Category Archives: Jesus Christ

All We Need-The 31st Day of Christmas

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On the 31st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a prophet, priest and a king (1 Samuel 7).

Some of us have good girlfriends that are spiritual warriors who we count on to get a prayer through, the fun ones to shop and go to the spa with, and the heady ones, who initiate some deep, stimulating conversations. Then there is the rare friend who is all three and more. Before I became a Christian I used the many friendships model to build my faith system. I took the truth I learned from my Muslim boyfriend, the humanistic views of my revered intellects, the common sense my mama taught me and mixed it with my lifelong Christian lessons. I thought I had the perfect faith until I met the Perfect One.

When I met Jesus, I was uncertain about how He was who He said He was, but I couldn’t ignore His call to me and believed that He is God. My God is prophet, priest and king, and the biblical Samuel—prophet, priest and judge, was a type of Christ, foreshadowing the three-fold ministry of Jesus Christ.

And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, [then] put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.—1 Samuel 7:3-4

And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered [it for] a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.—1 Samuel 7:9-10

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.—1 Samuel 7:15

As prophet, Samuel spoke to the Israelites for God, as priest, he spoke to God for the Israelites, and as judge, he settled matters between Israelites, pronouncing consequences for their actions. When Jesus walked the earth, He was a prophet, who spoke the words of God the Father; a priest, who made an offering—himself—as a sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of humankind and still intercedes for His disciples as He sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven; and a king, who will judge all after His second coming to earth. Jesus is the God of more than enough, the One who speaks to us and for us and makes everything with us right as it should be. With Jesus, there is no need for (nor can there legitimately be) additional gods. He is all we need.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Let It Flow-The 32nd Day of Christmas

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On the 32nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a savior fit to redeem even me (Ruth 4-8-9).

I grew up in the ’70s, a time glamorized for its street life, where pimping seemed easy, prostitution a girl’s choice and pushing dope was just another way to make some money. Maybe this doesn’t sound different than any other recent era, but the ’70s are home to personal memories of the corner house of Rudy the Pimp and his parties, people hanging on porches with loud talk and music, smoking and probably some drinking, but I never got close enough to see. Rumors reigned of Rudy shedding blood and this was when Detroit got the infamous title of “murder capital of the world.” It’s when little girls and boys, at least on my block, tried to make strong bonds by shedding some blood of their own, theirs, and mixing it with each other. Blood brothers and sisters they became, requiring each to come to the others’ defense, personal saviors of sorts. Having a blood sibling made us feel safe, knowing someone more than a friend would help take care of you. I wonder if this is how Ruth felt when she met Boaz, her kinsman-redeemer.

Many of you know Ruth’s story. She was a Moabite, an outsider married to Naomi’s Israelite son. Their husbands died, but Ruth decided not to go back to Moab but to remain with Naomi. She said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Israelite law was that the nearest blood relative, or kinsman, was supposed to marry a widow, redeeming her deceased husband’s blood line by giving the deceased’s name to any future children. Naomi and Ruth’s nearest kinsman couldn’t marry Ruth because his inheritance would be in jeopardy so he deferred to Boaz, Ruth’s next to near kinsman, who adored Ruth and purchased her and Naomi’s land so he could marry Ruth, be her kinsman-redeemer.

Boaz is a beautiful type of Jesus Christ, looking lovingly upon an outsider and available, willing, and able to pay and actually paying the price of redemption. Jesus Christ is our kinsman-redeemer because he shed his blood for us, the price required to purchase back outsiders to God because of the fall of man. He willingly made himself available by leaving the comforts of heaven and coming to this gritty earth. He was the perfect savior for us because he was free from sin, the required specification for the sacrificial vessel. Those of us who confess and believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and receive Him as Lord and Savior of our lives receive His blood, redeeming us and bringing us into relationship with God. I praise God that Jesus let His blood flow and now it flows through me, through us who believe in its power, a power incomparable to what we kids thought Rudy had and what we thought we had with each other.

What types of “blood substitutes” have you had that you looked to save you? How did those sacrifices fail in comparison to the blood of Jesus Christ? I look forward to you commenting here on the blog.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Dissatisfied Church Folk-The 33rd day of Christmas

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On the 33rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a ruler as a savior and king (Judges 4:4).

Some church folk are never satisfied. The pastor didn’t call their name. He didn’t put them on the committee. He didn’t let them preach. He didn’t take their advice. He didn’t support a casino trip. He preached too long. He preached too hard. He used the wrong bible. He didn’t wear the right suit. You know these people so you know I’m not exaggerating. In the eyes of some, the pastor just can’t seem to get it quite right for them.

This was the classic case with the children of Israel. They didn’t listen to their prophets; they snubbed their kings and gave their priests plenty to intercede for. In Judges we see “[i]n those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6). This thought repeats throughout the book, showing the depth of sin when there is no ruler present. They had judges who each served as a spiritual and political leader, but “[i]n those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25). This pointed to the need for a savior and a king, not just an earthly one but one with supernatural power to help his people do what is right in the eyes of God. This savior-king is Jesus Christ.

