Does anyone feel like they’ve “got it all together?” Does anyone feel like they are solid in their emotions and feelings? Does anyone feel like they are the first one to raise their hand when asked if they are a leader? These are not rhetorical questions that I am asking. I am dead serious. If you answer YES to all of these with no hesitation, you may have another issue altogether, and it is not a lack of confidence!

Most of us would actually answer NO, to all three or at least two of these questions at one time or another, if not on a daily basis. 

Why? Because we tend to be more fearful than brave. We struggle to be bold rather than timid. We can panic far quicker than we can maintain a level head. And we force ourselves to stand alone instead of following the crowd.

As much as we may fantasize about being a “super hero,” truth is, we fall more into the category of SHEEP than anything else. We are prone to follow the mob psychology of the day and find ourselves too easily in a stampede headed for the cliff. We have little or no means of self-defense, we can only run or flee, and we become vulnerable to our enemy.

No one knows this more than our Creator, God. That is why He sent us a GOOD SHEPHERD.

“I AM The Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays His life down for His sheep.” John 10:11

“I AM The Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”  John 10:14

God did not just send us a shepherd to corral us and keep us in line. NO, our Great God sent us a GOOD SHEPHERD who knows us. He understands our propensity to follow the crowd, to wander and get off course. Still, He is there for us and guides us back to the safe path. He knows our hearts and is sympathetic when we are afraid and panic. He is there to comfort and calm our scared and fearful souls.

More than anything, we have a GOOD SHEPHERD who laid His life down so that we can live! He did not lay it down out of pressure or persuasion. He laid it down out of His deep LOVE for us, HIS SHEEP!

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”      

John 10:18

In this phenomenal I AM statement of Jesus we not only have the assurance of our protection and comfort knowing Jesus is our Shepherd. Greater still is the truth that Jesus is establishing Himself here as our once and for all GOOD SHEPHERD. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. The 23rd Psalm is the beautiful Old Testament shepherd metaphor, reserved for God Himself.  Jesus is pronouncing that He is unequivocally the salvation that God promised. HE IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD, His VICTORY is won on the cross when He willingly gives His life for His sheep!

TRUTH BOMB

SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD GO ASTRAY, OUR GOOD SHEPHERD KEEPS US ON THE RIGHT PATH.

No matter how you are walking today, wobbly, straight, courageous, timid, panicked or sure-footed, you have a GOOD SHEPHERD who will gently guide you along the way!

Speak Truth Love

Last week we talked about the fact that JESUS IS TRUTH!  In His “I AM” statement He tells us that HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE!  

He, JESUS, being THE TRUTH, leads us in THE WAY we should go, and in choosing HIM we have LIFE eternal!

So knowing this makes it easy to determine what TRUTH is, right? WRONG!

Like we shared last week, we have many things in life vying for the position of TRUTH. Who do we listen to or not listen to? Who do we follow or not follow? Who do we trust or not trust?

The answer once again is JESUS, JESUS and JESUS!

I am not being facetious here! I am dead serious.

The only way to determine who to listen to, who to follow and who to trust is to listen to JESUS and know His TRUTH! The TRUTH, JESUS, is LOVE!  Love is JESUS!  Love is not an attribute He has, it is who He is. 

I John 4:8 tells us that “GOD IS LOVE.”  Love is who He is, therefore anything He would want us to listen to, follow or trust would have to have these traits:

Patience

Kindness

Hope

Endurance

Belief

Protection

Trust

Perseverance and

Eternal value.

It would be void of:

Envy

Strife

Arrogance

Rudeness

Selfishness

Irritability and

resentfulness.

Jesus spells it out for us in I Corinthians 13:4-8.  It is a so-called the “laundry list” if you will, to determining TRUTH.

THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST WILL ALWAYS SEEK TO CONVICT YOU OF WHAT IS FALSE IN YOUR LIFE TO BRING YOU CLOSER TO HIM. IT WILL NEVER CONDEMN YOU AND FILL YOU WITH GUILT AND SELF CONDEMNATION.

