pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: religion


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Loving, Obeying, Clinging

Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – “Now choose life… by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him.”

Photo credit: Nick Fewings

In today’s reading Moses speaks about the clear choice between life and death. On the surface Moses presents this choice as black and white. Throughout the Bible the choice between sinful and faithful living is almost always presented in this way. The reality, though, is that we often live in the gray. But this all-or-none approach applies to most of life. Running a race – you don’t hope to come in third. Applying for jobs – you don’t hope to settle for the job fifth on your list. Looking for a lifelong spouse – you don’t hope for one that’ll probably work out.

As Israel prepares to enter the Promised Land the giver of the Law holds up the ideal: obey the commands, love God, walk in God’s ways. Moses tells them, if you do so, “then you will live and thrive.” This is what we aim for in life – first place, dream job, perfect spouse. It is what we are called to aim for in faith – except we’d define “success” a little differently. In our reading, Moses gives us a great definition: “Now choose life… by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him.”

Moses, typically the Law guy, gives a description that is more “faith” than “religion,” more about a way of being in the world rather that about how to behave in the world. If we choose this relational walk of faith, rather than checking off a list of rules, then we are less likely to turn away from God or to worship other gods. Walking and living in a relationship with God, we will live and thrive. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, today we hear the clear choice: choose you or choose self and the world that comes with it. While we do live in between, Lord, help us to choose your will and way more and more each day as we strive to grow closer and closer to you. Empower, encourage, and strengthen us moment by moment as we desire to love you more fully and to walk in your ways more completely, clinging to you always. You are our only hope. Amen.


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Where Your Treasure Is…

Reading: Matthew 6:19-29

Matthew 6:22 – “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”

Turning to our passage for today we must be aware of the context. Jesus has just spoken against showy religion, showy prayer, and showy fasting. In the middle of this critique of the behaviors of the religious leaders, Jesus teaches about “proper prayer.” This section contains what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” It is a humble prayer of surrender and trust. Praying (and living) these words counters the tendency to be showy with our faith. Instead of seeking to be noticed by others, Jesus tells us to give, pray, and fast in secret. It is then that God will notice and “will reward you “

In verse 19 Jesus tells us to “stop collecting treasures for your benefit on earth.” These treasures are partly the recognition from others that can drive us to practice “showy religion.” There treasures are also the stuff, titles, and power that we can also seek. Jesus warns that moths, rust, and thieves will ultimately take away our fine clothing, our fancy cars…, and our wealth. These treasures are only temporal.

Jesus next points toward the condition or focus of our heart. In verse 22 Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” In Jesus’ day it was thought that the eye revealed the condition of the heart. The eyes revealed the light or the darkness that was in one’s heart. If our eyes see and pursue the things of this world, then these are truly the desires of our heart. If our eyes see other’s stuff and we worry about our status, our food and drink, our clothes… then we are seeking the ways of the world and not God’s ways.

Pointing to creation, Jesus notes how God cares for and provides for the birds and the lilies. This is a call for us to trust in God’s love for us, to seek this love above all else, to make this our treasure. When we do, we live into Jesus’ words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” How true. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, our flesh desires to be noticed, recognized, looked up to. This is why we chase after the things of this world – treasures that feel like they satisfy but don’t last. Guide us by your Spirit, raise up the divine within us, lead our hearts to pursue your heart’s desires above all else. Amen.


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Building the Kingdom

Reading: Matthew 12:24-30

Matthew 12:25 – “Every kingdom involved in civil war will become a wasteland. Every city or house torn apart by divisions will collapse.”

We begin a week focusing on unity, peace, and love with a passage from Matthew 12. The Pharisees and Jesus often had interactions that highlight the differences between faith in Jesus and the religion of Judaism. The point of contention in today’s reading centers around the casting out of demons.

After healing a demon-possessed man, some people are beginning to ask of Jesus, “This man couldn’t be the Son of David, could he?” The Pharisees do not think Jesus is the Messiah, so they seek to offer an alternate explanation for the healing of the man. The Pharisees declare that Jesus can cast our demons because he is in cahoots with Satan. In response to this claim, Jesus counters with: “Every kingdom involved in civil war will become a wasteland. Every city or house torn apart by divisions will collapse.”

Unfortunately we have seen this happen again and again in kingdoms, cities, homes, and even in the church. Civil strife, personal conflict, selfish ambitions – they all lead to and very often end in disunity, division, collapse. Satan is almost always the author of this. What Jesus is doing is just the opposite. By the power of God’s spirit, Jesus heals, bringing reunification, belonging, wholeness. With the same power of the Holy Spirit we can counter disunity and division.

