pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: world


by Leave a comment

Each Day

Reading: Romans 13: 11-14

Paul writes to the church in Rome with some urgency.  As time has elapsed since Jesus’ resurrection, they need some encouragement.  Early believers thought Jesus would return soon – surely in their lifetimes.  But as year after year ticks by, their mindset began to change.  For many, “when” became “will” Jesus return?  Some in the church in Rome have begun to drift.  Paul’s words to “wake up” reflect this idea.  Paul writes, “our salvation in nearer that when we first believed”.  While is is true for the Roman church, it is also true for us.

Paul calls the church in Rome to faithful living each day.  “The night is nearly over” implies again that again that Christ is coming soon.  Or at least that they should return to living that way.  He urges them to put aside sin and to “put on the armor of light”.  The people must have been straying a but from the faith.  The list of actions Paul mentions are things more common to secular Roman culture.  Paul is calling the church away from this lifestyle and back to following Christ faithfully each day.

Living today we too have much that we can turn to for pleasure and gratification.  Just like the Romans, we too can engage in wild living and a loose lifestyle.  The more modern temptations of the TV screen and internet are readily available and offer a degree of privacy.  Even more private are our thoughts of jealousy and judgment and envy and freed that can so easily pop up and cause us to sin in our hearts.  Our focus on faithful living day by day can be quite a challenge.

So, Paul’s words speak to us as well.  We must constantly be aware of the efforts of Satan and work daily to stay out of “darkness”.  We must always be ready, always seeking ways to be in the “light” instead.  It is a daily battle.  It is a daily choice.  Each day, may we also “clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ”.  If we begin each day in Christ, our hearts and minds are better prepared to meet the assaults of the day.  We are better prepared to honor God with our choices and decisions.  Strengthen and encourage us each day, O Lord our God.


by 1 Comment

Tears of Joy

Reading: Psalm 137: 1-6

Psalm 137 is also a song of lament.  The Israelites held captive in Babylon are strangers in a foreign land.  They miss Jerusalem, their homes, the temple.  The culture and the ways of the Babylonians are strange and often run counter to the faith in God that the Israelites practice.  On top of all this, the Israelites must endure taunts and torment from the Babylonians.  The Israelites are asked to sing the songs of God – the God who loves and saves them.  How ironic the twist as they live in exile.

We look at the news and see the things going on around us and we too lament.  As followers of Jesus Christ we are often “strangers in a foreign land”.  We miss the good old days when everyone knew God, when the churches were full, and when the name of God drew only respect.  The culture and ways of the world are strange and often run counter to our faith and to God’s ways.  And on top of all this, the calls of hypocrites, elitists, and judgmental ring out from those who stand against God and the church.  We often feel and act small for a people who worship the God of all creation.

Our sadness and tears for our world are much like the years shed by the Israelites.  We shed tears of alienation and rejection.  We too are reminded of our reality that we are in this world but not of it.  Our home is in heaven.  We, however, also shed tears of sadness and empathy.  We see so many who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and we are sad.  This great gift of salvation that we received from God is a gift for all people.  The sadness and empathy that wells up in us and knowing the gift of life that we have leads us out into the world to share Christ’s light and love.  As we bring Christ into the world, as we see others coming to know Christ, our tears will become tears of joy over another won for Christ.  We go forth knowing we serve and love a mighty God.  Thanks be to God.


by 1 Comment

Living Water

Reading: Jeremiah 2: 4-13

Where do you get your sense of worth?  Where is it from that you draw confidence, peace, and contentment?  Where do you turn in time of trial, stress, or temptation?  The answers to these questions will reveal much about your faith and your relationship with God.

Jeremiah is writing to a people who have turned away from God.  The people have strayed from God and have turned to worthless idols.  They have defiled the land with altars to foreign gods.  They have put their trust in “broken cisterns” – in their own power and might.  In this sense they have made themselves gods.

Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, we also turn to idols.  We look to our bank accounts and retirement investments for reassurance that all is well in life.  Instead of building altars to foreign gods, we park shiny new toys in our driveways and garages.  In these we see our own worth.  We see our name on the door of our office with its fancy title and think we are content.  But when a storm rolls in we turn to alcohol or drugs to dull the pain or to TV or the internet to numb the mind.  Too often God is a last resort, a desperate prayer when we have exhausted all other options.

Soon enough the shiny becomes dull, the title just isn’t what it once was, and the ways to cope don’t seem to be working anymore.  We feel lost and stuck at the same time.  All the while the Holy Spirit has been present, trying to turn us outward instead of inward, to look to the only way, truth, and life instead of everywhere else.  Even in our most self-centered moments, God does not give up, does not stop loving us, does not stop reaching out.  It is a live beyond our understanding.

At some point we all come to sense that our peace, contentment, and joy cannot come from the things of this world.  They are all temporary.  At some point we all get to this place.  It is a place of silence, of being alone.  It is a place where all else is stripped away.  It is where we meet God.  Maybe it is ‘again’ for some, maybe it is the first time for others.  It is here, in this place of solitude, that the living water seeps in through all the cracks in our brokenness.  It is here that we begin to find peace, contentment, and joy.  But our cracks remain.  We are imperfect creations.  We will lose our focus and fall back to the things of this world.  We will stray from God and our souls will become dry.  But our God is never done with us.  This living water is always seeking to seep back in, to fill us up.  Always.  It is a love beyond our understanding.

This day and every day, may we enter the silence, draw near to God, and confess our sins.  This day and every day, may we invite God in so that the living water will fill us up.


by 1 Comment

Prophets

Reading: Jeremiah 1: 4-10

The opening lines of Jeremiah are powerful.  The Lord is staking a claim on Jeremiah’s life.  God tells him that before he was formed in the womb the claim had been made.  And Jeremiah was not just claimed as a child of God.  The Lord informed him that he had been set apart to be a prophet to the people if God.  Powerful and encouraging words.  Intimidating and frightening words.

Webster’s defines ‘prophet’ as, “a member of some religions who delivers messages that are believed to come from God”.  For Jeremiah, who is speaking directly with God in today’s passage, the message is surely from God.  The timed certainly dictated a need for God’s intervention.  Jeremiah’s place in history was one of turmoil, fear, and threats from outside.  Nations around them were growing in power and the nation of Israel was divided.  Instead of turning to God, the Kings of Judah and Israel tried to make alliances with other kings.  In the end, because of a lack of trust in God’s protection, both nations fell and many were taken to exile in Babylon.

We live in a time when our world needs to hear the Word of God and to experience the love of Jesus Christ.  Beginning in Genesis and running through Revelation we have the inspired Word of God, found in the writings of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  We too have a message to share that comes from God.

Jesus was clear that He was just the beginning.  Starting with the disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the work of Jesus was continued.  Paul, Timothy, and others joined in, filled with the same Holy Spirit.  The Word of God was proclaimed and lives were changed.  The world was changed.  Right up to today many have gone forth into the world to share their faith in Jesus with a world in need of love, hope, and light.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow prophets of God’s Holy Word, we too are called.  May we each go forth, armed with God’s messages of love, hope, forgiveness, and resurrection to change lives and to change our world.


by 1 Comment

By Faith

Reading: Hebrews 11: 29-40

“By faith” they walked through a sea, by faith the walks of a mighty city simply fell down.  By faith the giant was slain, by faith three hundred routed the thousands.  By faith touching the hem of a garment brought healing, by faith a man walked on water.  By faith the people of God have done things that would have been impossible otherwise.  Each and every time someone trusted fully in what God was calling them to and the miraculous occurred.

These stories are not stories of someone getting a wild idea and then asking God to make it happen.  Each is the story of how God spoke into the heart of a faithful follower.  Each is the story of a person hearing or sensing the voice or nudge of God and being willing to trust enough in God to lead them to respond by faith.  One can only assume there are thousands upon thousands who heard or felt God leading them as well but instead ignored it or refused the call.  We know this because we each are one.

