Ice, Snow, Sin, the Sun and the Son

By Mark McCrary

Over the past few days, a winter storm has blanketed our area, and more is on the way.  At first, the beauty of the snow seems harmless, maybe even beautiful. Yet, beneath the surface lies danger. Ice coats the roads,  making travel treacherous. Branches bend under the weight, snapping and falling. Power lines collapse, plunging homes into darkness, and leaving areas of Louisville in disarray.

Like such a storm, sin often appears enticing and harmless at first. But when it takes hold, it weighs us down, disrupts relationships, and leaves damage in its wake. Romans 6:23 reminds us, “The wages of sin is death,” showing the ultimate consequence of sin’s icy grip. Just as the storm paralyzes movement and isolates us from others, sin separates us from God, leaving our souls cold and fractured.

But there is hope after the storm. When the sun comes out, the ice begins to thaw, and the snow melts away. Roads clear, trees straighten, and light returns to homes. The sun brings hope of restoration. The sun changes everything.

Similarly, the true Son, Jesus Christ, has the power to melt away the effects of sin in our lives. Through His sacrifice, He offers healing to our frozen hearts. John 1:29 declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” His light shines into the darkest corners, melting away guilt, shame, and separation. Isaiah 1:18 captures this beautifully: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Just as the sun transforms the storm’s effects, the Son transforms our brokenness into beauty, offering us peace with God and a life filled with His love.

In life, storms will come, and sin will tempt. But the sun that melts the ice is a reminder of the Son who heals the soul. Will you turn to Him, embracing His warmth and light, allowing Him to make all things new with you?

Redemption

By Boyd Hurst

“Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.”  We often sing of this thing called redemption, but I wonder if we give it serious thought as to its meaning and significance for the Christian.  I would like for us to consider the meaning of this term as used in scripture in the hope that it will draw us closer to the Lord, especially as we partake of the memorial feast each first day of the week.

The New Testament uses the idea of redemption in at least 3 ways:

• There is a Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who gave His life as a sacrifice for sin.
• We are able to have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
• The faithful believers will have eternal redemption in heaven, freed from the presence and power of sin and the corruption of the body at His second coming.

There are two words translated “redeem” in the New Testament.  One refers to the price paid for our redemption with a view to the actual redemption.  We see this in Gal. 3:13: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…”  Also, in Gal. 4:5 speaking of Christ, He came ”to redeem those who were under the Law.”  Of course, that occurred when Jesus, our Redeemer, was crucified.  The second word translated “redeem” refers to the actual redemption.  An example is Titus 2:14 where speaking of Christ, it says “that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people.”

The blessing of redemption in Christ cannot be minimized, and it should be uppermost in our minds.  We see this idea strengthened in the following verses:

• Heb. 9:12 teaches that redemption brings deliverance through His death from the guilt and power of sin.
• Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14 teaches that it provides forgiveness of sins including both a liberation from the doom of sin and the introduction to a life of liberty, a newness of life as mentioned in Rom. 6:4.
• Heb. 10:10-14 explains that we have redemption not just from the consequences of sin, as under the Law, but from the sins themselves.

Eternal redemption through Christ provides deliverance from the presence and power of sin as well as bondage of the body to corruption, Rom. 8:23.

What a wonderful blessing of redemption we have through the sacrifice of Jesus that was manifested by His love for us.  We should never cease to lift Him up in praise and honor and glory.

“Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it.  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  Redeemed thru His infinite mercy.  His child and forever I am.”

Jesus in Samaria

By Paul Earnhart

In John the 4th chapter, we have the first record of an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan (Jn. 4:3-42).

The land in which Jesus lived was divided into three parts.  The northern part was known as Galilee.  Jesus was a Galilean.  The southern part of the country was called Judea.  Jerusalem was in Judea.  The population of both Galilee and Judea was Jewish.  But in between Galilee and Judea was Samaria.  The people there were called Samaritans.  The Jews and Samaritans did not get along well at all.  As a rule, they despised each other.  The Jews especially looked down on the Samaritans.  The Samaritans rejected much of the Old Testament, and revised the books they did accept.  They had built a rival temple in their own territory and insisted that it was there that people should worship, not in Jerusalem.  The Jews considered the Samaritans wretchedly immoral and spiritually unclean.  They had as little dealing with them as possible.

When Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria, passing from Judea to Galilee, they arrived in a city of Samaria about noon.  They were tired and hungry.  Jesus sat down by a well, while the disciples went to buy food.  While they were gone, a Samaritan woman came to draw water.  She said, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jn. 4:9)  What she did not know at that point was that Jesus was different.  Jesus was not prejudiced as other Jews were.  Jesus was much more concerned about the heart of an individual than He was about race or color.

