The Dream Factory

Our Contemporary - The Ancient of Days

The Ancient of Days (1794). Watercolor etching by William Blake - Public Domain

“I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. “ - Daniel 7:21-22

Daniel is given a glimpse into the final triumph of God over the powers of evil. That is the glimpse of ultimate victory we see when we look down into the troth that cradled Jesus. That vulnerable baby, young, innocent, and full of potential was the Ancient of Days.

To call Jesus the Ancient of Days is to attribute to Him all wisdom, knowledge, authority, and power, but it is also to call Him hope. His coming means the end of the warfare where God’s people are battered and beaten by sin and evil. His advent is the triumph of justice, truth, and righteousness.

Every wrong ever wrought, every slander spoken, and every act of bigotry and ruthless hate is righted by Jesus, the Ancient of Days.  Every sin is accounted for by His death and resurrection. He is the one true hope of those who long for justice.

Injustice is so prevalent that we find it more comfortable to turn a blind eye and allow ourselves to be numbed to its impact.  But God is not blind. Nor is He indifferent to the plight of the broken, wounded, and persecuted. He is the defender of the forgotten and the champion of the weak.

The Ancient of Days has come and the final outcome to the battle between good and evil has been decided.

God and the Hot Furnace

We will all end up in some fire, hot water, or lion's den at some point in our lives.

If we follow Jesus, are sent by Jesus, or answer the call of Jesus, we are most likely to get in some sort of trouble for it. May it be what Congressman John Lewis called, "good trouble."

 

What common themes are emerging for your life?

GOD IS ABLE

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.   If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.   But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”-  Daniel 3:16-18

“…  If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me..” - Luke 9:23

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us ….” - Ephesians 3:20

The Hebrew children would have readily said “amen” to the words of Jesus. And they knew the reality of Paul’s declaration of faith in the power of God to deliver. But they also could identify with the words of Esther when challenged by Mordecai, “If I perish, I perish.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego understood that there are some things far more important that safety and security. Those concerns and the fear that we might somehow be harmed or killed too often govern us. For them, the integrity of their faith came first. Their loyalty was to God, the Almighty, and nothing that any man could do to them could deter them from their commitments.

Our God is great and powerful. He is a faithful God who stands by His people. The demands of discipleship are enormous, but God places even greater demands upon Himself. To remain faithful to Himself, He is faithful to His people. For every cross and every furnace, He is present. He never leaves or forsakes us. He does not stand aloof from our struggles and is not powerless to deliver. We can trust God enough to submit our lives to Him.

 

Thinking About Today

The Thinker  -CC BY-SA 2.0, File:Le Penseur in the Jardin du Musée Rodin, Paris 14 June 2015.jpg, Douglas O'Brien from Canada - IMGP2543

Ten Strategies for Making the Most of Every Day

We start each day with hope. At least I do and most positive people I know do the same. There is an occasional "dreaded" day, but it is the exception and is usually combated by positive self-talk and prayer.

The rule is that we begin our mornings expecting to exploit our effectiveness and embrace our opportunities. Our "to-do" lists are full and our hearts are ready to meet our challenges until something happens. We don't finish our first task in the time we have allotted. We are now behind.

Then there is another glitch ... and another ...

And we begin to lose hope and heart.

How do we make the most of our days ...

Here are some suggestions. Since the sound of my thinking is sometimes "mmmmmmmm," I will use "m"s to gather my thoughts.

Marginalize

Build margins into your life and into your calendar. Don't overcrowd your day. We just don't allow enough space for the unexpected and serendipitous interruptions of "aha" moments into our time. Allow space in your planner and in your life to wander, wonder, and discover.

Maximize

Accomplish more than one task at a time. Consolidate trips. Listen to books in your car. Think efficiency in your planning. Take work to the coffee shop. Focus on the moment you are experiencing so that you accomplish more in less time. Prepare to use 5-15 minute slots effectively by having some basic tools ready to use and with you. Learn to use time wisely.

Minimize

Be ruthless in eliminating the time and task demands that will not advance your mission, purpose and goals. Set a specific amount of time for tiny and minimally consequential tasks each day. Do what must be done first. Then, when the time is over, move on and take the list back up tomorrow.

Manage

Take charge of your own schedule. Politely excuse yourself from many good things that are not centered on where you are currently going in accordance with your mission. Give your time to people, but do so with wisdom and set appropriate boundaries. Invest your life where it will bear fruit. Your time is the only space in which you can live your life. Manage it.

Mature

You won't get this all at once. Grow a little in it every day. Keep a journal of what you are learning. Keep track of what is effective and ineffective and learn from yourself.

Minister

It is a word that means "serve." PLAN to serve people some every day. Build service into your schedule. Organize your time so that you have time to do things for others that will not benefit you in any predictable or tangible way.

Master

Master some skills that you will use frequently. Some things you do well take less time because you have eliminated your learning curve. Also, discover who or what masters you so that you will always have a compass to help you decide the direction you will take each day and all your days.

Move

Movement in life is essential. Apply grace as you proceed through the day and move things around in your schedule. Life takes unexpected turns. Have a planner with enough space to scratch through some things and insert new ideas and plans.

Muster

Gather other people to assist you in the days you cannot accomplish at all or accomplish alone. Delegate where that is in your power and enlist when your only power is influence. In order to do this, you'll need to cultivate good relationships daily. People are willing to help friends. So make friends.

Meet and Meditate

Start every day with a meeting. If you meet with God, which I recommend, prioritize that meeting. Prioritize it; don't categorize it or compartmentalize it. Let it envelope everything else in your life.

If you are not there in your practice or belief, at least meet with yourself. Focus first on "being" issues, but bring your calendar to the meeting. Sometime, before it is done, go over it with God, your Higher Power, or yourself. Do it devotionally and openly and don't rush the time.

One could go on all day, but then one might start wasting time. What are your strategies?

Consider that and celebrate this, your today. it is the only today you have quite like it.

Making Music in a Rest

 

“There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it.” ~ John Ruskin

And further, he says ...

“In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by rests, and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the theme. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator."

"How does the musician read the rest? See him beat the time with unvarying count and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between."

"Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not to be dismayed at the rests. They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God himself will beat the time for us.” - John Ruskin

How does this apply to your life today?

 

Where in the score are you?

 

Are there multiple measures of rest or is something at a grand crescendo?

 

Perhaps you do not have the whole score and the conductor is only giving you a page at a time ...

 

There is the making of music in a rest.

 

 

Power Grab

 

 

There was a power grab on a planet swirling through space

Long ago.

Chiefs, generals, engineers, and masons

Deluded

Thought

If only

If only we could add enough of

What has been made

Piece by piece

and build upon it

What has been made

With our ingenuity

and effort

We can reach

and be

The creator.

We can take over.

All we need is the will and

The energy and

The creativity and

The commitment

To rise higher than

The Originator

and we can be Original.

And they unified around that

Big Idea

and ended up

In utter confusion.

In spite of all their unity

and Progress ...

They forgot a few key

Home Truths or

Cradles of Civilization.

Either way ....

 

" Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9 ESV)

 

Broken Weapons

 

 

 

Image: By Marie Therese Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9978126

 

Take a look at Psalm 37:17

 

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

 

Below are some reflections on phrases that jumped off the page to pierce my heart.

 

"The arms of the wicked ..."

 

Arms that kill and maim,

Arms that threaten and intimidate,

Arms that posture and gesture of

Power that is finite and fleeting,

Flailing in flatulent insistence

That might makes right

And volume is light ...

Fault physics.

Arms, be broken at the joint ...

 

"... shall be broken."

 

Broken to render powerless

That which has nor had no power to heal,

No heart to feel,

No presence in the present to be real

Beyond an atomic organization of

Bombast-icy.

Be broken, arms of mighty armies,

Terrorist cells,

Street gangs,

Multinational imitators of respectability,

Powers of darkness,

Pretenders to the throne,

Be broken.

And may those who wield them,

Find grace and mercy ...

... and peace.

 

" The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in the time of trouble."

(Psalm 37:39 ESV)

 

 

 

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."

And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said o the sea, "Peace! Be still!"

Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?''- Mark 4:35-41 (NRSV)

 

Reflections on Storms 

In the boat and in the storm,
Though it be anomaly or though it be norm,
Tossed and swamped, and dramatized,
Sleeps One who cannot be traumatized.
Sways to left and rocks to the right.
Sun grows dim, land out of sight.
It seems He's asleep until He's awakened,
That One is still and cannot be shaken.
"Wake up, Master Jesus for all that we cherish
Is now being rocked! Don't you care that we perish?"
He got up and sat up, and spoke to the winds
And turned His attention and spoke to His friends.
"I see you're afraid; do you even know why?
Have you no faith; Don't you know it is I?"
He was there in the boat, along with His fellows,
But resting in peace, then commanding the bellows.
Just a word from His mouth and the seas would be calm.
He is wellness, shalom, deliverer, and balm.
And filled with an awe that enshrined that dark hour
They wondered aloud who He was with such power.
We've each had our storms and at times been aware
Of unshakable Presence and a Word that was there,
But never imagined the difference He makes,
Maintaining the peace while everything quakes.

Dr. King's Open Bible

A Knock at Midnight

 

Praying Over the Bible

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. “ Psalm 119:18

Before you read, pray.

This grand and simple prayer is an expression of expectation and faith. Our level of discovery in scripture will seldom exceed our level of expectation.

It is seekers who find according to Jesus.

David expected wonderful things from the law of God. He, in turn, found wonders beyond anything he could have dreamed.

Dr. Martin Luther King said,

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Dr. King, approached the scriptures to be instructed and informed. As he formed his philosophy of non-violence from the example and teaching of Jesus, so we must be willing to be shaped and molded by words we have never read along staircases of truth we have never traveled.

Dr. King also said on the night before his death,

“I just want to do God's will”

In the same way, we must approach God’s Word in search of His will with a desire to receive it and do it whatever it may command.

Dr. King once wrote,

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Much worse is willful ignorance and arrogant stupidity. Our prayer over scripture and our reading of the same must not be arrogant and all-knowing. We come to God for instruction and apart from that instruction, we remain willfully ignorant.

We must come humbly, willingly, and prayerfully.

The psalmist speaks of his own longing for God’s Word in verse 20 and of God’s rebuke for the arrogant who think they already know it all in verse 21.

"My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments."

In verse 24 he speaks of God’s laws as his counselors. Because that is so true, we bow before God before we even open his Word, asking that He guide us and teach us.

Martin Luther King, whose birthday we commemorated this week, is but one example of what God can do through the life of a person who comes prayerfully to the scriptures for instruction and enlightenment.

 

 

 

Sermon - 1-17-2021 - Come and See

Live loose; live light; live large!

 

 

Originally posted January 10, 2010

Live loose; live light; live large.

I have been reflecting on an issue that often troubles me. When a crisis occurs in the world, there is an urge to pack up and go, or to at least to write a very big check. Many share that urge. But we are constrained by time commitments, lack of preparation, and enormous personal debt.

As part of the changes in my own life, I am thinking I need to make an effort to live loose, live light, and live large.

Living loose means to take life as it comes and to be able to join Isaiah in his declaration, "Here I am; send me."

If we live loose, we plan and implement our plans, but we do not become so attached to our plans that they take precedence over our purpose for living. Strategies are vital to our goals, but they change. They must not rule us. Calendars represent commitments to be honored, but there must be some flexibility built into our rigid lives.

Living loose means living in a state of readiness to respond to God's call through the suffering of the world.

Living loose may mean having a passport ready at all times. I don't have that. It may mean having contingencies plans and back up prepared for our routine commitments.

Mostly it is an attitude.

I need to live light. Too often we are guided by our limitations. We have created many of those limitations through compulsive spending, mismanagement of credit, consumer greed, and appetites out of control. I have wasted thousands of dollars for which I have little to show.

What do we really need? What is interfering with our ability to give when a need arises?

How can we lighten our loads and live simpler, more rewarding and satisfying lives?

Not only debt, but possessions and expectations of comfort and pleasure can tie us down.

So can mismanaged health and wellness. We are often just too out of shape to be ready to respond. I, for one, have abused my body through years of eating too much of the wrong food and failure to push myself beyond my comfort level in exercise.

These are seemingly innocent sins, but they have effected my availability.

I am just being honest here - I have not lived light. Yet, in recent weeks, I have been experiencing an emptying of myself before God. It has been obvious on the physical level, but it has informed my soul and my spirit.

The sad consequence of the past, however, is that barring a miracle, I could not financially, physically, or professionally get on a plane tomorrow and fly to Haiti.

Neither do I have the money in the bank to write a big check. I will write a check, but it will not be what I could have written if I had lived more wisely and lightly.

There are skills I ought to require, but there is the ever-present excuse: When can I find the time?

Where does anyone find time? We make time.

Living large means we take the world into our hearts and let it expand us beyond ourselves. It means growing toward a God-sized concern for the pain of humanity. It means weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. It means thinking globally and eternally.

Living large means loving our neighbors as ourselves.

We love ourselves. We pamper ourselves, indulge ourselves, and fatten ourselves. In the process, we destroy ourselves for usefulness. We need to find a new way of loving ourselves that embraces the whole world. We need to transform our love of self into something that feeds a new self, a servant self, a more fulfilled and joyful self that is available to God and others.

As we change ourselves and love ourselves that way, we can love and change the world.

Live loose; live light; live large!

"May the LORD answer you when you are in distress ..."

Psalm 20:1 - May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

In the spirit of blessing and benediction, we come to pray for a friend. Such a prayer blesses the giver, the receiver, and the heart of God. In this case, the intercessor is speaking to God on behalf of another but in doing so openly, is speaking also, to the other on behalf of God. It is a ministry of healing, grace, and love that encourages the head upon which the blessing is laid. It is priestly and it is sacramental. Protection and deliverance come to the distressed often after the prayer of another. Who can you bless today?

Psalm 20:2 - May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.

In ministry, the help that we offer does not come from us. It proceeds directly from the presence of God. Our encouraging presence is not a gift of our own resources, but of the Master who fashioned us and sent us forth equipped to serve. We offer support by “being there,” but that support is the Christ within us who comes alongside. He is the Spirit, the Paraclete who lifts the broken and heals the wounded. We can withhold such a blessing to our detriment and that of others, but we cannot manufacture it. Stop withholding.

Psalm 20:3 - May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah

This verse, interpreted in the light of the New Covenant lifts up the cross in the presence of God and the person we desire to bless. It is not our sacrifice, but that with which we identify in Christ that makes an offering of our lives acceptable to God. We can have confidence in such a sacramental act as was wrought in the passion of the Lamb of God. Into the malaise of our frail attempts to appease God, He entered with the perfect offering for sin and made this prayer possible.

Psalm 20:4 - May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

As astounding as it may sound, God desires to give us our desires, but only after He has transformed those desires and brought them into sync with His own. He wants our plans to succeed, but inasmuch as His Spirit has planted those plans in our hearts.  The progression of the blessing is the prerequisite experience of the blanket prayer. First there is distress, then divine deliverance and protection, followed by help, support, sacrifice, and offering. The transforming power of these events paves the way for success.

Psalm 20:5 – We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests.

There have been many along the way that have cheered you on to spiritual success and growth. The have applauded God at your salvation, baptism, and first steps in discipleship. They have encouraged you and embraced you along your pilgrimage. It is your turn to do this for another. You are called to be an encourager or a mentor or even a cheerleader. You have the capacity to invest your life and prayers in someone other than yourself and to take great joy in his or her progress. Don’t let the opportunity slip away.

Psalm 20:6 - Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

It is a serendipitous moment when we realize within ourselves that God does indeed save those upon whom His purposes rest. Jesus Christ is God’s anointed and all who are found in Him are heirs of God’s purposes, promises, and privileges. We suddenly discover that we can reinterpret every event in our lives in the newly discerned light of God’s eternal program in which we are included. Live each day in the light of His promises and in the confidence of your secure position in His eternal family.

Psalm 20:7 – Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

The difference between God’s anointed and the self-appointed is a matter of trust. We don’t need more insight as Brennan Manning has noted in “Ruthless Trust,” but more trust. We need to recklessly abandon our lives to God with such radical displacement of self and fleshly confidence that we will sink or swim based only upon God’s truth, love, and faithfulness. It is the call of the Christian to climb as far out on a limb with God as possible and then, to live there in an ever deepening reliance upon Him and Him alone.

Psalm 20:8 - They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

Those who trust in the weapons and schemes of man are ultimately frustrated in every human effort. Often, the contrast is most pronounced in times of crisis, grief, or hardship. The countenance of the worldly falls with the loss of position, strength, prosperity, or self-confidence. The godly, though battered, bruised, broken, and besieged, will rise up and stand firm. Grief and sorrow befall every soul, but “that soul who on Jesus hath leaned for repose …” God “… will never, no never desert to his foes.”

Psalm 20:9 - O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!

From the sanctuary of Israel rises up a song of prayer for the man who symbolized their security, well being, and success as a nation. God’s people had the impulse to pray for their nation and leaders in the days of the psalmist. They knew that no people and no potentate could stand apart from the awesome power of the King of the Universe. How seldom we pray for people in power, for decision makers, for the affairs of state and for people of note. How deeply they need our prayers.

Let us commit to pray for all our leaders.

Loving God

\

Reflections on Psalm 18

 

Psalm 18:1 - I love you, O LORD my strength, O LORD my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.

We sing of our love for God this morning.

Psalm 18:2 - The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

The psalmist reaches deeply into his reserves of imagery to describe the security, stability, and solidity that God brings to his life. He uses, in this verse, only one image to describe his own response: “in whom I take refuge.” There is only one possible response to the trustworthiness and faithfulness of a strong and mighty God who loves us. That response is trust. From the place of faith and trust we proceed to praise, obedience, consecration, and rightful fear.

Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. (Job 13:15)”

Whatever the circumstances of our lives, the intensity of our senses, or the severity of our emotions, God is our stronghold and trust is our way of saying “yes” to Him.

Psalm 18:2 - The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

It was 1999 and a tornado had ripped through Moore Oklahoma. Homes had been destroyed. Families were devastated. The need was great.

One of the most recognizable architectural features in town was the high and visible cross at the First Baptist Church. It was also the location of an emergency center.

The word went out to all who needed help, “Go to the cross.”

Churches have often been adorned with steeples, towers and crosses. They are present so that the buildings will stand out and remind the community of the majesty and strength of God in redemptive love and unswerving power.

It is God Himself who is our fortress, deliverer, and high tower. He is our strength. He is our shield. He is our salvation.

We can go to Him.

We understand the love of God and how we benefit from His love. What we sometimes overlook is how dependent we are on His strength. No matter how much He might love us, if He were not strong enough to keep His word and save us, it would all be for naught.

But alas, He is strong and loving and we can go to Him.

Psalm 18:3 - I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

There are three vital touch points in this verse. One is the vocal and volitional response of the trusting heart to God. The next is of greater importance. It is the acknowledgement of the worthiness of the One to whom all trusting souls call. The third and least important is the resulting salvation for all who call to God in faith. In what sense and with what intensity have you been calling to the Lord in recent days? Have your desperate and passionate prayers been bathed in a sense of the wondrous worth of God? Have you been going for God and His glory and letting deliverance follow or have you been shifting the focus to the resulting salvation of your life. Keep your perspective in prayer. It is always all about God. Out of that salvation always follows.

Psalm 18:4-5 – The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave [coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

There is a graver danger than death. It is the denial of death. The psalmist is not seduced by its subtle and intoxicating lure. He looks around and sees, eyes open, the threats that surround him. He does not avoid confrontation, but brings these issues honestly and forthrightly to God. Adopt a strategy of brutal honesty in your life of prayer. In doing so, you bring your awareness of God front and center in the midst of the perils of life and death. Peace and victory are very near the soul that can look death in the face without turning away.

