Devotion.al

Tag: dying

  • Burning Light

    Burning Light

    As the more reclusive type (i.e., sitting alone, or with my wife, quietly in a space without other people), it is easy to fall into a rhythm of not interacting with people. In fact, it’s too easy. These times of non-interaction, however, can produce new thoughts.

    Joni, my wife, baked springerle this Christmas. Springerle is a traditional anise-flavored German cookie that has, for generations, been made by rolling dough into intricate hand-carved molds. She only found a “rolling-pin” style, but it got the job done.

    Springerle molds often served the same purpose as stained-glass windows: telling the story of God through pictures to people who could not read. In preparation for next year (maybe I’ll help do something other than eat the cookies), I started looking for springerle molds.

    One of the websites I found was in German (which makes sense). They had many molds. One of the ones I found was for a lighthouse. In German, lighthouse is “leuchtturm”. Look at that for a moment.

    Perhaps it is just my mind. I saw lectern. According to learned people, lectern’s root is the Latin word “lectus”. However, as the term lectern was (supposedly) only used for the reading of the Scriptures, perhaps leuchtturm is the true origin of our lectern.

    Just as “Star of Bethlehem” drew Gentiles (the “wise” men or ) from afar, so does the speaking and reading of the Scriptures bring into the world that is in pain and . Similarly, a lighthouse casts its light into the dark seas, providing guidance and the promise of security to ships.

    While writing devotionals can be difficult, I’ve now spent enough time with God’s word burning that I cannot help but write.

    I will never be that “great” pastor/writer that people talk about. I am only beginning to understand God’s on my , knowing that it is still growing and changing. I’m okay to not be okay with not knowing, yet still trusting.

    Those magi “trusted” that something amazing was going to happen. “trusted” that God’s call on his life was to the Gentiles (people he himself once viewed hostilely). I “” that God is using me through these devotionals.

    ※Reflection※

    What is God calling you to do more of? If you already have a ministry, what is God calling on you to to fulfill His commission for you?

    What new thing might God be calling you to this year?

    ※Prayer※

    God, Epiphany calls upon us to remember that even Creation (a star) will draw people to you. Help us to remember that the Gospel is for all people, and that you desire that all people come to know you. Help us to be your faithful, trusting, and open servants. May we be and responsive to your call on our lives. Amen.

  • Prepare to Prepare

    Prepare to Prepare

    Psalm 80; Zechariah 13:1–9; Revelation 14:6–13

    If you’ve ever watched a professional chef (besides the competition ones), they will often have pre-cut and -measured ingredients so that when a customer orders a dish, most of the time-consuming work is completed. If you’ve ever ordered a sandwich at Subway, the meat and cheese are already pre-portioned. Ingredients have been prepared to better prepare your meal when you want it.

    Today is Thanksgiving (in the US, at least). A holiday that is culturally identified as involving overeating and gatherings. COVID has changed that. Many, if not most, families will not be having extended family gatherings.

    Thanksgiving has also been the “gateway” to the Christmas season. It used to be that mere hours after people recovered from overeating, all the malls would turn everything over, and the Christmas (shopping) season would begin.

    Not every Thanksgiving, but this Thanksgiving is the beginning of the season. In the year, one prepares for the Sunday to come. As this Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, so it is time to prepare for Advent.

    What is Advent? We often shortcut it to mean the days before Christmas. This is certainly true. It is also incomplete. For the ancient church, Advent wasn’t just about the birth of Jesus; it was about the return of Christ. Depending on the era, there would even be an emphasis on the Return rather than the birth.

    There hasn’t been a year like 2020 in decades. This might be the time to look at Advent as something far more than Christmas.

    Asaph (the Psalmist) wants God to come back (not that God really left). Asaph is looking for a of the between the people and God. Asaph recognizes that it really is that the people turned their backs on God, and yet he has in the faithful God. As Asaph was part of David’s retinue, we can imagine what must have still been going on around David, as David chose to follow God, and not the unknown gods.

    Zechariah’s words are strong, too. In them we see that the place of prophets and seers is nothing when it does not honor God. In fact, the implication being that the prophets and seers might even be “living” idols, rather than faithful followers of and speakers for God.

    Zechariah’s and Asaph’s words still in God and expect God’s restoration of the people.