Though Judges foreshadows Jesus as Savior-King, Jesus, like the judges of old, can’t be effective if we don’t have Him as king of our hearts. When we don’t have Jesus as King of our hearts we will do what is right in our own eyes, letting that strong black woman rule us. If we aren’t already, we will be those dissatisfied church folk who criticize everything about their pastor because the ultimate ruler doesn’t have the throne of our hearts. Please know that I am not saying we should blindly follow our spiritual leaders (Though if you are trying to plan a church trip to the casino and can’t see how your pastor’s disapproval is right, just follow him.). I am saying let Jesus reign supreme in our hearts. This way when we are dissatisfied with our leaders, more times than not our complaint will be legitimate and Jesus can guide us with how to handle our dissatisfaction. Let it be said that in our days there was King Jesus in our hearts and we did what was right in the eyes of God.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Follow the Leader-The 34th Day of Christmas

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On the 34th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a leader with the ultimate guarantee (Joshua 3).

When I was growing up I remember one spiritual leader was always sharp. Her hair was salon groomed, she usually had a French manicure or a splash of red, and she wore St. John suits. And she could bring the word. Some of the women who served under her began to follow her ways. If it weren’t for height, gait and skin tone, you may have mistaken them for her. I think it’s good to have someone as a style barometer if you are having trouble in that area but better than style is spiritual substance. Sometimes we follow style over substance and the substance gets buried.

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

I have always nodded my head in shame of Joshua and his generation for not passing down their spiritual heritage to the next generation. I assumed that because the next generation didn’t know the Lord that Joshua and his contemporaries failed to teach them. But a further reading in Judges 2 makes it clear that Joshua’s descendents “turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so” (17). The descendents decided not to follow who Joshua followed. As long as they could see Joshua, they followed him. They never saw beyond Joshua to see the Lord leading him. When Joshua and his contemporaries died, following the Lord died with them.

Like Moses, Joshua was a type of Christ, a historical person illustrating the spiritual truth of Jesus Christ. Joshua came after Moses and went beyond him by leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land. This illustrated how Jesus would come after the Mosaic Law and lead his followers the way to the ultimate promised land—heaven), something the Law couldn’t do. Joshua led the Israelites to defeat many nations and was clear that God enabled him. Somehow the people missed “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Maybe they got caught up in the fanfare of victories or they focused more on the plunder. Whatever the reason they missed the spiritual substance, that God is who they should follow, not a man and what God allows to happen through that man.

God gives us leaders to follow, but when they leave our lives we should still be able to see and follow Jesus. It’s up to us, not our leaders. Let’s choose spiritual substance over style and make spiritual substance our very own.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Your Lead-The 35th Day of Christmas

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On the 35th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a prophet sent to guide me (Deuteronomy 18:15).

“If it was a snake it would have bitten you,” the saying goes for people who overlook something that is right in their midst. I’m sure most of us who have children have said this or something like it when a child can’t find his shoes in the middle of a clean room or homework left on the table without any other papers. This is the great refrain of my Joshua’s life. After I find the elusive item I say, with my fingers spread on outstretched arms shaking in syllabic rhythm, “It’s right here!” These phrases aren’t just child refrains but a part of the adult song of life that could be titled “Seeking But You Already Have.”

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him (Deuteronomy 18:15).

This is what Moses told the children of Israel regarding their coming Messiah. And God the Father did just that. He sent Jesus, who, like Moses, was 1) in peril as a baby; 2) whose life was preserved among Egyptians; 3) was an Israelite (Jew); 4) a leader of his people; and 5) a prophet among other similarities, but these are the ones that the Israelites in Jesus’ day witnessed. Also, like Moses, his own people rejected him.

We know that God spake unto Moses: [as for] this [fellow], we know not from whence he is.—John 9:29

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”—John 6:41-42

The Jews saw Jesus speak like no other prophet and they witnessed him healing, but when he told them that he was the one Moses spoke of, that he was that bread of life that would give them eternal life if they believed in him, they didn’t believe. We, Christians, do believe that God the Father sent Jesus as the bread of life, but when we don’t believe that our leader, our lord, is right in our midst, when we overlook him surrounding us, we are like disbelieving Jews. We are told that greater is God in us than the devil in the world, but we (strong black women) try to use our own strength. We are told that Jesus will never leave us or forget about us, but we leave and forget about him and seek to do things our own way. Like the Jews looked to Moses, we look to old methods that once helped and overlook our present help, our Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God shouting “I’m right here!” when he sees me looking for a self-conceived fail-proof way. I’m aiming to quickly remember my leader, my lord, in my midst and follow him. Won’t you join me? And send me a comment about how if Jesus was a snake, he would have bitten you.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith