Devotion.al

  • Seeking Reliably

    Psalm 24, Isaiah 55:1–13, Romans 11:33–36

    Many folks are obsessed with picking apart the Scriptures to find any issues or incongruities. Some do this out honest inquiry, some do it in an attempt to discredit the Scriptures. The reality is that we have to look at the Scriptures as the writers intended (which can be difficult) and literary type. Often people view the Scriptures as something they are not.

    This is an important concept to understand, especially in light of the last couple of days discussing the and . The Scriptures are the starting point to understand God and our with God.

    Psalm 24 is a victorious Psalm. Yet, God is no mere victorious general entering the city of Jerusalem. God is so much more. Tucked in the Psalm is “Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” This seeking is the next step. We are called to seek God and we start with the Scriptures. As we seek God and read the Scriptures, only then can begin to grasp just what it means to know the “King of .”

    Isaiah’s is the of God to each and every one to seek Him. In the midst of trials, exile, and destruction, God is still calling people to turn to Him. Will they all escape the judgement? No. That isn’t the point, and never was. The purpose of seeking God—to have our hearts turned to Him—is not to escape the pain, misery, and fallenness of this world, it is to place it all into the redeeming power of God.

    Redemption and reconciliation are very much a part of Paul’s message. When Paul speaks about the depth of the riches, it is not—again—to escape, but to put into our experiences in the world. In comparison to God, what we think is small. In comparison to God, we are insignificant; from a perspective, that is. God cares for us all. It is not that God diminishes our troubles or joys. It is that while what revolves around us is hugely important, there is still a larger picture.

    Knowing God means not just the Holy Spirit or Jesus or God the , but seeking God fully and doing our best to understand God. We have the tools and gifts: the Scriptures, the church ( and ), our minds, our experience.

    1) What is one area of the 4 (Scriptures, church, mind, experience) that you rely or focus most on? Why? How might that be disadvantageous?

    2) What is the one area you are the weakest in? Why? How could you strengthen that area?

    3) As inheritors of the Protestant tradition, we often hold the Scriptures extraordinarily high to the detriment of the other 3. Yes, holding the Scriptures highly is a good thing. However, balance is required, so why is that a bad thing?

  • Blindly Seeing

    Luke 24:13–35, John 20:1–18, John 21:2–14

    Poor Cleopas. Literally walking with and he didn’t have a clue. Luke’s choice of words makes it pretty clear. Cleopas couldn’t have been that oblivious. He had to have been prevented from recognizing Jesus. That makes perfect sense from Luke’s .

    What is it about this resurrected Jesus that is so hard to see?

    Was Jesus hanging around at the tomb, and only Mary Magdalene saw him? And she saw him as a gardener? If Jesus really was there the whole time, the disciples were painfully oblivious. Mary, probably hanging back away from the other disciples, sees a gardener. She was distraught. She almost missed it.

    John tells another story about the resurrected Jesus. It echoes the original calling at the Sea of Galilee. This time though it is a calling beyond the grave to a truly new . You would think that the setting would trigger their collective memories, but it was only John with whom it clicked. Only John. Yet, in many ways, Peter is the star (second to Jesus) of the story. Peter didn’t get it.

    Why bring this up? Yesterday, we talked about identifying when the is us some sort of nudge (whether go or stop) and we miss it. Here we have a case in point of people who knew Jesus really well and they missed it. They missed Jesus!

    “When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:38–40)

    1) What decisions have you made based on how you see Jesus? As you look back, were they good/bad/valid ways to look at Jesus?

    2) Why is it important to acknowledged that we don’t always see Jesus?

    3) We could fall back on Luke’s reasoning for them not seeing Jesus (they were made to). However, that is only Luke’s take regarding Cleopas and his accompanying . What are other possible reasons why didn’t see Jesus in front of them? What insight does that us about our lives?

  • Spirit Movement

    Psalm 51, Isaiah 66:1–16, Acts 16:6–15

    How the Holy moves in our lives is both a mystery and very important. The psalmist requests to be restored. Attributed to King David after being confronted in his regarding Bathsheba and Uriah, there is definitely some restoration that needs to happen.

    While David as an individual was often not the shining example, at the same time he led the people of Israel to God fully. While we recognize David’s shortcomings and sins, we also have to recognize what he brought. Does that mean that what he did was okay? Obviously not. As we see in Psalm 51, David did .

