Devotion.al

  • Foundational

    Foundational

    Matthew 19:16–26; Hebrews 9:1–14; Romans 10:8–13

    The story of the rich young ruler, in my experience, has always been presented in one way…he cared too much for his stuff. This is true…to a point. Is the conclusion that we have often been led to actually correct? Or perhaps we, too, are missing which point Jesus was trying to make.

    The opening question by the man was about . Jesus gives the Great Commandments as the , plus a few ones that had been problematic with the religious elite. We could question the truth of the man’s statement but note that Jesus didn’t.

    Yes, Jesus could have just been condescending, however, Jesus’ words were not particularly sharp, which tells us that he accepted the man’s words. There was likely a have-been/continue-to-do-so tension, meaning that it was an ongoing practice, not just a past one.

    This is significant as by straight reading the man had lived in such a way as to have eternal life. We who follow Jesus might question that, but that Jesus gave such a response is critical. For those who might conclude that this is a universalist response, the man was still a Jews, and thus one of the .

    However, was eternal life really the question? The man believed that despite the seemingly positive response he still lacked something. Jesus let him have it. Yet was that really the answer? We conclude so because the man walked away. It could be truly a matter of the .

    Our earthly responses often seem to affect our response to the security of our salvation. The writer of Hebrews noted that much had to be done on a regular basis by the priests to keep things “okay” between God and man (this is by the Law, not ). The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain that Jesus is the perfection of restorative relationship. Jesus’ mere presence in Heaven (and as part of the ) is a perpetual “offering” on our behalf.

    In the heart of the man is a question I hear from many people, and in my darker moments, I ask myself. “How do I (really) know that I am saved?”

    It is through the author of Hebrews and the words of Paul that we get this answer. These words are first laid upon the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ, whose , mercy, love, and are truer than we are capable of understanding.

    ※Questions※

    1) What do you understand from our passage in Hebrews that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

    2) What do you understand from our passage in Romans that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

    3) Why do you think it is so hard for us to accept the truth revealed by the Scriptures regarding our salvation?

    ※Prayer※

    Triune God, you created us. You gave us life. You gifted us salvation. You graced us with eternal life. Help us to seek that it is not our works that save us, but you alone. Amen.

  • Following

    Following

    Matthew 10:21–22; Matthew 12:46–50; Luke 11:27–28

    Have you ever been in a …and it’s going well…and then it’s really digging in…and then someone interrupts? That feeling of…really? Couldn’t you have held out just a bit longer?

    Really? What was so important?

    . Except, in comparison to the of God, what is family? That might sound a bit harsh, yet for those who chose to follow when he was walking on earth and especially those that followed him after the , that was reality. For many, it was versus family on earth.

    In the 2 later passages (Matthew 12 and Luke 11), Jesus is teaching about the . Then people interrupt with the family on earth. In Matthew 12, it is a combination of those listening and his earthly family that interrupt the teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven.

    Jesus’ to that is to include all those around him as mother and brothers, as long as they do the will of God.

    Another time, a stranger interrupts Jesus to bless his mother, Mary. Not that her is a bad thing, but what does this have to do with the Kingdom of God?

    His response is similar to before. Blessed are those who follow God.

    ※Questions※

    1) Have you ever had a situation where the path before you appeared to be God or (earthly) family? If so, what regrets do you have for whichever path you chose? If not, why do you think you were spared that choice?

    2) How can the Kingdom of God replace our earthly families? What does the Kingdom of God seem to be missing (sometimes?) versus earthly families?

    ※Prayer※

    , you have called us to be your children. We are still children in the world, too. Help us to look to you for guidance as we navigate the earthly family around us. Amen.

  • Rumble

    Rumble

    Exodus 19:17–20; Haggai 2:5–9; Hebrews 12:25–27

    We are often skeptical about God making the mountains tremble and the oceans roar. Our deeper understanding of the natural world makes us a little arrogant about things. We “know” that it’s really tectonic plate movement that causes that. The heavens don’t really shake, so we think. We “know” all about stars and gas giants and planets.

