Devotion.al

Year: 2019

  • Who Are You?

    Exodus 3:1–15, 1 Samuel 18:15–28, 2 Samuel 7:11–21, 1 Chronicles 29:10–19

    There is one question spoken in each of these passages, who am I?

    When we are born, we have no concept of self. Eventually, we look in the mirror and say, “that’s me.” As a child, we and . The “who am I” question may fade for a time but then come back full-force during the teenage years. Sociologists have noticed that the “who am I” period is lasting longer. We have many options of what we can be, and what we can do. Sociologists are also starting to if we have too many choices of what we can be, and what we can do.

    Yet, the problem is that we can do and what we can be often are not the answer to, “who am I.” Many of you reading this may think to yourself, “I know who I am.” Are you sure?

    This is not a rhetorical question. This is a question.

    Who are you?

    Notice that the question was asked in the context of a major encounter with God. God took a person who viewed himself as unworthy and insignificant. God did not.

    No matter how small or insignificant you think you are, your or impact is, God knows you and does not view you as insignificant.

    We look at the heroes of the bible, and say, who am I.

    God says, you are my child.

  • Open and Closed

    Jeremiah 15:19–21, Mark 2:1–12, Matthew 11:20–24

    “One believes with the , resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in .” Romans 10:10 (CSB)
    “For everyone who calls on the of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 (CSB)

    Confession and repentance resulting in salvation is a constant theme in the Scriptures. As the of Israel would wander away from God, come back, wander away, and so on, there was a perceivable and constant ebb and flow in the story.

    Confession►Repentance►Salvation

    was not one to shy away from forgiving sins. Take this story of the paralytic. He seems to have deliberately chosen words that struck at the core of how confession, repentance, and salvation all tie together. Scripture does not say that the paralytic confessed and repented. However, by his friends putting him at his feet, the man was forgiven and healed. Even more interestingly, it appears it was the of the paralytic’s friends that resulted in and forgiveness.

    Yet, we come to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, there seems to be no . What happened? If the paralytic man didn’t have to follow “the recipe” why should have Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum? The additional context of Tyre and Sidon gives us an idea. They were cities that were known for their pride and arrogance. Jesus was saying that Chorazin and Bethsaida were more pride-filled and arrogant. Capernaum? Let’s see…Jesus did miracles, a number of them. Yet, Capernaum refused to repent even with the King of the of God was right there in their midst! That’s the difference, open versus closed.

    1) Can you see the difference in your life between when you have been open and when you have been closed to God?

    2) What traits—other than pride and arrogance—indicate someone being closed to God?

    3) The people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum probably viewed themselves a . How can we check that we have not become like them?

  • Favor of Love

    Exodus 23:3, Deuteronomy 21:15–17, James 2:1–9

    Favoritism generally does not result in good things. By good things, we don’t mean financial . The “benefits” of favoritism is gaining influence or wealth to the detriment of another, usually by showing preferential behavior to an .

    Most of the time, favoritism is construed as the “weaker” party trying to curry favoritism with the “stronger” party. Usually, the intent would be wealth, , or protection.

    However, that is not the only form of favoritism. There is a form of favoritism that shows preferential treatment for the poor or disadvantaged.

    We have, with good reason, developed a methodology to aid historically disadvantaged people. It is an attempt to show favoritism to those who were shown quite the opposite for generations. Regardless of one’s political , God directs us to not show favoritism.

    Now, here is the narrow path we walk. We cannot fix a broken system or broken culture, for both are made of broken people, separated from God and in broken with one another.

    What we can do is each other. What is really hard is to, but is the most important, is to love each other without favoritism. How does that work? Often, poorly. We all have our friends. We have our “groups”. That collection of people with whom we are the most comfortable. Yet, when we show favoritism, we alienate. We dehumanize. Most of all, when we show favoritism we the people of God’s from each other.

    1) What do you think of the favoritism? What thoughts come to mind?

    2) Have you ever been a victim of favoritism? Have you ever shown favoritism?

    3) Why do we show favoritism? How does favoritism damage the family of God?

