Monday, December 6, 2010

Our Question

Luke 1:18-20

Christmas is coming! That means Jesus is coming! Of course, Jesus is already here, we Christians just need to be reminded of that fact and need times of preparation. Advent is very real for me this year. Thank God for that.

This is the time when the nativity story, the account of Jesus' birth, is told and hammered into our brains over and over again... on cards, in windows, in commercials, in church... So we know about how Gabriel the angel appeared to Mary and said "Hey girl! You gonna be God's baby-mama! Yay you!" (unintended to be offensive paraphrase)  to which Mary replies, "How will this be?" because she was a virgin. This makes sense. God promises something ridiculous, therefore, Mary asks to explain. Not much of an explanation is given, it is about miracles and faith. The interesting thing about this is that Mary does not assume this cannot be done. She asks "How will this be?" not "How can I be sure of this?"

Zechariah, Mary's uncle, on the other hand, replies in the second way. Gabriel appears to him and says (via the unoffensive paraphrase) "Yo Zech! Yo' wife's gonna have a baby and you should call him Johnny!" to which Zechariah replies, "How can I be sure of this?" Again, perhaps a logical thing to say at a ridiculous proposition like his elderly wife conceiving ...HOWEVER, an ANGEL is TALKING to him! Is THAT logical?!

Mary had the great idea to take the Gabe at his word and instead of questioning the miraculous, she requests further details, signifying that she believes him, but is nonetheless confused, as she should be. Zechariah, though, acts like God is incapable of such a deed! Surely the God who sends glorious angels to old men in temples cannot allow my wife to get pregnant...!

Questions are not always bad, this is one lesson we can take from these stories. However, which questions we ask reveal a lot about our faith. It is worth noting that Mary was a teenage girl who had faith in a God who would do the unthinkable. Zechariah was a priest, trained in the religious world of Judaism and inundated with the stories of God's miraculous deeds in scripture. Yet, he failed to believe that God was alive and still this powerful. Likewise, we here the stories of God's power and love and faithfulness in this Advent season, but do we believe such glorious things still happen? Further, Mary's encounter delivered a promise more ridiculous-sounding than Zechariah's. Mary was a virgin, who had NEVER had sex. Zechariah's wife Elizabeth was married (obviously), HAD had sex (despite her old age), and the blessing promised to her mirrored the promise to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis that they would have a son named Isaac, despite Sarah's old age. Despite this, Zechariah needs further proof and is given silence instead. Mary accepts the blessing, despite the hardships such a proposition promises.

Which person's faith is most like ours?

May we respond like Mary, asking how we should proceed, and not like Zechariah, asking for proof.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

A New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34

I have been known to utter the often misunderstood (even by myself) words, "It's all good." As in when someone shows me sympathy after some tragedy or failure. "It's all good!" Or when some conundrum confounds us as we survey the vast diversity of Christianity and humankind. "It's all good." There is an aspect of "Who cares?!" in those three words. There is also a happy hopefulness that somehow all things beyond our control and comprehension will be taken care of and come together in the end, kind of like how the disparate threads of a good story seem to go on in opposing directions, yet somehow the author tied everything together in a way that makes perfect sense (i.e. Harry Potter).

God has made it clear from very early on that all the crazy plot twists and turns in the tale of our lives and the history of existence WILL come together in the end in a way that is fulfilling to every development and chapter along the path. We are living this grand story of mythic proportions, in which God is both author and main character. His message to and through the prophet Jeremiah is one of good news. God will make things work out. We can't predict how because we are living in the middle chapters. Pick a good book or movie and find what's happening in the middle. It won't be good. The darkest times happen in the middle, though certainly by that point the goal is somewhat visible, if foreseeably impossible to reach.

God tells us there will be a time when we will not have to teach anyone about God because we will all know God... now that's cool! Then, It ALL will be good (and I can be justified in my use of the phrase)! Imagine: everyone knowing God... so much we won't be in need to spread this word! The world is divided right now (in Christianity and among Christians too) between the house of Israel and the house of Judah, whatever those symbolize for us (it matters not in the end). God will make his new covenant with both houses and they will become one again. All of us believers will be reunited and understand one another as we should. No more will we distort each other's intentions by claiming to know what we do not. God will forgive our pride and our weakness and embrace us into his large family.

It takes a tremendous level of faith to believe that all people will be united in God and that the distances that divide all of us and God will be crossed, but our stories speak to it. Human creations hail the truth of the divine story just as the Bible perfectly does so. The question that remains is how we will live out our part of the tale. Will we be a dark spot in the story that future generations will want to skip over, or will we with Christ live out his salvation in every way, a foretaste of what is to come...?

Monday, November 15, 2010

New Story, Same Pattern

Isaiah 43:14-21

I am so grateful to God for meeting me and forming this new discipline. As I met with God to discover this text and worship in prayer, he inspired me to all kinds of fantastic wisdom and joys through meditation, frankness, peace, and power.

Its amazing that this new turn of events in my personal devotional time coincided with the lectionary's emphasis on new beginnings. Isaiah reminds us of the fact that God is doing something NEW. In fact, God is eternal and infinite, so he is ALWAYS doing something NEW. Every moment is both old and new to God, who is outside time and yet created it and acts through it. His manner of redemption, constantly saving his people from dark powers (sin, death, evil, slavery, injustice) and bringing them to a Promised Land of joyful life (salvation, wholeness, liberation, freedom, deliverance), repeats itself endlessly in the lives of his followers. How is God doing something new in our lives? How is he creating the space for redemption and deliverance?

Its important to remember that while those who love God will be saved, others will choose other options, leading to destruction. In this passage, the Babylonians and the Egyptians are symbols for the fall of those who do not live out of love for God and enslave and persecute their neighbors.

Also significant is that it is those who live in the desert and are not usually the most pleasant of characters who honor God for his gifts of life. How often we expect these carrion-eaters and rough-looking individuals to be those God punishes, rather than those God lifts up.

It is a time for new things! Seek him and let go of the past. He will make a path through the wilderness to the living streams.
Do we accept the invitation to begin anew, or do we want to remain as we are?

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The One Who Showed Mercy

Luke 10:25-37

Once again, I am reevaluating my patterns of spiritual discipline. It hurts. I want to trust so much in the pattern I had set, but then that pattern loses its Spirit. We have to constantly re-evaluate our spiritual life, and one thing that frequently may need altering is discipline. I have been adding various things to my daily prayer time and it has become tedious and tiring. Starting tomorrow, which happens to be "A Special Time for New Beginnings" in the yearly lectionary, I will cut back my daily reading to ONE scripture in an attempt to internalize it and use it to speak with God through prayer, study, blogging, and copying. Additional readings may be used, but are not necessary. I hope that God will condescend to this new pattern and give life, rather than the system restrict me with its guidelines. This is good. This is not a failure. Its natural. All I need is Jesus...

In other news!... The Good Samaritan... what a story!

Its a great account of Jesus clarifying the Law and calling out through parable someone trying to find loopholes. Some guy tries to get around "Love your neighbor as yourself" by asking "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responds through a story of a guy traveling who gets beat up, ignored by those who are supposed to be good role models looking out for the people, and finally saved by a despised Samaritan and cared for without any repayment. "Who was the neighbor to the man beaten up?" asks Jesus. "The one who showed mercy," replies the sneaky man. Interesting that the man doesn't say, "The Samaritan." Does he not want to admit that one's enemy could also be one's neighbor and worthy of such care and concern? Nonetheless, Jesus builds on that statement with, "Go and do likewise." Go and show mercy like the Samaritan did. We are called to show mercy to people we don't know, people we despise or who despise us, people we may not be able to repay us, people who may cause us to have setbacks and discomfort (or worse). Yet, how often we fail to stop our plans and address the one in need.

In a sense, we were all once the beaten man. We have all been attacked and left for dead in one way or another. Maybe we are there right now. We need someone to show mercy. We need someone to show us grace and love. God serves as our Good Samaritan so often... He comes across us practically destroyed and puts us back together again and more, often for nothing we have done, but just because its who God is: love. And yet, we despise God, we ignore him, we pretend our very existence is not owed to his unconditional love.

Because God first loved and had mercy on us, we ought to love and show mercy to our neighbors. Who is our neighbor?

...

Stop. Look around. That's your neighbor. Catch yourself throughout your day, your week, your life and ask yourself "Who is my neighbor?" Then stop, look around and remember... "These are my neighbors."

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Salvation and Wholeness

John 1:10-13, 4:39-42

Salvation. For me, the word has a nice ring to it. It's has finality, eternity, power.
Wholeness. I like it, but its more vague. It has freedom, inclusivity, comfort.

Among the many words debated in churches and seminaries, salvation and wholeness are often interchangeable, at least in their common usage. Salvation hearkens back to biblical texts of victory over an oppressing force. One who has salvation has been saved. Specifically this could refer to any incident of being rescued from something, or to the center point of the Christian life, Jesus saving us from sin and death. Redefining our lives in light of this is to be Christian.

Wholeness hearkens back to "Shalom," a Hebrew word with a variety of meanings in English, principal among them "peace" in a more all-encompassing way: peace in our souls, peace in our relationships, peace between nations, and peace with God. Wholeness tends to focus on those times when we do not feel all together, the way we were meant to be, like we lost something along the way. We need to get back to that Image of God we were created in the likeness of. 

Salvation is including in my understanding of wholeness, which is God's plan, but wholeness should ever be a blanket term to downplay the salvific work of Jesus Christ. Certainly these terms, like any terms can be used in a variety of ways and my experience with them determines my opinions of them. I like salvation because it is the language of tradition, of the Bible, and is therefore trustworthy to a great degree, though what it means to be saved is not always spelled out and that is a sad thing. Words like "salvation" come to have no meaning because they are thrown about so much without a meaningful context. I like wholeness because it brings the goodness and light of God into every area of existence. God's will is not confined to the saving forgiveness of individuals that turn to God's grace, but radiates from that centerfold event into all life. Unfortunately, wholeness can also be used to focus of the self, rather than God. For me, to be saved is to have a savior: it is God-centered. Jesus is the focus. For me, to be made whole is to move from feeling inadequate to feeling fulfilled: it is self-centered. My feeling of incompleteness is the focus. Both are important. Both should be about Jesus.

