of us will miss the shiny snow over there which is really ice, like sin, causing us to fall off the cliff to our death as we are told in Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23…we just don’t know when.

However, when we follow His Word as our map, and we listen to His Holy Spirit as our guide on our hearts, we will fall less and take fewer wrong steps. But, when we do take missteps, because we will…every day….we have Jesus as a guarantee to catch us in His loving and forgiving arms and safely deliver us to the bottom of the mountain where we have eternal victory as our verses today tell us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 also tells us He actually took our place and fell for us…and in trading places with us…again now delivers us safely in victory, without blemish, to the Holy Father at the bottom. While I’m sure my friend Josh would say making it to the bottom of Mt. Rainier and completing that journey was an unbelievable feeling, as a brother in Christ, I suspect He would also tell us the joy he felt pales in comparison to the everlasting euphoria we will experience when we complete our journey on this Earth and meet Him face to face in eternity.

Glory

Today we are focusing on the glory of God with the following reading….

They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.

Psalm 106:20

And…

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Jeremiah 2:11

Glory as a noun is defined as magnificence or great beauty. The psalmist and Jeremiah are speaking of Israel and how they tried to find glory in earthly things, rather than the one thing that is true beauty..God.

As we live in these interesting times that will probably change in just the few days between writing this and its posting, we are experiencing things that most of us have not seen in our lifetime. Just to name a few there are travel bans/restrictions, schools closing, restaurants can’t be open, a shortage of toilet paper (!), all major sports cancelled or postponed, and extreme volatility in our financial markets. One social media post stated this…”Mankind is so frail and a tiny little invisible virus has disrupted us so much. If we can’t handle this, what do think it will be like standing before God without the blood of Christ on your side?” How can we even begin to think that we are somehow in control and that we are wiser than God?

As a friend at dinner Saturday stated, maybe God is allowing all this to happen for our country and world to stop the busyness and craziness and get our priorities in line. The sovereignty of God is so amazing that he can let Satan and mankind do their thing, and still use it for glory..His glory. He is never perplexed. I love the way the Passion of Christ movie portrays Satan in the background as thinking he is winning with all the evil going on in Jesus’ arrest, scourging, and crucifixion. Yet, God had a bigger plan. He took the worst event in human history, the only innocent person to ever walk the Earth without sin being killed, and made it into the greatest event in human history.

He is glory, and I trust He will use everything that’s happening right now for His glory.

He has made EVERYTHING beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Consuming Fire

Today’s reading is Deuteronomy 4:24.

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

If you were to do a time log over the next month of what you do each moment of the day, what would it reveal? What would your bank or credit card statement reveal? How about your thoughts? What would this auditing say about you? It’s a little scary to think about, isn’t it? Even scarier to think about, what if all of this was made public? The good news is..it won’t be made public. However, one person knows the answers to what takes up our time, money, and thoughts…that person is God.

Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy is Moses reminding the Israelites that they should have no other gods. We can read some of the Old Testament and hear about the Israelites and other nations making man-made gods and think that is just silly. However, when we peel back the onion, we have our own other gods, too. Many of them are things God has blessed us with which are great until they overtake our time, thoughts, and lives, and as a result, God gets put on the back burner. Examples can be our career, hobbies, phone, money, and sadly even some things as great as our spouse or children can become gods we worship them more than Him.

We live in a society today which tells us to do whatever we feel like and whatever makes us happy. Some find it hard to believe a loving God is also a jealous, powerful God like a consuming fire and that He would allow us to go to Hell if we don’t believe His son Jesus died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins. The Bible tells us this is the truth though. And when you think about it, He created us an has given us everything we have, including His greatest gift in His son Jesus, so He has every right to expect us to worship Him and be upset when we don’t.

Although He is a jealous and powerful God expecting our praise, worship, and attention like a consuming fire, Moses also describes Him further in Deuteronomy 4:31…

“For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers He swore to them.”

