Life Amongst the Thorns

/ Chris Courtney / 1 Comment

Photo by Greg Hume, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I was quite blessed to be raised in the woods.

Let me clarify the above statement: I’m not saying I was raised in the woods by a pack of wolves or otters or any other species of woodland creatures (even though my beautiful wife may claim otherwise).

My childhood surroundings were a gift from God. The security of extended family surrounded me like a warm blanket. My grandparents lived on the other side of a cow pasture from us. The greatest dangers face were:

  1. Accidently making contact with the electric fence when it was turned on.
  2. Stomping into a freshly made cowpie when crossing the pasture. (And woe betide you if you thoughtlessly entered Grandma’s house in those soiled shoes.)
  3. Experiencing danger #1 when a cow had recently been nearby, causing you to fall into #2.

There was one more danger. It lingered at the edge of woods, where our backyard abruptly ended in the wonderful expanse of trees and wildflowers and mushrooms – loads of oddly umbrella-shaped fungi growing in the weeds and on the trees.

This danger stood out to me because my parents had warned me about it.

Do not touch it.

Do not lean on it.

Don’t even talk to it (which should be no problem unless you’ve eaten the aforementioned shrooms. And, really, I doubt consuming them would lead to any sort of psychedelic experience. They’d just poison you.)

Hmm… maybe I should add that to the top of the list of childhood dangers.

And then there’s the coffee can of rusty nails from Grandpa’s garage, used to shore up our A-frame stick lean-tos. But we had our tetanus shots, so no real danger there.

But I digress…

It may not be a rabbit hole but you can still get lost down here.

Photo by Gunnar Ries, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

No, the danger Mom warned about was the torn tree.

A great big, ugly, dead thorn tree.

With huge spikes protruding from it’s decaying trunk.

Someone should have cut it down.

It wasn’t pretty.

It wasn’t enticing.

It was scary.

It was exactly what sin should look like to us.

But that’s the problem. Sin does not always look so frightening, Instead it looks beautiful.

Attractive.

Enjoyable.

Popular.

Fulfilling.

Cool.

Entertaining.

Gorgeous.

Down right fun!

I’m guessing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn’t a dead thorn tree. (It wasn’t an apple tree either, but one rabbit hole is enough for today.)

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. – Genesis 3:1-7 (NKJV)

It’s easy to get lulled into complacency when it comes to following Jesus. We get wrapped up in our lives – our schedules, our plans, our jobs, our kids’ soccer games, all the busyness, all the cares of this life (which only compound everything else going on…

We lose sight of what is truly important.

We lose sight of Jesus.

We get so caught up in the worries and stresses and insanity (inanity?) of this life that, before we know it, we find ourselves standing in the woods wearing cowpie covered shoes, eating poison mushrooms, talking to a thorn tree.

So, what’s the answer? It’s one of the verses I find myself repeatedly drawn to:

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).

How often do we act on our own impulses without seeking God’s wisdom first? Trust me when I say it could be painful. God’s grace is still there. The LORD forgives us. Our Father loves us. He saves us. Je restores us. He may let us stand in those stinky poo-covered shoes for a while to correct us.

Wouldn’t it be much easier to seek God first in all things, and trust Him instead of our own limited capabilities? Not all pain can be avoided (just look at Job). Still, life would be much better if we would remember this:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

Thinking back on it, my childhood woodland wasn’t quite as safe as I naively thought. Our true security is found in God through Jesus Christ and Him alone. How would our lives look if we walked – no, ran – away from the thorn tree? What if we chose to look to Him as our source of joy, happiness and peace, instead of living life so engrossed in our circumstances?

We live amongst thorns. Seek God and His ways first. Let Jesus light your path. And follow that Light.

Who Are You? Finding Identity in your Father

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

by Chris Courtney

Who are you?

I mean deep, deep down… truly, who are you?

When I ask this, I’m not referring to your career.

Your accomplishments.

Your failures.

The accusations or judgements others have pinned on you.

The image of yourself you try to project to the world.

If you want an idea of who you really are, read the first verses of each of Paul’s letters in the New Testaments, from Romans to Philemon. These are all introductions, Paul’s way of telling his audience who he is.

I mean, who he really is. And who we, as followers of Jesus Christ, really are.

A Servant of Jesus

As Christ followers, we are slaves to the Lord. We are subservient to God and His will.

You see, all humanity is enslaved. Because of sin, we tend to serve our appetites and lusts. We are imprisoned in a life that pursues self. We don’t necessarily notice our chains because – let’s face it – sin can feel fun. We’re too busy chasing after our selfish desires to give a second thought to the Lord.

And slavery to sin leads to death. We were not created to live a life in self-gratification. In every heart lies a deeper longing, a knowledge that there is – there has to be – something more than fulfillment of fleshly, unholy desires.

