pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Trials and Temptations

Reading: Matthew 4: 1-11

Jesus prepares for His ministry with a period of testing.  He fasts for forty days and is physically weak.  Satan comes then and tempts Jesus with food, trust, and power.  Food represents both our basic needs and our desires.  Is our life about pursuing these things and then giving what’s left to God?  Or do we first give to God, knowing that He loves us and will provide for all we need?  The second temptation partly involves trust.  We we step out or step forward, trusting that God will have our back?  And perhaps before this first step, did we seek God’s discernment and direction or did we just make our own plan?  When seek God’s will and when we obey His lead, there is no fear or lack of trust.  Power is the third temptation.  Worship Satan and all the world is yours.  We like to be in charge.  What a temptation!

In our own journey of faith, we are often tempted and often out to the test.  In our giving, do we obediently give our tithe or volunteer for that cause that pulls at our heart strings?  Or do we focus on what “has” to be done first or pay all the bills and then see if we have time or money left for God?  In those moments when the Holy Spirit nudges us to get involved or to offer our talents or to engage the stranger, do we trust that God will give us the words to say or will show us what to do?  Or do we apply excuses or rationalize away the opportunity?  And when we look at our priorities, do they reveal that God is #1 in our lives?  Or does ‘God’ fall somewhere down the list?  If one looked at our lives, they should see how we are investing our lives in God’s work in the world and in growing our own personal faith.  Is that what they would see?

Just as Satan tempted Jesus to rely on something other than God, he will also tempt us.  How we respond to or react to the above questions and scenarios indicated how successful Satan may be at drawing us away from God.  In this season of Lent, where we too are preparing ourselves for ministry, may the Lord our God strengthen and encourage us each day as we strive to walk as disciples of Jesus each and every day.


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Shine

Reading: Isaiah 60: 1-6

Today is Epiphany!  Just as the wise men appeared to reveal and celebrate the birth of Jesus, so too do we arrive today, celebrating the gift of Jesus in our lives.  Like the wise men, we too are called to reveal Jesus to the world.  The star led the way for the wise men.  Today, the light of the Son of Man leads the way for you and me.  The light of Christ guides our path and illumines our decisions.  We need the light.  So too does a world living in darkness.

Verse one begins, “Arise, shine, for your light has come”.  Yes indeed!  Jesus Christ has come and His light is in our hearts.  Verse two continues, “the Lord rises upon you, and His glory appears over you”.  God is present in us, His glory waiting to be revealed through us.  Our call as disciples of Jesus Christ is to take the light of Christ out into the world with us.  This verse reminds us that God is present with each of us and that His glory will appear over us as we live out our faith in the world.

The world can be a dark place.  Many people struggle with darkness in our world and in all of our communities.  For some, the struggle is with homelessness or poverty or prejudice or abuse or discrimination or injustice or addiction.  For others the struggle is with pride or control or possessions or position or ego or self-centeredness.  The world can be a dark place when we struggle with these issues.  There is great need in our world for the light of Christ.

We are each that light.  We each carry Christ in our hearts.  Can you see that light within you shining out into a dark world?  Can you see yourself being the light for just one person in need of God’s love?  We are called to arise and shine!  This day, this day of Epiphany, may we each shine God’s light into the world, bringing honor to Christ the Lord!


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Trust

Reading: Matthew 11: 7-11

At times, we all go through what John the Baptist’s followers are going through.  Someone who has been a leader in our church or community or organization is no longer present.  They have moved on to another place or they have passed on.  To be filled with questions and doubts and fears is a normal reaction.  We wonder who will fill the void.  We wonder how the void will be filled.

John has been put in prison.  He had led a powerful ministry out in the desert and had positively changed many people’s lives.  So instead of trusting in God and expecting God to do something amazing next, the followers worry and fret.  So Jesus asks them, in essence, why they followed John and why people came out to see him.  What drew you and others to John?

