The Table is Set

 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." Psalm 23:5

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14: 1-4

    When I was a kid, one of my jobs was to set the table. We had a sturdy, round oak table, which my dad had refinished. At the time, I did not realize what an act of love it was to prepare the table for dinner, making a place for each person.

    At Thanksgiving, we went all out. Tables and chairs were gathered to accommodate invited guests. Table linens were pressed with care, creased in all the right places. The chest of "real" silverware was brought out along with the turkey candlestick holders, gravy boat and china platter. I'd set the table as per mom's instructions, making sure of the proper placement of utensils. The finishing touch was the place card bearing each person's name along with a selected scripture to read before the feast.

    Close your eyes with me and imagine heaven's banquet hall, if you can. Perhaps there will be a miles-long table draped in white linen and ribboned with garlands of fragrant flowers.  A happy throng of guests, arrayed in white, will stream in, looking for their place card, written in lovely calligraphy; an angel will draw out our chair for us. Who will be seated next to us but perhaps our long-lost loved one? Utensils of purest gold and stemware of crystal will reflect the light of our Savior as He takes His seat at the head of the table. Merry eyes will turn toward Him as He taps His fork on the glass to make an announcement - a proclamation of joyous welcome! We will drink in the glories of His Presence and be forever satiated by pure love and contentment.

    Who has been invited to such an auspicious occasion? How can we be certain to find our place at the table? 

    The invitations have been sent around the world, addressed with love in the blood of the Lamb. The garments of salvation, the righteous robes of Christ, are our wedding clothes.

    In Matthew 22: 1-14, Jesus tells the Parable of the Wedding Banquet in which the King has prepared a feast and sent out the invitations but, incredulously, some refused to come. They paid no attention and just went off about their business. That would be like our guests not coming on Thanksgiving!

    To be ensured of your place, you must respond to the King's invitation. Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, trusting in His death and resurrection? Or will you refuse? 

"...everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet." Matthew 22:4

"Then the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.'" Revelation 19:9 

    

    

Birdbrain

 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26

    As the leaves gleam their golden hues and daylight wanes, along come the advertising campaigns which surround the Christmas - oops, sorry! "Holiday" - season. 

    The one I received today from a gardening center had not one item referencing our beautiful Savior's incarnation in Bethlehem, but it did have a page or two devoted to a favorite bird of mine, the black capped chickadee. So, I paused to peruse.

    There, within the description of this spritely bird's winter feeding habits, I found the glory of God. I learned these birds hide food in the fall, which they intend to eat much later come winter. To do this, the chickadee uses its keen spatial memory to record the precise location of thousands of snacks. The hippocampus (the memory center of the bird's brain) actually expands by 30% to accommodate this geo-caching foray. Then, in spring, the bird's brain returns to its normal capacity, erasing the now unnecessary memory of his hidden seeds. 

    The irony of uncovering this miraculous tidbit of creation in the center of a secular circular, which ostensibly denied any nod to God's gift to the world, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, was not lost on me. For the wisdom of God, as revealed by a bird's brain, is foolishness to the world at large. 

    If a chickadee could pause long enough to be interviewed, do you suppose he would, with fluffed feathers on a proud breast, declare that he had provided for himself by his own strength? Or would he, birdbrain though he has, give glory where glory is due - to God alone?

    For all the boasting man does about all he supposedly knows, for him to say that birds evolved from reptiles which initially evolved in the sea millions of years ago, showcases just what a birdbrain he is. Come to think of it, the bird is wiser than he.

"Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?...But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."1 Corinthians 1: 20, 27

A Modern-Day Zacchaeus

 "But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.'' Luke 19:8

    Perhaps you recall the story of Zacchaeus, a very wealthy chief tax collector of short stature who wanted to see who Jesus was so, when the Lord was passing through his town, Zacchaeus climbed into a sycamore tree to improve his view. When Jesus passed beneath him, He called the tree climber by name and invited Himself over to his house, which caused murmuring throughout the crowd at the thought of Jesus going to the home of a "sinner." But, after the tax collector gladly welcomed Jesus, he repented and sought to make things right. According to Jesus, this brought salvation to his house (Luke 19:10).