Psalm 18:5 - The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

There are snares of the devil and snares of death and snares of those who are threatened by the path we travel. And all such snares are designed to divert us from that path, the way of the Master. We all face them and some of us come through them.

Just turn the word “through” over and over in your heart and mind. Then celebrate. Celebrate because the snares did not finish you off. Celebrate because you either avoided them or, with God’s help, managed to break free of their clutches. Celebrate deliverance. Celebrate strength in times of trial. Celebrate grace!

The psalmist knew the snares of death. He saw them as road blocks. But he also saw them in the past tense. He had come through.

Of course, some of them have caught you. Whether they caught you off-guard or whether you moved headlong in their direction, eyes wide open, the same grace is for you. Others simply hindered you and brought you discomfort and disquieting, sleepless nights. Whatever the circumstances, look in the mirror. You are still here. You have come through.

What next?

How will the snares of the past prepare you for the snares of the future? Are you wiser in Christ? Are you stronger in Him? Do you have a greater hope and a more solid faith? Is your resolve more resolute than ever before now that you have stared down the snares of death?

You can make it because you have made it. You can make it because others have made it. You can make it most of all, because you have a forerunner, Jesus Christ, who has finished the race and stands at the finish line to welcome you.

Neither hell nor death, nor the defeated one who wields them as weapons against the elect of God can defeat you. You are passing through the snares. They are not eternal. Nor are they all powerful. You are much more than a conqueror through Him who loved you.

Psalm 18:6 - In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

It is not stress that threatens our souls, but distress. And even distress is not the end of the matter for one who is working out his or her trust in God. “That soul who on Jesus hath leaned for repose …” is not hesitant to cry out to God for help. The lessons from the Twelve Steps of A.A. are modified to say that we admitted we were powerless over sin and human frailty - that our lives had become unmanageable and came to believe that only God in Jesus Christ, who is far greater than ourselves, could restore us to sanity. In my distress and out of my distress, my cry is to God who hears me. Let these words challenge and comfort you.

Psalm 18:7 - The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

God is not to be toyed with. When He hears the distressed cry of those whose trust is in Him and releases His power to deliver, there are repercussions. Peter Marshal once preached that prayer is a very dangerous business. Things get shaken. The quaking of the earth is an awesome voice, but it is the voice of God that truly gets the attention of a complacent world. Don’t stop praying, but never succumb to the delusion that prayer is merely a benign exercise of religious sentiment. It is not. It is a trigger that may release the anger of God through agreement with Him and His purposes. Though His wrath is ultimately redemptive, its delivery can be very frightening. When you pray, be prepared to tremble with the earth.

Psalm 18:9 - Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

God wants us to know some things about Himself that we may tend to overlook if the extent of our theology is “Jesus loves me; this I know.” That is a true and faithful summary statement, but it is amplified by the prior knowledge that He is a holy and awesome God who is intolerant of anything that goes against Himself, His purposes, and yes, His love. Again, do not toy with God. Do not reduce Him to a simplistic formula or a divine, cosmic grandpa. We must know enough to fall down prostrate in His presence before we can crawl into His lap as beloved children. The two may happen simultaneously, but one will never be without the knowledge of the other. He is God and we are not.

Psalm 18:10 - He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

God is not sequestered in Heaven. Neither is He confined to a dogma or a domicile. At any time, He can and does part the Heavens to come in judgment, deliverance, and grace. This image of God “coming down” is not a contradiction to the truth of the immanence of His presence. This is a functional description of His intervention in our affairs in response to the cry of a trusting soul. God responds to your response to Him through prayer. Never minimized in your mind the significance of your prayers. When you pray, you are on holy ground.

Psalm 18:11 - He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

The heart thrills at the music of these words. The vision of God mounting the cherubim and soaring on His very wind is dramatic, inspiring, and comforting at the same time. In the previous verse we saw dark clouds under His feet. That tells us that this vision of “God-to-the-rescue” can only be seen by the trusting soul whose sight penetrates the darkness and views reality from the eyes of faith. Let us number ourselves with such as they whenever we look upon the deathly dangers and antagonistic arrogance around us. Thus we shall prayerfully maintain our focus while the world stumbles in despairing darkness.

Psalm 18:12 - He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Darkness is not a characteristic of God. However, He clothes Himself in darkness. He does not fully disclose Himself for to do so would overwhelm even the faithful. Through the eyes of trusting faith, we receive His self-disclosure of light and truth, but only through a glass darkly. Apart from faith, all we see are dark rain clouds. Do not be deceived – not all that is obscured is the harbinger of death. Behind the clouds, there is light. Learn to look for God in every crisis of belief. He is present.

Psalm 18:13 - Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

It is no wonder that God clothes Himself in darkness. His brightness is so brilliant that no human could bear the storm. Someday, we will be enabled to see fully as we are seen and to know fully as we are known. Until then, we view with unveiled face through the glass, the glory of the Lord. Unlike the great and mighty Oz who was merely a mild mannered professor from Kansas behind the veil of thunder and lightening, our God is so very much more that we can see or know. As Rich Mullins, who now sees very clearly, sang, “Our God is an awesome God.”

Psalm 18:14 - The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

Sound is a phenomenon, in the natural world, that is centered in vibrations of various frequencies. These vibrations cause ripples in time and space that reverberate and resound to the human ear. Like thunder, vocal sound gets our attention. The voice is refined sound. God’s voice is heard because God will not be silent and has something to say to us. If we will listen, His voice will thunder in our ears. Otherwise, we will deafen those same ears to truth and love. We must remain alert, even if that makes us vulnerable to be startled, for in that startling, we are awakened to hear God at new frequencies of reality.

Psalm 18:15 - He shot his arrows and scattered [the enemies], great bolts of lightning and routed them.

With the same conviction that we affirm that God is not to be toyed with, we are reminded that God does not toy with us. His anger at sin is unambiguous. His wrath is without prejudice. It is not an emotional outburst from a temperamental potentate, but a proportional response to all that blasphemes His name and oppresses His people. Evil is a bully. Its only strength is in numbers. Only truth stands alone and God is truth. When the oppressors of all that is godly “gang-up” on God’s children, He comes with arrows, lightening, and all that is in the arsenal of truth to scatter them and render them impotent. Do not be afraid of Satan though he commands a host of demons. One Word of God will route the enemy. Align yourself with Him and be secure.

Psalm 18:16 – The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

The poetic imagery speaks for itself, but the truth is grasped in meditation. Nothing can withstand God’s rebuke. He has the final word
on all matters: moral, ethical, spiritual, and intellectual. He will not bow to our perceptions or opinions and He will not withhold His judgment. He breathes truth. All that comes forth from Him is true and sometimes that truth scrapes away the veneer of falsehood with such ferocity that the effect can only be described as wrath. But with His relentless insistence upon fidelity to Himself, His purposes, and His ways, He breathes also, love. And when we behold it, we know that it is the real thing.

Psalm 18:17 - He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

Here is God, breaking through the resistance, piercing the darkness, rebuking all deceit and wickedness, and relentlessly pursuing His purpose. Here is God, thundering forth His voice, blasting the clouds with bolts of lightening, God who is pure and fully integrated, God who judges all that is against His ways. This God stoops low to lift us. He bursts through the clouds to rescue His beloved. He draws us out of the deep waters where we are drowning. He is the God who saves. We have come to appreciate His anger. Now we can fully appreciate His saving love.

Psalm 18:18 - He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

Think for a moment of the strong enemies I your life whether they are habits, attitudes, discouragements, or addictions. How often have you underestimated their power over you and your powerlessness over them? What have been the results of overestimating your strength? Christianity is not about us being strong; it is about God’s strength within us. Pride is that enemy which empowers every other enemy to conquer our souls. Release pride. Expel it from your life. Admit your powerlessness and trust in God to rescue you from your enemies within and without today.

Psalm 18:19 - They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

When you are down, you are also vulnerable to every enemy that lives around you or inside you. Temptations surface when our pain is most acute and our weakness most profound. Satan comes to accuse, deceive, and allure in our disaster. The foes of our souls are looking for opportunities to get in our faces and sneer us into subjection. But the Lord is our support. Consider it today and rely upon it. Make it the subject of your prayer and stand in the assurance.

Psalm 18:20-21 - He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

God’s delight in His children is what moves Him to rescue us. As we would seek to protect the ones we love, so He reaches out to us. It is about a relationship. That’s what righteousness is – something being rightly related. Our filthy hands are made clean because of our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. It is on that basis that we are rewarded. It doesn’t seem fair because it is not. It is grace.

Psalm 18:22-24 - For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

Perhaps the psalmist felt he had done no wrong. Perhaps his definition of “doing no evil” was limited. Or maybe he understood blamelessness in terms of a fresh and up-to-date righteous relationship with God where God’s mercy and grace make up for the deficits in our spiritual accounts. A Christian reading these words must filter them through the teachings of Jesus and the reality of the cross. All have sinned; all have turned away; and none is blameless. However, God is willing to see us as blameless through a right relationship with His righteous Son. The important factor is that we are turning to God and He gives us confidence in His presence by His own merit. Thus we can understand a pray the prayer of the psalmist with calm assurance.

Psalm 18:25-26 – The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

The difficulty with this verse is the same as the previous. From what we know from the rest of scripture, our righteousness does not carry enough clout to purchase a reward. Our cleanest cleanness is filthy. Our faithfulness is fleeting. We have much blame. But that is not the whole story. The slightest overture of response toward God, the tiniest demonstration of faith, the simplest suggestion of sincere seeking is met with God’s adequacy and provision. God rewards the little we bring to Him by supplying all that is deficient in us. It is the song of grace that resounds from these verses and it is a precious song indeed. He makes us righteous, clean, faithful, and blameless that He and we might enjoy a relationship of love and joy together.

Psalm 18:27 - to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

Our purity comes from God. Having said that, let us consider purity as an attitude through which we approach God. The idea of purity evokes images of brilliant light shining through a diamond revealing the full spectrum of colors. It calls to remembrance the embrace of a child, the song of a sparrow, and the penetrating sincerity of an eager student on the first day of class. Purity is a condition of the heart, focus of the mind, and consecration of the body. It is undiluted devotion and singular commitment to a one and only center which gives everything else meaning and perspective. The pure in heart will see God because God is pure. Ask God to purify your soul and spirit today.

Psalm 18:28 - For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. The psalmist declared that God’s Word was his light and his lamp. John declared that in Jesus, Light came into the world when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus illumines the world with His coming and illuminates the Word of God with His very presence.

Just one candle, Jesus, lights the world with brilliance and truth.

These are days of escalating attempts at spectacular light shows – synthetic lights, exploding lights, psychedelic lights – all designed the baffle, amaze, and bewilder.

Yet, when Jesus came, aside from one great burst of glory with a shepherd audience and a star that only some wise men noticed, He presented Himself as one tiny candle, a baby. And that was enough to light the world as John said, “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)

In shining forth as a candle in the dark, Jesus made sense of hundreds of years of sacred scripture, He revealed the mystery of the ages, He brought hope to the dark hearts of men, and He called us to join Him as the light of the world, not to be hidden under a bushel. He was and is just one candle, but out of that one, many. As you light your Christmas candles, remember that it only took one to light the world forever.

Psalm 18:28-29 – You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

Humility is a prerequisite to salvation. No one who is promoting her own resume of righteousness can expect to benefit from mercy. No one bragging about His lack of need will find the place of neediness needed to receive grace. Haughtiness may impress those whose mantra is to win by intimidation, but it commands no respect from God. God will have none rise except those He raises. He will exalt none but Himself and those who He brings alongside Himself. Our only aura is darkness, but God turns the darkness of the humble into the light of Heaven. Humble yourself before God today and He will lift you to the realm of eternal inextinguishable light.

Psalm 18:30 - With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

My great grandfather, we are told, was at Gettysburg in Pickett’s charge. He survived that blood bath though scores of Confederates fell around him. As they ran up that hill against a line of blazing guns, they must have been chilled with fear and numbed with dread, but for some reason, they proceeded – as did the freemen in South Carolina immortalized in the film, “Glory” and the heroes of Normandy. At the command of a leader and for love of country or cause, many a soldier has advanced against a troop and scaled a wall that required more strength, courage, and skill than he or she possessed. In life, in our battles and skirmishes with sin, self, and sickness, we are called upon to give more than we have and extend beyond our abilities. It is then that God helps us with His external encouragement and internal power.

Psalm 18:31-32 - As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

God’s perfection is the only hope of any person for anything that approximates perfection. His flawless word is the standard by which all truth may be evaluated. He is God, pure and simple and for those who come to Him to find refuge and help, He never falters or fails. He is steady; He is sure; He is solid; and He is faithful. He is the Rock. In prayer today, put absolute trust in Him for He alone is trustworthy.

Psalm 18:33 – It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

The psalmist was never bragging. He has known all along that his blamelessness, faithfulness, and righteousness all come from God. He understands that God’s perfection is the essence of any personal holiness that might ever be visible in our lives. His strength is all that can make us strong. Paul came to know this reality when he declared that when he was weak he was strong because Christ’s strength could be made manifest. Only God can equip us for the challenges, battles, and difficulties we will face in this life. Only God can complete our lives as we draw upon His perfection and strength. Live in faith and dependence today.

Psalm 18:34-36 - He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

Who would not opt for solid ground upon which to stand in every situation? Only fools love battle and seek out conflict. Having made both of these statements, one must acknowledge a contrasting truth: only cowards always flee and only chronic whiners always require ideal conditions in their lives. Our spiritual feet are made for the rugged places of life. Our arms are trained for battle. God is preparing us for the adversities of life, not for virtual ease. He knows what we must face and He knows that we must face it with Him or fail. Greatness does not result from minimalist thinking or avoidance of adversity. Greatness comes as the God of the universe stoops low to lift us up in the midst of fiery trials and contentious circumstances.

Psalm 18:37-39 - You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

As we pursue the enemies of truth - prejudice, lust, discouragement, bitterness, and so many others – we do so with ruthless commitment to follow through to the end. We perform beyond our capacities and with courage that we do not possess in and of ourselves. We are assured of an ultimate victory that may often appear allusive and distant. So often we sense that something beyond our sight is occurring to straighten the way before us. At times we have been running with patience and speed and our ankles have turned throwing the balance of the race to our opponents. This does not need to be the case in our spiritual battles. God protects us against frivolous injuries to the end that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Do not be afraid of freak accidents along your spiritual path God is winning this thing and He is doing so through you,

Psalm 18:40-42 – You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-- to the LORD, but he did not answer.

God ‘s strength is an awesome thing indeed. David was a military man, but only by necessity. By profession, he was a shepherd who was called upon to shepherd a nation. Immediately, he was besieged by the foes of God and forced to take up battle. He paid a high price for being a man of war. But sometimes, he saw a reality that escapes the self-sufficient: God goes to war before us and for us. He has the capacity to fight our battles and cause our enemies to cringe with fear and turn away. Satan is our great enemy-accuser and we are equipped to go to battle with him. He will bow at our feet, but not because our strength is so strong; God is strong and His strength makes us strong. It is out of our relationship with God that we may call upon Him when we are under attack and He hears. No other cry reaches His ears. Stay up-to-date with God and you will be prepared for anything.

Psalm 18:43-45 – I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me. As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.

Never underestimate the power of God at work in and through you. You will be utterly amazed at what He can accomplish through your life and the impact that it will have upon others. If it is your goal to impress people with your own strength, agility, cleverness, and wit, you will be disappointed. If you desire wealth, fame, power, or respect you might be tempted to work toward those ends. You will fail or find a miserable success. However, if you seek God and His ways, He will bring you more than you could ever hope for and broaden your influence beyond your wildest imagination.

Psalm 18:46-48 - They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.

Loss of heart is inevitable for those who oppose God. Exaltation is the shared inheritance of the saints. Praise God and lift up your head. Resist the temptation to avenge yourself against injustice or assert your own dignity. God is your champion. You will not win your spiritual battles through clever speech, biting comments, or skillful rhetoric. You will not be exalted through a show of human strength. Your hope is in God. Seek to understand His power and glory in the context of an intimate relationship with Him and leave all of your issues to Him.

Psalm 18:49-50 - Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name. He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

We are establishing a pattern of reflection, praise, and thanksgiving on the last day of the month. Let this be no exception. Meditate upon theses words and apply them to God’s providential acts in your life. Record them in your journal and sing unto the Lord with all your heart and soul. His unfailing kindness is praiseworthy.

So praise Him!

I love you, LORD!

 

The Honey-Coated Locust Eater Still Speaks ...

John's words were a lot like his diet, a little honey and a lot of wild locust!

One pictures the one being sweet and the other, rather robust and, perhaps, a little bitter. And this prophet  still has a word for our times!

Removing Impediments

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. – Luke 3:5-6

God called John to be a smoother and a “straightener”. In many ways, John’s role was nothing more than to clear away the obstacles that might impede the message of the one who would come after him.

He was a voice.

He was a voice in the wilderness.

And he cried out with passion and conviction removing excuses and uncovering facades.

He was the one to come before Jesus who could really move some mountains and clear some paths. John was a co laborer with God as we are called to be and His mission was simple:

To be an agent through whom all flesh might see the salvation of God.

God has no desire to hide His salvation. He wants all to see it. He wants all to receive it.

We have the task of removing the impediments.

What kind of impediments are there? Sometimes mountains are too high, valleys are too low, and roads are too crooked and rough. We can cooperate with God to change that.

One impediment to people seeing God’s salvation is our tendency to speak religious jargon that no one understands. We mask the grace of God in a jungle of theological language and church talk.

Another is our insistence on traditions that have lost their meaning. Or it may be our own negativity or the contradictions of our lives – the dichotomy between what we profess and what we practice.

We have to remove the obstacles that keep people from coming to Christ or even hearing the Word of God. The problem is not so much that people don’t want to hear as much as they sometimes cannot hear over the irrelevant chatter. Remove the impediments and let everyone see the salvation of God.

Fruits of Life Change

Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Luke 3:7-8

From the fruitless, John required fruit. From a brood of vipers, he demanded an answer. From complacent religionists, he called for a willingness to get real. Just because they had enjoyed the benefits of covenant, it did not mean that could not be replaced. Everyone is dispensable – even those who think they are not.

Multitudes had come to be baptized. John was not impressed with his own ability to draw a big crowd. Crowds filling space do not equate to revival. Something more was necessary.

If he had had a headquarters to report to, his report might have been quite impressive, but as we said, he was not impressed. He was looking for something more because God is looking for something more.

John was preaching the possibility and necessity of life change.

Why did they come? Was it a curiosity? Was it a desire to follow the crowds? Was it a fad? Or was it fear of being left out or worse – wrath?

Some come out of wrong fear and some out of right fear. If you do not know the difference, read the book of Proverbs or visit the Grand Canyon. Right fear is awe and reverence; wrong fear is manifested in fight or flight reflexes. It is concerned only with self preservation and avoidance of trouble.

John knows there is something more and so should we. Fruits of repentance are those changed attitudes and deeds that reflect faith in the possibility of life change. They grow out of lives that have been moved by a deep desire for a more fruitful life.

Abject terror will not change our hearts. Judgment is real, but fear of judgment will not, by itself, bring us to repentance. God can do that inside of us and He is ready and willing to do so, but we must desire it and believe that it can happen.

Showing Up

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. - Luke 3:9

Once a thriving industrial plant, the factory had ceased to be productive. Chaos was the order of the day. Supervisors could not predict who would show up for work and when. Even the unions were in a state of panic.

The problem was attendance. It was the first time I’d ever heard of an adult business with an attendance committee. People were not showing up for work; but neither were they quitting or getting fired. Because of contractual clauses, they were remaining on the company and union roles and bleeding both dry in benefits.

They wanted to be employees, but they didn’t want to show up for work. They wanted the benefits of employment, but none of the obligations. They didn’t even show up.

That is the way John viewed the “generation of vipers” who came to be baptized. Some of them wanted the benefits of association with God and the symbols of covenant relationship, but they did not see the relationship between that and being useful.

