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Paul says we Christians are running a race. Here's what I'm looking at on my run toward Christ.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

My Wife Taught Me About the Heart of Christ

 How much love did Christ have for you when He chose to follow His Father's will and lay down His life for you on the cross?  How much love for you was in Jesus to make Him decide to suffer for you?

I'm venturing to guess that you are grasping to find a numeral large enough to quantify that amount of love.  I'm guessing your answer is something like a lot or a ton.  And that is a wonderful answer.  

After reading "The Heart of Christ" by Thomas Goodwin I am convinced that Jesus loves you more today than on that Friday that He allowed Himself to be crucified for your sins and for your redemption.  I feel confident that Jesus loves me more after He went to the cross than He did before He went to the cross.


I remember the night before my son Joshua was born.  My wife, Christine, was very pregnant and ready to give birth as soon as possible.  The day before our oldest was born we walked literally miles on the bike path, she ate spicy foods, she pumped.  She did everything that books told her would induce her labor (let the reader understand).

Before we went to bed after 11:00 that night she said, "None of this is going to work."  

I fell asleep quickly.  The next thing I knew I was awakened by three sobering words: "I'm in labor."

My wife was in labor and I knew next to nothing about what to expect.  She labored for a long time.  We went to the hospital too early.  We spent 12 hours at the hospital after spending 5 hours at home.  She was in excruciating pain for a lot of that time as she sat on the edge of giving birth for hours.  

Christine wanted no medication, but at the end she said she would take an epidural.  The doctor said it was too late.  The time to push come. 

Christine pushed and screamed and squeezed my hand.  I cheered for her like a mat girl at the Iowa State Tournament.  She pushed and pushed and pushed but the baby was stuck. 

I looked at the head of my son and then looked at the opening he was supposed to come out of.  I said, that won't fit out.  Then I looked and the doctor had forceps.  Now, I don't know if you've seen those things but they are way bigger than I ever imagined they would be.  I said in my head, that won't fit in and the baby won't fit out; I don't know what you're going to do.

Well, the doctor fit the giant salad forks in and grabbed my son and yanked him out as my wife pushed as hard as she could.  17 hours after she announced her labor had begun, the baby was in my arms.

If you're a parent you know how much hard work that was.  And you know that is only the beginning.  I was exhausted that night.  I slept hard, but every time I woke my wife was awake too, feeding our baby.  For the next nine months my wife was awakened by Joshua every night multiple times because he wanted to eat.  Her body was at times chapped and sore and she was always more tired than she ever knew she could be.

Did Christine love Joshua more when she decided to have a baby?  When she earnestly desired to go through the pain of childbirth just so she could hold her own child?  Or does my wife love Joshua more now?  Now that she has suffered to birth him, that she has experienced lack of sleep and bitten nipples and blowouts on airplanes?

Of course she loves him more now.  In fact, the love of a mother for the child is likely stronger than the love of a father for a child in those early years.  Suffering for someone deepens the love for them.  

"Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you." Isaiah 49:15

We see this in the world of foster care.  Very rarely are there single dads, though there are some.  Most often the mother is the one left with the children.  Where a dad may desert, a mom is much more likely to stay.  Suffering increases love.

So it is with Christ.  Jesus, as He is now seated in Heaven, loves us more after suffering for us than He did when choosing to suffer for us.  

Let this encourage you.  If He suffered for you in such an agonizing way He will not soon desert you.  If He experienced the pains necessary to adopt you He will not cease to love you.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:35 & 37-39

Meditate on this: Jesus loves you more now today than He did on the morning of Good Friday.  He loves you as a mother loves her nursing infant.  Think on this truth today.


* the illustration in the above is borrowed heavily from "The Heart of Christ" by Thomas Goodwin p. 29

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Do We Get It?

 The He Gets Us campaign ran Super Bowl ads once again and once again there was a ton of response.



The negative response, I admit makes my blood boil, probably more than it should.  I probably have just enough Jack Ray in me is why.  Seats in the peanut gallery are always cheap and those there are full of criticism and empty of action.  

There were a few responses that upset me and one that I hope you will have.

1) You could have done _______ with the money.

Many complained that the money could have been used to help the poor.  It could have been used to do that.  No doubt.  Super Bowl ads are expensive.  But people always have noble intentions for other people's money.  I want to ask those people to show me their budgets.  I want to also be able to parse out when they bought a candy bar or took a vacation instead of giving to the poor.  

Super Bowl ads are expensive and they are effective.  Those complaining about someone else's use of money to further the Kingdom come off sounding like Judas in John chapter 12 to me.

2) Woke Jesus.

Seriously.  This is our concern?  Jesus literally washed the feet of the man who would betray him and you're offended by the washing of feet of your supposed enemies?  Jesus was accused of being with drunkards, sinners and prostitutes and you're upset that the feet of people you would say are the modern day sinners would be washed by a Christ follower?  Washing feet is not approval of lifestyle.  

