Alone

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

Utterly alone. It is a feeling of isolation and abandonment. It is often frightening and always sobering. It is a condition in which few humans do well. But it is often how many of us feel. 

Jesus knows that feeling. We see it demonstrated most vividly in the week we call “The Passion.”

Passion week should be a time of sober reflection for all those who claim to know Jesus. In these seven days between “Palm Sunday” and “Easter” we see some of the most detailed descriptions of the ministry of Jesus. However, in the middle of the week, on that Wednesday, all of the Gospel accounts are quiet. We don’t know what Jesus did or said on that day. We don’t have any record of His activity, but I can’t help but think it was an overwhelming day. A day when, even among friends, Jesus felt utterly alone.

On Tuesday Jesus met with His disciples in the upper room for what would be their last supper together (Matt 14:12-25). There, He fellowshipped and laughed, and told of the Kingdom and His impending death. That very night, Judas, one of the twelve, would make a deal to betray Him (John 13:21-30).

He knew on Thursday, Peter, James and John, His beloved friends and disciples, would be unable to keep watch and pray with Him in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-45). Judas would visit Him again, only this time with a kiss of betrayal that would set in motion His arrest, trial, and crucifixion (Matt 26:47-49).

He knew He would be led through trials before the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:61-64) and the Romans (Mark 15:2-15), and His closest friends -- twelve men in whom Jesus poured out His life -- would all leave Him. Alone. One would betray Him (John 13:21-30). One would deny he knew Him (Luke 22:31-34). All would run at His hour of need (Mark 14:51-52). 

He knew he would be hung on a cross between two strangers who did not know Him, for sins He did not commit (Mark 15:22-32). He knew His last words would be “why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46)

Jesus knew what it feels like to be utterly alone. He knew the pain of total betrayal by those to whom He was most connected. He felt the desperation, the agony, and the pain that aloneness brings. He felt the distance from even His Father as the weight of the sins of the world was upon Him. He felt what we feel and more.

But Jesus knew the Father and that gave Him hope; not in the faithfulness of man or even the love of friends, but in the goodness of God to redeem and restore. In Jesus’ darkest moments on earth, He knew the Father was with Him even when He felt alone. He knew the work He was doing for our redemption would make a way to perfectly reconcile man to God. 

In that moment of utter aloneness, He alone accomplished what only He alone could do. He made a way for those who believe to never be alone again. He adopted us into His family (Eph. 1:5) and became our High Priest always making intercession on our behalf so we would never, ever, ever, be alone again (Rom. 8:31; Heb. 6:2; Matt 28:20).

The reality of Christ’s resurrection is a story of reconciliation and hope for our restless and rebellious heart. It is the promise of God that we will never be alone.

Are you lonely? Have you considered the work of Christ on your behalf to reconcile you with God and make you a part of the family of faith? Do you know the Father and His son, Jesus? Have you neglected the reality of your adoption as the son/daughter of God? 

I pray you will look at the work of Jesus with new eyes and know you never have to be alone.

Will You Persevere?

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

Headlines today are filled with uncertainties. From political unrest to wars and rumors of wars, our connected lives stream a never-ending cycle of ever-increasing chaos and tragedy. At times it is overwhelming; at other times, seemingly hopeless. But at all times, persistent. The state of our world often causes us to question faith, humanity, government, life, happiness, spirituality, and even God. How do we survive in a world of constant change?

Perseverance. It is a character quality the writer of Hebrews beautifully exhorts for those who know and love the Lord as their Savior. In Hebrews 3:14, he says, “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

What is this “original confidence” we are to hold firm? Believers are to hold firm to the glory of the Gospel that was received when we first trusted in Christ. 

Do you remember when you first heard about Jesus? Do you recall the wonder and awe that filled your soul when you discovered that God loves YOU!? Can you still sense the excitement you felt when you surrendered your life to His Lordship and vowed to follow Him? Can you still recall the glory of faith, the freedom of the forgiveness of sin, and the joy of adoption as God’s beloved son/daughter? 

