The Will of God

Doing the will of God is food for the human soul and for human strength and development.  We were created to do God's will and in the process live well.  Not doing God’s will  may be normal for humans at this time in human experience, but sin entered human experience as something unnatural when humanity failed to do God’s will.  Doing the will of God is what was once natural for human beings.  Adam and Eve tasted the food  and strength of doing God's will before they tasted temptation's illusion and pain.

When Jesus said doing the will of His Father was His food, He was saying doing the will of God is good and sustaining for humanity.  Jesus showed us what should be normal for humanity. Normal is doing God's will every day just like we need to eat every day.

We are surrounded then by unnatural human behavior that the Bible calls "sin".   Sinning adds nothing to life, but it most certainly subtracts from life.  Sin does not feed anyone. Sin steals food from life and moves us closer to death.

As we abide in Christ we begin to experience Jesus' continuous flow of life and love passing to us and through us as fruit.  When doing the will of God becomes as natural as eating we are heading  back to normal in the Kingdom of God.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Who or What?

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

John 14:6  

Is Christianity a "Who" or a "What"?  When missionaries cross an ocean to see Christianity grow in a new place, do they carry accumulated knowledge about what Christianity is or do they carry someone with them?

The difference between Christianity and all other religions is that Christianity is not words about words.  It is the word that became flesh and dwelt among us and now dwells in us.  Christianity is a "Who" not a "What".

When a missionaries make a disciple they take them to the living Jesus not a body of knowledge accumulated over time. They baptize the new believer in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They baptize them into "Who" not "What".

Never take your eyes off of Jesus.  He is everything the Father has for all of us and He now lives in us.  Take people to Jesus and leave them there.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Enough

How much is enough for full human satisfaction? Can a human being be fully content? Should we even seek such a state of satisfaction?

The sum of Jesus' words and His life say such a state of satisfaction does exist. He even said we could experience it in Him.

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “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.” John 7:37-38

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:11


In Jesus there is enough for full human satisfaction.
Even so, nothing in this world is enough until Jesus is enough first. 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Simplicity in Jesus

If I could give one precious gift to those I love it would be the gift of simplicity I have found in Jesus.  Simplicity found in Jesus is a gift that would serve them all and last forever.  His simplicity has blessed me more than any other gift.  I know His simplicity deeply blesses.

His simplicity is the gift that calms the heart, lowers the level of fear and gives a vision of the path that lies ahead.  His simplicity makes any place a good place to be.  His simplicity makes me a better person to be around.  His simplicity makes the world a hopeful place.

When Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me" He was saying much more than "Come with Me to heaven."   He was saying "Come with Me back to the essence and simplicity of the Creator."

Following Jesus has set my feet on the path to simplicity.  Neither life nor death is complicated in Jesus.  "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Bud McCord

Abide International

2017- A Very Good Year For Love

                                                                                                                                                                                                 2017

A Very Good Year For Love

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your heavenly Father in heaven is perfect."

Matthew 5:48

According to Jesus, being and behaving as our heavenly Father defines a very good year of human life.  Among the many perfect things the Father does every year, the Father "makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." In other words, He loves and is generous to all mankind in very practical and life sustaining ways.

We would all be wise to understand that the goal of our discipleship is to perfect our love until it matches the Father's generous love.  We are all in this process of being perfected in love and this world is the perfect place for training in love. We are surrounded every day by the just and the unjust. We will not lack for opportunities to love in 2017.

No matter how perfectly or imperfectly you loved this year, the Father will not alter the goal of perfecting your love.  The best thing we can do to prepare for a good year of love is be honest about 2016 and pray for the grace to love better in 2017.  2017 will be a great year to abide in Christ as we remember without HIm we can do nothing.

Love is not optional for us.  We exist to love.  A very good year is measured by the quality of our love. May 2017 be our best year ever for love.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Gift

                                                                                                                                                                                                   For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

True love always inspires intentional, authentic and effective giving of ourselves to others. The one who genuinely loves is willing to give that which best communicates the depth of their willingness to give themselves to their beloved. So, a true giver always includes something of themselves in every gift.

The deeper our love, the more of our true selves we put into the gift we give.