If you're concerned that an ad displays Woke Jesus then perhaps you're bowing to a golden elephant.  If Jesus isn't woke enough for you perhaps it's a golden donkey.

3) This is not a complete Gospel presentation.

You're right.  He gets us is not a complete Gospel presentation.  It's a 60 second ad.  It's a 60 second ad that had to be approved by CBS.  If you want to do a "Repent and be Baptized" campaign next year, do it.  If you want a personal testimony of the goodness of God next year, do it.  I am sure that Jesus approves more of the incomplete conversation starter than the disobedience to the Great Commission that most of us practice.

The ads could be better.  But the ads are there and millions are talking about them.


Can I propose a better response to these ads?

4) Use the commercial to start a Gospel conversation.

"What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?"  That question was asked millions upon millions of times over the last few days.  Did you ask it?  Did you answer it?  I'm guessing most people reading this in the United States did.

Try asking, "What did you think of the He Gets Us commercials?"  

Millions of dollars was spent on what amounts to a built-in Gospel conversation starter. If you don't think the message was complete then here's your chance to complete it.  If you think it was a good start then here's your chance to take the baton and run with it.  Instead of complaining about the ad get out of the peanut gallery and into the arena.

Ask someone what they thought about the ad and then have a Gospel conversation about it today.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Always Longing: A Review

 Often I am not as good a friend as my friends are to me.  My college buddy Stephen Morefield has written multiple books.  When he and I were at Wartburg if you were to take a poll of those in our history cohort or in our Bible study and ask who of all of us would become a published author all of us and our professors would say Stephen.  Stephen is brilliant as was evident in class and in our Bible study that met in his dorm room.  He's a great friend and I was privileged to be an usher in his wedding in the Summer of 2009.

I say all that to tell you that I've just now read his book Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven which was published in November of 2022.  Some friend I am, huh?



With all that background out of the way, I do want to offer a brief review of Stephen's book.  Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven is 109 pages and 123 pages if you read appendix 1 and 2.  

In the book Morefield attempts to answer seven questions, one per chapter: Does Heaven Matter?  What Happens When I Die? How Will History End?  Where Is Heaven? What Will We Do in Heaven?  How Should We Wait for Heaven?  What Does Hell Have To Do With Heaven?  The book addresses each very well with a non-bogged down thoroughness.  He also ends with a question for his reader and two appendices on how to read Revelation and some reading recommendations.

I will say that while I enjoyed this book I would have enjoyed it more if I had not read Heaven by Randy Alcorn first.  This is by no means a slight to Stephen's book.  Randy Alcorn's 560 page tome sparked so much delight and eager expectation for Heaven when I read it that a different book on the subject just couldn't awaken my longings in that same, fresh way again.  I am confident if you read Alway Longing that you will have a similar experience to it as I did to Alcorn's.  I am indebted to Randy Alcorn's writing and Stephen admits that he is as well in his book.

That said, while Alcorn's now classic exploded my longing for Heaven and I will forever be indebted to his book, I can say that Stephen's has advantages over it in a few important ways.  Always Longing is a more concise, less speculative and extremely pastoral book.  Stephen doesn't venture guesses as often as Randy does (Randy's estimates on Heaven are not anti-Biblical but Stephen's book is only Biblical).  Stephen also, I assume, recognizes that if he wants his congregation and other congregations to be excited by Heaven handing them a book that is less thick than the Bible itself is a good strategy.  Also, as I read Stephen's book I could hear him preaching it to me.  Now, you probably don't know what he sounds like but you will also recognize this as a piece of work directed lovingly at members of the flock.

To conclude, I recommend Stephen's book, especially if you've not already read Alcorn's book.  I also recommend it if you, like me, have read Heaven and would like a shorter book on this wonderful subject to pass along to a friend.  I especially recommend Always Longing for a small group or discipleship class that wants to spend 7-10 sessions on a book.  If you want to increase your longing for the person and the place for which you're made I recommend you check out this book today.


Saturday, January 13, 2024

Favorite Quotes from Basic Christianity

 Last year I made a hard and fast New Year's Resolution.  I resolved to read a chapter of a Gospel each day and make observations.  I read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and made observations that ranged from rudimentary to near sermon outlines.  

I highly recommend that resolution as it gave me lots of time with my Savior learning from and observing his life, death and resurrection.  I could have written a lot on this blog in 2023, but you can see that I did not do that.  But don't let that make you think that it was not a great year in the Gospels.  Instead, you should think that I was a mixture of busy and lazy when it came to my writing.

