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God speaks in advance of our need. He looks down the road and knows what we are going to face. He sees the challenges before we do. He experiences our pain before it ever comes to us. He understands our sorrows and frustrations. He anticipates our doubts and every temptation we will ever face.
He knows there will come a time when we need a word of comfort.
He knew such a time would come for His people and prompted Isaiah to comfort them. He knew that in the fullness of time that word of comfort would come as the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. Try to hear these words from Isaiah 40 sung by soloist in Handel’s “Messiah” as you read them and experience them as a love song from the Father.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
It is God Himself who speaks the word of comfort through Jesus Christ. He speaks and we echo His Word to a world in turmoil,
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
His voice is gentle and comforting in Christ. We are to speak that same comfort to His people with gentle strength and quiet confidence.
… and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
It is the cessation of hostilities. The war is over. We don’t have to fight for our salvation. He has come in person and freely offers His peace.
... that her iniquity is pardoned …
God has taken the initiative to forgive, to heal the breach, to restore His people. What a privilege it is to announce pardon to those who will receive the message.
… The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Let us join the company of those who proclaim His coming. Let us not miss the opportunity this Christmas season. The world is hurting and listening.
You may not be able to change all your thinking at once, but you could start with something.
1. Evaluate - Is there something in my thinking that is getting the results I do not want?
2. Excavate - What is the source of that thinking? Is it possible that I am moving on a belief about myself, others, or reality that has no validity?
3. Eradicate - Abandon that belief, if only for a moment. Seek God's help and a new perspective.
4. Emancipate - Free yourself to move into a new reality where you can pursue your new dreams with new behaviors and new attitudes. See what happens ... and then ... and then!
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". - Proverbs 23:7
There is a sort of spiritual depression that can either rise to or complicate emotional, mental, and physical depression. It is, in Greek, "barew," a verb meaning "to weigh down or depress."
Stay with me a moment.
Depression has spiritual, emotional, cognitive, physical, and biochemical dimensions. One can lead to the other. In the spiritual realm, there are spiritual remedies that can intervene.
I have met some very healthy people in mental hospitals - spiritually healthy, balanced, and centered people who are working to regain their physical, mental, and emotional health. Yes. I am changing the order of these words intentionally.
Spiritual health, in this arena, comes from watchfulness and a decision to not add weight to our already depressed thinking or to weigh ourselves down when we are not depressed.
From whence comes the weight of this particular form or complication of depression? It comes, according to Jesus, from three areas where we can make choices:
1. We respond to stress with excess and that is called "dissipation." In English, it means "to spread abroad, scatter, disperse; squander, disintegrate," It is followed by the condition where we "desire no more of something as a result of having consumed or done it to excess." Sometimes we respond to stress with excess. We do what brings us release until we pass out literally or figuratively.
Does this begin to sound like an addiction model or does it just sound like sin or are sin and addiction wearing each others' wedding rings?
Dissipation is the opposite of watching. When we watch, we are spiritually awake. When we dissipate, we are retreating from our stress into some substance, behavior, lifestyle, stinking thinking, or fantasy that gives us temporary relief. An endorphin release ensues and we experience momentary bliss followed by dissipation. Dissipation feeds deeper depression and the spiral spirals.
2. Drunkenness is next. It is "en krepalh," a word, common in the language of medical writers of Jesus' day for the nausea that follows a debauch. It is also an opposite of watchfulness, but it is a stupor, the basis of the adjective, "stupid."
Don't get stupid! The endorphin high that comes from alcohol can be produced by thought or behavior. Maybe you are addicted to wallowing in some injustice that has been inflicted on you. Maybe it is lustful thinking. Maybe it is some other habitual something that you do to find a place of release and release -- It can make you stupid!
We think "stupid" thoughts, we make "stupid" choices, and we keep doing the "stupid" things that dissipate us and make us stupid and "stupider."
We sink deeper into sin and addiction --- that is not to diminish the medical significance of addiction nor the spiritual significance of sin. They walk together and support each other.
Sin is, by definition, missing the archer's mark - that dead center where we are at home, at peace, and rightly aligned with God and our purpose. We cannot go to sleep on this -- no matter how much stress we perceive or how relentless the attacks, we must stay spiritually awake.
3. The third is what we think causes the other two - the care of this world. It is the load we either have placed upon us or place upon ourselves. It is "merimnai biwtikai," the anxieties of life. (I apologize for my clumsy transliterations of the Greek).
Can we control the anxieties of life?
Not entirely, but we can choose not to feed them, dwell on them, or add to them through dissipation and drunkenness --- or through our addictions to accumulation of wealth, power, importance, status, or control.
Jesus taught much, in his ministry, about the cares of life and how to release them. He taught trust, faith, and realignment of our sense of purpose and significance. He taught us to go up by coming down, to be first by becoming intentionally last, to win by losing, to release our anger and nagging need of revenge by forgiving, and to gain eternity by emptying ourselves before God. He taught us to come as children.
We cannot control the cares placed upon us, but we can reassign them and redefine them and refuse to allow them to become our defining factors.
These three things, dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of life become a trap that ensnares us, like addiction and like sin. As a snare. Luke translates Jesus into the Greek with the word, "pagi" from "phgnumi," meaning to "make fast a net or trap."
Robertson notes that "Paul uses it several times of the devil's snares for preachers ( 1 Timothy 3:7 ; 2 Timothy 2:26 )."
We can be watchful or we can become ensnared. Does Jesus have a word for those of us who might be trapped in spiritual depression as part of a systemic or systematic process of depression or addiction? I think so. We may need more than just spiritual therapy and prayer if we are there, but we can find spiritual health and watchfulness in the midst and we can find the way to function in this world through this admonition to wakefulness, watchfulness, and mindfulness.
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus."
efer to Robertson's Word Pictures for deeper study of this potent verse: CLICK
This is is a rather courageous prayer for any to make. He makes it from the dual standing of God's faithful love and his own integrity. The greater appeal is to God's character and all he has in his own is his earnest desire to align with that. To ask to be refined and purified is no small matter.
Am I willing to pray it?
Am I ready to commit to it?
"Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness."
“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:
How can I, God of mercy, How can I humble myself To seek Thy forgiveness If I am haughty enough to demand retribution From my neighbor? How can I seek pardon, Guilty as I am, If I withhold it from one who has offended me? Is there not one entry way to my soul for That which flows in and That which flows forth? If I close down the outflow of mercy, How can I drink of its inflow? God of love, I am a stained as anyone. I am as needy as the most despicable and defiled. You, who knows and sees all and Sees my heart, You know how dark it can be in there when The lights go out. I cannot live in the dark and, It is in the dark, The bleak and cold dark where I ... Seek only justice and revenge for myself ... It is in the dark where I delight in The pain of my enemy and The defeat of those who seek my defeat. I cannot live in such darkness. It is in the dark where I, who with my lips, Seek pardon, Refuse it for there is one word, Just One, Just one word of acceptance or refusal ... For myself and for my neighbor. It is either "Yes" or "No," And it covers us both. Cover me, Oh God of giddy grace, With rose pedals of yeses! Cover me with snowflakes of mercy and Forgiveness. Cover my face with smiles for my nemeses that they may be My soon friends. Cover my darkness with light and Obliterate the darkness of bitterness and Anger with The bright, sparkling, shiny glow of Love. In Jesus' Name, Amen and Amen.
