Posted on by Faithfully Following

Who am I to you?

Merry Christmas! I hope this note finds you looking forward with anticipation to this most incredible time of year: An occasion to pause, when everything becomes just a bit softer. A matchless season of giving. Time with family, with friends. The humble arrival of God’s Son, Jesus, remembered.

Do the days move by a little too quickly for you as they do for me? In a breath we’re all but singing a final “Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” packing suitcases, traveling home, storing away the ornaments and tree. Yet the Christ child’s story continues; and we can walk along with Him — the infant in a manger now a grown man — the journey for which He came to earth. To the story of Good Friday, the story of Easter.

Travel back with me along the road. The setting is ancient Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16). The surroundings are impressive. Lush gardens. Flowing springs. Monuments and temples built to the gods. To the half-man, half-goat Pan. To the self-proclaimed god Caesar. It’s into this place Jesus brings His disciples in preparation for returning to Jerusalem one last time. Here, Jesus personalizes the question to His followers, “Who do you say that I am?”

I don’t know how much time passes between verses 15 and 16, but Peter speaks, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He’s not known for always getting it right, but Peter nailed it this time!

Imagine now for a moment that Jesus turns His gaze from Peter and the disciples … to you. He has a question for you, too: “Who am I to you?”

There can be no greater question you will ever answer.

There is no one else qualified to grant forgiveness. No one who will stay closer to you when everyone or everything is stripped from you. No one else you can trust with your deepest need. Only Jesus. And that’s just in this life. When you’ve taken your last breath and you step into eternity, Jesus alone is qualified to escort you from the grave to glory. He alone is God.

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Source: “Jesus Has a Question for You,” Chuck Swindoll, 2007

Posted on by Faithfully Following

Decisions Determine Destiny

Welcome to Nomad Wife! For some of you this may be “welcome back” as I last published a post in December 2011. Since then my husband and I added one more move to our previous seven — back “home.” And it feels good!

I wonder what word Caleb used to describe how he felt when he finally “came home” to the Promised Land. You may remember Caleb got a taste of Canaan when Moses sent him to explore the land (Numbers 13). Sadly, he was one of the only two Israelite spies (the other was Joshua) who was willing to trust God to enter Canaan. The other ten spies agreed the land was good, but there was no hope for Israel to take it. The people living there were much too big, much too strong to defeat (Numbers 14).

Mutiny. Rebellion. Deaf to reason the Israelites lost their focus, they forgot the promise. In unbelief they sinned and God passed judgment: a 40-year banishment in the desert. Of those twenty years and older, only Caleb and Joshua survived and lived to enter Canaan.

What was it about Caleb? What caused him to make the decision to stand against the masses, the decision determining his destiny?

The Bible records little about Caleb, maybe some thirty verses. But in those short texts, he is recognized six times as a man with a different spirit. He followed the Lord God wholeheartedly. (Deuteronomy 1:36; Numbers 14:24; 32:12; Joshua 14:8, 9, 14)

God promised Caleb that He would bring him into Canaan to make his home. That he would receive an inheritance of land. Caleb does. And, an added bonus: So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. (Joshua 14)

Following wholeheartedly: fully, completely, totally, no division. With emotion. Sincere and passionate. With endurance. For the long haul. This character trait serves one well as decisions determine destiny.

O for a faith that will not shrink
Tho’ pressed by many a foe;
That will not tremble on the brink
Of poverty or woe.