pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: commitment


by Leave a comment

Each Opportunity

While at the wedding at Cana, Jesus experiences something we all experience – a request to help someone.  In this case Jesus must have known the wedding party as He and the disciples were invited to the party.  As I reflect on who I struggle most with when asked for assistance, it is with the stranger that I most often struggle.  In this story from the book of John, Jesus teaches us both what we are to do and what we are not to do.

The first thing Jesus did was to be open to the needs of others.  When His mother asked, He could have ignored her or dismissed the request.  Much like when the Spirit prompts us, do we pay attention or do we act like we did not hear or feel anything?

The second thing Jesus did was to decide what the greatest need was.  This can be hard to weigh or evaluate correctly.  At times people in need of assistance have a root need that is much deeper than the asked for need.  But we are called to be in relationship with and to walk alongside people in need.  Warning: to be in relationship and to walk alongside another is a much deeper commitment.  But it is only when we do this that we can begin to understand and address these deeper needs.

The third thing Jesus teaches us is something not to do: He did not judge the situation or the person.  This is often where I struggle most.  It is usually in the immediate need requests that I struggle with this the most.  When I have entered into a helping relationship with another, I learn that they are much like me and it is easier not to judge them.  But in the immediate request from a person I encounter on the street who is asking for $5 for food, for example, it is harder to not judge the validity or worthiness of the request.  In God’s view, we are to help if we can, no questions asked.

The last thing Jesus teaches us is to respond and act to the best of our ability.  He didn’t just make wine, He made good wine.  We too are called to be honest, genuine, and fully invested.  Each of our relationships and encounters should receive our best efforts.  Jesus offered no less.

May each opportunity to come alongside another be done with all the love, compassion, and ability that God has placed within us.  Lord, may it begin with me.

Scripture reference: John 2: 1-11


by Leave a comment

Love: Sacrificial and All-In

Throughout our lifetimes many relationships will end.  Some childhood and high school and even college friends drift apart and life takes each a different way.  Sometimes people have to move to a new state or city.  Sometimes life comes to an end for one of the people in the relationship.  Sometimes our approach to marriage is similar.  They drift apart, one moves in a new direction, or one passes.  For some couples, divorce is the solution.  It is just a little easier to part ways than it is to keep it together.  For some people their marriage with the church comes to an end.  Both of these endings may be because of drift or because one changed or because of  hurt that occurred.

Both of these marriage relationships should reflect the love of Christ for us.  Recently scientists discovered that over time in a long-term, committed relationship something called ‘pair bonding’ occurs.  As it was once written: the two shall become one.  The love of Christ must be at the center of our human marriages as well as at the heart of our relationship with God and His church.

Every relationship has the potential to end.  In our human marriage the goal when it begins is ‘to death do us part’.  We pledge love and loyalty through thick and thin.  And couples really do mean it on day one.  When one chooses to join and be attached to a church, the words are much the same as is the intent.

The reality is both marriages take work.  A lot of work – both personal and as a ‘couple’.  Although there are circumstances that cause a split, these should be far fewer than they are.  Our love in these marriages needs to reflect the pure love that Jesus Christ demonstrated.  Our effort in these relationships should reflect His effort and commitment at the cross.  May our love also be sacrificial and all-in.

Scripture reference: Mark 10: 2-12


by Leave a comment

A Commitment to Delight

“Blessed is he …  whose delight is in the law of the Lord.”  We all want to be blessed, to have a ‘good’ life.  God watches over the faithful, helps us to grow in our faith so that we can bear fruit, and allows us to prosper.  All promises in Psalm 1.  When we are faithful, life is indeed good.

How does one ‘delight’ in the law?  And what is the ‘law’?  Neither term is as simple as it might appear at first glance.  In today’s text ‘delight’ means to value, to take pleasure in, to engage, to wrestle with, and to explore God’s laws.  It is a fullness of our interaction with God.  It is not a sit-on-the-sidelines, one-hour-a-week faith.

The law is traditionally seen as the commandments and other rules that encompass how to live as a good Israelite.  In this context and in our lives, the ‘law’ is so much more.  Here is also encompasses God’s teachings and His direction for our lives.  To fully live into this idea is active and participatory.  Walter Brueggemann said it is to experiment without fear and to try on God’s teachings for size.  It is to learn by doing and to fully throw oneself into wrestling with God’s direction for and intent with our lives.

To grow and bear fruit and to share our faith takes a good deal of effort.  It is a commitment.  To spend time in pursuing God’s vision for our life takes courage and trust.  It is wrestling with, engaging in, and being molded by this into the person God wants us to be.  The promises are great but it does take commitment, trust, courage, and effort.  May we delight in all God offers as we come to be more and more like Christ.

Scripture reference: Psalm 1


by Leave a comment

Commitment

“Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.”  Jesus often said things that were a bit jarring and often His words challenged people to the point of turning away.  In His day, disputes and arguments often arose over the words He spoke.  At times, Jesus intentionally challenged the status quo and turned the ‘normal’ upside down.

Could one really eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood?  Those living alongside Jesus could have if the purely literal interpretation was His true meaning.  But if this were His true meaning, then heaven would be closed off to all who lived after the resurrection.  As this is not the case, what then is Jesus’ meaning in these difficult words?