Servanthood to Jesus is not painful slavery, but glorious liberty! In Jesus, we are set free from sin. We live in the beautiful freedom of God, slaves to His grace. Free to receive and embrace the promises of God through Jesus Christ – eternal life with the Lord, grace and mercy for today and tomorrow, peace and strength and joy to get through this life, a light for our path.

Called By God

The Lord is our Creator. He created us each uniquely, individually, with gifts and abilities within us to be used to glorify God. We are freed from sin, and bound to Jesus, so we can follow His path and His will. When we truly seek first the kingdom of God, we find great meaning for our lives. We begin to turn our eyes upward, not inward.

When we navel gaze, looking inward, we discover a life filled with fear, anxiety and worry. We discover the uncomfortable truth that being a slave to sin includes the self-indulgent belief that we can control our lives. And when things go wrong – and they will – we are left bewildered, frightened, hurt, alone.

When our sights are fixed Godward, we learn that He – and He alone -is sovereign. Over all. And living life pursuing self is a waste. It is the Lord Who gives us purpose, Who truly gives us life. Because, we discover our purpose is to pursue God first and foremost. We are called by God to live to glorify Him, to love Him and love others. In doing so, we discover deeper meaning and fulfillment than any earthly pleasure could ever come close to bringing.

An Apostle of Christ

Congratulations, ambassador!

Did you realize you are an ambassador? An ambassador is an official emissary of a sovereign nation or entity. As an ambassador, you represent the interests of your country and serve the people of your country who are visiting the foreign land in which you are stationed.

As an apostle of Christ, you are appointed (i.e.: called) by God to represent His kingdom to His people who are in the foreign land in which you are stationed. We represent the Lord when we live as Jesus lived, walk as Jesus walked, love as Jesus loved. As believers, saved and sealed through Jesus, uniquely created with gifts and abilities with which we serve others.

We live to love. We live for others. We die to self, pick up our cross and follow Jesus.

So, really… who are you???

When you live a life pursuing God, trusting Him, loving Him, seeking Him, following Him, you are “a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which (you) have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior” (Titus 1:1-3, ESV).

Next time: Who’s Your Family? Finding Purpose in the Pursuit of your Father

The Light of Hope

/ Chris Courtney / 1 Comment

G. Conti La parabola del Buon Samaritano (The Good Samaritan). 1850. Messina Chiesa della Medaglia Miracolosa Casa di Ospitalità Collereal. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

  • Psalm 34:15-19 (ESV)

I wish I could take away all your troubles.

I wish I could alleviate all your pain. I see it in your face. And I wish I could remove it completely.

I wish I could rid you of all your worries, all your doubts, all your anxious thoughts. I see it in your eyes. And I wish I had the means to erase your cares.

I wish I could remove your sorrow. I hear it in your voice. That hollow, cold, lonely grief is so painful. And I wish I could fill you so full of joy that the sadness would completely lift away.

I hope you know I love you, dear friend. I hope you know a lot of people love you.

Most of all, I hope you realize how much the Lord loves you. And just what that really means.

It’s too easy to take stock in our circumstances, our pain, our sorrows, and focus on them. Our world is a dark place.

But remember what Jesus said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12, ESV). In the dark, we stumble around, unable to see. We are flesh: imperfect, flawed, and – without light – blind. We require light to illuminate our path.

If you want to see the reality of your life, you need the Perfect Light of Jesus Christ as revealed through the Bible. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105, ESV).

Notice this: the darkness is still there. But Jesus is “the true light, which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9a, ESV). And, I promise you, whatever you’re going through – no matter how painful – has a God given purpose.

Your situation may be God’s way of growing you.

Your confidence through your storm may bring hope to someone who feels they are drowning.

Your pain can give you empathy, the understanding to help others in the same boat as you.

Your acts and words of faith and mercy, despite your situation, may be just the gift someone needs to find the strength to carry on.

We are called to be salt and light – a light upon a hill, a shining beacon for Jesus Christ. We are that when we follow Him, loving those the Lord put in our path.

I wish I could take away all your troubles. But, more than that, I hope you follow the Light Who will lead you through the darkness, bring you comfort, fill you with His peace as you see God is with you every step of the way – never abandoning you.

Love God. Love others. Love first. Trust the Lord wholeheartedly despite how things may appear in the dark.

2.4.2025: Remember

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. – Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV)

Fear, anxiety and worry are bad fruit to bear. This unholy trinity of beliefs reveal where our faith lies, and lay bare the true treasure of our hearts. After all, fear is simply worst-case scenario faith – the belief that the things that make us anxious are going to come to fruition in our lives.

Worries and cares are part of the human experience. We live in a fallen world. And we shouldn’t be surprised when life goes sideways.