Show me your pain and I will show you your passion. It is the same and it is transforming, first, by transforming itself ... into joy! Without the pain, there is no passion, Without the passion, there is no joy. Without the joy ... Without the JOY!?!? You must be kidding me! Without the joy, I'll go back to bed. But with joy, I'm going out there to passionately, make a difference today. And let me never forget, Oh One Who came to suffer and to serve, that it was through pain that You brought us life and through Your suffering that we, were set free and sent forth to serve.
We live in a world of pain and concentrated suffering. Where is your pain focused? You have your own and that is a given. Have you found that place where you have absorbed and borne the pain of some part of the world or some people or some cause?n Have you found that place in your heart where you can suffer with (COM-passion) others and feels their pain as much or more than your own?
That is where your passion will be an that is where you will be energized by God to serve and to change the world through business, ministry, or life. Whatever the venue, the source is within you ... where you hurt most is where you will find your greatest joy.
Explore these things. They are not for the faint-at-heart who desire to remain afloat in a sea of complacency and pseudo comfort, but they are for you ...
I know this because ...
You are still reading this while others have dropped off and because ...
You want to make a difference and because ...
You do know where you hurt and have moved beyond your personal pain to embrace the pain of others ... and ...
It makes you sick to your stomach to think of things going on as they are and you want to heal the broken people you see and you, you, you want to make a difference and this passion is not something you sought or something you made up.
Yes, it is. Only with an open had can I do either ... And the same hand that gives, receives. Lord, guide my intentions to give today. At the moment, my hand is empty, But I hold it out so that You might place in it ... What my neighbor needs and that I May not grasp it as my own. Amen.
Beyond alarm, beyond our pain, beyond all that is immediate in our lives is gratitude and submission. God has given us so much; all of Himself. We wonder what on earth we could do to show ourselves grateful.
First, he says, we take the gift. We take the cup of salvation. We call on the Name of the LORD. First, we receive. The first act of gratitude is to receive the gift being offered.
Then, we worship, we pay our vows. We do it in the presence of the people. We live our lives of faith and devotion to God openly, fearlessly, and purposefully.
Then, we live our lives until we die and, when we die, it is precious because it is day of completion. It is the day of culmination for our efforts and witness. It is the day when we begin the next journey of eternal thanksgiving and praise.
We are His servants. He has loosed our bonds. We sing. We worship.
"I said in my alarm, 'All mankind are liars.'
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!"
Is David prideful, deluded, or something else in making these claims?
He, after all, has not always made the best choices.
It must be something else - the same something else available to us: a heart known by God, bathed in mercy, covered by grace, seen through the eyes of love, and living in a constancy of repentance, reorientation, and direction toward God, flawed, forgiven, rebounding, resilient.
He is a fully integrated human with a singular, though imperfect heart for God. His life is oriented around an enduring center.
That is the nature of integrity.
"Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness."
It is not our favorite thing, but since life does not move on our timetable, we wait and we fill our days, hours, and years with as much meaning and anticipation as we can.
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us ... - Luke 1:78
My mid goes back to childhood, that stage of life when waiting is such a stretch of endurance.
I would nearly burst with excitement as I anticipated the visits of distant relatives - especially at Christmas. Their suitcases always contained gifts. Their stories always transported me to distant places. And their jokes always seemed funnier than any I had heard for a long time.
I remember the emotions of wonderment and joy and, at times, disappointment when our guests suddenly had a change of plans and could not come.
The waiting would start all over again.
God’s people had been waiting for a long, long time. Most had stopped watching – stopped believing that He would really come. Their hearts had grown cold, their hopes had dimmed or even died.
Still others prayed and remained alert. They knew the visitation would come, that the dayspring would spring forth and hope would arise on the earth. They were waiting for Jesus and knew it not. To such, He appeared in the fullness of time.
Such tender mercy that God shows toward those who toil through the night. Dayspring comes. It bursts forth in the darkness and illuminates every hidden thing. With Him are freedom, hope, consolation, and joy. In Him all of our longings are answered. Anticipation is rewarded and gifts are abundant.
"Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek ... to be loved as to love."
It seems easy, God, Until I try. Maybe I am not aware of how much I seek to be loved. Maybe I am not aware of how insecure I can be and vulnerable ... And needy: To be regarded, respected, and renowned ... To be chosen and cherished ... To be welcomed and warmed ... To be a friend ... But, Aha! Lord ... There is my choice: to BE a friend is to be and to act and to serve LIKE A FRIEND. If I seek it, I will be it. If I seek to love, I will love. Grant that I will reject reciprocity in this matter and think nothing of ... Quid Pro Quo ... Teach me to love by loving through me. Teach me to love by knowing again and again and again, how deep, How wide, How long, How long-suffering, How patient is Your love for me and that ... It is all I need. So, filled with love, I can give love. In the Name of the Lord of Love, Amen.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
Everything is wrapped up in the babe who was wrapped in swaddling clothes. In a tiny bundle of newborn humanity is the sum total of all truth and meaning.
In that crude cradle of creation, lay the Creator of the universe. His Incarnation condensed onto one representative human life the start and finish of history and the cosmos. Though He presented Himself in time and space as a participant our history, He is beyond history. He is the Lord of eternity, the Almighty. And we knew it not.
The grand spiritual, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy”, way it succinctly, “We didn’t know it was you.”
But it was Him and is Him and always will be Him. What child is this? On, so much more than we could ever imagine. He s Alpha and Omega, the A and the Z. He starts things and finishes them. He always was and yet, is present. And He always will be. Divine mystery is flesh. John wrote that we could touch Him, the Word of Truth.
"What wondrous love I this, that caused the Lord of bliss” to come and live among us?
We didn’t know who He was and then, in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John allows us to see what He saw and He conveys to us His vision of the risen and exalted Christ, the Eternal One.
He is, from start to finish, the start and the finish. All of time is wrapped up in Him who was wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Broken hearts can be mended. In fact, they can be made stronger in the broken places. Broken-heartedness is actually seen, at times, in a positive light in the scriptures.
Psalm 51:7 says that the sacrifices of God are a broken heart along with a broken and contrite spirit.
There are many good reasons for having a broken heart. Show me your broken heart and I can tell what drives you and impassions you.
It is only normal to have a broken heart for injustice in the world, for poverty of soul and life, and for suffering that we can prevent or alleviate. That kind of brokenness energizes us.
It is also normal to be broken within over the pain that we cause others and God through our own negative choices. That sort of brokenness leads to and predicts the possibility for change in our lives. Without it, we lost some of our own humanity and pliability.
What we cannot afford is loss of heart.
II Corinthians 4;1 says that we do not lose heart even when our outer man is perishing. Hebrews 12:3 reminds us not to lose heart when we face opposition and Hebrews 12:5 makes the same demand on us when we face correction by God.
So, the things that most commonly cause us discouragement are ...
our own human frailty and limitations as expressed especially in aging,
opposition from people,
and God's correction in our lives.
Returning to II Corinthians 4:1, Paul gives us one rationale for maintaining heart - our ministry. Because we have purpose and calling in our lives, we keep on keeping on. The broken heart of calling becomes the heart that beats on when we might too easily become disheartened.
Furthermore, Hebrews expands on that rationale with two admonitions: that we remember the example of Jesus and that we remember the love of God.
Losing heart is simply not an option - even when we know that the heart that can be warmed by a loving embrace can be broken by pain. No walls are allowed here. All protective devices are disabled.
We must be vulnerable and valiant and that is the path of joyful calling.
