pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: self


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Giving Self to God

Reading: Colossians 2: 6-19

We often try to fill our lives with so many things and activities that we think will bring us joy, happiness, contentment, peace.  We chase after things that appear to be just what we need to get us to that ‘place’ where we think all will be ‘good’.  As we pursue these things of the world we come to realize soon enough that they do not really satisfy.

In other seasons of life we fill our lives with so many things and activities that we do not seem to have time for Christ.  So many things simply consume our time and leave us exhausted and with little energy to pour into our relationship with Christ.  What little we have left that we do offer to Christ is a pittance of what it should be.  As we get completely run down we realize our need for Christ and our need to re-prioritize our lives.

In each day we have a finite amount of time and energy.  Christ needs to be the center of our lives if we are truly to find content and satisfied lives.  He is the big item that must first be given time and energy each day.  When Christ is our core and foundation, all else will fall into line, all else will be taken care of.  Our gift of our presence must be the first thing we give to Christ each day.  In this way we demonstrate our love for Him by giving Him our best and we also show our trust in Christ that all else will be cared for throughout the day.  Each day may be begin by dedicated ourselves to God, by giving Him the best moments of our day, and we will find the joy, happiness, contentment, peace we desire.


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In the Light

Reading: John 12: 20-36

As Jesus is speaking of His own impending death He is also calling us to be willing to offer our earthly life as well.  This does imply a faith we are willing to die for.  But it also speaks of us dying to self and all of the earthly desires that compete with the divine nature within us.  As a means of encouragement, Jesus reminds us that when a seed dies it produces a crop.  When we are willing to surrender our all to Jesus, then our old self falls to the ground and dies as our new self rises up to produce a harvest of faith.

Jesus encourages us to walk in the light.  When we have chosen to give up our old self we are choosing to step out of the darkness.  The darkness can hide our imperfections and defects.  When we step away from the darkness and into the light of Jesus Christ, we begin to see that the ways we were living were not pleasing to God.  We realize that we were living to please and glorify self.  And just as the dawn rises and light slowly creeps across the landscape, so too does His light.  As we grow in our faith, the light continues to shine into dark corner after dark corner as He continues to refine us.

This choice of laying aside self and walking in His light is a hard choice.  Jesus acknowledges the hard choice that He too faced and yet recognizes that this is why He came – to offer His all for you and me.  He leaves us no wiggle room as well.  He wants us to feel our discomfort over having to choose light or dark.  He urges us on, asking us to put our trust in the light so that we might become sons of light, heirs of an eternal inheritance, receivers of the gift of true life.


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Journey to Share

Readings: John 12:8a and Isaiah 43: 16-21

God parted the sea as a path to freedom for His people and as a means of destruction for their enemies.  God provided water in the dryness of the desert for their physical needs and to remind them again to trust Him.  Mary blessed Jesus by anointing Him and Jesus tempered Judas’ complaint by reminding him that the needy will always be present.

As we walk along our journey of faith, we also have experiences that grow our trust in God and some that allow us to bless others.  In the first case we learn from our trials that God is always near, that we can trust Him with all things, and that He will provide.  In the second case as we grow in our faith we come to see that we too can  anoint others and in this way share God’s blessings with them.

From these two things, our focus begins to change.  We begin to see others and their needs more clearly.  We become freer to give away to others because we gain trust that God will provide.  We come to better see needs and to understand how we can meet them as we begin to journey with Jesus alongside those in need.  Our increased awareness of the needs of others, both strangers and friends alike, deepens both our inclination and ability to help.  As we come to understand that helping carry another’s burden does not weigh us down but instead blesses us, we gain strength in our mission to others.

Verse 18 speaks of God doing a new thing.  As we grow in our trust and as our mission to those in need develops, we see more and more from a new perspective.  Our focus becomes more and more like Mary’s – seeing God’s kingdom more and the world’s less.  Seeing and responding to need builds God’s kingdom.  Offering more of ourselves shares Jesus increasingly with the world.  God seeks to do a new thing in each of us.  Can you sense it springing up?  Through our lives, may we ever bring glory to God as we strive to build His kingdom here.