    While the often turn to (what was to them) mysterious events beyond their understanding, their underlying understanding matches our own. God created everything.

    The writer of Hebrews understood and shared that created things are not permanent. They will not last. The writer of Hebrews presents this in contrast to the of God which is .

    Often, we judge our lives, their successes, and failures, upon the frailties of created things. Sometimes we value our lives based upon career, , gathered things. Sometimes we value our lives upon people. Regardless, in the face of the , they are only temporary.

    In a time such as this, when society seems so unstable, it is good to understand that the is stable, everlasting, and unshakable.

    ※Questions※

    1) What is something created or temporary you find really important? Why?

    2) Even when science gives a mechanism or way to understand the natural world, why is it still critically important to who created it all?

    3) What’s “shaking” you right now? How can you put that on the sure foundation of the Kingdom of God?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, help us be assured that we are firmed rooted on your foundation. Amen.

  • You|Me and Us

    You|Me and Us

    Matthew 18:15–20; Luke 5:23–32

    There is nobody beyond God’s redemptive reach. No one. No matter what a person has done or how “unclean” they may be, God is still there waiting.

    Tax collectors were not well appreciated. We generally are scornful of the IRS. The tax collectors of the of were despised in general. Any Gentile was supposed to be sidelined from a Jewish . The gentile tax collector even more so.

    From a cultural, political, power, and wealth standpoint, the Gentile tax collector represented everything the Jewish people feared and hated. The Jewish tax collector, such as Levi (in the reading from Luke), wasn’t much better. Their only redemptive feature was that they were Jewish.

    God’s grace extends far beyond our ability to comprehend. This is a good thing, as we are often too petty and malicious to redeem .

    However, Jesus’ words also bring something else to the fore, . The US modern church, as a whole, avoids the concept of church discipline. There are a number of reasons, some of them cultural, some of them missiological, some of them evangelical, some of them just a general lack of training and understanding.

    Church discipline requires a balance of and community. In white US populations, that is rather difficult. Whites, by and large, idealize individuality. In other US populations, community has a much greater and pull.

    In most white populations, church discipline as a community is difficult, as the individual will often “go their own way”, severing their ties with the community. On the other hand, in non-white and isolated white communities, the community can be destructive to the individual.

    For the church to be the church, we will have to work to find the balance between individual and community. As the church finds its way in a world that wants to push it aside even more, the church needs to and embrace the community and the individual, including the roles and responsibilities of each.

    ※Questions※

    1) What value do you find in being part of a community? What value do you find in being an individual?

    2) What are ways you can think of that would allow and encourage people to be part of community and still individuality?

    3) What do you think God’s perspective on community and individuality is?

    ※Prayer※

    God, you have made us similar to each other…yet different. Help us to embrace what makes us different and embrace what makes us the same. Amen.

  • Living

    Living

    Deuteronomy 5:26–27; Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 20:34–40; John 5:39–40; John 8:56–58

    A God? To many people today, God is just a fairy tale who belongs amongst the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales and folklore. For them, God is no different than the ancient Roman and Greek gods, and of no greater value (perhaps even less) than the Hindu gods.

    Yesterday’s devotional was about the witness we are called to make. While the devotional didn’t talk about our common failures in being good and witnesses, most of us realize that we have messed up more than a few times.

    Being faithful often means being humble when we fail, requiring us to be honest with ourselves and . That can be difficult. Being open (and thus vulnerable) about our flaws sometimes requires greater than we are capable of on our own.

    Our witness requires greater strength than it used to. Our witness requires greater vulnerability than it used to. Our witness requires greater transparency than it used to.

    The concept (our reality) of a living God allows us the to breathe in the pressure of the “greaters”. Our God is greater still than the greatest Created thing or person.

    When we understand that God is a God of the living it helps to put a few things into . It wasn’t a small thing that observed that God named Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph in the present tense. When we focus on the dead and what comes after, or even what came before, we don’t live in the fullness of the that has been given to us.