Jesus begins by asking if they went out to see a reed swayed by the wind.  Well, no, John was rock solid in his beliefs and in his mission.  His message did not change no matter who came out into the desert: repent for the kingdom of God is near.  Jesus asked if John’s attire and other refinements drew them.  No, of course not – it was about the message and about personally drawing closer to God.  Jesus then harkens the people back to a passage from Malachi.  John was there for a purpose: as a messenger sent to prepare the way.  Jesus has come, John’s work is done.  God’s plan continues.  Jesus ends the section by stating that although John was indeed a great gift from God, in heaven John will be just like everyone else.

In our lives, we too experience people God is using to do kingdom work.  It may be for just a short time or the work may last decades.  The person may be you or I.  But at some point, the work of God in that time and place draws to a close.  There is naturally sadness and often doubt or fear.  Yet in the midst of this, may we allow our faith to move forward, trusting fully in God’s plan and will.  May we be thankful for what God has done while remaining confident that it is all part of God’s plan.  God alone is in control.  Trust God.


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Respect and Reliance

Reading: Psalm 4

In our Psalm for today we see what trust in God looks like.  David places God first and relies on God for relief from distress, for mercy for sins, for an ear in times of need, for joy in God’s presence, and for peace in his heart.  Looking at this list, who would not want these things?  All of us want joy, peace, and contentment in life.  When we allow God to be our guide, our defender, our redeemer, and our Savior then our life will be blessed.

Sometimes we get the relationship backwards though.  We set out on our own adengas and we try to be the one in control.  Our focus is on ourselves, we hunker down and move ahead with the plans we have laid.  We have a goal or a desired outcome and we try to work through or around any obstacles that come our way.  Culture reinforces our tendency towards individualism and self-centeredness.  If things get a little hard we may ask God to bless our plans or to make things work out for us.  We set ourselves up in the role of God and then ask the one true God to step in only when we need it.

But this is the reverse of how our relationship with God should be.  It is funny that at times we think we are smarter, more capable, more able … than the God who created the whole universe.  In David’s words we see the proper respect and reliance that God alone deserves.  David reminds us to pray because God hears us.  He reminds us to trust in God alone and to allow God’s light to shine upon our faces.  In verse seven, we begin to see the fruit of doing these things: “You have filled my heart with joy”.  At the end of each day, David lies down in peace.  When God is in control, David experiences blessing.  When we begin each day by submitting our will to God and by asking God to lead, we too will know joy, peace, and contentment.  May we choose each day to place all of our life in God’s hands.


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Beautiful and Useful

Reading: Jeremiah 18: 1-11

When working with clay, the potter molds the clay into what he or she intended it to be.  At times it became marred or flawed or not exactly what the potter had planned.  So the potter reshapes the clay so that it becomes something beautiful and useful.

Imagine if the clay had a mind of its own.  What would happen if the potter was trying to form a serving platter and the clay wanted to be a vase?  As the potter tried to smooth and flatten out the clay, the clay kept rising up.  Soon enough the potter would give up or would allow the clay to become a vase.  But the clay is not becoming what the potter intended.  To the potter the creation will never be as beautiful or useful as it could have been.  Although it may function as a base and hold water, the potter will not see it as beautiful.

Growing up God often shapes us through the hands of parents, teachers, Sunday school leaders, youth group leaders…  We are molded and shaped as young Christians.  Before we move on to becoming mature Christians, we often seek our own way.  Whether in high school or college or young adulthood, we start to see ourselves as the center of all things.  We think we know do much and decide we will be the ones calling the shots.  We are like the clay that wanted to become a vase.  Over the course of a few years or maybe decades, we wander far from God.

Yet the Creator’s love for us never wains.  God continues to bring us back to the purposes that were laid out for our lives before we were born.  God does not give up.  It is a love so great.  In time, the seeds of faith begin to sprout again for most of us.  We come to know God again and we begin to walk in God’s ways again.  We begin to become the beautiful and useful creation we were meant to be.  Life just seems better again because we are in the palm of God’s hands.  For your faithfulness, O God, we say thank you.


