pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: love


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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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Much Rejoicing

Reading: Luke 15: 3-10

Today’s passage paints a fun image of heaven in my mind.  From the Bible we do not gain a crystal clear picture of what heaven will be like.  We do gain  an idea about some aspects of heaven, but much is a mystery.  But we can imagine!

In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin there is much rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents.  This image for me wondering.  If the heavens rejoice when one lost soul is found, do the heavens also rejoice over each occurrence of love in Christ’s name?

We are called to grow in our fsith, to love others as Jesus Christ first loved us, and to spread the good news to all people.  Do each of these activities draw the interest of heaven as well?  In my mind I picture groups of angels watching over our daily lives.  As an opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet approaches us, do the angels slide up to the edge of their seats, quietly saying something like “Come on now”?  Is there a collective groan when we miss the opportunity or choose to let it slide by?  Is there a raucous cheer raised when we stop and love the one in need?

Does the same scene unfold each time we choose to sit down with our Bible instead of turning on the TV or hitting the snooze button?  Does the same scenario unfold each time we make the choice to do the right thing instead of the easy thing?  There must be much rejoicing in heaven each time the light of Christ is shined forth into the world.  Today may we give the angels in heaven many opportunities to raise a holy cheer!


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Chances

Reading: Jeremiah 4: 27-28

In the King James translation, verse 27 reads, “The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end”.  After a long period of disobedience there will be mourning and weeping, but all is not lost.  The people will wake up from their season of living outside of God’s ways and will realize things are desolate.  Into this God whispers, “I’m not done with you yet”.

Just like the troop that wandered the desert for 40 years and just like the people of Israel who constantly cycled between chosen people of God and idol worshippers, we too wander off the path of discipleship now and then.  We all make choices at times that end us up in places of desolation where we find ourselves dry and broken spiritually.  Yet no matter what we’ve done, no matter what has led us off the path, God is still there, still ready to continue working on us, still saying, “I’m not done with you yet”.

God is certainly in the reclamation business.  God takes us as we are, just as Jesus took all who came to Him.  God is also the God of “second chances”.  Although for us it may be the 2,356th chance or the 41,843rd chance, for God it is always our second chance.  When we confess and repent of our sin, for God our sin is no more.  We have been made clean as new-fallen snow.  God’s grace is amazing.  Our sins are forgotten, so each time we stumble, to God it is our first failure.  God’s love is so pure and honest, the grace so great.

Thanks be to this God who loves us so.  Praise and glory to our God who loves us without limit!


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Good

Reading: Jeremiah 4: 11-12 and 22-26

As I read Jeremiah today, I wondered how similar the world today looks to God.  I wonder how much of the earth seems to be filled with people who do not know God and who are skilled at doing evil.  From God’s perspective, is the world still a good place?

If one reads the headlines of the world news feed, the stories of violence and evil certainly dominate the news.  But, in general, I believe they involve a very, very small percentage of the world.  For example, on a day when terrorists strike and kill scores of people, there are billions and billions of people not doing evil.  While evil in all forms must be and is addressed, those perpetrating violence and evil acts are still in the very small minority.

While most of the world’s seven billion plus people are not Christians or other God-believing people, I do believe the spark of God resides in all humanity.  In each human being is the inate sense of good and evil.  Some choose to do evil for a variety of reasons, but there is still that twinge of good in all but the rarest of people.  Because if this spark of the divine, most people seek to be a ‘good’ person.  Most people will not intentionally harm another person and will feel remorse when they do so.  Most people will try and treat their ‘neighbor’ well and will help another when presented with the opportunity.

Through the New Testament we understand our call as Christians to be to bring the good news to all people of all nations.  This is both a collective and individual charge.  Some are missionaries in far corners of the world.  Some are translating and providing Bibles to people all around the world.  But for most of us, the charge is right here in our own family, right here in our own neighbor, right here at our job or school.  Today, each of us will have opportunity to do good and to be the gospel lived out.  May we make the most of our opportunities today.


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Speaking, Shining

Reading: Philemon 1-21

In this short letter Paul is practicing what Jesus taught.  Paul is standing up for one of the least.  Paul is reaching out to Philemon, a good friend and fellow Christian, and asking him to receive Onesimus back not as a slave but as a fellow brother in Christ.  To help Philemon’s decision Paul offers to pay for whatever is has cost Philemon while Onesimus has been ‘away’.  Paul is truly living out his faith in no only speaking up for a slave but also by being willing to give sacrificially for him as well.

While we do not live in a time when there are actual slaves, we do have plenty of people who are marginalized and who are trapped by their situation or conditions.  We do live in a culture that excludes and leaves some on the outside looking in.  We do live in an economy where many are used and exploited.  So, no, we do not have slaves, but there are many without voice or power.  As Christians, we are called to “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke”.  Isaiah 58 goes on to call us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the wanderer.

Paul was able to speak for Onesimus because he knew him.  In our daily lives our paths do not regularly cross the paths of the marginalized, the hungry, the naked.  To speak and act for them we must go to where they are and seek to know them.  It is our call to love and care for the least and the lost.  Isaiah 58 reads, “then your light will break forth like the dawn, … your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard”.  This day may we seek places and ways for our light to break forth, bringing God’s glory and live to all people.