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots … “Isaiah 11:1
When Jesus stepped into time and history, there was a lot of history behind Him leading up to the one great event that was His life. Coming from God, He entered a body and that body had a history. He was a rod from a stem, a branch from some very deep roots. God had been building and planning and working for centuries in anticipation of the day when He would send His Son into the world as the heir of David’s throne, the promise of Abraham’s seed, and the new Adam to create a new race of humanity.
The plant kingdom can teach us much about how things are passed through history. From their history, we can visualize how genetic information is transmitted in human history along with cultural history and family values. From there, we can begin to apply spiritual principles to see how God is at work through the roots, the shoots, and the fruits of the called and chosen.
I am learning about gardening. The more I learn, the more I appreciate the Master Gardener. Some plants have very deep and intricate roots and some stay pretty close to the surface. It is pretty hard to kill basil. Its roots run deep and strong and find water where there seems to be none. That is my experience.
God prepared a long history for His Son, an entire nation with an intricate and strong root system, a living story of redemptive history, and a legacy of faith. Israel had an identity that any could recognize and many feared.
Whenever I see anything that grows, has flowers or leaves, or bears fruit, I think about these things. Everything necessary for that growth was here on the first week of creation. All that would be made life was present when God declared “Light!” Everything has existed since the time God called everything into existence.
It is a good thing to celebrate Christmas and Advent with living remembrances but the coming of Jesus is the continuation of life itself and the beginning of new life.
Father, out of a deep root, you formed a branch, a rod out of a stem. Father, out of our beginnings, you are forming something new.
Because Thou hast sent Thine Only Begotten Son, We are a part of the vine that grows from Him. May we produce the fruit He intends so that every day shall be Christmas
"For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." - Psalm 90:4
" But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." - 2 Pet 3:8
Advent is a time of waiting. It causes us to think about time, how it passes, hoe slowly, how quickly, how seemingly unpredictable.
It raises the question, "When, Lord?"
Where will you be a thousand years from now? Ten thousand? A million? A billion?
We live in time and space and are subjects to the limitations of such. Time is depleted and never regained. Not so in our Father’s house. There will be no wasted moments or years. There will be no waiting, no boredom, and no hurry.
Time will be turned upside down, inside out, and all around. It will be but a faded memory. Eternity, of which we are now at least somewhat ignorant, will be as real as the second hand is today. What is incomprehensible will be comprehended. What is vast will remain vast, but our capacity to experience it will be transformed.
We may not comprehend it, but we don’t have to be ignorant of it either. We can at the very least, know this: There is so much that we do not know now, but someday will know fully even as we are now fully known.
It is about becoming eternally minded, living every day with eternity in our focus, in our hopes, and in our hearts. We are called to live on a different plane with a an attitude of amazement.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…” is how Paul put it in II Corinthians 4:18. It is a matter of choosing our view and sticking with it.
Can you imagine bright shining as the sun for eternity? I can’t either, but I can wait a little longer for it with the wonderment with which a child waits for Christmas. Now is the time to make decisions for eternity, because this is all the time anyone will ever get.
This is all the time that ever will be. We are about the step out of this realm into the timeless expanse of eternal glory. We are about to leap into God’s everlasting day.
Sometimes I need AN attitude adjustment. I just need to flip the switch from channel zero to channel one and start living on a higher level of thinking. It is possible, but there are some obstacles. It is then that I harness the power of one of many AN remedies:
The Complaint CAN - If I keep an actual or symbolic can available, with a lid, I can jot down every complaint that comes to mind and put it in the can. I CAN it.
The Trying PAN - You can have your frying pan for cooking up this and that concoction. I am going to use my Trying PAN for cooking up new ideas and launching new recipes for living. Instead of saying I cAN't, I give it a shot. If it flops it doesn't make me a flop; it makes me an adventurer. Eventually, I will find what works.
The Son TAN - Sometimes I just need to bask in the glory of God's Son and fellowship with Him. I have noticed that there are times I catch myself with a raunchy attitude and, with a little spiritual inventory, discover that I have not been still enough to know that God is God. I have been rushing through the most important time in my life, that quiet reflective tANning solon called personal devotions.
The Blessing FAN - Often my attitude suffers from exhaust. I have the fan inverted and am trying to suck up all the blessings for myself. Then I am reminded that if I broadcast them to others in all directions, the right ones will come back to me. I need to FAN out the blessings.
The Thinking PlAN - One of the problems we all encounter is that we don't plan enough time to think things through or we think about the wrong things or we just don't bother to think the right thoughts. Everyone has a certain amount of control over the subject, content, and intensity of his or her thinking. Philippians 4:8-9 gives us topic headings for constructive thinking. Take one a day for the next week and plAN to focus and think on that quality.
The Negative BAN - We just need to bAN negativity from our lives. Refuse to entertain the negative. Shun gossip. Ignore disparaging words. Govern our own words.
The God MAN - At the center of our quest for a positive attitude is a helper, forerunner, and example, Jesus Christ, of whom the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:5 to have the same attitude in us that was in Him. He is the key. He is the prototype. He is the one who transforms our thinking.
There is not a single human being who does not need periodic attitude adjustments, tune-ups, and reminders. A little tuning can make a big difference in our businesses, ministries, and relationships. Use AN as a guide if you like and get back to me with the results.
Ultimately, our attitude must be that which is outward-centered and fine-tuned toward that expressed in this song:
Beware when we get too attached to our titles and insist that everyone use them.
Beware when we ask for special privileges.
Beware when we start attracting undo attention to our grandiosity.
Beware when we devour widows houses while praying for hours and hours and putting you all to sleep.
Beware, but don't worry too much about how it is going to turn out. God is going to have some words with us.
God help me. pray for me today, Brothers and Sisters -- and beware of me.
The bottom line is that no matter how lofty and beautiful our words, if we do not live them in the way we treat the most vulnerable, they are meaningless.
"While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”" - Luke 20:45-46
What is all this cross talk at Advent and Christmas? it doesn't sound too gentle, warm, and cozy? What do you think he came for?
That little vulnerable baby calls you to a life of vulnerability, self-denial, and radical discipleship.
That's Advent!
That's Christmas.
I write this hearing Bing Crosby in the background singing "White Christmas" and wishing me days that are merry and bright.
May you have some of those indeed. God grant it. But don't build your life around them at the cost of taking up your cross daily and following Jesus as a radical disciple.
You can have ease or purpose. I am going for purpose!
"Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." - Luke 9:23-26 NIV
Throw all the trick questions at Jesus you like. Question him about dead issues, irrelevant issues, side issues, peripheral issues, issues and more issues ... but he keeps going to the heart of the matter about God.
God is about living! And he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
It is rather simple in all its complexity.
"He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”" - Luke 20:38
I love the way Jesus sees through my duplicity. I love it; I hate it; it makes me squirm; then I embrace it and love it and he says to me .....
Whatever He will say!!!
"He saw through their duplicity and said to them ..." - Luke 20:23
"… ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." - Luke 21:30-31
It may not be Springtime or Summer. It is Advent on the calendar that we use today and we are approaching winter. Be that as it is, we are looking at a spiritual springtime on this first Sunday o Advent as we jump ahead from the preparation for Christ's birth to the anticipation of His second coming.
Springtime is a precursor of summer. Each flower and each bud encourage us to wait a little longer.