Jesus offers a summary statement in verse 30: “Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather scatters.” When we speak words of peace and love that lead to unity, we are gathering with Jesus. When we work to end strife, conflict, and other sins that lead to division, then we are working with Jesus, seeking to build the kingdom of God. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, where there is division, use us to bring unity. Where there is conflict, use us to bring peace. Where there is hatred, use us to spread love. Where there is separation, use us to build a bridge. In all ways, use us to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. Amen.


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New Life in Christ

Reading: Romans 7:4-6

Romans 7:6 – “We have died with respect to the thing that controlled us, so that we can be slaves in the new life under the Spirit.”

As we begin this week focusing on having lips to speak and ears to listen, we begin in Romans 7. In our walk of faith, one of our greatest struggles is often choosing what voice(s) to listen to. For Christians this struggle often centers around what the world or our culture tries to tell us. This voice tells us that “things” matter most: wealth, power, status… Our inner being, “self,” can be drawn into this narrative because we are innately selfish, greedy, prideful…

In today’s passage Paul writes about choosing new life in Christ instead of trying to live under the Law of Moses. For devout Jews at this time following the Law was almost all that mattered: offer this sacrifice, say that prayer, attend the festival, give, worship. On the surface these can sound and can be good. But when one’s faithfulness to the rules leads to judging and rigidity in things like compassion, empathy, and service, then it can become a bad thing. And failing to uphold the Law led to a guilt and a shame that the Law could not remove.

Paul shares how this changes with the coming of Jesus Christ: “We have died with respect to the thing that controlled us, so that we can be slaves in the new life under the Spirit.” The religion of checking the boxes, the life that leads to death, has been superceded by faith in Christ. Living the new life in Christ, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, tunes our ears to the will and way of God. This leads to a life that bears good fruit. Rooted in love, this fruit is peace, patience, joy, hope, forgiveness, self-control… Thanks be to God for the new life that we find in Christ!

Prayer: Lord God, as we die to self and to the ways of the world, what freedom we find. Instead of chasing after and worrying about accumulation, we become filled with content and peace, we practice presence and generosity. Instead of seeking to elevate self, we praise and glorify God as we lift others up. Thank you for the life of joy and hope, of love and grace found in Christ. Amen.


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What We Need

Reading: Matthew 7:7-11

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

Today’s teaching on prayer comes in the middle of “The Sermon on the Mount,” a collection of Jesus’ core teachings found in Matthew 5-7. It is the largest block of Jesus’ teachings in the gospels. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, called these words “the sum of all true religion.” Gandhi, a non-Christian, read the sermon every morning.

Jesus begins this section on prayer with these words: “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” These words fall within the context of the larger sermon. Plucked out of this context, they can make God feel like a genie in a bottle – except with unlimited wishes. All of the sermon points towards how to love God and neighbor as God intends us to. The idea of asking, searching, and knocking fall within and are aligned with God’s intent for our lives.

This becomes clear as we read on. Addressing daily provision as his example, Jesus muses upon what a father would give a child who asks for bread or for a fish. These are basic staples of their diet. Recall the feeding of the 4,000 or the 5,000. What did the boy have in his lunch sack? Continuing, Jesus points out that no good earthly father would instead give their child a stone or a snake. Extending this idea, Jesus adds, “how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.” Yes, our good God will provide for our daily needs when we ask, search, and knock.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you being a good, good father. Thank you for watching over us and for providing what we need. And thank you for not spoiling us or granting our every whim. We know how that turns out. We, in turn, are called to love you and to love others through the same good and generous practices that you model. Lead us to care well for the needs of others as we are able. Amen.


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The Narrow Road

Reading: Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:36 – “What do you think? Which one of the three was a neighbor to the man?”

Photo credit: Jan Huber

Today we turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is very familiar ground. The lessons Jesus taught remain as relevant today as they were the day that he told the story. The religious continue to try and limit who is acceptable and worthy. We continue to see and define others by arbitrary things like ethnicity, race, gender, religion, education…

As the passage opens, a legal expert tests Jesus. The opening question is just to set up the second question. Any 5-year-old Jew could’ve answered the opening question. It’d be like asking a 5-year-old in one of our churches, ‘Who died on the cross for our sins?’ The second question has the meat on the bone. Jesus has been preaching that God’s kingdom and the salvation that he brings is for all people. He’s been eating with tax collectors and touching lepers. Clearly Jesus’ understanding of who a good Jew’s neighbor is needs some correcting.

