pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: commitment


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Dwell

Reading: Psalm 91: 1-6

The psalmist finds great refuge in God and wants us to do the same as well.  The pestilence, disease, evils that creep in the night, the snares – so much that the psalmist faced!  Our reality is that we too face much.  Children too often grow up on their own, young adults enter the ‘reap world’ often with a huge debt load or without the education necessary to earn a living wage, and our elderly are too often housed in a facility, largely forgotten by family.  It is no wonder people are longing for love, hope, mercy, justice, and a sense of security and belonging.  Life can be hard.  But into this challenging scene the Lord our God tries to make a way.  God desires to bring us thelove, hope, mercy, justice, and a sense of security and belonging that we all seek.

The psalmist reminds us that God seeks to be our refuge and our shelter.  But God will not force us into choosing to receive these things.  “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High” is how the Psalm begins.  He who dwells.  We have a role to play in experiencing rest, cover, a shield about us, and an absence of fear.  We must choose to dwell each day in God’s presence.  To dwell in another’s presence implies a long-term relationship, one with some commitment.  To dwell in God’s presence does not involve flitting in and out as it suits our needs.

When we dwell in God’s presence we are constantly in contact with God.  We turn to God in prayer throughout the day.  We spend time each day reading and meditating upon the Word.  Through these disciplines we come to know and trust in God.  It is then that we begin to find thelove, hope, mercy, justice, and a sense of security and belonging that we so desire.  May we each dwell in God’s presence this day and every day.


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Calling

Reading: Luke 14: 28-33

Jesus wants us to know that much is required before we commit to becoming a disciple.  It will require difficult decisions that often carry a cost, the courage to stand out from the world, a singular focus to listen to Jesus’ voice above all others, and a commitment to love and serve the least and the lost.  When we think we are up for the task of being a disciple, Jesus is saying, in essence, “Are you sure?  Really sure?”

No one likes to begin something they cannot finish.  To begin something that stalls out due to lack of time, energy, resources, or vision is frustrating and often embarrassing.  So to begin a major or important project, it is essential to make sure we have all it will take to complete the task at hand.

What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?  First, it takes commitment to love others more than self.  Jesus spelled this out with His answer to what the greatest commandment was.  He said we must first live God with all that we are and we also must love neighbor as He first loved us.  Throughout the Gospels we have the example of what this looks like lived out fully in the life of Jesus himself.  In the remainder of the New Testament we have numerous examples of what it looks like to live as a disciple.  So what it takes is made clear in the Bible.

This is a difficult calling.  It is a decision that requires much consideration.  But when we accept the calling, we know that we do not walk alone.  We have Jesus, our great high priest, who interceded for us before the throne of God.  We have the Holy Spirit, which comes to dwell in us and to lead and guide us.  And we have each other.  Our fellow disciples support, encourage, teach, correct, and pray for us just as we do these things for them.  As we answer the calling and walk this road of discipleship, we do not walk alone.  For Jesus Christ, for the Holy Spirit, and for our fellow disciples we say thanks be to God!


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Discipleship

Reading: Luke 9: 51-62

Growth does not often occur on the mountaintops.  It most often occurs in the valleys, in the hard times of life.  In today’s story Jesus is heading for His final trip to Jerusalem.  He is heading there to die.  His fate may be some cause for their foul mood.  After being rejected by a village, James and John want to call fire down from heaven.  It is certainly not their first taste of rejection, so the reaction probably comes from their bad mood over what they know lies ahead.  Sometimes we are this way as well.

As they continue, people approach Jesus wanting to follow Him.  Each man has a ‘but first…’ to their request.  One is concerned with shelter, one with burying his father, and another with having a proper goodbye with his family.  Each turns away as Jesus harshly addresses their lack of commitment to placing Him first.  Each of these ‘but first’ commitments resonate with us.

I will give of my time and resources Lord, but first let me set aside enough for all of my bills.  I will serve you Lord, but first let me go take care of all these other responsibilities.  I will be faithful to my prayer, Bible study, and worship disciplines, but first let me get in these activities and commitments.  I will, I will, I will… but, but, but.

The life if disciple of Christ is difficult.  The choice to place God first requires all else to get in line behind this commitment to our faith.  It is a difficult commitment that daily requires setting aside self and saying, “Here I am Lord, use me”.  It is truly a daily struggle, but may we struggle well this day and each day.


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Offering All

Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-9

When we first moved to South Dakota, we lived five miles outside of a town of 150 people.  It was dark at night.  On those nights when the moon was but a sliver, the night sky was simply amazing.  In that remote location, on nights with a definite lack of man-made light and little lunar light, the stars were awesome.  To sit outside and stare at the sky filled me with the wonder of God.  To gaze up at the layers of stars that went on forever gave me a glimpse of the power and majesty of God.  Although His power and presence filled me, it was but a glimpse.  It gave me just a little peak into how high and powerful God’s ways are.

In realizing how big and powerful and majestic God is, I also realize how small I am.  This realization brings awareness of how much I need God and His Light and Love, made known to me in Jesus.  Yet as big as God is, He still knows me by name.  He formed me uniquely in my mother’s womb and He knows every hair on my head.  God hears each and every word of each and every prayer I lift up to Him.

This same God knows each sin and impure thought and … that I have.  This brings me to frequent times of repentance and committing again to strive for becoming more like Christ.  It leads me to examine what I am offering to God and what I am holding back.  Almost always I see that I am less that I could be, less than He calls me to be.  May I lay aside all within me that elevates self over God.  May I offer all of myself to the One who gave His all for me in His life and on the cross.


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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