Tag Archives: God’s Faith

A Sweet Lesson

1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[your] joy complete. NIV

Forest Gump said “life is like a box of chocolates.”  I say life is like an Oreo cookie.  Life’s days and experiences are like the two pieces of cookie that surround the best part – that sweet center.  Have you noticed how carefully Oreos are packaged to protect them between production and consumption?  Have you noticed that even when the cookie has crumbled, the cream in the center can still hold the cookie together? 

Have you thought about how carefully protected your life has been because of God’s faith in all your days and experiences that you would finally taste His goodness?  Have you noticed in your life of faith that your brokenness doesn’t have to separate you from the sweetness of His faithfulness to you?  An Oreo cookie has become a sweet lesson about the center God has provided to protect us through all our days and experiences from His production to our consumption.  Jesus is that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life .” 

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one
who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 NIV

Shield, Fortress, Hiding Place

John 20:
8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

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These verses reminded me of this screen shot I took last Easter from the live broadcast of Gracepoint Church in Sturgis, Michigan.  That empty tomb for those closest to Jesus resulted in fear, not hope.  Hindsight has proved God’s plan for the salvation of many, became a reality despite those frightened people caught in desperate circumstances.  Jesus’s body had disappeared from that fortress of stone.  How could that possibly be anything but bad?  “(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)” 

That parenthetic verse 9 has become a modern-day lesson for me.  As odd as it is to type this sentence; doubt and fear have always been a part of faith, even for those closest to Jesus.  Even the “other” disciple, the one Jesus loved, hesitated. “Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.”…and

“Thomas felt a surge of shock and unbelief…Then he felt regret for having left. Then he felt isolated. He was the only one who hadn’t seen Jesus.  He had seen so many things that would have been unbelievable if he hadn’t seen them. Most haunting right now was Lazarus.  And then it happened. Thomas was staring at the floor, sinking again under the fear that maybe Jesus had rejected him because of his stubborn unbelief. If so, he knew he deserved it. Then someone gasped. He looked up and his heart leaped into his throat! Jesus was standing across the room looking at him. “Peace be with you”a

Faith is what gives us the courage to come out of our hiding place, confront our fears and doubts and to believe Jesus’s words are meant to shield us today, too –  “peace be with you.”  These two verses have become my reminder that recognizing the reality of an empty burial tomb is more than evidence of my faith…it’s evidence of God’s faith in me!  “Finally” I “saw and believed” and He turned that stone cave into a fortress of hope that “the LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”b

When it’s Hard to Believe
b Psalm 18:2