Vacation is coming. Soon there will be picnics and trips to the coast, long days by the pool, lazy nights on a hammock, and all the wonderful t in the spring and summer. Tastes and smells of summer tantalize the nostrils even as fresh Christmas baking and evergreens fill the air.
At least that is the summer of our dreams and the Christmas of our dreams.
We don't think about slick roads with our Currier and Ives Christmas memories.
We don’t think about mosquitoes and perspiration, stepping on bees and humidity. Did someone forget to tell the boss that summertime is one long vacation? Maybe this is a good time for a reality check.
Maybe it isn’t. Maybe this is a time better spent experiencing the swelling excitement of winter snows, of emerging spring and of far off anticipation of summer fantasies inasmuch as they remind us of a far more fulfilling and assured blessed hope.
Jesus used the illustration of budding spring to remind us of our future hope. It is the hope of the redemption of the whole earth, and endless summer with no humidity and no parasites. It is the hope of the end of evil and the reign of righteousness. It is the hope of His coming and His coming Kingdom of peace.
The lion will lie down with the lamb.
Swords will be beaten into plowshares.
We will sing a new song.
No eye has seen what God has prepared. Nor ear has heard it. No tongue has confessed it. The Kingdom of God is nigh at hand and we have no concept of how wonderful it is going to be. This is our blessed hope, beloved. Let the excitement build; let the chimes ring; let every voice be lifted up in praise to Him.
We can be so sensitive, defensive, and aggressive about asserting that we are right and everyone else is wrong.
Jesus never demonstrated any of that sort of insecurity. He just put it all out there and people could see the truth if they would.
When challenged about his authority, he did not waste time arguing it. He knew where his authority came from.
That was a fairly important issue for any rabbi. Rabbis were first, students of some master rabbi and derived authority from that person's credibility.
Jesus knew that his credibility came from His Father. If the naysayers could not see that, he was not going to waste time building a platform for himself with them.
His attitude was relaxed: Here is truth. Take it or leave it. Many heard and took it, applied it to their lives, and discovered the authority of his words and deeds through the very witness of of the Spirit.
If you have something from God to share from his Word, share it, but don't get sensitive, defensive, and aggressive about asserting how right you are. If it lands on the right heart, God himself will validate the credibility of his Word.
" One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” "
(Luke 20:1-8 ESV)
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The evil of the wicked will come to an end. It may seem out of control and all-pervasive, but it is really quite limited and terminal.
God feels indignation every day and prepares for reckoning with the ready invitation and admonition to repentance.
The psalmist says this with "matter-of-factness" and, a touch of glee.
Why? Does he like the idea of judgment, justice, reckoning, and retribution? You bet he does. He is sick and tired of getting pushed around and he wants God to act.
His great comfort in such a moment comes from believing that God feels his indignation at injustice as much or more than he does and that God is getting ready to straighten things out if folks don't change.
God does it better, more fairly, and more decisively than people do. He waits longer and more patiently than we would sometimes like. He ultimately uses the cross as a magnet and focus of His wrath and a place of repentance.
The emotions and indignation of the psalmist, who represents each of us, are validated by the assurance that God enters into our very human experience of anger at injustice. In fact, those feelings of humans are a dim and imperfect reflection of what is perfect and balanced in His own holy character.
The evil of the wicked will come to an end. Be patient.
"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 when 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.
I do not know every sadness of humanity, Lord. "Man of Sorrows, what a name for the Son of God, who came ..." I do not know. Thou knowest.
Each heart knows its own sadness, you have told us ... And I believe for I have received the gits of sadness ...
In the dark, In the night, In the bitter cold and chilly wind.
And I have sat and stood and walked among to sad and lonely people ... As You have and do and will and so ... I know, we are not alone. I am not alone. They are not alone, nor can we ever be.
Are these seeds in my hand? Seeds of joy?
Let them sow them Lord. I do not know how seeds work. Not really.
They contain so much information that we do not perceive. They carry potential we cannot conceive. But with every seed, I believe.
I believe. I believe.
Where there is sadness, today, Lord, today, Let me sow joy.
A mental note isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
You can make mental notes all day long, but they lack the safety features of paper and digital notes. For one thing, you lose them. They exist, but they are floating out there is a closet of cerebral clutter and are only retrieved when looking for something else and usually after a deadline has long expired.
A basic problem with mental notes is that they are subject to the distortions of time. It has been demonstrated by neurological researchers that eye-witness accounts are often unreliable and altered by time and intermingling with other memories.
Perhaps that is why the Bible required two eye-witnesses before a person could be convicted of a capital crime.
Mental notes are often relegated to lists of lesser leverage in our thinking simply because we did not render them important enough at the moment to write them down.
Entrepreneurs eat ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Good ideas are worth remembering and writing down. So are not-so-good ideas. They can be sorted out later or even trigger good ideas.
There are two roads to life. They have many expressions and characteristics, but I want to focus today on one dimension of choice: Playing it safe or risking everything.
Most people agree that “stupid risks,” those made in a stupor of pleasure seeking irrationality, are worthless and possibly evil. That is because they have no meaning, purpose, or long-term advantage.
Risking what is not yours to risk is likewise beyond any redemptive purpose. There is no honor is taking three drinks, getting in a car without buckling one’s seat belt, and driving 110 miles per hour down the road against oncoming traffic.
There are no monuments to men who caused multiple fatalities in 100 car pile-ups because they were brave enough to take a risk.
When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him, He is calling us to live sacrificially, redemptively, and adventurously for a purpose.
That is why He so strongly utters these words in Matthew 16:24-26:
“ Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
We can lose life by clinging to it.
William Barclay said, “The man who plays for safety loses life.”
There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played,’
He never risked, he never tried.
He never sang or prayed.
And when he one day passed away,
His insurance was denied.
For since he never really lived
They claimed he never died.
- Anonymous (quoted by John Maxwell)
Irrational clinging to what we think is life is as without merit as throwing it away needlessly and foolishly.
We fail to move forward and conquer what lies ahead.
Julius Caesar landed in England about 2000 years ago to conquer the Celts, numbering about a half million with 50,000 Roman warriors. His men were not fully committed and many would have retreated given the opportunity and overwhelming odds that lay ahead. So Julius Caesar burned the ships.
The Romans stayed, conquered, and established a long-term Roman presence and permanent influence in England.
In 1519, Cortez did the same thing off the coast of what is now Veracruz. Now, all of South America speaks Spanish.
In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel were tempted to return to slavery rather than face the hardships of the desert. 40 years later they entered the promised land and well over 3000 years later we have a nation called Israel, a people called Jews, and a heritage that brought our Savior into the world.
Jesus went before us and gave us the gift of assurance after His death that life can extend beyond the grave. Because He died and rose again and gave His disciples 40 days of constant contact to verify it, They bore witness to it and we have the biblical record today.
And we have the Holy Spirit within us.
Yet, following Jesus is risky.
John the Baptist was imprisoned in a dungeon, dark and cold. He had been the first to identify Jesus as the Lamb of God, but in that dank place, he doubted and sent word to that he needed reassurance. "Are you the One or do we look for another?"
Jesus met him in the darkness and reassured him.
Sometimes we cry out to God from dungeons of despair. As we wait for an answer, we keep on keeping on.
C.S. Lewis gave us a great gift in the fantasy land of Narnia with the Christ-figure, Aslan to point us to truth that even emerges in fiction.
In “The Silver Chair,” by C.S. Lewis, one of the characters says.”I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I am going to live like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”
We have assurance and hope, but we still need faith and we must decide to exercise it and live by it.
