Devotion.al

  • Avoiding Shaping

    Psalm 103, 2 Peter 1:3–11, 1 John 1:5–2:2

    Have you ever whittled, shaping a piece of wood cut-by-cut, flick-by-flick, putting something into life that was only in your mind?

    While God does not use a knife to whittle on us, through and life’s trials God does us. Sometimes it is to bring something new and good out of us that we didn’t know we had. Other times God removes things and we don’t like it. It doesn’t happen all at once. Part of who we are is our flaws, personality traits, and our unredeemed nature. As we work with God, these are changed and transformed into something new.
    Peter reminds us that God’s divine power (i.e., not our efforts) gives us everything we need. We have to be willing sharing that power. It sounds strange. Share God’s power. However, if we look at nature, humanity often will avoid that as it seeks its own way through its own power. Peter gives us the blueprint of adding to our . With this adding, there is a bit-by-bit transformation. There is an end goal, and it is to be fruitful. When we speak about our transformation it is so that we are able to add to God’s kingdom.

    Sometimes (okay, maybe every day), we have to do a self-check on what we’ve done and not done. Sometimes we can not others as ourselves. Sometimes we don’t love God first. It is all part of our human condition. As we are “added to” (per Peter) every day, we that we will be improved. However, we all know that there will be missteps, mistakes, and sins. While God gives us the power to avoid sinning, sometimes we lack the and maturity to not misstep or make mistakes. We do not have to be down on ourselves or be too harsh on ourselves. John tells us to have a life of confession. We need to our sins. Does it fix everything? No. It does, however, remind us where the true orientation of our needs to be.

    1) Why do you think Peter uses “adding to” when he talks about the path of he is laying out?

    2) What does it mean to you that you share God’s power?

    3) How does confession help to bring us to the Very Good Life?

  • What Doesn’t Change

    Psalm 146, Isaiah 43:8–13, 1 Peter 2:2–10, John 14:1–7

    While we are still in the Easter season (the year span between Easter and ), it is always good to recall all which testified to being the Messiah. This passage in Isaiah is a good reminder. Through the Messiah (Jesus) nations have been brought together. We often look at the divisions, especially when it comes to the powerful using to justify their actions. Which is makes things all the more peculiar (and often a against the powerful), for God says that God is the Savior. No one else can do it. Only God. Still, we are told one political (let alone political party) is going to solve it all. They can’t. There is an important piece that often isn’t included in the fact that only God can save, that means insofar as our salvation depends on God, it doesn’t .

    God’s salvation doesn’t change. However, our understanding and/or acceptance of it may change drastically over our lives. It is not a minor theological point that Peter makes regarding growing into salvation. It is a huge thing. Think of a plant/tree/bush. If they are not growing, they are dead. Many people think they have arrived when they come to a salvation point with Jesus (in fact, many churches have taught that over the years). Peter’s point is that it is an ongoing process. Not only does he use “plant-growing” language, he then builds (no pun intended) on that by saying we are being built into a spiritual . We are part of God’s saving work in us. Now, that is not to say that our salvation is based on our work, but that it becomes deeper and more -giving when we participate in it.

    Life-giving should be the Very Good Life…the saving life that Jesus Christ invites us to participate in. When Jesus speaks on being, “…the way, the , and the life…,” it (again) is not a destination. Those that were part of the early church were often called the Followers of the Way. They lived life together around the truth. This particular passage is often used by (well-meaning) people as a dividing line between unbelievers and “true” Christians. Yet, it is more about Christians than it is about anyone else. We are to look to Jesus as our Savior. We are to follow his ways the best we can. As we follow him, we are better able to draw people to life with him.

    1) Through Isaiah, God says to the Israelites (and to us), “…you are my witnesses….” Read the verses before and after, then ask yourself, witnesses to what?

    2) Why is it crucial to think of the Christian life as a “growing” life?

    3) What are your thoughts regarding, “…the way, the truth, and the life…?” What does it mean to a Christian? What does it mean to one who doesn’t follow Jesus?

  • Community Rhythm

    John 16:16–22, Galatians 4:8–20

    How often when we know the story so well do we look down on those who don’t get it? The disciples certainly didn’t get it. often spoke in parables, and because we think we know the answer, we find it easy to impose our understanding onto Jesus’ words.