    While the Asaph’s and Zechariah’s words are full of trust in God, neither avoid a harsh reality. The people need . They needed to be the people of God again. In Zechariah’s time, the temple was being rebuilt. However, the people whose ancestors had lost their way (with God) were just as lost and needed something greater.

    Regardless of your perspective of who the Beast is, the vision in Revelation is that the people of God, the church, will go through trying times. The implication is of pain, being outcast, and even . All because they believe in Jesus.

    Whether you believe that Jesus is coming back tomorrow, or you are just waiting for 2020 to end, expectation is part of that. Advent is the anticipation of something new, whether it is the birth of a child or the return of the King.

    ※Reflection※

    How do you prepare your life and heart for Advent? If you knew Jesus would come back on Christmas Day, what would you do?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, as we prepare our hearts for this Advent season, may we look to the innocence of a baby and to the of the King. Amen.

  • Force or Choice

    Force or Choice

    Matthew 20:20–28; Matthew 22:15–22

    The author Robert Heinlein once wrote, “When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you’re using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.”

    There has been a transformation in our society where this seems to be truer now than when Heinlein wrote it. What may be depressing is that it means that democracy is in many ways no better than any political system. Humanity, through , shows its selfishness.

    During the last presidential election (and probably during this one, as well), there will be people proclaiming that one person or political party is better than the other (especially in regards to the multi-sided political scene that has been forcibly trimmed into 2-sided). They will judge and condemn those that appear to support the other, even if that decision is the perceived lesser of two evils.

    There will be those that will choose a different political party (there are more than 2). There will be those that will not vote. It is the latter that provides the greatest insight into ourselves.

    They are those that believe that a vote is just as much Caesar’s as was the denarius. This is the of politics and even a republic such as the US. Heinlein’s comments may sound harsh. If one compares it to people’s reaction when the “wrong” party gets power, we can see that we subconsciously understand the reality of power.

    ‘ concerns regarding power are not small. There is a very valid reason why many over the years have claimed that the was corrupted when Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and then made it the official religion of the realm.

    On the other hand, if you have a glass of water and do not hand it to a person dying of thirst, what kind of Christian are you? This is the debate that is truly at the of being a Christian in a democracy or republic.

    Voting is power. Sometimes it feels as if it not. However, if all are of one mind it is indeed quite powerful. Power to coerce is the power of violence. This is not what we are called to do.

    On the other hand, the power to vote is also a responsibility to care for our fellow citizens, and to put a to guide the path the country walks. This is the voice and path that can find , , and for the least, the last, and the lost.

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, as we look to you for guidance in these trying times, may your ‘s heart guide our decisions. Amen.

  • Circle Mission

    Circle Mission

    Acts 16:11–15; Acts 16:25–40

    Rob Wegner states that a missionary is an ordinary person who’s equipped to make new disciples in a new context, and that mission isn’t first an activity, it’s an . How does that apply to Lydia?

    She has three circles. The first circle is the (Gentile) God-fearing circle. The second is the weaving/dying circle. The third circle is her household.

    Each of us has a few circles. Which one are we most passionate about? If, for example, you were totally into putting lipstick on pigs and you were friends with a bunch of about putting lipstick on pigs, then there is your circle.

    Lydia’s household circle followed her. Much of that was likely cultural and authority (not that it diminishes anyone’s salvation). Lydia’s God-fearing circle became a focal point, it seems, as it later has become a believers’ hub.

    That leaves the last circle…the weaver/dying circle. We don’t know what, if anything, she did to the members of this circle. As her position remained (owning a household as a woman), she likely continued her trade.

    She was a missionary to the weaver/dying circle. We all have a missionary circle. We must figure out what ours is. It’s easy to default to home or , but those are not, by definition, missionary circles.

    A family can be a missionary circle, especially if you are the only believer, or if there was a walkout from the . Church shouldn’t be a missionary circle, yet often the people who need the grace and and forgiveness of the most are in the church.

    Being a missionary is not optional. God is missional. Being a child of God means being missional, too. The more we reflect and model Jesus (the missional model), the more being on God’s mission means being a missionary.

    The pressure is on! However, you cannot be a successful missionary to everyone, nor every circle. You are not God. Which circle is God calling you to be a missionary to?

    ※Questions※

    1) If circles are better than rows (OOO>|||) what does this tell you about your life circles?

    2) Why is having a missionary focus (like a circle) helpful to being a missionary?