We can win by losing.
That is Jesus’ message.
Whoever loses his life FOR HIM will find it. One might also say that losing one’s life IN Him means finding it … not just for now, but for eternity.
After ignoring a warning, Homer’s hero, Odysseus and his men launch their ships on a voyage that is certain to end in doom. They had no experience with losing, but this day would be different as they crashed between some unmovable rocks in a harsh current. While his ship and all his men are being sucked into the sea by a whirlpool, Odysseus is somehow propelled upward and grabs hold of a fig tree on one of the crags nearby. He was washed ashore on the island of the enchanting Calypso, a strange and powerful woman who compelled him to remain as her lover for seven years before escaping.
Then, his journey continues … but first he had to be stripped bare of everything upon which he falsely depended. All he had left was who he was … his character.
Sometimes we have to shed our false dependencies.
Stalin is said to have taught his Communist operatives, during the Cold War, to think of themselves as dead men on furlough. As long as they thought of themselves that way, they would have nothing to lose.
Jesus teaches us to think of ourselves as men and women who cannot ultimately die and whose final outcome is victory, and who will see the His glory.
"Where there is despair, [let me sow] hope." - Prayer of St Francis
Oh God, there is so much despair in the world. Desp-AIR, taking the wind out of our sails, the bounce from our steps, The rhythm from our souls. Airless we gasp for something to breath ... Let us breathe in hope, Oh God of hope. Let us, then, breathe it out into the world where we all ... Share the air And out of despair, repair our own resolve to live ... One more day, And then another and another until ... You take away our breath and ... Breathless, we stand before you. This is our hope eternal, Eternal God. Amen.
"Don't bank on the power brokers of this world" is what the compiler and editor of the psalms identifies as the core message of Psalm 146.
They can neither make you nor break you.
God is on the side of the powerless.
The powers of this world are temporal and finite. The best they can do is bestow upon you some fading glory or wealth.
The worst they can do is kill you.
They cannot destroy you.
Nor can they preserve their own power forever.
God's power is over all and He sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over the sojourners, upholds the widow and the fatherless, and frustrates the ways of the wicked bringing them to ruin.
Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!"
This is the description of a man whose very life irks people. Wicked people get angry with him. They gnash their teeth. Their feelings about him are visceral and consuming. His life holds up a mirror to their greed and avarice and they do not like what they see.
Yet, they continue.
Look as some of the things, among others, that can be said of this person.
He is gracious, merciful, and righteous. Because he knows who God is and stands in awe of God, he seeks to imitate those qualities of God that God discloses to him.
He deals generously and lends. An Orthodox Jewish friend once told me that lending was essentially giving from his perspective since he did not expect and could not expect to be repaid. So, when the psalmist says that he lends, it is mean that he gives.
He conducts his affairs with justice. This is a person of integrity. Life is governed by a deep commitment to truth.
He lives his life with confident faith. This is a person who might be deemed successful, but his real success is deeper than material wealth. Unmoved by circumstances, fear, or intimidation, this soul lives with quiet strength.
He lives, trusting in the LORD. Light dawns upon him. Hope wells up within him. Delight for God's ways shines through him.
He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor.
The way he lives irks his enemies because God shows Him favor. But that is OK with him because he does not live for their approval.
He is blessed.
Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish! - Psalm 112 (ESV)
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” – Luke 19:10
Gru, is a super-villain, in the 2010 film, "Despicable Me," who adopts three girls. His motives are entirely self-serving, but something happens. The little girls love him into being and he grows to love them.
Love transforms the villain.
Gru was lost and, through the love of other humans, image-bearers of God, he becomes a different man. He is found.
"I have come to seek such as him," Jesus still says.
This simple word from the Master answers the criticism of stale gate-keepers of religion that He was spending too much time with sinners like Zacchaeus whom he had called down from the sycamore tree. Zacchaeus was climbing higher to see Jesus, but Jesus was already looking for him.
Not only did Jesus call him, but he invited himself over for a celebratory meal.
In a world where we are known by the company we keep, Jesus refused to be selective and did not care what anyone thought. If the very righteous were to criticize him, so be it. He had not come to rescue people who did not need to be rescued.
“Of course I am spending time with them” is His implied reply to their biting words.
“That is why I came!”
The news is good for sinners and bad for those who fancy themselves above such a description or call.
First, for the sinner, touched by God’s grace, it is the assurance that something better awaits our lives, that we are not beyond the reach of the gospel, and that we can change. It is good news.
The Lord is entirely ready to remove our defects of character when we are entirely ready to have Him do so.
He comes to our table as the friend of sinners and waits for our agreement with Him in prayer and for our humility in the asking. He is our friend, but He wants to make us His friends through conversion. He is patient and compassionate and understands the frailty of our faith and commitment. He does not demand a great eruption of energy or resolve from us, but the humble act of petition through surrender.
If we will present our lives to Him where we are and as we are, He can work a miracle of grace.
Are you ready to ask?
Second, it’s bad news if we are complacent and self-assured, if we feel we are better than everyone else, or if we sense no responsibility for bearing the cross of a witness. He has sent us as the Father sent Him.
That means that our hearts must beat as His beat – for the lost. It also means that when He sits at our table, it is not because we are worthy; it is because we too are needy and He came to seek and to save us as well. Humbling thought, isn't it?
Whether you are Gru or Zacchaeus or even if you are a religious purist, Jesus has your number and you have his attention. He sees the value in your and is inviting himself over to break bread with you.
It is an example we in turn might learn to follow.
Let me see if I get this flow correctly from Luke 17:1-10. If we follow the implications, the conversation might be something like this:
1) First - Jesus says to avoid sin, never be a stumbling block for others, and seek reconciliation and offer forgiveness as many times as necessary whenever we are offended.
2) Then, the disciples say. "We need more faith for that; give us more faith."
3) Jesus replies, "You have enough faith already; if you used all you had, you have no concept of all you could accomplish; you just need to obey and do as you are told! Then your faith will increase and you will do mighty things."
We need to stop making excuses and start rebuilding reconciled relationships!
The Scriptures from Luke 17:
"And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”"
"The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you."
"“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”" - Luke 17:1-10 (ESV)
Where does that leave us?
It leaves us with enough faith to do what we need to do: love and respect people, live as reconciled brothers and sisters, seek and give forgiveness, and be careful not to get in the way of someone else's progress of faith.
Yes. It takes a faith, but Jesus says we have enough and what we are asks to do is the least we can do.
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." – I Corinthians 3:18
Refraction is a process that takes place when light changes mediums, passing through a less dense medium to a denser medium and through that medium; often back into a less dense sphere with awe inspiring results. As the light is bent, brilliant colors often present themselves to the eye and turn our sight toward God.
While this may not be the best scientific explanation of what takes place in the natural realm, it illustrates some elements of the spiritual refraction of God’s light as it passes through mediums of His choosing to change us into authentic representations of His image.
That is what we were always intended to be from the time we were made in the image of God. We were created to be reflectors, refractors, and beholders of His glory.
As the rays of the sun pass through the stained glass of our church windows, they are bent and shaped and exploded into glorious colors, invading those houses with kaleidoscopes of beauty. They point our hearts and minds toward the God of the rainbow. They thrust us to our knees in worship. They draw forth our exclamations of praise and inspire us toward the transformation of the Spirit.
As glorious as the light of the sun may be, it is a dim reflection of the glory of God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. He is the true light come to illuminate the world.
