Receive Mode

“The just shall live by Faith.”

Romans 1:17

A just person is one  who loves the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  A just person does not simply want to do this.  A just person does this continuously.

Anyone who attempts to be just will soon learn that loving the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure is beyond human ability. 

People, including ourselves, are very complex to love justly over time.

The source of justice is God.  Only an intimate connection to and receptivity from perfect justice can make one just.  This connection and receptivity for justice has been made available to us by faith in Jesus who is God’s justice for us and in us forever.  Simply put, Jesus in us must be our continous justice.

The secret of a just life is not effort.  It is receptivity or “receive mode”.  Our ability to be just is directly connected to our growing awareness that in Christ we are being continuously loved as the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  It takes this justice perceived and received continously from Jesus  to allow this same justice to be released by us.

When we focus on being just we become frustrated and weary.  When we focus on and receive justice moment by moment from the perfect presence of Jesus in us by the Spirit, we begin to release one day at a time the justice we are receiving.

Focusing on how justly we have been and are being treated by Father, Son and Holy Spirit right now awakens justice in us. Receiving this justice one day at a time and moment by moment equips us with the right justice today’s complex people.  Releasing this same justice to the people who come into our lives each day becomes possible and sustainable in Jesus.

Do not worry about being just.  Let Jesus be the One who is your justice and you will find you can release the kind of justice you receive each day from the Father in Christ by the Spirit.

The just are the right people receiving the justice of God in Christ at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  Living like this in the ‘receive mode’ the just can release this same justice they receive from Jesus.

Jesus makes being a just person possible as we receive from Him. “Receive mode” toward Jesus in us makes justice possible. Justice is for those who can receive it.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Cain Still Kills Abel

In the first two chapters of the Bible things in the world are “very good”.  By the time one reads on to chapter 4 of the Bible Cain murders his brother Abel in a religious rage. Evil moves fast.

Based on this Biblical story of the rapid human descent into family, social and religious violence, it is hard to defend the idea that today’s world is essentially worse than it has ever been.

Things have been as essentially bad as they are for a very long time.  What has changed is the scale and size of evil, not the essential nature or speed of evil.  In reality there are simply more Cains killing more Abels.

The  Bible narrative continues to be relevant because it always tells the truth about humanity.  No matter how ugly or beautiful the human story may be the Bible still explains it perfectly.

Though humanity may not be all of “one religion”, we are all biological blood brothers and sisters. We are all biological family and Cain continues to kill Abel.

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, " Acts 17:26

Whenever one person in the name of religion murders, they murder their own “blood brother”.   In doing so,  they are Cain killing a truly innocent family member.  This kind of orginal, religious hatred is exactly what the Apostle John pointed out in John 3:10-12.

"In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous."

In God’s eyes the murderous religious rage that afflicts our world today is nothing new.  It is the same religious rage that led Adam and Eve to conduct the first family funeral.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Words In Intensive Care

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Jesus in Matthew 4:4

Words can become sick, kill and even die.  Only the words that God defines and uses carry no sicknesses, death or time limit.

The way men and women use words can lead to a complete departure from the way God uses a word.  When sick and poorly defined words are used in conversation they can contaminate or kill true communication.

On one occasion a man sought Jesus out with a theological question.  Thinking he was communicating respectfully with Jesus he called Jesus “Good teacher”.

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”  Mark 10:17

Jesus immediately corrected his use of the word “good”. The way the man used the word “good” had stopped any useful conversation with Jesus  The man used the word “good” to describe what human effort can produce for God. 

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." Mark 10:18

In Genesis chapter 1 God defines the word “good”.  God uses the word “good” seven times.  Each time it describes the creation from God’s point of view.  God said it was good because it was all He intended it to be and intended it to do.  “Good” describes perfect cooperation with God not personal attainment or effort.

Unfortunately, today the word “good” is abused, redefined and in intensive care.  Only Jesus by the Holy Spirit can cure such sick and abused words.  That is why Jesus made this statement in John 8:31-32:

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The cure of our words should always be an important part of our discipleship.  Abide in Jesus’ words and the Holy Spirit will cure your words. 

Jesus will stop our conversation with Him when we use words incorrectly.  Let Jesus make your words God’s words and they will give life.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Why Focus on and Believe in Jesus?

Because only focusing on Jesus reveals to us what God is really like.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell.”  Col. 1:19

When we see Jesus we see the Father.  Seeing Jesus allows us to answer the fundamental questions of reality:  In Jesus do we see the kind of God we hope exists?  Does Jesus reveal the kind of God in whom we would seek refuge ?

When we focus on Jesus we see in flesh and blood what God thinks, feels and wants.  Focusing on Jesus we can decide if this is the God with whom we want to think.  Focusing on Jesus we can decide if this is the kind of God with whom we want to share our feelings.  Focusing on Jesus we can decide if this is the kind of God with whom we want to cooperate.