TRUTH BOMB

JESUS IS TRUTH AND HIS LOVE CONVICTS US OF SIN, IT NEVER CONDEMNS US.

When Jesus convicts us, He is speaking the truth in love to us, calling us out to change our ungodly behavior. If we feel condemned, as if we are bad people and we can never change or become acceptable to God, that “voice” is not the voice of Jesus. That is the voice of the enemy of our souls. 

What is the truth?

“There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

Romans 8:1

Jesus convicts us of our sin so that we will change and become more like Him. 

So even though change is hard, it is profitable as we seek to walk in the truth, aka Jesus Christ. So walk freely in Jesus, friends, free of condemnation because Jesus is LOVE and HE LOVES YOU!

Speak Truth Love

TRUTH, do you care about it and do you want it?  By this point you are more than likely feeling like this is a rhetorical question!  Of course we want the TRUTH. The alternative is lies! None of us want to be lied to. The problem is, WHAT IS TRUTH?

Is TRUTH an opinion or a point of view? Is TRUTH determined by our intellect and the education we received? Is TRUTH acquired by the family of origin we were raised in?

Is TRUTH taught through the news channel we tune into or through the podcast we listen to? Is TRUTH delivered to our fingertips as we scroll through our social media? Is TRUTH indicative of our feelings and rights?

If your definition of TRUTH is defined by the culture we live in then the answer is YES, YES, YES, YES, YES and YES!

The world has defined TRUTH as a “Conformity with fact or reality.”  It is also defined as, “Agreement with a standard or original.”  Finally, it is defined as, “An obvious or accepted fact.”

Conformity, Agreement, and Accepted…all of these terms imply or even dictate that we be in some kind of understanding or agreement of the facts in order for it to be TRUTH!

When we allow these definitions of TRUTH to determine our definition of TRUTH we are in a world of trouble. We are frustrated, confused, angry, afraid and find ourselves in all kinds of quarrels and disputes! We are easily led astray and can find ourselves way too far down a wrong path. 

The world cannot define TRUTH for us! We must rely on the TRUTH Himself to not only define TRUTH in our lives, but to direct us how to SPEAK THAT TRUTH IN LOVE!

Sound familiar? I hope so!  That is the statement of my Blog Site, “SpeakTruthLove.com”

“Instead, speaking the TRUTH in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, CHRIST.”

TRUTH is not a definition, it is a person…TRUTH is JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus tells us Himself in the I AM statement for today, that HE IS THE TRUTH!

“JESUS ANSWERED, “I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.”  

JOHN 14:6

TRUTH BOMB

THE ONLY DEFINITION BY WHICH WE MUST DEFINE TRUTH IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!

Do you feel anxious? Are you ever frustrated and confused trying to make heads or tails out of all of the information coming your way? Have you ever been misquoted, misunderstood or misinformed? If you have, you are in good company!

When Jesus speaks this I AM statement, He is in the Upper room having His last and final meal with His closest friends, His Disciples.  They are tired and frustrated and confused. They have received three years of instruction and modeling from JESUS Himself, yet they are wrought with anxiety as Jesus addresses them for the last time before His crucifixion.  Jesus tells them He is leaving them and that they are not to be troubled.

“DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED…..”   JOHN 14:1a

Thomas’ heart wrenching outcry here, chills me to the bone and reminds me of myself!

“Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  John 14:5

Does this sound familiar, it sure does to me!  “Lord, I believe I am right. This person is accusing me and they did not even ask me for the truth!”  Or, sometimes it goes more like this, “Lord, this person is credible, they must be speaking truth!”

Softly and lovingly I hear my JESUS whisper these words of TRUTH to me, “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE! No one comes to the Father except through me.” “You know the WAY to the place I am going, for I am also THE WAY, and you will have LIFE because you can come to the FATHER through me!”