    On the other hand, but the time if Isaiah, the rulers, and the people were not fully worshipping God. God was just another god, one of many. Many followed the prescribed outward practices but did not have the heart that was yielded to God. Isaiah wasn’t the only prophet calling to account, either. Contrast this to David. Nathan had a very short speech, and David was contrite. David was humble, submissive in spirit, and trembled at God’s world (Isaiah 66:2).

    David and the chided (by Isaiah) Israelites had very different responses to the Holy Spirit. Both had an experience of correction. David had additional experiences of support and direction.

    , by this time in Acts, had had a number of interesting experiences with the Holy Spirit, but this might be one of the most important as it applies to us. Paul wanted to go to Asia. That was the plan. God wouldn’t let them. Think about that for a moment. Many in the (rightfully) talk about the loss of evangelism. Paul was told not to . Then he tries to go to Bithynia and is again stopped by the Holy Spirit. Stopped. Prevented. No evangelism here.

    Then Paul received a dream from a (nameless) man to come to Macedonia. He does so and makes his way to Philippi. There he meets Lydia. She converts to Christianity and becomes a strong supporter of the church. Some have called her a deacon, and yet claim that her role was more pastor or bishop. While who knows what could have happened in Asia or Bithynia, Lydia’s conversion along with the establishment of the church at Philippi is all pretty important.

    Sometimes the Holy Spirit, as some say, knocks a person on the head with a 2×4. Other times the Holy Spirit nudges and encourages by whispers. Other times, the Holy Spirit closes the door. Being aware, being responsive, and being obedient to the Holy Spirit is what will shape and us. Also, this is how we are transformed to be more like .

    1) When you believe the Holy Spirit is telling you to stop, how do you test whether it is the Holy Spirit or your fear?

    2) When you believe the Holy Spirit is telling you to go, how do you test whether it is the Holy Spirit or your desires?

    3) When in the last week have you felt either go or stop from the Holy Spirit? If you haven’t, are you open to asking (and listening to) the Holy Spirit about what should be stopped or started?

  • God’s Work Working

    Exodus 20:1–21, Exodus 32:1–19, Exodus 34:1–9

    The first “printing” of the 10 Commandments was wholly a God printing. God made the tablets. God wrote on the tablets. Imagine holding something like that in your hands. You witnessed yet another miraculous happening. Out of a mountain God created tablets, then God wrote on them.

    In a fit of () anger, Moses (unrighteously) broke the miraculous and tablets.
    God gives you something special, created in front of you…and you broke them.

    There is a transformation there. Moses transforms from (follow me) to (I lay down my ). This isn’t just about the failure of the Israelites, it is also about the transformation of Moses.

    God then does something…odd. Now, Moses is to make the tablets. God writes on them. God does talk about writing on hearts His law, and God calls our hearts stone. Does this mean the tablets are symbolic of our hearts and the Commandments symbolic of God’s Law? Probably not.

    What it is symbolic of is that instead of God doing it all again, God has Moses (humanity) put some sweat into it, and then does the true work. This is symbolic of how God does work through us. God chooses not to do it all. Instead, God chooses us to partner with Him. It is not because God needs us. It’s because we need God and because we have a need to be valued. God shows us that God values us by having us be part of God’s work.

    1) God wants YOU to work with God to do God’s work. When you reflect on that, what are your thoughts?

    2) At times, God will take our bad decisions and doing something (later) that is positive. Other times, God doesn’t. Why do you think that is? How do you not get discouraged or troubled when God doesn’t transform negative to positive?

    3) God created us in God’s image. What does that mean to us when we think of doing God’s work here on earth?

  • Faithful Asking

    Genesis 18:17–33, Colossians 2:6–19

    There are two different amazing streams of thought in this vignette of Abraham and God. The first is Abraham’s audaciousness. That a person is free to ask God for clarification is beautiful. This shows us that when we are faithful toward and trustful of God, it’s okay to not understand, and to ask clarifying . There has long been an undercurrent in some traditions that any sort of questioning is wrong and even sinful. This is not the case.

    The other stream is God’s toward Abraham. God could have hidden things from Abraham and chose not to. God seems to think that while God is God, Abraham is an important piece and has a place in this story. It is almost as if God wants Abraham to have a place in the story for Abraham’s development.

    Questioning authority is fraught with perils. Abraham questioned THE authority. There is a place for it. It is important to understand the point of questioning in our : to understand, to clarify, to see our place in the big picture (to some degree).

    There are those who struggle with “question authority”. There is a reason why it is healthy. In his letter to the Colossians, is having to unwind rules and regulations. There are Jewish and Romans and local pagan customs that all need to be unwound from the Church. Paul alludes to Jesus questioning the religious authorities. His questions “disarmed” their control over “proper” God-honoring life.