Unlike many Christians who came to know Christ as a very young child, I didn’t come to know the Lord until I was 18. I knew of Jesus from a factual perspective, but I had no idea He desired a relationship with me. I had no idea He wanted to call me His son, empower me for His purposes, and allow me to join Him in a greater adventure for my life than I could ever have imagined. Though my memory fails in many ways, I remember vividly that night at the side of my bed when I thought all hope was lost. I remember crying out into my darkened room for God to do something to show me He was real. I remember being overwhelmed with His goodness and the realization that the things I had read of Him and heard about Him were not mere words, but the Way, the Truth and the Life I so desperately desired. 

I am privileged to tell my story over and over again as I teach. I never grow weary of God’s miraculous work in my life. I did nothing to save myself, and I was certainly not worthy of His grace or His goodness, but He found me. He loved me. He lavished upon me what my heart most needed – Jesus. He promised never to leave me or forsake me. And He has been more than faithful!

This truth is my “original confidence” that the preacher is writing about in Hebrews. Though the world may radically change and seek to dissuade me from believing God’s Word is true, the writer of Hebrews calls all of us to remember the One who changed our lives and to keep our eyes on Him.

In fact, he opens the book with this proclamation in verses 2-4:

“But in these last days He [God] has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He [Jesus] 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, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Our confidence is never in the things of the world, never in the political stability, governmental leadership, or sin-evoked chaos and unrest. Our hope is rooted securely in the completed work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God. He is upholding the universe by His very Word, which is power. 

As the world seems to spin out of control, we can rest assured that the God is in charge. The writer’s exhortation to us is to persevere with our eyes focused on Him, our hearts submitted to His will, and minds attentive to His Word and the unchanging Gospel, lest we drift away (2:1).  

Do you remember the time you gave your heart to Jesus? Do you remember the passion you had to follow Him and live for Him? Is that passion still present? Has that passion grown dim? What do you need to believe to reignite that “original confidence” that will allow you to persevere?

God’s Faithfulness, Our Hope

By D'Ann Davis, Women's Ministry Director

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

Immersed in a world of brokenness, sin, and troubles, as believers we can often find ourselves losing heart. We have heard about these light and momentary afflictions, but we find them anything but light or momentary (2 Corinthians 4:17). We read about the eternal weight of glory awaiting us for which these difficulties apparently prepare us, and we wonder if it is actually worth it. Can we really keep this up? Can we really expect ourselves to fight our flesh and hold on to the One we have never even seen face to face? Doubt slowly creeps in, and pressure rises.

We have seen many decide they cannot do it. They have left the narrow road and embraced the broad road. They seem happy. The tension appears to be gone. There is no fight they are fighting so there is no struggle to be had. As believers though, those who believe, we know that just as affliction is momentary, so is pleasure apart from the Lord. So is the delight of sin. We know that the end of sin is death and destruction, and conversely we know that hope rightly placed in Jesus does not disappoint (James 1:15; Romans 5:5).

The author of Hebrews is exhorting us to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, not because we are faithful, but because God is. If our faithfulness were wholly contingent on our ability to always choose rightly, perfectly obey in motive, action, and thought, and love Jesus and others without error, then we would indeed be in serious trouble. However we can rest assured that Christ is faithful and was faithful on our behalf. He does not fail. His finished work on the cross and subsequent resurrection ensures us that we can walk in faithful obedience and repentance through the power of the Holy Spirit as we abide in the Lord. Even when we mess up, 2 Timothy 2:13 assures us, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself.” When we sin, 1 John 1:9 reminds us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He is faithful even in our faithlessness.

Rooted in His character and His faithfulness, we can move forward, knowing that we are free to hold fast to the confession of our faith because it is based on His righteousness and power, not our own. We can walk in obedience. We can be faithful. We can get up when we fall down. We can walk in the freedom already granted us in Christ Jesus. We need not fear our own future risk of sin because He is greater than and has already atoned for any possible future sin. Our hope does not rest in our ability to be sinless in the future, but in the sinless person and work of Jesus Christ, who paid our debt by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). This is our hope. He is our hope. We cling to Him. He is faithful, and He will not disappoint us.

