Never Alone

“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love…”
ESV Genesis 39:21

The story of Joseph never ceases to fascinate me. It is full of conflict, temptation, hardship and deliverance. It follows a classic, repeating riches-to-rags-to-riches story line. And while Joseph is the key action figure, God is the main character.

You’ll recall that Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and then carted off to Egypt where he proved himself most capable and was given much responsibility in his new home; Potiphar’s household. Potiphar’s household flourished under Joseph’s care. However, sometime thereafter he met hard times again; finding himself imprisoned based on the false claims of Potiphar’s wife (insinuating a little romantic impropriety). It is here, at the low point of Joseph’s imprisonment, that our verse above is excerpted.

Note two things from our verse: First, “the Lord was with Joseph.” Yes, God was with Joseph even while Joseph’s circumstances might have seemed insurmountable, unbearable, unfair, and hopeless. Secondly, note that God showed Joseph “steadfast love” in those same circumstances. The important lesson for us is that neither God’s presence nor God’s love are dependent on our circumstances. If you are a child of God - a true Christian - God is with you always and His steadfast love will abound in all your circumstances; good and bad. He’s there when you celebrate and he’s there when you suffer. He’s there when a child is born and he’s there when loved ones die. God never abandons his children.

Oddly, not once in the entire story do we read of Joseph taking credit for the good times nor does he blame God in the tough times. He seems content in all circumstances; maintaining faith and confidence in the providence of God even while in prison.
In fact, Joseph’s reaction to his circumstances, both good and bad circumstances, always confirmed his unwavering faith in God to those around him. You might say that his life bore witness to his faith.

What about you? Does your life bear witness to your faith? How do you react to your circumstances? Samuel Rutherford gives this advice to Christians: “Glorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take his banner of love, and spread it over you. Others will follow you, if they see you strong in the Lord; their courage shall take life from your Christian carriage.”

Christians take heart and be confident in your faith; you are never alone.

Ken worships at Tharptown Baptist Church in Russellville where he leads an adult Bible study. Comments are welcome and may be sent to kenaskew@charter.net.

Guiding Little Children

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
ESV 1 John 2:1

Heads turned, but I didn’t think much of it when the baby began to cry; babies cry all the time in church. But whose was it? I didn’t recognize them as the young mom quickly rose and whisked the child out of the sanctuary to tend to its needs. From the sound of it, the needs were pretty urgent too.

Well, the joke was on me. The young mom turned out to be a high school senior, and the crying baby was an electronic gizmo that she had to tend to for the weekend as school project. And to hear her tell it, her electronic baby was requiring a lot of attention! But, how much more attention children require in reality. Not days, hours or years, but a lifetime of tending, teaching, interceding and leading; all in the hopes that they’ll avoid danger along the way.

John must have felt that same parental duty, love and joy when he penned this letter to a group of young Christians in the early church. He refers to them as “little children” (a phrase only found fourteen times in all scripture) seven times in this short letter. John uses the term in a fatherly tone; gently admonishing them to walk in truth and obedience to Christ.

Chapter one ends with John stressing the importance of believers recognizing and confessing sin in their lives. In our text here, John speaks of the perfectly righteous and eternal remedy to sin found in Christ; our advocate. But notice what he stresses. Notice how he begins by saying that he is “writing these things…so that you may not sin.” You see, just like a parent, John wants to guide these young converts clear of danger; clear of false teachings; clear of sin.

Think of it this way. We can explain to our children that a tow truck is designed to pull an automobile out of a ditch after and accident. But we want to teach our children to drive safely and stay out of ditches. We can explain to our children that a doctor can set a broken bone, but we want to teach them to avoid broken bones!

John is doing the same thing here. He’s explaining to these babes in Christ that Christ is their advocate before God the Father. He has already told them that they should confess their sins to him. But his point to these “little children” is that they don’t sin!
Timeless words indeed.

Ken worships at Tharptown Baptist Church in Russellville where he leads and adult Bible study. Comments are welcome and may be sent to kenaskew@charter.net.

Contend for the Faith

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” ESV Jude 1:3

Truth matters. It really does. And that’s the primary reason for the name given this column. A secondary reason for the name is that I aspire to communicate matters of truth through this writing each week. But regardless of whether I succeed in communicating truth, truth still matters! And there is no greater truth than that of the resurrected, living Christ on whom the Christian faith is surely well founded. Truth mattered to Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, and truth matters today.

We’re not sure who Jude’s letter was originally written to, but it’s obvious that they were dear to him by his tender greeting “beloved.” While Jude wanted to spend precious ink and parchment sharing with them an encouraging word about their “common salvation,” a more pressing issue had reared its head; an issue worthy of special attention and instruction.

It seems that false teachers had slipped into their midst and begun to distort the truth of the Christian faith. Now a distorted truth is not truth at all, but a lie. Not willing to let the false teachers deceitfully chip away at the faith and the faithful, Jude sounds an alarm. He warns them that these teachers were guilty of denying Jesus and perverting the grace of God. He also suggests that these teachers were really seeking fame, glory and riches for themselves; glory that only the one true God is worthy to receive.

Come to think of it, that’s probably the best way to sniff out a false prophet. If you watch them closely, they’ll typically seek or accept glory for themselves instead of humbly striving to glorify God in their endeavors.

Well, Jude won’t stand for it and gives a call to action. He rallies the troops if you will, by charging them to contend for the faith. The seriousness of the order is betrayed by Jude’s words; contend for the faith. If you look up the word contend in the dictionary, every definition listed will refer to it as a strenuous or competitive endeavor. The mental picture I get of contending is standing firm, holding ground; fighting like a yard dog if you will.

Is truth the truth of our Christian faith, the truth about Jesus Christ, that important? It sure is. Because “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Yet all around us, every day, this truth is being distorted.

Christians, take a stand this week. Contend for the faith. Truth matters.

Ken worships at Tharptown Baptist Church in Russellville where he leads and adult Bible study. Comments are welcome and may be sent to kenaskew@charter.net.