    What’s interesting here is that Paul is not just talking about food. He is also talking about ascetic (think monks) practices, worship practices, sacrificial practices. As a denomination with its own “peculiarities”, the Church of the Nazarene is showing signs of growing out of the same tendencies that Paul opposed. It’s not to say that the holiness path is out of date or wrong, quite the contrary. It’s that the Church is re-learning the lessons that Jesus and Paul taught.

    What’s interesting here is that Paul is not just talking about food. He is also talking about ascetic (think monks) practices, worship practices, sacrificial practices. As a holiness denomination with its own “peculiarities”, the Church of the Nazarene is showing signs of growing out of the same tendencies that Paul opposed. It’s not to say that the holiness path is out of date or wrong, quite the contrary. It’s that the Church is re-learning the lessons that Jesus and Paul taught.

    The Church of the Nazarene has had people condemn others because their lifestyle did not their standards, just as those causing trouble in Colossi. Some of these practices have been held in a tighter embrace than those -oriented practices that are in the . No denomination has been spared. Both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox have long held the ascetics very high. Any good practice used to diminish others is no longer a good practice.

    1) Have you ever questioned someone’s maturity of faith because they don’t do a practice that you think is better?

    2) Have you ever questioned someone’s maturity of faith because they have a practice that you think is pointless or lifeless?

    3) When was the last time you looked at the Scriptures to add a new or revitalize an old practice for your spiritual growth?

  • Beyond A Name

    Isaiah 43:1–4, 1 Peter 1:13–23

    Do you know somebody’s ? Of course, you do. You know yours. You know the names of loved ones. You know the names of friends. You probably know the names of people that are not that close. We sometimes dismiss the importance of names. If we thought about it, though, if someone doesn’t address us by name, we if they really know who we are. We wonder if they care.

    God’s words to Isaiah tell us that God knows our name. God calls us by name. The Creator knows you by name. There is a relationship there. Once we acknowledge the relationship, then what?

    Peter reminds us what is fully responsive and reciprocating relationship with God is. Sober-minded. Some immediately attached to this. It really is about being firmly rooted in Christ, and not inclined to bounce around. Peter explains it as hope in God’s complete and utter .

    God doesn’t just us by name. God calls us into a life of . The 5 below are a modified version of John Wesley’s questions for bands. They are good for self- and are best in a small trusted group of the same gender.

    1. How is it with your soul?
    2. What are your struggles and successes?
    3. Any to confess?
    4. Anything you want to keep secret?
    5. How might the Holy Spirit be speaking and moving in your life?

    You are called to a life of holiness. You can live it when surrendered to Christ.

  • Godly Peopling

    1 Corinthians 7:32–38

    When we read this passage, we have to understand that really was expecting the world to . The Messiah had come, why ? Over the years, there has been an interesting development. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches have elevated male singleness for their priests. On the other hand, Protestant churches have elevated married pastors above unmarried (including never-marrieds).

    Then, all have elevated marriage as the be-all and end-all. This is just a reality, not fully a critique.

    The phrase in focus today is found in 1 Corinthians 7:35, “…promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.”

    is filled with things/people/activities that distract us from God. People are good: spouses, children, grandchildren. They are a (or should be) from God. Yet, they can also pull us away from God.

    Having a house and food is good. But they can distract us, too, from God.

    The easy answer is media and technology. However, they just prove how distractable we really are.

    Paul’s point was—and was even the intent of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Fathers—that dedication to God was very important. It is possible that the Fathers believed that if the priests were not distracted, the of the people would not be in nearly as much danger. Who knows?

    1) What is Godly focus?

    2) How can an obsession with focusing on God actually lead us away from God?

    3) Too often when we pray, for example, a stray thought pops in. We might feel embarrassed or ashamed. “It’s okay, my child. I’m just glad you’ve decided to spend some time with Me.”

  • Sharpening and Armor

    Matthew 15:10–20, Luke 6:39–42, Ephesians 6:12–18

    In our current political and cultural climate, there are plenty of sharp barbs being thrown out. If we wanted to, we could say flaming arrows, which is metaphorically accurate. It’s pretty nuts, and certainly unloving, unpeaceful, impatient (i.e, doesn’t bear), unkind, bad (i.e., not good), unfaithful, ungentle, and lacks a lot of self-control (see Galatians 5:22–23, for what it should be). The sad part? That’s what we see from Christians. Christians are placing themselves firmly in the world on one “side” of the (left/right) political aisle. It’s very sad.