Thankfully, He further showed us this in the form of His Son Jesus. He established a new covenant making us all part of His family, not just Jews. Yes, He is a consuming fire who wants our time, hearts, and minds, but thankfully He does not punish us for our missteps and mistakes.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.”

Romans 8:1

What greater way can we worship Him and say thanks than by giving Him the first fruits of our time, treasures, and talents!

Dwelling Place

What is your morning routine? How do you start your day? Do you work out? Read the newspaper (yes some still do)? Check social media? Pray? Morning Devotional?

Now that my physical health is back, my weekday routine typically involves working out. It also involves reading Bible Journal to get in the Word, prayer, and writing down at least 3 things I’m grateful for that morning. I also write down my 2-3 most important work activities for the day so that I prioritize them over things that seem urgent.

Today’s word to describe God is “dwelling place” and our verse to go with it is Psalm 90:1.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

Later, Psalm 90:14 reads..

“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad in all our days.

The last verse of the chapter, Psalm 90:17, says…

“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”

My weekday morning routine help establish the Lord as my dwelling place to start my day. He speaks to me through His Word and prayer, and I give him thanks for His blessings through my gratitude list. I started this last piece of after hearing some years back you can’t feel stress and gratitude at the same time. Generally speaking, no matter how busy my day will be and even if I’m running late, my anxiety level is pretty low on weekday mornings. However, anxiety tends to go up as the day goes further along, and I forget to dwell in the Lord through talking to Him in prayer. I forget about what I’m grateful for despite the problems which arise. I forget to ask him again in the fire to “establish the work of my hands.” He no longer is my “dwelling place”…my “dwelling place” is now the troubles the day has brought.

Ironically, some of the days I seem to be worried the most about getting my to do list done or am short tempered are the weekends. Some of the days I tend to be the most anxious about what the future may bring are when I’m on vacation..yes…vacation..which is supposed to be the time to re-charge! Why? I get away from my morning routine on the weekends and vacation which make the Lord my dwelling place. Just yesterday the discussion came up, bringing some stress and anxiety, about when we may change houses and if our kids will change schools. We must remember to pray for wisdom and guidance on these decisions and remember that regardless of the physical location of where we live or where our kids go to school, He is our true dwelling place. Instead of worrying about these things, we should be grateful that we even have a home and a school which many in other countries, and even our own country for that matter, don’t have.

Let us pray..

Lord, please help us to remember that you have been, and will always be, our true dwelling place in all generations. Help us remember this throughout each day in the little decisions and in the big ones which affect our long-term plans. We know that when we truly dwell in you and you dwell in our hearts and minds, you will establish the work of our hands and we will rejoice and be glad in our days!

Kobe

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

Psalm 103:8

Today’s reading is Psalm 103:8 with our word to describe God being compassionate. The entire chapter of Psalm 103 expands on this theme.

Over the last week or so since the terrible helicopter accident that claimed the lives of 9 people, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, most of us have taken in a lot of information not only about that day’s events, but about the lives of those on board, including of course Kobe. I must admit it’s been sobering for me not only because of the loss of life and thinking about their families left behind, but also because of what I’ve learned about Kobe since.

In 2003, Kobe was accused of sexual assault with charges later being dropped and the case settled out of court. While Kobe claimed innocence in regards to the assault, he admitted his guilt for his infidelity to his wife Vanessa. In 2012, he was photographed with his shirt off in a bar talking with 2 women while Team USA was traveling in Barcelona. While Kobe said a drink was spilled on him and he was waiting for his replacement shirt, I suspected, most likely similar to many others, he had not learned and changed his ways after his past mistakes. While I had come to really respect Kobe as a basketball player, and most of all his drive, competitiveness, and work ethic in recent years, I had all but written him off as a quality human being away from the basketball court.