The story unfolds and Jesus picks a most unlikely hero. A Samaritan would be about as far from a Jew’s neighbor as anyone could be. And he does not just stop and help. Maybe the legal expert could’ve tolerated that. Like, it might’ve been okay to stop and talk to Zacchaeus, but to go to his house and to eat with him? The Good Samaritan goes way above and beyond too. He shows mercy to the one in need. He is the one who sets for us an example.

Of this story, John Wesley writes, “Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which could contract our hearts into an insensitivity for all the human race, but for a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own.” From about 31 AD to the late 1700s to today. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, encourage and empower us to walk the narrow road. It is narrow. Our faith is assaulted on both sides – culture on the one side, “religion” on the other. The path of Jesus, the way of love, is a narrow lane. As you held back the waters of the Jordan, hold back these evils, O Lord. Be with us each moment as we seek to build your upside-down kingdom of love in this thin space. Amen.


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Trust, Faith… Each Day

Reading: Matthew 6

Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters.”

Photo credit: Wesual Click

As Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount he addresses showy religion, prayer, and fasting. To give to the poor or to pray or to fast in ways to be noticed by others – then that recognition will be our only reward. Jesus advises us to do these things in private or in secret. Then our reward will come from God. When we pray, Jesus cautions against “a flow of empty words.” He gives us a simple and humble prayer, one grounded in loving God and neighbor. We know this prayer as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Jesus then addresses our tendency towards our “treasures.” Today he’d caution us against collecting homes, cars, the latest gadgets, bigger bank accounts… Instead he encourages us to collect treasures in heaven. Some examples of how to do this were given in verses 1-18. In verses 22-24 Jesus connects this struggle into the common Old Testament, Jewish understanding about good/evil, light/dark. In first century Palestine the eye was seen as the window or door to the heart (or soul for us). Jesus clearly believes the best choice is light. He then states, “No one can serve two masters.” God and wealth is the example Jesus gives. While probably the biggest struggle for most of us, there are many other things that we can prioritize over our relationship with God.

Chapter 6 closes with perhaps one of our greatest adversaries in our battle to trust God: worry. We can worry about so many things, big and small. Jesus points to the birds and lilies – examples of parts of creation that God cares wonderfully for. He points out that we are worth much more than these to God. We are told to “desire first and foremost God’s kingdom.” Keep God #1 in your life, Jesus says, and “all these things” will be given to you by God as well. Jesus concludes, “Stop worrying about tomorrow… Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Trust God each day, believing that our “daily bread” will come from our God who loves us.

Prayer: Lord God, you call us to a simple faith, to a day by day walk with you. To focus on the day, to live each moment, we have a chance to notice the opportunities and ways you call us to love completely. To stay in the moment, it focuses our heart on you and in your presence in our lives each day. Help us to live a simple and honest faith today, O God. Amen.


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Receive Your Reward

Daniel 12:1 – “At that time, every one of your people who is found written in the scroll will be rescued.”

Today we read Daniel’s visions. These difficult and challenging words carry both a historical meaning and they speak into future times as well. In the historical sense, these words deal largely with Antiochus IV, a Greek king who heavily persecuted the Israelites. His reign brought the first known attempt by a political ruler to wipe out a religion. The historical time frame is 176-164 BCE. These words come much later than Daniel 1-6, set around 400 BCE.

Daniel’s first vision is of four beasts. These kingdoms will rise and fall. All will impact God’s people. But in the end, “the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingship.” In the end, God will triumph. The fourth, the most evil, represents Antiochus. The 3 1/2 years lines up with his actual reign, as do the wars fought with the “southern king” – Egypt.

Daniel’s second vision of the ram and he-goat are about Persia/Media and the Greeks/Alexander the Great. As strong and powerful and dominant as Alexander will be, his kingdom is divided into four smaller, weaker kingdoms. This vision is followed by Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9. His humble words of confession and repentance move heaven. Gabriel is sent. He affirms Daniel as “greatly treasured” but also confirms the persecution soon to come upon God’s faithful.

Chapter 10 offers insight into another battlefront – the heavenly conflict. Michael helped in the battle against Persia’s powers so that the messenger could get to Daniel. Chapter 11 is some review – the battles between Antiochus and Ptolemy III of Egypt. It is about the persecution the people of God will face too. They are assured that this too will end.