Thank God for his many gifts: of salvation from sin and death, of wholeness in being the people God made us to be, and the relationship we have with Jesus, whose words are much better than ours, and whose love is holy, just, and never-ending.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Life or Death?

Mark 8:34-37, Matthew 10:34-39, Psalm 86:1-4, Deuteronomy 30:15-20

When we are faced with the choice, life or death, I think the answer seems fairly obvious, correct? Correct. I hope. Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives for Jesus' sake in order to find true life. Talk abut a paradox! Yet, its so true (as most paradoxes are). By rejecting myself of the self-absorbed desires and concerns that try to take God's place as numero uno in my life, I can open myself to life in Christ. This is called kenosis, or surrenduring to God. It seems interesting to me that this concept is under some criticism recently. The argument is that a spirituality of surrenduring works for those who already have power and can get whatever they want. These people can surrendur their power and become a servant. Other people who have been oppressed don't have much power to relinquish, they are already surrendured.

So, in light of this experience of some people that surrenduring is alreayd what they live and its unjust, how can Jesus' words be useful or redeemed. I believe that many Christians have misunderstood surrenduring, submitting, and serving. They do not as much refer to people losing dignity and becoming apathetic to their own suffering. Keep in mind that Jesus says life is found when people first lose their lives for his sake. Its not just about being submissive to every person or power that comes along, its about being submissive to God, the only person worthy of our service. When we submit to God, it may mean standing up to others and exercising power, challenging authority, and making right the wrongs of the world. There are also times to be sumissive to other people too. When we submit fully to Christ, we take on Christ's mind and we are more aware of when its time to stand up, and when its time to serve in love. Sometimes even the act of loving service can also challenge the most powerful of authorities (see MLK, Jr. or JESUS).

God offers us both options, life and death, prosperity or destruction, and its our choice. God isn't in the business of deciding for us. He wants our love, not zombie robots! That means its not going to be easy. it means God is going to test our love and root for us to make the right decision. So surrendur to his love: its like an ocean of AWESOOOOOOME!...

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Finding Myself and Choosing Life

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46

What a crazy few weeks! My soul has been up and down and everywhere! Little time to blog, much less take seriously God's real presence. There was unfortunately much paying of lip-service to devotions and prayer. However, I am back into a routine (bahahahahaha...as if my routine could be called a routine...) so I intend to be more faithful. I have spent time at home renewing myself, which has lit the spiritual flame in my heart to continue the work of Jesus. Once more, and probably not the last time, this blog has become more chore than blessing.

I have discovered that God desires for me to do what's best for me. Sounds strange, but what's best for me is what's best for God. And what's best for God is what's best for everyone. Thus, what's best for everyone is what's best for me. Gives a new meaning to selfishness... love: all-encompassing and all-consuming love. May Moses and Paul provide us with examples to live by and the words of Jesus and the prophets encourage us on. Choose what's best for all and best for you: choose Jesus!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I Suffer More Than You Suffer!!!

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Paul is hilarious sometimes. He gets in these crazy pseudo-sarcastic moods where he goes overboard explaining the awesome ridiculousness of some christian idea. He knows it too! He repeatedly tell readers he is a big fool (fool for Christ, but nonetheless a fool). Paul brags and boasts about all the ways in which he has suffered for his faith in Christ. He was shipwrecked three times! Say what! This guy really believed what he preached. I mean, who would undergo ALL THAT and not be totally convinced of the truth of their convictions? It seems ridiculous to say "Hey, check out how much serving Jesus hurt me." And yet, how else do we serve a God who was executed? We take up our own crosses and follow him. Let us not forget the resurrection of course. There is greater life at the end of the pain, fuller life through the crucible.

God is worshiped and glorified in our weakness. The root of sin is our refusal to hand over our lives to God's will and grace. We keep things for ourselves: be it money, pleasure, control over the future, selfish priorities, or time. God is not glorified when we have control BECAUSE WE ARE FOOLS. We don't really know what is best for us, but God does (by definition). It is less in our human successes that we worship, but when we are persecuted or we display our weaknesses and present all failings and sufferings to God, then, we acknowledge God's power and love. Then we say, "Yes! The Lord our God can do all things, even save us humans from our self-delusions of control." Like Paul, when we worship Christ through handing our lives over, we remain fools, but we become fools FOR CHRIST. Rather than displaying our meaningless successes that won't last next year or even a hundred years, we display the power of God through our rejection of self-reliance. Give it up to God. Do this in two ways: give your lives over to be untied with him, and give it up like applause: WORSHIP!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

God provides... DUH!

Matthew 6:9-13, Psalm 127:1-2

Of course God provides! I feel like my blogs lately have been exclamatory! That's why I put exclamation points behind my sentences! God gives us all kinds of things, but we don't really trust that provision. That's why we work our butts off to provide for our own security and well-being. This is not reflective of a christian lifestyle. At least, its not compatible with a mindset that depends on God's provision over ONESELF.

When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say "Give us Lord, our daily bread," we really mean, "Thank you Lord, for the bread that we have provided ourselves with." Instead, we should pray those words and then let it go, no longer worrying about where our bread will come from. Trust God! Seriously, God provides!

There have been truly life-giving times when my trust in God has been strong and I do not bother preparing days in advance how I will eat, how my work will get done, where I will sleep; because God gave me all those things in his own way. We must trust God's way, which means trusting the unknown. Welcome it. it is God...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Worry is of the Devil

Psalm 128:1-2, Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14, Mark 8:14-21

Seriously! It is! Worry = anxiety over life circumstances, but the only real concern in life is serving Jesus Christ. To worry is to show our lack of faith in Jesus. Now, everyone's faith is subject to such weakness, and frequently too. But the message of scripture and the point of the Gospel should remind us that God is in charge and good defeats evil. We must be careful when worry rears its ugly head because Satan loves to enslave us with worry. When we lose faith Jesus is bigger than all our troubles, we depend on ourselves, or we depend on some other source of power, which is idolatry. I am certainly preaching to myself now. I get worried about schoolwork, paperwork, and my general stupidity a lot. But really, who cares?! Isn't God's plan greater than our desire to please everyone here. Doesn't God's will carry more eternal consequence than temporary financial security, missed deadlines, or perfect home environments. God reigns! Christ is alive! How hard it is to convince ourselves to not care so much about what worries us!

The people of Israel worried a lot. That led them to seek idols and false gods. The disciples worried about lack of supplies and storms. This led Jesus to tell them to get with the program and have faith. People everywhere are so concerned with their temporary issues (that seem important) that they refuse the call to salvation, grace, and freedom offered by Jesus. This is the only real thing that matters, and everything else is, in the end, second to choosing Jesus always.

"When its all been said and done there is just one thing that matters..."

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Where Are You, God!?

Psalm 105:1-6, Psalm 90, John 14:27-28, John 16:29-30, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22:1, 1Corinthians 2:16, Philippians 2:5

What can we say? God is bigger than everything. And yet God is a part of everything. Jesus lives within us, yet he cannot be bound by us. God created all that is, and God is concerned about the smallest detail.

We find ourselves wondering why we cannot find God: why is God not listening, why is God not responding, why can't God send help, am I alone in this?

We see God at best through a thick mist, or as a pale reflection. That is good, but it leaves us sometimes confused. We feel like God is absent and we have to work out life by ourselves. Its true, Jesus is not here as a brother in the flesh. God is far removed from our insignificance, but he is also closer to us than us, for he formed the workings of us.

God is here, and his CONSTANT reminder is to let go of this world and be more concerned about his world! Those things that cause us stress are almost always of this world (and I include here school troubles, work troubles, LEGAL troubles, and the expectations of others). Spend time in prayer and Bible study. I sure have to. Without it, I would be lost. When we seek God's will first, all else will fall as it will (and God is good).

Thursday, October 7, 2010

He Is Still Risen

Mark 16:1-8

"Trembling and bewildered." That's how the women who came to the empty tomb left. They had encountered instead of a dead corpse, a man in a white robe who said some strange things about their executed rabbi.

"Trembling and bewildered." Sometimes that's how I am. I get in moods where I am confused and stressed and all kinds of messed up for no real reason. I try to seek God, but he is not in the usual readings, the routine prayers, or the everyday reliabilities. I thought I could depend on God to be there! Where is God hiding?!

Turns out he is risen. Like the women searching for their master in a tomb, expecting to find a harmless and useless dead body, we sometimes expect God to stay in our own little Christ-boxes. We get so used to meeting God in certain places that we forget to seek him everywhere and everywhen. God does not stay in one place. He is alive and moving. We get addicted to keeping God in one setting, be it a type of devotional, a worship experience, or a prayer mode. We actually trap Jesus in tombs! We expect to lock him in there for when we need to find him quick without searching, but Jesus is a Lord of life and transformation, constantly beckoning us deeper and in new ways.

Jesus isn't going to stay in our tombs. When we come to find him, he will be up and gone, and we will act "trembling and bewildered" because our foundation is shaken. Jesus isn't far away though. He just wants us to seek him always and everywhere, not on our terms, but on his. I mean, come on, who's more in the know about what's going on? He IS God...

So when you're feeling "trembling and bewildered," don't give up like God's abandoned you. He is risen! He is alive and waiting for you. Just call his name and you won't be far away! Christ is risen from the tomb of our control! May we also rise to life anew!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Carefree Resignation

Acts 1:6-11

I got ticked off when I read this passage this morning. How could Jesus just leave?! The disciples certainly seemed shocked that he would just up and vanish (literally). They all believed the fullness of the Kingdom of God was at hand, but here was Jesus saying "see ya!" and leaving the disciples alone and hopeless. ...Now that's kind of not true, Jesus left them with the Holy Spirit, teachings, and a promise for a blessed future.