Fruit trees exist to bring forth fruit. That is their nature and that is their function. God’s people exist to bear fruit as well. It is both the nature and function of covenant people to be useful in the kingdom of God.

John was harsh. He knew what orchard owners did with barren trees. They cut them down to make room for more productive crops. He considered it presumptuous of people to think that they should be allowed to continue being useless and not be replaced.

Remember that John was preparing the way for the Lord. He was the voice that God used to flatten hills and make crooked roads straight. And he was telling it straight. He, like the law, was a schoolmaster to prepare the way of the message and messenger of grace. His role was to amplify the need for repentance and make it plain that God was not pleased with the status quo.

We need to hear this word today. God wants our lives to bear fruit. If they don’t we are simply occupying space on Heaven’s roster. Show up!

Asking the Question

And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? - Luke 3:10 

John got the response that he must have hoped for. It was the right response. It was the only logical response from a people who had been touched and pierced by the penetrating Word of God:

“What shall we do?”

It is a word of hope and desperation. It is a word that reflects sincerity and contrition. It agrees with The messenger of God that all is not right and needs to be made so.

What shall we do when we look at our lives and see no fruit? What do we do when we realize that we are part of the problem, obstructing rather than constructing, reaping benefits without bearing responsibility, failing to live out the true purpose of our lives?

What do we do when it becomes clear that we are keeping our names on the roles, but doing nothing to be productive?

We ask the question.

When we ask the question, we take a giant leap forward because it is pregnant with contrition and intention. The question opens us to what God wants to do in us and through us. It expresses repentance and prepares us for adventure.

We can be more, do more, experience more, receive more. When we ask the question, we are on the verge of discovery that the real benefits of covenant relationship are intertwined with its obligations and opportunities for service. The real privileges come with embracing our calling.

What we must do is ask what we must do.

God loves the question and has an answer prepared, but He cannot or will not deliver it to us until we ask because we will not receive it.

The application to the Christian life is the call to serve – more so, to BE servants, available, cheerful, ready, willing, even eager to be co-opted into His program.

The good news is that God wants you. The questions is: Are we ready to ask the questions?

Live Simply and Share

He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.  - Luke 3:11

Sometimes we are ready for a really complicated answer to the big questions and all we get is something like this.

It’s like Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

Live simply and share what you have.

We’d really like it to be more complicated than that – and in some ways it is. But this was a start. It would certainly be a major change for the folks John was addressing as it would be for many of us.

God always starts where we are. He doesn’t try to overwhelm us. He gives us small bites first and eases us into complexity and difficulty.

For instance, when Thomas wanted to know where Jesus was going and to understand the way, Jesus simplified it for him as if He was saying, “Thomas, you don’t have to figure it all out – All you need to know is that I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. If you want to get to come, just come by me and only by me.”

He was simplifying things for Thomas and for all of us.

John is saying that he would like to see some small indicators that folks meant business – indicators of a change of heart and mind which he could call repentance. “Show me,” he declares.

What must we do? We must do something in character with heart change. Somehow, our lives, once moved by a new relationship with God, must reflect a transformation of values.

Suddenly, there is something more important than having more than we need. Maybe one coat is enough – or one car per driver or a few less toys.

Turning our lives over to God is not rocket science. It is not a burden that none can bear. The Christian ethic is simple: Live simply and share what you have. Do the right thing.

Zeroing In and Meaning Business

Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?  And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. - Luke 3:12

There are different things that different folks must do – but it is always very simple to take the first step.

Stop doing the most blatant thing you are doing wrong. In the case of the hated publicans/ tax collectors: Stop cheating.

To receive this message meant that they had to agree that they had been cheating – even extorting from their own people on behalf of a foreign power for their own enrichment. To do so would have been to come clean and mean business with God.

Life change for the publicans would be a radical departure from the norm. As simple as the command was, it was not easy. They had valued profit above all else like the “Ferringis” in Star Trek – a race of humanoids who were the most cunning and ruthless merchants in the galaxy. They lived by “The Laws of Acquisition,” one of which might be paraphrased, “Love is good, but money is better.”

The publicans had to learn that love is best and everything else is a distant second.

Part of repentance is to recognize that you are doing wrong and stop doing it. But we say, “I just can’t; It is too hard; it is too engrained into my identity; it is who and what I am.”

John says, “Hogwash! You can change. Life change is possible. Repentance is the norm. Stop cheating people.”

Every sector of society has its own inherent temptations to sin. Every individual has a unique set of hot buttons that create pitfalls and weaknesses of the flesh. For each of us, fruits of repentance take on a different color and flavor, but they all share one thing in common – Possibility.

We can do with God’s help and by His grace.  The salvation that He wants all to see comes with the possibility of change. If we mean business, and zero in on our own vulnerabilities, we can embrace it.

Life Change in Public Life

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. - Luke 3:13-14

There were men of influence and power who came to John to be baptized, men who wielded authority over common people, who carried the sword and were authorized to use it to subdue, torment, and enforce.

These men also had the capacity to abuse their power, to punish their enemies, to extract unfair compensation, to be bribed, to extort, ad to oppress. No one would challenge them. They had free reign to inflict violence and abuse people.

John tells these soldiers to be very careful how they used their power. They would need to humble themselves and realize that they were called to live by a higher power than that of their captains or their swords. Having power would no longer be a license for them to misuse it to their own selfish ends.

It is an awesome responsibility to have authority. It takes more grace to carry greater power. To be a covenant man or woman in a position of great influence requires fruits of repentance reflected in a servant’s attitude.

One’s coworkers and fellow soldiers/officers may not be willing or able to reinforce such life change. Only God can and he will.

We all have arenas of temptation that are unique to our stations in life. The same call is present for each: Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance: Stop doing what is wrong; live simply; share what you have; live for God.

 

Art - Hieronymus Bosch's St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness

"You can't make these things up."

With all the bizarre, wild, illogical conspiracy theories being circulated, one is often at loss for words.

At the same time, while factual, evidence-based assertions are questioned and labeled "fake," one may have the words, but fear to speak them. Ridicule and vitriol may follow any clear-headed argument.

But then, one watches live feeds on the television or internet and sees and hear things in real time that seem unreal. One throws up one's hands and drops ones jaw in disbelief. In times like this, truth, though sometimes stranger than fiction, is still not believable.

Here is an answer the next time you hear or read, "You can't make these things up."

Oh, I think you can make it up.

Anything can be made up.

Some people are really good at making things up or transforming things through literary acumen.

The power of human creativity is vast and unfathomable. And most of us are very good at suspending disbelief to enter into the marvelous experience of a good narrative when it reinforces the waves of the narrative ocean in which we swim.

You have to admire the skill if not the veracity.

Therefore, if you don't like the way things are, write a new story, but don't just assume it will materialize into reality. Write it and then, live it, create it, and make it happen.

----------------------

Look and listen to what someone very bright and gifted can create with a little imagination and skill!

What Shall We Do with All This Power?

 

Life Change in Public Life

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. - Luke 3:13-14

 Power is a desirable thing when you don’t have it and a dangerous thing when you do. In many ways, it is a neutral force on the surface – like a bag of gold sitting in the corner of a room not doing anyone good or harm.

Yet, like the bag of gold, power is seldom allowed to just sit there. People who have it use it, either for good or for harm. They are tempted to use it primarily for themselves and they often use it to oppress the powerless.

They almost always want to keep it and they are reluctant to share it.

There were men of influence and power who came to John to be baptized, men who wielded authority over common people, who carried the sword and were authorized to use it to subdue, torment, and enforce.

These men also had the capacity to abuse their power, to punish their enemies, to extract unfair compensation, to be bribed, to extort, ad to oppress. No one would challenge them. They had free reign to inflict violence and abuse people.

Now, they were hearing a message they had never heard before. At least they had not taken it to heart. There was a morality that should govern their discharge of power. There were principles that brought them under a greater authority than their own. There was a truth that should inform their attitudes and actions. How they treated people mattered.

They had personal and corporate sins that called for repentance.

Under deep conviction, they asked how the message of the Baptizer applied to their lives and positions.

John tells these soldiers to be very careful how they used their power. They would need to humble themselves and realize that they were called to live by a higher power than that of their captains or their swords. Having power would no longer be a license for them to misuse it to their own selfish ends.

It is an awesome responsibility to have authority. It takes more grace to carry greater power. To be a covenant man or woman in a position of great influence requires fruits of repentance reflected in a servant’s attitude.

One’s coworkers and fellow soldiers and officers may not be willing or able to reinforce such life change. Only God can and he will.

We all have arenas of temptation that are unique to our stations in life. The same call is present for each: Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance: Stop doing what is wrong; live simply; share what you have; live for God.

If you have power, tremble before God and ask the same question these men asked: What shall we do with all this power?

 

Three Key Verses from Psalm 103

 

Bless God

Bless the Lord, O my soul ... and all that is within me ... - Psalm 103:1

Audacity and capacity are issues that are triggered by this prayer as it is suggested to us.  It is audacious to think that we could somehow bless God. Yet, He has given us the capacity to be a blessing to His heart.

We bless God when we worship Him. He delights in our praises. He enjoys our singing and our words of adoration. He looks beyond the superficial and relishes our heart devotion as we come to Him.

He is blessed by our love response as we receive His love and return it to Him in obedience, faith, and love for our fellow human beings.

We can bless God with our words, deeds, and emotions, but God is most blessed when our lives are completely engaged in love for Him – loving Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. He is blessed when we remind ourselves to bless Him and we follow through with everything that is within us.

What is within you today? Not all of it is positive, but when you offer it to God, He is blessed because He can take it and transform it for His own purposes. Nor is everything within you negative. You cannot be the judge of that. All you can do is commit everything within you to His glory and allow Him to sort I out. It is His holy Name that must be honored, and His holiness is all that can make our lives holy and acceptable as offerings of worship.

In the process, He is blessed. And that is what counts.

A Father’s Love

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. - Psalm 103:13

The love of God is a tender love.

It is a father’s love.

It is a patient love, understanding, compassionate, forgiving, and gracious.

The love of God for His children moves Him to desire what is best for us, what brings us closer to Him, and what develops in us the character that is in Him.

God’s love for us as His children is consistent, persistent, and generous.

He never fails us. He is always present and always true.

Like any father, He wants His children to grow and mature. He wants us to make good and wise choices and honor our family name. He offers us His support, guidance, and correction to that end.

God’s love is real. For that reason, it is sometimes a tough love, a love that can say “no” and mean it, but a love that delights in every opportunity to say, “YES!”

God, our Father, rejoices with us, weeps with us, and loves us even when we are unlovable.

That is because we are never unlovable to Him.

Mostly, God, our tender, loving Father carries us on His shoulders and lifts us so that we might become more, through Him, than we could ever imagine on our own.

Days as Grass

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. – Psalm 103:15

For our season, whatever it may be, we flourish. Then comes the wind and we are gone. Soon, the very memory of our lives fades from the consciousness of our successors and we are thought of no more.

Such a thought might be deemed depressing were it the whole story.

The rest of the story teaches us that from everlasting to everlasting, God’s love is a constant toward us. His covenant people are never forgotten.

It goes on to tell us that God’s throne is never abandoned and that He rules over all.

He it is, according to Psalm 103, who forgives all our sin.

It is He who heals our diseases. Not one of them disappears apart from His wise intervention or creative genius.

He redeems our lives, crowns us love and compassion, satisfies, renews, and administers justice.

How comfortable it would be for us to remain as a grassy flowering meadow, but that is not the way of life. We come and go. Soon we will fade.

Our privilege and responsibility is to bloom in every place we are planted for as long as it is springtime in our lives. It is to be as inwardly beautiful for God as we can be for as many days as we can and to move through the seasons of life with grace and trust.

We may not always be green, but we shall always be loved.

Three Key Verses from Psalm 103

 

Bless God

Bless the Lord, O my soul ... and all that is within me ... - Psalm 103:1

Audacity and capacity are issues that are triggered by this prayer as it is suggested to us.  It is audacious to think that we could somehow bless God. Yet, He has given us the capacity to be a blessing to His heart.

We bless God when we worship Him. He delights in our praises. He enjoys our singing and our words of adoration. He looks beyond the superficial and relishes our heart devotion as we come to Him.

He is blessed by our love response as we receive His love and return it to Him in obedience, faith, and love for our fellow human beings.

We can bless God with our words, deeds, and emotions, but God is most blessed when our lives are completely engaged in love for Him – loving Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. He is blessed when we remind ourselves to bless Him and we follow through with everything that is within us.

What is within you today? Not all of it is positive, but when you offer it to God, He is blessed because He can take it and transform it for His own purposes. Nor is everything within you negative. You cannot be the judge of that. All you can do is commit everything within you to His glory and allow Him to sort I out. It is His holy Name that must be honored, and His holiness is all that can make our lives holy and acceptable as offerings of worship.

In the process, He is blessed. And that is what counts.

A Father’s Love

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. - Psalm 103:13

The love of God is a tender love.

It is a father’s love.

It is a patient love, understanding, compassionate, forgiving, and gracious.

The love of God for His children moves Him to desire what is best for us, what brings us closer to Him, and what develops in us the character that is in Him.

God’s love for us as His children is consistent, persistent, and generous.

He never fails us. He is always present and always true.

Like any father, He wants His children to grow and mature. He wants us to make good and wise choices and honor our family name. He offers us His support, guidance, and correction to that end.

God’s love is real. For that reason, it is sometimes a tough love, a love that can say “no” and mean it, but a love that delights in every opportunity to say, “YES!”

God, our Father, rejoices with us, weeps with us, and loves us even when we are unlovable.

That is because we are never unlovable to Him.

Mostly, God, our tender, loving Father carries us on His shoulders and lifts us so that we might become more, through Him, than we could ever imagine on our own.

Days as Grass

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. – Psalm 103:15

For our season, whatever it may be, we flourish. Then comes the wind and we are gone. Soon, the very memory of our lives fades from the consciousness of our successors and we are thought of no more.

Such a thought might be deemed depressing were it the whole story.

The rest of the story teaches us that from everlasting to everlasting, God’s love is a constant toward us. His covenant people are never forgotten.

It goes on to tell us that God’s throne is never abandoned and that He rules over all.

He it is, according to Psalm 103, who forgives all our sin.

It is He who heals our diseases. Not one of them disappears apart from His wise intervention or creative genius.

He redeems our lives, crowns us love and compassion, satisfies, renews, and administers justice.

How comfortable it would be for us to remain as a grassy flowering meadow, but that is not the way of life. We come and go. Soon we will fade.

Our privilege and responsibility is to bloom in every place we are planted for as long as it is springtime in our lives. It is to be as inwardly beautiful for God as we can be for as many days as we can and to move through the seasons of life with grace and trust.

We may not always be green, but we shall always be loved.

S.U.C.C.E.S.S.

How Do You Spell Success?

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Modern and postmodern man defines success subjectively, materialistically, and temporally, but God defines it universally, spiritually, and eternally. When He promised Joshua success, He did so by His own standards and fulfilled that promise magnificently. From Joshua’s example and from the whole counsel of scripture, we can discover that success is spelled out in biblical principles and values.

 S  is for Submission to the will of God.

Unless we align ourselves with kingdom purposes, we cannot consider our lives successful no matter what we accomplish. Joshua was willing to submit.

U is for Understanding the big picture.

When God fashions a successful man or woman, He gives that person a broad view and a vision that is confined neither to present circumstances, nor to that person’s narrow world of experiences. The scriptures which Joshua was to make a daily part of His life give us God’s big picture.

C is for Commitment to the long haul. 

We must be willing to run the race after we have run out of breath, after our legs begin to grow weak and our strength begins to fail. Discouragement and weariness are no match for a man or woman on mission from God.. The conquest of the promised land was a going to require the rest of Joshua’s life and God’s mission will consume all of our days as well.

 C is for Concern for people & communication.  

As a leader of people, Joshua would have to cultivate his skills as a people person. His shepherding role would be as vital to his success as his skills as a military leader and his capacity to envision the future under God.

E is for Effective expenditure of energy.

Joshua must have had a keen concept of time, He and Caleb had been with the children of Israel since the beginning of the time in the wilderness. He also knew how fragile time and timing can be and the energy required to manage time wisely.

S is for Social responsibility

Joshua had a responsibility to God and to the people. God had called him to look after the well being of every family in the household of Israel. The responsibility was awesome but it is the price of successful leadership.

 S is for Sincerity of focus.

God could trust Joshua because He knew that Joshua would be able to focus on the goal and the tasks necessary to achieve that goal. Sincerity requires single-minded focus and it is also part of the price of success.

Growing Wiser with the Years?

 

Do we really grow wiser with the years?

It is not an absolute given, especially if wisdom is something we resist.

Contrary to what we have heard, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. If we practice foolishness, we will cement it into our behavior patterns. If our thinking is stubbornly calcitrant, it will grow brittle and crack.

However, it does not take as much of an effort as a decision in order to grow wiser. 

We can and we should. It is normative. It is expected. It is the gracious way to age.

Eleven years ago, I turned 55, on this very day. I threw myself a party. I used it as a fund raiser for some causes that I loved.

I also wrote this (slightly edited to exclude some obsolete invitations):

--------------------------

Reflecting on 55

I am reflecting a bit - not too much, but some. Fifty five years once seemed like a lot of time. Now it doesn't. Different people have used that much time with varying degrees of effectiveness. Some have puttered along. Some have frittered it away entirely. Depending on the day of the week and the season on my life, I am somewhere in the continuum.

Tomorrow, I turn 55. It is a double matching digit birthday and I want to celebrate my gratitude for the opportunity of living. I have decided to give it away to three of my favorite local causes ... 

We are having a party!

I announced it and it is sort of a stone-soup party. I am bringing some meat, some song sheets, and myself. Whatever else happens, whatever else ends up on the table to eat, whoever comes, is all up to others.

My life has been sort of a stone soup life. I drop a little bit of something and others have added to it and made something of it.

In today's reading from "My Utmost for His Highest," Oswald Chambers quotes from Hebrews 11:8: "He went out, not knowing  whither he went."

I especially gravitated toward and related to this quote:

"One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do?" You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a "going out," building in confidence on God."

So, I really don't know what this celebration is going to be or if anyone will come or contribute to the whole ... but I am going to show up.

And showing up is a pretty big deal in life.

My birthday presents are for the causes I mentioned because these are a few of the places where I would like to see some good soup brew. These are places where I am currently investing my life in a small way...

It really is not about me.

That is something I am learning about my life. It is not about me, but I am responsible for the choices I make inside my skin and exercise through it.

I am glad to be alive. I look forward to many years. I know 55 is not old even though I'll be able to get "senior coffee" at McDonalds and order off the senior menu at Denney's. However, I have less time now than I did before - more wisdom, but less time to use it. It would be presumptuous to count on what is not promised to the neglect of what is. I have not been promised unlimited days. I have been promised unlimited grace and countless opportunities for each day I live.

I (we) have also been promised that as we make small investments in others, those investments can and will multiply through the efforts of those who add their own to the pot.

So, the adventure continues and this is but a milestone. I invite you to celebrate with me by celebrating the life you have been given and investing it in living on purpose and in encouraging other people to become all they can be.

--------------------------

Now, I am 66, It is not a milestone birthday. At 64, the Beetles had a great song I could play. At 65, it was Medicare and a traditional retirement age in years past. At 66, it is the oldest my dad every got to be before he was taken from the earth by a brain tumor --- I I thought he was elderly.

I do have his toothless grin when my dentures are out and what a grin it was, especially when he was watching Urkle on television,

I did think I was wise at 55, but I also knew that I had a long way to go. Now, I think I have even further to go. Two days after the above post, I wrote this.

--------------------------

Wrong Door - Wrong Store

I had a pretty good lesson in humility and pride yesterday. It was a moment of internal embarrassment and readjustment in my thinking.