“But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” – Amos 5:24
It is as if Amos were here with us today. His words sing out the song of “judgment” or “justice.” It is a strong word for what happens in a community or a nation when God works through people and leaders to set wrongs right and to create a society of fairness, equity, and compassion.
It is a stream that does not terminate in any time or place.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached with such a calling to leaders and vision for the future. Echoing the words of Amos, the prophet, he portrayed God’s judgment as refreshing and cleansing.
And so it is.
Whatever the time, place, or office, Amos 5:24 is the highest calling for the leadership of this or any nation.
Without our prayers and encouragement, the task is too awful and daunting for any man or woman. If a man or woman leads a people who pray for, work for, and long for justice, truth, and righteousness, that leadership can be like that of Dr. King who called himself nothing more than a “drum major for justice.”
Let us encourage our leaders, while holding them accountable, by walking in step with the rhythm of truth and swaying to the sweet song of a compassionate society, rooted in God’s call and founded upon the law of love that Jesus taught us.
We are commissioned and challenged to ask ourselves what that means in our context, moment by moment, day by day.
As we speak truth to power, let us do so with our own deeds, choices, and lives as well as with our words.
"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on top of his staff." - Hebrews 11:21 (NKJV)
He worshiped, leaning ...
Faith, in itself, is a kind of leaning. Blessing others, we lean into them. Proclaiming the blessing as if already accomplished, is a leaning into the future with faith. Worshiping is leaning into God.
"Leaning on the everlasting arms," we need a bit of support. Jacob had a staff.
It worked, but still, he was dying.
But aren't we? We live with dying and we die with living.
Jacob chose faith in his dying days, he envisioned a future, and he fell upon his staff and found God supporting him. Thus he worshiped.
I am not exactly sure how this or any day will unfold, but I am leaning toward a faith that shall not falter with faith that cannot fail because it leans forward on a Father who receives my faith as an expression of worship.
The secret of endurance as discovered by Moses ... "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27b, NKJV)
Seeing the invisible God. It really goes to the heart of faith for people of faith. We deal in that realm that an outsider might legitimately view as subjective ... and yet we see.
All people of vision, whether people of faith or not, see things that others do not see.
Some see the future. Some see possibilities. Some see realities too small or far away for the naked eye to surround.
If it can be captured and perceived through the optical nerves, it may not be faith and it may not be enough to produce endurance.
If it requires a leap into the uncharted unknown, one has lengthened the distance of vision and shortened the gap between what is and what can be through the Eyes of the One Who Is.
What is speaking truth to power? And what are the characteristics of it and the people doing it?
It is always non-partisan even though we all have our own affiliations.
It sometimes means criticizing your own candidate.
It is about accountability and people who speak truth to power know that the people are the authorities to which elected servants must answer.
It does not calculate, but it does negotiate.
It does not equivocate, but it does recognize that we live in a broken world with broken people.
It recognizes that God uses broken things and people. Therefore, we pray for hearts to turn and lives to change.
It praises the good things opponents do and encourages them to do more of the same.
It is usually dangerous and often decisive, but it seeks neither decisiveness not frivolous danger. It aims toward reconciliation.
It stands with the oppressed, disenfranchised, and unpopular people.
It makes us unpopular, but if we are consistent and truthful, we will be heard. We will make friends with our opponents because, out of respectful dialogue may common solutions.
It need not be rude or disrespectful. It may require civil resistance and disobedience to unjust laws, but those resisting will not seek the harm of others and will not resist the consequences of their stands for righteousness.
It listens to other voices.
It is rooted in love.
It aims for love.
It is bathed in hope. It is difficult to sustain despair. We believe that change is possible.
It is our calling as citizens and as followers of Jesus.
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. - 1 Timothy 2:1-7 New International Version (NIV)
In this excerpt from the epistle, we see a list or a progression of spiritual responses to people entrusted with civic leadership. The fourth is thanksgiving.
Following these, there is a very human motive - that our own lives might be peaceful and quiet as we seek to live out godliness and holiness. We are seeking space to become who we are becoming in faith.
Then, there is a deeper motive embedded in the heart of God. God is pleased with this endeavor because God wants two things for people.
First, God wants everyone to be saved.
Second, God wants everyone to know the truth.
Then. we are told that God, in Christ, has personally and actively interceded for this. Christ is the mediator. Mediation is a sort of bodily prayer and it was a prayer to the death followed by a resurrection.
Are we reading that the passion was also a matter of prayer, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving?
Perhaps. This is the witness. This is the testimony the apostle bears and we are called to bear.
As we give thanks for people in power following prayer, petition, and intercession for them, we are participating in a process that may bring benefits that give us space to grow in grace while serving God's purpose to bring masses of humanity to faith and truth.
The progression of motivation begins with duty, leads through self-interest, and culminates in love for God and all humanity, where it must ultimately begin and end.
To pray for others with the heart of God is to pray with love and gratitude.
Waves sweeping, Ship sinking, Footholds giving way, Still the music plays. Resistance tempers strings, Prompts the resonating vibrations. Art without pain, Music without suffering, Oxymoronic monotonic Silence. Titanic dangers surround the emerging sound Of sweet assurance ... Nearer, my God, to Thee.
Awareness of moral dilemmas and ethical ambiguity is an indicator of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual maturity and health, serving as a counter-balance to superficiality and slogan driven oversimplification of complexities. (Reflections on book of Job)
The afflicted soul is tormented within and without. The heart is troubled. Anxiety keeps the mind and body on edge. Life is unsettled. The complaints of personal injustice and abandonment bubble up inside and must find release, but body, mind, heart, and soul grow faint. Strength fails to even complain. Prayer seems far removed from possibility.
Psalm 102 is called "A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD."
Surely, many here have had days when the cry sounded something like this, first to be heart, and then to be answered:
" Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!"
(Psalm 102:1-2 ESV)
"Do not hide ..."
How do you know that an invisible God who rarely manifests His presence directly and obviously in your life is really hearing and answering? Sometimes it is in the subtleties; often it is in the coincidences; frequently it is in the irrational peace or the unexplained strength and faith that arises in our hearts as we trust and follow.
So often, it is in joy and in the joyful reality of community that becomes the presence of God to us.
We experience God's presence as we brutally pour out our hearts to God in the full range of human emotion, despair, and frustration:
" For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass."
(Psalm 102:3-11 ESV)
You know through hope and you know through the acting on feeble faith. This God who regards and hears the prayers of the destitute will not despise your prayers:
"But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer."
(Psalm 102:12-17 ESV)
This God manifests Himself and, in due season, manifests Himself to you. He appears in His glory, even if only in glimpses and hints, even if only in flashing moments of self-disclosure, He lets you know.
Furthermore, He reveals Himself in worship as one who attends to our prayers and in the words of those who record His deeds and share together, in community, their experiences of grace:
" Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD: that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD."
(Psalm 102:18-22 ESV)
It is our witness of one another of His witness to each of us.
Comparing our notes, we realize that there really are no coincidences.
" He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. “O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!”"
(Psalm 102:23-24 ESV)
He has His ways of bring us to the place where we can experience His grace in healing ways, but they sometimes seem like the breaking of our strength in the middle of our lives. We are moving toward a grand goal and suddenly, we are interrupted.
Perhaps our interruptions are necessary for refocus - at least sometimes ....
But in the meantime, go ahead and register your complaint to God.