Perhaps the adventure really began here... Jesus is gone. Now we have the work to do. We became the body of Christ, to continue the work and preach the Gospel. How clueless they all were! A bunch of ignorant fools... uneducated crazies... What horrors and wonders would be unleashed on the world. These men and women had no idea, but they followed the will of the One who sent them. They had no choice. They knew God, and though they missed his face, they had his message and his love, both imprinted on their hearts. All that the world once promised them was now "naught but ash" and all was for Christ.

Sometimes it is hard to be joyful, even though scripture tells us to be. Sometimes the only when to move forward is to resign ourselves to God's service, without worry, but also without happiness. We have God with us the whole way, but not necessarily comfort or ease. May Christ be our only true comfort and ease...!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Chosen

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

I can easily fall into a state of overwhelming disorientation. Things hit me at once and I long for my teenage and/or college years when I could easily and efficiently jump from one thing to another without the feeling of losing something. Add to that general confusion about the way the world works, disappointment and loss of hope in leaders and institutions, a lack of knowledge where to go ext, what to do next, and what consequences any one choice may have, and I am pretty depressingly escapist. No wonder people turn to addictions, fantasies, or God to cope. The world seems very complicated, not by choice, but by expectation. Somehow, I am still alive and seemingly well. I do not know how. It is a testament to God's continual presence and providence that we don't destroy ourselves totally.

Paul says, "For we know, brothers [and sisters] loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simple with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." Yeah... that is true. Paul was pretty good at encouraging Christians when they needed it. He reminds the church in Thessalonica (1) that they are loved by God, and (2) that they were chosen by God. Neither claim is in dispute, even though Christians everywhere and in every time may doubt their faith or their calling. Paul's justification for this claim is not based on words. Anyone can repeat creeds or dogma or catchphrases popular with churches, but words do not mean squat when it comes to the chosen nature of Christ-followers. Paul says the gospel, the good news of Jesus, was not simply heard and understood and accepted as a proposition. No, in fact the Holy Spirit itself made clear to all that these people had been chosen by God for a purpose. The Holy Spirit manifested itself with power and conviction: hard things to dispute within oneself.

What the Holy Spirit has made known to us, may we not forsake or fall away from. The Spirit deals not in mere words and ideas, but makes those words and ideas 3D! They are given life and vibrancy, power and conviction that pop out from a static world of Super Nintendo into the realm of Wii. I apologize for the pop culture references, but it works at a superficial level. Nothing stops the power of the Spirit in us except our failure to live into it. Politics, education, paperwork, routines, interruptions, suffering, death- none of them are comparable to the power of the Spirit.

We are chosen, friends. Let us not forget the power we have been given. May we count all else as loss, but the love of Jesus Christ for which we give our all.

Monday, October 4, 2010

God With Us

John 14:1-3, Luke 24:28-35

Who else feels at times like God is not around? Like he's hiding or she's busy elsewhere? Sometime when I pray, it feels so hard to connect, whereas other times its like I never left Jesus' side. Same for studying the Bible. It helps when I pray or study in a group of believers because Jesus is more assuredly present when people gather in his name. But when alone and seeking God, it can be difficult. Do not let people tell you that its easy and always such a simple task, seeking God. It SHOULD be, but that would be assuming we are another part of God and have nothing distancing us from Christ. For indeed, we are not God, nor are we even in the same category with God. Sin prevents us from always walking with Jesus. Our desires and weaknesses cloud our awareness of the Holy Spirit. And yet, in actuality, God IS always there!

That is good news! God is NOT hiding from us! God is here now, with you, seeking you, waiting for you, like a patient lover. Jesus assures his disciples not to worry many times. I wonder if we are like the disciples on the Emmaus Road. Jesus is with us, talking and showing signs of who he is, but we are far from him in mind and heart, believing the lies of culture and wallowing in our petty concerns and depression. Its not until later that we look back and see God trying to make himself known to us, but we were not paying attention. We were hiding from God, God was not hiding from us.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

An Evolution of Expectations

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20, Psalm 19, Philippians 3:4-14, Matthew 21:33-46, Luke 23:46

People love talking about the Ten Commandments. They are possibly one of the best short lists of morality and theology out there. Of them the Psalmist goes on and on, lavishing beautiful words to impress upon listeners and readers their great worth. There are debates about them, movies centered on them, and lives struggling to live by them. The Law in its entirety as outlined in the Torah (Pentateuch... first five books of the Bible) is fairly complicated; with directions on what to eat, how to eat, how to clean up, and how to prepare the food; not to mention all other facets of life. Comparatively, the Ten biggies look much simpler (if more impossible to fulfill).

Crazy how later Paul looks back on his life as a Pharisee and "counts all as loss" when compared to the life of service to Christ. Annnnnd yes, I'd say that includes the Ten Commandos. Life in Christ is not law-based, but grace-based. The Big Ten are great goals to live by, but not even they measure up to the goal of complete surrender to the love of Jesus. Hopefully, such a life would naturally include much of the Law, ESPECIALLY the Ten Commandments. After all, Jesus is Lord and the law of the Lord is awesome, so Jesus' law is awesome.

Strange how so many reject the way of Jesus who would uplift the Ten Commandments. Jesus way is even better then the Ten! One reason we tend to choose law over Jesus is that we rework laws in our own image, according to our own desires. The only way to correctly interpret the law is in the light of Christ's love and grace. But we humans love our control and power. It would be unheard of to simply hand over our rational processes and submit to someone else, no matter how trustworthy (and in fact incapable of lying...)

But still, Jesus models for us just how easy it should be. On the cross, Jesus recognizes the lure of power and control when he utters, "Father, why have you forsaken me?" We assume that because God doesn't do for us what we feel is right, he must not be for us. And yet, Jesus surrenders. "Into your hands I commend my Spirit." He stops trying to be in control, and let's God do what God will do. And look! Awesomeness happened! Yeah, Jesus dies... but he also rises again! In glory undimmed!

Letting go and letting God I guess... the Jesus way.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Courage So Far

Matthew 14:22-33

Stepping out in faith is not easy. It takes a good deal of courage to dare to step out of the boat and defy the eaves of trouble, heading ever toward our master. Jesus beckons us lovingly to take a chance, risk it all, and reach for him. Jesus promises that by faith, the waves will not overwhelm, the wind will not carry away, and the great unknown will not destroy.

Peter takes him up on his offer, boldly stepping out into the impossible, but when he realizes where he is and how far he has come and how ludicrous this would have seemed before he knew Jesus, he considers that maybe Jesus is wrong, maybe this is all a lie, maybe the forces set against us are more powerful than Jesus. We wonder this too, consciously, subconsciously...

Fortunately, Jesus already knows that we are weak. He is prepared to overlook our weakness and snatch us from the hands of the Enemy as soon as we call out to him "Lord, save me!" Faith can carry us long distances, allow us to perform great deeds in Christ's name, but only Christ himself can bring us fully over to safety, to peace, and to life-love everlasting.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Bad Stuff... From God?

Philippians 1:12-14, 27-30, Isaiah 43:1-3, John 15:2, Hebrews 12:10, James1:3

Theodicy is not cool. Theodicy is the question of why bad things happen to good people. Does God not really care about us? Is God unable to help? No one has a sufficient answer to assuage every concerned feeling, every grief, every fear, every anger, every doubt. Its hard to explain any answer to someone who is hurting or passionate. Answering logic to emotion often ends in further pain. That's not cool either. On one hand, we have the assurance that God is always with us and even FOR us. On the other, crap happens.

As for me, I believe things happen for reasons and there are no coincidences. I also believe that sorrows are sad, unfortunate, and often empty of meaning (that we can see). There is a strange balance in things like death, endings, and tragedy. There is both comfort and outrage in the fact that God is behind everything that happens. How can we be both comforted and outraged!? It makes no sense, and yet its there, unavoidable and obvious, even if we try to blind ourselves to it. "The problem with these mysteries is they're so mysterious" as Caedmon's Call puts it. This is where faith is really tested, not in questions of believing certain statements or whether or not we are strong in our Christian walk. Its when the storms hit and meaning is absent and we can see no reason why things are happening that hurt SO MUCH. We humans long to know WHY WHY WHY, but God is not a God who answers why so much as he says "Wait" and waiting is not a strong human ability...

God is in control, but he also grieves with us. All things work out for good, but the best things are recognized in light of the darkness that came before. Victory over evil requires us to have experienced evil, before we can experience the victory, the peace, the sigh of relief. This is a dangerous topic to share ideas on because every person is at a difference place emotionally when it comes to the crap of life. And yet, one response from Paul is that God uses perceived evils to strengthen us and make us holier, reminding us of our mortality so we can strive to be nearer to God. Let the pain in. Let the pain make you strong. But let God control the pain. Do not let the pain control you.

And remember also, God is the only one in a position to judge and control events. The ends do not justify the means for us. The "greater good" argument applies only when God uses it. If we try to use it, we are claiming to be God... and that can have TRULY serious consequences...

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Eye of the Storm

Acts 27:13-26, Psalm 139

Storms, giants, lions, jerks- they come and go. Life can seem full of troubles. But like most storms, they spin around and around, dizzying us up and confusing our wits so we can't tell right, wrong, left, right, or diagonal. Storms also have a center. When two contrasting air fronts hit each other, they begin dancing in power, releasing water in torrents and smashing into each other with electrical fury. We feel this fury and the barrage of the floodwaters in life. We can try to run from it, hide from it, or just accept the wetness in the knowledge that such pains are temporary. The dance of the tempest is circular and rotates, forming an eye in the middle. Strangely, the eye tends to be more calm than outside the storm. All the air is sucked into the weather battle, leaving a vacuum of action in the middle. When storms hit us in life, we don't always experience the eye because the storm has a mind of its own and moves around. However, Paul and the psalmist remind us that God is always with us and nothing is outside his watchful eye. God resides at the center of every trial and suffering. He awaits anyone who manages to get caught inside, waiting to embrace and them them with warmth and calmness. But God is not an escape from the storm, just a respite, a refuge, and a refueling station. In each storm, God is ready to strengthen us and prepare us to face the pain and suffering all over again. With God for us, none can be against us. Not even the storm can dispel God from its midst.