    If we think of the disciples’ time with Jesus as an extended “mountain-top” experience that seemed to be never-ending, we can understand their confusion. What could possibly go wrong? We know the ending, but they didn’t.

    Part of the mystery and rhythm of the “” year is the annual repetition of the , pain, heartache, and (again) joy that is Jesus’ life. It is also not just Jesus’ life. It is ours as well.

    Not all that long ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus, less than (but almost) 2 weeks ago was his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Just 8 days ago Jesus died on the cross. Just 6 days ago, Jesus rose again. This ebb and flow like life. Was Jesus belittling his own painful on the cross, linking it to the labor pains (not that such are small or minor in anyway), or (more likely) equating the short term pain with the joy that comes with new life. With the joy of such new life overriding the anxiety of the pain just experienced. We know what the new life is of a mother giving birth. What about Jesus?

    When speaks to the Galatians, he expresses the heart of Jesus insofar as the new life that Jesus spoke of. It is you. It is me. It is the extended called the church. This new life is a called to worship God with one another in love and .

    1) What do you think when you think of the “church year”? Is it a new concept to you? How does it shape your life, both in and outside of church?

    2) Do you find it difficult to your knowledge from the story? You know what’s going to happen. Are you able to “live” with the disciples as they walk with Jesus?

    3) Paul states that his “birthing pains” continue as he awaits Christ’s in the Galatians. Aren’t the Galatians Christians? What do you think Paul means?

  • Living After

    John 21:1–19, Isaiah 43:1–12

    We often stop with the of . That’s the big event. It’s understandable. It wasn’t the of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Often when we are stressed or unsure of ourselves, we return to old habits. Peter’s old habit was fishing (it was his occupation, too). It was quite simple, and probably even automatic, to go back to fishing. It was something solid, earthly. It was also something to do. Scripture implies that Peter wasn’t the calmest and patient person. It doesn’t take much imagination to Peter’s frustration and restlessness coming to a boil…, “I’m going fishing.”

    Next, we read a very similar encounter with too many fish being pulled up. You can easily imagine someone smacking their head when they make the connection.

    Then Jesus asks Peter 3 times about feeding his (Jesus’) sheep. The context of taking care of those that followed Jesus was obviously important to Jesus. Jesus was important to Peter. The 3 times was both admonishment and intimate. Peter was, it seemed, the new –. Peter just wanted Jesus. Not that many days ago in Peter’s journey, he denied Jesus 3 times, fell asleep while called to pray with Jesus, left Jesus to die. There is something about this particular encounter that was much more than “just” the resurrection. This was restoration.

    Restoration is a common theme in scripture. Isaiah called on the people. Announcing that God would restore and reconcile. Granted, maybe not in the way they wanted. It is unlikely that Peter would have to be to Jesus the way he was. can truly be extraordinarily painful. Peter experienced it. Israel experienced it. Yet, when we come to reconciliation we often flee the pain. Beyond the pain is a new .

    1) Peter ran away (and other stuff). The people of Israel were almost destroyed. Reconciliation was on the other side. What is different, and what is the same in these two different times?

    2) Theologians have vigorously discussed the 3 admonishments by Jesus to Peter. What do you think they mean, and why are they important?

    3) Sometimes people need space and practices to process what has happened to them. Do you ever need that? Do you know people who need that? How do you process events?

  • All To Be Reconciled

    Genesis 4:1–17, Ezekiel 33:10–20

    Cain is often portrayed as the human embodiment of . In popular media, he’s the ultimate bad guy. Which makes sense. Cain invented murder. Yet, Cain lived. Later, the rules would be set, he would be dead according to the penalties, but for this time and age, he lived. What about the “mark” of Cain? Some people have drawn from Revelation what that symbol could look like. It must have been pretty significant for it to be instantly recognized. We focus on a lot of that, but perhaps we ought to focus on something slightly different. God’s .

    Where is God’s grace in this? Cain’s protection. Cain being able to, in some way, on with his . Cain was able to have a , and even began to be settled. This not the story of a man on the run, but the story of a man who did a horrible wrong, but was yet a recipient of God’s grace and protection.
    We don’t know the story behind the story. Was Cain’s with God ? The Bible doesn’t say. John, Jude, and the author of Hebrews don’t have much confidence in Cain’s rehabilitation, but nothing is impossible with God.