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Offering All

Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-9

When we first moved to South Dakota, we lived five miles outside of a town of 150 people.  It was dark at night.  On those nights when the moon was but a sliver, the night sky was simply amazing.  In that remote location, on nights with a definite lack of man-made light and little lunar light, the stars were awesome.  To sit outside and stare at the sky filled me with the wonder of God.  To gaze up at the layers of stars that went on forever gave me a glimpse of the power and majesty of God.  Although His power and presence filled me, it was but a glimpse.  It gave me just a little peak into how high and powerful God’s ways are.

In realizing how big and powerful and majestic God is, I also realize how small I am.  This realization brings awareness of how much I need God and His Light and Love, made known to me in Jesus.  Yet as big as God is, He still knows me by name.  He formed me uniquely in my mother’s womb and He knows every hair on my head.  God hears each and every word of each and every prayer I lift up to Him.

This same God knows each sin and impure thought and … that I have.  This brings me to frequent times of repentance and committing again to strive for becoming more like Christ.  It leads me to examine what I am offering to God and what I am holding back.  Almost always I see that I am less that I could be, less than He calls me to be.  May I lay aside all within me that elevates self over God.  May I offer all of myself to the One who gave His all for me in His life and on the cross.


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What Should We Do?

Many people came out into the wilderness to see John the Baptist.  He preached a simple message of repentance.  He told people to get rid of the sin in their lives so that they were ready for the coming of the messiah.  Instead of looking within and searching their souls, many people asked John, “What should we do?”  His advice was pretty simple.

To the common person who asked, John said if you have two of something, to give to one who has none.  In doing so today we can clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, feed the hungry, and visit the orphan, widow, and prisoner.  Yes, this sharing includes our time and our presence.

To the tax collector, many of whom were know to overtax so that they could line  their own pockets, John said to collect only what is due.  For the business owner this means to charge a fair price and to pay a fair wage.  To the employee, to be content with your fair pay.

John’s advice to the soldier was to not extort or otherwise abuse one’s authority.  This advise extends to all in positions of authority – to the judges and other government officials, to teachers and parents, to caregivers and providers, and to all else who have authority over another.  In essence, John is saying to treat others with respect and dignity.

As we ask this same question, “What should we do?”, may we heed John’s advice.  May we lay aside the greed, the self-centeredness, the desire for power and may we pursue the things he championed – sharing, giving, treating others well, and offering of self to others.  What great ways to prepare ourselves for the coming of the messiah.

Scripture reference: Luke 3: 10-18


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Just Like Ruth

Ruth was faithful to both Naomi and to God.  She is a great example of the self-giving love we are all called to offer others.  Ruth puts the needs to Naomi far above her own.  In the end, she finds another who offers her this same kind of sacrificial love.  It is no wonder that Ruth and Boaz are part of the family tree that will one day produce Jesus.

In marrying Ruth, Boaz offers both her and Naomi kindness, protection, security, and a sense of belonging.  For two women living as widows with no kin to care for them, this must have been a great relief to them.  But this was not just some act of God.  Boaz was drawn to Ruth when he saw her in the field, working hard to glean grain for herself and Naomi.  He was drawn to her even more when he heard her story and what she had done for Naomi.  Ruth remained faithful and through this both her and Naomi’s lives were redeemed.

Our faith journey is much like Ruth’s story.  At times we will experience suffering and walk a hard road.  But we will not be alone, God will be there too.  At times we too will offer ourselves to another, giving our sacrificial love to them, following the example of Ruth and of Christ.  At times we too will experience redeeming love as God will enter into our brokenness.  In times when we most need God’s redeeming love, it will be there to redeem and restore us.  And just as Boaz stepped in and negotiated for Ruth, Christ will step in and intercede for us before the throne of God.  And just as Ruth was faithful, so too must we be faithful.

Each day we are called to offer ourselves to God and to others, living as His example of sacrificial love.  May it be this day.

Scripture reference: Ruth 4: 13-17


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Bountifully Give

Jesus’ words about leaving home, family, friends, and job to follow Him seem to be difficult words.  To me it is an extension of the choice many make to die to self as they choose to put on Christ and become a new creation in Him.  Often this means we set aside some things and some people in our lives that keep us from fully pursuing a life lived in Christ.  A speaker I heard yesterday said we cannot be 99% in for Jesus – it needs to be 100%.  Until it is 100% we are holding something back.  As it says in Luke 9, we cannot put our hand to the plow and look back.  This sacrifice can be hard but we are promised great reward when we receive eternal life.