It was one of those outdoor shopping centers with a Best Buy and an Office Depot spaced with several other stores in between. I was comparing prices on laptops and calculating insurance reimbursements in light of a recent burglary. It is the upside of getting ripped off.

But that is not the story.

I had taken note of the order of the stores from the parking lot and calculated that I could get a nice walk in just by moving between them and within them.  I left Best Buys and began to walk toward Office Depot when a man crossed my path looking a bit dazed and confused and heading toward the Target Store.

When he was unable to open the door because he was attempting to enter through the exit, I mentally prepared to point at the entrance to help him out. I may or may not have actually pointed. I am a little fuzzy on this point because the real work was going on inside me. There was a flash of smugness and superiority. "I can read signs."

That was short lived.

At the next shop, I entered through the correct door - without a hitch. How proud of myself, I was. "I can read signs." I looked around and, in a moment of bewilderment, observed racks of clothes.

"Why are they selling clothes at Office Depot?"

They were not. They were selling clothes at T.J. Maxx.

Tom Sims, the great sign reader-adherer, had entered the wrong store while basking in the glory of in his ability to use the right door.

 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - I Corinthians 10:12

(Read it in THE MESSAGE and check out this day's "My Utmost for His Highest" reading for uncanny overlaps.)

So, which was worse, the wrong store or the wrong door?

Somehow, as I chuckled inside at my own fallibility and silly pride, I knew I would have to confess this in my blog and hang it out like dirty laundry for all the world to see.

There was also some mention of a speck in your brother's eye and a plank in ones own as I recall ...

--------------------------

 Life humbles us if we lean into it. That is not just OK. That is worth celebrating.

By the way, 2010 was a major year of change in my life. A little less than a month before my birthday, while it was still 2009, I had gastric bypass surgery. So, my birthday party was one of my first times of trying to eat and it turned into a bit of comedy.

--------------------------

Eyes Bigger than Stomach

I cannot imagine how many times I have heard and said, while staring at an insurmountably challenging plate of food, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Simply put: We put too much on the plate because it looked so good --- and manageable.

So last night at my birthday-stone-soup-fund-raising-potluck bash, I found myself staring a a much smaller collection of vittles on my plate and, after a few bites, thinking, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Then, before actually uttering the words, I began to chuckle.

That attracted some attention -- a grown man chuckling to himself while staring at a miniature hot wing.

I was chuckling at the thought, "My goodness, my eyes really ARE bigger than my stomach now ... without question. Lay them on the table beside each other and that is the reality."

So I shared the insight and others joined me in the chuckle which gave me permission for a long and hard belly laugh.

Just a little post-bariatric surgery humor.

--------------------------

Many more surgeries later, lots of pounds, and a number of years and adjustments, and I am still growing and enjoying laughs on myself.

 

Life continues to be an adventure and some days I get wiser and some days I don't.

 

Perhaps the best thing I can say about growing wiser is that it remains an intent and a prayer.

 

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. - James 1:5

 

I am reflecting a bit - not too much, but some. Fifty five years once seemed like a lot of time. Now it doesn't. Different people have used that much time with varying degrees of effectiveness. Some have puttered along. Some have frittered it away entirely. Depending on the day of the week and the season on my life, I am somewhere in the continuum.

Tomorrow, I turn 55. It is a double matching digit birthday and I want to celebrate my gratitude for the opportunity of living. I have decided to give it away to three of my favorite local causes ... 

We are having a party!

I announced it and it is sort of a stone-soup party. I am bringing some meat, some song sheets, and myself. Whatever else happens, whatever else ends up on the table to eat, whoever comes, is all up to others.

My life has been sort of a stone soup life. I drop a little bit of something and others have added to it and made something of it.

In today's reading from "My Utmost for His Highest," Oswald Chambers quotes from Hebrews 11:8: "He went out, not knowing  whither he went."

I especially gravitated toward and related to this quote:

"One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do?" You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a "going out," building in confidence on God."

So, I really don't know what this celebration is going to be or if anyone will come or contribute to the whole ... but I am going to show up.

And showing up is a pretty big deal in life.

My birthday presents are for the causes I mentioned because these are a few of the places where I would like to see some good soup brew. These are places where I am currently investing my life in a small way...

It really is not about me.

That is something I am learning about my life. It is not about me, but I am responsible for the choices I make inside my skin and exercise through it.

I am glad to be alive. I look forward to many years. I know 55 is not old even though I'll be able to get "senior coffee" at McDonalds and order off the senior menu at Denney's. However, I have less time now than I did before - more wisdom, but less time to use it. It would be presumptuous to count on what is not promised to the neglect of what is. I have not been promised unlimited days. I have been promised unlimited grace and countless opportunities for each day I live.

I (we) have also been promised that as we make small investments in others, those investments can and will multiply through the efforts of those who add their own to the pot.

So, the adventure continues and this is but a milestone. I invite you to celebrate with me by celebrating the life you have been given and investing it in living on purpose and in encouraging other people to become all they can be.

--------------------------

Now, I am 66, It is not a milestone birthday. At 64, the Beetles had a great song I could play. At 65, it was Medicare and a traditional retirement age in years past. At 66, it is the oldest my dad every got to be before he was taken from the earth by a brain tumor --- I I thought he was elderly.

I do have his toothless grin when my dentures are out and what a grin it was, especially when he was watching Urkle on television,

I did think I was wise at 55, but I also knew that I had a long way to go. Now, I think I have even further to go. Two days after the above post, I wrote this.

--------------------------

Wrong Door - Wrong Store

I had a pretty good lesson in humility and pride yesterday. It was a moment of internal embarrassment and readjustment in my thinking.

It was one of those outdoor shopping centers with a Best Buy and an Office Depot spaced with several other stores in between. I was comparing prices on laptops and calculating insurance reimbursements in light of a recent burglary. It is the upside of getting ripped off.

But that is not the story.

I had taken note of the order of the stores from the parking lot and calculated that I could get a nice walk in just by moving between them and within them.  I left Best Buys and began to walk toward Office Depot when a man crossed my path looking a bit dazed and confused and heading toward the Target Store.

When he was unable to open the door because he was attempting to enter through the exit, I mentally prepared to point at the entrance to help him out. I may or may not have actually pointed. I am a little fuzzy on this point because the real work was going on inside me. There was a flash of smugness and superiority. "I can read signs."

That was short lived.

At the next shop, I entered through the correct door - without a hitch. How proud of myself, I was. "I can read signs." I looked around and, in a moment of bewilderment, observed racks of clothes.

"Why are they selling clothes at Office Depot?"

They were not. They were selling clothes at T.J. Maxx.

Tom Sims, the great sign reader-adherer, had entered the wrong store while basking in the glory of in his ability to use the right door.

 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - I Corinthians 10:12

(Read it in THE MESSAGE and check out this day's "My Utmost for His Highest" reading for uncanny overlaps.)

So, which was worse, the wrong store or the wrong door?

Somehow, as I chuckled inside at my own fallibility and silly pride, I knew I would have to confess this in my blog and hang it out like dirty laundry for all the world to see.

There was also some mention of a speck in your brother's eye and a plank in ones own as I recall ...

--------------------------

 Life humbles us if we lean into it. That is not just OK. That is worth celebrating.

By the way, 2010 was a major year of change in my life. A little less than a month before my birthday, while it was still 2009, I had gastric bypass surgery. So, my birthday party was one of my first times of trying to eat and it turned into a bit of comedy.

--------------------------

Eyes Bigger than Stomach

I cannot imagine how many times I have heard and said, while staring at an insurmountably challenging plate of food, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Simply put: We put too much on the plate because it looked so good --- and manageable.

So last night at my birthday-stone-soup-fund-raising-potluck bash, I found myself staring a a much smaller collection of vittles on my plate and, after a few bites, thinking, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Then, before actually uttering the words, I began to chuckle.

That attracted some attention -- a grown man chuckling to himself while staring at a miniature hot wing.

I was chuckling at the thought, "My goodness, my eyes really ARE bigger than my stomach now ... without question. Lay them on the table beside each other and that is the reality."

So I shared the insight and others joined me in the chuckle which gave me permission for a long and hard belly laugh.

Just a little post-bariatric surgery humor.

--------------------------

Many more surgeries later, lots of pounds, and a number of years and adjustments, and I am still growing and enjoying laughs on myself.

 

Life continues to be an adventure and some days I get wiser and some days I don't.

 

Perhaps the best thing I can say about growing wiser is that it remains an intent and a prayer.

 

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. - James 1:5

 

I had a pretty good lesson in humility and pride yesterday. It was a moment of internal embarrassment and readjustment in my thinking.

It was one of those outdoor shopping centers with a Best Buy and an Office Depot spaced with several other stores in between. I was comparing prices on laptops and calculating insurance reimbursements in light of a recent burglary. It is the upside of getting ripped off.

But that is not the story.

I had taken note of the order of the stores from the parking lot and calculated that I could get a nice walk in just by moving between them and within them.  I left Best Buys and began to walk toward Office Depot when a man crossed my path looking a bit dazed and confused and heading toward the Target Store.

When he was unable to open the door because he was attempting to enter through the exit, I mentally prepared to point at the entrance to help him out. I may or may not have actually pointed. I am a little fuzzy on this point because the real work was going on inside me. There was a flash of smugness and superiority. "I can read signs."

That was short lived.

At the next shop, I entered through the correct door - without a hitch. How proud of myself, I was. "I can read signs." I looked around and, in a moment of bewilderment, observed racks of clothes.

"Why are they selling clothes at Office Depot?"

They were not. They were selling clothes at T.J. Maxx.

Tom Sims, the great sign reader-adherer, had entered the wrong store while basking in the glory of in his ability to use the right door.

 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - I Corinthians 10:12

(Read it in THE MESSAGE and check out this day's "My Utmost for His Highest" reading for uncanny overlaps.)

So, which was worse, the wrong store or the wrong door?

Somehow, as I chuckled inside at my own fallibility and silly pride, I knew I would have to confess this in my blog and hang it out like dirty laundry for all the world to see.

There was also some mention of a speck in your brother's eye and a plank in ones own as I recall ...

--------------------------

I cannot imagine how many times I have heard and said, while staring at an insurmountably challenging plate of food, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Simply put: We put too much on the plate because it looked so good --- and manageable.

So last night at my birthday-stone-soup-fund-raising-potluck bash, I found myself staring a a much smaller collection of vittles on my plate and, after a few bites, thinking, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach."

Then, before actually uttering the words, I began to chuckle.

That attracted some attention -- a grown man chuckling to himself while staring at a miniature hot wing.

I was chuckling at the thought, "My goodness, my eyes really ARE bigger than my stomach now ... without question. Lay them on the table beside each other and that is the reality."

So I shared the insight and others joined me in the chuckle which gave me permission for a long and hard belly laugh.

Just a little post-bariatric surgery humor.

--------------------------

Many more surgeries later, lots of pounds, and a number of years and adjustments, and I am still growing and enjoying laughs on myself.

 

Life continues to be an adventure and some days I get wiser and some days I don't.

 

Perhaps the best thing I can say about growing wiser is that it remains an intent and a prayer.

 

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. - James 1:5

 

"Whatcha" Got Going?

 

 

I like to share this every five or six years with the question:

 

On what are you working?

 

Does it sound frivolous?

 

I don't think so.

 

What have you been working on?

 

What have you been working for?

 

How is the legacy coming?

 

How about the dreams?

 

How about the investments in the next generation of your faith, values, and hopes?

 

How is that railroad progressing?

 

Is it ready for the train to roll to the next stop?

 

About midnight ... or now ... is a good time to start, restart, or renew.

 

God bless you as you work on your railroad!

 

God's Care

 

Public Domain: An image of Psalm 23 (King James' Version), frontispiece to the 1880 omnibus printing of The Sunday at Home.  (More Information Below)

 

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”- Psalm 23:1

 Let us take a fresh look at the most familiar words in the Bible. Yahweh, the God of Israel, is my very own shepherd. He has many sheep, but He is MY shepherd who knows me, cares for me, leads me, and speaks in a voice I recognize. He can differentiate me from all other sheep and always knows whether I am walking with His flock or wandering away. When I do wander, He seeks me because I am His. He is jealous for me and will not tolerate anything that would harm me. I can trust Him.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” – Psalm 23:2

 Sheep are not very good at locating their own grazing lands. They tend to wander aimlessly, following this patch of grass to another until they are lost. The Shepherd knows the places of abundant food and pure, sweet water. Worry and care are redundant exercises if one is a member of Yahweh’s flock; He already has our needs in His heart and plans. His care is complete. His provision is sure. Are you wearing your life and patience thin trying to duplicate His efforts? Stop. It is futile. Trust Him.

“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” - Psalm 23:3

 The care that God gives us restores something that has been lacking in our lives.  His desire is not simply to keep us going or maintain our existence but do a deep work of grace in us that places us back on the path of righteousness – right relationships with Him and others and right living that nourishes our souls. As He works profoundly in us, His purposes are accomplished, and His Name is glorified. We cannot divorce the glory and love of God as opposing realities. When we prosper, He is exalted.

 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

This valley was a real place of danger in the psalmist’s time and it is any place of danger and despair in our own where we feel alone and vulnerable. But neither the valley nor death itself are the essential and fearful evils that we shun. Evil overtakes us as we grow frightful and discouraged in the valley and it is that evil that the Shepherd confronts with His rod and staff to comfort our souls. Sometimes it is the rod and staff of discipline, but more often, of protection that reminds us that we are not alone.

“ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” – Psalm 23:5

We are guests of God, honored and prized. So far, the psalmist has portrayed God as a shepherd. Then, he has added the role of friend to the Lord’s description. Now, He is also our host. As we see more of who God is in our lives, our self-image is expanded. We have been invited to sit at the head table and partake of a feast of love, joy, and abundance. Looking on with jealous rage are our impotent enemies – forces that endanger our souls. They are powerless to interrupt this celebration for God is in charge.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” – Psalm 23:6

Wherever we go, goodness and love follow. Our journey is a temporal transition leading to an eternal home, but throughout it all, we are accompanied by the presence of God. His Shepherding friendship and hospitality cause us to reinterpret every event of our lives in the light of His purposes and providence. Nothing has meaning apart from Him once we have trusted Him and known His covenant love. Everything prior to our coming to Him was a cruel illusion. But now, we live in a constant state of grace.

Amen.

 

 

More on Art: Uncertain, but: Most likely: Edmund Evans (1826–1905) Also known to have printed in that volume: Joseph Martin Kronheim (1810-1896) One possibility someone mentioned: William Dickes (1815-92) [Not known to have printed in this volume] - The Sunday at Home: A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading, 1880 [collected volume], London, Religious Tract Society, Paternoster Row, 164 Picadilly.

Just One

 

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. – Psalm 27:4

The Greeks had a curious concept of beauty. It had to do with the relationship between the common word for beauty and the word for hour. Something truly beautiful had come to its hour much as the fruit is most fragrant and delectable at the hour of its ripeness.

David understood that the beauty of God was eternal. It transcended time and space. If he could linger in the presence of God all the days of his life, none of God’s beauty would diminish. There would be no decay.

God is consistently beautiful and is the very logos behind all beauty. All that we consider lovely in the arts and in nature finds its perfect form in Him.

For that reason every work of art or music that is offered to God is to be a reflection of His loveliness.  Every edifice of architecture, every sonnet, every work of literature, every dramatic presentation or dance, all of these and more are to be the best we can give that He may be honored and His beauty, through us made manifest.

We are to give God our best and trust Him to supply the rest.

For David, beholding the beauty of God was a step toward inquiring of Him. He knew that he could gaze upon God in whatever way He disclosed Himself as a means of meditating upon His truth.

In doing so, David could meet God and so can we.

The Keeper of the Keys

Photo by Jaye Haych on Unsplash

His Right Hand

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, and He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not …” Revelation 1:17a

In a moment of profound confusion, possible terror, and overwhelming spiritual awe, for John, Jesus places His hand on him with reassuring intensity. All over the world where the gospel had been spread and believers gathered, there was severe persecution. Old now, John had been relegated to a place of exile. He was no stranger to trouble, no coward in the face of danger, and not a man to be shocked by anything God could or would do. However, this experience of seeing Jesus in all His glory was enough to knock Him over as a dead man.

It is not said, but one might wonder if John had grown dismayed, discouraged, or disillusioned amid suffering and seeming chaos. Had he grown weary in waiting for the promises of redemption from this world of sin? Certainly, he had remained faithful to his calling and steadfast in his faith, but had his confidence wavered? We may not know about John, but we can no about ourselves. Have you ever needed the boost that comes from a reminder of God’s presence? Have you ever been at that place where you just wanted to know that God had not abandoned you?

The whole church was there, and Jesus chose to speak to and through John and He placed his right hand upon him. Whatever John may have lacked in confidence, the right hand of fellowship restored. Whatever may have faded in faith was revived by His touch. Whatever seemed far removed and unapproachable in the vision of the exalted Christ was made intimately present through the personal reach of the crucified, risen Savior, who laid His hand upon an old friend with the compassion words, “Fear not.”

And so He comes to you and to me, dear friend, amid the noise of confusion and the beating waves of doubt an anxiety. His words speak truth and courage to our hearts, but it is His touch that is life giving and life affirming, Fear not!

Fear Not

“… Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold; I am alive forever more, Amen, and I have the keys of hell and death.” – Revelation 1:17b-18

At the start of Jesus’ earthly life, the angel brings the same message to the shepherds that the resurrected glorified Christ gives to John on the Isle of Patmos, “Fear not.” He, who is the first and last, has the first and last word in this matter. We are not called to fear, but to faith. We are not designed for timidity, but for courage. We are not relegated to lives of restless anxiety, but to confidence in a Lord who surrounds times and envelops space, One whose purposes are eternal and whose promises endure forever.

He is indeed the first and the last. Nothing preempts His preeminence in all things. In the beginning, He is God. In the end, He is God. He created history and He will sum it up in the final analysis.

It would be enough to know that He is eternal, but He became temporal flesh and blood for us. We can expel fear because He faced our deepest fears in His own body. Death, our old nemesis, has stalked us through all our years. He turned to death as if to say, “Just try to take me. Give it your best shot.”

And He died – horribly, as hideously as possible, but even in death, He had the last word, “It is finished!”

Sometimes you feel locked in and the walls seem to be caving in on you. Sometimes you feel locked out, unable to enter the place of security and joy. Whether you feel locked in or out, fearful of the unknown, apprehensive of the future, regretful of the past, I have good news for you. The keeper of the keys is extending one hand to you and dangling the keys to all the great mysteries and eternity itself in the other. Death and hell are in His hand. He has been there to release the captives and all we must do is follow Him.

But that is not all. He is alive forevermore demonstrating that death is not final for one who believes with heart and life in the Lord of life. But even that is not all – for even if we were to conquer the fear of death, there would be eternity to contend with.

And to that anxiety, Jesus exclaims, “Fear not … I have the keys.”

Alive Forevermore

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” – Revelation 1:18

See Jesus. He stands before you with outstretched, nail-pierced hands and declares, “I am alive,” and you know that His life is the most profound reality in the universe.

“I was dead,” He continues, and you know that it is over. Death has been stared down and has been the first to blink.

Been there; done that – as the colloquialism goes.

And death is done. You must choose death now to die forever. Yet, people choose death every day. They choose death by rejecting the life of grace that is freely offered. Through sin, we have all made the choice against life.

Sin is not defined by a list of unacceptable behaviors. Those are the symptoms of sin. Sin is staring at the One who is alive and was dead and then, turning away. It is trying to snatch the keys from His hand, to sneak in the back door, or to create our own religion of self-sufficiency. Sin is kidding ourselves by calling death, life. Sin is rejecting the One who holds the keys.

Resurrection is about Jesus standing before us still. He holds the keys in His wounded hands and rattles them as an invitation to life. They are engraved with the words, “Do not copy” and they cannot be copied. They are the originals no imitations will open the doors of death and hell. He is alive for evermore and deeply desires to make us alive with Him.