Our struggles with faith land on faith. Believers' doubts, fears, and frustrations are real, but they are differentiated from the ordinary because they land on faith. They settle on solid ground. They come to rest where they have always rested in that confidence that simply will not go away, that stubborn trust in the one who upholds all things including our own feeble lives:
" Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you."
Sometimes you have to hear the logic of the logical exercising their role as "cautioneers" and naysayers and acknowledge that the safest and most reasonable thing to do is one thing and then, do the opposite because our loyalty is to the law of love and the Lord of love.
We can do the thing that protects and preserves us or we can follow Jesus. It is not a criticism of those who warn us or disrespect to reject their warnings. We already know that this path has danger when we choose it.
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple … - Luke 16:19
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! – John 19:5
When I see purple I think of Lydia who, in the book of Acts, was known as the dealer of purple.
Purple was a precious commodity, the garment of royalty, the symbol of wealth.
Purple is a featured color in the Lenten season as we meditate on the road to the cross that Jesus trod.
It is also an element of two of Jesus’ teachings, one that he spoke and another that he lived. One was a parable and the other was a reality.
Jesus spoke of a rich man, clothed in purple, who died and discovered that all he had valued and cherished in life was worthless in light of a Godless eternity. This man begged for a drop of water and someone to warn his brothers. He was simply called, “a certain rich man.”
Later, Jesus would also ask for a sip of water, from the cross. Just prior to that pivotal event in salvation history, Jesus was paraded before Pilate clothed in purple. The soldiers were mocking His message of a spiritual kingdom that transcended all human kingdoms.
Jesus wore the purple unwillingly on His willing path to bear the shame of the world for our salvation. The rich man wore it with a prideful heart proclaiming his superiority and gaining nothing. One exalted himself and was humbled. Jesus humbled Himself and was exalted.
Psalm 16:1 - Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
Never separate the two parts of this prayer or you will diffuse its power. The first part is a request made in faith. The second is a declaration of faith upon which every request is made and in which our confidence resides. Safety, in and of itself, is of limited value. We are safe from what and for what? The end and the means are the same here. We are made safe by abiding that we might safely abide in Christ. If God is our refuge, that is enough to say. It is an end in itself. To be in Christ is the end that brings every new beginning. Where is your principal residence in this life? Every anxiety and discomfort is addressed by the answer of faith. If you reside in God and take refuge in Him, then rest in Him and abandon all concern for safety from that which you cannot control. God is in charge.
Psalm 16:2 - I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
This is so very important! First, we must recognize that to say “Lord” is not just to utter a religious word or to speak with respect toward our chosen deity. In the naming of God as Lord is a relinquishment of every other value, treasure, and prize. It is to acknowledge Him as Supreme Master and to render everything else in our lives as valueless apart from Him. It is in acknowledging Him as the source of every good gift that those gifts have worth. It is in knowing Him that every other vision fades in importance and takes its place in His court as subservient to His will.
Psalm 16:3 - As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
One of the great privileges of the new birth is that we are born into a family of saint with whom we can associate and in whose fellowship we can delight. To be a saint is to be separate, holy, and dedicated to a particular function. That function, for the Christian, is the praise and glory of God. In one sense, it is not a mysterious or otherworldly thing to be a saint. In another sense, it is to profoundly embrace a mystery that we can never fully understand and be apprehended by a world far beyond our reach in these mortal bodies. If one is a saint indeed, one loves other saints because, in them, we see God’s face as clearly as possible in this life –even among those who dwell in the land.
Psalm 16:4 - The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
Today, we join the eternal chorus of welcome as the Lord Jesus Christ enters into our consciousness as the King who comes in the Name of the Lord. He is the Prince of Peace and righteousness. His Kingdom comes with glory and praise, but also with a cross of pain and disgrace. Yet, He willing enters into the sphere of time, space, and judgment to face whatever stands between Him and His mission to bring all who welcome Him into eternal fellowship with the Father. Let us lift our voices in worship as we worship Him.
Psalm 16:5 - Lord, you have assigned my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
God is righteous. That means that everything about Him is fully integrated into His holy character – He is 100% pure truth, love, goodness, and holiness. There are no contradictions in God – except those that we contrive in our own misunderstanding of Him. He loves justice. His heart delights in seeing things set aright. He loves consistency in our lives. He takes joy when His truth is integrated into the loose dimensions of our lives and we come into right relationship with Him. There is a promise in this verse, that the upright will see His face. What a glorious affirmation! The more we seek Him, the more our hearts are changed by His power within us and the clearer our vision of Who He is becomes. We can see God. His grace in Jesus Christ removes the scales from our eyes so that we may have a glimpse in this life and the hope of full disclosure in the life to come. Let that truth sink into the pores of your being today and celebrate it as you walk through the maze of confusing messages and distorted truth. You can see God.
Psalm 16:6 - The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Do you feel alone in your spiritual journey? Do you imagine that you are the only person in your school, workplace, or neighborhood that desires the things of God or seeks after His will? Do you wonder if there is even one other person who will stand with you for truth and righteousness? Are you overwhelmed by the loneliness of solitary seeking? Do you even wonder if the psalmist was somehow transported out of his time to speak of ours? Things have not changed that much have they? We all look back on better times when we were sure that there were more righteous and earnest people living among us and compare those times with our “todays.” We conclude that we are alone and that no one else is godly or faithful. While that is not true in every sense, it is in one. “There is none that is righteous, no not one.” We are indicted by that statement and must include ourselves among the number of the “no more” who have “vanished from the earth.” From God’s perspective and standard of perfect holiness, no one measures up. Then Jesus Christ enters the picture and He alone stands for truth. Our only hope is in Him and in Him we are not alone. Consciously align yourself with Him today and allow God to flush away that sense of “aloneness.”
Psalm 16:7 - I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
If you can’t trust a compliment, what can you trust? The psalmist has had it with flattery. He is discouraged over the tendency of his neighbors to use speech only to manipulate and deceive. We ought to develop that same level of disgust with untruth because all lying and falsehood are at odds with a God who is truth. Pretty lies are no better than ugly lies. Lies are lies and they are dark and dismal. Ask God to fill your heart with truth today and with a love for that truth so that whenever you would tell yourself a lie, you would immediately appeal to the God of truth and be rescued. Whatever urge you may have to be hard on your neighbors, start first with yourself and let God’s grace fill you and change you.
Psalm 16:8 - I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
First, consider this on Maundy Thursday – praise and flattery met Jesus upon His entry into the Holy City. “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” they cried and most likely meant what they said. Is it possible that some of those who praised Him on Sunday cursed Him on Thursday evening when He was arrested and brought to trial? Could it be that some who praised Him were seeking to manipulate Him for their own ends and to triumph with their tongues, even to co-opt Him for their own causes? Is it even possible that some that welcomed Him with their lips retained no sense of responsibility for their words beyond themselves? We see ourselves as masters of our words whenever we refuse to submit ourselves, body, soul, and spirit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the upper room and took the role of a servant. With His words and deeds, He offered His body and blood for the redemption of lost men and women. He emptied Himself and held nothing back. His words are truth and love. Let us bring ourselves and our words to Him in that same spirit. If possible, find a place this day to partake of communion with other believers and remember the sacrifice of Jesus and be reminded of His gracious words.