That said, I'm not doing that resolution this year.  In fact, I'm barely resolving.  This year I'm making a loose resolution simply to read more books.  So far, so good.  I have read one of my favorite books again, The Screwtape Letters, and Basic Christianity by John Stott.  I want to share some of my favorite quotes from the latter and recommend that especially a new Christian read it.



Christianity is not just what we believe; it's also about how we behave. p. 15

We must trust in Him as our Savior and submit to Him as our Lord; and then go on to take our place as loyal members of the church and responsible citizens in the community. p. 15

John tells us that the stone water jars stood ready for "ceremonial washing."  What we might pass over as merely an incidental reference turns out to be the clue we are seeking.  The water stood for the old religion.  The wine stood for the religion of Jesus.  Just as He changed the water into wine, so His Gospel would supersede the law." p.  42

... the combination of the self-centeredness of His teaching and the unself-centeredness of His behavior.  In thought He put Himself first; in deed last." p. 54

The essence of love is self-sacrifice. p. 55

To call God "Lord" and disobey Him is to take His name in vain.  To call God "Father" and be filled with anxiety and doubt is to deny His name. p. 81

Love ever gives,

Forgives, outlives,

And ever stands with open hands,

And while it lives it gives.

For this is love's prerogative,

To give       and give       and give. p 96-97

Through Jesus Christ the Savior we can be brought out of exile and put right with God; we can be born again, receive a new nature and be set free from moral bondage; and we can have the old discords replaced by a harmony of love.  Christ made the first aspect of salvation possible by His suffering and death, the second by the gift of His Spirit and the third by the building of His church. p. 101-102

We are not to think of Jesus Christ as a third party wresting salvation for us from a God who is unwilling to save.  No.  The initiative lay with God Himself.  "God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ." p. 114

Jesus never concealed the fact that His religion included a demand as well as an offer.  Indeed, the demand was as total as the offer was free. p. 131

The best contribution anyone can make to putting the world to rights is to live a Christian life, build a Christian home and radiate the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. p. 143

Relationship depends on birth; fellowship depends on behavior. p. 160


If you're interested in this book you can find a copy on this link today.




Sunday, December 3, 2023

Christmas Letter 2023

 Merry Christmas from the Rays.  



2023 has been a year of change and growth for us.  The year has been so dynamic that as we write you we are sure to still have highlights of this year yet to come in December, including a trip to see family in Florida.

Matt and Christine celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary this year.  They marked the milestone a season early with a trip to an AirBnB in downtown Kansas City.  It was a long weekend filled with barbecue, Italian food, Austrian cuisine, spending a day with family, jazz, exploring, sleeping in and not cutting food for anyone.





Jamari had an especially change-filled 2023.  He worked hard and finished school early in February.  In May he graduated from high school.  In August Jamari moved to Georgia to work and continue to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.  Before leaving he was able to have one final family trip with us to the Ray Reunion in Minnesota.  The house is so different without him but we're excited for him and proud of the man he's become and is becoming.



Joshua started the first grade this year.  He loves it and is an exceptionally good and willing reader.  He's enjoyed swimming lessons, T-ball, soccer and rock climbing as well as becoming a charter member of the local Trail Life chapter.  Joshua is our outdoorsman and has discovered a love of shooting guns and catching fish.  He spends most days playing outside with the neighborhood boys.

Anna is in her final year of preschool.  She loved swimming lessons in the Winter and Summer, tumbling in the Spring, T-ball this Summer and rock climbing this Fall.  She is the family monkey and will climb anything.  She could also draw or color for hours on end.  Anna also enjoys wearing dresses when she can and pulling off outfit combinations no one else thinks possible, whether they are or not is another story.

Gideon is two and is not yet in school.  He's earned the nickname he got in utero: Mr. Wiggles.  The boy loves to be able to move.  He loves doing whatever his older siblings are doing.  He's a headstrong boy and more determined to do things himself than his older siblings ever were.  Gideon can't wait to be big.  He's also so sweet and caring toward his little sister, especially when the others are away at school.

Faith was born in August.  She is hitting all the usual milestones and mostly avoiding being trampled by brothers, sister, dog or cats.  She loves being talked with, showered with love from her siblings and especially loves napping in her father's arms.  

As you can see 2023 has been a tremendous year for us.  As we look back at 2023 we can see how immensely blessed we are.  We hope you can say the same.

This Christmas as we look forward to another year we are comforted and confident knowing that Christ has come and He will come again!



Saturday, November 11, 2023

Every Broken Road is Blessed

 When you read the first few chapters of the Gospel According to Matthew you can't escape one of his major points: Jesus' life fulfills prophesy.  It's inescapable.

Look at Matthew 4:12-16

"Now when He heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee.  And leaving Nazereth He went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles...
the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, 
on them a light has dawned."


