Savior

All posts tagged Savior

God Is Thinking Of ME!

Posted by Jim Thornber on August 9, 2011
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

 “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand”— Psalm 139:17-18   

I like the honesty of King David. Up until verse sixteen of Psalm 139, David is contemplating ways he could hide from God. I’ve done that. but unlike King David, I don’t readily write about it.

Then David realizes that there is no place in the universe he can go to avoid God.  He even concludes that God knew Him and counted all of his days while he was still forming inside his mother’s body. After meditating upon all of this, David finally says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” As this Psalm clearly shows, the thoughts of God have been resting upon David, and David tells us that those thoughts are more numerous than the grains of sand (vs. 18).

Think about that. God has more thoughts about you than there are grains of sand on the earth. And those are precious thoughts, not angry, disappointing thoughts.

God is thinking about His creation, and His thoughts are precious as they pertain to man—so precious, in fact, that God has chosen to crown man with glory and honor (Ps. 8:4-5; Heb. 2:7) and to one day set his stature eternally above that of heavenly beings.

When we truly understand that God is thinking precious and positive thoughts about us, and even wants us to live crowned with glory and honor, not burdened with sin and shame, will it change our way of life?

  • Will we use our crown to show off our unique place and tromp around like a Hollywood celebrity, or will we live in the humility of Christ, who taught us that the “first will be last, and the last first” (Mk. 9:33-37; 10:29-31)?
  • Will we use our creative abilities to make a place and a name for ourselves in this world and gain Andy Warhol’s promised fifteen minutes of fame, or will we take the few talents that God has given us and return to Him double the portion He has granted us (Luke 19:12-27)?
  • Will we desire to grow rich and famous and have everything we could ever want, and gain everything the world could ever give, or will we take this glory and honor and use it as Jesus did – to radiate the glory of God Himself (Hebrews 1:3)?

It bothers me that I have not always believed that when God is thinking of me, His thoughts are precious. But they are. And He’s given me a crown to wear and a King to represent. I figure if God thinks well enough of me to die for my eternal salvation and crown me with glory and honor, the least I could do is believe Him.

His thoughts of you are precious, too. Do you believe Him?

Mary Had It Worse

Posted by Jim Thornber on February 7, 2011
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

“And a sword will pierce your own soul too” – Luke 2:35

Me and Mom at my wedding

I know it has been a while since I’ve written, but I’ve been in Mississippi the last ten days with my mom. She had been fighting emphysema for years and on Feb. 1, she lost the battle. She died peacefully with me in the room with her, and I’m grateful for the time I could spend with her at the end of her life.

I have to admit, though, that more than once during the week I stood by her side, praying that God would take her quickly and ease the pain of trying to breathe with only 18% of her lungs left. One of the worst possible experiences in life is to watch a loved one slowly die for lack of oxygen. Gasping for air is not a pretty sight, but that was what I had to watch. I prayed and pleaded with God that He would ease her pain and discomfort and take her home quickly. My love and compassion for my mom wanted a comfortable, easy passing, and I don’t regret those prayers. Still, while I stood by her bed and held her hand while she struggled to inhale, it occurred to me that however bad I had it, Mary, the mother of Jesus, had it worse. Continue Reading

Tale of the Towel

Posted by Jim Thornber on August 31, 2010
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus  . . . .took off His garments, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He fastened it around His waist (John 13:1,4, Amplified).

Perhaps the best-known passage that shows us the servant heart of Jesus is John 13, where we see our Lord and Savior, the creator through whom God made the universe, washing feet.

Jesus was fully aware of who He was in God, where He was from, and where He was going. As such, He was not serving His disciples while He waited for God to bring Him into His “real” ministry. He didn’t wash feet as a way of passing the time before He got on with His studies at Seminary or waited for His first call to pastor a church (those are the things I would do). Service was at the heart of the life Jesus laid down for His friends.