Chapter 12 closes the book of Daniel with words of hope, with words of resurrection and rescue. The messenger speaks of the faithful who “will shine like the stars forever and ever.” In the end, Daniel is also encouraged. He’s told that he “will rest and will stand to receive your reward.” He too will be a part of this glorious eternity. May we also persevere through the challenges, remaining humbly faithful, trusting in God’s power to rescue and redeem.

Prayer: Lord God, as we read these words that the people of God lived through, we too are reminded of the lasting nature of evil. Antiochus wasn’t the first or the last to persecute the faithful. More came. More are yet to come. Lord, lead us to walk in faith, humbling turning to you, the only one with the power to save and rescue. Amen.


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Simple, Challenging, Difficult

Readings: Deuteronomy 9, Deuteronomy 10, Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 12

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 – “Revere the LORD… by walking in all his ways, by loving him, by serving the LORD… with all your heart and being… by keeping the LORD’s commandments.”

Chapter 9 begins with a reminder – keep the credit where the credit is due. God is the consuming fire… It is the other nation’s wickedness, not Israel’s goodness, that is driving God’s actions. Moses then reviews the whole golden bull calf incident as a case in point. He reminds Israel that they did not trust and did not obey. He reminds them that they were rebellious. And Moses reminds them of how he interceded to save them.

In the middle of chapter 10 we find a great question. After reviewing all that God has done for Israel, the question is this: “What does the Lord ask of you?” Moses says, “Only this: to revere the LORD… by walking in all his ways, by loving him, by serving the LORD… with all your heart and being,and by keeping the LORD’s commandments.” Show God with all that you are that God is all you are. Now, the people are not there yet. Just as we aren’t there yet. So Moses implores them to “circumcise” their hearts, to cut away what makes them stubborn, disobedient, rebellious. This is the spirit of the season of Lent, which we are invited to enter today, beginning the process of aligning our hearts more closely with God’s heart.

Moses then reviews (again) God’s mighty acts in the exodus story. It is because of these things that the people should choose obedience to the commandments. And so that God will bring rain, abundant crops… Here we find another “watch yourself.” Don’t be like the Canaanites… To counter what will be a temptation, place God’s commands on hands and foreheads, on doorframes and city gates. Remind yourself over and over of God’s ways. Keep them ever before you, literally.

Chapter 12 calls for Israel to set up a central place of worship. God warns them of the distraction that idol worship will be. Accordingly they are to completely destroy all aspects of Canaanite worship. God then makes an allowance for the slaughter of animals away from what will become Jerusalem. The prohibition against consuming blood remains. We also find two more “watch yourself” statements. Don’t forget the Levites and don’t follow or seek Canaanite religion. Do good and be blessed. Disobey and be cursed. It’s generally simple. It’s also challenging and difficult.

Prayer: Lord God, you call Israel to you and to you alone. You tell them to keep away from the trappings of the world. You desire to be our all in all too. So strengthen and encourage us to walk faithfully and obediently. Guide us in the ways that we should go. Amen.


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Love and Goodness

Reading: Psalm 100:4-5

Verse 5: “The Lord is good and his love endures forever.”

Returning to Psalm 100 today we are once again encouraged to praise the Lord our God. We are invited to be thankful as we enter into God’s courts to offer God our praises. The image created here is one of people entering the temple to spend time in worship, praising God for all of God’s blessings. We have inherited the idea of sabbath worship. We enter the sanctuary once a week to spend an hour or so in worship. During this time we praise God and we offer our thanks for the many ways that God has blessed our lives.

The danger in this system comes in doing to God what we do to the rest of our lives. We can segment God into that time slot on Sunday mornings. By noon we’ve done our God thing and we can get on to the next thing in our lives. This can be part of our tendency to compartmentalize our life. I go to work from x to y on these days. I parent my children in these times slots. I have a date night on the second Friday of each month… We can be so busy. Having times and places for each part of our lives feels easier to handle. It feels more manageable. But faith does not fit into this model. When we try and keep that “God thing” penned into a time slot once a week, then we are practicing religion not faith. Faith is meant to be a part of every aspect of our lives. God desires to be our all in all.

In verse 5 we get a sense of this desire. Here the psalmist writes, “The Lord is good and his love endures forever.” There is a reality here: God is always God. God’s love and goodness are always there. The challenge for us is to be and to bring God’s love and goodness into all of life. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, you are faithful to all generations. Your love and goodness are constants in this world. So, Lord, use me to reflect that love and goodness each moment of each day. In and through me, may others come to know you more and more. Amen.