Jesus once again fulfilled prophesy, but did you notice how?  Jesus was sent into the way of a 400 year-old prophesy by a modern problem: His cousin John was arrested.  When Jesus heard that John was arrested He withdrew... away from danger of arrest... to the very lands Isaiah foretold He would.  Pain, suffering and negative news drove Jesus into the way He should go with the Gospel.

Even the Son of God was sent where the Father wished Him to go via suffering.  How should we think we won't be?

God ordains, allows, uses, plans, causes the negative things in our lives to achieve His good.  For the Christian the bad news will always ultimately be good news.  For the Christian there is no seemingly broken road that isn't dripping with grace.

I meant to write this weeks ago, but I didn't.  Life has been busy at the Ray house.  I haven't had or made the time to sit and write and today I am glad for that.  

This morning I sat with a group of men and we talked about our past, both good and bad, and how that has affected our lives.  Some of the men spoke of incredibly bad circumstances and how they led them to salvation and into the life they now live.  This morning I heard testimonies confirming, once again, the truth I wished to write about.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." Genesis 50:20a

Christian, when you look at the circumstances of your life you can trust that God is loving you like He loved His Son.  When you encounter the news of the day you can know that God will ultimately and is currently working our His plan for the good.  

Trust in Him today.




Sunday, September 17, 2023

Rejoice, Brother!

 Recently I watched parts of an interview with between Joe Rogan and Hulk Hogan.  I was never truly into WWF, WCW, WWE or any of that beyond having a basic understanding of it from all the boys my age having an obsession with it.  Though I rarely if ever watched it and only played a few video games featuring it I know Macho Man Randy Savage, the Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Jake the Snake, Diamond Dallas Page, Sting and of course Hulk Hogan.  

Knowing the Hulkster from wrestling or from "Hogan Knows Best" wasn't primarily what drew me in.  It was Hogan's shirt.

Hulk Hogan wore a shirt (that he never ripped off) that said "John 3:16 devotional team" on it.





Is Hulk Hogan a believer?  That was the question that made me click play on the YouTube video.  

After hearing some wild stories about professional wrestling for a while Hulk started talking about his faith.  As he explained his faith I found myself vacillating between joy and sadness.  I was sad because his ideas of the faith, as he expressed them in the video, were off.  Hulk co-mingled faith in Jesus with the, so called, law of attraction.  He talked of the New Age book/movie "The Secret" which professes positive thinking and manifesting one's dreams through one's own thoughts.  He talked of praying to meet and meeting a pastor that also believes in the pseudoscientific law of attraction.  I was saddened thinking of this Oprah theology church being where he found himself.

Hogan said something else that made me sad.  He said someone invited him to church and no one had ever done this before.  This was in 2008.  The man was 55 years old and this was the first time, in his telling, that someone had ever invited him to church.  Hulk flew, not drove, not walked, from Tampa Florida to go to church the very next Sunday.  

Now for the joy.

Hulk called Jesus his Lord and Savior.

I'll be honest, the sorrow of Terry Bollea a.ka. Hulk Hogan finding himself in a church whose beliefs were worrisome landed on me harder than the joy.  I looked up the statement of faith for that church.  The statement of faith was pretty orthodox but, of course, the unbiblical stuff he spoke of stuck with me.

Then I read Luke 15 in my normal course of reading the Bible.  In Luke 15 Jesus spoke three parables to the Pharisees and the scribes who grumbled about tax collectors and sinners drawing near Him. He told the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son (prodigal son).  All three highlight rejoicing when the lost are found.

"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:7

"Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10

"It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found." Luke 15:32

Do I focus on the Hulkster's very real theological flaws or do I rejoice that he calls on the name of Jesus?  

See, all Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.  Every time a sinner repents the angels come before God saying something like, "You did it!  Jesus, you saved another soul!"  And every time one of my brothers goes from dead to alive and lost to found, I am invited to celebrate.  Don't be like the older brother in the Parable of the Lost/Prodigal Son.  Come to the party and rejoice!

Now, am I asking Hulk Hogan to teach Sunday School soon?  Nope.  Do I feel the need to pray that his faith be sincere and lasting? Yes. Do I hope more people look up John 3:16 from his shirt than the stupid book "The Secret"?  Yep.  Theological fidelity is important.  Understanding and believing the Bible and not mixing it with the Old or New Age is fundamental.  But so is rejoicing in the lost being found.

The story has been often recounted of the way my Grandpa Ray would watch a Billy Graham Crusade.  He would enjoy the preaching and the music, but he would watch with tears of joy streaming down his face when "Just As I Am" was sung and the camera panned back and the streams of people could be seen flooding to the middle of the stadium during the alter call.  Tom Ray understood Luke 15 in a way I, and we, need to.  

Join all of Heaven and rejoice when the lost are found, the blind see and the spiritually dead rise today.