Dear Lord, help us to be faithful. Help us to see You as You are and rest in Your work for us and Your faithful character. Thank You that we can hold fast to You unwaveringly because You are our Anchor. Help us trust You in that and walk with You all of our days. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Don't Let Me Miss The Glory

By Samuel Parrish, Campus Director, Living Hope Charleston

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
John 5:44

The apostle John threads the gleaming strand of glory throughout his gospel as a unifying theme. From verse fourteen of chapter one, to the high priestly prayer in chapter seventeen, God’s glory—his very nature seen most clearly in Jesus—stands as the foundation of the book and the gospel itself.

In the first five chapters of the book, we see Jesus regularly reminding the disciples AND the Pharisees that his glory is not his own, but from the Father. Jesus sees no tension between claiming equality with the Father and his willing submission to the Father’s will. The Pharisees in contrast cannot exist in this tension. Despite being God’s chosen people, and having his word for millennia, the Pharisees are incapable of seeing God’s work and knowing it to be so. Jesus could root this issue in a myriad of sources, but the apostle John notes in verse 44 that Jesus diagnoses this as a glory issue.

Jesus’s words are startling. The Pharisees cannot understand their need for God’s glory because their need for glory has already been satisfied in their “holy huddle.” They see no lack in who they are because being a teacher, being a leader, being someone of influence was their glory. And sadly, that glory was so satisfying that it kept them from seeking the glory that can only come from the Father.

We are all searching, aren’t we? From the top salesman in his region with a floundering family life to the minister who finds purpose in his title more than his calling; sin grabs us on our search for glory. We look to each other and break the heart of the Father as we are satisfied with the glory of addiction, emotional dependency, and sinful self-protection. Like the Pharisees in verse 43, we believe every other voice in our lives except the loving voice of God. We ignore his word, and isolate from his people. Like the Pharisees, false glory will be our judgment if we remain satisfied in it.

If the rightful source of our glory was unclear, Jesus clarifies beyond doubt in chapter seventeen, hours before he was crucified. His prayer for all of us who believe is that a unity of glory might bring about a unity of meaning and a unity of purpose. As the glory Jesus received from the Father led him to give his life for others, the glory we receive from Jesus calls us out of sin and into a life of joyful sacrifice.

May the glory of Christ both in his death and resurrection draw us to the Father during this Lenten season!

Keeping it Spin Free

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God”

2 Corinthians 4:2

Previously in 2 Corinthians, we saw Paul admonishing the church to look to Jesus as the light; and when they saw Him as he is, they would be changed. But what does it look like to be a “seeing” person? How are we really any different?

Paul says that we have not only changed how we act, we have renounced our past for what it is. How often do we, as Jesus said, put our hand to the plow and look back? How often do we see the old self as something alluring instead of the shame that it is? 

We aren’t alone in doing it. Exodus is full of accounts of the people of God coming to Moses and, through the lens of time, claiming that slavery would have been better than the hardship of the wilderness. In Christ, we have been made free!

If we look at our past with joy, let it be in an understanding of what grace has saved us out of and the hope it has saved us into. 

Our Father spared us from his wrath through the blood of Christ, and has promised us an inheritance beyond what the mind can comprehend. In faith, we speak and act in light of that truth. We don’t fear accountability or reproof because we have nothing to hide. We have called our past what it is, seen it covered by Christ’s blood and then can live in the precious freedom he purchased for us. 

“Father, let us be children of the light. May we be consistent in our confession of sin, and diligent about our holiness. Guard our mouths so that we may speak the truth, for your word is truth.”

The Power of Our Story

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

We live in an age of story. Everyone wants to tell a story or hear one. Stories have become the new medium by which “truth” is transmitted. Not all stories are true, of course, but those that are truly move us and often have the power to convince us. 

At our annual LHM Young Adult Retreat, I was most impacted by the stories of two very different young adults: they were of different races and sexes, they had different socio-economic backgrounds, and they had very different outlooks on life. One grew up in a two-parent home, the other in a single-parent home. One completely embraced homosexuality and entered into that life with abandon, the other struggled internally, but never fully embraced a gay identity or a relationship. Their stories unfolded in very different ways and took each of them down very different paths. 

