pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: soul


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A Right Relationship

Reading: Exodus 20: 1-17

Verse Two: I am the Lord your God, who brought you… out of slavery.

Today’s passage is perhaps one of the most familiar in all of the Old Testament.  They are but ten of the hundreds of laws or commandments found in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  Yet we know these ten fairly well.  They are on countless Sunday School room walls and most Christians can name a majority of the ten.  They are mostly a list of “shall not” laws with a couple “do” laws in there too.  They are partly about our relationship with God (1-4) and partly about our relationship with each other (5-10).

Maybe the Ten Commandments are well-known because of their timing.  Maybe they are well-known because of the dramatic fashion in which they are given.  Maybe they are top-of-the-list because of their simplicity.  When Moses receives the Ten Commandments on top of the mountain, it is the first time that God has given laws to live by.  This is significant.  The scene below the mountain was powerful too.  God has just led them to victory, a violent storm rages on top of the mountain, and Moses speaks with God in the storm and lives.  And the Ten Commandments are pretty straight forward.  They are simple enough to be taught in Sunday School classes – even for the little ones.

But ultimately, I think the Ten Commandments are significant because of what they begin.  Verse two reads, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you… out of slavery”.  For the initial Israelites, they were literally brought out of physical slavery in Egypt.  But quickly for them and for each generation since, right up and through us, the slavery we face is sin.  The Ten Commandments represent the beginning of a personal relationship with God.  This personal relationship is essential if we are to ultimately conquer sin and death.  The first four commandments, in particular, establish the relationship we must have with God.  These must be kept in order to stay in a right relationship with God.  These are summarized in Deuteronomy Six and again by Jesus – love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  The next six commandments cover how we are to live in a right relationship with each other.  These are summarized in Leviticus 19 and by Jesus – love your neighbor as self.  The Ten Commandments begin our right relationship with God and each other.  May we honor the Ten Commandments as we live out our love for God and for neighbor each day.


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Sing a Song

Reading: Psalm 149

Verses One and Three: Sing to the Lord a new song… Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him…

The psalmist writes, “Sing to the Lord and new song”.  New songs can spring up in us when God is present or acts in our lives.  Singing to God is one way we can express the joy or strength or love we feel when we encounter God personally in our lives.  Our song does not need to have four-part harmony or beautiful accompaniment or even have to be in tune – it can simply be praise lifted to God.  It can be as simple as a prayer that is hummed to God, giving thanks for His presence or saving grace or guidance or whatever He has blessed us with.

Expressing our praise to God and our love for God are the essential elements of a new song.  These can come from something as simple as a walk in the woods or along the shore.  The noises of the birds and the sounds of the water can be the music that accompanies your prayer to God for the time and place you find yourself in.  Feeling moved to praise God can come from an impactful experience as well – the birth of a child, the celebration of a saintly life, the gift of marriage.  In each of these events the power and presence of God can well up in us like a mighty spring, bursting forth in song from the depths of our heart.  Some of these experiences can lead to joyful exultations and others to a soul-felt waltz with the memories of life intertwined with someone so dear.  No matter the lyrics or the meter or the genre, each expression of praise and love can be an outpouring of praise to our Lord.

The day ahead may bring a powerful and joyful encounter with God or it may be a quiet moment when He reaches out and touches our soul.  Either way may we respond with a new song of praise and worship for God’s blessings in our lives.  May we find joy as we sing a new song to the Lord!


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Worthy

Reading: Matthew 10: 24-39

Verse 38: Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Today’s passage is tough.  Jesus’ words confront and challenge and shake us.  Or so they should.  This is not the warm, fuzzy, lovey-dovey Jesus talking here.  This is the Jesus that makes us squirm in our chairs as we read and contemplate this passage.

Jesus begins by encouraging us to be like him – “the student is like his teacher”.  He encourages us not to fear “them” but instead to speak the good news in the bright daylight and to proclaim it from the rooftops.  Jesus advises us not to fear men but to fear the one who holds our soul.  He clarifies this by telling us that if we acknowledge Him before men, He will acknowledge us before God in heaven.  He holds our souls.

Just as with those who heard Jesus speak these words, our choice is the same: Jesus or “them”.  He was probably referring to the religious authorities and the Roman occupiers at that time.  Today, our “them” can be similar but is more complex.  Of particular concern would be our choices of popularity, power, and position over the narrow way of Jesus.  It would be our pursuit of wealth and possessions instead of chasing our relationship with Him.  We must daily ask who we place as Lord of our lives.