When trouble comes, pray. Cast every care on God (1 Peter 5). Dig into the Bible and read His promises. Pray for others. Don’t sit and mull over your problems. Instead, think about what is good, right, beautiful, true… (1 Philippians 4).

Meditate on God’s word. Stop and remember the times in the past when God has moved in your life. Remember all He has done on your behalf. Think back to times He pulled you out of situations you couldn’t get out of yourself.

Remember when He healed you.

Remember when He filled a need in your life.

Remember how He saved you.

Remember when He saw you through a tough time.

Remember these things with humility. If your response to troubles and cares is, “I can’t believe this happened to me” or “I don’t deserve this” or “I messed up – why would God help me?”, it’s time to check our egos. If we’re not humble, we’re not able to see God clearly.

When trouble strikes, stop. Pray. Be humble. Choose to trust God and not your limited understanding, Thank the Lord for Who He is and all He has done and will do. Trust in God and, know He is with you. Rely on the Lord to take care of you. And remember – remember all the LORD has done.;

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work,
    and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
    you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

  • Psalm 77:11-15 (ESV)

1.27.2025 – Let’s Think This Through

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Consider this…

God is GOD.

He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.

He sent His Son to die for me and His Holy Spirit to live in me.

He is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He is Truth. He is Love.

He is my Father. He is Father to all who trust Him.

I am none of these things.

So when God says “Do not fear”, there must be nothing to fear.

When God says “Do not worry”, there must be no reason for worry.

When God says “Do not be anxious”, there must be no reasonable place for anxiety.

When God says “Do not doubt”, the only logical conclusion is to trust God.

Trusting God = no reason for fear, no room for worry, no need for anxiety, no place for doubt.

Seek first God’s kingdom. Trust in the Lord with every ounce of your being. Don’t rest on your own frail, incomplete human understanding.

You are loved beyond comprehension.

1.21.2024 – Rejoice in Forgiveness!

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10 (ESV)

Imagine the scene: it’s early morning. The Israelites have gathered to listen to Ezra read to them the word of God.

This is a big deal. Their 70 years in exile have ended. Jeremiah has rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.

And the people are, at last, coming home. Back to their city. Back to their God.

Ezra read until lunch time. And the people listened. Nobody was concerned about missing the big game. No one had to get home because they had a roast in the oven. Not one soul had their phone out, checking social media.

They were attentive.

They were listening.

And they were convicted. They were feeling the pain and shame of their falling away.

But notice the message given to the people: you are with God again.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the remorse and sorrow of our sinful deeds. And remorse is a very appropriate response to our moral failures. But understand this: when you accept and choose to trust God, you are forgiven.

You are cleansed.

Your record is expunged.

Your sin is removed as far as the east is from the west.

If you are feeling like you need forgiveness, run – do not walk- to your Heavenly Father, confess your sins, seek His forgiveness and recognize how much God loves you.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 ( ESV)

That’s good news! Especially considering none of us righteous of our own accord.

Realize the love God has for you. Recognize the forgiveness He offers you. Rejoice in the Lord always and seek Him first at all times!

Sleep well dear friends. You are loved more than you can imagine.

1.16.2025 – Psalm 121 – A Psalm for Bedtime

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Tonight I want to simply share a psalm with you. Some words to bring you peace and joy. Something to mull over and meditate on as you close your eyes for slumber.

Sleep well dear friends. You are loved more than you can imagine.

Psalm 121 (ESV)

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

1.16.2025 – Consider This

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Consider this: Jesus overcame death.

He was beaten mercilessly and crucified. Yet, on the third day, He arose.

The dead man stood up.

He took the time to fold His grave clothes.

He rolled away the heavy, sealed stone door.

And He walked out of the tomb.

Jesus overcame death. Who else do you know who has done that?

Since Jesus Christ conquered death, don’t you think He can conquer whatever we’re facing? what could possibly be more impossible?

Lord, you are my Light and my Savior, so why should I be afraid of anyone? The Lord is where my life is safe, so I will be afraid of no one! – Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

1.12.2024 – Holy Spirit Ear Worm

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

The Lord’s Prayer, a most surprising hit as recorded by Sister Janet Mead. Notice the songwriting credit. Does anybody else see a problem here?

We know it by heart.

We memorized it at Sunday School.

I used to hear on the school bus, sandwiched between “Let It Ride” by B.T.O. and Grand Funk Railroad’s remake of Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion”.

Sister Janet Mead was a 36 year old Australian nun with a love for music. In the 1970’s she taught music and led “Rock Masses” at Adelaide’s St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral. She was asked by Australian record label Festival to record a cover of Donovan’s “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”, with a contemporary rock arrangement of the Lord’s Prayer on the ‘B’-side. She recorded both songs, the two sides were flipped, and thus was born a smash hit. It wasn’t only big in America, where it reached number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100, selling over 1,000,000 copies and going gold. It also hit number 3 in her native homeland and Canada.