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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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Priority

Reading: Luke 14: 25-27

Jesus wants to make sure those in the crowd understand that to follow Him is a commitment.  He is beginning to head to Jerusalem to face the cross; He wants all to know the level of allegiance that walking this road will require.  To continue to follow Jesus, each must pick up and carry their own cross.  Jesus wants His audience then and us now to fully know what is expected.

First and foremost we must lay all else aside.  Jesus and our relationship with Him must take precedence over all other relationships in our life.  Our relationship with Jesus needs to be above our relationships with our family, our friends, our teammates, our bosses, our coworkers, our job, our interests, our possessions.  In our lives, Jesus must rule over and above all else if we are to become His disciple.  Then all of our other relationships will be in their proper place.  All will be secondary to our relationship with Jesus but all will be better because of this dynamic.  We will be a better father, brother, husband, wife, worker… because our relationship with Jesus is our priority.

Making and keeping Jesus our priority is a challenge.  We live in a fast-paced world that places high demands and expectations on us.  We live in a world that has radically different expectations than Jesus has.  The world says to place self above all else.  Jesus says for self to get way at the back of the line.  The world says to accumulate as much as we can.  Jesus says to give as much away as we can.  The world says to just do it if it makes you feel good.  Jesus says to seek ways to make others’ lives better.

To walk with Jesus as His disciple is hard.  The path is difficult.  The choices and decisions are counter-cultural.  The relationship with Jesus takes supreme commitment.  But the life lived in Jesus is the life worth living.  It is a life filled with hope, love, mercy, grace, contentment, forgiveness, and peace.  May we all be strong in our walk with the Lord.


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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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Living His Life

Reading: Luke 14: 1 and 7-14

Today’s passage is about welcome, inclusion, and openness.  It is about these things for us and for those we invite to the table.  God’s table is a place for conversation, compromise, and acceptance.  It is a place for all to come and experience God’s love, grace, and presence.

For all, being welcome is key.  In love we need to create tables and spaces where all people feel welcome.  Each must be able to come as they are and to be comfortable in that.  We need to be comfortable with any that come too.  We cannot limit who is welcome in any way.  To do so is to remove God’s love.  We cannot do this.  All, through God’s love, are welcome.

Once each feels welcome, they gain voice and place at the table.  The sense of being included brings the freedom to be open and honest and transparent.  This can be scary because it makes the table a place for frank and often difficult conversations.  It can open our eyes to needs we never knew existed.  It can place upon our hearts convictions about the need for change and to corrects injustices.

Once the conversation has started, we begin to see each other as the same and as brothers and sisters in Christ.  The openness of the experience will lead us to compromise and to a willingness to give of self.  As God works in our hearts, we are led to be more accepting.  We see less and less our differences and grow to see more and more that we are much the same.  As we come to see God in others, we see their true value.  In humility we gain an understanding that we are not the most important thing in the world.

Once we understand that all are beloved children of God, we are forever changed.  We live life with an open heart and mind.  We are willing to enter into a conversation and relationship with any and all.  We are willing to walk with those who suffer so that we can bring relief.  We are willing to give of ourselves in service to others.  This approach to life may sound familiar.  It is how Jesus lived and how He calls us to live.  May it be so.


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Expanding Welcome

Reading: Luke 14:1 and 7-14

Too often we help another person because we foresee repayment.  I’ll come help you move because I know we’re moving in a couple months.  I’ll come help you brand cattle because, well, I own cattle and they’ll need to be branded soon.  I’ll buy a car from you because when you are ready to buy that boat, I know you’ll come to me.  I’ll help you with your event at church because I know the event I lead is just around the corner.

In today’s passage Jesus is saying ‘no’ to think kind of thinking.  It was all too common (and still is today) to think ‘What’s in it for me?’ instead of simply being a good neighbor or following where the Holy Spirit is leading.  When we do things with these attitudes and are only willing to spend time with those just like us, God’s kingdom does not grow very much.  When we rub elbows only with people just like us, then we are keeping the circle small and the walls high.

Jesus came to reverse this.  He ate with the sinners, healed the outcast and poor, talked with the tax collectors, and worked on the Sabbath.  Jesus acknowledges that if we invite only our friends, yes, they will repay us.  He also says that then our reward will be done.  Instead, Jesus says to invite the poor, lame, crippled, and blind.  They cannot repay us but God’s reward will be there in heaven for us.  This is wonderful.  But we are also rewarded here on esrth.

When we serve and live life alongsidethe poor, lame, crippled, blind, and other social outcasts if our day, then we experience true giving.  It is giving without strings attached.  It is pure and free and feels so good.  We also experience true gratitude.  We do so within ourselves when we realize how blessed we are.  We experience it in the thankful and grateful hearts of those we come alongside.  Loving those on the margins and the outcasts aligns us with God’s ways and purposes.  It is here that we are closest to God.  It is here we are truly blessed.