In a culture where rugged individualism is valued, we cannot allow that to isolate us or any new believers.  Christianity is not meant to be lived alone but in a community.  One’s new family and friends are the church – a group of loving and caring people who want to come along side the new believer and each other to encourage, strengthen, and support one another.  How we love and care for one another should reflect the love and care Jesus gave to the disciples.

Being such a community can be difficult in a society that so values wealth, power, and position.  These are not the things of God’s kingdom.  The economy in God’s kingdom is based on love, mercy, and forgiveness.  All of these are not things we accumulate to hoard and hold onto.  These are gifts from God that we experience so that we can give them away.  This day may we be filled with these things of God so that we may bountifully give them away.  May His light and love reign today!!

Scripture reference: Mark 10: 28-31


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Go Forth

When asked, Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind,  and strength.  He quickly added a second that was like the first: love neighbor as self.  These two are alike in two ways.  First, they both involve love, arguably the highest human emotion.  Second, they both involve a two-way relationship.  God’s love for us is unfathomable yet Jesus calls us to love Him back as close to this as we can.  In essence, with every fiber of our being.  In the second, our neighbor are also called to love us back.

Jeremiah 31 speaks of a time when God’s ways and laws do not need to be taught anymore because they will be written on all of our hearts. In our church communities we start to see what this looks like.  In these microcosms people know God and strive to obey His teachings.  People who gather together for worship, fellowship, and so on are known by God and are connected together through this relationship.  Once each is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then their relationship with each other is changed.  All are loved equally by God.  Loving each other in the same way is the basis for this new community.

But… clearly not all are part of these loving communities.  In fact, the majority of people live their lives outside of a church family, outside of a relationship with Jesus.  I believe that if asked, Jesus’ third greatest commandment would be the great commission: go forth and make disciples (Matthew 28:19).  Jesus didn’t say to always stay in our churches.  He didn’t say to closely guard our little communities.  He said go forth.  Into the world.  The great love of and for God compels us to share it with others.  Is not the highest form of loving neighbor to share what is most important to us?  Go forth.

Scripture reference: Jeremiah 31: 33-34


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Call of Christ

Christ chose to come and live among us.  God incarnate made the choice to walk in a human body. In the form of Jesus, God stepped out of heaven and down among us.  The people who lived with Jesus and witnessed His life were blessed to be in His presence, as are we who read about Him 2,000 years later.

In today’s culture, we are impressed when a president of a big company spends time with the workers or when a celebrity athlete spends time in a school or hospital.  At times we too are called to step out of or normal circle and to spend time ministering to the poor, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner.  For some it is a similar step to what Jesus did, willingly offering self for other’s benefit.

Christ set the ultimate example of giving when He submitted to death for our benefit.  Jesus Christ became totally powerless in order to gain ultimate power over death.  He had to be weak and vulnerable in order to gain strength and glory.  We are not called, in general, to give our lives for another, but we are all asked: what can you offer?

Scripture reference: Ephesians 1: 20-23


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Called to the Same Standard

In Matthew 22 Jesus answers the Pharisees’ question about taxes by says to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.  It is a concept we follow to this day.  Like it or not, we realize that paying taxes is a necessary thing to keep schools open, roads maintained, police and such on duty…

Jesus also says to give to God what is God’s.  Hmmm…  Isn’t everything God’s?  Technically speaking, if He created all of this, isn’t it all His?  And this leads to the questions of how do we give to God and how much do we give to God?  Do we go with the 10% tithe idea or do we give all of ourselves to God?  Hard questions.

In Jesus, we see the goal.  He gave his all for us.  In his daily life, Jesus loved all he encountered, meeting the right where they were at, offering them what he could.  We are called to the same standard.  Ultimately He took the cross and death for our sins.  What more could He give?  In the end, Jesus continued to meet us where we were at and offered what he could – himself.  To paraphrase John Wesley, may we too seek to do all the good we can for all those that we can in all of the times that we can.

Scripture reference: Matthew 22: 15-22