    This is, even more, the case when we talk about the . People dig into the Scriptures to know more about God. People dig into the Scriptures to deny God. Even those of Jesus’ day who knew the Scriptures well were unable to see the living God before them. While the Scriptures are living and active, they are living and active only because of the living God.

    A living God means that God is not sitting on the sidelines. God works in and among and through .

    ※Questions※

    1) How does God being living affect your daily walk with God?

    2) Especially when it comes to Jesus, but not only, why is “living” so important?

    3) Have you ever known someone who was “alive”, but who wasn’t living? Do you think they knew Jesus?

    ※Prayer※

    God of the living and breathing Creation, help to know to the depths of our souls that you are living and breathing in us. Amen.

  • Can God Get A Witness?

    Can God Get A Witness?

    Deuteronomy 9:25–9:29; Titus 2:1–15

    wit·ness: One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced.

    Deuteronomy is, in effect, the “Last Will and Testament of Moses”. Moses provides a contrasting snapshot of the Israelite and the Mosaic witness. The Israelite witness was unimpressive at best, worth destroying(?) at worse.

    What was their witness? Stubbornness, wickedness, and .

    The Mosaic witness? Yep, they are stubborn, wicked, and sinful. Please them, be gracious to them, and have on them anyway. Do this for the of your holy and to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

    Paul admonished Titus to teach those in his care “…so that God’s word will not be slandered.” Paul continues, “Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.” Even slaves were to be “demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.”

    This passage in Titus can be used inappropriately. Paul’s focus isn’t explicitly behavior, but how God’s word, teaching, and message comes across to . All the behaviors weren’t a list of dos and don’ts so much as a be aware of the witness you are giving to others about God.

    ※Questions※

    What is your witness? How do you witness? Why do you witness?

    ※Part of the Post-Communion Prayer, 2019 Book of Common Prayer※

    And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and you as witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

  • You’re MINE

    You’re MINE

    Luke 9:49–56

    feuds can be long and painful. Some people are relieved that they won’t be traveling for the annual family gathering during Thanksgiving.

    The Jews and the Samaritans were family. They were at one point, at least. Over the generations, things continued to get worse, until they became enemies.

    Peculiarly, the Samaritans still retained some semblance of God worship. Even that created some tension, as both Jew and Samaritan viewed “their” understanding of God as right, and the other as wrong.

    That came to the Samaritans recognizes that they still had a place in God’s family. Jesus’ earthly ministry focused on the Jews, but the Samaritans were there in the margins.

    There was no question that the Samaritans viewed Jesus in a positive . In this passage, though, we see that there is still some aspect of us versus them.

    The Samaritans were upset that Jesus would “abandon” them for Jerusalem. This was a problem of misunderstanding and . They had some view of Jesus as theirs, despite him being a Jew.

    Jealousy such as this isn’t all that uncommon. The problem is that we frame famous people with our own beliefs. We will often look at them and interpret everything they did or said through the lenses of our beliefs.

    Christians have done the same thing. We take our beliefs (communism, capitalism, , nationality, culture) and Jesus. We’ve seen that a lot this chaotic year.

    Yet, if we read the and the views of other people (especially from other cultures or theologies), it tends to shake our lenses a bit. Sometimes more than we like.

    We like our Jesus just like we like our politicians and celebrities: safe for us, but not for them. The Samaritans were much the same.

    However, at least with Jesus, if he is safe for everyone, then we can be sure that that’s a false view of Him.

    ※Questions※

    1) What false views of Jesus have you held?

    2) What are the dangers of false views of Jesus?

    3) What are the best ways to determine if we have false views of Jesus?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, help us to truly know you so that we are not lead astray from you, your salvation, or your message of and to the world. Amen.

  • Good Gone Bad

    Good Gone Bad

    Mark 12:1–17; Matthew 10:5–7; Matthew 17:24–27

    Within the context of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the primacy of the remnants of the Israelites cannot be denied. Jesus calls them the “lost ”. Their place is significant to God, for they are even called by God’s (2 Chronicles 7:14).