Take courage! God is with us! His love will never let us go.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

More Transformation, Please?

Acts 9:1-9

Here's the story:
So this dude named Saul is on his way to Damascus (in Syria, north of Israel). He is on his way to kick some Christian hiney (that means backside)! He's got some burly other dudes with hm ready to take Christ-follower lunch money when he gets smacked with a giant divine apparition with a mag light. What!? So apparently its Jesus, the guy that the Christian nerds follow and who was executed by the authorities (even though his friends said "He rose from the dead!!!" Whatever.... no one believes in zombies seriously.) Anyway, Jesus shows up outta nowhere and is all like "Yo Saul, why you trippin' up in my grille?" Saul's all speechless becasue he's being addressed by the God of zombies (I'd be too). Jesus tells him to go to Damascus and wait for something...

That was a paraphrase of Saul's conversion. This is the pivotal point in Saul's life that begins his character evolution into the Apostle Paul. From here (and plenty other examples), Christians have learned that transformation in the light of Christ is extremely important, symbolized in many ways and central to imitating Jesus death and resurrection. Now, the question this raises for me at this moment is, are we just transformed once?

Some people can look back on a specific moment when they knew they were transformed forever. Perhaps this was baptism, confirmation, an anointing, a special worship, an intellectual/prayer/social breakthrough, or any number of other circumstances. However, can we be transformed more than once? Plenty of people (myself included) have been already transformed by God's grace, but still feel the need to keep changing. I'd say it is right to be always transforming. Every time we encounter God (whether in prayer, worship, or study) we should expect God to transform us. We cannot meet God face-to-face and leave the same way we arrived.

But we also need to be careful that we aren't changing simply for the sake of changing. Transformation needs to come FROM JESUS, not from our own boredom or need to find happiness or peer acceptance. Where are you in your transformation schedule? Is it time for you to break out of a cocoon and fly? Is it time to stop chasing your own ideas and simply be God's?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

We Are Weak, But He Is Strong

Acts 8:2-8

Isn't it weird that so many of our stories and legends and fables consist of weaklings, underdogs, and people with issues becoming heroes, victors, and leaders? Consider it. We got...

In history: Alexander the Great, William Wallace, Clarence Darrow, Mohandas Gandhi, Susan Boyle, countless armies, a thousand sports teams, they happen everywhere!

In story: Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee; Harry Potter; Peter Parker; Luke Skywalker; Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie; Arthur Pendragon; Tony Stark; Rocky Balboa; Happy Gilmore; Atticus Finch; Babe the Pig; the Karate Kid; Neo; Aladdin; Mulan; Cinderella; Hercules; the Navi; pick a movie...

In the Bible: JESUS, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, the Israelite nation, Ruth, David, Daniel and his buds, all the prophets, Esther, the Maccabees, John the Baptist, the twelve apostles, Paul, Mary and Joseph, the early church, the church forever!

And how about us...

In the midst of persecution, Philip and the other disciples do what they do best: what Jesus told them to do always; love God and neighbor without hesitation. Philip ministered to the people in Samaria while his brothers and sisters in the faith were being arrested. Do we have that kind of determination and faith? Honestly, we do hesitate. We even doubt. A lot. But should we? I mean, look around!

In history, culture, and faith we have overwhelming evidence that the underdogs tend to be God's favorites to use. God favors no one hen it comes to love, but he wants to illustrate his almightiness by getting the unlikely, the poor, and the overlooked to do great things for him. Now, certainly these individuals are empowered by the Holy Spirit and her wisdom and power, but God chooses whom he chooses for a reason.

We are called to do something important. The call is evident in our lives, in scripture, and in prayer. So no matter what circumstances threaten to overpower us, God is right here, taking our hands and saying "I got you. Let's do this."

And then... we do it.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Just Hold My Hand, Lord

Matthew 14:13-21, Hosea 6:1,3, Isaiah 41:13-14, Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 78:1-4, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32, Mark 6:45-52, John 20:1-10, 2 Corinthians 1:19

Yeah... that's a lot of scriptures... I am assessing the state of this blog and how I should proceed with its format and design. Perhaps rather than try to tie everything nicely together, I should instead let God speak to me as he will. After all, this is meant to be expressive of my spiritual journeys and ponderings, not an official publication, or a judged piece of writing.

Of all of today's scriptures, the idea that speaks to me most and lastingly is the God's hand holding mine. No matter where I go, God is there, not just hovering around annoyingly like an omnipotent whiny fly, but like a lover, holding my hand in both good and bad times. Jesus' miracles prove he CAN do anything. But he is not about doing mighty things all the time. He just wants to love and be loved, just like the rest of us. The difference is, while we spend our lives blind to truth, always searching and working and assessing; Jesus already knows the truth. So grab his hand, hold it tight, and let him take you away from what you think you know to what is beyond knowing. In every way, may this be so, including this blog and the way it retains its purpose, its love, and its blessing. Prayers, ya'll.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Caring Enough to Die and Let Live

Isaiah 61:8-11, Luke 7:11-17, Hosea 14:4-7, Matthew 9:13

Perhaps no active process best portrays God's compassion than healing. God cares not who we are or what we've done, he wants to heal all our pain, all our injury, all our sickness. He wants to mend broken relationships, painful memories, frustrating confusion. God wants to do all kinda of wonderful things for us, miraculous things, possible things. God came for the sick, the poor, the sinners. We are all in these categories, if we are honest. I certainly am.

And yet, I awoke this morning feeling good. I love such mornings. I was so thankfully aware of Jesus with me and all he has done for me. The love enveloped me in a cocoon of awesomeness. It was like I was drunk on Christ. Yes, that sounds silly and cliche, but honestly, silly and cliche things are what Jesus is all about, not complex and rational things. I mean, such love is not rational nor complex. To love someone enough to die for them; that is compassion, and that is what we are called to.

We heal others as Christ heals. We have been given that same power. Let us love in truth and action, friends!

I have found this week's reflections difficult, perhaps in light of my depressing experiences of late. Or perhaps because of my current comfortable settings. May God's freakin' awesome amazingness slap me in the face with stinging grace so that I have no choice but to embrace love and holiness and restore the reality of God to life. Ministry awaits, people!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Call to Help

Matthew 9:35-38, Isaiah 61:1-7

Helping sounds like a blah word... meaning it has no definite definition. "I need help" could mean many things. "I want to help people" could mean many things. "Its important to help people" could mean many things. I would say helping is to give aid to someone do something. Jesus says the workers are few. There are a lot of people to help. We need to put ourselves second to others, and certainly second to God. It does seem hard to get our heads out of our rears, though, doesn't it? Letting go of our own desire for attention, credit, and pleasure is hard. We need some spiritual slaps. I do. Slap me Jesus. (Sounds crazy, but we need to wake up from this self-obsessed world so may of us live in).

Jesus quoted and claimed the words of Isaiah when he taught in Nazareth. The "Year of the Lord's favor" had come when Jesus changed the world. We are free to think about others and about God. Its not impossible. We are not captives to ourselves anymore. The chains are gone. And yet we sometimes remain in the dungeon with the door wide open. Why don't we run out and be free!?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Triangle of Compassion

Hosea 14:2, Mark 6:30-44

To be compassionate is to reflect God. Since the beginning, God's behavior toward humanity has been of compassion. As I explored yesterday, God has done a WHOLE lot for us. He treats us as his children despite our rebelliousness and constant running away. God will not disown us. We are told that Jesus looked with compassion on the hungry multitude that followed him as he taught in Galilee. He miraculously fed them and requested his disciples help him act on that compassion. As his disciples today, we gotta keep acting on Jesus' compassion (even if we don't always feel compassionate). Mother Teresa emphasized Jesus teaching that the way we treat people reflects the way we treat God. Almost literally, Jesus identifies with those we reject or support. The compassion we show to others is to God a living sacrifice of praise and love for his other children, just as a parent loves to see his or her children getting along and helping each other. So, God has compassion on us, we reflect that compassion on others, and that same compassion returns to God.

Its a way cool compassionate triangle of awesomeness!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Progress of Compassion

Hosea 13:14, Exodus 16:2-15, Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45, Philippians 1:21-30, Matthew 20:1-16, Colossians 3:12

So, compassion... such a nice word. Its like "passion", but with "com-" at the beginning. Passion is strong feelings, usually intense. Compassion is passion extending toward others well-being. Kinda like positive empathy. Jesus had plenty of this, we do not. As I ponder where compassion comes from and why it is important in a Christian life, I find a kind of procession.

God has compassion on all of us. That's gotta be first! With God's graceful compassion, we were brought into existence, were led, guided, and saved, and given innumerable joys and blessing in life. God's plan was always to free us from sin and death.

God did all this in spite of our grumblings. Despite God freeing us from bondage to sin (like the Israelites were freed from Egyptian bondage), we complain and wish we were back in chains. Yet, God still provides for us. Compassion is not just. Compassion is grace.

Paul reminds us and the Philippians that we have been gifted with extraordinary favor by the Most High. He also reminds us all that we not only share in God's goodness, but his suffering as well. We are all in continual need of compassion.

We must wear compassion as a character trait. It must be part of who we are as Christians. When we see anothers' need, we must become as Christ to them.

Jesus' parable of the vineyard workers teaches that our motivations for being compassionate have nothing to do with earning salvation, goof favor, or prestige (or even self-worth). Rather, compassionate living should be our heart's desire. Our well-being is tied inseparably to the well-being of the other. We thank God for his compassion when we imitate his goodness.

Be compassionate, as your heavenly father is compassionate.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Why, When, and Where

Isaiah 58:6-9, Acts 14:21-23, Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48, Matthew 4:1-4

Sometimes what we interpret as tragedy cannot be prevented by our passionate prayers. Altered yes. Prevented no.