    The reason this matters is summed up in the words of Ezekiel. God doesn’t want anyone to not be reconciled. Bad men become . Just like Adam and Eve, however, good can become bad because of a choice made. We forever are stuck with the consequences of the choices we have made. However, those choices do no prevent us from approaching God.

    1) What are some of the worst choices you ever made? How did they affect your with and your relationship with God?

    2) Do you think it is possible (regardless of likely) that God showed Cain grace? Why or why note?

    3) Thinking of Ezekiel’s words, what is the flip (or possibly negative) side of God’s grace?

  • Wednesday after Easter

    Genesis 1:24–2:1, Genesis 3:6–13, Psalm 11, Matthew 6:22–23

    Up through verse 25, God’s creative acts with the epithet, “…God saw that it was good.” Then God made mankind. With the completion of that , “…God saw that it was very good.” The very can also be translated as exceedingly. Look around. Do we look exceedingly good? Our wars, our violence, our hatred, our favoritism, our biases, our brokenness. Exceedingly good? It is indeed true that our issues are not as God intended. with the advent of humankind was very good. Then humanity lost it all.

    “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them.” -Obi-Wan Kenobi*

    Eve saw. Adam witnessed. Their eyes “were opened.” Obi-Wan Kenobi was very wise in sharing with his young about how our eyes do indeed deceive us. Illusionists and magicians are very much aware of this. If you’ve ever had motion sickness, it is often a result of a disconnect between your eyes and your inner-ear (or your stomach). Your eyes give your body a signal, and the of your body disagrees.

    Yet, we have many phrases (like Thomas) such as, “I’ll believe it with my own eyes.” It’s as if we think our eyes are more “honest” or “true” than another’s. There is also the reality that often what we see is not the whole story. Most people now believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun. It wasn’t that long ago that people believed that a chariot pulled the Sun through the sky or some other similar mythology. They based their conclusions upon what they saw.

    Now, this could easily end up being a wild goose trip, if we let it. This is where both Psalm 11 and ‘ words in Matthew come in. The physical aspect of our eyes is one thing. Our eyes “lead” to our soul. While the serpent’s deceit and Eve’s (along with Adam’s) pride to “be like God,” definitely are part of the picture, Eve “saw” the apple. If we look at the 10 Commandments, much of it involves to some degree.

    God sees all we do. Our eyes deceive us in that we don’t , so he must not see us (the sinner’s version of peek-a-boo). When Jesus warns us about the relationship between our eyes and our souls, it is because of how our eyes will often draw us away from the True desire of our souls…a deep and abiding relationship with God.

    1) We often look to others and compare ourselves to them. How does that lead us away from the Very Good Life?

    2) Our culture is very visual. Advertisers and media companies are aggressively pursuing our eyeballs. How should Jesus’ words influence our ? How does that reinforce Jesus’ words?

    3) The original sin has a symbol…an apple and a snake. Our salvation has a symbol…the cross. The church as has a symbol…the cup and bread. What other symbols can you think of that evoke a powerful response?

    *GEEK ALERT! Just in case you don’t know the reference, this is from the movie Star Wars: A New Hope.

  • God’s Good Life

    John 14:15–21, John 15:26–16:11

    There are two types of “good .” There is the world’s version of the good life. There is God’s version of the good life. In some ways, they overlap, but let’s be honest with ourselves, we want them to overlap far more than they do. Some believe that being in a post- world is actually harder than the pre-Christian world that the disciples and early were in. Much of that is the culture’s assumptions about churches, church people, and Christians. Sadly, some of their assumptions are correct, especially superficially. The world’s good life is full of good (even great) people. Everyone can be good, except Christians, and an ever increasing list of people. Now, that seems a bit harsh. However, the list of new “sins” of the world grows increasingly long. People who were on top of the have now found themselves at the bottom, for the “sins” have changed. We can see more than a few people who have experienced this looking around wondering what has happened. Yet, there is a claim for a good life. Happiness is the key.

    Happiness. A fleeting feeling is proof of the good life. As anxiety and depression soar, and people buy the latest greatest thing (that other not-so-new thing was last week) leading to a greater amount of waste. In fact, the world’s good life doesn’t lead to true good life, but a treadmill that goes nowhere.