  • Just a Corner

    1 Samuel 24:1–19, Revelation 6:12–17

    The tug-of-war between King Saul and King-to-be David lasted a number of years. The man who could have been Saul’s Number One and led Saul to victory over the enemies of Israel was instead hunted by Saul. In many respects, Saul felt betrayed by David and probably God. David, on the other hand, definitely felt betrayed by Saul.

    Saul wasn’t betrayed by David or God. Instead, Saul failed God and himself. Saul tried to maintain his place and , but the “weight” of God was against it. It was only a matter of time. What is interesting about this story is that God had removed his from Saul, yet David still called Saul God’s Anointed. David still respected the original anointing despite the situation.

    Many people would not have blamed David if he had to kill Saul. In that era, it would have been expected and often viewed as “right”. Still, David chose not to. This is one of those stories that people point to as supporting David’s (relatively). We need to view it as an appropriate response to .

    Robbers, thieves, murderers, and rebels hid in caves. The dead were put into caves. David may be viewed as a rebel who hid in a cave. However, unlike the kings of the earth and others who hid in caves to hide from God (Revelation), David hid to avoid Saul so as to live. The kings and rulers of the earth hid in the caves to die. It was as if they assumed by they would escape the wrath they knew was coming their way.

    Just like Saul, the kings and rulers of the earth were betrayed by themselves. The whole reason they wanted to hide in caves and die was that they had not fallen to their knees before the King of . Yet, the King of Creation is not God of the dead. The King of Creation is God of the .

    Taking this in a creative (liberty) direction, David is often considered a prefigure of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus cuts off a corner of our garments of worldly wealth. He then lets us walk out of the cave of our own demise. He then presents us with proof of his . How do we respond?

    1) Interacting with people and having a with them, probably means that if there is not actual betrayal, we may feel like it. Compare Saul’s, David’s, and Jesus’ responses to betrayal.

    2) When it comes to betrayal, far too often we look at the other before we look at ourselves. Think of a time you felt betrayed. How did you contribute to the situation?

    3) Betrayal and grace. Knowing that betrayal (or at least the feeling of it) will occur, how can we develop patterns of grace? How can we be better at not causing others to not feel betrayed by us?

  • Heart and Purpose

    Psalm 20, Isaiah 50:7–11, John 3:16–21

    “May he you what your desires and fulfill your whole purpose.” Psalm 20:4

    What does your heart desire?

    What is your WHOLE purpose?

    Those are two that humanity has wrestled with since the eyes/hearts/minds of Adam and Eve were opened in the Garden of Eden.

    What we often do, however, is try to fill our hearts’ desires with things and activities that do not fulfill our whole purpose. In so doing, we are confused and disillusioned. We look to other people (who are just as confused and disillusioned) and try to find fulfillment based on what they say is the “right” way to be fulfilled.
    Isaiah could have chosen the easy road, and probably had an easier time of it. However, he understood that often even while the heart is in (as his was), his heart desired God and Isaiah was fulfilled by following and obeying God.

    “…people the darkness rather than the because their deeds were .” (John 3:19)

    This is the harshness of trying to be fulfilled by our own efforts.

    “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be showed to be accomplished by God.” In the Greek, accomplished strongly implies comprehensive, or fulfilled.

    Chasing the light can be hard, but if fulfillment is truly what we seek, it is it.

    As the world’s state generally improving, the immediate need and drive of survival come against purpose. As the awareness of purpose comes out, the lack of fulfillment becomes a threat to : drugs, addictions, suicide, theft, violence. While throughout existence, some of this has always existed, the levels are increasing rapidly.

    We are called not just to walk in the light. We are called to be the light, and to carry the light of Christ into the darkness.

    1) Why do you think suicide and addiction are often a person’s response to purposelessness?

    2) What are new ways (or old ways in a new costume) that can bring hope and purpose to a world that doesn’t believe?

  • Sown

    Lamentations 3:25–33, Matthew 13:3–9

    For there to be a harvest, there needs to be seed and sower. God’s is both and abundant. All too often, however, we treat God’s love as scarce. There is a concept called the “scarcity mentality.” This mentality is one that views things as a zero-sum game, and that there must be winners and losers, and supply is limited.

    Sadly, in many , there is a scarcity of love, , belief, value, acceptance. Our human relationships shape how we relate to God. So, when our human-to-human relationships are skewed, our with God is, too.