Worship Him today by acknowledging His unique and exclusive right and power to bring life. Trust Him. Follow Him. Invite Him to rule within your heart. He is Lord.

The Limits of Evil

The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents painted by Peter Paul Rubens at the Museum of Louvre-Lens, circa 1618.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. - Matthew 2:16-18 

How far will evil go to carry out its evil ends?

Moved by humiliation and anger, Herod’s insult was matched only by his wicked lust for power. Lashing out against the threat to his illegitimate monarchy, he flung his nation into a time of evil that was inconceivable in its sheer horror. Sanity questioned lunacy with the haunting cry, “Is there no limit to such evil?”

There is none.

Evil will not stop itself. It perpetuates its terrors. It knows no boundaries. It will progress and regress beyond any hint of decency as it grows immune to conscience and compassion.

That is the bad news. The good news is that there is, in fact a limit, but it is not pretty. Not until the death of Herod did the madness cease.

The good news is, furthermore, that God’s good is greater than man’s evil. He is monitoring the progress of wickedness and restraining its instinctive intrusion into the affairs of human history. A loving God allows us free will and its consequences because He does indeed love us, but He will only allow it to go on for so long. The length of its duration is a mystery to us. He will allow suffering to accomplish His purposes and, when they are complete, He will stop it.

When evil, which is not of God, ceases to work toward God’s redemptive purposes, it reaches its limit. We don’t understand it, nor can we predict its course, but we can trust in a God who is working all things out for our good and His glory.

When evil prevails, God weeps along with Rachel, but in the end, righteousness prevails and God says, “Enough!”

Evil will not stop on its own. It is always brought to a stop by the intervention of God in history in one way or another.

That is the only limit that evil knows.

 

The First Sunday after Christmas Day - Worship Video and Devotions

 

The Spirit Factor

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. – Luke 2:25

Simeon was in the right place, in the right frame of mind, living a righteous life, and doing so in right relationship with God.

He was a ready receptacle for God into which God could deposit a gift. He was also ready to be used to make a great declaration to the world.

The Holy Ghost was upon Him – what a magnificent state in which to be!

To be in Jerusalem, the city of God was the first of his blessings. That meant that he lived within eyesight of the temple and could go there regularly to worship, pray, and hear the Torah. Proximity to God and His people opens us to blessings beyond our imagination. Stay close.

He was just. When given a choice between doing the right thing and the wrong thing, he chose the right thing. He did not ask, “Which is easier or has a better payoff?” He asked, “What is right?”

He was devout. His heart was turned in the direction of God and He was an earnest God-seeker. Such a man or woman is ready for God to move.

He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was not a grumbler about the times, but he knew that something better was coming. He lived in anticipation, waiting for a great movement and intervention of God in history. So may we.

The Holy Ghost was upon him. Whatever else might be said of him, there was this invisible, unexplainable, beyond-the-ordinary dimension to his life that nothing could account for but the Holy Spirit. It was the S Factor – S for Spirit.

The Christian life is a spiritual life. It is to be lived spiritually in the power of the Holy Spirit and under His constant influence. When that is the case, whatever else might be said of us will not be enough to explain the extraordinary hope, confidence, insight, and authority of our lives.

The Sirit Factor is available to each of us. Are we available to Him?

When God Whispers in Our Ears

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.– Luke 2:28

What has the Holy Spirit shown you?

Is it audacious to make claims of divine revelation? Is it theologically correct to do so?  Might it not be considered presumptuous?

In the first place, this was not general revelation for all people. It was personal disclosure for Simeon’s personal consumption and encouragement. The Holy Spirit had assured him of the promise and he had embraced it.

There is no indication that Simeon had gone about bragging on his “special revelation.” He had not used it to elevate his status or to appear hyper spiritual.

He had not developed and marketed a seminar entitled, “How I Received a Revelation from the Holy Ghost and How You Can Too.”

He simply received a promise through the still, small voice of God and he clung to it with all his might. He did so in complete trust and confidence that God would bring it to pass.

Perhaps you believe that the Holy Spirit has shown you something about your future. It is OK to entertain the thought. None of us is a perfect receptacle for words from God, but He does still whisper promises in our ears in the form of assurance, calling, and encouragement. Do not be afraid to receive these words.

Could you be wrong? You might, but if you are, God will clarify that for you and show you something better in due time.

You will most likely discover that God was indeed speaking to you, but that you did not fully understand what He was trying to say. It stretched you and challenged you and through the experience, you grew.

If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, it is most likely about you. It was about Simeon that he would live to see the Lord’s Christ and it was about Christ Himself. There were many ways God could have chosen to fulfill those words, but the way He did turned into a blessing for all who believe. What is He whispering in your ear?

Hanging On

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation ... – Luke 2:29-30

 Sometimes it seems that we are just hanging on, waiting for something big to happen.

We hang on to money because we know that either a great opportunity or a rainy day is on the way.

We hang on to an idea because we know that someday, it will be useful. Some day, other people will buy into it and come alongside of us.

We hang on to life because we know that God is not done with us and that all He has promised has not yet come to pass. We hang on because He is hanging on to us and because to shortcut the process would be to cheat Him and to cheat ourselves.

We hang on to hope because we believe that God is the God of hope and that everything He promises will come to pass. We know deeply that He is not forgetful, nor is He remiss. He will fulfill His Word.

Therefore we live on tiptoe. While resting in His promises, we do not entirely relax. We stay alert. We watch. We pray. We actively seek any sign of His coming, any indication of His acting out of His purposes in our time.

We may not know what our roles may be, but we stand at the ready to play them. If it is only to witness His power and trustworthiness, we will do so with joy and gratitude.

Simeon could not depart in peace until the moment came and when the moment came, he knew it.

“Any time now, Lord.  I have seen what you told me I’d see before I died. I’m ready now.”

There were no regrets in Simeon’s life, no unfinished business, no unfulfilled plans, no lost dreams. God had done the great thing for which he had been “hanging on.”

Maybe he lived many more years; maybe he died the next day; we don’t know. What we do know is that when the time came for him to make the final departure, he was ready. He was ready from that moment on.

A Strange Blessing

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.  Luke 2:34-35

It must have seemed like a strange sort of blessing to Mary and Joseph. Many would rise. Many would fall. As a sign, the babe would be spoken against. He would bring out the best and worst in people as their very heart thoughts and motives were revealed. As parents, they would have their hearts pierced.

It was a strange blessing indeed.

When Jesus comes, sweet and unassuming, precious, cute, and giggly as a little baby, it is hard to imagine that the planet has just been invaded by a force to contend with.

He does not tread lightly. There will be no lasting indifference in His regard. He will not be non-controversial. He defines controversy. He confronts us, shattering our prejudices, exposing our biases, showing us what our religious hypocrisies really look like in the light of His truth.

And so He comes to you and to me, dear friend, amid the noise of confusion and the beating waves of doubt an anxiety. His words speak truth and courage to our hearts, but it is His touch that is life giving and life affirming, Fear not!

He threatens our stasis. He shatters our well-formed opinions no matter how many proof-texts we have arranged to support them. He is Lord of all and every notion is subject to His interpretation.

We are not guaranteed safe passage through the sorting out process. We may well be sifted. Nor are those close to him guaranteed that we will not be broken on the wheel of pain and discomfort.

And yet, He is  blessed and we will be blessed through Him. By being in His circle of relationships, the siftings will be blessings and the piercings blessings too. We need His awful mercy and His harsh healing to be made whole. Strange as the blessing may be, a blessing it is.

Marveling

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. – Luke 2:33

 God isn’t calling know-it-alls to play a significant role in His program.

He is not looking for those whose motto is, “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.”

God is calling men and women who are capable of marveling over that which is marvelous.

“Business and usual” is not in His order of the day. He is full of surprises. The mundane is not His domain; He shakes things up.

When God speaks directly through His prophets to us, His Word goes straight to the heart with recognizable veracity and piercing honesty. We are amazed.

Joseph was a man capable of relishing the marvels of God. He was not jaded by boredom or dulled by cynicism. Joseph was caught completely off guard by the wonder of God’s power and He basked in it.

To marvel at the spoken word means that we have truly received it – deeply and with a willingness to let it shape us. We have rejected the superficial responses that tend to dismiss the unusual as a something merely strange and we have chosen to let God speak.

It is no small thing to receive such a word.

It is no small thing what God wants to do in us, through us, and within proximity of our lives.

When God sends a Simeon or an Anna into our lives, He has a reason. While no human being is capable of a consistently infallible representation of divine will, God is able to speak through the frailest, most errant person to say what we need to hear.

And while we are not witnessing the creation of new scriptures in our time, the Lord is still taking His scriptures and placing them on the lips of men and women He chooses to apply them to our lives in ways that cause us to marvel.

Don’t stop marveling; we serve a marvelous God.

Speaking to the Right People

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. – Luke 2:38

 Anna showed up at just the right moment.

It was not all that surprising, because she had devoted the years of her widowhood to prayer and worship. She was in the temple so much, that she might have seemed like an anachronism to some and an annoyance to others.

She was just “always there.”

Yet, she could have missed the moment if not for one thing. God wanted her there and arranged for her to be there to see the Baby King.

She hoped for the redemption of Israel and, once she had seen Him, she told people who were like minded.

There is always an audience for the message that God entrusts to us. There are always those who share our longing, hope, and dissatisfaction with the status quo.

God prepared Anna and He prepared her audience.

Have you been so infused and enthused with redemptive hope that you know you have to share it? He has prepared some people who are ready, willing, and anxious to hear your testimony.

Do not grow discouraged thinking no one is interested. You just haven’t found them yet.

Do not expect everyone to be responsive. Some folks have grown cold and indifferent. Others have never thought beyond the present time with all of its thrills and carnal gratifications. They are living for now and are satisfied with their listless lives.

That very well may change for them, but for the moment, they are at different stages of listening and longing.

You are looking out for those who are thirsty. Keep your good news handy, because when you are willing to share, they will start appearing.

The Long Road Home

And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. – Luke 2:39

They did what they had to do and then, the adventure began.

It was an adventure which Matthew elaborates upon, but about which, Luke chooses to remain silent. It would lead through Egypt, a detour that would save the life of Jesus. It was a long road home.

It would lead back to Nazareth to a period of silence that would be punctuated only by a visit to Jerusalem when He was 12.

But the long road home would continue because Nazareth was only a temporary home. He was progressing on for the gory set before Him.

Our lives take twists and turns and move through mountains and valleys, over rough seas and through caves and along the streets of cities. We are going somewhere and it is not always an easy road.

Necessity is only a starting place. When we have done what is required, the journey begins. Then we start to learn and grow and exercise faith. That’s when it gets messy and mundane.

People don’t write stories about all of those details. We skim over them.

It is not that the gospel writers left out anything God wanted us to know. It’s just that there is so much more about the journey home to glory than we can recount or account for.

The journey of Jesus began when the necessities were done.

We sometimes take a “what can I get by with” attitude toward life. We want to do the minimum and quit, meet the basic requirements, get a pat on the back, and sit down in our easy chairs.

We get saved and collect our ticket to Heaven and think we are done. We haven’t even started. There is a journey ahead of us, an adventure, a plethora of unknowns, and a lifetime of wonder.

When we’ve done what we have to do, the adventure begins.

Growing Stronger

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him..– Luke 2:40

Jesus grew.

He was not born strong, wise, and full of grace.

He was born who He was: the Son of God, but the Son of God, God the Son had emptied Himself and taken on Himself the form of a servant.

Therefore, it was required that He submit to the process of maturation physically, emotionally, relationally, intellectually, and spiritually.

We, when we were children, often wanted the privileges of adults. When we became adults, we longed for the care free life we enjoyed as children.

Seldom have we relished the gut-wrenching, humiliating, submissive, and painful experiences that are sometimes associated with growing up. In the quest to avoid some of these, there are among us those who have never grown up or have failed to do so in some selected areas of life.

Jesus grew. He became strong, wiser, and more gracious. He did it in stages and through steady progression. He did through challenges and changes, and choices.

He embraced the opportunities to grow and cherished the wisdom that was available through the synagogue and temple and the teaching of His parents.

Jesus grew.

Are you growing? You cannot stay where you are. You will either be spiraling up or spiraling down in the strength, wisdom, and grace.

You can become weaker by not growing stronger. You can indeed become less wise by refusing to grow wiser.

You can become colder and more indifferent by not becoming a channel for God’s grace to flow through you.

The choice, as always, is yours. What will it be – growth or decline?

 

 

Present Among

Thanks to Christopher Burns on Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/@christopher__burns

"...in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old." - Isaiah 63:9 (NRSV)

This is the personal involvement of God in the distress of His people.

We continue to celebrate Christmas on the Christian calendar and in life, the message of the incarnation is one of God's personal involvement in the pain and passion of people.

It is our clarion call to be personally involved, with passion in the pain around us ... present.

We must be present for God is present.

We cannot stand back and gaze upon suffering and injustice with nods and sneers and detached prayers. Our prayers must to attached to our lives and the lives of others.

Isaiah will be read in churches across the world this Sunday, the first Sunday after Christmas. We will praise God from Psalm 68. We will be taught from Hebrews 2 that it was fitting for our champion to be made perfect through sufferings to bring many sons to glory. We will see this lived out as the homeless Jesus becomes a refuge in a foreign land, an alien among a strange people.

Personal involvement. What will you touch in the coming year?

The Second Day of Christmas, St. Stephen, St. James, and Kwanza!

 

 

 

 

In addition to being the second day of Christmas out of twelve as we lead up to Epiphany, it is also The Feast of James the Just in the Eastern Orthodox Church, The Feast of Stephen in the Western Church, and the first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1  in the United States among people of African Decent.

 

"Holiday" is a word derived from the words, "holy" and "day."

 

What makes them holy is that they are special and set aside to remind us of some principle, event, or character which can teach us how to better live in our world today. For one who believes in God and follows Jesus, there is the possibility of finding the holiness in every day. In fact, there is not a day on the calendar that is not set aside by some group or community for commemoration.

 

Excerpts from Wikipedia Articles:

"Stephen (Greek: Στέφανος Stéphanos, meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name, Hebrew: סטפנוס הקדוש‎, Stephanos HaQadosh), (c. AD 5 – c. AD 34) traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity, was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, a deacon in the early Church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, also known as Paul, a Pharisee and Roman citizen who would later become a Christian apostle."

"he only source for information about Stephen is the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews selected to participate in a fairer distribution of welfare to the Greek-speaking widows."

"James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord (Latin: Iacomus from Hebrew: יעקב‎ Ya'akov and Greek: Ἰάκωβος Iákōbos, can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was a brother of Jesus, according to the New Testament. He was an early leader of the Jerusalem Church of the Apostolic Age. He died as a martyr in AD 62 or 69."

"Roman tradition holds that this James is to be identified with James, son of Alphaeus, and James the Less. It is agreed by most that he should not be confused with James, son of Zebedee."

"Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba – the seven principles of African Heritage). They were developed in 1965, a year before Kwanzaa itself. These seven principles comprise Kawaida, a Swahili word meaning "common". Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle."

The lessons are valuable.

 

What we can learn from Stephen is how to be a faithful witness and humble servant.

 

Likewise, we learn from  James how to lead a people through trying times and remain faithful to Christ.

 

Kwanza, though not a religious holiday, teaches strong values that are, in fact, very spiritual and scriptural as well as practical.

 

Whatever propels you to a closer walk with God and a more loving relationship with your fellow humans is to be embraced and celebrated today on this Second Day of Christmas.

 

Liturgical Scriptures for December 26

Psalm 148

New Revised Standard Version

 

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his host!

Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
    and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for he commanded and they were created.
He established them forever and ever;
    he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
    stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
    creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
    old and young together!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his faithful,
    for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

Jeremiah 26:1-9

New Revised Standard Version

 

At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord; speak to them all the words that I command you; do not hold back a word. It may be that they will listen, all of them, and will turn from their evil way, that I may change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them because of their evil doings. You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently—though you have not heeded— then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

Jeremiah 26:12-15

New Revised Standard Version

 

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Acts 6:8-15

New Revised Standard Version

 

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.” And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 7:51-60

New Revised Standard Version

 

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”

When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Christmas Day, 2020

Fear Not

And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings…” Luke 2:10

 We live in a generation beset with fear where security has assumed a greater value than freedom. We want secure stocks, secure airports, and secure streets. We seek out secure jobs, secure families, and homes so secure that no one can get in or out.  The same bars that lock burglars out, entrap residents in the even of a fire. We are obsessed with safety, security, and fear.

It was an uneventful night when an angel invaded the darkness of complacency, security, and safety that defined the shepherds’ existence, Explosive light called them to attention. A voice they had never heard summoned them with these words, “Fear not!” Their restless contentment had for too longed masked their anxious resignation that things would always continue as they had been. They rested secure in the routine existence to which they believed they had been assigned until they were disturbed by a great light and an authoritative voice that called tem to revive their expectations and renew their hope.

Life would become delightfully dangerous and spontaneous again as they redefined peace and realigned their hopes with a promise they could neither control nor verify. They were being called to a new kind of life where they would sneer at fear and move out in faith to a place they could never find on their own. In a few moments, they would receive all of the evidence they needed to say, “Let us go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

 

And so, they would move out with a new kind of urgent haste – unlike the haste of other days. This urgency would have no root in fear or distress. It would be the haste of child to the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, the hurried pace of a soldier returning home from battle to his loved ones, the sprint of an athlete in the last lap of a race for Olympic gold. It would be the end of fear for the shepherds and for all who would embrace the promise given to them and to us that night: “Behold!”

Good Tidings

“… I bring you good tidings …” -  from Luke 2:10

Christmas is about good news. It is the gospel message delivered by God’s messenger to all who will hear.

There was nothing frightening or negative about the message the angel brought to these shepherds Nor was there any indication that they received the word because of any particular merit or worthiness on their part. It came to them by grace and God knew that they would respond with spontaneous, childlike faith, and inquisitive wonder.

God knew that they would receive the message as good tidings.

How do we receive words from God? To be more specific: How do we receive the Word of God that comes to us with great regularity and is always available to our eyes, ears, and hearts? Have we grown cold, indifferent, and spiritually grumpy in our familiarity with the good news?

It is no mere concession to secularity that we should say, “Merry Christmas!” It is the ancient wisdom of the Word of God that says,”a merry heart doeth good like a medicine …” (Proverbs 17:22) God has diagnosed the essential disease of humankind and has sent forth His healing balm in the person of His only begotten Son.

The very presence of Jesus is good news. It is cause for celebration, merriment, and singing. It dispels fear and brings smiles to the faces of all that honestly and openly receive the news. It is good tidings in that it overshadows all the bad news of the day. It crucifies the curmudgeon inside each of us and wipes out our negativity. Even the Ebenezer Scrooges of the world have to confess that we live in the day that the Lord has made.

Receive God’s Word today as good tidings to your soul. Even if it brings correction, rebuke, and conviction, His good news is sent to bring you healing and grace.

Great Joy

“I bring you good tidings of great joy.” - from Luke 2:10

 The literary giant, C.S. Lewis said that joy is the serious business of Heaven. There is no sadness, nor are there tears, or pain in Heaven. Every moment is an occasion for rejoicing and praise. Joy is, indeed, the serious business of Heaven.

The angel brought news, and it was goo, but it was good  tidings with a specific end in sight: Great Joy!

To continue the theme from the previous portion of the verse, there is an appropriate emotional response to the message of Christmas. It is joy!

If we do not jump for joy at this news, we have somehow missed it. We cannot embrace the Word of God that came to the shepherds without an overwhelming experience of joy. If we refuse joy, we refuse grace; if we refuse grace, we refuse God. It is the harsh but simple truth of the matter. Joy is built into the equation and is as clear and compelling evidence of spiritual conversion as exists.