That’s what I call a “God thing”. I consider this single a miracle. Yes, this was the era of Jesus Christ Superstar and “My Sweet Lord”. But those are, in general, pop chart anomalies (and neither exactly scriptural). A glance at the Billboard Top Ten for the week “The Lord’s Prayer” peaked in the US charts (ironically enough on the day before Easter 1974) shows just how out of sync the song was with the rest of the hits on pop radio at the time:

  1. Bennie and the Jets – Elton John
  2. Hooked on a Feeling – Blue Swede
  3. TSOP – MFSB
  4. The Lord’s Prayer – Sister Janet Mead
  5. Come and Get Your Love – Redbone
  6. Sunshine On My Shoulders – John Denver
  7. The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me – Gladys Knight and the Pips
  8. Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks
  9. Oh My My – Ringo Starr
  10. Mockingbird – Carly Simon and James Taylor

The other nine hits the week ending April 13, 1974, include a song about a gender-confused fictional pop star, songs of romance, a very depressing song about a dying man and a couple of disco songs (one promoting the importance of dancing as a means of staying alive, about three years before the Bee Gees would broach the subject in Saturday Night Fever).

Don’t misunderstand me. I like most of these pop songs. But Top Forty radio is one of the last places to find the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus’ instruction to His believers on how we should pray:

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. – Matthew 6:9-13, KJV.

Being the Lord’s instruction on prayer, this passage is extremely important for believers to understand and know. And God, in His infinite wisdom and immeasurable creativity, used a hip Sister of Mercy from down under to get this message out to millions of people, many of whom had perhaps never had – and maybe otherwise never would have – heard these words of Jesus.

Not only did God see to it His Word got out to the world, He did it in a melodious way that guaranteed those who heard the song would remember it. The tune was an earworm (a song one will not soon forget and will stick in your head, replaying in your mental jukebox whenever someone mentions it, or you hear it again even years later). Once it’s in your head, it’s in your head.

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV).

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2, ESV).

God used Pharoah, a mighty enemy and enslaver of His people, to see to it His will was done.

God spoke through the jawbone of an ass (Numbers 22:28).

Even the stones can cry out in praise of the LORD (Luke 19:40). (Wouldn’t have been cool if God had used The Rolling Stones in this instance?)

God sent His Son Jesus to be our propitiation – our substitutional sacrifice – overcoming death itself so we may be forgiven and follow Him to our heavenly home. He did all that for us, we who do not deserve the astonishing love our Father lavishes upon us – His children. He uses so many methods and situations to bless us, help us, grow us, save us. Why not a million-selling Top Ten single played over and over on pop radio?

And, who knows? Maybe God will use The Rolling Stones to shout out glory to Jesus! He reformed a Christian-hating Pharisee to write the majority of the New Testament.

01.08.2025

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

  1. God is sovereign. He is in absolute control over everything. Including our lives.
  2. God is love. He opened the doors for us Gentiles to Trust Him. We are His children the same as His chosen people, the Jews.
  3. God brings salvation. You cannot earn God’s salvation, forgiveness or even approval. The Lord is gracious, and offers eternal life to all who put their trust in the Lord.
  4. God’s going to do what God’s going to do. His will won’t be thwarted. Get on board!
  5. Gild knows. He knows your every thought. He understands you. Trust Him in all your ways.
  6. God’s love is limitless and eternal. Nothing can separate us from His love. Because He loves us, He will correct us when needed. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us anymore. Rather, just the opposite! He corrects His children because He loves us.
  7. .There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1, KJV). Our sin is forgiven. Our record expunged. His forgiveness is always available to us.
  8. Don’t question God. After all, He is God, And we are not. We are limited in our understanding and temptations. Who are we to ever question Him? If we truly love God, we will not question His motives or demand understanding. Rather we will put our whole trust in our Heavenly Father, taking Him at His Word. We will recognize in faith His sovereignty over every tiny detail of our lives. And we will trust Gos, knowing His will is perfect and His promises are ours.

God is all knowing, all powerful and omnipresent. Let all that soak in. He changes us. He enlightens us. He saves us.

He saves us,

Rest easy in the Lord. Listen to our Father. Don’t just follow Him. Pursue Him .

Rest well. Walk in love.

You are loved.

You are loved..

Eternally.

Wholeheartedly.

Beyond comprehension.

Things don’t have to make sense. Pray in faith, knowing you are in His path .

Rejoice!! Good night dear ones.

Sleep well dear friends. Our Monday night Soul Care group has been studying Romans. I just want to share a few takeaways from the first nine chapters.