    While much of it is happening over social media (), it really is more akin to speech (i.e., coming out their/our mouths). Jesus calls us to task, saying that these words are coming out from our hearts. Ouch! What you write on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or what you “like” comes from your heart? What does that tell you about what is inside your heart? What about that question that you posed about the other “side” of the political aisle? Was it honesty inquiry, or was it spite-filled rhetoric?

    It is so, so very easy to respond. It makes us feel better. Yet, is that the right response? Sadly, the rush (and rash) response is not conducive to sharpening one another. It actually hardens hearts for all involved. How is this living a Christ-filled, -following, -honoring ?

    Of course, the problem often is that those that need to and take the lesson to heart will often use the splinter and plank story to justify disregarding the lesson. There is some wisdom in that. This is why both of these parables should be taken as a pair, to prevent either from being taken too far, one way or the other. The other necessary part of this is community, true community (i.e., not Facebook). Facebook and other social mediums are quick to their platforms a community, but community is only formed when doing life together continually, not just highlights.

    Often the reason we respond the way we do is that we feel threatened. This is where the final tool in this comes out. The Full Armor of God passage can be used in many ways. Why not take it a different way? “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this , against , spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full clothing of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like a strong shirt on your chest, and your feet booted with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the gloves of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the hat of salvation and the book of the —which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:12-18 (CSB with Ian’s revisions).

    We are so accustomed to the war-like clothing that Paul is talking about that we can miss the intimacy of it all. Changing the armor to something we actually wear these days—rather than what the Ephesians were accustomed—may help you better understand the Armor of God. The pieces may be different but have the same result. Imagine as you are putting on your shirt saying, “I am putting on God’s righteousness.” As you put a belt on saying, “I am putting God’s Truth on.” Gloves may not work when it’s not Winter, so choose something else. The Full Armor of God is an allegory. Reframe it in modern terms to help you when you feel attacked, or even better, feel “armored-up” before you walk out the door.

    1) When you the armor-maker (yes, armorer), can you calmly trust the armor to take the hit for you? Do you?

    2) How should you respond when someone attacks (whether actual or perceived) a firmly held belief? Do you?

    3) How do you handle people when they honestly come to a different conclusion on what the say than you do? What happens when the resulting behavior from those different conclusions appears to be in conflict?

Devotion.al

Seeking Reliably

Psalm 24, Isaiah 55:1–13, Romans 11:33–36

Many folks are obsessed with picking apart the to find any issues or incongruities. Some do this out honest inquiry, some do it in an attempt to discredit the Scriptures. The reality is that we have to look at the Scriptures as the writers intended (which can be difficult) and literary type. Often people view the Scriptures as something they are not.

This is an important concept to understand, especially in of the last couple of days discussing the and . The Scriptures are the starting point to understand God and our with God.

Psalm 24 is a victorious Psalm. Yet, God is no mere victorious general entering the city of Jerusalem. God is so much more. Tucked in the Psalm is “Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” This seeking is the next step. We are called to seek God and we start with the Scriptures. As we seek God and read the Scriptures, only then can begin to grasp just what it means to know the “King of Glory.”

Isaiah’s is the call of God to each and every one to seek Him. In the midst of trials, exile, and destruction, God is still calling people to turn to Him. Will they all escape the judgement? No. That isn’t the point, and never was. The purpose of seeking God—to have our hearts turned to Him—is not to escape the pain, misery, and fallenness of this world, it is to place it all into the redeeming of God.

Redemption and reconciliation are very much a part of Paul’s message. When Paul speaks about the depth of the riches, it is not—again—to escape, but to put into perspective our experiences in the world. In comparison to God, what we think is small. In comparison to God, we are insignificant; from a human perspective, that is. God cares for us all. It is not that God diminishes our troubles or joys. It is that while what revolves around us is hugely important, there is still a larger picture.

Knowing God means not just the Spirit or Jesus or God the , but seeking God fully and doing our best to understand God. We have the tools and gifts: the Scriptures, the (framily and ), our minds, our experience.

1) What is one area of the 4 (Scriptures, church, mind, experience) that you rely or focus most on? Why? How might that be disadvantageous?

2) What is the one area you are the weakest in? Why? How could you strengthen that area?

3) As inheritors of the Protestant tradition, we often hold the Scriptures extraordinarily high to the detriment of the other 3. Yes, holding the Scriptures highly is a good thing. However, balance is required, so why is that a bad thing?