Devotion.al

Tag: covenant

  • Glorious Cleanliness

    Exodus 19:1-9; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Psalm 19 (read online ⧉)

    Have you ever had a period of that seemed completely crazy and unbelievable? The Israelites were living it! It was a hard life in Egypt, but it was still home for generations. They left. This big sea to cross to freedom, and a powerful ‘s army coming after them. The sea splits open and they cross on dry ground. And a powerful nation’s army disappears forever. They have their first military battle and unbelievably win! They have a weird food that just appears with the morning dew, then disappears.

    Then they take a .

    Moses meets with God, and God explains. God is calling these people to be his priestly . They are his treasured possession, above the of the earth, which is God’s, too.

    God’s requirements are simple, obey God’s and keep the covenant. This is foundational to relationship between God and the Israelites. Their lives are to be aligned to the covenant, and the relationship it represents. In the same way, Peter calls believers in to have Jesus as their cornerstone, so that they (we) become the spiritual home of the Spirit, and become a holy priesthood.

    Just like the Israelites, followers of Jesus have a task. Theirs (ours) is to proclaim the acts of God who called them (us) out of the darkness we were in.

    As the psalmist writes, all of Creation pronounces the of God. We, too, have our part in declaring and showing the glory of God and being the light (reflectors of God) in the world.

    1) What has kept you from believing you are called to and capable of declaring God’s glory?

    2) The covenant represents a type of cleanliness. You house the . How do you keep the Holy Spirit’s home in you clean?

    3) What more can you do to keep it clean, or get it cleaner?

    4) How does this cleanliness help to declare God’s glory?

  • Otherly Holiness

    Psalm 22:23-31; Genesis 15:1-21; Romans 3:21-31 (read online ⧉)

    In Genesis, we read of the covenant God made with Abram. When we look at the blood and sacrifices from a modern , it is easy to be repulsed or disgusted by the concept. In Abram’s time, this was a normal way to seal a covenant.

    A covenant is a promise. When making a covenant such as this, there were two parties, the strong party and the weak party. If was often an agreement where the strong party would agree to defend and/or take care of the weak party, and the weak party would submit—both in authority and tribute (i.e., think taxes)—to the strong party.

    If we think of this logically, then, God would take the role of the strong party, and Abram would take the role of the weak party. However, in this instance God takes the place of both parties. Abram is more of a to the making of the treaty, rather than a party to it. How can God take the place of both roles? This is a foretelling of what is to come.

    For generations, God protected and watched over Abram’s descendants. Even when they wandered or ran away from God, God still was watching and caring.

    In Romans, Paul writes: “…since all have sinned and fall short of the of God; they are now justified by his as a , through the that is in Christ , whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood…”

    This is where we can see the submitting party of the covenant. Jesus Christ’s perfect submission to God’s authority, and sacrifice of himself, fulfills the weak party’s role. It is, of course, just an analogy, yet there is a huge truth in this. God created the universe, yet because we are unable to ourselves, or able to fulfill the entirety of God’s , Jesus took our place, and the requirements of submission and tribute.

    We, like Abram, are often more witnesses to God’s holiness and fulfillment of his righteousness than actual participants of either. Yet, we are called to be holy.

    1) What do you think the responsibilities are of a witness? Are fulfilling them?

    2) When you think of God being both the strong and weak party, what comes to mind?

    3) How does it make you feel to understand that God took your place as the weak party?

  • Drift Away

    Isaiah 49:8–13, John 4:3–14, Hebrews 2:1–4

    Has the so-called Christmas euphoria finally died down for you? If this was more of a “blue” (i.e., one of mourning, loss, or depression), are you relieved that you don’t feel the pressure of “keeping up” appearances?

    Christmas, as with many other family occasions (weddings, baptisms, birthdays, funerals, etc.), always comes with a mixture of emotions. No single emotion could ever completely cover our experiences for Christmas. This is not to deny that it is God’s love that is the overarching ultimate emotion, but that we beings experience more than just love.

    The conveyed in Isaiah is that God’s coming and is so much more than just the immediate. This is why accepting and embracing (not necessarily enjoying) all the emotions that come with this time of year is important. For without all the emotions—especially the negative ones—the grace and magnificence of God’s grace misses much of the transformative .

    Isaiah’s words do lead to some questions, though. How are pastures possible on barren heights? How do people not starve or thirst under scorching sun? As in the case with much of the Scriptures, it can be easy to over-spiritualize the Scriptures, especially when we don’t understand them. Yet, when taken in the context with salvation and , the spiritual aspects seem to be the focus, rather than our physical needs.

    It is not a great stretch, especially when we take into account ‘ words to the woman at the Well of Jacob. In fact, it is Jesus’ words that guide us to equate not being hungry and not thirsting to the spiritual of the Living Water. Never thirsting? At the well that gave water for generations of Israelites the physical has been and is being , only the spiritual remains. We all understand that the immediate, “earthly”, “worldly”, “physical” impact us significantly. It is the spiritual that outlasts, but we often overlook or neglect it.