Both individuals were searching for something they didn’t have and thought they could find in the arms of others. Both had legitimate needs that weren’t being met. Both tried to meet those needs in ways that fell far outside God’s design for humanity. Both tried desperately to make their own way, only to discover that their efforts were futile, destructive, and life-altering.

Despite their differences, they both came to a singular conclusion: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As they shared their stories of tragedy, triumph, despair, and ultimate hope, we were all moved to tears. The power of the Gospel to rescue and redeem was so evident it was palpable. 

For each of them, Jesus isn’t a concept or an idea; He is a person who seeks to redeem His people and meet the deepest longings of our hearts. 

As I listened, I longed for every person to hear what I was hearing and to see what I was seeing. Over the years, I had seen both of these people transform before my eyes. I had seen Jesus at work in them to do what the world said was impossible. They were living out their lives as the man and the woman God had created them to be. They had faced the demons of their past and the consequences of their sins, and they were not only living but thriving in Christ!

In a day when change seems possible only if you want to go against the teachings of Jesus and orthodox Christianity, I witnessed the work of Christ transforming and conforming lives to the image of God’s plan for humanity lived out right before my eyes. 

It really should not be such a surprise. In Revelation 12:10-12 it says, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.’”

The last days are nearer now than ever in our history. Those of us who have stories of God’s redemption must speak up. Those who have yet to experience His transformation and love need to know that Jesus is real, true, life-giving, and life-changing. God is at work among His people to bring redemption and transformation to all who will trust and believe. 

Do you have a story to tell? If you don’t, I hope you will seek the Lord and know that He is the only way, the only truth, and the only path to life everlasting. If you have experienced the goodness of God, I pray you will share it with others so they might find hope, Christ, and the transforming power of the Gospel. “The blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony” will overcome the darkness of our fallen world. Life. Lived. Shared. Redeemed. There is power in our God-stories!

Unrighteous Rule-Makers?

By D'Ann Davis, Women's Ministry Director

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

Colossians 2:20-23

In the pursuit of holiness most of us know there are certain areas of struggle to which we are more vulnerable. Often, we wisely set boundaries for ourselves that we might avoid temptation and stand firm in our convictions. Sometimes though, if we are not careful, we can begin to tie our salvation and standing before God to the boundaries we have set for ourselves in a way that becomes self-made religion. We often inadvertently develop a system of rules for ourselves and/or others that are neither biblical nor helpful.

The Colossians were struggling with asceticism, which is the idea that God is happier with us when we avoid pleasure. In many ways it is the opposite side of the prosperity theology coin. Asceticism, like Colossians 2:23 says, has an appearance of wisdom. Jumping from wise boundaries to depriving one’s self of any pleasure at all can seem pious and holy. In truth it is simply another form of works righteousness. It reveals a misunderstanding of the God at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore and in whose presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). God wants us to enjoy Him and the good gifts He gives us. He wants us to rest in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in His resurrection. He does not want us to pursue pleasure-less misery as a means of self-justification. He does want us to be smart and to flee from temptation and avoid sin, but we avoid sin through life in Him, not life apart from anything pleasurable.

Paul describes this to the Colossians as a fruitless pursuit saying, “self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body” are “of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” White-knuckling sin through man-made regulations against pleasure are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. This translates to us being miserable in our man-made religion we are ascribing to God while simultaneously indulging our flesh in the sin we originally sought to avoid. Life in Christ and walking by the power of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God is how we avoid sin, not man-made rules. And we must never forget, avoiding sin and/or pleasure was never the ultimate point in the first place. Christ is the point, and we avoid sin that we might have more of Him. Man-made religion is an inner prison that saps our joy and ultimately our strength. Thanks be to Jesus though that He died for this sin, too, and He is willing to deliver us and able to keep us from falling to it. Let’s repent of our pleasure avoidance and find joy in Him, the One who gives us every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.

Father thank You that You created pleasure and delight for us to find it in You and Your good gifts. Please forgive us for seeking to find righteousness on our own. Help us to know You as You are and find rest and salvation in You. Thank You for loving us and for being a generous God. Help us to trust in Your finished work on our behalf. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.