Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: christianity

no skin off his feet — May 22, 2024

no skin off his feet

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I have a friend who has three passions: basketball, the guitar and frugality.  One day they all came together.  It was in his college days when he played a lot of hoops.  So much in fact, that he often developed large blisters on the soles of his feet.

He would meticulously cut away the dead skin and apply ointment to his wounds.  But one day he looked at an excised patch of skin and wondered. 

He placed it between some books for a few days, where it dried out and became perfectly hard and flat.  He then trimmed it into the shape of a guitar pick. 

Pleased with his new economical creation, he began to strum his guitar.  Unfortunately, his organic guitar pick, quickly disintegrated into a puff.  The skin of his foot turned to dust in his hands. 

What a great reminder of the truth in Genesis 3:19. Adam and Eve had forfeited everlasting life in the garden when they chose to snub the will of God.   God detailed their consequences in this way, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat food, until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”    

Dust from whence we came, and dust to where we’ll all go.   From Adam to the present day, the number crunchers believe that about 109 billion people have lived and died.  That’s a pretty big dust heap, isn’t it? 

The fine folks of the funeral industry tell us that “dust to dust” is not just a poetic expression.  It takes considerable time, but the final remains of a person are eventually reduced to a handful of dust. 

This stark reality prompted Job, the Old Testament Patriarch to ask the question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” – Job 14:14

Good question!  Will he?  Will a person who dies ever live again? 

Jesus must have thinking of Job when He spoke these words in John 11:25. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies…”

Yes, a person can overcome death and live again IF they have believed in Jesus. 

This life comes to us in at least two installments. In John 10:10 the Savior said, “I have come so that they may have life and may have it abundantly.”

He assumes what many of us experience.  We wander through life like zombies.  There is a deadness that grips our emotions and strangles our hopes and dreams.  It is a shallowness that cheats our relationships with others and with God.  We often feel like a soda that’s lost its fizz! 

But Jesus promised to resurrect us from this soul death with new life – abundant life.  A life worth living and wonderfully rewarding. 

The second installment comes later.  In 1 Cor 15:51-52 Paul wrote, “Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” 

A time will come when the dust of those 109 billion will be stirred and the saved will be raised to everlasting life. 

But how can we be sure?  There are other isms that hold to some form of resurrection.  They may believe it, but only one faith leader has died and has been raised to life again – and that would be Jesus.

On the third day He arose again according to the Scripture and there were over 500 skeptics who saw Him, spoke with Him and were convinced.  (1 Corinthians 15:6)  We shall be raised by that same almighty power.

It’s good to know that no dust cloth will be needed in heaven.

A Prayer: Lord what a wonderful hope you have given us.   Help us be generous enough to share the news of it with others.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord be with you always.

Scripture passages are from the NET Bible ®

the way we drive — May 15, 2024

the way we drive

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It occurred to me the other day that the way we drive a car tends to reflect the way we do life in general.  The reckless teenage boy screams around the corner assuming he is all but immortal.  The cautious elderly lady motors along a good ten miles below the speed limit.   We really do tend to express our personalities by the way we drive.

So, what if they traveled by car in the first century?  What if Jesus had entered Jerusalem in a Mustang convertible instead of on the foal of a donkey? 

Let’s start with Paul. I picture him in an ambulance, screaming along at 120 miles per hour, passing through town after town with the life-saving message of the Gospel.  He actually was quite a driven individual.

Peter, we might find pulled over by a car with red flashing lights.  The patrol officer says, “You were going 70 in a 50 mile an hour zone.  Peter says, “I did not!” “Yes, you did!” says the officer.”  “It wasn’t me!”  “Yes it was,” says the officer.  To which Peter replies, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Then suddenly a song from Sheryl Crow begins to play on the car radio.

Clueless Philip, he would be the guy driving the wrong way on a one-way street. 

You might find doubting Thomas arguing with his wife in the car.  “Thomas the GPS says turn here!”  “I don’t believe it,” he says.

Diabolical Judas, he would be the guy who bypasses the traffic jam by driving on the shoulder of the road.  Ooh I detest that guy.

We might find the sons of thunder, James and John, duking it out over a parking spot.  

And Jesus, well He might just pick up every hitchhiker He saw.  And when they left His car He might say, “Go and hike no more.”