The scriptures here remind me on one hand that God is powerful enough to do anything and he wants us to channel that awesome power by trusting his Holy Spirit.

But, it is also clear that the things we pray for, powerful as it is, are cautioned. Jesus refuses to pray four physical nourishment, he DOES however, heal people's physical ills. Isaiah tells us to help the oppressed and stand up for justice. Clearly, prayers for others well-being takes priority over oneself. I am interested in thoughts. Comment. NOW!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Accepting the Call

Acts 13:1-3

Saul and Barnabas were some of the first Christian missionaries. In fact, Saul spent much of his life persecuting and hunting down suspected Christians, only to repent and convert after a transforming vision of Jesus he had on the road to Damascus. Here, we find Saul and Barnabas meeting with the new church in Antioch, probably the most significant church of the later half of the first century besides Jerusalem. All of the elders of the church met with Saul and Barnabas in worship. It was there, before Saul undertook his epic missionary journeys around the Mediterranean, that he and his companion experienced the call of vocation. In worship, the Holy Spirit came down, speaking to the young Christians about the future of the newcomers.

It was here that Saul and Barnabas were set apart for evangelism. They accepted their vocational calling as missionary ministers and God would go on to use them in extraordinary ways to expand the Kingdom of God. It is interesting that Saul had already converted on the Damascus road. He had to constantly return to God in worship, communing with the Holy Spirit to seek the unfolding will of God. If Saul had simply stopped searching and praying once he had a great experience, he would never have evolved into the Apostle Paul!

On the Damascus road, God changed Saul's name to Paul, but he isn't called Paul with frequency until later in this chapter, after he begins his evangelistic ministry. Saul must LIVE INTO the person he was meant to be before he can really be changed. He had to accept the vocation, the calling, the responsibility of God's presence in his life before authentic change could occur. He met with the Holy Spirit in a small group of committed Christians, dedicated to seeking God's will and word. Then, only then, do we become true Christians.

It is not in transformative experiences that we can claim the name Christian, it is through living our transformation in our special called way. God has plans for each of us. May our transformative experience lead us to determining where we are called, that we might be surrounded daily in the Holy Spirit's presence. Where is God calling you now? We all have Saulish aspects remaining, but find out how to live more into our Paulish aspects! Be the new human. Be the Christ-made human. Be the human driven by the Spirit of love, not the Spirit of self.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

How Far We Have Fallen!

Luke 2:36-38

I am reminded of how much we NEED to be with God! Anna spent days AND nights praising God in the temple! How much do we spend praising God?! Ugh! What depths we have fallen to when we think it takes just a moment here and there and even a sabbath. Every second is on loan! Wake up to your mortality, your insignificance, your inferiority, your temporary nature! We NEED a God who saves, a savior who redeems, a redeemer who lives, a living friend who walks beside us, a companion who loves!

We have this in Jesus, friends! There is no better news! Stop pulling covers over your ears! Our infatuations will decay, our sexuality will fail, our addictions will kill, our desires will melt away. We cannot escape our nature as finite people.

Become greater than you are now. Let Christ build you up into the image of God. Spend time with Jesus. I love him more than anything, and despite my failings, he loves me beyond the grave!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Letting God Do His Transforming Thing

Ezra 8:21-23, Exodus 34:29-35

Ezra was a brave dude. He led the Jewish people back to Israel from exile in Babylon. While most Jews remained scattered across the known world, a group of them was determined to return to the land of their ancestors. Ezra was to be their new high priest. However, it was a long and dangerous journey from Iraq to Palestine. We are told that Ezra prayed hard and fasted, asking God to keep them safe. Having told the king of Persia how great the God of Israel was, he did not want to ask for armed men to protect. Ezra wanted to trust God to provide for his people. To strengthen his trust and to affirm it he prayed and fasted. Likewise, we pray and fast for God to protect us. When we claim in song and word that Jesus is awesome and can do anything and loves us all, do we back that up with actions that prove we are not hypocrites: saying one thing, but doing another? Do we take "chances" and make room for God's miracles? Do we give God to devotion we need to strengthen that trust? Or are we scared that our prayer will be rejected or ignored or in vain?

When we give God time to build our relationship daily, Christ will transform us. He will empower and strengthen our faith and trust. And with faith, even as large as a mustard seed, we can move mountains with the power of God within us. When we meet with God, our faces shine like Moses (symbolically/spiritually). We transformed as creatures of trusting power, having cultivated unity in spirit between us and God so that when we do dangerous things for Jesus' sake, the power of God will flow through us.

Now that's some cool stuff!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Having God Means Letting Go of Something Else

Luke 11:2-4, Matthew 6:16-18

We in America tend to walk around with hand full, pockets full, and stuff hanging all over us. Spiritually, we have to realize that God cannot enter our busy lives with both our hands full of stuff. With have to let go of stuff in one hand so we can firmly grasp God. How many of us want to find God and know Jesus better, but make no room for him to come into our over-scheduled lives. We make no sacrifices for the divine.

Jesus calls us to radical devotion through transformed spiritual disciplines. He gives us a model of prayer we common call the "Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father," which Christians throughout the ages have taken and turned into a memorized prayer pattern to guide us through our times of prayer. Intentional prayer is time to make room for God. We have to stop rushing about and slow down the rate of speed of our over-stimulated minds to see God clearly.

Jesus also speaks of fasting. Technically fasting refers to giving up food for a certain period of time in order to focus on what really matters: spiritual food = the Word of God... and also realizing just how dependent we are on God's provision and mercy. However, when we look at spiritual disciplines and making room for God in general, we can see that they are all really about fasting: giving things up so we can be closer to God. I've decided to give up something after praying today. How about you? What can you give up? No one can serve two masters.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Making Room for God's Power and Grace

Isaiah 58:10-11, Exodus 14:19-31, Psalm 114, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35

Today we start a new week that will explore the theme "Making Room for God." Today we have several scriptures that explore ways in which God needs to have room to work where frequently we deny him space to work. Specifically, God has impressed on me that desires us to allow him to work in two ways: through power and grace.

Making room for God's power:
In Isaiah we are told to feed the hungry and help the afflicted. In so doing, God can work miracles. Now, too often Christians argue about the insidious question "Are we saved by faith or good works?" This question is a trap! Be careful! Be creative in how you respond, PLEASE! One thing from this passage that pops out to me is that God longs to act through our deeds of service and compassion. So often Christians either...
(1) don't believe that their simple actions will do much good, or
(2) are too focused on their own spiritual life to bother about the physical sufferings of their neighbors (everyone!), or
(3) they are simply too lazy...!

Whichever the case is for you right now (for me its probably #3...) God desires for us to endeavor to do good deeds because God can make them great. We do not do great deeds simply for our own sakes. We must make room in our good deeds for God to accomplish great things. So help someone out! Feed the hungry! Assist the needy! Give God the chance to act! After all, we see in Exodus how good used Moses to part the Sea so that the Israelites could pass through on dry ground. God didn't have to use Moses, but he did! He could have just done it himself (after all, he IS God!). Likewise, we are called to do great things in God's power by Jesus, but we rarely give God the chance to act through us. Take a chance! You'll be surprised!

Making room for God's grace:
In Romans, Paul urges us to accept those with both weak and strong faiths without judgment. While for Paul the issues of petty division were eating certain foods and treating certain days as holy days of special importance, for us the issues may be the same or different (like radical lifestyles, ecological habits, manner of dress, movie and music choices, etc.) Do we think that being Christian requires us all to agree on these minor details. Some people may be able to live comfortably at peace with God without the radical lifestyles others are pressed to search for in order to maintain a closer, deeper relationship with Christ and creation. Who are we to judge!? Certainly discuss these things, but don't let them be divisive. We are all united by Christ, our common foundation! Allow God to treat people with grace and mercy just as we treat people with grace and mercy. Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant illustrates how important it is for us to live out a lifestyle of grace and mercy. Let God convict each of us on how we are to live our lives. Be a good influence, hold each other accountable, and love each other as a family; but let grace define relationships.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Judgment, a Pardon, a Calling

James 2:8-13, Romans 8:31,35-37

Such is the pattern of the Christian life. The progression begins with failure. We fail to live up to the Law. We sin, we are inadequate, we let people down, we don't know what to say or do. James says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." It doesn't seem to be about counting our victories and counting our failures. God doesn't care how MUCH we've sinned or how MUCH we've done good. When we do one good deed, we have simply done good. When we fail once, we have failed period.

Luckily that is not the end, or else we'd all be doomed. God is FOR us! As Paul says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" This whole week, we have studied the power of God's mercy and grace. Frankly, there is nothing like it. That's why we worship: out of thanksgiving! We are more than conquerors over sin, we never even had to fight. God fought for us and delivered us from our own weaknesses.

Again, this is not the end. If it were, we might pretend that we don't have to do anything good and just do whatever we want, knowing there is forgiveness for whatever evils we engage in. Some do this anyway, but James calls us to "speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful." We are called to live above our old selves, our pre-grace selves, our selves controlled by natural desires and not by the love of Jesus. In honor of the mercy which saved us, we should be merciful to others. Jesus is our role model and personal savior, why would we not want to be just like him, and let the mercy we've experienced roll over to all we encounter.

May grace free us from the sin we have known, so that we can be about God's business of goodness in the world: telling people about Jesus' love, and living that love in every way possible.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Not Even Death Can Separate Us

Romans 8:1, 13-14, 31-39

Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Awesome! Question: can WE separate ourselves from love? Can we refuse God and thereby be the only thing that might get in the way?

It is interesting that Paul declares the job of justifying belongs to God and the job of judging belongs to Christ. So often we turn that around. Yet, perhaps we are the only thing that prevents us from being justified and judged righteous; just our refusal to surrender.