    The problem is how that affects our ability to be the laborers in the fields of the .

    The sower parable is interesting in that it represents God (to some degree). The sower isn’t sticking to a row of surety, but casting seed all over the place! What a mess! What a waste! What abandon! God already knows that much of the seed will not “bear fruit.” God does it anyways.

    We, however, often sow in scarcity or in nice, neat, controlled, little rows, stingily putting down seed, calculating the best yield for our efforts. The issue isn’t the yield, but the that sowed. We think we are being wise in our resources, however, one of the greatest risks is that our stinginess reflects our view of God.

    1)What is your view of God’s love and faithfulness? Does that view match your ?

    2) How do you see a scarcity or generosity mindset in ?

    3) How can you encourage the generosity mindset in others?

  • Harvest Days

    Genesis 8:20–22, Haggai 1:3–6, Matthew 9:35–38

    If you have been reading these devotions with any regularity, you might have noticed that I generally do not put myself into them (e.g., I, me, my). I am making an exception today.

    I was driving home, and passed a sign at an espresso stand that seeing, “The first 5 days after the weekend are the harvest.” I processed that for a moment, thinking what a cool sign.

    Then I re-read it, and changed my mind about the sign. It actually read, “the first 5 days after the weekend are the hardest.” That was depressingly pessimistic. What I initially “saw”, however, stuck with me.

    I Sundays. I love coming/going to . I feel “off” if I’m not there. Your when you read this is I’m a pastor. My role as “pastor” doesn’t really that. Church is often more “home” than my house. Church with all its angst, emotions, and (we bring it all in with us), may not be the most joyous thing for you. I feel bad if that is the case with you (though I can sympathize).

    The reality is that church should be the spiritual and emotional recharge for the next 5 days (really, the next 6). Yet, it is not supposed to be a recharge so you can “just” go back to work. Those next days are “harvest” days. We are the laborers that speaks of and there are very few of us (proportionally). We are to be recharged to do the work of the by bringing people into it.

    I’ll be real. You may think I’m pointing a finger at you. I too struggle with being the laborer. I am far too aware that I am pointing far more fingers at myself. I want to focus on my job and get it done (including at church). I am wired that way, and you may be too. To Jesus—Our Lord and Savior—our real job is not the tasks of the job. It is the people.

    1) What excuses do (or did) you use to not be a laborer?

    2) What habits can you develop (it will take time) to focus on the goal of the harvest, saved/ souls?

    3) If you are part of a small group or group (i.e., “band”), add this to your agenda. When was the last you were held accountable for this? When was the last time you held accountable?

  • Godly Disrupting

    Genesis 37:2–11, Luke 2:13–19, Luke 2:41–51

    Joseph’s dreams were a problem. That the figures in the dreams were readily identified by the participants tells us that the visions were easy to understand, Joseph explained the visions for them, or God also gave Joseph’s brothers and the ability to understand them.

    Even assuming Joseph was indeed a spoiled brat, scripture does not say he explained his dreams. In fact, if we cheat and look ahead, the dreams all need to be interpreted. While Joseph is indeed the interpreter later, he does not seem to be now. That is open to discussion, of course.

    The real matter of interest is that Israel “kept the matter in mind.” While Israel could (and possibly should) have chided his , regardless, he kept all these dreams in mind. Parents have a tendency to keep some of the strangest (or surprising) words and actions of their children in mind, or what people say about them.

    Take Mary, for another example. There was no question her son, , was the target of much interest. She heard wonderful and amazing things about her son. Her son said some interesting things to her. Regardless of how unsettling they might have been, she kept them in her .

    What is it about these parents that kept these particular events so strongly in their memories? Perhaps it was the whisper of the saying, “watch this.” Perhaps it is that part of us–the —that resonates with the movement of God.

    1) We read scripture, often passing over seemingly inconsequential things. Do you think that there have been opportunities to “resonate” with God’s movement that you have missed or ignored?

    2) If God were to have a memento book of you, what things do you think God would “keep in his heart?” What do you want God to “keep in his heart?”

    3) Often things that are the most unsettling, can be the most transformative. Is there something unsettling in your that you need to allow to transform you?