Self-made people...

Our society celebrates “self-made” people. Of course, there is no such thing as a self-made people; each one is the result of at least the meeting of an egg and sperm that is then developed in the life of a mother and then in a family. The belief that we can make something of ourselves is so strong that we often fail to see the role others might have played. As followers of Jesus, we confess that we are unable to remake ourselves. Like Lazarus coming out of the tomb needed his friends and family to unwrap from his grave clothes, so we also need others to help us move from death to life, from imprisonment to freedom. In humility we admit our inability to change ourselves. – Ron Friesen

The life of faith...

What is your understanding of how your life of faith in God is working itself out in your daily experience? According to the Gospel record, people who encounter the Living Christ are transformed to the core of their very beings. The old appetites are gone, new desires fill the heart and mind. Here is the real test to see if the encounter was real – has your view of the things that matter most to you changed? If you and I still hunger for the old things, then we are fooling ourselves; we have not been made new people. We may be nicer people, but we are not made new. God doesn’t need nice people; God needs new people. If we have had a true encounter with the living God, the Spirit of God makes it evident in our lives and thoughts. When the crisis comes, we find ourselves completely amazed. We cannot imagine that we even handled the situation at all. Of course, we did not handle it; it was the life of God in us who managed the circumstances for us and with us. We then know the truth: “Christ in you, the hope of the glory” (Colossians 1:27) – Ron Friesen

The goal of our struggles

What is the goal of our struggles? Why do we continue to face these trials and tests? If we are followers of Jesus, we are instructed join Jesus and participate in his suffering (I Peter 4:13). Are we prepared to have God destroy our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual desires by transforming them supernaturally? Following Jesus is not a matter of feeling; it a matter of the will. It is a matter of joining Jesus in the Garden and saying to the Father, “Not my will but yours be done.” Many of us follow Jesus as long as we are filled with the joy of his presence; when he asks us to join him in giving up our rights, we falter and withdraw. With the disciples in the Garden we fall asleep, only to awaken wondering why God has passed us by. If we will say, “Not my will but yours be done”, we will find that our sufferings are the doorway to the power of the resurrection. – Ron Friesen

A life of faith...

Faith is not really faith until it has been through the fiery trials which test its mettle. The real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that the true nature and character of God must prove itself trustworthy in our mind. It is not our faith we doubt; it is God we doubt. As we experience those days of ongoing isolation, we find that our faith is on the anvil of God’s character builder. There is a trial that comes from the ordinary disciplines of daily life. True faith, however, is built when we find ourselves questioning the character of God and yet continue to believe. We know the promises of God, and like the saints of old, we continue to believe even though we do not see the fruits of our faith. In the life of growing faith, our struggles are welcomed as opportunities to join Job and say, “Though he slay me, yet, I will trust him” (Job 13:15). – Ron Friesen

The Gift of Pain

Most of us are brought to our knees by the first grip of pain. Yet, why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? It is through the doorway of pain that we are brought into fellowship with the Son. We sit at the door of God’s purpose and enter the slow death of self-pity. Our brothers in the faith will offer so-called Christian sympathy which only speeds us on our way to our deathbed. God will not offer us his hand of sympathy; instead he offers us the nail-pierced hand of his Son and invites us to enter his fellowship. If God can bring about his purposes through a broken heart, then why not thank him for breaking yours? – Ron Friesen

For Whose Sake?

Why do we live our lives as we do? Maybe we should ask for who do we live our lives?  Some will answer, “I live for my mother.” Others will say, “I live for my wife.” Still others, “I live for my children.” When we made these declarations we state that we are living for another’s sake or cause: “For the sake of my children, I will do such and such.”

The follower of Jesus has a higher calling than living for his family or his children: he lives for the sake of Jesus. Human relations are fragile and temporary; spiritual relationships are permanent and eternal. We serve the everlasting God who reigns over an eternal kingdom. Breaking loose from our individual independence from God, setting ourselves free from our selfish nature and becoming one with Christ, we choose to be absolutely loyal to our Lord. When we move on this path of devotion to Christ, we begin to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “…for my sake” Matthew 10:39. – Ron Friesen