Christmas, though not biblically mandated on the calendar, is clearly a God ordained, ongoing response to the incarnation of Divinity into the realm of humanity. It is not a day; it is a frame of mind. It is not a season; it s an attitude of the heart. It is not an event; it is an emotional response to God with one’s whole being.

Joy to the world; the Lord is come!

Where do you get it? You receive it in the exercise there of. Confess joy and express joy and God’s joy will fill you. Like any act of faith, the sensation may tarry, but act in joy from the depths of your spirit and you will begin to experience its manifestation within. Fully engage yourself in the worship of Jesus Christ this season. Rejoice. We have some great news!

To All People

“ … I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” from Luke 2:10

God’s joy is of universal application. There is much talk today about “inclusiveness.” We are told tat the church must use inclusive language and that inclusiveness means accepting certain behaviors as within the realm of “normality.” That is not what the gospel proclaims. The gospel declares that something outside of ourselves, outside of language and theology, outside of our political beliefs, outside of our self-worth and self-justification has invaded the world with good news.

The good news is that whoever you are, whatever you believe, whatever you have done, whatever your opinion of yourself may be, however you choose to identify yourself, you are the object of God’s love and grace. The news is that Jesus has come to and for you and that you are no different than anyone else in this regard.

The news is a call to respond in faith and obedience. It is a summons to come and worship, to bow down, to seek out the stable and the manger and the child and fall down before Him. It is a call to leave behind our false pride, self-sufficiency, and stubborn ways and follow the way of the cross.

Inclusiveness means, for the believer, a missionary calling. It means that this good news must be heard by every human being. It means that when we tell it, we are not condemning people, but affirming their value to God. When we tell it, we are not excluding them, but inviting them to the table of grace. When we tell it, we are not being obnoxious, but following the clear and gracious compulsion of love.

This kind of inclusiveness does not mean condoning sin, but seeing sin as a common condition that separates men and women from the God who passionately loves them and deeply desires their healing and restoration. There is no day on the calendar with any greater missionary relevance than Christmas. When God said, “for all people,” He meant it. Can we mean less? Let us reach out with joy to spread the good ness of joy to all people.

 

 

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Advent - Reflections from John 1

Inuit Nativity - Art and Art Copyright Source via Creative Commons  elcoleccionistadeinstantes.blogspot.com/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/azuaje/5321600328

 

God Spoke

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3

God spoke. He has always spoken. There was never a time when God was not speaking. His very nature is revealed in His Word and His Word is inseparable from Who He Is.

God Is. God speaks. 

These are two basic corollaries of any Christian theology.

When God speaks things come into existence. All that is was once spoken by God.  Nothing has been made apart from His Word. His Word is living. His Word is a person. His Word is as real as He is.

As we enter into the season of preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus, we must know that He is first of all, the Word of God, co-equal and absolutely reliable.  He is the heartbeat of God’s will, the expression of God’s love, and the demonstration of God’s purity and holiness.

Christmas is about celebrating the Word of God in Jesus Christ and is most appropriately celebrated with an open Bible and an open heart. 

Christmas drives us back to the scriptures to seek understanding of the ways of God.  It prompts us to yearn for deeper understanding in the pages of the Bible that we might ascertain God’s eternal purposes and His plan for the people of His world. We become like the Magi, seeking the wisdom of the ages.

Decide now to make this a Bible Christmas by beginning with the eternal preexistent Word and orienting your understanding around Him.

God has spoken. Let us listen.

The Lights on the Tree of Life

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”  John 1:4-5

By now, your community is lighted with beautiful reminders of the Christmas season. The colors shining in the night can be seen from afar and even from space. They are at the same time happy and holy, gaudy and dignified. They serve as reminders of joy and correctives to the harsh edges that so often dominate the landscape of our cities and our lives.

It is clearly, visibly, and festively Christmas where we live and the light is shining in the darkness.

In fact, it is in the darkness of night that we most often venture forth from our homes to view these lights and celebrate the profound contrasts that they afford.

From simple candle lights in the windows of homes to magnificent displays in the public squares, we behold temporal illustrations of eternal reality: The evergreen trees which live long through Winter when planted in the soil of the earth are types of the tree of life which is planted in the fertile soil of God’s truth. In and from that life, which is Christ, flows the life and light of men. 

And that light shines in the darkness beckoning men and women who live in darkness to come.

To those outside on the cold dark streets of our cities, shivering from the frosty darkness that envelopes them, the flickering lights from a Christmas tree in the window of a warm home serve as an invitation to come to something better. They softly hum the call of God to enter into His brightness and the warmth of His presence. They sway to the melody of each sweet carol, “O come, let us adore Him.”

The light is shining and it is, indeed, the light of men.

The Unknown Light

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: “ John 1:9-12

The lights on the trees are synthetic. Though lovely in their appearance, they are temporal and will fade away, burn out, or be immediately extinguished as they or their power source is broken. They are not true lights.

They do not shine universally, but only within the close proximity of those who light them. There are dark places where their ambiance is not known. There are pockets of despair in the world where the lights of Christmas have never been lit.

But the true light shines on every man while in pervasive blindness, there are many who do not and will not see. Hardness of heart and bitterness of spirit obscure the view of those for whom the light is intended.

We live in a land of shadows and distortions where every ray of light is filtered through our prejudicial thinking and blind ambition. We stumble in our assumptions and trip over our own dark thoughts oblivious to the Light that has come into the world and is already shining on us.

Many there are who do not recognize him when confronted by Him, who sing the songs of Christmas, hang the decorations on their trees, gasp at the beauty of the colors of the season, and greet one another with manufactured cheer. Yet they do not see him to whom all the signs and symbols point.

Those who do become the children of God,  and playfully unwrap their spiritual gifts around the tree of life.

With which company of celebrants will you number yourself this Christmas?

The Miracle of Christmas

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. “ John 1:14

As God speaks, flesh is formed, holy flesh, incarnate divinity, whimpering wonder, tiny testimony to His love and presence. It is a miracle. God spoke in this little bundle of flesh and blood as helpless as He was with more profound clarity and unmistakable volume than in all of history. God performed the miracle of Christmas.

One night in Bethlehem, as the light shone in the darkness, the Word, eternal and perfect, became flesh and began to dwell among us.

He began as we begin. He grew as we grow. He struggled as we struggle. He was tempted as we are. He overcame as no man ever has before or since. In all ways, He was like us, yet without sin.

And we saw something in him we have never seen before in any man as we saw it in Him, the glory of God.

It had been reflected off the face of Moses, but it emanated from Jesus the Christ. The people could not look at Moses and live. We live by beholding Jesus.

It was the glory of the unique, only begotten of the Father, the eternal Word of God. It was real glory we saw, real light, and true life. It was glory that is full of grace and glory that is full of truth.

No where else in the drama of the cosmos have grace and truth been so compatible in one event. Truth lands on earth with the piecing weight of uncompromising reality and shouts, “Here I am.” This is it!” Grace creeps into our lives and settles our hearts. It injects truth into our souls without sting or invasion and speaks compassion to our hearts.

Truth may seem harsh, but grace and truth are as welcome as Christmas and are, in fact, what Christmas is all about. This is the miracle of Christmas:  that the truthful, loving Word of God has become incarnate in human form and we can see Who God is in all of His glory and live.

Shared Glory! New Jerusalem!

 

La Jérusalem céleste“, extraite de la Tapisserie de l'Apocalypse du Château d'Angers, France.  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

 

Sharing the Glory - An Advent Meditation

 

“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” -Revelation 21:10

 

Someone once said that no experience in his life was complete until he had shared it with His beloved.

 

As children, we rushed home to our moms and dads with every piece of good news from the day at school. As teens, we called our best friends as soon as possible.

 

When God brought that special someone into our lives, if we have been so blessed, we desired nothing more than to disclose every wonderful event to him or her.

 

Throughout our lives there have been people attached to us who were so precious that we wanted to share ourselves, our hopes, our dreams, our victories, and our sorrows with them.

 

In such a spirit, Jesus took some of his dearest friends to the mountain. Up until this point, they had seen him as a man – an extraordinary man. But now, he wanted to show a little more of himself to them – and what they would see would startle and amaze them.

 

When was the last time the Holy Spirit took you to a high mountain to see what He was bringing to pass in God’s purposes?

 

Whatever God prepares, He does so according to His will in Heaven so that the sincerest and purest prayer of the believer may be, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

 

Our God is at work and He is meeting with us in worship to give us a glimpse of His glory. He does this that we might join Him and be willingly led by His Spirit wherever His Spirit leads.

 

It is all about love – God’s love for us and our response in love toward Him.

 

 

And let us work in the here and now for God's Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven so that when it comes down, it will come as a fulfillment of  all we have ever lived in the light of God's glory!

 

 

And let us build Jerusalem in every home, neighborhood, city, state, and nation where we live now. When He brings it to pass, we shall rejoice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Twenty-fifth Day of Advent - High Praise

 

When Mary uttered her song of praise, magnifying the Lord, she was not the first.  Notably, Hannah's praise, exulting in the Lord, rings down through the ages. One wonders if, when Mary began to comprehend what was happening in her life, she thought of Hannah and Sarah. These were women who were older and believed they were too old. Mary thought she was too young.

But God ...

And with God ...

And when God steps in ...

1 Samuel 2:1-10,   New Revised Standard Version

Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in my victory.

“There is no Holy One like the Lord,
    no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
    let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
    and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
    but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
    but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
    but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
    and on them he has set the world.

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
    but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
    for not by might does one prevail.
The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
    the Most High will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
    he will give strength to his king,
    and exalt the power of his anointed.”

 

Praise to God for God's marvelous work is our order of the day.

Praise in the big things.

Praise in the little things.

Praise in the ordinary.

Praise in the extraordinary.

Praise at the beginning of life.

Praise throughout life.

Praise when it is going well.

Praise when all is tedious and painful.

Praise when an ominous future awaits.

Praise at the end of life.

Praise at the dawning of new life.

Praise.

 

Mark 11:1-11,  New Revised Standard Version

 

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Advent is a time of good news and praise. We bless Jesus who comes in the name of the Lord and all who, following him, come in the name of the Lord.

 

The Child Who Conquers Is the Conqueror Who Brings Peace

 

 

 

WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

“And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.” - Luke 1:66

“But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! “ - Matthew 8:27

What child is this? What manner of man is Jesus? This is our question for thought and meditation as we seek Him in a new way and gaze upon His presence.

From infancy, everything about Jesus was special. The events of His birth, the circumstances of His life, and the very countenance of His presence evoked the seeking question of this season. His words, deeds, and mannerisms all announce His divinity and significance.

We join William C. Dix in singing:

What child is this who laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the child of Mary.

Consider the meaning of Jesus in your life as You prepare for Christmas.

The Twenty-fourth Day of Advent - An Unfolding Priesthood

 

 

In the broadest sense and the deepest sense, this is history. In the ordinary sense of the word it is less and it is more than history. It is the story of God who connects with us at all costs to Himself. It is the story of priesthood and a prophetic progression that ushers in a perpetual kingdom, inch by inch, step by step, person by person.

 

The Advent journey leads us through much that is old, much that is dependent upon the past as well as the future. 

 

No piece of the puzzle tells the whole story throughout the Hebrew scriptures as God uses people, circumstances, and events to fashion a grand design that comes to fulfillment in the coming of Jesus.

1 Samuel 1:19-28,  New Revised Standard Version

They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.” 

Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.” 

So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

She left him there for the Lord.

What, then, was the advantage of Hannah having a son if she was going to leave him with Eli?

She could visit him and he could visit, but she would not have a daily mother-son relationship with him. She would not hear his first words or watch him paly or be there to bandage his wounds when he was injured.

She was bearing him to give him to God.

It has always seemed somewhat baffling from a merely human standpoint. Would it not have been just as well to go on through life baren? Would not the heartbreak of separation have been more troubling than being childless?

All cultural considerations and historical context aside, this account leaves any number of fill-in-the-blank gaps because it is not mere isolated history. Nor is it merely human. It is not just Hannah's story. It is not Eli's story ort Elkanah's. Nor is it merely Samuel's.

It is Israel's story and, by the way God tells that story through the centuries, it is God's story.

It is the story of one family giving what was most precious to them, to the LORD for the LORD's use and being instruments of God's purpose. It is about the formation of a man who would become a priest, a prophet, and a king-maker. It is about steps in a messianic strain of divine story, woven into a thematic tapestry that would continue to unfold through the centuries. It is about the line of David.

For Hannah, it was about being a part of the circle of human life and the forward progression of God's work. She was willing, as was Mary, to be an instrument of God's will.

That progression continues until it brings us to the eternal priesthood that the writer of Hebrews sought to explain as finding its completeness in Jesus the Christ. 

Hebrews 8, New Revised Standard Version

Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 

 

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent, was warned, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 

 

But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.

God finds fault with them when he says:

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah;
not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors,
    on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach one another
    or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”

In speaking of “a new covenant,” he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.

We need such a priest as Jesus. God knows and knew that and began preparing that priesthood before time was time or space was space, outside of this realm, surrounding this reality, permeating it, creating it, recreating it, and intervening within and participating in it.

Luke 1:46-55,  New Revised Standard Version

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

The Twenty-third Day of Advent - The High Priest

The Holy of Holies; illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible

Hebrews 9:1-14, New Revised Standard Version

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies. In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.

Such preparations having been made, the priests go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties; but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent is still standing. This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

Blood and Remission

“ And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” - Hebrews 9:22

Every function of creation points to the center of God's truth. The body teaches us lessons about how the Body of Christ functions in the exercise of spiritual gifts and ministry. Every relationship can be a type of our relationship with God because that is the primary relationship in our lives. Marriage, friendship, family, and fatherhood all expound upon God’s ways with people. Even sub-creation, the work of God through the hands of men, can teach us the lessons of life as when Jesus turned the water to wine. Nothing is the same when God enters in.

The lesson is that God enters into every situation to manifest His presence and to transform and demonstrate His truth. Often, there is a grand and mysterious paradox. The men and women of Jesus' day did not understand how it was true, but they knew that the life of the body was in the blood. Throughout their history, the Jews observed that with the shedding of blood came death. But they practiced an ethic that grievous sins must be atoned for by the shedding of blood, life for life. When they realized that all sin before God was grievous, they needed a means of worship and sacrifice whereby sins could be atoned and sinners could still live. God provided the blood of the lamb as a worshipful sacrifice and as a reminder that unless God enters in, there is no forgiveness of sin.

Sinful men and women can be forgiven. The slate upon which the balances of our lives are weighed can be cleaned and we can be acquitted of that for which we are guilty. There were not enough sheep in Israel, or the entire world to make this possible however. Even this sacrifice was a type pointing to a deeper truth. The unfolding drama of revelation introduced the Incarnate Son of God as the Lamb. And the paradox of was and is that the loss of blood introduced the giving of life through the loss of life. Without the sacrifice of Jesus, there is no remission. In worship, we confront the glorious mysteries of transformation and open our lives to the continuing manifestation of God's power among us.

Let us worship.

Luke 1:46-55, New Revised Standard Version

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

The Fourth Sunday of Advent - Magnify the Lord

Mary Magdalene and Mary, Mother of Jesus, bringing spices to Christ’s tomb. This gorgeous Victorian stained glass (ca. 1899) was created by J.W. Brown as part of the restoration of 13th-century St. Mary’s Church, Matching, Esse -  Daily Prayer

 

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord …” – Luke 1:46

The Magnificat remains one of the most glorious expressions of praise in all of musical literature. Perhaps, someday, in Heaven, God will allow us to hear a replay of the day Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth or the day the angel visited Mary and announced God’s intentions to her. We would hear that conversation that altered history and sweet sound of her acceptance of God’s great gift of His Son to and through her. The music of absolute surrender would call us to worship and we would join her in exclaiming,

“My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior!”

No less significant was the day your heart responded to God’s grace and declared, “be it unto me according to thy word.”

That God would regard the low estate of His handmaiden and plant the seed of redemption within her womb is a magnificent thing indeed. That God would regard our low estates that Christ might be conceived and born in our hearts by faith is astounding!

We cannot help but sing His praise. We cannot resist the call the worship. We cannot feign to exalt His Name and rejoice in the miracle of His coming. As Mary conceived without human agency, so, that which is born in us of God is without human effort.

Welcome Him to your life anew today and join in chorus:

Prophets foretold Him,
Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him
On the throne;
Worthy our Savior
Of all our praises;
Happy forever are His own.
(Mary Macdonald, 1888)

Rejoice!

------------------

Two Marys

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And hen she saw him, she was troubled at his saying ... And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. ... And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word ... And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the
Lord ... " (Excerpted from Luke 1:28-46)

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? ... Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." (Excerpted from John 20:15- 16)

Once, there were two Marys, one from Nazareth and one from Magdala, a Christmas Mary and an Easter Mary. Their lives and their journeys overlapped. Each found Jesus in the midst of crisis. Each submitted to the Master in humble consecration. Each loved Him with pure and sincere love.

Mary, the mother of Jesus received an angelic announcement of Jesus' coming.

Mary Magdalene received such an announcement of His resurrection - and then, she saw Him! Mary of Nazareth submitted her life as the handmaid of the Lord; Mary of Magdala as a disciple.

Both Marys were shocked and dismayed by their circumstances. Both came to the place of rejoicing and praise through encounter with the Lord. It is always Easter at Christmas for the Christian and always Christmas at Easter. In our dismay and bewilderment with the circumstances of our lives, we receive the Jesus message as a whole package and we submit our lives to Him.

Mary of Nazareth began her journey with Jesus before He was born and followed Him to the cross and beyond to the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene joined Him later in the journey, but had the same quality of encounter with Him. It is the encounter that we must have.

Come to Mary's house today and let Jesus be conceived in your heart. Come to the manger and rejoice at His birth. Come to the cross and let His blood wash away your sins. Come to the empty tomb and receive His life eternal .

Come to Jesus today, and worship Him.

 

The Twenty First Day of Advent - Unique

 

Photo by Jessica Ruscello on Unsplash

“Never has anyone spoken like this!”

God makes everyone unique, but some folks are more unique than others.

Samson was pretty unique. That uniqueness included his greatest strengths as well as his fatal flaws. He came as a miracle child and lived no ordinary life.

David was chosen from among the people of God. He had his weaknesses and blind spots, but he was a king like no other. He served the purposes of God in his generation and then, he died.

But Jesus came to earth flawless, the most unique of all the unique. He baffled the elders and bewildered those who lusted for power. If there was a flimsily constructed applecart of belief and practice in his vicinity, he upset it. His coming, though humble, was not typical and his life, though simple, was unlike any other.

People could not figure Jesus out, put him in a box, or even build a box around him that would be sufficient from one moment to another. He defied human definition.

“Never has anyone spoken like this!”

It was not declared as a compliment or a statement of admiration as much as one of intimidation and frustration.

If you try to fit Jesus into a category, you will experience that same frustration. If you try to incorporate him into your own system or label him, you will come up short.

Jesus is one of a kind, standing out among a long line of one-of-a-kind characters whose names are engraved on the walls of history. Among them, the unique, he it utterly unique.

People today, still do not quite know what to make of Jesus or what to do with him. 

He offers an answer to those who wanted to know more about the details of him life. He said, "Come and see."

To those who would be willing to hear his words and take them to heart, he said, "Follow me."

To those who were bound and tangled, he announced, "The Son will make you free."

And to those who will commit to his commission, he has promised, "With you, I shall always be."

You can and should study Jesus, about Jesus, about his words, about his times, and about his  life. But, more so, you would behoove yourself to spend time with him, get to know him, speak directly with him, and experience him.

He is still calling us, calling you: 

Come and see.

Follow me.

I will make you free.

With you, I shall always be.

Samson and David were unique, special, and fashioned for their times. So were Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Hannah, Samuel, Ruth, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, and Nehemiah. But Jesus was born as a man for all time. None of the heroes of the past had the capacity to save. None could be called, "Lord." None were divine. Jesus was all of this and more.