Each of us that have heard or felt God leading us to do or say or be something are not without faith because we hesitated or were fearful or doubted.  We are human.  Each of us have also had experiences where we did step out by faith, where we did trust in where God was leading us.  In these cases lived were affected and maybe some were changed.  Perhaps our life was one that was changed because we followed God’s lead.

Just as all those who have come before learned and trusted and came to walk with God, we too are learning and building trust and growing by faith in our walk with God.  Just as those such as Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, Rahab, Stephen, Peter, Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., and many more lived by faith to positively affect our faith and our world, we too can have a mighty impact for the kingdom of God.  May we be willing and trusting servants to answer the call of God and to step by faith to do God’s will.


by 1 Comment

Redemption 

Reading: Psalm 107: 1-9

Sometimes as Christians it can be easy to settle into a comfortable faith.  The further we get from that last big brush with grace, the less we remember what redemption feels like.  It is in those times that we really struggle and Christ sweeps in to our rescue that we feel the strongest expressions of grace and forgiveness and redemption.  Once we get past those times when struggles were common in our early walk of faith, we can slip into a sort of cruise control.  Then it can be easy to forget that others are still in a struggle.  We lose touch with what it feels like to be held captive to something.

There are many people that struggle in life.  The battle may be with things such as drugs and alcohol.  It may be pornography.  It may be abuse.  It may be due to forces such as injustice or oppression.  It may be cultural or economic.  When we ourselves forget what redemption and that taste of freedom was like, we can lose our drive to help others find freedom from whatever is holding them captive.

The true freedom we find in Christ is the only real freedom from all that binds and holds humanity captive.  In our struggles we may succeed in the battle for a short time when we fight it on our own.  But Satan always regains a foothold when we try to do it alone because in us there is weakness.  It is only when we call on the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ that can find redemption from all that binds us.  It is by His strength alone that we have a chance in this battle.  But all who do not know Christ cannot call on His name.

As faithful disciples of Jesus Christ it is our call and charge to make the good news known to all people.  It is our call to share Christ with who struggle with the powers of this world so that all may come to know the redeeming and freeing power of Christ.  Only in Christ is true freedom found.  May we share Jesus and His redeeming love this day with all who are held captive to sin so that Christ may set them free.


by 1 Comment

Choices

Reading: Galatians 5: 1 and 13-25

Life is full of choices.  Some call them decisions and some call them forks in the road.  Our reality is that at many points we make choices that move us forward in life.  Some of the time these decisions are not in our best interests or are not good for our faith.  We can certainly make other choices that then realign us with God’s will for our lives, but we do have detours from time to time.

Our faith is built on God’s unfailing love, His steadfast faithfulness, and His unending grace through Jesus Christ.  Once we are in a saving relationship with Christ, our status is as a child of God.  Even once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we can still make a poor choice and can still go in a direction away from God.

Paul encourages the Galatians and us to “stand firm and do not submit to a yoke of slavery”.  Paul saw sin ad a controlling force.  Sin occurs anytime we choose our desires over God’s desires for our life.  It is anytime we choose the things of the world over the will of God for our lives.

Paul encourages us to live by the Spirit and to allow God to guide our choices and our lives.  May our life be led by His will and may we trust in the Spirit’s guidance.  And when we fail, may we fall back into God’s love, faithfulness, and grace.  He will redeem us and again welcome us back into a right relationship with Him.


by Leave a comment

God’s Economy

Reading: 1 Kings 21: 1-21a

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The wealthy strive to attain more and more while the marginalized cling to what little they have.  The powerful use the system to add to their position and possessions; the downtrodden feel trapped and isolated.  This is part of the world’s economy.

The last shall be first.  When you do this for one of the least of these…  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love one another as I first loved you.  Do not go over your field a second time and do not harvest all the way to the edges.  These things are part of God’s economy.

