Devotion.al

Tag: eternal

  • Moneyed Futures

    Moneyed Futures

    2 Samuel 7:12–21; Matthew 6:33–34; James 4:13–5:6

    If you’ve ever listened to Dave Ramsey, you’ve probably heard of the “emergency” fund. When you start his Financial Peace University program, this is the first thing to be done. His point being that credit cards and payday loan “emergencies” become less so when you actually plan for them.

    Ramsey goes so far as to say each family ought to have available funds to cover 3-6 months of expenses. That is often a large pill to swallow. Yet, as many people are struggling to make ends , and are looking at losing their jobs, homes, and even health care much would have been easier if all were so prepared.

    In to the 25%+ foreclosure rate during the Great Depression, the federal loan agent Fannie Mae was created in 1938. As homes and property were physical assets, there was some tolerance for it. Though one can look at the current housing market and if Fannie Mae (and its “sibling” Freddie Mac) were a good idea.

    In 1950, Diner’s Club International created the credit card. American Express followed a few years later. Bank of America followed them (eventually creating Visa). Then came Master Charge (now MasterCard). People were now able to borrow themselves into oblivion.

    Then we add things like personal loans, auto loans, and student loans, it has become a real mess. The way the US tax code is, even companies are encouraged to do massive loans for tax benefits. The sad part is how much inflation all these loans (and the ability to get them) have probably caused.

    However, what is interesting is that Generation Z has experienced and witnessed this, and all the companies that make money off of loans may be in real trouble. Gen Z already (barely into the workforce) has the highest rate of savings since those who grew up during the Great Depression.

    The reality is that all these loans, and all that is spent, buys nothing in the eternal , at least not by itself. James’ words are rather harsh, but as we look around us, we can see that perhaps James wasn’t harsh enough.

    A certain aerospace company contractually forced its subtiers (and their subtiers) to continue production of a plane that was grounded internationally. The rate of manufacturing was elevated at such a rate that hundreds of planes are now sitting, unsold. All the contractually obligated subtiers are also sitting on what is now likely at least a year’s (and likely 2-3) of inventory, with no one to send it to.

    The arrogance of large corporations can be seen in James’ words. Also, as we look at all of our political leaders, we can see that arrogance regarding the is just as much an issue for them as for companies.

    Normal folks encouraged to have loans they can’t afford, look at the corporations and politicians who, by and large, escape the consequences. Normal folks are the ones losing their jobs. The politicians are keeping theirs.

    ※Reflection※

    What are some lessons that we as Christians and as people of the US can learn from the economy and the COVID situation? How do we apply them to our walk moving ? How might the lessons how we treat and even exercise our freedoms and responsibilities?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, you are our hope and our firm foundation. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us toward a holy view of money that we might be better citizens of the US and also the . Amen.

  • 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 response, plus a few ones that had been problematic with the religious elite. We could question the 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 heart.

    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 Temple 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 Trinity) is a perpetual “offering” on our behalf.

    In the heart of the man is a question I from many people, and in my darker moments, I 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 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 us, but you alone. 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.

  • Pounding the Pavement

    Pounding the Pavement

    Luke 12:16–34

    We often use the words of out of context. When we do so, we often lose their original meaning. “Don’t worry about what you eat…or what you will wear” is often used to say don’t worry about “worldly” things, except…it isn’t.

    When we look at the rich man’s productive harvest, we get the greater idea of what Jesus is driving at. It isn’t wanting more or better; it is caring for one’s fellow. The successful harvest was going to be kept solely for him. He saw nothing wrong with not sharing the bounty.

    For many years, we have heard of trickle-down economics. It is real. It is true. It still isn’t God’s way. Communism (the Communism of Tolstoy, Mao, Lenin, Castro, Kim, or ) of force used to “level” the playing field by removing all incentive and initiative, and crushing it isn’t God’s way either. God’s way is somewhere in between.

    God’s way isn’t about what we can grasp, but what we . The treasures we are to store up are hearts. Not literally, that would be disgusting. We are talking—as you already knew, of course—about the “spiritual ” that is turned over to Jesus.

    The bumper sticker that reads, “(S)He who dies with the most toys wins,” is a lie. Toys, as such, are useless trinkets that rust and decay. Souls (or spiritual hearts) are forever. We only get to bring souls with us into Heaven.

    We are watching many of the rich (such as Bill Gates) begin to somewhat understand it, though they still miss the part. This has happened many times over the years. Andrew Carnegie left a fantastic of libraries all over the country, truly seeking to give “working class” children a better start than he got.