Even if you are not quite ready to leave all an follow him this Advent, consider him. Sit at his feet. listen to him. Come and see and be willing to take whatever the next steps might be.

Now, the scriptures:

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Judges 13:2-24
New Revised Standard Version

There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’”

Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, “O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.”

God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?”

And he said, “I am.”

Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?”

The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”

Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.” The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?” But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”

So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to him who works wonders. When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”

The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.

John 7:40-52
New Revised Standard Version

When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.”

But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”

The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”

Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”

They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

Psalm 89:1-4
New Revised Standard Version

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
‘I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

Psalm 89:19-26
New Revised Standard Version

Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
“I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’

 

 

The Nineteenth Day of Advent - Scripture and Song

 

Photo Credit: Jerusalem - The "City of Peace" - Biblical Israel Tours

 

2 Samuel 6:12-19, New Revised Standard Version

It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

What exuberance! David embarrassed his wife, but pleased the LORD

He celebrates the presence of God among the people as he brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

The Word of God was finding a dwelling place in the City of Peace.

Hebrews 1:5-14, New Revised Standard Version

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son”?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,
and his servants flames of fire.”

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

And,

“In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.”

But to which of the angels has he ever said,

“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Again, we have  exuberance and celebration and it is all about the Son, the Living Word of God who came to dwell in the City of Peace.

Everywhere he reigns is a City of Peace.

Psalm 89:1-4,  New Revised Standard Version

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
    your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
    I have sworn to my servant David:
‘I will establish your descendants forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

 

The Nineteenth Day of Advent - God Speaking

 

 

Relief, Auch Cathedral, France: the Ark of the Covenant

 

In some systematic theologies, the first premise is that, "God is."

The second is that, "God speaks."

That is our Advent message of the day.

 

Psalm 89:1-4
New Revised Standard Version
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
‘I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.” Selah

Psalm 89:19-26

Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
“I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’

2 Samuel 6:1-11
New Revised Standard Version

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

Hebrews 1:1-4
New Revised Standard Version

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

There is a recurring theme in these passages: God is speaking.

Take a look:

Psalm 89:1-4

You said ...

Psalm 89:19-26

Then you spoke ...

2 Samuel 6:1-11

...the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim...

Hebrews 1:1-4

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son ...

The psalmist joyfully sings in celebration of the wonderful things God has spoken and promised to His people.

The ark was merely a piece of movable furniture except for two  intertwined factors. It contained the Word of the LORD and represented God's presence among His people. Therefore, the Jews honored and revered it, celebrated its proximity, feared any desecration of it, and protected it vigorously.

The writer of Hebrews pays respects to hundreds of years of God speaking when he opens his epistle to Christians all over the world. God has spoken again and it is His ultimate Word, through His Son.

He is heir of all things.

He is the co-creator of everything.

He is the reflection of God’s glory

He is the exact representation of God's nature.

He is the great sustainer of the cosmos.

He has purified people of sin.

He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

He is superior to angels.

Through Him, God has spoken and this word is final, undeniable, visible, dynamic,  powerful, effectual, and living. It is this Word of God that focuses our worship and adoration and drives our lives.

David's people were in the presence of God and danced. However, some who played flippantly with it, were given cause to tremble. One family, who guarded the word, were blessed.

The psalm of the day offers us some examples of what we say when God says something.

I will sing of your love.
I will proclaim your faithfulness.
I will declare that your love and faithfulness are settled.
We cry, "You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!"

One of the messages of Advent is that God speaks.

Our response is to say something back, a word of witness to the world and a word of commitment to the Father.

The Eighteenth Day of Advent - These Are the Days!

 

 

Prophet Elijah detailed in the Madonna and Child with Saints by Andrea di Bonaiuto

God makes our choices very clear in the Day of New Beginnings. He makes repentance possible. He empowers us to do what is right and righteous as the sun of righteousness shines upon our paths to light our way. Elijah has come to turn our hearts. Truth has come to reorient our thinking. Life has come to bring us hope. It is Advent. These are the days!

Malachi 3:16-4:6
New Revised Standard Version

Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.
--------------------------------

Malachi gives us plenty to chew on.

Here are some bites I am taking:

Sometimes it is confusing to sort the good from the evil. It is not really our job.

But God says there will come a day when it will be very obvious who serves God and who does not.

We might even be a little vague in our understanding of ourselves as we compartmentalize our lives. We think we are serving in this area, but not in another. We name some activity in our lives and designate it as something that honors the Lord.

But maybe it is more self-serving than we think.

We might dismiss some menial task we do as not worthy of God. Yet, it is this that pleases Him most.

We might be equally confused about people as a whole.

Stubble is what has no substance in our lives, Arrogance and evil burn away in the heat of God's righteous judgment. Nothing is left of them. Pray for that heat to come early in your life. You don't need the stubble.

The hotness of God's wrath will be manifest to His people differently. The sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings.

We bounce like young calves with the joy of new life.

We tread down the wicked who oppress.

We win.

But first comes the prophetic word, the Elijah voice that calls us to repentance and restoration of broken relationships. It is time for hearts to be turned.
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Mark 9:9-13
New Revised Standard Version

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.”
--------------------------------
The disciples knew Malachi's words about Elijah coming before the Messianic Age could commence.

For them it was a barrier.

For Jesus, it was just a matter of fact. There is always an Elijah. In fact, he seems to be referring to John the Baptist as having most recently fulfilled that role.

There is nothing that keeps people from turning around, turning to God, turning to their parents, their children, their loved ones, their friends, their neighbors, and their enemies in love, forgiveness and restoration.

There is nothing that keeps God's people from doing righteousness.

There is nothing that keeps the wicked from turning from sin and oppression and deeds that make them stubble to a new life.

There is nothing that any of us need to wait for before we can answer the call of Jesus to stop doing as we please to the messengers of truth and start following the one to whom the message points.

The day and age of fulfillment has come and any hesitation we have is all on us.

--------------------------------

Now, let us sing. You can make up your own tune:

Psalm 125
New Revised Standard Version
A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!

 

The Seventeenth Day of Advent - Taking the Mantle

17th Century, Orthodox Icon

 

Psalm 125
New Revised Standard Version
A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!

Whom God raises up to walk in His ways, He makes strong. He lifts them up. He surrounds them. He entrusts them to increase and to lead because He leads them. God does good to those who do good. He is, to them, the God of peace.

To be the people of God is to be people who represent righteousness and truth. Such people have received a legacy that has been passed down through generations.

To be the people of God is to be prophets of God, messengers of truth and righteousness, bearers of the image of God, conduits of love and grace.

Sometimes there is an Elijah who fills such a role and he seems to be one of those solitary figures that can never be replaced. We see such a soul as being like Mout Zion, but we could never be that. We could never stand that tall.

He mentored a younger man who felt that way, Elisha.

2 Kings 2:9-22
New Revised Standard Version

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”

He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.”

As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”

When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.”

They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. They said to him, “See now, we have fifty strong men among your servants; please let them go and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and thrown him down on some mountain or into some valley.”

He responded, “No, do not send them.” But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.”

So they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him. When they came back to him (he had remained at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, Do not go?”

Now the people of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”

He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.”

So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw the salt into it, and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”

So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

Elisha could not bear the loss of his mentor and take his role unless he received a double portion of God's blessing on his life. It was not false humility. It was more like terror and desperation.

Yet, when the time came and Elijah was taken away, God came through and raised up Elisha as one like Mount Zion.

God's hand was mightily upon him. His works were powerful and his words were strong. He impacted his generation.

He was in a long line of men and women who received a commission and became forerunner types of an ultimate Messianic promise incarnate perfectly in Jesus' whose Advent we celebrate in this season.

After the resurrection, perhaps more than in the hours leading up to Christ's crucifixion, the disciples must have trembled with apprehension on what the ascension of Jesus might mean to them. How could they carry on with his mission? How could they represent him? Could they be like Mount Zion?

Jesus told them that it would not be a detriment to their work they he was going away. It would be a propellant because he would be with them by sending the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit.

So, when their turn came, they were bold, passionate and effective as we see in this snapshot from the early days of the church.

Acts 3:17-4:4
New Revised Standard Version

“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you. And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.’

And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days. You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

Generations of God's people and prophets come and go. We stand on their shoulders and launch forth from them.

The apex of it all is the coming of God in scruffy diapers, vulnerable and tiny. Flowing from that is the reality and hope that we can take up our mantles, follow him, and change the world.

The Sixteenth Day of Advent - Be Strong in the Lord

 

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Psalm 125 (NRSV)

A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!

Trust makes us strong because it starts with our need, which implies a certain weakness without the one we trust. God surrounds us. He is like an exoskeleton which fortifies us and protects us from evil.

God's promises are strong and, therefore, we are strong. 

1 Kings 18:1-18 (NRSV)

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain on the earth.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly; when Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water.) Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” So they divided the land between them to pass through it; Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him; Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here.”

And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab, to kill me? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would require an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. But now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here.’ As soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where; so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have revered the Lord from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water? Yet now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here’; he will surely kill me.”

Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

What strength and courage Elijah had at that moment to stare down Ahab and speak truth to such brutal power!

None of us can know if he had butterflies in his stomach or trembling hands, but he spoke with boldness.

Elijah's reputation proceeded him as troubler of Israel. What is your reputation?

What will make us strong for the words we must speak and the deeds we must do?

Ephesians 6:10-17 (NRSV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Over this last period of my life, I have come to of Advent seasons in weakened physical condition. Surgeries, illnesses, life crises has sapped me of strength and vigor. It is at those times I have found renewed spiritual strength.

Being strong in the Lord and the strength of His power has made the difference. It is more than coping; it is overcoming,

God's armor protects us.

God's provision of specialized clothing equips us to meet any challenge.

God's shoes are fashioned to aid in our gospel travels and make us swift of feet.

We are shielded by faith and armed with God's word even as our minds are protected by His Spirit.

That kind of strength cannot come out of a workout or a protein smoothie.

That is Advent strength. He has come and made us strong to face whatever lies ahead.

The Third Sunday and Fifteenth Day of Advent- Rejoice!

Today's Devotional Meditations, Music, and Video of This Morning's Service

Third Sunday of Advent: My Soul Magnifies the Lord

“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord …” – Luke 1:46

The Magnificat remains one of the most glorious expressions of praise in all of musical literature. Perhaps, someday, in Heaven, God will allow us to hear a replay of the day Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth or the day the angel visited Mary and announced God’s intentions to her. We would hear that conversation that altered history and sweet sound of her acceptance of God’s great gift of His Son to and through her. The music of absolute surrender would call us to worship and we would join her in exclaiming,

“My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior!”

No less significant was the day your heart responded to God’s grace and declared, “be it unto me according to thy word.”

That God would regard the low estate of His handmaiden and plant the seed of redemption within her womb is a magnificent thing indeed. That God would regard our low estates that Christ might be conceived and born in our hearts by faith is astounding!

We cannot help but sing His praise. We cannot resist the call the worship. We cannot feign to exalt His Name and rejoice in the miracle of His coming. As Mary conceived without human agency, so, that which is born in us of God is without human effort.

Welcome Him to your life anew today and join in chorus:

Prophets foretold Him,
Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him
On the throne;
Worthy our Savior
Of all our praises;
Happy forever are His own.
(Mary Macdonald, 1888)

Rejoice!

BEHOLD THE LAMB!

“… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29

It is not enough to have a theoretical understanding of God’s redemption through Jesus and how He came to fulfill the Old Testament system of sacrifices as the Paschal Lamb – as important as that information may be.
No, it is of greatest importance that we behold Him.
Some translate the word, “Look,” but the meaning is the same. We must linger over the vision of Jesus and stare into His eyes.

We must be captivated by His presence so that to even blink we would disrupt the flow of His radiance into our souls.

We must drink deeply of His beauty that transcends human comeliness. We must experience Him in all His glory and behold Him.

In Jesus Christ, the Living Word, we have beheld the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God has allowed us to glimpse Himself and touch His own incarnate flesh.

Why wouldn’t we stop everything else we might be doing and bathe in the wonder of a moment of Lamb of God?

Oh, Lamb of God
Upon whose sinless shoulders
All sin has pressed down its awful weight,
We pause amidst the frivolous trivialities of our lives
To behold You
In a manger, on the cross, ascending to Your throne
Coming once again in glory
Amen.

The Lights on the Tree of Life

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”  John 1:4-5

By now, your community is lighted with beautiful reminders of the Christmas season. The colors shining in the night can be seen from afar and even from space. They are at the same time happy and holy, gaudy and dignified. They serve as reminders of joy and correctives to the harsh edges that so often dominate the landscape of our cities and our lives.

It is clearly, visibly, and festively Christmas where we live and the light is shining in the darkness.

In fact, it is in the darkness of night that we most often venture forth from our homes to view these lights and celebrate the profound contrasts that they afford.

From simple candle lights in the windows of homes to magnificent displays in the public squares, we behold temporal illustrations of eternal reality: The evergreen trees which live long through Winter when planted in the soil of the earth are types of the tree of life which is planted in the fertile soil of God’s truth. In and from that life, which is Christ, flows the life and light of men.

And that light shines in the darkness beckoning men and women who live in darkness to come.

To those outside on the cold dark streets of our cities, shivering from the frosty darkness that envelopes them, the flickering lights from a Christmas tree in the window of a warm home serve as an invitation to come to something better. They softly hum the call of God to enter into His brightness and the warmth of His presence. They sway to the melody of each sweet carol, “O come, let us adore Him.”

The light is shining and it is, indeed, the light of men.

Father of Lights,
Lord of Glory,
Master of the Universe,
Arbiter of Covenants,
Leader in Battle,
Thou Who stillest the storm and declares peace,
Giver of good gifts,
Creator of all,
God of Heaven Whose footstool is earth,
King of Glory,
God of Peace in Whom is peace,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Father,
Son,
Holy Spirit,
to Thee we come ...
I come ...
empty,
troubled,
wondering,
wandering,
confounded,
complicated,
confused,
committed to Thee,
waiting upon Thee,
ready to speak Thy Word and do Thy bidding ...
this day.
I come.
I stand.
I wait.
May I bring Thy Word of peace to troubled waters today that they may be stilled.
May Thy presence be in my presence and may that presence speak peace to a world at war with itself.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

 

The Good News of Advent

 

 

A while back, I had just finished listening to Matthew in the New Living Translation. Listening to the bible is a valuable experience because we hear the words the way most of the early Jews and Christians heard them - orally. Switching translations jars our preconceptions and forces us to hear it like it is fresh news, something we have never heard before ---

 

Good News!

 

Gospel!

 

I confess that after some months in the Hebrew scriptures, which were exciting, the Advent message of Matthew's gospel was nothing short of exhilarating!

 

Absolutely Exhilarating!

 

A grand crescendo followed by a great commissioning!

 

I kept hearing themes.

 

The Hebrew Scriptures:

• Stop chasing other gods. Love me; serve me; treat people well with justice and mercy.
• I have done much for you.
• I love you, but you keep forgetting me.
• I will deal harshly with you if necessary, to bring you back to me.
• I am really disgusted with the way you are treating people and getting infatuated with religious practices that distort truth and inflict pain on humanity like sacrificing babies.
• Please give me some indication of a change of mind and heart so I do not have to bring you back through judgment ... anything, even a hint and I will relent.
• I cannot let all this injustice continue, but I will never forget or forsake you and by the way, you exist to extend my reach to all the nations.
• Bring all humanity to me so that you may worship me and enjoy my presence together.

 

Matthew's Gospel:

Jesus pops up in history as an unlikely person in an unlikely time under unlikely circumstances and yet, at the right time, place, and situation to say: God is present with you.

• Stop complicating things.
• Stop looking for loopholes and start loving God and your neighbor.
• Everything commanded leads to that so, stop twisting the commands so that they mean something else.
• Get back to basics: Love God. Love others.
• Watch me and follow me and I will show you how. I give my life for you and I give life to you.
• If you have messed up, and you have, I will bring you God's forgiveness.
• You are not stuck with the old life. Turn around and follow me and invite others to come along as well. I'll be with you all the way.

My heart is full!

 

 

Paradoxical Psalms

Photo by Edurne Chopeitia on Unsplash

 

The psalms are full of paradox; that is why I love them and relate to them so.

 

In the same breath: "God, you beat me up badly" and "God, you have always protected me."

 

And ... "Where are you God?" coupled with "You are always with me."

 

And ... "Why are you silent..." with "I hear your voice."

 

And ... "I am a wormy sinner .... " with "You know the integrity of my heart."

 

These are paradoxical reflections on God from a human perspective along with and flowing out of the realization that we are paradoxical people who can be rather perverse on one hand and deeply pious on the other.

 

Speaking out of two sides of our mouths? Sure. We have two sides.

 

On one hand. On the other hand.

 

We need to celebrate the balance that God gives as He invites us into a more lopsided righteousness and transformation of our lives. That process, though, is never complete and the psalms, from celebration to lament and back again, are conversational chronicles of a relationship between God and people.

The Fourteenth Day of Advent - Yet, I Will Rejoice

 

The Choice to Rejoice

"Yet" is a powerful word. 

"Yet I will rejoice," is a powerful statement of faith and obedience in defiance of our circumstance.

Habakkuk 3:13-19 (NRSV)

You came forth to save your people,
to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house,
laying it bare from foundation to roof. Selah
You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,
gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
You trampled the sea with your horses,
churning the mighty waters.

I hear, and I tremble within;
my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones,
and my steps tremble beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity
to come upon the people who attack us.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.

To the leader: with stringed instruments.

Habakkuk invites the people to sing.

The first stanza of this hymn reminds us that God has come to save, but that His salvation comes in the midst of profound suffering, opressions, persecution, and tribulation. The Mighty God acts with decisive force and power to crush the enemy whose intention is to destroy.

The second stanza is an invitation to lament. Worse things are coming. What do we do? What can we do? We wait. Waiting becomes our response of faith and trust, even our act of obedience.

The third stanza is a reaffirmation of faith with a choice to rejoice. It is an inward call to exult, to praise, and to commit to the God of our salvation. It is God who strengthens us, God, who causes us to walk upon the rocky soils of life.

-------------------

Consider the Ibex.

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Matthew 21:28-32 (NRSV)

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

-----------------------

If I asked you how many groups Jesus described, you might say two.

However, I would suggest there were three.

The first two were in the parable. The third was in the application. First, there were those heard the call and refused, but later, they changed their minds, answered, and obeyed. Second, there were those who heard the call, gladly embraced it with commitment to go to the vineyard. Later, however, they were nowhere to be found. Finally, Jesus said, there was his audience of critics. They heard, refused, and never changed their minds. They persisted in their harness of heart, disbelief, and disobedience to the call.

These, Jesus said, would trail behind the dregs of society entering the Kingdom of God.

Belief, Jesus says, is about changing our minds.

As wise person gave us some advice once as we were adoptive parents of children who met many of our directives with bold, loud, and defiant objections. She said, "Don't engage with the words; wait and see what they do."

We tried it and it worked. The kids worked though their objections and we all avoided a pointless argument.'

God lets us vent, but His call remains to come and labor in His vineyard.

Faith and obedience are far more about what we ultimately do than what we immediately say.

Sometimes, when we hear, we are like the prophet, Habakkuk. We hear; we tremble within; our lips quiver; rottenness enters our bones; our steps tremble beneath us. We recoil at bad or unpleasant news. We resist it. We protest it, but we land in the place of faith where we declare, "Yet, I will rejoice."

It is the choice to rejoice.

-----------------------

"... yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights."

-----------------------

Jesus had a specific purpose for his parable. He wanted those who perceived themselves to be righteous, pious, spiritual, spiritually superior, and above others to know that their words, pronouncements, and positions did not impress God. He is impressed by the response of faith and obedience with our lives, even if it comes through the process of protest, struggle, and emotional turmoil. It is not how we start that matters most, but how we end.

