pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Doing “What Is Right”

Reading: 2nd Thessalonians 3:11-13

2nd Thessalonians 3:13 – “We command and encourage such people to work quietly and put their own food on the table.”

As we add a few more verses to yesterday’s reading we continue with Paul’s charge to live a disciplined life. Some in these churches are not doing so. This is frustrating those who are doing so. This scenario is present in our churches today. At this time, some who are fully able to work are choosing not to. Paul is not addressing those who are incapable of working, those with physical and/or mental limitations. This becomes clear as we press on.

In the second part of verse 11 Paul identifies “meddling” as a key issue. Other translations use the term “busybody.” Because these folks are choosing not to work, instead only taking from the community’s pool of resources, they have lots of time to get into other people’s business. This is not healthy for the individual or for the faith community. Gossip is likely the key form of meddling. Paul then states, “We command and encourage such people to work quietly and put their own food on the table.” Stay in your lane, don’t meddle in other people’s lives, help put food on the common table. The apostle encourages them all to do “what is right.”

There might be another layer to Paul’s words. There often is in scripture. Paul might also be talking about faith practices. In this arena, to be disciplined would include daily study and prayer, regular communal worship, fasting… Maybe some in the churches aren’t “working” at these practices. Maybe then the food they are lacking is spiritual food for their souls. Maybe some are dabbling in pagan worship or other forms of idolatry. And, maybe like some today, maybe some are just showing up now and then on a Sunday morning, tapping into the gifts of community occasionally instead of regularly. In each of these cases, they are treating their faith to a starvation diet. This is not healthy either.

Prayer: Lord God, lead and guide us to encourage one another – in living life and in practicing our faith. Through words and acts of love, use us to draw others back into community, back to faith. And keep us disciplined ourselves, Lord, ever growing closer to you and to one another. Amen.


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Seeking Justice

Reading: Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:7 – “Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people when they cry out day and night? Will he be slow to help them?”

In our world today one would not have to exert much time or energy to find someone to substitute into the place of the widow in this parable. The brokenness and selfishness and greed of our world makes it too easy to find someone abusing the power that they hold over another, to find someone taking advantage of another for personal gain, to find someone with lots of resources walking above the laws that govern our lives. These are but a few of the many situations that cause people to cry out for justice.

The people who create and perpetuate the injustices of our world tend to be like the judge in our parable – people who are self-centered and only care about personal gain. Justice can be had – at a price or if you walk in their social or economic circles. Doing the right thing instead? Yes, that can come at times when a voice raised will not be quieted or silenced. Or when the people rally together to raise the injustice into the public’s consciousness.

As people of faith, we have a role to play in making our world and our societies just and compassionate places. This is so because our God is a compassionate God of justice. God’s goodness and mercy are bent towards justice, especially for people like the widow – the marginalized and the powerless. As the chosen people, may we cry out to God day and night, seeking a more just world. Doing so, we better align our heart and our actions with the heart and will and way of God.

Prayer: Lord God, use us, your people, to bring about a better, more loving world. Grant us the courage to see and to act when the Spirit moves our hearts towards your heart. Give us the words to speak and the steps to take to end injustices in our world. Make us justice-seekers. Amen.


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Paying It Back

Reading: Matthew 22:15-22

Verse 20: “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

Today we return to the teaching about paying taxes. In our time together yesterday we considered how we ourselves bear and reflect the image of God. The question we ended with was: How do we give to God what is God’s? This question asks us to wrestle with how or what we give back to God, drawing from the time, talents, and resources that God has given to us. Our response to this question either deepens or lessens our relationship with God. But it also affects our relationships with one another. That is our focus today.

To hear and understand that we are created in and bear the image of God leads us to the realization that this is true for others too. It is true for our parents, for our spouses and significant others, for our children… It is also true for that difficult neighbor, for that busybody coworker, for that stranger on the street corner… Often it is harder to treat those such as these the same way we would treat our family or close friends.

Yet the reality is that these too bear the image of God. They too were woven together in the womb by God’s hands. So when we next encounter that neighbor or coworker or stranger or… we will once again have a choice. We can treat them as the world does – ignoring, fighting back, getting even. Or we can treat them as God treats us. We can take the blessings of love, kindness, humility… and pay them back to God by paying them forward to that neighbor, coworker, stranger… May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, when I encounter the other, may I first see you in them. Through that lens, help me to be generous and welcoming, compassionate and caring. And, then Lord, help me to see me – the old me. Through this lens, help me to then offer the love and grace poured out so abundantly in my life. Amen.