That is why the Father gave us Jesus. In Jesus God is giving all of Himself to us.

That first Christmas the Father packed all of His fullness into Jesus just for us.

When we say we love someone, we are saying "The best I am and the best I have I am willing to give you at the right time, in the right measure and in the right way."  To withhold ourselves from another who needs us is the opposite of love.

Gift giving should always include giving something of ourselves to another.  It should be more than just giving something nice to another.

Seeing Jesus as God giving us Himself makes Christmas take on its true meaning.  Examine Jesus closely this  Christmas and you will see God giving you everything.

When someone asks what you got for Christmas.  Just say, "Everything!".

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Two Perfections of Jesus

                                                                                                                                                                                                     Living in a world of imperfections and being imperfect persons, it is difficult to believe that perfection exists. Even so, the faith of every Christian is that a perfect person named Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.  And beyond this incredible perfection of Jesus among us, we, as Christians, believe that Jesus' perfection lives in every believer by the presence of the Spirit of Christ.

These two perfections--Jesus for us and Jesus in us----are the very essence of Christianity. Remove either of these perfections and Christianity ends.

Perfection in Christ has saved us and is saving us forever.  These two perfections make all of us equally acceptable to God and immediately and continuously equal one with another.

Inequality is the most pervasive of all human sicknesses.  Jesus' perfection for us make us all equal in forgiveness.  Jesus' perfection in us makes us equal in essence. It is from our equality in Christ's perfection that the we all are being changed and everything is becoming new.

It took the perfection of Jesus at Calvary to forgive us equally.  It takes the presence of Christ in us to make us essentially equal and on our way to peace with all.  Perfection is here with us now in Christ and it will never be taken away. Celebrate!Bud McCord

Abide International

Falling Short

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Brazil is in mourning.  The preventable crash of a chartered jet carrying one of Brazil's soccer teams left the entire nation in shock as 71 people died just short of landing in Columbia for the first game of the South American soccer finals. All the team needed to have landed safely was enough fuel to go a few more miles.

It is not that Brazilians are not used to seeing people die needlessly. Every day the news is filled with deaths that could have been avoided.  What shocked Brazil was seeing this young, talented team of soccer players, coaches and reporters be so close to glory and miss the opportunity due to human error.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 "...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  As humans we just do not have enough personal fuel to get the  goal of God's glory.  Because of human error, we all come short of landing at the goal of being the humans we should have been.  Human error has condemned us all to falling short.

The good news is that Jesus seeing humanity's failure and  falling short created a way for us to make it to the goal of God's glory.  By His terrible suffering at Calvary His death allows us to land in the presence of God and live.  Because of Jesus no person need fall short of becoming the kind of human being God intended. 

Every time a human being lands in the presence of God in Christ, heaven rejoices. 

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Human Body

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Problem or Opportunity?

When you consider the human body do you see a problem or an opportunity?  When you look at your own body do you see it as exclusively yours to use as you wish or as a part of the plan of God for this world?

In the Bible, in theology and in the example of Jesus the human body is considered essential to spirituality and the plan of God.  The body is not a minor subject in spiritual life.  The body is central to Christian spirituality.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."  I Cor. 6:19-20

Our body is a permanent documentation of how we have lived and loved.  Our body tells the truth about us for better or for worse.  Every scar we carry registers a story we may or may not want told.

The scars Jesus still carries on His body are the permanent record of His perfect love. 

May our bodies carry proof of our love and our participation in the will of God.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Original Hacker

Hackers are in the news.  Powerful people are afraid.

When hackers are in the news it means someone's private life has been invaded and is being put on display for all to see. We can hardly wait to see the powerful embarrassed.  Should that be the case? Will the hackers come for us, too?

Those of us who are old enough to be referred to as BC (Before Computers and Cell Phones) can still remember a time when privacy actually existed. Those times are gone forever. I, for one, miss them.

There is a sense, however, in which human privacy was destroyed long ago in the garden of Eden by the original hacker named Satan.  What the original hacker did to Adam and Eve left them so ashamed of their public nakedness they tried making clothes out of leaves and hide from God. Some plan!