    3) Why do you think you are not a missionary?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, you came to earth on a mission to reconcile to you. Help us see our mission as the extension and continuation of yours. The same mission that brought us into your loving embrace. Amen.

  • Kneel

    Kneel

    Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 14:32–42 (read online ⧉)

    Peter was concerned about the here on earth, not the kingdom that was ushering in. Jesus would have nothing to do with that thinking. Jesus chose the will of God the Father over his earthly will. It’s not as if the side of Jesus wasn’t tempted. , Jesus was tempted in all ways.

    It is not accidental that a few short verses later that Jesus spoke about his disciples (e.g., Peter) having to deny themselves for the cross. By invoking the cross, it isn’t the pretty crosses many of us wear. It was the ugly cross. You died in misery, publicly, naked, and it started with you carrying the very thing upon which you died. It was shameful and for rebels. That was merely the Roman side. For the Jews, a person who died on a tree was cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22–23).

    Therefore, Jesus tying the cross to discipleship must have come as quite a shock. Jesus was all but promising that his “true” followers would have to willingly pick up their own means of execution and shame, and be cursed. The disciples found that encouraging…right?

    When we gloss over the cross when we read about losing lives then gaining, we can miss the significance of what it means. It isn’t just about the cross. It isn’t just about the humiliation. It isn’t just about the curse.

    It’s about submission.

    Submission is a hard , especially for many Americans who value their liberties. Submission, or the lack thereof, may be why we are seeing what we are seeing right now. This is not about the submission of one skin color to another. This is not about the submission of one culture to another (though there is a bit of that). This is certainly not about submission to the government (though there is a Christian response to that).

    This is about submission to Jesus Christ and then mutual loving submission to fellow believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.

    How this is to be practiced is hard. It’s really hard to figure out, especially with the focus on individuality and individual liberty that the United States (and Western Culture as a whole) is so obsessed with. We often view our submission as if the “other” person wins and we lose. That isn’t Jesus’ way.

    When we lose, we win. When we submit in Christian and mutual Christian submission, we submit to Jesus Christ, who submitted to us, by for our sin.

    ※※

    Jesus, as we look to you as our example, help us to ourselves to your authority. As we submit, help our hearts know that the person we submit to already died for us that we might be whole. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) As a Christian, who might you have to submit to in Christian love and humility?

    2) Can a “worldly” Christian submit to others?

    3) While submitting to Christians should be (relatively) easy, why is it so hard? What about submitting to people of the world?

  • What’s At The End?

    Mark 8:27–38; Mark 9:30–34; Mark 10:32–40 (read online ⧉)

    There were 3 ages that I looked to: 13, 18, 25. Prior to achieving each of these birthdays, I expected to die before each of them. That’s a pretty morbid thought, isn’t it? This wasn’t only my depression or suicidal thoughts that brought me there, but an almost fatalistic anticipation of my .

    I don’t know how much my friends during those times understood my thoughts or expectations. I wasn’t open to sharing it. They may (or not) have noticed an underlying darkness that was part of my existence. We (including me) can look back on these thoughts and think…oh, what drama! And it possibly was.

    So, imagine what ‘ disciples thought? There were plenty of charismatic people leading people astray. Some seemed like cults. pursued aims (overthrowing the Roman Empire) that were suicidal. Did they really mean to follow this guy? They were in deep already (hey, Peter declared him the Messiah, of all things). Were they sure about this?What made the difference between my fatalism of youth, and Jesus’ expectation and looking toward (not looking forward to) death? The end.

    What was the end? For me, I don’t know that I thought about it. For Jesus? Glorifying God and for everyone. While the end does make the easier, it does make it easier to walk toward.

    In all three declarations of his expectations of death, there were very responses within verses of the . The first declaration resolves with each person who follows Christ having to bear the cross (a symbol of torture, humiliation, and death). The second declaration resolves with being a servant of others. The third declaration resolves with both the cross and service. Jesus resolved each declaration in a way that doesn’t necessarily encourage the hearer…unless the end is kept in mind.

    1) Death is the end of this . What is your view of death? How would you respond if a friend or member told you they expected to die (not due to health or reasons of conflict)?

    2) The cross has lost much of its horror. What can you think of in modern times that might approach the cruelty of the cross?