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Sit Faithfully

Reading: Genesis 21:19-21

Verse 19: “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.”

Picking up again in Genesis 21, God acts on behalf of Hagar and Ishmael, making good on the promise given in verse 18. God opens her eyes to the provision of water. God blesses Ishmael with a skill to live in the desert and then leads Hagar to find him a wife, the next step in becoming a “great nation.”

We all find ourselves in the desert at times – fear rising up, feelings of loneliness and helplessness close behind. We too cry out to God. Our prayers are heard just like Hagar’s were heard. And God provided a way when there seems like there is no way. For Hagar and Ishmael the way was through and in their desert experience. With little or maybe no choice they walked forward into God’s good plans for their lives. Here is where we often struggle. Most of us are not slave girl single parents with no resources.

The abundance and blessings of our lives can get in the way of how God wants to open our eyes and of seeing how God is making a way. We just want to get out of the desert. We want the pain or grief removed. We want light to shine into our darkness. So we marshall our resources and head off on our own way. When God wants us to stay put in that desert place a bit longer, we try and make a way out. It is hard to trust God in these moments. Yet it is there that we likely will see the hand of God at work.

May we learn to sit faithfully in these places, assured that God is with us and is working for our good, confident in God’s love and care for us.

Prayer: Lord God, guide me to walk faithfully, to trust in your good plans for me, especially in those hard moments and places. When tried and true faith is needed, may I lean deeply into you. Amen.


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Build God’s Kingdom

Reading: John 18: 35-37

Verse 37: “In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world: to testify to the truth.”

Photo credit: Alex Woods

As Pilate tries to figure out what to do with Jesus, Jesus informs him that his kingdom is “not of this world.” Jesus’ kingdom does not have its foundation built upon earthly things. His kingdom is not built upon military or political power, upon wealth or physical strength. Jesus’ kingdom is built upon love and mercy, generosity and compassion, empathy and care, forgiveness and reconciliation, relationship and connection. These are some of the truths of Jesus’ kingdom. With our earthly kingdoms we attach ourselves to this candidate or to that leader for a short season. But with Jesus’ kingdom our commitment, our relationship, our attachment is both for now and on into forever.

When we claim to be part of Jesus’ kingdom here on earth, this is a bold statement. If we call Jesus the Lord of our lives, we are committing to a constant review of this claim. We must ever ask ourselves if Jesus is truly in control over our decisions, our finances, our talents, our resources. We must not only live out the truths listed above, but we must also share the good news of Jesus Christ with all in our circles and with all we meet in the wider world. Doing so others will come to call Jesus the Lord of their lives. Those we minister to and form relationships with should mirror Jesus’ life and ministry. Our hearts too should be bent towards the ones on the edges – the poor and needy, the hurting and the broken, the least and the lost.

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this earth. Yet it is here and now. And it is to come. We await its fuller revelation. As we live in right relationship with God and with our neighbors, we are building God’s kingdom here on earth. May it ever be so.

Prayer: Lord God, remind me over and over that you are Lord of my life. Turn me from the cares and pleasures of this world towards your truths, towards those that your eyes see. Use all of me and all that I have to make disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world. May your kingdom come and may your will be done. Amen.


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Greatness

Reading: Mark 9:33-35

Verses 33-34: “Jesus asked, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept silent… they had argued about who was the greatest.”

Photo credit: Giorgio Trovato

What do you think made Peter or James or Bartholomew… think made them greatest among their fellow disciples? Along the same lines, what do we think makes us special? What makes us great? Just as each disciple had his own reason or case, we too draw on certain things that demonstrate our greatness. Some point to earthly things such as power or wealth or education or fitness or beauty. Some point to relationships or service or ministry. Even these ‘worthy’ ones can become a slippery and dangerous slope when pride and ego and envy enter our hearts.

Today in the Disciplines daily devotional author Angela Staffner offered this nugget: “We are all participating in an ongoing discussion about greatness, spoken or unspoken.” She noted that our lives speak for us. As Jesus gathers the disciples and points them towards humility and service, he is guiding them into the way that reveals not their own greatness but God’s greatness. The disciples each had gifts and talents that were great. So too do we. The Jesus question is this: Do we use our faith story, our material resources, our spiritual giftedness to serve others? Going deeper, do we see these things as tools to use to glorify God or are they means to elevate self and to prove how great we are?