A hacker must penetrate into the operating system of a computer and make that system give up its privacy and deeply held secrets.  A Hacker wants to embarrass and control.  That is what Satan, the original Hacker, did to all of humanity when Adam and Eve took a bite out of the original Apple. (Not sure it was an apple, but it fits the computer/hacker metaphor! Sorry Apple you chose the metaphor first.) 

What a relief it is for the Christian to no longer need to fear the original hacker!  Jesus came to destroy his works and set us free from needing to hide who we are or what we have done.  We even have a 'confess our sins' software installed if we do sin!

In a world where the original Hacker still exists and continues to try to shame us, there is very good news for us...

There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

Christians are called to come out of hiding and walk in the light. Jesus defeated the original hacker and He even created a spiritual firewall should the Hacker try to shame us again. 

We may not have privacy in the world, but we can certainly have privacy and peace within our spirit where the original hacker can never enter again.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Having Faith For Someone You Love

 We love Him because He first loved us.

I John 4:19

Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone who believes more in you than you believe in yourself? Has someone seen your future before you saw it and wanted that future for you before you wanted it? If so, you have been deeply loved.

To be deeply loved means someone has had faith for us before we had faith.  Someone else can love us so much that they believe for us until we can believe for ourselves.

We love Jesus because He first loved us.  A part of His love was to have faith for us before we had faith.  He believed we could be forgiven before we even knew we needed to be forgiven.  He believed we could be redeemed before we even knew we needed redeeming.

Anyone who looked into the eyes of Jesus would have seen pure love inspired by perfect faith.  They would have also seen someone looking back offering to share that faith and love.

I believe that one of the thieves that hung on a cross next to Jesus looked into the eyes of Jesus and saw pure faith and love.  When he looked into Jesus’ eyes he received the faith and courage to say, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”  Jesus lovingly responded “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”   Jesus’ faith came before the thief’s faith. Jesus’ faith became the thief’s faith.  The thief was able to ask because Jesus by faith and love had already seen him together with Him in paradise.

Whatever faith we have comes from the faith and love Jesus had concerning us.  Whenever we love someone who has no faith, we offer them our faith before theirs is born in them. In doing this we are one with Jesus’ faith and love.

Faith and love give birth to faith and love.  Jesus not only died for us when we were still His enemies.  He believed for us when we could not believe. Truly faith is a gift from God to us in Christ.

Bud McCord

Abide International

A Huge Mistake

I have made some big mistakes in my life and I have had time to correct many of them.  I am so glad God is patient with us all as we live and learn.

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a Christian leader was to fail to point people to a fact about Jesus.  That fact is:  Jesus still personally teaches his disciples by the Holy Spirit.

In fact, Jesus never stopped teaching his disciples.  The truth Jesus is and the truth Jesus continues to teach needs to come to us directly  by the Holy Spirit and not by teachers who put themselves between us and Jesus.  It is always a huge mistake to get between Jesus and one of His disciples.

It took me a long time to hear the words of Jesus and of his disciple John and let them correct my mistake.

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.”

I John 2:24-27  Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

Jesus said each of us needs to abide directly in His original words and not in an explanation or translation of His words delivered by a teacher.   Nothing and no one should get between a disciple and Jesus’ person and words. Getting between a disciple and Jesus trying to help them is like getting between a person’s head and their body trying to help them stay alive.

Jesus does not need help from me to say what He has already said.   Jesus would have me take people to hear from Him personally.  I can certainly tell others what I have heard from Him, but disciples must hear Him for themselves or discipleship is not taking place.

It was a great relief for me to be free of trying make Jesus’ teaching clear to people. Over the years I have understood that Jesus’ teaching is not difficult to  understand. It is difficult to hear and live.

 As anyone who has done translating from one language to another will affirm, translation is imperfect and tiring. It is so good to hear directly from someone instead of feeling you need a translator.  Jesus does not need to be translated.  He needs to be heard and obeyed.  Jesus speaks perfectly in every language by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

 Jesus’ teaching is clear to those who will ask Him personally what He means and what He wants. If you do not believe that, then I challenge you to hear His words again. Then ask Him questions about what He means for you to do with what He says.  Be prepared to act.  He still teaches and He speaks your language!