People today who are truly Christlike, regardless of nationality or race, can associate together in peace and harmony.  They do not share the prejudice and bitterness so often found among people of the world.  Each of us should ask ourselves, “Am I like Jesus in my attitude toward other races and nationalities?”

Jesus and John Baptizing

By Paul Earnhart

Do you know what envy is?  It is one of the ugliest emotions of which we can be guilty.  It is displeasure in seeing another person prosper, or in seeing someone else more successful or popular than we are.  All one must do to become the object of envy is to do well.  Even in the church, individuals who excel in Bible knowledge, or in Christian service, are often the victims of hatred and gossip among other people.  Preachers are sometimes guilty of envying other preachers who may be more effective than they are.  John the Baptist is a fine example of a preacher who avoided envy.

John 3:22 tells us that after Jesus had spoken with Nicodemus in Jerusalem, He and His disciples came into the land of Judea and there He tarried and baptized.  John 4:1 even says that He was making and baptizing more disciples than John.  Some of John’s disciples apparently resented this fact, and they came reporting to John what Jesus was doing.  John could have been envious, but instead he responded with an illustration in which he spoke of Jesus as the groom in the wedding and of himself as the best man, the groom’s friend and helper.  Here is what John said: "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness that I said, He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice.  Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:27-30)

John here not only gives us a good example of one who avoided envy, but he also gives us a good example of our role as teachers.  Our duty is to bring people to Jesus, not to ourselves.  When they meet Jesus, we need to get out of the way quickly and let Him increase while we decrease.

Looking At Ourselves: Using Scriptures as the Mirror - Part 2

By Tom Rose

The cover story of Time (March 3, 1980) was about the actor Peter Sellers. Appearing on The Muppet Show, he was told by Kermit the Frog that it was all right to “just relax and be yourself.” To which Sellers replied, “I could never be myself. You see, there is no me. I do not exist.” Acknowledging that it was a good joke, Time saw a deeper significance. “The real Peter Sellers, at 54, is virtually a cipher.” The magazine then quoted a longtime friend claiming, “Peter is the accumulation of all the roles he’s played and all the people he’s met. He’s directing traffic inside all that!” Sellers died less than six months later. I don’t know if he ever found himself. Nor do I know if he ever searched for himself, although I suspect he may have.

There is something inside us that yearns for discovery – even when it has been submerged for years. In part, that is probably what the “mid-life crisis” is all about – the need to know ourselves before we go to our graves. One young man exclaimed, “I could know myself better if there weren’t so many of me.” Some of these multiple personalities inside us exist as simultaneous roles. Others have been covered over and forgotten as roles have changed. The recovering of authenticity means resolving the conflicting personalities as well as taking off the layers of “wallpaper.” Removing old wallpaper is, as anyone who has done it knows, a disagreeable task that yields only to persistence.

How do you go about recapturing one’s authentic, genuine self? First, it takes a trust in God’s presence and power. God leaves us free to be whatever we like. He does not clone human beings, but He gives each of us a unique self – and then encourages us to discover it, nurture it and expose it to others. However, we often find a familiar mask to be more secure than an unknown reality, especially if others approve of the mask. Would they like me equally as much, we wonder? Probably. But it takes stepping over the frightening threshold of vulnerability to discover that the other side offers not hidden terrors, but the beginning of security.

Second, no person can come to truly know himself except through the process of disclosing himself to others. But that self-disclosure – removing the mask(s) – can occur only in an atmosphere of love and trust. And while it seems scary at first, it is more frightening to consider the consequences of continued pretense. Thomas Merton, the monk who excelled in the inner search, warned, “If we have chosen the way of falsity, we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we finally come to need it.”

Third, we need to gain perspective on how this life fits with the next one by becoming “doers of the word, and not hearers only...fully able to look into the perfect law of liberty (the scriptures) and continue in it” (Jas. 1:22, 25). Included in this process would be adopting a pilgrim existence toward our temporary and present life and reflecting on the words of Helen Lemmel’s popular hymn as we ponder the next. She writes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

When genuineness is adopted as a way of life, it means no longer having to pretend, and that means freedom to grow and fully serve. And that also means unspeakable joy and serenity. When you know who you are, you don’t have to impress anyone. As an example, when Jesus was taken captive and placed before the high priest (Mk. 14:53-65) “some rose up and bore false witness against Him.” Then the high priest asks Jesus, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But, Jesus kept silent. Wrong question. The high priest then asks Jesus, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the God?” Jesus replies, “I am.” Right question. When you have discovered your identity, you need to say little else.

Several years ago, a Christian missionary, who had spent his life working with the poor and teaching others about Jesus, was speaking at Princeton. When he finished his talk, one student said to another, “He didn’t say much, did he?” A woman sitting nearby leaned over and quietly murmured, “When you’re hanging on a cross, you don’t have to say anything.”