Goofy thoughts for sure, but it illustrates the fact that we express our personalities by the way we drive.

And I am ashamed to admit this – because my driving has often sent the wrong message.  When I was a young Christian, there was a bumper sticker that was popular with believers.  It said, “Honk if you love Jesus.”   People assumed I was a passionate Christian because I honked all the time – but it was out of frustration rather than a love for my Lord. 

I have been challenged by words like these in Titus 2:7-8.  There Paul encouraged Titus to… “be an example of good works in every way. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss because he has nothing evil to say about us.”  

Titus was to be a good example in, “every way.”  This surely would have included his driving habits!  For him it possibly meant, “make sure you maintain a safe distance from the donkey ahead of you.” 

For us it means to be polite on the road.  If you are cut off don’t go racing after the perpetrator in rage.    Yield that parking spot to the elderly man in the station wagon.   Respect the laws including the speed limit. 

Paul told him that a good example should especially permeate the way that Titus delivered the Gospel message.   To do anything less would open the door to criticism and provide fodder for the Gospel foes. 

Oh my!  I know there were times when I had just taught a Bible study and then drove home in a way that tarnished the message I had just delivered.  Sometimes I would honk at someone and then hope that they were not from my church.

Well, I am glad to say that as the Word of God has taken root in my life, I am far more patient and attentive to the rules of the road than I once was.  I hope the same can be said of you. 

A Prayer: Lord I know I’ll be tested again in this area.  Help me to respond well!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always!

Scripture quotations are from the NETBible ®

a full cup — March 28, 2024

a full cup

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Our church was participating in communion.  A group of us stood at a table.  The bread had been received and we were preparing to drink the grape juice.  The pastor held up a tiny cup and said to us, “This is the cup of His blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.” 

And we did – except for the guy standing right next to me.  His cup was empty – dry as a bone.  Wow!  I wondered, “What sin did this guy commit that was so bad that he was denied communion?”   

Or maybe this was still another evidence of “shrinkflation.”  Just not enough Welch’s in the bottle to serve everyone.  

Well, it’s most likely that the juice in the cup had leaked out or those who had pre-filled the cups accidentally skipped over that one.

Regardless of why, the pastor quickly handed the confused guy a replacement – and he was able to commune with the Lord and us.

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic rite, but our little service made me wonder, “Is it possible for an individual to stand before God one day, and find that he too is holding an empty cup?”

Communion was given to perpetually remind us that Christ shed His blood on a cross to cleanse us from sin and put us in good standing with God. 

So, I suppose the question here is, “Did Jesus shed His blood for some and not all?”  John the Baptist said no.  He saw Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29. According to John there is a cup for everyone – world-wide.

Jesus also told us that His sacrifice was for all.  He said in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  He gave Himself for the lives of those in the entire world!

Paul agreed in 1 Timothy 2:6 where he told us that Jesus gave himself as a “ransom for all.”

Evidently there is a cup of redemption poured out and prepared for every individual who will have ever lived.  No one will ever peer into an empty cup when they stand before the Lord.

But – not all will be redeemed!   Though Christ died for the whole world, many in the world will nevertheless perish in their sins.

I have officiated at many communion services, and inevitably there have always been some present who have declined to participate.   Their reasons varied, but for some, they chose to let the tray pass, because they did not identify with Christ.  They had never come to believe in Him and trust Him as their Savior.

Maybe they came to church out of curiosity.  Or maybe they were grandparents who were visiting family and the family asked them to go to church with them.

But the tray is passed to grandpa, and grandpa quickly passes it on.  There was a full cup prepared for him in that tray, but he let it slip by – a tragedy.

Equally tragic – I recently sat down and spoke with a mother, who had come to faith late in life.  But she was passionate about Jesus and wanted her adult son to have his chance to meet the Lord. 

So, she set the cup before him, but he refused to drink.   This mom is now profoundly sad, because her boy was recently involved in a car accident which took his life.

She is inconsolable now because he is gone and because he had never come to Jesus.  She doesn’t expect to ever see him again. 

The cup is full!  Continue to drink from its lifegiving flow if you know Him.  Take your first sip if you don’t.   

A Prayer: Lord thank you that there is a cup of redemption for each one of us.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always.

Biblical references from the NET Bible ®