No amount of theological thinking about God  can replace focusing our full attention on Jesus. When we focus on Jesus  we meet the Father face to face.

Because only by believing in Jesus we become the  kind of people who can love continuously.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive;...” John 7:37-39

When we believe in Jesus as the drink that satisifes our inner thirst for love , the Holy Spirit becomes in us the river of  Jesus’ love which moves through our lives toward our neighbors.

As we believe in Jesus, He answers the second fundamental question of reality:  How can we become the kind of people we hope to be?  How can we love our neighbors as we love ourselves?  Believing in Jesus allows us to see and become  people who can  deliver love continuously by the Spirit in us.

Why focus on and believe in Jesus?

We focus on and believe in Jesus in order to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength  and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  We focus on and believe in Jesus because we exist to love God and our neighbor. Jesus makes both possible.

No other focus or belief can take us to this place of simultaneous Divine and human love. Only Jesus can take us to this place.  Focus on  and believe in Jesus. Only then love will flow toward God and others.   Without Jesus we can do nothing.  With Him our love can be perfected.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Way in 2016 “I am the way…” Jesus

There is a Way. There is a way that is not the way.

Acts 19:23

And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.

A way that satisfies. A way that does not satisfy.  

Gen. 2:15-17

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

A way that leads to God. A way that does not lead to God. 

Gen. 5:2

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

A way that prospers us. A way that consumes us.

Psalm 1:1-6

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

A way that ends well. A way that does not end well.

Psalms 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

A way that is the truth. A way that is a lie.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

A way that few find. A way that many find.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

A way that harmonizes everything. A way that destroys everything.

Col. 1:15-20

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Which way in 2016?

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Theft of Christmas

The headline of today’s News  should be  “Christmas Stolen!”.  

Stolen by commerce.

Stolen by busyness.

Stolen by religion.

Stolen by family.

Stolen by sports.

Stolen by lack of attention.

There are rumors that  something of the orginal Christmas still thrives in the privacy of some hearts.  As far as today’s public Christmas is concerned the true meaning may be gone forever.

Of course that was the same thing they said when Jesus was crucified and buried 2000 years ago.

Christmas has a way of rising again!  Nothing about Jesus can be permanently stolen.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Mary, Did You Know?

The Christmas song “Mary, did you know?”  raises a question every Christian would love to personally ask Mary.

 From the Bible here are a few things we know that Mary knew.

Mary knew she was just Mary from a nowhere place called Nazareth.

Mary knew she was Jewish and was hated for simply being a Jew.

Mary knew she was a virgin and promised to Joseph a descendant of David and this was no one else’s business.

Mary knew she was receiving grace from God, she would be pregnant and give birth to a son called Jesus.

Mary knew her son would be great and called the Son of the most high God.

Mary knew her pregnancy would begin unlike any other that had ever begun and very few would believe her when she claimed she had never known a man.

Mary knew her son would be called Holy and the Son of God.

Mary knew that with God all things are possible and she was about to live this truth.

Mary knew she would called blessed and so would her son.

Mary knew that God had come to her because she was willing to humbly cooperate with Him.

Mary knew that God controlled everything and everyone.

Mary knew a spear would cut through her soul as she watched the plan for her son unfold.

Some say that Mary was only 15 years old when she knew all of this. So much to know for one so young!

Mary, the mother of Jesus was too young. Even so, the One she knew and what He told her made her willing to be what she  could not be and do what she could not do in the Jesus story.

God stills calls those who are too young and too old to do the impossible with Him in the Jesus story.

Click here to see and hear the song “Mary, did you know?” 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Walk In The Spirit

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Gal. 5:16

To walk in the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit to apreciate that Jesus is all for us and all in us. It is also to be led by the Spirit to admit what we are without Jesus.

As we walk in the Spirit we simultaneously know the truth  about Jesus and ourselves.

Jesus is all.  Without Jesus we are nothing.

Jesus has all.  Without Jesus we have nothing.

Jesus knows all.  Without Jesus we know nothing.

Jesus can do all.  Without Jesus we can do nothing.

As the Spirit convinces us Jesus is all for us and in us we begin to walk in the Spirit.  As we admit that we are nothing without Jesus the Spirit can freely make all Jesus is form in us.  When we walk in all Jesus is,  we are made into the kind of human beings the Father has always wanted us to be and the kind of human beings we thought we could never become.

As we walk in the Spirit we experience fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit.  In this oneness we receive by the Spirit the daily grace from all Jesus is, has, knows and does.  We walk in the Spirit as a new creation in Christ. All has become new in the Father’s will.

By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father is for me.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father has for me.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father wants me to be.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father wants me to do.