    3) In the 3 times that Jesus spoke of his death, the world’s agenda was not the same as God’s agenda. There are plenty of horrors around us. How can we embrace those horrors and point to Jesus?

  • Faithfulness Remembered and Expressed

    Psalm 119:9–16; Haggai 2:1–9; John 12:34–50 (read online ⧉)

    Haggai’s message was to encourage people who were feeling worn regarding the and its rebuilding. While the people of Israel were rebuilding their lives, the restoration of the temple was not moving as well. There is the political climate regarding the difficulties that would arise with the surrounding powers with the temple rebuilding. For those who were old enough to , Haggai reminded them of the of the old temple, trying to stir them up so that they could invigorate others. Through Haggai, God reminded them that he was faithful and that things could be great again, should they do their part to God through rebuilding his temple. God would then fill his temple with his glory.

    This God’s glory in the temple paradigm was to be cataclysmically changed with . God could no longer be viewed as distant, but now very much present. Like all huge changes in thinking, it was going to be painful and jarring. The of transition would begin with Jesus betrayed and hung on a cross. Jesus foreshadowed what was to occur, but the people seemed to have a sense themselves as they proclaimed that the Messiah would remain forever; a not-so-subtle dig that if Jesus ever died he was not the Messiah.

    Jesus did not allow the nay-sayers to his story. With his declaration equating denial of him and his words was denying God the Father and his words, Jesus made it clear that their understanding of the Messiah was not complete.

    He ultimately answered their challenge with:”…I know that his commandment [Jesus’ obedience to ] is .” John 12:50

    In other words, only by dying will Jesus actually become the Messiah who remained forever.

    1. What is your reaction to Jesus’ obedience being death?

    2. When you think of martyrs who also were obedient, what is your response to their choice? Why?

  • Deserting or Desserting

    Psalm 77, Proverbs 30:1–9, Matthew 4:1–11 (read online ⧉)

    If your were present at the Ash Wednesday service or the past Sunday service, you may recall that in we and experience a symbolic representation of Jesus’ trial in the desert, and the biblical concept of 40 days as a significant time of transformation. For Jesus, it was a condensed time of . It is not to say that Jesus was never tempted outside of this trial, but to emphasize that it was a short time, and was severe.

    Matthew notes that Jesus fasted for 40 days.

    Fasting can take different forms. Certain traditions fast from meat, eggs, and/or dairy certain days or time periods. Other traditions (think Judaism) fast from leavened (yeast raised) bread. Fasting can be from sunrise to sundown; it can be a meal; it can be for days. The intent behind fasting is to bring us closer to God by using one of our basic needs (nourishment) to use as a focus on God.

    40 days is a long time. Without question, this is a God-empowered moment. Most people do not have the will , or the ability, to fast for such a long time[1]. Some may question what Jesus fasted from. Based on the scripture, food was the fasted element, for we read that Jesus was hungry, and this was the first temptation that Jesus was presented with.

    You want some bread?

    Agur (whose words are in Proverbs 30) speaks of a huge that is core to much of a God-balanced . He says, “…feed me with food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you…”. Agur probably could not have imagined those 40 days. Agur was likely familiar with hunger (perhaps even severe hunger, bordering starvation) and at least the example of those over-fed. Yet, Jesus took Agur’s words a step further, making it a point that God’s very words are food. They are food to bring us a life beyond satisfying the body.

    A spiritual desert is often a time (or multiple times) in a person’s life when they feel furthest from God. That does not mean that God is any further (really), it is a matter of perception and . People may experience a spiritual desert in times of great trial (starvation). They might experience it when everything is going great (over-fed). These times can be huge in one’s personal affections and relations with God. However, if we listen to the adversarial , we might succumb to the voice that says “I” can do it without God.

    1) Re-read Psalm 77:6. How could these words guide you in light of your own times in a spiritual desert?

    2) If you have never fasted, why not? If you have, did you find it helpful?

    3) How is fasting or the “desert” related to “ to self”?

    [1] Any fasting beyond sunrise to sunset should be prayerfully and wisely considered. Anyone under 18 or over 65, pregnant or in another state needing regular physician care should consult with their physician. From a spiritual standpoint, it is wise to speak to someone who cares for your spiritual life. While fasting is personal, and shouldn’t be publicly declared, having wise spiritual counsel is good to make sure the intent is truly God-focused.