    The writer of Hebrews wants to make sure that people do forget or “drift away”. The imagery is that of things that were originally floating next to (or with) each other, but just sort of drifted away. In other words, the author of Hebrews is here more concerned about the incidental, accidental, careless, negligent and other “not deliberate” actions away from the faith and the .

    Regardless of our emotional state or the emotional states of those around us, we are not to allow ourselves to drift away from the life-giving nature and our understanding of God, no matter how far the world and our emotions want to pull us away from God.

    1) What recently has “encouraged” you to drift away from God?

    2) What are areas that regularly lead you to drift away?

    3) Life can throw a lot of things at you, and many of them unpleasant (at best). How do you keep yourself focused on God, on not on other things?

  • A Covenant Of Life and Peace

    Micah 5:1-5 ,Haggai 2:5–9, Malachi 2:4–7 (read online ⧉)

    One of the biggest problems with …is us. Peace often does not reside well in our souls. We bear the world’s concerns as if they were our own. It is not that we are not to care about the world, but only God is capable of caring for all the concerns of the world. Our “peace” on the other hand is usually pre-occupied with what we think we us peace: whether it is food, clothing, riches, , things, “friends” or whatever else. Somehow having the burden for caring for all these things is supposed to give us peace.

    In Micah’s time, Israel perceives that the world is against it. It (as Micah says) is cutting itself in grief. It is an odd time for an origin . Yet, here we are with the promise that God’s proxy ruler (the Messiah) will come from Bethlehem. This Messiah will be a shepherd. The shepherd is a caretaker who loves the sheep. The shepherd will not control or direct by force, but by love. This shepherd will be their peace. The language is peculiar. The shepherd will be their peace, not the shepherd will bring peace or enforce peace. Be peace.

    Be peace. God promised that Israel would have God, granted as long as they wanted God. As they wandered further and further away from God in their hearts, while still fulfilling the trappings of faithfulness, peace in their hearts and in their lands ceased. God wasn’t done with them though. Despite all the troubles they brought upon themselves in the world, God would provide peace.

    We can look at the archetypal Levi in Malachi to understand. Those who are called to God directly (Levites in Israelite culture, all Christians) received a of and peace. All that was required was reverence, which often seems to be sadly lost even among those who say they “” God. Out of the reverence words of Truth were to come, and turn those in away from it.

    1) What is reverence?

    2) Do you think reverence and peace go together? Why or why not?

    3) Why do you think the shepherd being peace is important? What does that mean to you?

  • The First Sunday of Advent

    Psalm 122, Isaiah 32:1–20, Ezekiel 37:26–28 (read online ⧉)

    There was a (awful) Superman movie in the ’80s called the Quest for . In it, Superman takes care of the bad guy (of course) and takes care of (i.e., eliminates) all the nuclear weapons (which the US and USSR were rapidly building up at the time). The superhero movie genre hadn’t broken out, yet. In the movie, there was a kernel of this American (and some would say ) optimism that if we get rid of all the weapons, there would be no war or strife.

    That, sadly, is not demonstrated by humanity over the years. Humanity doesn’t seem to do well in peace. Despite the and 24-hour news, we currently live in a time when fewer people are in wars than ever before, and that even includes terrorism. However, almost as if there is a perverse understanding that this couldn’t possibly be the case, we are deluged with stories about bloody conflict after bloody conflict.

    David’s psalm starts with a focus on rejoicing on praising God. David continues on with the focus on praying for peace within walls and within brothers and friends. We all want peace at home, whether it be in our country, state, city, neighborhood, or behind the doors of our homes. While we all seem to understand this almost unachievable peace, we still pursue it.

    God’s peace has a strong tendency to overthrow the status quo and . Isaiah calls nobles fools and important people scoundrels. Isaiah notes that the Spirit will pour out, and our perspectives will . Righteousness and will spread, and peace will be its fruit.

    The as the underlying producer of peace makes sense with Ezekiel, as God declares a new covenant of peace. God will establish. God will multiply it. God’s new covenant is by God’s , not by ours.

    1) What is the difference between God’s peace versus mankind’s peace?

    2) Why is God needed for true peace?

    3) What is one thing you can do to encourage true peace in and for others?

  • Peace By God

    Psalm 122, Isaiah 32:1–20, Ezekiel 37:26–28

    ‌There was a (awful) Superman movie in the ‘80s called the Quest for . In it Superman takes care of the bad guy (of course) and takes care of (i.e., eliminates) all the nuclear weapons (which the US and USSR were rapidly building up at the time). The superhero movie genre hadn’t broken out, yet. In the movie, there was a kernel of this American (and some would say ) optimism that if we get rid of all the weapons, there would be no war or strife.

    ‌That, sadly, is not demonstrated by humanity over the years. Humanity doesn’t seem to do well in peace. Despite the and 24-hour news, we currently live in a time when fewer people are in wars than ever before, and that even includes terrorism. However, almost as if there is a perverse understanding that this couldn’t possibly be the case, we are deluged with stories about bloody conflict after bloody conflict.