Pure life in Jesus is what walking in the Spirit brings me each day.  As I walk in the Spirit I can say “I am what I am by the grace of God.”

Bud McCord

Abide International

Discipleship

Without Jesus there is no discipleship.  This singular truth should guide all our attempts to disciple those who have received Jesus as Savior.

It is no accident that Jesus made Himself the subject of His own teaching.  All that He said of Himself leads us to the conclusion that He is the way, the truth and the life.

We hear Him saying He is essential for anyone who desires to return to the Father. We also hear Him say He is central to discipleship.

In John 15:1-8 Jesus describes His Father’s vineyard.  In this spiritual ecosystem where love is sent into the world as fruit the essential role of the True Vine is very clear.  So there wouild be no doubt Jesus uses these powerful words:  “Without Me you can nothing.”   In any language nothing means nothing.

In the Father’s ecosystem of love Jesus is central.  If Jesus not is central, present and active there is no discipleship.

Imagine a beautiful ecosystem where all the elements are in perfect harmony for the cultivation of grapes.  The only thing missing is the Vine.  Simply put, there will be no grapes, juice or wine. All that harmony is useless if the goal is a particular fruit.

Finding the Vine is the essential element if one wants grapes. This does not diminish the other parts of the ecosystem.  In God’s plan everything else that surrounds Jesus is for Jesus.  Why?  Because He is the source of all that surrounds Him and the goal of all that surrounds Him.  The ecosystem exists for Him to be and do what only He can be and do.

When our discipleship does not begin and end in Jesus it is useless for producing what the Father wants.  The Father wants what is only in Jesus.  

Discipleship is Jesus present and active in a surrounding ecosystem that exists so Jesus can reveal the true nature of the Father which is love.

Discipleship is essentially Jesus. Center on Him. 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Paying Twice or Paying Forward

It is very frustrating to discover we have paid twice for the same service. What frustrates even more is to have somone argue with us that the double charge is somehow justified.

We have all learned to live with hidden costs, extra charges, double taxation and special fees.  We simply cannot seem to keep up with all the ways mankind invents to siphon off more from us all.  We know paying twice happens, but we don’t have to time to argue with it.

Christianity is meant to be different.

Christianity is meant to be freely offered since Jesus has made Himself the full payment for everyone and everything Christian.  Even so, history is filled with second payment plans invented by Christian religious leaders and organizations. In some nations Christianity has even been funded by government taxes. Imagine that!

Wouldn’t it be great if the one place we could count on free service is in Christianity?  As hard as that is to imagine the entire Christian experience was designed by Jesus to be given away freely  by those who receive it freely.

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. “  Matthew 10:8

Can you imagine how much we could charge for these specialized services?  Check out the size of the homes of faith healers and you will get an idea.

Jesus’ freely giving plan does not mean that no one pays a price for this system to work.  Jesus knew that His followers would freely and voluntarilly pay the price of free love in His name so others could freely receive.

Christian organizations should raise funds by focusing believers on Jesus’ generosity and abundance. There is no other plan that is truly Christian.

In a church community that is abiding in Christ, those who know they are freely receiving all from Jesus will freely give so others can freely receive as well.  Funding for love is only a problem when a Christian community doubts Jesus’ past and present  generosity. 

When we freely give as disciples we are paying forward out of Jesus’ generosity. We are not paying twice.  We are not the source of what we give.  Jesus is.

Start giving forward from this fact.  “Christ is all and is in all.”  Col.3:11

Stay away from those who argue one must pay twice for Christianity. 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Living In The Jesus Environment

There is a story of an environmental struggle that made success impossible for the disciples.  Picture yourself in their situation in Mark 6:45-51

Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.  And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.  Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land, Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.  And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”  Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.

No matter how they tried, the environment was against them. Yet, when Jesus came into the boat One greater than the surrounding environment changed everything.  When He came into the boat the surrounding environment ceased to be a problem and they were able to obey Jesus’ command to go to the other shore of the sea.

Environment matters.  Depending on what one is trying to do environment either helps or hurts.  Just ask people who live under corrupt governments if environment matters.  Just ask people who live under suffocating political oppression if environment matters. Rowing with wind in your face matters.

That is why the phrase “Christ in us” is so important to the Christian life.  Jesus’ presence creates in us an environment called the Kingdom of God.  Where Jesus is present,  people can reach amazing places and do wonderful things no matter what environment surrounds them on the outside.  Every believer can enjoy an inner environment called the Kingdom of God.  Even when the wind of circumstances is in their face they can do what He commands.

Every Christian should be a living from a personal, empowering Jesus environment.  When they do, the will of God will be done.  Wonderful things  will be accomplished for God’s glory.

With Jesus in the boat the wind of the Spirit is always at our back. 

Bud McCord

Abide International