I am convicted today to "be spiritual" nonstop. I say that I am thus convicted frequently, but not as frequently do I live that out. I want the Spirit to be present with me literally, so that I can talk to it, listen to it, and be aware of how it interacts and responds to me. With its help, I can put my sinful nature to death and live fully as I was meant to live! I have taken some steps to affirm this choice. Sometimes we have to do tangible, visible things to establish our honest decision to surrender to the Holy Spirit's guidance. I have also been honest with others about my struggles and callings, allowing for the community of Christ to do its job, love and support with accountability! Nothing will separate me from God's love. Sin will meet death. And the Spirit of Christ WILL guide me into all truth.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

MERCY

Psalm 34:11-22

Oh my Lord! We people are so weak! So incapable! So far behind and distant from where you are! We are like little infants failing to adequately respond to the loving care and blessings of our eternal mother. She lavishes her little baby with such love, such tenderness, such concern; and all we can do is say a few meaningless words, follow dead routines, and flail are body in what we call "service" and "worship" and "generosity"! Whatever! These things are so small compared to the awesomeness that God has given us! Only by his great mercy can our feeble attempts to return love be accepted.

Psalm 34:22 reads, "The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him." So wonderful! And yet so obvious!! If God is the source of love and we are her children, then by choosing to follow her we choose a life of love everlasting; but if we choose to reject God, then we choose against such love... perhaps forever... Such ungrateful children we are, even those of us that do follow. We cannot repay our parents for the love and care they have invested and poured out on us, and yet good parents will love us yet, unconditionally, simply for being their children, wanting only our love in return. There is no condemnation for children of God who do not reject their father in heaven.


I love God! :) Do you? Please tell me about it!!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

What About the Change?

Romans 6:12-14, John 8:1-11, 1 John 3:18-24

Sometimes we don't talk about grace enough as Christians. I mean, it is what makes us unique and distinct from all other religions. On the other hand, sometimes we don't talk enough about life after grace.  The grace of transformation, learning that we are forgiven for everything we have ever done or will ever do, is earth-shattering! There is nothing like being born again into new people. But while this may indeed be THE Good News, there is more to be said. Paul reminds us of it in his Letter to the Roman Church, urging all of us not to let our sinful passions control us. We are instead to live lives worthy of being changed from dead to alive, from lost to found.

Jesus also says something similar to the woman found in adultery. While most people focus on the incredible grace he bestows on the woman by defeating the execution-hungry onlookers with merciful wit, we must remember that afterward he tells her to "Go and sin no more". How often do we genuinely leave our old sins behind? I am one of those people who constantly return to the old habits. It is SO annoying! I accept the greatness of grace, but turn around and behave as though nothing has changed. Perhaps this is because it takes more than cheap grace to change (to repent). It takes a plan, a spirit-filled prayer life, a change in routine, and accountable Christian friends. So much of the Bible pertains to love and faithful service. Perhaps here is also a connection to ridding ourselves of certain sins; we must replace them with holy acts and intentional communion with the Spirit of God. Its time to change. May grace be the starting point for a life of godliness!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Spirit v. Sin

Romans 8:1-11

Tough stuff here. While it is absolutely true that those in Christ have no condemnation, elsewhere in Paul's letter to the Roman church we find an explanation of sinfulness and spirituality. Life guided and driven by the Holy Spirit leads to life, whereas life guided and driven by our natural, sinful desires leads to death. They are opposite and contrary directions: spirit and sin. When Christ saves us from condemnation, he also provides the Holy Spirit so that we can walk in a direction away from sin (though it will ever be a part of our lives). However, what about those people who have real life-giving relationships with Christ AND experience the death-dealing power of sinful desire on a regular basis? Tough stuff, I say again. Tough stuff.

I really want the Spirit to be the crap out of my sinful desires. That would be awesome! And it will too! However, I do not always WANT to lose those desires. Neither am I in the disciplined mood to seek the Spirit with all I am. Why can't we humans just choose life instead of death?

We must take practical steps to expose sin for what it is. One of the best was is to confess them to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Accountability is less about judging and more about loving. Find those who love you unconditionally and confess. If you can't think of friends who love you unconditionally, I will try. But we all need someone!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Heart of the Gospel

Romans 8:38-39, Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20, John 8:11, John 3:17, Romans 8:34

We come to it at last! The heart of the Gospel is grace and forgiveness. This week we will be following the theme "No Condemnation." What an amazing phrase because for those in Christ there is no condemnation. In fact, I might go do far as to say that the definition of Christian is one who is saved from condemnation. That is not to say that in Christ there is no condemnation. Jesus is spoken of biblically as not only providing unlimited love, but also as the judge who will separate the sheep from the goats, the worthy from the unworthy, and deliver them each to the consequences of their actions and allegiances. Nonetheless, the free grace of Christ is the good news of the Gospel and the primary purpose of his existence. No matter what wrongs we have done, who we have insulted, what secrets we hide, or what sin we live in: Christ's grace is enough!

In the overwhelming scripture attack above, we find instance after instance of this divine deliverance from ourselves. We are our own worst enemy, but "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to do good deeds and live life to the fullest out of thanksgiving and joy, rather than as chores and obstacles to overcome before we feel we have done "enough"? Grace does this. Grace relieves the pressure of conscience weighing down our hearts, reminding us of how horrible we are and how we are never good enough. Grace frees us to see the world through God's eyes, to relish in the blessings around us, to seek out the lost and needy because we genuinely want to and NOT because we feel it is our solemn duty.

This message hits me perfectly today as I had a troubling dream last night where I was a murderer and killed a friend of mine and most of the dream involved me panicking about what was going to happen to me and how much I deserved the worst fate possible for my stupidity. When I awoke and read these scriptures, I felt joy and relief. Certainly, it WAS a dream, but it was also symbolic of our guilt and shame that we so often feel towards ourselves. God would have it that all would seek him, repent (turn away from) their sins, and be forgiven; but many refuse to submit themselves to such injustice. We are a vengeful people who feel a need for justice EVEN when the offender is ourselves. We know we do not deserve a free ticket of grace, nor do we deserve the sacrifice of another person's life in our place, but God's love is greater than "an eye for an eye" justice. Grace IS amazing because God is the only one who could use it to rescue us from ourselves so we could thereby live life as we were meant to live it. By sharing the love that saved us with everyone else and o live in grace and forgiveness with all.

This intention of God's has always been around. In Exodus, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians such that God promised to send a plague that would kill every firstborn in Egypt. God commanded the faithful to smear the blood of a lamb without defect on the door frames of their houses. The innocent lambs died in place of the Israelites' firstborn. When the plague came to such doors, it would see the innocent blood and leave (pass over) the house untouched. Similarly, Jesus became the innocent lamb who laid down HIS OWN LIFE for all would accept him. When judgment and condemnation and death come to take our lives for the wrongs we have committed, Jesus will judge us based on whether or not we have his blood smeared on our hearts, for only the blood of God (the blood of one truly innocent), could genuinely cover over all of our defects and allow us to be saved. This is why people say Jesus died for our sins. He died in our place. And he rose again to defeat death and usher in a new era of loving humanity. The Church should stand as a symbol of that loving humanity. Unfortunately we do not always... We use words like grace and atonement and "Jesus died for our sins" as meaningless catchphrases. This cheapens their worth. May we be intentional when we use them so as to maximize their worth and multiply God's love!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

When everything falls into place

Isaiah 42:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:3-4

I pray that everyone might drink from the living water of the rock of Christ. We all need to eat and drink daily SPIRITUAL food and drink to sustain our souls and spiritual life, not just our physical life.

In Isaiah we find an account of the "servant of the Lord" who will bring forth justice and freedom and old things become new and good news is everywhere. Else where we hear "Let just roll on like a river." Living water gives life and frees people from thirsty souls. It also symbolizes the power of righteousness as all the sinful structures of evil in our world fall to justice and peace.So many of us are dry and parched, awaiting the river of justice and the water of life. Look at the deserts of the world, where water can be found, oases form, paradise-like islands of overflowing life in a otherwise dead, sandy world of harsh wind where people get lost and forgotten. Be an oasis! Be an island where the spring of living water can pour from Christ through you to the world. Once they know that water can be found in you, they will seek your truth and they will form springs of their own with the living water Christ deposits in them.

This week God has opened new doors of grace and awesomeness through the Living Water idea. SO much of it is more than words, so I find it difficult to really write much here.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Streams of salvation

Revelation 7:13-17, John 7:37-38

What an inspiring day! Thank God I found this awesome idea: living water! Thank God for living water! So much meaning and power has flowed from these words this week. I am reminded of the fountain of youth and the quest so many of fantasy of undertaken to find it. Like the holy grail, the fountain of youth promising life everlasting to the drinker. In one sense, it is the quest for ultimate meaning and fulfillment in life. The quest itself is full of meaning and power. However, it is frequently the case in stories of such adventures that the seeker realizes true life comes not from some physical goal, but instead has been there all along, in the form of love, of grace, of purpose.

It is important to notice that streams of living water are not only for the drinker (US). Jesus says such streams will pour forth from within us. They pour out, into the world, providing opportunities for others to drink deep of God's grace. Our cups runneth over! As we drink deep today, let us not forget to share the refreshing liquid with all whom we come in contact with. All we need do is believe in Jesus the Christ.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Fresh as the morning, hard as our heads

John 7:37-39

it is a paradox that that which gives greatest joy is so hard to find. It is also a paradox that the greatest obstacle to finding that joy we desire is... ourselves. Weird... Cool...

John equates the promise of living water with the Holy Spirit. This same spirit is elsewhere called a consuming fire, a mighty wind, a companion, or an Advocate. The Spirit manifests in many ways, as we need her, and as God knows we need her.