    Recently, I had the honor of chatting with a modern-day Zacchaeus, Michael Zuren. Mr. Zuren is the treasurer of Lake County. When he had taken the job, he noticed an account on the books with a great deal of money therein, so he inquired about it. He was told the money came from overpayments of property taxes spanning a period of twenty-three years. When a property is sold, sometimes two parties both pay the taxes inadvertently so, when this happened, the funds were deposited into this account.

    The way I see it, Mr. Zuren at that point had two options: He could have accepted that as the way it had been done for years, so why change it now? That would have been the easier choice. But, since he is a Christian, he chose to make things right. Mr. Zuren has made it a priority to research property tax overpayments and is committed to returning these funds to their rightful owners.

    Godly integrity is a tall order, but when the choice for restitution is made, there will be no shortage of blessings that follow. During these days of great corruption, I am grateful for Michael Zuren, a man who has gladly welcomed Jesus into his life and has put his faith into action. 

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13

      

God's House

 "Don't you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you are bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies." 1 Corinthians 6: 19. 20

    I have a small collection of churches. My husband's grandfather made the largest one, complete with a baptismal font and bell tower, but I have to agree with my granddaughter when it comes to my favorite one: It's a mechanical music box in which the doors open and a minister comes forth in a welcoming manner. 

    Over the years, it has given me great joy to worship in many different types of churches. Some are magnificently adorned with stained glass windows and a long aisle, which blushing brides prefer. Some are humble, like the six-pew chapel found at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, which impressed me as a child. When I visited Parkside Church to hear Alistair Begg preach, I was surprised by the plainness of the sanctuary; no altar, no colorful glass - not even a cross. The explanation was quite simple: The focus is meant to be solely on the Bible, so all distractions have been pared down to the basics. 

    If you were going to design a church, what would you include? 

    The Bible says, if you have received Christ as your Savior, that you are the temple. When the Spirit of God walks around in your heart, what does He see? I wonder how He prefers His dwelling to be? 

    When I ponder these questions, I know right off that I do not want any dirt or clutter in my church. Nor do I want to entertain any false ideas that will grieve Him. Perhaps He would teach me, if I finally sat down in the pew with a listening heart instead of anally arranging flowers or fawning over the music selection. When I open my mouth, will what I say honor Him? Will my hands offer service? Will I commune in fellowship with Him, as did Adam when God walked with him in the cool of the day before the Fall?

    It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? To think that God, the Creator of the Universe, desires a relationship with us and that His house is as close as our own hearts! Immanuel: God with us. Let the miracle of this sink in as you prepare your sanctuary today.

"For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and walk among them. I will be their God and they will be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:16

Along Came Jesus

 "When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" John 11:43, 44

    Yesterday, my daughter and I went to the Mummies of the World exhibit in downtown Cleveland. There were Egyptian mummies, Incan mummy bundles and even a few small preserved animals. Some bodies were intentionally mummified whereas others ostensibly died unnoticed and were preserved by just the right environmental conditions. One educational exhibit demonstrated the process of decomposition in which the viewer was shown the grim stages of decay that followed death.

    As we ambled along, peering at the rather gruesome displays, my mind went back to the story of Lazarus, as found in John's gospel, chapter eleven. Having been dead for four days, wrapped in strips of linen mingled with the customary spices, Lazarus was dead - no doubt about it. Mourners wailed. Relatives sobbed. The life of Lazarus was over.

    Or was it?

    Along came Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, whose loud command brought forth his friend from the grave. Praise be to God, the cords of death, which have strangled creation from the Fall of mankind, have been cut. The prison bars have been pried open by the only One who has the authority to do so. 

    Do you know, if the souls who had inhabited those mummies in the exhibit died in Christ, they will rise again? Can you imagine if Jesus had returned while I was touring that gallery, I would have seen those petrified people breathe anew and rise from those glass cases? "Unbelievable!" you say? Read God's word:

"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18)

    Perhaps those mourners, who had surrounded the grave of Lazarus that day in Bethany, had trouble believing what they saw, but whether they believed it or not does not alter the truth of the matter: Jesus has broken the power of the grave. 

"I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?" Hosea 13:14