Jesus could have used his power, wisdom, and other divine abilities to be a totally different kind of Messiah. He could have led from a place of might and superiority. Jesus chose to walk the path that he is calling the disciples and us to walk. He met one and all right where they were at, heard their stories or needs, and poured into or served them as he was able. Using those things that God has given us that make us great followers of Jesus Christ, this day may we joyfully employ these things for the glory of God.

Prayer: Lord, walking in humility is not always easy. The desire to be seen, to be noticed is always near the surface. Recognition, applause, that feeling of success – they call out. Bend my will to your will. Focus me in on the Jesus way. Guide me to speak and do in ways that bring you all of the glory. Amen.


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Is God the Focus?

Reading: 1st Corinthians 7: 29-31

Verses 29 and 31: “…the time is short… For this world in its present form is passing away”.

Paul writes today of the constant tension that Christians have and always will live in. Our passage today begins with “What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short”. Here Paul is first thinking in terms of Jesus’ return. The first believers believed that his return was imminent. Paul is also thinking of our time here on earth. Our lives, even if we live into our eighties or nineties, is but a mist compared to eternity. Under both of these arguments, Paul is calling the Corinthians and all believers to really focus in on what matters most during our lives so that our eternity is spent in heaven with God.

In the body of this passage Paul tells his readers not to focus on family or on happiness or mourning or on the things we own. He warns us not to become too “engrossed” with the things of this world – status, wealth, titles, popularity… As folks who live in this day and age, we know the lures of this world quite well. Society and culture elevates these very things that Paul warns about as the meaning and purpose of life. Society and culture seek to tie our value and our identity and our “success” to what we own and to the power we have because of our title or position or wealth. According to Paul, all of these things are not to be our focus. He sums up our passage and his argument with these words: “For this world in its present form is passing away”. One day all of this will be no more. One day a new heaven and earth will be the reality. My house, my car, my bank account, my job, my titles, my accomplishments – all will be no more. And if I die before Jesus returns, I will not keep or take any of these things with me. They do not matter.

Paul reminds us today to focus on God as our first love, as our main connection, as the focal point in this life. The wisdom of the ages has taught us that where we spend our time and our money truly reveals what is most important to us. As you consider your allocation of these resources, do they reveal God as your focus? Is God your priority?

Prayer: Lord God, while I begin my day in time with you and while I “work” at a church, too often I am concerned with the things of this world. Draw me away from these concerns and desires and pull me deeper into love with you. Delve into my heart, be my all in all. Amen.


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Blessings

Reading: Leviticus 19: 9-18

Today’s passage falls under the heading, “Various Laws”, in my Bible.  It is part of a longer list of “Do not…” laws that appear to jump from one subject to another, as the subtitle maybe suggests.  Sprinkled throughout this chapter is the phrase, “I am the Lord”.  It occurs five times in the ten verses we read today, 19 times in the chapter.  In the repetition of this phrase we are reminded of who God is – the creator and giver of all things – and of our role within God’s kingdom.  Our role should be one of gratitude for all that God has blessed us with.  Out of this gratitude should flow a love for all of humanity.

This role is represented well in verse nine.  God instructs, “Do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather gleanings from your field”.  God repeats this same idea in the next line concerning the grape harvest.  Yes, God wants to bless us with the bounty of a good harvest, but we are not to work and work and work for every last seed of grain or the very last grape.  This simple idea has several applications.  First, we are not to be greedy.  We are to be satisfied with what God provides.  Second, we are to share God’s blessings with those in need.  Third, keep the proper perspective – God created for all of humanity, not just for us.  In following these lessons, we maintain our connection to God and to one another.  In these lessons, we remain in our proper role with respect to honoring God and loving our neighbor.

Verse nine applies to the harvest – it was very relevant in the agrarian society of early Israel.  It translates well today as well.  It applies to our time, our talents, our money, our love, our possessions – to all that God has blessed us with so richly.  True, God calls us to work.  But not to the edge, to the point where work is our sole focus and the consumer of all we are.  Yes, God gives us each talents and gifts that bring blessings to our lives.  But He gives these so that we can bless others as well.  What gift of God do you guard to closely?  How can you loosen your grip so others may share in the blessing?