I think Jesus is looking for more than just hearing His words and pondering their meaning in our lives.  I think He is looking for commitment.  When we “eat” and “drink” Jesus we are taking His words and teachings and digesting them.  They become a part of who we are inside.  His teachings are the source of our energy and strength.  They are the source of life within us.  His words bubble up in us as the living water, bringing to the surface the things He taught that we are to live out.

When we take in Jesus’ words and teachings at this deep, deep level they become a part of who we are at the core of or being.  It is then that we are claimed by Jesus and we fully belong to Him.  Through His living presence in us we participate fully in this life.  Our lives then reflect the light and life of Jesus in us to a world living in darkness.  With Jesus deep within us, we become a part of building His kingdom here on earth each day.

Scripture reference: John 6: 51-54


by Leave a comment

Integrity

The story of King David and Uriah the Hittite is quite a contrast in terms of their integrity.  David’s infidelity has led to a pregnancy so he brings home the husband to sleep with the wife to cover it up.  After talking with him about the battle, David sends Uriah to clean up and to go home for a good night’s rest.

But Uriah does not go home.  Instead he sleeps on the front steps of the palace on his mat.  David questions him and Uriah says how could he go home to sleep with his wife when his fellow soldiers are on the battle field?  So David decides to get Uriah drunk and then to send him home to sleep with Bathsheba.  But out of loyalty to and respect for his fellow soldiers, Uriah again sleeps on the palace steps.  After weeks away at war, after sleeping on the hard ground, Uriah does not go home to his wife.  Talk about integrity and commitment!  So David sends him back to battle with instructions to the general to allow or arrange for Uriah to die in battle.

David knew at the start that sleeping with Bathsheba was wrong.  But he did it anyway.  One lie grew into another which eventually grew into a murder plot and a murder.  Even though David saw Uriah’s integrity it did not kick start his own.  He allows the lies to grow and his integrity to continue to erode.  Once a lie gains traction, it is hard to stop.

All of this happened in spite of David’s knowledge that God already knew.  In this we are the same.  As soon as we sin, God already knows.  At that point we have a choice.  Do we stop, confess and repent, and seek forgiveness?  Or do we look the other way and continue in our sin?  We know the right choice.  God’s forgiveness is a gift.  All we need to do is claim it.  May we show Uriah’s integrity when we can and admit our sins when we cannot.  God loves us equally either way.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 11: 6-15


by Leave a comment

Christ Alone

Television, alcohol, work, Facebook, drugs, internet, books, hobbies, texting, shopping.  The list could go on and on.  Transparency, honesty, vulnerability, commitment, trust, openness.  The list could go on and on.  These two lists are related.  The first list contains some of the ways we try to replace genuine community.  The second list is both our fears of and the reasons to be in an authentic faith community.

Being together in an authentic faith community allows us to feel connection to God and to each other.  In community we can experience hope, love,mercy, forgiveness.  In community our faith comes alive.  From this strength gained in community, we can see the Word of Life alive in our world.

We can see Christ alive in many ways.  We can taste it in the meal lovingly prepared for a family in need.  We can hear it in the laughter of a small child who has found joy in a gift.  We can touch it as we accept the hand extended in friendship or in the hand reaching out for forgiveness.

To be fully alive in Christ and to see Him actively engaged in our world. we must at times et aside the lures and cares of the world to invest both in our personal faith and in the community of faith.  We must be willing to risk ourselves as we enter into genuine community with one another as the body of Christ.  We must be willing at times to give or serve when we really do not feel like it or think it an inconvenience.  But the more we choose to be alive in Christ, the greater our joy and love becomes.  Jesus Christ overcame the world with love.  This too is the path we are called to walk.  Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

Scripture reference: 1 John 1: 1-4


by Leave a comment

Lord of All

In the book of Mark, Jesus is most often referred to as “teacher.”  Mark used “Messiah” once and “Son of Man” a couple of times.  In encounters with demons, Mark tells us they called Jesus “the Holy One of God.”

Jesus adds a new name himself when he tells the two disciples to go and retrieve the colt.  He instructs any who ask to tell them, “The Lord needs it.”  In the language of the day this term was reserved for royalty and divinity.  As in Caesar and God.  As His final week drew near, Jesus was adding a new and important definition to who He is: divine presence.  In several places Jesus uses the term “Lord” to refer to God.  Now He is applying it to himself.

This claim implies more for His followers.  It draws a new level of commitment and attachment.  Believing in Jesus as a good teacher was easy.  All who heard Him speak were amazed and He seemed to draw knowledge from a higher source.  And the healings!  These pointed to something special about this Jesus.

When we claim Jesus as Lord there is something more to it than there was before.  But to simply call Jesus ‘Lord’ feels incomplete.  It really needs to be “Lord of my life.”  As in all of me.  As in over all of my life.  It is not a partial commitment.  Jesus did not go half way to the cross.  Nor does He expect us to go half way in following Him.  To call Jesus “Lord” offers our total being to Him.  What do you call Jesus?

Scripture reference: Mark 11: 1-3