    ‌David’s psalm starts with a focus on rejoicing on praising God. David continues on with the focus on praying for peace within walls and within brothers and friends. We all want peace at home, whether it be in our country, state, city, neighborhood, or behind the doors of our homes. While we all seem to understand this almost unachievable peace, we still pursue it.

    ‌God’s peace has a strong tendency to overthrow the status quo and . Isaiah calls nobles fools and important people scoundrels. Isaiah notes that the Holy will pour out, and our perspectives will . and will spread, and peace will be its fruit.

    ‌The Holy Sprit as the underlying producer of peace makes sense with Ezekiel, as God declares a new covenant of peace. God will establish. God will multiply it. God’s new covenant is by God’s , not by ours.

    • ‌1) What is the different of God’s peace versus mankind’s peace?
    • ‌2) Why is God needed for true peace?
    • ‌3) What is one thing you can do to encourage true peace in and for others?

  • Rules of Mercy

    Exodus 25:16–22, Isaiah 33:17–22, Psalm 118 (read online ⧉)

    So much of the Levitical law was about the dos and don’ts. Israelites and (later) Christians became overly concerned about the blood being shed, and all the sins committed requiring it. Yet, God set out an that was right there for anyone to see, if they were able.

    God talks about the Ark of the in this passage. The that carried the 10 Commandments, a sample of mana, and later Aaron’s sprouted staff was capped with the seat. The mercy seat. All of this was covered by mercy. God’s mercy. Then God goes and states that the mercy seat is where God will the people.

    Why is this significant? Perhaps if people had focused on mercy, rather than the rules, God’s great commandments ( the Lord your God with all your , soul, mind, and . Love your neighbor as yourself.) would not have been so lost in rules that were lived out in a way that made God into a horrible vicious creature that so many people feared (the bad kind of ) and didn’t love.

    When you can “see” God as sitting on the mercy seat, you can better understand Isaiah’s words about the beauty of God. Isaiah continues on about the majesty of God. This passage ends with God being judge (with mercy), lawgiver (in mercy), and king (of mercy).

    1) Having a right understanding of God is essential to having a good relationship with God. Can you have a good relationship with someone seemingly always angry, bitter, belittling, dismissive, judgemental, unforgiving, or harsh?

    2) If we do not start with God seated on the mercy seat, how would we relate to God?

    3) When we read Psalm 118 we read about God being the source of true . How does this fit into the narrative of God being seated on the mercy seat?

  • 25 November 2019

    Zechariah 12:1–8, Revelation 18:1–10, Matthew 20:20–23, Luke 22:14–20 (read online ⧉)

    A cup is a common thing. You probably have a few in your cupboards. You might even have so many you have to get rid of one to fit another. You might have ones for special times (like china for Thanksgiving). You might have Christmas themed ones. You probably have ones that were given to you as a reminder or an advertisement. There is nothing special really special about cups. However, as we read the Scriptures, cups star in a number of places.
    Joseph used his cup (his very special one that only he had) to entrap his brothers. Pharoah and Nebuchadnezzar had their cupbearers. These cupbearers had authority within the courts of the . Cups, it seems, were not always so common.

    The prophet Zechariah has a of Judah being a cup. Nations would drink of this cup. The consumption part represents well the takeovers, wars, slavery, and exile. The nations around Judah (even their Semitic cousins in Samaria) really did a number on Judah. It’s not that Judah did the right things and was still on the losing . Judah had continually made the wrong decisions. God wasn’t just going to restore his people once they yielded their hearts. God would use Judah as the source of retribution for all the nations that had (by their actions) treated Judah wrongly.

    This imagery is echoed in Revelation. This time, instead of the small underdog being the source of retribution, it would now be the leading city (symbolized as Babylon) that would be the source of its own destruction and the nations that followed it. This symbolic Babylon was completely lost in the depths of unGodly practices. The nations that idolized it or followed its practices would end up with the consequences of their choices.

    In Matthew, Jesus uses similar imagery to hint to James and John that the contents of Jesus’ cup will do the same to them as it will do to him. Of course, they did not yet understand what that meant. Is some ways, while Jesus did not “give” them the seats at his right or left hand, he still symbolically handed his to them when he said they would drink from his cup. They probably felt better about not getting their “seats”, at least until they realized the cup’s contents.

    This really comes to a culmination in the Cup of . The “blood” of the New shared by Jesus with his disciples and eventually with us. The cup is Christ’s. When we share the cup, we share in the name and identity of Jesus. We also identify ourselves with and by the New Covenant. We also identify ourselves by his death and the we bought. Lastly, though, each of us may have something that needs to be sacrificed to live a with and for Christ. We have chosen to drink from the cup and by so doing stated that we will accept what it brings.

    1)Do you have a favorite cup? Why is it your favorite? Without knowing the story of if, what could people about you from it?

    2) God’s grace and love are often found in “ordinary” things. In what other “ordinary” things do you find God’s grace and love?

    3) Why is it important to look for and see God’s grace and love in ordinary things?