Jesus continues to bring it, telling us that He did not come “to bring peace, but a sword”.  Nothing warm and fuzzy here.  In case they (or we) were thinking a little repentance and pruning to cut away the sin in their (our) lives, He clarifies.  Jesus says we must love Him more than mother or father, sister or brother, …  We must love Jesus above and over all else.  It is hard.  It is challenging.  It is a full-time commitment.  Jesus defines it this way: “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”.  It is a daily choice.  Am I worthy?


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The Good Shepherd

Reading: Psalm 23: 3-4

Verses 3 and 4: He guides me in paths of righteousness…  I will fear no evil, for you are with me…

The Shepherd seeks to guide us.  He seeks to guide us and to keep us from harm.  Sometimes the Shepherd protects us from the dangers and the lures if this world, sometimes He protects us from ourselves.  It is a full-time job.

In ancient Israel, the shepherd was very essential to the lives of the sheep.  The shepherd would lead and guide the sheep to find food and water.  The shepherd would lead the sheep to the next green pasture when they had grazed the one they were in.  A good shepherd would be wise with the resources of the land.  In this way, the shepherd managed the land as well.  Finding good grass and not overgrazing a pasture required frequent moving of the flock.  Sometimes the journey was long and dangerous, so the shepherd had to be diligent.  For the sheep, they simply followed and ate grass in the pasture they were led to.  The pastures were not fenced.  The sheep would eat and walk, eat and walk, …  If the shepherd did not pay close attention to all of the sheep, one could easily wander off and become lost.

In our faith journey, Jesus also leads us along.  Often times He leads us to green pastures where our souls are fed.  At other times He guides us through the narrow and trying times of life, helping us to see the path to walk and strengthening us as we make our way.  In extreme cases, He will even pick us up and carry us.  Some of the time we wander a bit and in these cases, He gathers us back and continues to “guide me in paths of righteousness” so that we safely navigate life.  The Good Shepherd reminds us of our call to be holy as He is holy.  In doing so, He leads by example.

During life, at times the troubles and temptations of the world creep in.  The Good Shepherd uses His rod to fend off the attacks of Satan and uses His staff to pull us back into His presence.  In the storms, Jesus brings us His peace and comfort.  In those times, we can speak as the psalmist wrote: “I will fear no evil, for you are with me”.  In all things and in all ways, Jesus Christ seeks to be our Good Shepherd.  For His incredible love and care, we say thanks be to God!


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He Restores My Soul

Reading: Psalm 23: 1-3

Verses 2b and 3a – He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.

Psalm 23 is well known.  At its core it speaks of resting in and trusting in the Lord.  The Psalm uses the common shepherd-sheep analogy to illustrate our relationship with God.  In a society that was highly agrarian, the original readers would have related well to this analogy.  Today many would have to google it to find a video that explained it.  Articles are just too much.  (I am only half joking.)

The relationship between a shepherd and their sheep is exclusive.  The shepherd will do anything to protect and care for the sheep.  The sheep will only follow the voice of their shepherd.  This very well parallels our ideal relationship with God.

Just as it did in David’s day, life gets busy for us too.  Just as it did back then, the voices of the world were loud and called often.  Just as it was back in the day, we need time to step away, to find some solitude, to reconnect deeply to God.  In the Psalm, this place of quiet and solitude was out in a meadow beside some still waters.  One can easily imagine birds singing as butterflies flutter around.  Just envisioning it brings a lot of peace.

I try and get out to walk each morning.  It is just around the streets of our small community.  As I walk past homes and businesses, there is time to think and pray.  As I walk past churches and the jail and the courthouse and the schools, there is opportunity for specific prayers.  My walk is definitely not through green pastures and the still waters are puddles from melting snow.  But I am outside in God’s creation, enjoying the sounds of the birds, connecting with God in a time of quiet prayer and reflection.  It is good for my soul.

This day may we all find a quiet time and space to be outside in God’s beautiful creation, allowing God’s presence to restore our soul.


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Praise

Reading: Psalm 145

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom”.  God is indeed worthy of our praises.  All the blessings in our life come from God alone.  For this simple fact we should offer our praise to God all the time.  From the larger view, we sense God’s greatness, but we cannot see the bounds of it.  It is like looking out upon the ocean or up into the night sky – we can sense the immensity of it but we cannot really fathom or understand just how big or great it is.  Such is the case with God.