In Elijah’s time the precedent was set for the king to care for and protect the people.  The king’s role had been established in the desert when God gave t he covenant.  The king was to be the champion of the oppressed, the poor, the widow.  But King Ahab strayed far from this idea of benevolent king.  Queen Jezebel, who was not an Israelite, certainly helped this departure from God’s covenant.

Today many stray from the commands of God.  Today many, like Ahab and Jezebel, seek to place themselves and their desires far above God’s.  The forces that drive the world’s economy are powerful.  The pull on individuals to be successful in the world’s eyes is strong.  Injustice and oppression often occur as the costs of the world’s economy.

God stand opposed to these things and calls on His children to do the same.  We are called to be servants to one another and to share His blessings with those in need.  God desires for our hearts to grow to become His heart, loving and caring for those with less.  May we bring God into the world, being a people who give freely and love deeply.  May we lay aside self and seek to care for the needs of all of His children.


by Leave a comment

Consuming Fire

Reading: 1 Kings 18: 20-39

What a contrast we have in today’s story.  One team builds their altar and places the sacrifice on it.  They dance about the sacrifice, they pray and shout to their god.  Then they resort to cutting themselves and crying out more urgently to gain their god’s attention.  Their god does not answer.  Their god does not satisfy their pleas.  All is done in vain.

We scrape together our dollars to buy a bigger house or a fancier car.  We work late every day as the announcement date for who will be promoted or made partner draws near.  We show up early with our neatly dressed little family and sit in the front pew so everyone can see we are there again this Sunday.

Then the other team steps to center stage.  But instead of a team of 450 it is a one man show.  He builds the altar and places the sacrifice on it.  The audience has seen this show before.  But then he digs a big trench around that altar.  Interest rises.  Then he has people dump bucket after bucket of water on the sacrifice and altar.  The trench fills with water.  The audience slides up to the edges of their seats.  Then he simply asks for his god to make it known that He is the Lord God, the one and only true God.  He trusts that God will answer.  He knows this God.  And fire falls from heaven and consumes it all – the sacrifice, the wood, the altar stones, the water.  The fire of God consumes everything.

Maybe the house is a little small but we are comfortable.  Maybe the car isn’t shiny and new anymore but it runs well and is reliable.  Maybe that project can get done tomorrow.  Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Maybe we could trust this God with all we have.  Maybe He really is able to do all things.  Maybe He loves us unconditionally.  When we pursue and place our trust in the one true Lord of life, then the gods of this world have no sway in our lives.  When we seek first the things of God, we do not have any desires left for the things of this world for His fire consumes us.  Consume us today, O Lord our God.


by Leave a comment

Remove the Waver

Reading: 1 Kings 18: 20-21

A severe famine and drought has settled in on the land.  As time drags on, people’s desperation rises.  They question and doubt.  Elijah is about the only prophet of God left alive.  The prophets of the local folks apparently cannot persuade their gods to end the famine.  Yet the people of Israel are still turning to these foreign gods.

Elijah had been in hiding to avoid being killed, but God sends him to meet with the king.  Elijah first runs into Obadiah, the king’s right hand man, and arranges for a meeting.  King Ahab agrees to meet with Elijah on Mount Carmel.  Ahab agrees to Elijah’s demands to gather the Israelites and the prophets of Baal and Asherah.  Elijah begins be asking the people how long they will waver.  In essence Elijah is asking them to fully choose the Lord God.  Their response: silence.

What is our response when the Holy Spirit whispers into our hearts and asks us how long we will waver between the ways of God and the ways of the world?   “How long?” the Spirit asks.  When we feel the conviction, we often choose God.  But not always.  Like the Israelites who were led astray by the world around them, we too can be drawn in by the things of the world.  Like the Israelites who saw the people of the world and the gods they worshipped, we too see the gods our world worships.  And at times we too chase after that bright, shiny object.

How long will you waver, O people of God?  I can hear Elijah shouting this at the Israelites.  But I can hear it being quietly whispered by the Holy Spirit as well.  This day, O Lord, give the strength to fully choose Your ways.  This day, Lord God, keep the path straight, remove the waver, and allow each to live fully for You and for Your glory.