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Fully Trust

Reading: Luke 10: 1-11

For most of us, when we wake up in the morning, we know what our day is going to look like.  We tend to be creatures of habit, creatures of routine, creatures of schedules and lists.  We tolerate interruptions to our day fairly well if we perceive them as something good.  Not to say we plan every second, but we do not like the unknown too much and we feel more in control when we plan, organize, and prepare.  For as long as mankind has walked the earth, this has been true.  Societies like order, law, and norms; this is a reflection of who we are as individuals.

Step into the shoes of one of Jesus’ disciples.  He seems to be a wanderer of sorts.  He seems to get up every morning and goes where He is led.  You wake up in Jericho but may not go to sleep there.  The day begins heading toward Bethlehem but you end up in Bethany.  At first it was a little uncomfortable and disconcerting just going wherever.  But over time you’ve come to see that no matter where you are or who us around, Jesus seems fully in control.  You seem to usually get fed and there is almost always a roof over your sleeping spot.  Over these months you’ve really come to trust in Him and to rely on Him for, well, for everything.

Then one morning you get up and gather around for the usual morning devotional.  You smile because today you see Jesus is leading the devotional time.  But today, instead of teaching Jesus gives instructions.  He says we are to go out two by two, by ourselves.  We are to try and bring His peace into the towns and villages that He will soon come to.  We are to preach that the kingdom of God is drawing near.  We are to heal the sick.  What?  Heal the sick?  He goes on – take nothing with you.  Nothing.  Jesus says we are to rely on those we go to for food, shelter…  Then He says, “Go!”

Jesus was calling on the disciples to trust Him.  He told them that He will still be with them even though He is not physically present with them.  Jesus tells them that they can go out and do what He has been doing because He is empowering them to go forth in His name to proclaim the good news and to bring healing to people’s brokenness.  Jesus is calling them to trust fully in Him.

What lies ahead for us today?  What all is on our to-do list?

Maybe not today because it’s already planned, but one day soon, may we each do what those first disciples did.  May we wake up and go out into our communities and neighborhoods, taking nothing but Jesus with us, but fully trusting in Him to lead and provide.  May we fully trust in Jesus Christ on that day.  It is a start.


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Requests

Reading: 2 Kings 2: 1-2 and 6-14

In many of our relationships we feel as if we can ask for things at times.  As our relationship deepens, we feel that the level of our request can rise.  For the best of friends, one will often do whatever they can for the other.

Elijah has mentored Elisha and the time for Elijah to pass on has come.  Elisha has been prepared to take on the role of prophet of Israel.  The bond and relationship the two have developed is deep.  In response to Elijah’s “any last requests” question, Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit.  It is much to ask for.  It is also something Elijah himself cannot give or grant.  But the request is not out of bounds.  He is asking to be blessed in what he has been prepared for.

From time to time we may request something of a close friend or maybe from a parent or spouse.  And sometimes the request is something they cannot grant or is something beyond their control.  Oh they wish they could but it is something beyond them.  At times we are on the receiving end of such a request.

In these cases all we can do is to turn it over to God in prayer.   We must recognize our limited ability to fulfill the request and allow it to be turned over to God.  God is good and desires to provide for us.  May we, like Elijah, trust in His goodness and go in assurance as we petition our Lord.


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Work and Grow

Reading: Psalm 23

In general Psalm 23 is optimistic.  There is a trust in God that flows through David’s writing.  It comes from experiencing God’s saving presence and from having an intimate relationship with God.  David’s opening line reveals his trust: I shall not want.  The next few verses tell of how God cares for him.

Does such a trust and faith come easily?  Is a positive outlook always easy to maintain?  Unfortunately the answer to these questions is ‘no’ for most of us.  To have a faith and trust like David’s takes time and effort.  To be in any good relationship, we must invest of ourselves.  To walk closely with God, we first must spend time with Him.  We do so by being daily in His Word, by worship attendance on a regular basis, by carving out time in our day for prayer.  It is hard to do all these things consistently because it is so easy to sleep in, to make something else the priority, to wake up one day and to realize it’s been a while since we spent any time with God.  To really build a solid relationship with God takes daily discipline.