    This is why Jesus made the he did to his disciples (and thus to us). Jesus understood that the world would constantly pull his disciples away from him, tempting them with “the good life.” The Counselor. The Spirit of . That Jesus understood what we needed, should us that God does indeed understand us. He also understood that emotionally we often feel alone and separated from not just God, but from , too. Thus, Jesus reminds us that we are not orphans.

    The Spirit—the Counselor—while not leaving us orphans, also testifies to the Truth. This is not the world’s truth. It is God’s Truth. This is where the good life begins.

    1) If we know that God has the True good life, why we do we often chase after the world’s good life?
    2) Why is happiness confused with the good life?

    3) Knowing that you are not an orphan, no matter what the world tells us, would seem to be a key feature of the good life. When was the last time you this key?

  • Monday after Easter

    John 1:19–23, Acts 2:22–32

    Not it! That what John says, at least. Yet, his behavior causes people to into question what his purpose is. If we look at this part of John’s story through the lens of today’s media and world, someone saying, “not it,” is not quite what is expected. Many people, especially in tech and seem to paint themselves in a Messianic . They want people to emotionally believe that the person in question will save them. Both the person wanting it and the people giving it understand that the person in question is no Messiah. However, there still seems to be this need.

    We can see it in people who claim to know , too. They attach themselves to politicians and leaders in an almost Messianic way. It’s actually pretty sad. Jesus should be their Messiah. Actually, Jesus is their Messiah, but they’ve forgotten in their hearts. Christians have no excuse to look at others being their savior. They have already claimed to know that Jesus is the one and only savior (i.e., Messiah).

    John wants nothing to do with the Messianic bit. He’s more than satisfied pointing to the true Messiah. For John, pointing to the Messiah and getting people started in the right direction is for him the very good . John’s lifestyle doesn’t really call to people. There really aren’t a lot of people saying, “I want to live in the desert, wearing a fur coat, drinking only water, and eating bugs.” As strange as the life he lived out was to people, he still drew people. He didn’t say, “live just like me.” He did say, “repent.” His lifestyle wasn’t the goal. Jesus was the goal.

    When Peter preaches to the people of Jerusalem he uses the recent story of Jesus’ life and . He then uses what they know (scripture) to drive home the point. Then, instead of beating on them for their collective part in the death of Christ, he announces the . ? What? No guilt trip? Nope. Just some random guy pointing to Jesus. Some guy whose life was dramatically changed. Pointing the way to Christ. That is what Peter did.

    When it comes to the very good life, the greatest joy may be pointing someone to Jesus. Why? Jesus is the key to the very good life, the key is free, and the number is unlimited.

    1) What is the very good life to you?

    2) Both John and Peter point to Jesus. Why is pointing to Jesus part of the very good life?

Devotion.al

Avoiding Shaping

Psalm 103, 2 Peter 1:3–11, 1 John 1:5–2:2

Have you ever whittled, shaping a piece of wood cut-by-cut, flick-by-flick, putting something into that was only in your mind?

While God does not use a knife to whittle on us, through and life’s trials God does us. Sometimes it is to bring something new and good out of us that we didn’t know we had. Other times God removes things and we don’t like it. It doesn’t happen all at once. Part of who we are is our flaws, personality traits, and our unredeemed nature. As we work with God, these are changed and transformed into something new.
Peter reminds us that God’s divine (i.e., not our efforts) gives us everything we need. We have to be willing sharing that power. It sounds strange. God’s power. However, if we look at nature, humanity often will avoid that as it seeks its own way through its own power. Peter gives us the blueprint of adding to our faith. With this adding, there is a bit-by-bit transformation. There is an goal, and it is to be fruitful. When we speak about our transformation it is so that we are able to add to God’s .

Sometimes (okay, maybe every day), we have to do a self-check on what we’ve done and not done. Sometimes we can not love others as ourselves. Sometimes we don’t love God first. It is all part of our human condition. As we are “added to” (per Peter) every day, we hope that we will be improved. However, we all know that there will be missteps, mistakes, and sins. While God gives us the power to avoid sinning, sometimes we lack the and maturity to not misstep or make mistakes. We do not have to be down on ourselves or be too harsh on ourselves. John tells us to have a life of confession. We need to confess our sins. Does it fix everything? No. It does, however, remind us where the true orientation of our heart needs to be.

1) Why do you think Peter uses “adding to” when he talks about the path of he is laying out?

2) What does it mean to you that you share God’s power?

3) How does confession help to bring us to the Very Good Life?