Psalm 16:9 – Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
God saw the oppression of the weak and heard the groaning of the needy, bound in the chains of sin and wickedness. Thus, He came to us as a man among men. He arose and took upon Himself of a lowly servant, He emptied Himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross. (Philippians 2) He identified with us completely, yet without sin and became our protector and deliverer from sin. God has always been the champion of the weak and needy. The Christ-event and the passion of the cross make it clear that every man, woman, and child is in need of a savior. We are all oppressed – even if we are oppressors. We each writhe in agony for someone to intervene in our darkness and bring us into the light. Friend, the cross, was, is, and always will be for you. Spend some time today meditating on it. Seek out other believers with whom you can worship in wake of Calvary. Get alone with God and thank Him for remembering you on the cross. Do not let this day pass as any other.
Psalm 16:10 - because you will not abandon my to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Oh, precious words, flawless, pure, beautiful in their refined glory. God’s words stir the soul, comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable, and pierce the heart with divine truth and brilliant light. On that dark Saturday between the cross and the resurrection, the disciples had only the remembrance of His words. What would they have meant to you in such an hour? What have they meant to you in your darkest hours. After the resurrection, Jesus would meet men on the road to Emmaus and remind them of His words and those that the Father had spoken over the centuries through the scriptures. He would bring them new meaning and their hearts would burn within them. Let Jesus apply all of God’s words to your heart in the darkness of death from the place of resurrection. We can never fully visit the despair of that bleak Saturday, but we can enter into our own darkness with the flawless Word of God to comfort our souls.
Psalm 16:11 - you have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
What a pointless prayer this would be divorced from resurrection truth! Without the resurrection we are exposed, vulnerable, and unprotected. If Christ were not raised, we would be as Paul said, “still in our sins (I Cor. 15).” We could not expect help in the onslaughts of wicked and violent people or non-human forces from a dead and powerless God. Prayers would be futile attempts to feel better about our miserable circumstances. Compliance with ethics would be fruitless acts of legalistic compulsion if not overwhelmed by a dynamic conviction that God can raise the dead and thus, protect, deliver, and save. God raised Jesus from the dead and pronounced the death sentence on death. He is alive and brings to life all who trust in Him. Celebrate! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
"Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -- Saint Francis of Assisi
Enough with the hand wringing. Enough with the despair. Enough waiting for someone else to have enough faith ... Enough to change the world ... Enough ...
Enough waiting on Republicans or Democrats or Independents. Enough waiting on public opinion.
Enough complaining and waiting and procrastinating as governments do ... What they do best ... And worst ... Wait and do nothing ... Or worse ...
Enough passive hope and more active hoping. Enough finger-pointing, shouting down, name-calling ... Enough!
Today, the little faith we have is what we bring to our active cry. That little faith says the impossible and ... Activates the impossible. "Move, mountain of hate!" "Move, mountain of fear!" "Move, mountain of injustice!" "Move, mountain of oppressive sin!" "Move, mountain of terror, intimidation, bigotry, and torment." "Move, mountain of convulsing hopelessness." "Move!"
Our faith is small, but .. What faith we have, we bring to this mountain and cry, "Move!"
Do something bold today.
"And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”"
No one is going to come along with you until you start moving. Now one is going to see it, get it, or understand it until you live it and demonstrate it. Do not wait for a vote of your peers or critics to start living a life of faith, compassion, or obedience to God. If you are going to follow Jesus, it will be a counter cultural move. Do not expect applause or ease. Do expect to be called names -- it does not matter which ones. You may be called a "liberal" by some or a "fundy" by others. Forget it and move on. Some will call you fascist and others, a communist. Neither will be true and it still does not matter. They do not get it. They cannot get it. They have never seen it. It is a different paradigm. You are neither liberal nor conservative and you are, at the same time,both. Let them scratch their heads in utter confusion over you. You are like the wind that blows here and there, said Jesus, moved by the Spirit. Let the Spirit move you and hear the word, "Move!" No one is going to come along with you until you start moving ... But ... Once you start moving ... Some will.
They are just people ... They need to see it to get it.
Don't judge them... just do what you were called to do ...
Lord of this morning, Light of this day, Master of the darkness that daily dies, God of night and light and all that is, I come ... Empty handed, I come. I bring to the morning and the day, nothing, Nothing, Nothing, but me ...myself .... my self, Undone, unfettered, unconditionally empty. I come.
Our Father .... My loved one's Father .... Ours ... Father of my dearest friends and most adamant enemies if I have any .... Ours ... Father of the nations scattered, Father of the stranger ... Ours ....
Hallowed be Thy Name. Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty. Thy name is Holy. Thy Name ... vast, uncontainable, unfathomable, yet ... Revealed to us as "I Am." You ARE ... Hallowed be THY NAME.
Thy Kingdom ... Thy rule .... Thy dominating, liberating, rejuvenating Kingdom of Love, of Life, of Wonder ... COME! I come. Thy Kingdom Come ... Come to this house, to this body, to my church, my city, my nation ... My world. WE come, OUR Father ... Send forth Thy Kingdom in us and through us.
Thy Will, which we know in part, in tiny part, Thy will, perfect and all-knowing will of grace and power, of holiness and kindness, Thy will be DONE!!! DONE!!!! DONE!!! Start here and now with me, Oh God.
Straighten up my calendar. Schedule my appointments. Prepare my words. Master my thoughts. Guide me in Thy paths. Thy will be done.
On earth ... on the ground upon which we walk as in Heaven. Heaven! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear hear, neither hath it entered into the heart of man ..." what You have prepared for us who love you. Heaven! Your will! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!
Give us, this day, our daily bread .... As You have every day of our lives. Thank you!
And you will again! Thank You!
I trust you. I don't know how you are going to do it ... And I am not sure when, but You always provide. Thank you.
And You are OUR Father, so, So, Dear God ... Daily bread of healing for my friends who are sick ... I name them before You... For those in prison.... In distress.... On the streets .... Struggling with decisions ... Burdened with depression .... Tortured for their faith ... On battlefields ... On mission fields ..... Just far afield ....
And those waiting for a word of encouragement ... maybe from me ...
And those waiting to hear the good news of repentance possible in Your Kingdom of turn-rounds ...
And those ... Lost in a wilderness of ambiguity. You are our provider. You provide for Your work and for Your people.
Thank You.
And lead us not into temptation .... Not that you would lead us into it... It is a jungle out there and there are many snares. We need You to handle some of those for us and the rest ... In us and through us. People are tripping up all the time, discrediting Your name and work. I could, God forbid, be one of those. I am weak and susceptible to temptation. Deliver me for Thy Names' sake.
Give us strength and deliver us from evil. I will not be preoccupied with such. You are my deliverance. I will not fear for You, Oh Lord are able to .... Deliver us from evil.
And again I ask ... lead me away from those snares that have snare us in the past ... Lead us away in the future You have prepared for us ... And handle any evil that may threaten me.
Thine is the kingdom! It is not mine ... Except that Your Son has invited me to participate. Thine is the Power ... And You have shared much of that with me!
Thank You! I praise Your Name!
Thine is the Glory!!!!
Glory!!!! Glory!!!! Glory !!!!
And this part amazes me Lord of Amazing things .... FOREVER .... and ever ... and ever ..... Amen!
And I pray in the Name of the One who taught me to pray this way ... And teaches me daily ... And today ... In Jesus' Name.
Good not that you did, but that you know it. We all do well and sometimes blow it. You lost some hours, perhaps even more. Now its time to dust it off; its time to soar. You have wings & you can rise. You have this moment; you have new skies.
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