A hope that anchors the soul.

In the book of Numbers, whenever the people faced adversity, they looked in the rear-view mirror to their past rather than the windshield to their future – the Promised Land.

Parched lips? Let’s head back slavery. Growling stomach? Old life wasn’t so bad. They glorified their yesterday and wished to return to the hands of harsh slave masters.

Instead of looking back, they should have remembered what God did, He took care of their past, and looked forward to what He gave them – hope for a bright tomorrow in the Promised Land. Change, a better life, was possible. 

The Father gave us a new life through the living hope brought in Jesus’ resurrection (1 Peter 1:3). Think about it. I know it’s a simple concept, but sometimes we stumble on the simple truths of Scripture: Resurrection can only happen after something died!

Yesterday is gone – ours and others mistakes and failures. The only place it can stay alive is in our minds…if we choose to look back. Resurrection is a new birth, which implies the old is gone. So, why do we want to go back to the slavery/our old habits that brought us nothing but harsh treatment (sin-guilt/shame-confession cycle)?

Jesus is alive, right?! Then why focus on your past that He already died for? You might say, “You don’t know what I did?” Or, here is one better, “You don’t know what others did to me?”

Gotcha. Question, who do you want to be in control of your today? If you have not received Jesus’ forgiveness at the cross, or have not forgiven yourself or others since the cross, you are allowing the past to control your present. Why? It keeps you looking in the rear-view mirror to yesterday.

You can’t change yesterday, only right now. Blunt, but true. Therefore change, the life the Father has for you, is possible when you focus on the hope He has already given you because of Jesus. Since He is alive right now, so are you! So why not focus on the life that is ahead of you?

We have a resurrection hope that allows us to look through the windshield to a better life, regardless of life’s adversities. Therefore, when you focus on life ahead, rather than a dead past, you are glorifying and worshiping Jesus, a living hope.

You will never want more of Jesus until you experience emptiness.

Here’s something to think about. Is who you are right now worth leaving behind to experience who you can become?

Before answering, let me share an illustration of being full that you might already have seen. Take an empty cup and place rocks in it all the way to the top. Is it full? Yes, so do you want more? No, because the cup can’t contain any more rocks.

Add fine sand, which fills in the cup’s crevices. Now is it full? Yes, so do you want more sand? No, because it is full.

Finally add water, which fills in all the spaces you couldn’t see. Is it finally full? You’re probably beginning to doubt what “full” means, right?

Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) – a full container. Yet, the only way we can understand abundant is when we allow Jesus to let us experience the lack of fullness.

We have to stop settling for who are at the moment – good or bad. We have to want and believe we can have more of Him. This is why we feel empty at various times in our lives. And maybe, even wonder why are we still here.

Emptiness is good! It allows you to know that you are empty and to ask for more of Him, more of the abundant life He promised.

Hopefully now we are ready to answer the above proposed question in order to ask Him to change us even more into His image so we can experience more of Him in our lives.

You go where you focus.

“You are so good.” This statement can be both true and false at the same time. The difference is your focus: before or after the cross.

Jesus was called good. He responded by saying that no one is good except God alone (Matt. 10:18). Jesus stated two truths here. One, humans in and of themselves are not good. And two, He is good as He is God.

Thus, the statement is false if one is looking to the cross; however, it is true if they are looking from the cross.

The Spirit had penned what appears to be a contradictory statement in Hebrews 10:14, “By one sacrifice he (Jesus) has made perfect those we are being made holy.”

Notice the cross is the starting point of making the believer in His death both perfect while at the same time putting them into the process of becoming perfect (holy).

Huh? You have to shake your head at wonder of this truth: We are perfect-imperfect children of God based on what Jesus did at the cross.

Our incompetence was before the cross. After the cross, we are now competent. We are now good enough (i.e. righteous) to make healthy choices (i.e. righteous) right now.

Where is your focus: before or after the cross? If you have already put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross then stop looking back to the cross by focusing on the shame and guilt of who you were, with its corresponding unhealthy choices (i.e. sin) in the present.

Instead, focus on who you are in Christ, someone who is good enough to have a relationship with a loving Father and to make healthy choices at this very moment.

Your focus will determine the reality of your choices today. Choose to focus on who you are in Christ right now because of what He did on the cross.

Let it grow!

Distracted with or maybe a little stressed about providing for yourself or your family that forces Jesus to take a back seat in your thinking (Matt. 6:30)?

Life starting to overwhelm you, like waves upon waves of unwanted or “never experienced this before” situations (Matt. 8:26)?  

Doing what the Father asked you to do, but are beginning to feel like you’re in over your head? Getting uncomfortable in your comfort zone (Matt. 14:31)?

Having difficulty grasping what Jesus has been repeatedly trying to teach you (Matt. 16:8)? Or, heading in the direction the Spirit led you to go, but facing headwinds that are keeping you stuck in one place (Matt. 17:20)?

Jesus’ disciples faced all these situations and failed because of one thing – their lack of increased faith in who Jesus was and what He could do, despite all they heard Him say and saw Him do.

Then along comes an entourage of people sent with a request from a Roman Centurion who also heard what Jesus had said and done. Yet, this gentile had the faith in what Jesus said He could do, which led to the healing of his near-death servant (Matt. 8:5-13; Lk. 7:1-10).

In all the above scenarios, the amount of a person’s faith was the common denominator. Solution? It’s time for a faith payer, literally. Ask Him to do what only He can do, “Lord, please increase my faith.”

Let your faith grow my friends! The world around you must see what only Jesus can do, give them life today, tomorrow and into eternity.

Learn to rest in the salvation of the LORD.

The Tabernacle could only be entered by the priests from the line of Aaron. Israel’s kings and citizens could not enter, ever. The closest they could be was its courtyard.

Yet, 2 Samuel 6 records King David putting the Ark, above where God lived, inside a tent he made in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 7 then shows David sitting before the Lord in the context of this tent. And, nowhere can I find that God ever punished or corrected David for doing so.

Here is my guess as to why. Isaiah 30:15 states, “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘Repent and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none it.’”

Israel had a problem of leaving God’s presence to hang out with other gods/idols, images made with human hands, who couldn’t save, let alone help them.

The ancient Hebrew word here for “repent” pictures a tent, a place where one is to return. It’s carries the common interpretation of the word repent, but also states where to return – the place where God dwells.

David chose to do this quite literally! It never says he went behind the curtain, which only the High Priest could do. It does say, however, he sat before the LORD. He quite literally took a seat to enjoy the presence of his LORD where salvation was found.

The word rest in ancient Hebrew is pictured as a seed in soil behind a protective wall. It’s like a shepherd, who after watering and grazing, brings his sheep into a pen. The result of combining both pictures is one of sitting in the LORD’s presence behind a protected wall, which results in salvation.

God alone can save. He plants, waters and protects the seed. (Yes, He may use humans, but it’s still His seed!) Our job is to keep hanging out with Him. Wherever He is, we should be and stay. Any thought, thing or action that leads us out His presence, then, is an idol.

So, when you begin to notice yourself straying from the LORD, apply the old adage, “Take a load off an’ sit a spell.” He’s got you! Rest in His salvation, His presence.