We are granted permission to wrestle with the bad news, struggle with the demands of discipleship, and agonize over the call to faith because God knows they lead us to trust.

They lead us to rejoicing.

Advent is a time of struggle and anticipation as well as ultimate joy.

The Thirteenth Day of Advent - Renewed and Pressing On

Photo by MIL-TECH PHARMA LTD on Unsplash

Habakkuk 3:2-6 (New Revised Standard Version)

O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In our own time revive it;
in our own time make it known;
in wrath may you remember mercy.
God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
The brightness was like the sun;
rays came forth from his hand,
where his power lay hidden.
Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed close behind.
He stopped and shook the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains were shattered;
along his ancient pathways
the everlasting hills sank low.

 

The prophet has heard about יְהוָ֗ה , the God who IS. He has heard about God's reputation. He has known the history of the manifestations of God's power and might. He has reveled in awe at the accounts of the LORD's demonstrations of authority over nature and intervention in the physical universe.

Now, he wants God to do it again.

He wants God to make Himself known.

He cried for God to act as God has always acted. Namely, in his mind, he knows, that out of God's wrath flows the mercy of God.

God's wrath is not like the wrath of man. It is no knee jerk, emotionally immature reaction to what does not go our way. It is not an explosion of uncontrollable anger with no purpose. It is, rather, God's wall of resistance toward anything that goes against His purpose. It is His response to what defies His love and mercy. It is His expression of indignation against all that oppresses and dehumanizes people.

It is God's strategic message to a rebellious people to return to the shelter of His love and mercy.

As we turn to our verses from Philippians today, we follow the journey of one who has turned from wrath to mercy to find that God was already and always there. Paul shares, with us, his personal reflections on what it is like to strive toward that place where God has called us upward. He let's us know that we, having been revived from the dead, have not yet arrived at the goal and yet, we keep moving toward it, not to be accepted by God, but because God has already accepted us.

Not Yet

Advent reminds us that something us ahead of us, beginning, and unfolding.

We are not there yet.

(Philippians 3:12) Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

I’m not there yet, but thank God, I’m not where I was.

Progress is the word of the day. It is that quality which enables me to “follow after” and not be discouraged by the distance ahead. As a Christian, I have already been captured, apprehended, and held secure by Jesus Christ. That is a great comfort. But it is not that false comfort that lulls one to sleep. It is not that sinister imposter that whispers in the ear, “You have arrived; now rest quietly. No further progress is necessary.”

It is not that at all. Rather, it is the assurance that what we are becoming is not to be stifled by our inadequacies. It is not to be prevented by our lack of ingenuity. It is not dependent upon our own strength. It is not limited by our lack of vision.

We are still to work out that which His has worked within us. We are to pursue the prize. We are to follow the course. We are to move forward in faith.

We are not there yet, but the race is not over. We keep on keeping on.

Do not lose heart. Others have gone before and they had no more and no less than you to propel them on. We are given the stamina and the fortitude for the pursuit in whatever quantities are necessary for our unique calling under God.

Never give up. Your life is no accident; your calling is no second thought of God. This journey you are on is His purpose for your life. No, you are not there yet, but neither are you where you were. Press on!

One Thing

(Philippians 3:13-14) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

This Advent season, we have an opportunity to refocus on the one thing. It is the thing Habakkuk longed for, Paul longed for, and we long for.

What if you had to leave everything behind except one thing?

What if you had to sort through your prized possessions and you only had a few minutes to make the decision? The storm is coming and you can only carry one thing with you.

What if you had to surrender all your trophies, all the reminders of your past success? What if your most cherished disappointments – that’s right, I said “cherished” disappointments – had to be forgotten. Men and women often treasure their failures out of some misguided sense of safety and security.

Forgetting what is behind means unshackling oneself from the comforts of past victories and the comfortable excuses of past defeats.

We are called to press forward toward a goal we have not yet achieved. The press involves some stress – the right kind of stress that is the tension between where we are and where we ought to be. It involves energy and intensity. It calls for commitment and consecration.

More than anything else, it demands a clear fix on the prize. Without knowing all the details, we can know that there is a clear mark. It is the calling of God in Christ Jesus, but it is not just any calling. It is the high calling.

It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, who you’ve been, or what you’ve done – great or small. The high calling is higher, loftier, and more wonderful than anything. It deserves to be the ONE thing in your life to which anything else of value is attached. If it cannot be attached, then it must be left behind because it is not worthy of the one great thing in your life: the prize.

A Complete Mind

We have all heard it said, when we complained about a pain, that it was all in our minds. That was probably not entirely true. Yet, it is true that our minds are powerful and how we set our minds and upon what we set them is vital to everything in our lives. That is why the Christian calendar devotes days of preparation for great celebrations like Christmas and Easter.

How much more so can be preparing for the great event of the unfolding of God's purposes in the culmination of all history?

(Philippians 3:15) Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

There are two profound truths in this often-confusing verse. One is that if we are perfect in every other way, let us think as such – all thoughts fully integrated and focused on one great goal: the mark, the prize, the calling.

Of course, no one has arrived, but some think they have. Paul challenges such folks to live what they profess. Other ways of understanding perfection evoke visions of completion and maturity – relative terms. The point is this: if we have reached a certain point of maturity, it should affect the way we think. Our attitudes must be those reflected by Paul when he declared that he had not arrived and was committed to pressing on.

Mature people are always growing, always climbing, never satisfied with where they are spiritually, and always looking forward.

Another great truth is the principle of relaxed concern as regards the spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters. Relaxed concern means that we care, we help, and we pray, but we don’t take the whole burden for their choices on ourselves. We trust that God can handle the misconceptions of His children about themselves.

Our trust is in God and that, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (1:5)

So, like Paul, we can encourage our brothers and sisters not to become self-satisfied, but we cannot judge their progress. That is God’s job and He does it well. What we can and must do is pray for spiritual dissatisfaction in our hearts and in the hearts of our fellow believers that is characterized by the words of the old hymn:

I am satisfied with Jesus.
He has done so much for me.
He has suffered to redeem me.
He has died to set me free.
I am satisfied. I am satisfied.
I am satisfied with Jesus.
But the question comes to me as I think of Calvary:
Is my Master satisfied with me?

Don’t Lose Ground

The prophet would not have had to pray for revival if the people of God had not lost so much ground in their pilgrimage of faith and obedience. Paul knew that it was possible to move backwards as well as forward.

(Philippians 3:16) Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

You shouldn’t have to start over again and again.

Nothing is as frustrating as having to retrace old ground. The solution then, is not to lose ground in the first place.

Have you ever wondered why some of us as Christians have to seemingly deal with the same issues over and over again? Why is it that we forget the lessons we have learned? Why do we insist that God rescue us from the same old tired errors and sins?

Why do we need so many personal revivals in our lives?

We grow complacent and the Spirit finds a way to wake us up. We stay focused on the prize for a time and then we get distracted. From distraction, we move toward boredom and from boredom to spiritual coldness and before we know it we are as useful as dead folks to the Kingdom of God.

And then we need revival again.

Revival is a good thing – especially if it is not always about reclaiming lost ground. Revival ought to be about encouraging us to the next step of spiritual progress, reminding us of the goal set before us, and stirring us up with a fresh breath of spiritual energy.

Sadly, it is often about waking the dead who ought to be alive. To that dilemma, Brother Paul speaks and admonishes us to walk by the rule of humble progress with our minds all focused on the one thing that surpasses all else.

Don’t lose ground – not this time. And if you do, regain it quickly and move on. The more you practice your faith, exercising it in daily discipline, the less likely you will be to fall, the more likely you will be to keep moving on toward the mark.

Let us keep moving forward, as we do, sing this song of ascent from Psalm 126.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

 

The Twelfth Day of Advent - Go Out Weeping ... Come with Shouts of Joy!

Sow in Tears; Reap in Joy!

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Psalm 126

A Song of Ascents.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

Habakkuk 2:1-5

I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith.
Moreover, wealth is treacherous;
the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves,
and collect all peoples as their own.

In our readings this morning, the joyful, hopeful song of ascent is followed by a word of prophetic lament. They go together.

Things will not always be as they are now.

The challenges of today are today's challenges.

As we live and breathe, we shall always face challenges, problems, difficulties, pains, discouragements, and obstacles, but they do not last forever. Advent is about hope unfolding and sustaining us.

Let's visit with the Apostle Paul writing from prison.:

Look Out for the Joy Robbers

 (Philippians 3:1-2)  Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Beware of anything that will rob you of your joy. A sad hearted apostle grieves that he has to remind his flock of something so foundational. Nevertheless, he does so because they are in danger.

We are in danger of robbers – not the kind we can lock out of our homes. We purchase expensive alarm systems to warn us of approaching burglars, but we allow the real thieves to sneak in unnoticed and establish themselves in our lives.

Paul calls them dogs and evil workers. He also refers to them as mutilation artists. The bottom line is a warning against people who teach that Christianity can be summarized in rituals, rules, and religiosity.

The Christian faith is much more and its most obvious outward manifestation is joy. It is the first thing people notice when they see you. It may take longer for them to see your love and piety, but your joy oozes from every pore of your being. It cannot be concealed or downplayed.

Where there is no rejoicing, there is very little manifestation of Christian experience. It accompanies our worship and overrides our inadequacies.

Joyful Christians entertain no illusions that they can impress God with their righteous deeds. They know that they cannot work hard enough to meet God’s standards. They have no confidence in the flesh and have boundless confidence in God.

Activate your spiritual filters against anything that will rob you of your joy whether it is cold, dead legalism, human perfectionism, or pharisaical dogmatism. The gospel liberates us to become more than we ever imagined we could be, changing us from within and filling our hearts with joy.

So, rejoice!

A Vote of No Confidence

 (Philippians 3:4-7)  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

In some nations, governments can topple in a day through a vote of no-confidence by the majority of the members of that country’s parliament. So ought the reign of our flesh to topple through a no-confidence vote originating in our hearts.

It is with an argument from absurdity that we are convicted here. If anyone could have confidence in the flesh to save, it would be Paul. And Paul throws up his hands and proclaims that he has no such confidence.

Take your very best day, the very best day you could ever have and duplicate it for every day of your life. Reach your highest potential every moment of every hour. Do all that you can do in your own power. Resist every temptation you can resist in your own strength. Rectify every wrong you can correct from the past. Arrest your thoughts and submit them to the rigors of positive thinking. Miss no opportunities for kindness that you can see. Attend church every time the doors open. Pray so often that even your Christian friends question your sanity. Add it all together and more and you will not accumulate enough “points” to win a consolation prize according to God’s standards.

You just can’t impress God in the flesh and all your efforts to do so fall flat. In fact, whatever you do in your own strength is an offense to God and waste of effort to you. You can only please God through Jesus Christ.

First, it is necessary that His blood cover your sins. Then, you must have His righteousness imparted to you by grace through faith. Then, if your life is to count, if anything you do is to matter, it must be accomplished in and through His Spirit at work in you.

Give your flesh a vote of no-confidence and let Jesus Christ on the throne of your life once and for all. All else is loss.

Christ Jesus, My Lord

“… I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord …” - Philippians 3:8

 Nothing is of greater value than knowing Jesus. He is the very essence of all that is good and excellent. He is life and love and He is the center of all things. He is Christ Jesus, my Lord.

He is Christ, born at the right moment in the right place, He is God’s agent of redemption. He is Messiah, which is what the word, ‘Christ’ means. He comes as the fulfillment of an ancient promise by a God who never forgets.

He is Jesus. Everything about Him, His name, His character, His life, His death, and His resurrection as well as His words and deeds speak boldly the meaning of that name: God Saves.

He is mine – MY Lord. In a very personal and intimate way, He is all that He is to me and is the object of my love, devotion, and faith. He is mine and I am His.

He is Lord and that means He is Master and He is God. The extent to which I allow Him to rule my heart and life is the extent to which I find real success in the Christian life. Because He is Lord and MY LORD. His status does not require ratification from me, but my relationship with Him demands that I acknowledge Him for who He is.

Lord Jesus, You are my all in all. Nothing compares with You. You are my Savior and only in You do I have hope. You are the Messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy. You are the Lord and You are my Lord. Rule my heart today. Dismiss all the competition for my loyalty and devotion. Renew my mind with such a profound vision of You, that everything else that vies for my attention will show itself as rubbish. Nothing I have ever accomplished or valued is of any worth except that which I have found in You. Be glorified in my heart today. Amen.

The Cross, the Loss, the Gain

 (Philippians 3:8-9)  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

“All the vain things that charmed me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” goes a verse from the great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

The cross changes our perspective on everything. The knowledge of Jesus Christ enlightens all other knowledge. The tables are all turned. Truth emerges from the obscurity of our prejudicial thinking. All that we have cherished and pursued is seen in the light of His excellency and we count all earthly laurels as loss.

We stand at some distance from the cross on Palm Sunday and even on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Separated by time and geography, we might think ourselves unscathed by the reality of its severity. But the regal reality of the cross cannot be negated. It surpasses all things.

All of our boasting comes to nothing. Our pride melts. Our arrogance wilts away. Our righteousness is of no value. All that matters is to be found in Him, fully identified with His death and resurrection, completely overwhelmed by His sacrifice, His righteousness imputed to us vicariously through faith.

Lift up the palm branches and wave them with all your strength. Welcome Him as He rides along the corridors of your life, the highways and byways of your realm. He comes to reign and He is all in all.

All that you possess in your own strength is worthless. All that He has and is, He offers you.

“Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far to small.

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

The Power of His Resurrection

 (Philippians 3:10-11)That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

“That I may know Him!” Those words ring out through the centuries and sink deeply into our hearts evoking the most poignant cry of a believer’s soul; “I want to know You, Lord.”

More and more and more, I want to know Him. Anything less is nothingness. Anything more is unnecessary.

I want to know the power of His resurrection, even if that power is known only in the fellowship of His sufferings.

If He were in the grave, we could not know Him. If He had merely passed away and stayed away, there would be no basis for hope. But alas, He is risen and we may experience His victory.

I want to experience the fullness of His presence in my life, by any means.

I want to be made conformable to His death because there are those lingering remnants of my sin in me that must go if I am to be fully alive. Death must do its work in me that I might also rise from the ashes of despair.

I want to conform to His death because there is nothing of that old life worthy to bring over into the new. By death I am made free without actually dying. I can stand with Him as He stood with me and be liberated from all that would have destroyed me.

Because He lives, everything is different. Because He has been raised from death, I can live forever. Because He is alive, I can know Him and experience all that resurrection means in my own life

And so, we exclaim with joy and anticipation, with assurance and conviction this glorious day:

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!”

 

 

Philippians, meditations from “The Confidence Factor.”

Scriptures: New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Eleventh Day of Advent -Longing for the Presence

 

The presence of God is a place of beauty and wonder for all who enter in.

When we are divorced from God's presence, it is profound ugliness and sorrow.

Restoration of that relationship is the primary message of God's messengers.

God is calling His people together and to Himself in this Advent season.

 

"One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple." - Paslm 27:4

The Greeks had a curious concept of beauty. It had to do with the relationship between the common word for beauty and the word for hour. Something truly beautiful had come to its hour much as the fruit is most fragrant and delectable at the hour of its ripeness.
David understood that the beauty of God was eternal. It transcended time and space. If he could linger in the presence of God all the days of his life, none of God’s beauty would diminish.

There would be no decay.

God is consistently beautiful and is the very logos behind all beauty. All that we consider lovely in the arts and in nature finds its perfect form in Him.

For that reason every work of art or music that is offered to God is to be a reflection of His loveliness. Every edifice of architecture, every sonnet, every work of literature, every dramatic presentation or dance, all of these and more are to be the best we can give that He may be honored and His beauty, through us made manifest.

We are to give God our best and trust Him to supply the rest.

For David, beholding the beauty of God was a step toward inquiring of Him. He knew that he could gaze upon God in whatever way He disclosed Himself as a means of meditating upon His truth.

In doing so, David could meet God and so can we.
------------------------------------------------

The God of all beauty views His relationship with His people a thing of beauty, like a marriage.

Anything that threatens that relationship, even vain and empty religious practices, but especially violence and injustice, is like a divorce. It is ugly. It is heartbreaking.

He sends His messengers to restore the breached relationship... and every relationship broken by that primary breach ...  to restore the beauty.

Malachi 2:10-3:1

Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob anyone who does this—any to witness or answer, or to bring an offering to the Lord of hosts.

And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.

You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

The theme continues, and we find ourselves in the house of Zechariah.

God's still longs to gather His people together to Himself.

Luke 1:5-17

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

A new messenger is arriving in the person of John the Baptist. John will announce the coming of the Lord, the Bridegroom, the God of beauty.

David often failed God, but He never lost his longing for God's presence. He had tasted the sweetness of an intimate relationship with the Holy One, and he longed to dwell in God's presence for all the days of his life.

May that be our passion as well.

Consider these words of the Lord throughout the day.

Scriptures from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Getting Out of Hot Water with People Skills

James Lee FormerIP at en.wikipedia - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jronaldlee/4579611880/ Transferred from en.wikipedia by ronhjones  Frog and saucepan  CC BY 2.0

 

One seldom gets in hot water for what is said.

The problem is usually how it is said.

People skills are key measurements and predictors of success and failure.

Many highly skilled and talented people are either passed over for promotion or terminated annually.

It is because of people skills or the lack thereof.

You can learn hard skills any time; develop people skills now.

You can be right and righteous, but if you do not know how to communicate, you will not find an accepting audience and you will not notice why.

You will go to your grave thinking you are being persecuted for your opinions.

---------------------------------------------

So, then: How does one improve one's people skills?

Humble yourself enough to know that this might be a weakness and you might be the problem in some of the results you are getting. If doors are constantly being slammed in your face, it may be that you are not 100% at fault, but it may also be true that the possibility of change is in your choices.

Care about it. Care enough to work at it and decide you will improve.

Take your eyes off yourself and how you perceive yourself. The world does not exist entirely within the vision of your own perspective on things.

Ask for feedback.

Listen more than you speak.

Grow some thicker skin. Don't allow yourself to be easily offended or threatened.

Practice. Start practicing with some trusted friends with whom you have confided your need to develop better skills. Let them be honest with you.

Get a coach.

Keep a journal of some of your interactions with your own reflection and analysis and what you have learned.

Take a class. Classes in this really do exist.

Read a book on the subject. Do it at least once a year or more often.

That is enough for one day. It is at least enough to get you started. Are you interested?

Or do you like being in hot water?

Science is proven that the myth of the frog staying in the pot as the temperature gradually rises is probably not true.

 

 

The Tenth Day of Advent - ALL!

 

Read these scriptures, including the psalm again. See if you detect an underlying yet resounding theme.

Hope, victory, encouragement, love of God's house and presence, a call for courage, a prayer for His leadership, and a deep desire to answer His call are all present. But there is one more thing, especially in the words of the prophet and in Peter's experience.

Psalm 27(NRSV)
Triumphant Song of Confidence
Of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.

One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
If my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me up.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Isaiah 4:2-6 (NRSV)

On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Acts 11:1-18 (NRSV)

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Now, the underlying theme.

It is the increasing awareness of the inclusiveness of God in drawing all people into His presence.

It is His utter disregard for human boundaries or exclusiveness in religion, culture, language, and ethnicity. In Christ, all are invited into His shelter. In Christ, He does not just call us to come, He comes to us. In Christ, the waters and Spirit of baptism are available to all.

This is our Advent message for today.

Every wall has come down.

Every system of caste has been nullified.

Every obstacle has been removed.

Every vestige of racial, social, or economic superiority has been declared illegitimate.

Every human category for arranging people in groups has been confused and rearranged.

Every nationalistic border designed to separate people and make some more valuable than others has been prophetically obliterated.

Everyone matters and all are invited to the House of God.