Truth is...

A few years ago, one of our regulars at my part‑time retail gig was all fired up about a trip to Las Vegas. Wanting to join in the fun, I gave him a dollar and said, “Play this on something for me.”

It may come as no surprise to you that when he returned, he reported my dollar had not garnered any winnings.

Fast forward to last month, when I told him I was going to Vegas to treat Beloved to Donny Osmond's show. He, of course, broke into a smile as he hopefully handed me a dollar.

Not having any gambling experience other than trying to get through an intersection while the light was still yellow, I wasn't really sure what to do with that dollar bill. But as I walked by the casino floor, I saw a colorful machine that had a slot in it especially made for inserting legal tender.

I placed the narrow edge of the donated dollar into the slot. The machine sucked the bill into its inner sanctum. A button labelled "SPIN" lit up, so I pushed it. Icons on the LED screen spun, the machine made a pleasant dinging sound, and that one dollar turned into twenty.

I am going to have So Much Fun when I see that customer again and hand him his twenty-dollar bill!

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Truth is...I'm not saying my customer is necessarily greedy, nor that I am so all-fire godly, but I am saying that one of the most God-like (i.e., "godly") things a person can do is to be a giver.

I can also testify that giving results in getting joy. Jesus wasn't joking when he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35 NIV)

      

Not long after moving to Minnesota to become the Youth and Worship Minister at a church in the suburbs south of the Twin Cities, we were part of a group from that church who bought tickets to a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond.

My Beloved was especially looking forward to seeing her former teen-crush-heartthrob perform and was especially disappointed to hear the announcement that Donny would not be seen in the role of Joseph that night, but that his understudy would be performing instead.

Then the show started and the abundant energy and talent of the understudy obliterated all thoughts of disappointment.

I think the disciples may have gone on a similar journey.

There they were, sopping up the last of their Passover meal, when Jesus told them he was leaving  -  and that the Holy Spirit would come instead. Their hearts weren’t ready for that. They wanted him. How could they imagine being helped or counseled by anyone else?

Then the book of Acts happened, obliterating all thoughts of disappointment.

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Truth is...Jesus didn't make that promise only to the disciples in the upper room. I know that's true because he didn't send the Holy Spirit only to them. We are promised the same Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, and Standby, weilding the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

File that under "Good News"!

      

As a conclusion to the collection of life lessons and spiritual challenges that people call The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus dropped this truth bomb in the lap of each person who likes to call him a great teacher and leave it at that.

You know the kind of person I mean: "I'm not really a religious person, but I think the world would be a better place if we all paid attention to how Jesus talked about loving our neighbor and getting along."

While I agree that Jesus talked about loving our neighbor ... even to the point of calling it the second-greatest commandment ... I'm not so sure the phrase "getting along" fully summarizes what he meant.

I mean, the same Jesus who said "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) also said "Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) So don't think you can fully understand Jesus in the space of a single sentence.

Besides, it's not about intellectual assent or curious contemplation. Jesus doesn't intend for us to hear his words and mentally agree with him, as if to say, "That's really good to think about."

He intends for us to do something about it.

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Truth is... Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of this verse in The Message makes it pretty clear: "If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach."

      

Isaiah had the uncomfortable task of pronouncing judgment on Judah, but he also got to hold out the hope of God's promised restitution and reward. Very much like the now-classic, "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming!"

The metaphor of the future being bright  -  with the moon and sun giving far more light than normal  -  isn't just an Old Testament thing. It makes its way into the final book of the Bible, describing the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:23 (AMP):

The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to give light to it, for the glory (splendor, radiance) of God has illumined it, and the Lamb is its lamp and light.

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Truth is...We can have the same hope of a bright and glorious future. No matter how dark our current circumstances may be, the all-loving Creator who first said, "Let there be light," has no intention of leaving us alone, fumbling around in the dark forever.

All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.
John 1:3-4 (NCV)

      

A little pity, please, for poor Simon . . . assumingly in the area for Passover and Pentecost, over 1,000 miles from his home in Northern Africa. He's heading into Jerusalem from wherever he was staying during his pilgrimage and is voluntold to join a procession going out of the city; forced to carry the tool of execution for a condemned man who had been beaten to a pulp and was unable to carry it himself.

It was totally unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong. He did not deserve to be carrying that cross to Golgotha.

Hmm . . . Just like Jesus.

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Truth is...We are all called to be just like Jesus.

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23

If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 2:20-21