What challenges me most about this episode is the fact that Jesus gave credibility and integrity to what He did because of who He was, while most of us are inclined to get that backwards. We have the tendency to define who we are by what we do. Continue Reading

Surprised by Jesus

Posted by Jim Thornber on April 23, 2010
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.”­ – John 4:27

John 4 is the familiar story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus was on a mission, for verse four says, “Now he had to go through Samaria.” What intrigues me about this passage is the way the disciples seemed bothered by the fact Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman. This woman was the wrong sex and living in the wrong country for them to feel comfortable. In other words, she definitely was not one of them! Apparently, the disciples still did not understand the mission and the purpose of Jesus, so His actions surprised them.

This got me thinking: I wonder how often Jesus might surprise me. I don’t think I’d be surprised if Jesus had a face-to-face conversation with Billy Graham, or maybe Mother Teresa or even the head of my denomination. Those are all people who are acceptable in my sight. However, would I be surprised if I walked into a room and saw Jesus conversing with someone I’m not sure about? You’ll have to use your imagination for this, but what if I came across Jesus talking to President Obama. (I can hear it now: “Jesus had to go through Washington, D.C.”) Continue Reading

Praying The Lord’s Name In Vain

Posted by Jim Thornber on January 28, 2010
Posted in: Christian Spirituality. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Ex. 20:7-“You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name” (NLT).

Just for the fun of it, I’ve been reading the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Covenant. I’ve been in Exodus the past few days, zooming right along and having a good time, right up until I got to Ex. 20:7, the third of the Ten Commandments. This one stopped me in my tracks. Like many of us, I’ve memorized this verse from the King James Version, which says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.” This commandment extends the idea of the second commandment, for just as God forbids us to show disrespect to Him by making a god out of something that is not God, it is also a disgrace to use His Name for no legitimate or valid reason.

Until now, I’ve mostly thought of taking the Lord’s name is vain as cursing. When I was barely a teenager, I’d often get frustrated and say, “Jeee-sus Chrii-st,” as if it was His fault I wasn’t getting my way. My dad heard me say that once and he shot me a look that has stayed with me for 35 years, and I’ve (mostly) succeeded in not saying it again.

Other times, I’ve heard people vainly use His name to express surprise or disappointment, or even fill in the gaps in prayer. This last one I find especially irritating. Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — Luke 2:36-37

Posted by Jim Thornber on December 14, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Worship. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

She Kept On Not Leaving

“A prophetess, Anna. . .was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day” – Luke 2:36-37

I’ve been preparing for a series of Christmas sermons, and one of those will be on Anna, the prophet who saw the child Jesus at His dedication in the Temple. All day this one particular phrase has bothered me– “she never left the temple.”

Here’s a woman who has been a widow for more years than I’ve been alive, yet she never left the temple. She never fell away or became faithless. She could have given up on God because she was a widow after only seven years of marriage, perhaps feeling neglected by God and society. She could have turned her back on her religion because life wasn’t turning out as she hoped. She could have shouted, “It MUST be someone’s fault. I’ll blame it on God! That’ll teach Him.” But she didn’t. She chose never to leave the temple.

In the Greek language this literally means, “She kept on not leaving.” She wasn’t too lazy to head for the door; she intentionally and actively engaged in not leaving the presence of God. Have you ever had a visitor to your house who “kept on not leaving”? Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — John 13:1,4

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 13, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Service. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

Tale Of The Towel

BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and]to the highest degree. . . .took off His garments, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He fastened it around His waist (John 13:1,4, Amplified).

Jesus washes feetPerhaps the best-known passage that shows us the servant heart of Jesus is John 13, where we see our Lord and Savior, the creator through whom God made the universe, washing feet.

Jesus was fully aware of who He was in God, where He was from, and where He was going. As such, He was not serving His disciples while He waited for God to bring Him into His “real” ministry. He didn’t wash feet as a way of passing the time before He got on with His studies at Seminary or waited for His first call to pastor a church (those are the things I would do). Service was at the heart of the life Jesus laid down for His friends.