Since his passing, much has come out about Kobe as a father and person, His quote, “I’m a girl dad.”, has lead to a social media frenzy of pictures of proud dads and their daughters with the #girldad tag. I’m not a big fan of private helicopters and planes and won’t get on one myself, as it seems like you always hear about them going down usually with no survivors. In addition to being saddened when I heard the news of the crash, I admit I had the passing thought…”Geez..do you really need your own helicopter..isn’t that even a little bit eccentric?” Later, I learned in an interview with Alex Rodriguez, Kobe said he bought the helicopter because he missed one of his daughter’s events after being stuck in traffic. He said in his interview he could also now fly to and from workouts and be home to pick up his daughters from school. His wife said she could easily pick them up and it wasn’t a big deal, but he said when you travel as much as I do…even 15 minutes talking to them on the commute home from school meant so much to him. Wow. I also read a story of him visiting a young boy with a fatal heart condition in the hospital and playing basketball with him for hours causing the boy to smile for what his parents said was the first time in years just a few days before his passing. The story is now told that Kobe did this in secret and specifically asked for no PR in what turns out to be not so rare event of him visiting the ill and insisting on no publicity.

While Kobe was not perfect and still made mistakes, it sure seems like he was in fact a good husband, father, and person and had changed. However, we know being a “good person” does not get you into Heaven. When I heard about his passing my first thought was, “I hope he knew Jesus and was saved.” The day after, I was pleased to learn he went to church that morning before boarding the helicopter. This was a good sign. Then, I heard an interview he did with Steven A. Smith in 2006. When Steven asked him about the 2003 incident and what he learned, he said….

“God is great. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. You can know it all you want, but until you have to pick up that cross that you can’t carry, and He picks it up and carries you and the cross, then you know.”

Praise God! I was overjoyed that Kobe had learned that God is compassionate and asked for forgiveness. My next feeling was guilt for my judgement of Kobe all these years. Although it seems like he had changed, it wasn’t my place to judge and condemn him in the first place. I had not shown Kobe the same mercy and compassion for his past mistakes that God thankfully shows me in mine. I had wrongly judged Kobe’s mistake(s) as worse than mine. And the reality is, in God’s eyes, any sin separates us from God for eternity without Jesus and the cross. I need the cross as much as he did for my many mistakes. Although they may be different than his, God views them the same and forgives them all the same through the compassion of the cross. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I sin each day, hour, and likely minute and need his mercy, grace, and compassion just like Kobe and all of us.

Matthew 6:14-15 reads, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Talk about a wake up call.

Kobe has taught many about drive, passion, and work ethic, but what he taught me is that I must extend the same grace, forgiveness, and compassion to my family, friends, and everyone which God also extends to me through carrying my cross daily. All I can do is praise God for his compassion and say, “Thanks, Kobe.”

Branch of the Lord

“In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.”

Isaiah 4:2

In Isaiah’s prophetic writing about our Savior Jesus, he refers to Him as “the branch of the Lord.” This reminds us Jesus is in fact deity and from the direct lineage of God the Father. Romans 3:23-26 discusses how all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and how Jesus came as the “propitiation” of sin. He takes our place so God forgets and forgives all our past sins. I’ve mentioned it before, but many non-Christians say they just can’t believe because why would God…king and ruler of all…do that? Or put in another way..they wouldn’t do that if they were God. Well..that’s just it..we are not God..thankfully!

Just this last week yet another scandal in major league baseball was revealed, with one very outspoken Christ follower being accused of some very serious cheating showing once again that even as Christians we can be tempted to win at all costs wanting the praise and the glory. This also proves once again that it’s hard for us to fathom what God did through Jesus in humbly submitting and bearing the burden for sin that should have been ours.

Yet, these verses tell us, “the branch of the Lord” will take his rightful place on the throne and receive all the glory and praise for His sacrifice at the end of days when He comes again. This past Sunday at Eastview Christian Church, Pastor Mike Baker discussed how scientists estimate there are over 100 billion stars and galaxies. Today’s verse and Revelation 5:13 tell us He will get the glory in the end.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.”

Revelation 5:13

If those 100 billion stars and galaxies and everything in them will ultimately bow down to Him some day, then “So Will I”….