    The tragedy of it all is that while they are still children of God, Jesus identifies them as strangers (or foreigners) to God. We might use the estranged.

    were truly foreigners to God, insofar as God did not choose them to bear the name of God. Due to choices and behaviors, it came to the point that the Jews were such, too.

    What’s interesting is the Tax. It was a tax from Exodus 30:11–16. Every man of the age of 20 or over was obliged to pay it annually. It was also called the “atonement” tax. It was used to take care of the tent of meeting (later the Temple). Its spiritual purpose was to remind the Israelites that their lives needed to be atoned for.

    What is also interesting is the backdoor way Jesus was asked…using Peter. There is also the that Jesus hadn’t paid it, or that they watched Jesus so closely that they knew he hadn’t yet paid it. Either presupposition leads to interesting conclusions. However, it is Jesus’ about strangers and sons that should catch our attention.

    Some commentators infer that Jesus paid the Temple Tax to fulfill all (tying language to the of Jesus). Jesus, however, doesn’t seem to have that same understanding. He sounds more condescending (“just to not offend”), though it is more likely a battle that is not worth fighting, and it’s a simple barrier.

    Jesus’ response might imply that the tax was out of date. In Exodus, the tax seems tied specifically to the Tent of Meeting. So, once the Tent of Meeting was done with (i.e., the Temple was built), the tax was done with.

    This reminds me of the Maple Street Bridge in Spokane, WA. When it was built, there was a toll booth. The promise was that the booth would be removed when the bridge was paid for. It was. In comparison, other public toll bridges that I’m familiar with still have tolls, and those tolls are tossed into the public fund, not the bridge operating fund.

    This is not to pick on them, but to show that we have similar examples in our lives. The tolls, no longer needed for their original purpose, are now moved to other “needs”. The same about the Temple Tax perhaps. The implication is pretty strong, though, as this ties into Jesus’ declaration about the Temple Courts being a den of robbers (Matthew 21:13).

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, us of anything we hold onto as good that has become bad in our lives. Amen.

Devotion.al

Foundational

Matthew 19:16–26; Hebrews 9:1–14; Romans 10:8–13

The story of the rich young ruler, in my experience, has always been presented in one way…he cared too much for his stuff. This is true…to a point. Is the conclusion that we have often been led to actually correct? Or perhaps we, too, are missing which point was trying to make.

The opening question by the man was about life. Jesus gives the Great Commandments as the response, plus a few ones that had been problematic with the religious elite. We could question the truth of the man’s statement but note that Jesus didn’t.

Yes, Jesus could have just been condescending, however, Jesus’ words were not particularly sharp, which tells us that he accepted the man’s words. There was likely a have-been/continue-to-do-so tension, meaning that it was an ongoing practice, not just a past one.

This is significant as by straight reading the man had lived in such a way as to have eternal life. We who follow Jesus might question that, but that Jesus gave such a response is critical. For those who might conclude that this is a universalist response, the man was still a Jews, and thus one of the .

However, was eternal life really the question? The man believed that despite the seemingly positive response he still lacked something. Jesus let him have it. Yet was that really the answer? We conclude so because the man walked away. It could be truly a matter of the .

Our earthly responses often seem to affect our response to the security of our salvation. The writer of Hebrews noted that much had to be done on a regular basis by the priests to keep things “okay” between God and man (this is by the Law, not relationship). The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain that Jesus is the perfection of restorative relationship. Jesus’ mere in Heaven (and as part of the Trinity) is a perpetual “offering” on our behalf.

In the heart of the man is a question I hear from many people, and in my darker moments, I ask myself. “How do I (really) know that I am saved?”

It is through the author of Hebrews and the words of that we get this answer. These words are first laid upon the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ, whose , mercy, , and faithfulness are truer than we are capable of understanding.

※Questions※

1) What do you understand from our passage in Hebrews that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

2) What do you understand from our passage in Romans that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

3) Why do you think it is so hard for us to accept the truth revealed by the regarding our salvation?

※Prayer※

Triune God, you created us. You gave us life. You gifted us salvation. You graced us with eternal life. Help us to seek that it is not our works that save us, but you alone. Amen.