“I will meditate on your wonderful works”.  Even though we cannot fully understand, we can meditate on and wrestle with the things of God.  God’s hand and Spirit are at work in so many ways all the time.  It is good for our soul and good for our faith to take time often, to slow down, and to see God in our world and in our lives.  When we meditate on this, we gain a better sense of what we cannot fully understand.

“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made”.  God desires to bless you and me.  God desires to bless all of creation.  This has been God’s intent since the beginning of the world.  But we are fallen and broken.  We sin.  This does not diminish God’s love for us.  Seeing our human state, God sent his only Son to die for us.  God is compassionate.  His love for us is so passionate that God gave his only Son for our sins.  This is an essential truth if our faith.  Consider this well today.  Meditate on God’s love and compassion for us all.  God is worthy of our praise.


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His Joy

Happiness or joy?  These similar emotions or states of being are not the same.  Happiness is about something we think we have a guaranteed right to have.  Happiness is pursued.  But soon enough the new car is not quite new enough and we want a newer one.  In time the raise that would finally allow us to be ‘comfortable’ does not seem to be enough anymore so you work more hours seeking that next raise or promotion.  The pursuit of happiness becomes a constant chasing of ‘just a little more.’

By contrast, joy is something deeper within our souls.  Joy comes from our relationship with God and not from external sources or achievements or gains.  Joy is rooted in God’s love for us.  God’s love is a love that does not change – it is constant and abundant.    It is always there although at times we can create a distance between God and ourselves.  Even then, God’s love is always reaching out to us, calling us back.

Joy is also rooted in our relationships with others.  Here it is an extension of God’s love.  It is love of family, love of our fellow beilevers, and love of the stranger.  It is expressed as Jesus expressed love – in service to others.  Joy leads us to give love and joy away.  But unlikehappiness, our joy seems to only grow when we give it away.  Joy grows because God’s love is abundant.  God’s love is like an overflowing well.  When we find joy rooted in God’s extravagent love, we find a joy that also passes all human understanding.  This day, may we share His joy with all we meet.

Scripture reference: Philippians 4: 4-7


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Time to Prepare

Today’s passage speaks of one of the basic yet most important beliefs of our faith: one day Jesus will return.  In the days right after His resurrection, the disciples all thought His return was imminent.  But as time went by and the disciples’ earthly lives came to a close, the idea of ‘one day’ Jesus will return took on more of a ‘some day’ feel.  Although we are warned that Jesus’ return will be quick and sudden – like a theif in the night – we really do not live a day-to-day faith that reflects this.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away many are gearing up for it.  There are menus to be planned, guest lists to be finalized, things to be prepared, and rooms to be cleaned!  There is a very specific date, very close, so there is some urgency to it all.  And then Friday will be here and that will signal the start of the season to get ready for Christmas.  All we did for Thanksgivign will be repeated plus we will shop for gifts for our friends and loved ones.

Oh ya!  And Advent starts this Sunday.  This too is its own season.  This too is a season in which we prepare for something – the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In a way it is much easier than Thanksgiving or Christmas to prepare for.  It the personal season in which we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  All it takes is a little time and a book or devotional or online resource to focus in on Advent and what the coming of Christ means to our Christian faith.

The time for Jesus’ return is unknown.  Advent is coming Sunday.  It is not quite here, so there is a little time to get ready yet.  May we each choose to carve out a little extra time to prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of the King of Kings.

Scripture reference: Luke 21: 25-36


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Drawn to Jesus

Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me.”  When we come to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, it is not any person or their words that accomplishes the conversion within; it is the sole work of God.  Through our words and actions we can share Jesus, but it is God alone who can enter the heart and soul of a person to change that person forever.

Jesus goes on to say, “He who believes has everlasting life.”  Once God changes our heart and we are “born again” then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and we then live with an eternal framework.  Our eyes are ever bent on heaven and the promise of eternal life with Christ.  Gradually our focus shifts away from the things of the world and our focus becomes more on the things of God.

We will still have moments when our vision becomes a little cloudy and we lose sight of God’s promises.  Sometimes these are even seasons.  Yet because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we will always be drawn back to our relationship with Jesus through God.  The love we find in Christ will always be what draws us back to Him.

When we allow the Father to draw us back to Jesus we experience redemption and we are made new again in Christ.  The grace and mercy and compassion that flows down upon us through His love and forgiveness is amazing.  Our grateful response to this is a burning desire to share the good news with others.  Such a wonderful gift is intended for all the world.  Through our story, through our lives, through our witness, the life and message of Jesus Christ must go out to all the world.  It is the plan.

Scripture reference: John 6: 41-51


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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