He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3)

This means that Jesus can do literally anything in the world that he wants to do. He has power over all. What does he choose to do for those who love him?

• He chooses to love you.
• He chooses to save you.
• He chooses to sanctify you.
• He chooses not to let you go.

Rejoice in that all of your days.

I have just finished re-reading the story of David as told in 1 and 2 Samuel. I’m ashamed to say it but it has been a good while since I’ve read anything in the Old Testament. Far too often I focus so much on the New Testament that I miss out on the great words of God as given to us before the birth of Jesus. As I was reading, this section in 2 Samuel 16 jumped out at me:

⁵When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually. ⁶And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹²It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. ¹⁴And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan. And there he refreshed himself.

David is fleeing from his son Absalom whom he raised from birth. He’s raised him and provided for him his whole life and now finds himself running from the child he used to carry in his arms. He has been disrespected in a way few father could imagine; his flesh and blood wishes him dead so that he can be king. David and his men are in the wilderness headed toward the Jordan River for safety. If he’s anything like me, he’s probably had enough at this point. He’s weary as we can tell by verse 14 and he’s no doubt distraught about the future of not only his kingdom but also his life. Things are not going well.

Now here comes a man from the house of Saul, a man whom David had to flee as well, who wishes to curse him. David’s response astounds me. It’s miraculous. In the heat of his retreat from his son, Shimei throws stone and tosses this curse at him: “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

The men with David have the “rational” response to this man: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”

David has the gracious response: “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’ Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹²It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.”

Now, if you continue reading you will find that eventually David does have this man killed telling Solomon in 1 Kings 2: 8-9 “⁸And there is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.” Solomon then tells Shimei to go into a house and not come out for if he does he will be killed. Well, he does and he is killed and it is counted to Solomon as wisdom.

For now, let’s look past David’s revenge on this man in his last days but instead focus on his response in this great time of despair. While his men want to do away with Shimei, David wants to heed his word as the word of God. It is an incredible thing to be able to listen to criticism in this way, in this hour or despair, and hear it as the word of God so that good may come of it.

Too often I find myself responding to even the slightest bit of criticism to either myself or those I respect and love the same way David’s men responded to Shimei. My initial reaction, while not as drastic as death, is to disregard that person as a “dead dog” who has no business making judgments on myself or the one I love. They clearly have faults of their own and no matter what, it is not right for them to say these things. I seek revenge on them instead of grace. I wish for their demise instead of thanking them for the words.

What I love about David’s response is the humbleness of his heart. He looks upon this man and does not rebuke him but rather his own men who are defending him. For a person to have anyone say something negative about them to their face and not blow a gasket is rare, even more so for a man of David’s position, the king of Israel. That’s what makes his reaction so amazing. He doesn’t rebuke Shimei but rather rebukes his own men for wanting to harm him.

It is difficult to ignore rebuke. Even if it is true, we are always offended by their words and not our actions. It is a God thing when we can look at those who curse us and say “Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.^” It is even more amazing to do this for as long as David does: “So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan.”

We may arrive weary at the end by the hand of our critics with bad timing who show up when we’re already dealing with so much. Praise God for these people because often it is through rebuke that we are sanctified. It is through hardship that we grow. Just as God first rebuked us for our sin, he then saved us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Indeed we cannot be saved if our pride isn’t hurt. We can’t have Jesus if we can’t accept criticism.

“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)

Even when we are disobedient and unloving towards the Him, God is faithful to love us. His love is perfect when ours is failing. His grace is unceasing. His goodness is everlasting. His mercy is eternal.

Immediately after the fall of man, God shows his grace, mercy, and goodness by clothing his son and daughter.

I’m so glad He’s my God.

Note to pastors: if you keep telling your congregation they are great they’ll start to believe it.

There are far too many churches and pastors who believe that preaching to increase the attendees self esteem is sharing the Gospel. Church shouldn’t be the place where you hear about how great you are or how great you can be. Church is a place where you should consistently hear about the greatness of God. If Jesus is not the ultimate theme of your message, you’re not preaching the Gospel. Without Jesus there is no Gospel. If talking about and hearing about how great Jesus is doesn’t make you feel great then its time to take a look at your heart.

Pastors I implore you all to please, please preach the Gospel. Please preach the supremacy of Christ. Please seek to know nothing more than Christ and him crucified. You’re not helping your flock when you tell them they are or can be great. You’re hurting them. If they don’t know how great Jesus is, you fail. If you or your flock believes they are great, its awfully hard to believe Jesus is great. Pride, after all, is the original sin.

The greatness of Jesus is enough for all of us. Please believe that. Please preach that.

This Sunday’s selection comes from Matt Chandler at the Village Church near Dallas, TX. This is his Easter sermon. One of the best I’ve heard preached on that day. Find it here.

If Jesus doesn’t meet your needs then maybe you haven’t met him.

Yesterday in our small group at church we discussed the sin of self-regard. I must admit that this is a sin that I have always struggled to shake. Since my earliest of days I remember desperately wanting to look good, smart, funny, cool, etc. in front of others. Because of this, I often find that I grow a deep seated envy in my heart for those around me. It’s not usually an envy that causes me to want something tangible but rather I desperately want them to notice me. My sin is that I want to be recognized more than I want to recognize others.

Recognition is the reason I started this blog. I want people to read it and tell me I have good thoughts. Its also the reason that I haven’t ever been able to keep a blog going past a few days. I don’t want anyone to tell me that what I have to say isn’t worth it. This sin has caused me to do certain things to gain as much recognition as possible but has also lead me only to the point of where that recognition couldn’t turn into massive criticism. In many respects my life to this point has been only a pursuit of recognition for my own sake and in that I’ve failed to take advantage of many opportunities to share the gospel through my words and actions. This sin I confess and through God’s grace I am pursuing sanctification.

The other side of this discussion at small group was: what is God’s answer for this sin? Here is my stab at this.

God’s answer to our sin of self-regard is Jesus. If we understand the gospel we realize that nothing matters outside of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The first part of understanding the gospel is the conviction of our sins. The second part is understanding who Jesus is, what He’s done and is doing, and how He saves us. The third and more difficult part is understanding the grace that God pours out on us through His son each and every moment of our short lives. The way we can get away from worrying about how we are viewed is to focus our hearts and life on Jesus. The gospel in itself focuses only on Jesus. By truly understanding the gospel it is entirely impossible to focus on both yourself and Jesus as the center of who you are. When you “get” the gospel, you get that Jesus was and is who you cannot be. He is your savior because He is worthy and you, nor anyone else is.

Here is the problem with that answer: we are still sinful. Because of our sin, we’ll choose to forget the gospel. We will live our lives as if what Jesus accomplished on the cross doesn’t matter. We’ll think of ourselves more highly than the living God. We’ll put people down who don’t recognize us. We’ll become angry at the ones who we love and who love us when they don’t praise us for doing something extraordinary or even simply something ordinary. This is why we must daily be reminded of the gospel. We must as Paul says in Romans 13:14 “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh”

The good news of the gospel is that we don’t have to try to measure up anymore. Jesus paid it all. Revel in that. Live in that. Glory in that. Take pride in that. Regard that.

While we were yet dead in our sins, God made us alive together with Christ.

Through God’s grace, we are saved.

The law is holy, righteous, and good. We are sinful. Jesus redeems.

For all of those who live in the Bible Belt here is a great heart check from Dr. Ray Ortlund:

“Are you a Christian because of what you have experienced from God’s grace or are you a Christian because not to be in (insert city) it is too embarrassing?”

You can read Ray’s blog here.