TRUTH is not a definition left to debate, TRUTH is a person, TRUTH IS JESUS CHRIST and in that TRUTH you are set free!

“Then you will know THE TRUTH, and THE TRUTH will set you free.”  John 8:32

TRUTH is not a relative word left to our conformity, agreement or acceptance, TRUTH is JESUS CHRIST and Him ALONE!

JESUS is the way, the truth and the life! There is no other life worth living!

Speak Truth Love

I am sure you have noticed that there are different taste buds that we all have. For some of us there is nothing better than a big bowl of tortilla chips with a side of salsa and guacamole. For others, it is sheer delight to see a bowl of candy and have that sweet tooth satisfied. And for some, nothing will satisfy unless it is pure decadent chocolate!

For my family it is BREAD!  We love it sliced, pulled from the loaf, covered in butter or just plain! We love it served warm or cold and topped with seeds, grains or just plain sourdough! WE love bagels, rolls, muffins, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cookies and cupcakes. We certainly would never turn down a delicious slice of cake. But more than anything, we love BREAD!

From the time my first granddaughter could sit on the top of the kitchen counter without falling over, we have baked together. Every season it is a new batch of the seasonal favorite. We have aprons for every occasion and we plan our times together around our “Baking Adventures!”  Her third birthday party was actually a Baking Party! She had a chef’s hat and apron for that event. She calls herself, “Mamma’s Little Baker,” and earned her nick name “Cami Cakes”, from her love of baking. She is now 9 and has begun to bake on her own at home. She has a wonderful Mom who lets her try out recipes and cook up a few favorites. The family baking tradition continues as our second granddaughter is being schooled in the art of baking and loves to sit up on her kitchen counter and help her daddy make waffles from scratch or her mommy make cookies.  

My grandma taught me to bake and my favorite recipes to this day are the ones she handed down to me! In case you haven’t figured it out yet….YES, my family also loves to eat all of the delectable baked goods we make. However, at the top of everyone’s list is BREAD. That same first granddaughter was not even two when she was caught gnawing on a sourdough loaf as her PAPA pushed her in a stroller (She still does that today, aloughth she can now sit upright and hold the loaf, and does not require a stroller)! Bottom line, WE LOVE BREAD!

Bread is nourishing, satisfying and filling. Bread can be defined as food or sustenance. To “Break Bread,” is to eat a meal in companionship with others. It is also the definition we give to what we in the church call COMMUNION. We remember together the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on our behalf as His body was broken.

You may have already guessed it…this week the I AM statement of Jesus that we are reflecting on is,

“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.”  JOHN 6:35

In the very first “I Am,” statement of Jesus He declares Himself to be “THE BREAD OF LIFE!  Jesus finds Himself in a discussion about manna. Manna was the miraculous bread that God provided from heaven for His people, Israel, as they wandered in the desert. This BREAD kept the people of God alive while they wandered! Yet, they eventually did die. 

Jesus is telling us here that He is not only our BREAD of sustainment as we “wander” this earth, but He is more, so much more than that! He is THE BREAD OF LIFE! Not just life on this earth, that is sustainment, but LIFE ETERNAL!

“FOR MY FATHER’S WILL IS THAT EVERYONE WHO LOOKS TO THE SON AND BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, AND I WILL RAISE THEM UP AT THE LAST DAY.”  

JOHN 6:40

Jesus makes a bold statement here and declares that believers in Him will have endless life if they believe in and follow Him!

PRAISE GOD! Not only do we get to savor sourdough, but we get to be sustained and saved into eternity by the One True BREAD OF LIFE, JESUS CHRIST!

All we have to do is believe in and follow Him. He has made that as easy as “following a recipe!”  Now we can all be cooks!

Bon Appetite!

Until next week, savor the flavor of the Savior! He loves you SO!

Speak Truth Love