There is much happening in my daily life. Sometimes it can seem hard to connect with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it would help to just stop moving and sense what is around me. The Spirit manifests itself as all sorts of things as it will. If I stop to look around me, perhaps I can better perceive the Spirit nudging me kindly on, or getting sassy with me to do what's right. It is a gift. We got to be aware of it.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The waters of kenosis

Isaiah 12:1-6

I just finished watching the film "Interview with the Vampire." As I write this post, I am listening to credits roll to the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil." If I am left with one feeling and idea from my viewing, its that of emptiness. The main character, Louis (Brad Pitt), is a vampire who regrets agreeing to become a vampire and wishes he had chosen death instead. The emptiness he feels and lives out is similar to the real experience of many in our world, those who have given pieces of their souls away to people who mistreated them, in behaviors that turned rotten, to false messages of culture that entice and promise satisfaction, meaning, and love; but end up leaving only that empty feeling of regret, mixed with hopelessness.

Then again, as with so many words in any language, emptiness can have an opposite, if related meaning. Rather than a lifeless emptiness that comes from giving our souls to things that attract, but were never meant to have our souls; this other emptiness comes from giving our souls and our SELVES to God. Sounds simple, doesn't it? This was a major breakthrough in my spiritual life. I worked and worked to be a "good Christian," until I discovered (through no feat of my own, but rather God's spiritual smack) that we don't work to please God; we surrender all of our efforts and striving to God's grace, so that any good we do is God working through us. This is called kenosis: self-emptying. We find God less in reaching out to him, and more in giving up and falling back into his waiting, loving arms.

Living in that state of kenosis is like swimming. We move, but everything seems slower, graceful, more flowing, more dance-like. For indeed, God is our dance partner, leading us around the dance floor of life. Salvation becomes very real in those waters. Rather than a heaven-or-hell afterlife as the primary focus of salvation, it becomes instead a transforming moment in life: more transformative even than birth or death. You might say it is being "born again," but maybe not. Kenosis' sweet surrender happens over and over again, every time we return to the Gospel of salvation that is provided for us and that we do not achieve. God draws the living water from his well of salvation and offers us a drink.

Drink deeply, friends. Let go and drink in...

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The start of something new!

Revelation 21:6-7; John 6:32-35; Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28; John 4:7-15; Exodus 17:1-7

I know! I know!!! Too many scriptures! And where is Matthew! As a neurotic pattern-lover myself, I sympathize with any concerns over my change from the Gospel of Matthew to something entirely different.As part of my seminary training, I have decided to switch over for a while to prayer and devotionals based on the lectionary (a series of scriptures and themes that rotate through the Christian calendar). Thus, scriptures will be appropriate to the current season and will hopefully flow with the theme of the week.

We have just finished the Sermon on the Mount, an excellent foundation to this devotional blog. From here, we enter the lectionary starting with the theme "Living Water". This week's readings and reflections will all revolve around that idea, and often here will be multiple readings per day. Hopefully this will not be overly burdensome, but rather life-giving. Feel free to read what you will (not like I am gonna force you to read everything).

Today, I catch up on three days absence from posting. Living water is a FANTASTIC theme (in my opinion) because it relates directly to one of my favorite bible stories: Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4). I love the idea of water as a living substance that gives life, I mean who would disagree with the necessity of water? The Bible returns to this image frequently: Moses bringing forth water from the rock (symbolic of living water from THE Rock: Jesus), the woman at the well, the Psalms, and references to life-giving rivers in Eden and the New Jerusalem (to name some really interesting ones). It is hard to explain the joy of life that comes from such water. Jesus promises eternal life welling from a spring in our hearts. May we accept this amazing gift and the image that has been so powerful for so many!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

No one does it better

Matthew 7:28-29

Jesus has just finished the Sermon on the Mount. The narrator of Matthew's Gospel then speaks to the audience a little description of what it was like. It says, "the crowds were amazed," "because he taught as one who had authority, and not as the teachers of the law." So many of Jesus' words in this Sermon are favorite quotes even today. He transformed religion and life as we know it by these words of wisdom straight from the mind of God. We have the Old Testament Law, but rarely (almost never) did Israel receive God's own commentary on the Law. Jesus (as fully God) reveals the truth about the First testament and explains it in such a way as to awaken the people (and US!) to the very real and relevant truth of it all!

Jesus spoke with authority because he WAS the authority. Like Moses brought the Law to Israel on Mt. Sinai, Christ brought a new interpretation of the Law to the world on this Mount in Galilee. The world would never be the same again...

None of us mortals, us teachers of the law, could ever match the truthfulness or the quality of Christ's Sermon. Let us all be amazed by the greatness of Christ, to which none are equals. Jesus is our teacher through the Holy Spirit. Not only the words of the Bible and the Gospels, but also in everyday life. In the still, quiet voice and in the spiritual slap that wakes us from our slumber. Jesus still teaches. What is he teaching us now...?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Built on Dwayne Johnson

Matthew 7:24-27

...or the Rock. Jesus has done some pretty awesome things for me today and the last few days despite some serious stresses. It makes me want to find good deeds to do because I genuinely WANT to do them! CrAzY! But if I build my house on the Rock of Christ, that's what's up!!!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Real Veggietales

Matthew 7:15-23

Sometimes Jesus don't make no sense. Other days he is all too clear... and it hurts. We will be known by our fruits. Recently I worshiped with the theme of the "true vine", wherein Jesus is the nourishing vine and we are his fruit-filled branches. And what do you know, I find this next set of verses... on bearing fruit. If Jesus is our vine, then we will bear good fruit. Following the metaphor, Jesus says that not all who cry out to him will be saved and enter the Kingdom of heaven. Some will appear holy, but bear no fruit and do nothing God commanded. Sometimes I feel like I fall into this category because of the lack of fruit sometimes... but then again, I know god's grace is amazing and I know that he has done great things. Perhaps I am too well-aware of my own inadequacy. I genuinely want to be able to cry our "Lord, Lord!" and it be true and pure and righteous.

Everyone pray that God will open doors of opportunity for you to do great things for Christ. Fervently ask him, and it will be done. Search for the seeds and when you find them, help them become fruit.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Back to school... don't go back to old habits

Matthew 7:13-14

Here's a reminder of the cost and challenge of following the Gospel. A fork in the read presents itself and we must choose. Appearances can be deceiving. Though the narrow way may seem dangerous and full of troubles, it leads through suffering and life to love everlasting. The alternative looks lovely, but don't trust it.

Jesus makes it clear that there are essentially two paths in life: the difficult Christ-path, and the "easy" road to sin and death. I'd like to say otherwise, but here it is: from the mouth of Christ, "Enter through the narrow gate."

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Strange words...

Matthew 7:12

Few phrases are more famous and appreciated worldwide than "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Sounds like a great proverb on interpersonal relationships and even world-care. It has been criticized by some (Freud, Nietzsche) as hindering human progress and defying natural laws of evolution. Nonetheless, great and small religious groups, political entities, and non-profits have praised this bit of advice for a long time.

And yet, it is a curious verse. Simply based on the wording, it is different form most other biblical commands because it is subjective. God does not tell us how to behave or what is right. Rather, we become the determiner of morality. It is assumed that because we would want others to treat us well, then we would treat others well. Is this always so? Do we always want to be treated well? What if other people have needs we do not? What if I am filled with self-hate?

Further, the verse begins with the word "So," a conjunctive transition term connecting the Golden Rule with "how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask of him?" ...not an obvious connection... I spent a while mulling over this weirdness this morning and something struck me. If we ask/seek/knock God, then God will seek us in return. The Golden Rule could apply to God as well. The more time we devote to seeking Christ, the more he will respond by seeking us. We do to God as we would have God to us. Hmmm...

One more interesting tidbit. Jesus says the Golden Rule "sums up the Law and the Prophets." Really??? It would seem like this phrase is all about subjective treatment of others, and yet the First Testament (containing Law and Prophets) is full of divine commands, and directives on worshiping GOD. Perhaps this rule fulfills the "Love your neighbor" half, but what of the "Love the Lord your God" half. Only if what I wrote above about seeking God works do I see this summing up the Tanakh. Thoughts?

Monday, August 23, 2010

3 difficult concepts

Matthew 7:1-11

Ok, so I wrote this post once, and lost it... blech! So, in short, take a look at these verses... they are CRAZY. So complicated... I'll briefly overview:

#1: Judgment.
What is judging? Sometimes the Bible say we should judge what is riht and wrong and hold our brothers and sisters accountable in love. Here it says to be careful when judging others because we will be judged just as harshly. So, how do you judge?

#2: Vulnerbaility?
Jesus calls people dogs and pigs... what!? He really messes with us by saying we should NOT give sacred stuff to certain people. How do you interpret this? Can people change from being dogs? Is this about love, or the Gospel, or service, or (as I see it) vulnerability?

#3: Easy answers.
Jesus says just ask, and we'll get it. Sounds SO easy! But there it is! Let this sink in. All we have to do is ask, seek the truth, and knock on Jesus' door, and all of his good blessings will be there for us. Easy in print, but we humans tend to over-complicate even the simplest truths.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

"He's got the whole world..."

Matthew 6:25-34

What a relaxing notion: Do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough troubles of its own. As many of prepare for the school season to start up again, we are worried, if not at least mildly preoccupied wih th coming days and weeks and months (and years?). But Jesus makes it clear, that our primary concern at all times is the work and will of God. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness." When we direct our attention there first, God will provide everything else we need. This sounds pretty ridiculous, am I right?! Trusting God to give us exactly what we need? Food, clothes, shelter?...money, work, security?... friends, love, happiness?... entertainment? luxury? rest?... How can we know what God thinks we need? The thing is, we can't know. All we can do is trust. Trust that God is there. Trust that God is watching. Trust that God cares. Trust that God is love. Trust that God knows what is best. And also, trust that we are not God, and so are not in the best place of determining what is best for us. That's the tricky one, I suppose. Letting go and letting God work for us and through us. Let go and trust God.

Friday, August 20, 2010

"It's all about the choices you make"

Matthew 6:24

What a fantastic verse. Straight to the point. We cannot serve two masters. Whatever it is that competes with God for our attention and praise must be discarded or uplifted. We often believe we can live in the balanced tension between our bad habits, addictions, and broken behaviors; but Jesus says no! "It's them or me!" "Choose this day whom you will serve!" There is no way to live comfortably with God and continuing in our known weaknesses. They cannot be balanced. Our relationship with God WILL weaken until it dissoves.

