pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: control


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Her Offering

It is a challenge to be content, to trust, to be obedient.  The world tells us we need a bigger house, a better body, a higher title.  It tells us we need recognition and to rise above everyone else.  These are the attitude Jesus points out in the teachers of the law.  They do much for show.  Then He goes on to observe the offering box in the temple.  Many with much come along and drop in their offering.  He makes no judgment but only offers that it is easy for the wealthy to give out of their excess.

Then along comes the widow who puts in two small copper coins.  “Such a tiny offering” the teachers of the law, the wealthy, and the disciples observe.  We would have too.  But then Jesus notes this is all she had to live on.  All.  Oh.  What trust in God to do such a thing!  True, but it is more.  It is the joy of giving.  It is sacrificing so another can have some.  It is being obedient.  Just imagine for a moment gathering all you have – all your money – and giving it to the church.  All the money you had.

What would it have taken for this widow to do such a thing?  What would it take for me?  To be honest my faith is a long way from this widow’s.  We may pray to the Spirit to guide us, but we have our limitations.  There are things we hold back.  This poor widow is a tough example to follow.  But one worth striving to be more like.  Make me a  willing giver of all I have to offer Lord.  Help me to abandon self for You.

Scripture reference: Mark 12: 38-44


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God’s Presence and Will

It is common in the church today to hear that these are dark days.  The world is full of greed, the lust for power and control, the idea that the individual is supreme, and tragedies such as war, disease, and oppression.  While much of this is true, dark days are not common only to our time.  For those that lived through world-changing events, such as the Depression or the World Wars, their times were certainly filled with dark days.  This could be said of many events in mankind’s past.  For the Ephesians that Paul was writing to, the days were filled with persecution and they lived within a pagan culture.  These were dark days as well.

As each generation of Christians face the dark and evil days in which they live, the questions are the same: how will we face these days? And, how will we respond?  Today our answers are just as important as they were during the bubonic plague of Europe or during the more recent AIDS epidemic in Africa or at any other time in the church’s history.

Some voices call for the Christian to retreat within the walls of our churches and homes, to live largely in isolation.  Venture forth only when absolutely necessary.  Other voices call for more aggressive measures such as protest, boycott, and other forms of condemnation.  Through these and other political actions these voices call for Christians to play the world’s game of power and control, just with our own Christian agenda.

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians was to understand God’s will.  Christians never were or are called today to run from the world.  Nor are we called to fight with the world.  Instead we are called to follow Jesus.  Jesus’ life was God’s will lived out in the flesh.  We too are called to live as God’s presence in the world sharing His love, goodness, mercy, righteousness, truth, justice, and forgiveness.  We face each day knowing God’s presence in and will for our lives.  We respond by sharing God with others.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6: 18-20


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Be Gentle

We enter today’s story on the cusp of battle.  David’s son Absalom has rebelled and it has all come to a head.  David’s army will engage Absalom’s army this day in battle.  In this deadly battle 20,000 men will die.  David issues what many would think an odd order just before battle is about to begin: “Be gentle with Absalom.”  In spite of the rebellion, David still sees his son and still loves him deeply.

Lots has led to this point.  Absalom’s vanity has led him to think that he should be king.  As this thought grew so too did the lust and greed for power and control.  Through a variety of schemes, deceit, and trickery, Absalom built up a following and ann army.  And so it came down to battle to determine who would be king.

In our lives we too can fall to the lies we tell ourselves and to the lies Satan whispers in our ear.  We too can be guilty of thinking more of ourselves than we should.  To get there we often tear others down.  We too can be guilty of seeking more power, more control, more influence over others.  To get there we often rationalize and manipulate and bend the truth.  It can be easy to go down the same road as Absalom.  It can be easy to rebel against God.  And we too find ourselves in battle.

In spite of all that led up to this point, David still says, “Be gentle with Absalom.”  When we get to the point of battle and wrestling with our desires against God’s will for us, our God says the same thing: “Be gentle with ____.”  God holds out for the same things as David held out for: reconciliation, restoration, redemption.  God is our loving father.  No matter our choices or actions, He still loves us and longs for relationship with us.  What a great love God has for you and me!

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 18: 5-9


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Choose Life

Bread is usually a basic part of most people’s diets.  When Jesus proclaimed that He was the ‘bread of life’ those listening would have connected this to one of the necessities of life.  His Jewish audience would also connect this statement to the manna that saved their ancestors in the desert.  Jesus points out to them that that bread was also from God.

As food is a necessity for life, hunger can drive our thoughts and actions.  Jesus often spoke of meeting the needs of the those who were hungry by giving them something to eat.  Yet Jesus knew that this earthly food was only temporary.  Even though satisfied right then it was only for a moment.  So Jesus offered Himself to His audience and to us as the ‘bread of life’ – bread that satisfies a deeper hunger that resides in all of us.

Food satisfies out physical need or hunger.  But this is not the only type of hunger we face.  We all crave to be loved, to find companionship, to fit in, to be successful, to be in control, ….  The list goes on and on.  We are vulnerable to being tempted to try to fill our hungers in unhealthy and temporal ways.  The recent story of David and Bathsheba reminds us how quickly it can go bad when one gives in to the desires of our flesh.

Jesus offers Himself to us as the ‘bread of life’ in the passage today.  Through this, He offers us life abundant.  Jesus can also be our ‘living water’, rising up within us.  When we choose to walk with Jesus we are filled with His presence.  Like bread, He sustains us when we are in need or are struggling with temptations.  Like water, He quenches our thirst for all we desire.  When we choose Jesus, we choose life.

Scripture reference: John 6: 24-35


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Each Day with Him

Psalm 4 begins in deep anguish and ends in deep peace.  In life we too experience these wide swings.  Sometimes it is within a day and sometimes it is for a brief season.  And like us, the psalmist cries out to God, asks the ‘why’ questions, and searches for the reasons for their anguish.

Deep in our heart and soul, even when we are in the middle of a crisis, we know that God is still present.  The psalm reminds us of this and implores us to pray, to be silent, to offer sacrifice, and to trust in God.  When we seek Him we will find Him.  Sometimes we just have to step away from all that is swirling around us for a few minutes and focus in on God’s presence.  There we will find rest.

Along with all the things that test us, we also experience joy and blessing.  Life is a mix of the two, the good and the bad.  The rain falls on both the good and the evil, so does the hard and the trying.  Yet if we choose to see and acknowledge God’s hand in the joys and blessings as well, we are reminded that in all things, God is near and God is in control.  He is always faithful and true.

The more we learn and know God is always there, the more our trust in Him grows.  As we learn to abide in Him more and more, we increasingly live as a child of God.  That trust allows us to better walk through the highs and lows that are sure to come.  When we know God personally and deeply, life will not be all roses, but each day we can walk in the garden with our Lord.

Scripture reference: Psalm 4