Bud McCord

Abide International

Seeing the Unseen

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

II Corinthians 4:18

The first disciples saw Jesus every day.  What they did not realize was that they were also looking at the unseen as they looked at Jesus.  When they looked at Jesus they were seeing the unseen, eternal Father.

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?John 14:8-9

Every day we live we see things that will pass away.  We must learn to look beyond them to see the unseen.  We must see beyond the temporary to see the eternal.  If all we see is the temporary then we will lose heart.  If we see beyond the temporary and see the eternal we will gain strength to go on.

If the first disciples missed seeing the unseen Father when they saw Jesus, what are we missing when we fail to see beyond what we see around us every day?  Learn to look beyond the seen until the unseen is more real to you than the seen.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Equality

 

The desire for equality is  a noble goal. Perhaps it is the most noble of human dreams. The search for it, however, has led to millions of deaths and great sacrifice. No matter how many deaths and how great the sacrifices, the dream of equality still seems far away.

Whether the path chosen to equality is the non-violent approach of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr or the radical violence of Lenin and Mao, time reveals just how hard equality is to produce or sustain. In all of human history has anyone shown us the way to equality?

In all of human history only Jesus had the courage to call Himself the way to human equality  He was neither an activist nor an armed revolutionary. He was something altogether new. He claimed to be equal with God and and 

He invited humanity to be one with Him and the Father as the basis of equality.  He said all who accept Him are instantly brought into the equality mankind longs to find. Jesus said being in Him would make us equals.

As the Father sent Him into the world to invite humanity into equality , He sends us out into the world sustained by our equality in Him to make the same offer. We have been sent to tell others to be one With the Father, the Son and the Spirit and with all others who are one In Christ.

Jesus continues to be way to human equality. Sadly, we as His followers often fail to live this equality in practical and visible ways. If we could live as equals in our Christian communities surely the world would take note that we have been with Jesus.

Our starting point in Jesus is equality. As long as Jesus lives and we live in Him equality is available and sustainable. Live your equality in Jesus and invite others to experience it with you.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Great Risk of Loving and Being Loved

“The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.”

― C.S. Lewis

Even a brief time in this world confirms these words.  Experiencing a great love and loving greatly is to also risk great pain.  To experience a great joy is to risk a great loss.

Jesus and those he loved lived this great risk.  Meet Lazarus, Maria and Marta the beloved friends of Jesus.  See how they handled the risk and grief of their great love and joy.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  John 11: 1-6

We learn from Jesus and His beloved friends that in the presence of sickness we must stay still, wait and know we have been loved and are still loved.  We must know that the Will of the Father, the Word of the Son and Wind of the Spirit are greater than the weakening of our mortal will, words and wind.  The risk will be rewarded by the ressurrection.

We learn that at the right moment we will be called back from sickness or death to full health by the will, word and wind of God.  Sickness and death do not have the final word over us. The Father’s love in Jesus by the Spirit will call us back to life and love.

The contrast of good and bad that surrounds us is here for now and so is the risk we take when we love or are loved.   In Christ we see that love never dies and will never let us die. So, we risk being loved and loving.  “That’s the deal.”

Bud McCord

Abide International

Words

Jesus understood the power of His words. We often do not. He also understood that many who heard Him could not understand Him. Listen to how He describes those who could neither hear nor understand Him.

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” John 8:42-43

Truly hearing the words of another person and understanding their words requires much more than ears that work.  It requires a relational and cultural connection to the one speaking. Communication requires a living history. Only relational and cultural connection allows  words spoken to be heard correctly.

The first part of us that needs to be “born again” is our hearing.  We need to learn like a newborn child learns to hear with understanding.  To abide in the words of Jesus is like learning a new language—the language of God. Jesus is the language of God. It takes time but the rewards of being able to hear and understand in a new language is worth the effort.  It is liberating.

Keep listening to Jesus and you will grow more and more aware of the liberating power of His words.  Disciples of Jesus abide in His words and become more and more aware of what God is saying and doing.  When they do they are see free to join in.

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.” João 8:31-32

Bud McCord

Abide International