We build trust much the same way.  When we allow God to be in control or when we turn our burdens over to Him, we experience His presence, guidance, direction, comfort.  Through these experiences we come to trust Him a bit more.  Then we are more willing to trust and do so more easily.  And trust grows.  We come to believe that His plans for us are good.  And trust grows.

David’s faith and trust grows to the point where he can confidently say that he fears no evil.  He knows God has him.  May we work and grow in our faith to experience the trust and faith that David lived out daily.


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“Crazy” Promises?

Reading: Genesis 15: 1-18

In Genesis 15 we hear one of God’s “crazy” promises.  He again tells Abram that he will have an heir after all these long years.  You see, Abram had heard this promise before – first at age 75 when God also told him to move to a foreign land and again years later after Abram had moved to Canaan.  At age 99, almost 25 years after first hearing the promise, God tells Abram that is will soon occur.  God renames him Abraham and at 100 an heir is borne to him by his wife Sarah.  It is true that 100 then is not what 100 is now – his father Terah lived to 205 after all.  Abraham remained faithful to God’s promise and, in the end, the promise came true.  This should not surprise us – it is God making the promise.

I imagine it was hard for Abraham to wait all of those years without doubting, without starting to question the promise.  At least a little.  In my times of uncertainty, it can be really hard to keep faithful and to fully trust in God.  It can be all to easy to worry and fret and to become lost in the midst of the uncertainty.  It can be hard to remember His promise to us: “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Yet this ancient promise still rings true for each of us.  In faith we can face whatever uncertainty we may have.  Maybe life seems to be heading in a direction like Abraham’s.  The questions of “Do what?” and “Now?” may be ringing loudly in our heads.  But quietly, underneath these noises, is the quiet and sure voice of God.  It is steady and unchanging.  He reminds us that He created us just as He intended so that we could fulfill just the purpose He has for our lives.  The road may be rocky at times and fear may rise up from the uncertainty, but God has it.  He will carry us when we need carried; He will strengthen us when we falter.  He reminds us that He has given us the skills and talents for the task at hand.  In faith, we step forward into God’s plans, fully knowing He is in control.


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Temptations

Jesus was led out into the wilderness after being baptized and receiving God’s personal claim and blessing.  He must have felt pretty good heading out into the desert.  After forty days without food, Satan comes to test Jesus.  Did Satan wait so long hoping that Jesus would forget His baptism experience or so that He was physically weak from the lack of food?  It was probably both.

Doesn’t Satan do the same thing with us?  The tempter knows his game well.  It is just when we are upset with our spouse or best friend that he reminds us of that little idiosyncracy that really bothers us.  It is just when stress at work is at its highest when Satan sends the boss or someone else to add “just one more thing” to the list.  It is just when we are worried most about finances that the unexpected bill arrives.

Jesus was tempted by Satan with three things: food to satisfy His hunger, power to rule over others, and to place self above God or to test God.  All of us have physical needs that must be met.  After forty days without food Satan’s offer would have been hard to resist.  Power is a universal temptation.  All of us like to have power, to be in control.  For each of us the level we desire varies.  The last temptation is the most personal to Satan and perhaps to us as well.  It is why Satan fell from heaven.  Satan wanted to be equal to God.  For me it is not so much about being equal to God but I sometimes question if He loves me as much as He says.  Satan here is tempting Jesus to question that love as well and to test God’s love.  To test God, to question the relationship is to show doubt, to say maybe I do not fully believe you God.  It is the first crack in the armor.

I wrestle often with power, with the need to be in control.  This is a frequent battle.  At times, I also question God.  It is my way of testing that love.  For me, these two struggles are closely related.  When I catch myself doing these things, I repent and am reminded again of God’s great love, mercy, and grace.  This day may I walk closely with You, my God and King.

Scripture reference: Luke 4: 1-13