I know I have a choice to make, an action to udnertake, and a vision to uphold as a result of reaidng this verse. I pray with every beat of my heart that Christ my be glorified in it and that the sin may be crushed. If you read this: say a little prayer for me. Let me know of your struggles, and I will support you! Nobody can serve two masters!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

God alone is my judge. Not me.

Matthew 6:5-23

First, some personal thoughts: I feel oddly refreshed and and yet unsteady. I am home from a few days at the beach and preparing to head off to school at good old Bethinary (Bethany Theological Seminary). ;) While the time away was good, my family is waiting for sad news and it is a time of strange emotions, living each day one at a time, and transitioning to the fall schedule. In the midst of this, I have kept up my reading. However, instead of reading the verses whenever I had time, I felt compelled to take up starting the day with reading my daily verses. My Bible has been by my bed all night so that as soon as I awake, I can grab the book and read some WORDage. It has been good. Normally I start my day with a shower because I am NOT a morning person! The shower serves as a good way to awake my mind and soul the right way, with words of life swimming freshly around my brain, causing me to meditate on them and prepare for the day ahead.

It was a bit of a struggle connecting this week with many things floating around my brain, which caused me to get frustrated with my inability to "be spiritual" and flood guilt into my system. It seems that at such times it may help to review what God has recently done or said to us. Hindsight is helpful for those of us with short term memories so we had best use it.

I looked back at the words the Spirit has flung at me and I see ridiculous expectations about praying, and forgiving, and fasting, and ultimately storing up heavenly treasures rather than waste down here. For some reason I was unable to see the beauty of this when I first read them. Caedmon's Call helped me awake to the message in front of my nose.

Every spiritual act we do is for God alone. It is not for us to feel good, safe, or secure. It is not for attention, or pride, or fame, or comfort. It is for God alone. God alone judges our authenticity. Nobody else. No family member, or friend, or competitor, or follower, or stranger. Not even our self. We are in no place to judge our self and yet we do so quite frequently. We are to store up treasures in heaven by living for Jesus' glory alone. If our acts of obedient service and contrition and worship and discipline are not heavenly treasures, but earthly wastes, its time to wake up!

Our eyes are the lamps of our souls. Everywhere we look, we should see such that our vision bears witness to the love of God! For God's true beauty is ever before my eyes though I place things in front of it that demand my attention and service. They are mistaken and so are we when we do not immediately laugh at them and with our eyes, shine the lamp of truth upon them. Doing so, we expose them for what they are, temporary things, a mist fading before our eyes in the light of the majesty behind them.

Wherever you are reading this, STOP... Look around. God;s glory is practically smacking you in the face, so push the grubby earthly demand out of your way, and see Jesus. Then see him everywhere you go...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Haven't I done enough?

Matthew 5:43-6:4

How many times I have heard that phrase: "I just spent (amount of time) with Jesus, I think I deserve some me time." Ticks me off to no end...! As if God just wants a certain level of commitment, not our entire hearts!

Today's verses combine a section on loving our enemies (the natural counterpart to the last post) and giving to the poor in secret. Strange combination it may seem, but it occurred to me while reading that these topics both address the fact that it is never "enough" when we serve and love God. We are called to be better than those around us (loving our enemies) and to serve so that those around us have no idea we are doing it (helping the needy). Its not about giving in to our desire to hate, but to increase love everywhere. Its not about doing good for attention and praise, but about increasing love everywhere. We are called to go above all other expectations when it comes to God. Its never enough because its never about fulfilling obligations and always about a true life of love. When people fall in love they frequently say they want to spend ALL their time with their loved one. Well, why not Jesus?

Friday, August 13, 2010

Treating people like you've already forgiven them

Matthew 5:38-42

There is so much I could say about these verses. They're only, like, some of the most popular among peace-loving Christians. It occurs to me as I read this in the context of my life right now that peace among peoples is just one dimension of the words. In relation to the verses afterward, these verses are more interpersonal than international. I also am thinking about things to do in our last days, as the end approaches.

What comes out to me is the need for forgiveness and closure. Justice rules much of our thoughts in life: what's fair, what's even, what's balanced. We constantly work for a well-balanced life in who we love, how we spend our time, our work, our play, or time with God. If we give ourselves to one thing, we must make up for that time in other ways: "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." This is justice, but as death approaches, justice doesn't seem that important anymore. I think we begin to realize that true, perfect justice is not a possibility for our time on earth. We think about grace and mercy and love in life, but its not until the end looms that we see those virtues in a new light (I am not dying, in case any of you was getting concerned).

To love and forgive; that is the nature of God's relationship with us and how we were meant to live. Jesus expands an "Eye for eye" mentality to a "go the extra mile" attitude. We don't go the extra mile because we are sticking it to the proverbial "man" or because we diminish our self-worth to that of slaves.

We do it out of love. Some people just need to see love in life, love in action, love in another random person. When we let go of striving for our own well-being and live only to see the good in our enemy, then we become Christ. When we extend the simplest kind of grace and stop playing the conflict game, we become Christ. When we forgive people in our hearts before they've even offended us, we become Christ. At the end of life, it is not justice we seek, it is peace: peace with others, with God, and especially with ourselves. The hardest thing, is to forgive ourselves; to let go of self-hatred or the need for punishment and justice, and just to surrender to the mercy that no guilt can corrupt.

Put things in perspective, choose to live forgiveness in the heart and in action. Choose also to help others see the need for a forgiven, forgiving grace. Such is Christ.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Who are we trying to convince?

Matthew 5:33-37

"Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and 'No,' 'No'." Apparently everything else comes from the Devil. Oaths have always been a weird thing for me. I understand that they were quite controversial in brethren history, tied to putting national pride above God (loyalty), tied to taking the Lord's name in mockery ("I swear to God"), and other belittlings of God or pretenses for lying and manipulating others. However, I do not swear by anything and rarely make promises (knowing full well that all commitments are breakable and beyond my control, except for Love and intention).

Here Jesus urges us to speak the plain truth at all times. We are not to embellish the truth or mislead by speaking half-truths. Yes is yes and no is no. But honestly, there is no way I can do this. I believe Jesus strikes again with his universal sin labeling so none may boast of being sinless. Everyone misuses the way they speak for their own advantage, to avoid conflict, or to arrange a certain perception.

Speaking the truth without a divine condition (swearing oaths) may be ideal, but it is hard for others to swallow, especially if I have a bad reputation. Perfecting our deceptive tongues may be impossible, but we can work on it, and it is a process to tame our lips of deceit and manipulation. We cannot snap our fingers and go to blessed purity. Its a messy struggle that will end up hurting us and others. May we have the fortitude to press on and speak the truth simply, without selfishness. Thoughts would be loved...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

When I'd like the Bible to say things slightly differently... :/

Matthew 5:31-32

Divorce is always tricky from a biblical viewpoint. Its always ugly, I think most people would agree about that. And clearly its acceptable in cases of "unfaithfulness," which I would say includes any breaking of vows, covering abuse and infidelity. Nonetheless, Jesus' words are still tough, making those who remarry adulterers too! Alright what do you all think? I'm stumped. I would say the best message I can learn is to chose your spouse CAREFULLY!!! Seems obvious but too many of my generation and beyond do NOT take it seriously. Thoughts?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Losing Limbs

Matthew 5:27-30

And so Jesus continues on his rant where anybody and everybody is a horrible person... or at least it seems that way. Instead of anger as the root of violence, Jesus now tackles lust as the root of sexual immorality. Its always dangerous when someone writes or talks about sexuality, someone is bound to be offended, either because the subject is deemed altogether immoral to discuss (which is biblically wrong: sex is blessed by God), or because so many of us have been touched by sexuality gone wrong that we live with pervasive guilt. However, it is important to notice that while sexuality gone wild (ya know, like "Girls Gone Wild") is deemed sinful here, it is no more sinful than anger or broken relationships. Certainly its still serious as all sins are, but we tend to over-emphasize the sexual because our society can't move beyond it.

Still, it would be better to live in constant pain and inhibit the ease of your life than live in lust. Its not just the unfaithfulness to partners that is wrong here, it is the root cause, lust, even infatuation and blind idolatry that places another being above all others, blinds you to right and wrong, or puts satisfaction above righteousness. Many of us would be sure to label some kind of sexual activity and thought wrong, but we are not united, and that is dangerous, because sex is by nature, relational. It is also hard to enforce. We say something is wrong, but do we ever take Jesus seriously about preventing sin in the first place. Are we willing to make our lives harder in order to prevent evil thoughts and actions? Are we more concerned about comfort and ease, or righteous living and loving minds? Jesus words cover all of us. The next move is ours. Stop the spread of sin. Its worth it.

Monday, August 9, 2010

"Don't let the sun go down on me"

Matthew 5:23-26

 Sorry I missed a day. Get used to it. :) I will miss some from time to time because I cannot get to my computer. I will still be reading Matthew and will simply incorporate missed days into the next post!

Today, I am very aware of the need for reconciliation in the life of God's people. Too many barriers divide us caused by our own miscommunication, emotional reactions, impatience, and grudges. While some of this is inevitable, we are called by Jesus to be better than this! Christians SHOULD be an example to the world of how people should interact, not the example of how horribly religious people treat each other. In this text, Jesus first warns us to reconcile ourselves to those we may have broken relationships with BEFORE coming to the Lord's house in worship. Then, he cautions us to reconcile those relationships before they grow out of control.

These warnings teach me to things (at least):
1. Our broken relationships with each other affect our relationship with God.
2. Broken relationships have drastic consequences.

It takes courage to confront one's we've hurt or who've hurt us. Scary as that may be, the alternative may be even worse. Let us not allow the spiral to continue, be reconciled to each other so that we all may be reconciled to our Father in heaven.