What challenges me most about this episode is the fact that Jesus gave credibility and integrity to what He did because of who He was, while most of us are inclined to get that backwards. We have the tendency to define who we are by what we do. For example, if you go to any gathering or social event and meet somebody new, watch how long it takes for one of you to ask, “So, what do you do for a living?” Most of us define and categorize ourselves not by who we are in God, but by what we do in life. But in Luke 9:18-20, Jesus did not ask His disciples, “What do the crowds say I do?”, but “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

We must all ask a similar question: “Who does God say that I am?” Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — Hebrews 11:8

Posted by Jim Thornber on May 22, 2009
Posted in: Religion, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 7 Comments

What Is That Ringing In My Ears?

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Hebrews 11:8

Abraham’s patient obedience is starting to irk me. He did not own any land, nor had he personally received any as an inheritance, and lived as a tent dwelling nomad, moving from place to place. He waited twenty-five years to see the son God promised him, and never really possessed the land God said his children would inherit.

I keep wondering how Abraham could remain so patient in his obedience. We live in a society that grows impatient if it takes too long for the coffee to brew in the morning, much less wait four hundred years for escrow to close on our new property! Still, Abraham went to Canaan possessing nothing but faith. He didn’t know where he was going, didn’t have a house when he arrived, didn’t own any land to build upon and didn’t know anybody who lived there.

Abraham “when called . . . obeyed and went” (vs. 8).  The phrase “when called” translated an action indicating a quick response. In other words, while the call of God was still ringing in his ears, Abraham was packing his bags and moving west.

When was the last time I obeyed the word of God while the sound of His instruction was still ringing in my ears?  Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — Ecclesiastes 9:10

Posted by Jim Thornber on May 14, 2009
Posted in: Religion, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

“Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” — Mark Twain

The Hazards of Coasting

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” – Ecclesiastes 9:10

As I was sitting in my study wondering what I wanted to read, I randomly opened my Bible and looked at the first underlined verse that caught my eye, and “Whatever you hand finds to do, do it with all your might” jumped off the page. My first thought after reading that was, “I wonder how many times I’ve actually used all my might to do the work at hand, and how many times I’ve just coasted?”

There are certain things I can do without giving it much thought. Although taking out the trash and making the coffee come to mind, I was actually thinking more about certain areas of ministry. I began to wonder: How many times have I entered a ministry situation without proper preparation, only to find myself not only coasting on my familiarity with the subject, but also coming up short? This happened recently at a Friday night fellowship I started.

Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — John 4:10

Posted by Jim Thornber on May 4, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

“Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” — Mark Twain

Just Jesus

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” – John 4:10

A few years back, a popular Christian tee shirt compared Jesus to a soft drink. It said, “Jesus: He’s the real thing.” It was cute, as far as it goes. Not life changing, but cute.

Then I actually heard a minister compare the life-giving, pure water of Jesus to a can of Coke. He said Jesus was a pure relationship with God, while a Coke was a relationship with man-made additives. One was pure relationship and one was mostly religious. Well, he had my attention.

Water, as opposed to your favorite soft drink, is necessary for life. We must have water in order to live. We drink it and wash with it. Water is a lubricant, dispels heat and sustains life, supports digestion, makes things soft and aids in eliminating waste. All life on this planet needs water to live. Water is indispensable, and the need for water has been the force behind more than one war.

A soft drink, however, with all its fancy ingredients, is necessary for nothing. We cannot bathe in it, use it to brush our teeth or add it to our radiator to displace heat. You can’t water the lawn with it, and you certainly can’t use it wipe down a dirty table or wash your clothes. A soft drink is mostly water with various additives; and none of these additives is necessary for an efficient and effective life.

Here’s the part that bothers me. Continue Reading