    This is not to disparage their actions. Quite the contrary. There are the secular (non-religious) acts of Jesus lived out. They should be celebrated and honored.

    They still don’t souls. Often the question in the capital (state or ) is, how much do we “spend” on a person? That can be welfare, grants, contracts, pensions, or well-deserved (and earned) veterans’ benefits. The government thinks in dollars per person.

    God thinks in person per dollars. Sort of. God doesn’t care about the dollars. God cares about the souls of those who earn, give, save, horde, or even burn dollars. John the Revelator saw streets of Gold in his . As an ounce of Gold approaches $2000, it’s still pavement in Heaven.

    God cares about ravens, birds, wildflowers, grass, and you. Gold is just to be walked on.

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, you have given us humanity to walk with. May we seek their good and their entrance into Heaven as we follow your will. Amen.

  • Cryptic Inheritor

    Cryptic Inheritor

    Genesis 29:16–30; Genesis 49:29–33; Galatians 3:27–29

    Having been to many cemeteries over the years, whether in the US or abroad, it can be amazing to see what people do as monuments. A war or emperor may have one. Rich and noble families would often have such a monument, collecting the remains throughout history. It isn’t new, by any stretch. David and many of his descendants were buried near one another.

    Abraham may or may not have intended to buy a family burial plot, but it ended up being such for a few generations. What is peculiar about Jacob’s time is that his favorite wife, Rachael, was not buried there. His first wife, Leah, who wasn’t the preferred one, was the one buried there, and where Jacob would be buried alongside.

    Family land has been fought over long before Jesus walked the earth. Even today, families fight over land and property fraying (if not destroying) family ties and loyalties. In some places, the national lines that divide governments attempt to divide families, yet instead, the family ties override the national division.

    The bitter part of all of this is that people often fight over that which is dead and gone. Other times, their plans (buried with Rachael the favorite) are overridden by circumstances (buried with second best).

    All the battles and all the woes are only for a time. As much as an inheritance (even the simple family burial plot) may seem important at the time, it more often magnifies the pettiness of worldly affairs. -to-Dust.

    That has long been one of the hallmarks of the faith…this world is not your home. Or, said another way, your true inheritance is not here.

    Paul calls out this inheritance as something that crosses blood, and culture, and , and class, and gender. This imperishable seed of Abraham is not just something to grasp, it has already been given.

    ※Questions※

    1) When you hear “inheritance” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

    2) Why do Christians often fight over earthly inheritance or when they have the imperishable inheritance?

    3) How might a daily reminder of your inheritance how you interact with others in the world? What can you do to put that reminder front-and-center in your ?

    ※Prayer※

    God, may we keep our eternal home perpetually in mind, along with all those with whom we want to it. Amen.

  • I Hate You

    I Hate You

    Luke 14:25–35; 1 John 3:14–18

    So, who do YOU hate? Your mom, dad, husband, wife, significant other, son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle…Really, who do you hate?

    Trump, Clinton, Bin Laden, and many others have been (or are) hated. It could be because of politics. It could be because they murdered people. It might be something that you think they may have done.

    This passage in Luke is a hard passage for many. Except in cases of abuse or other mistreatment, hating one’s family is out of the question. A that has long considered itself (especially in the West) a “family-centered” religion will struggle that which it says it is based upon. “Family values”, a decades-old purportedly Christian value, are questionable if we are to hate our family.

    Then John, a of writes that we are to love our brothers and sisters, and that anyone who hates their brother or system is a murderer (even if said brother or sister still lives), and because of that they don’t have . Confused, yet?

    So, how does this work, exactly? Well, we’re back to the age-old problem of English versus Greek. Just like there are more words for love in Greek than in English, there’s the same problem with hate. Hate isn’t quite hate, sort of.

    When Jesus talks about hate, it refers more to loyalty that like, dislike, love, or hate. Jesus sought to shock people into an understanding that they may have to choose where their loyalty lay. Was their loyalty with family, or was their loyalty with Jesus?

    Hate may seem overly dramatic, however, in the cultural context, hate was the understanding. Only a hateful child, parent, spouse, and so forth would choose Jesus over family. In that time, the time shortly thereafter, and it appears now, family loyalty is against Jesus.

    Which brings us to John’s words. His hate is more along the lines of what we think of when we the word hate. The kind of hate that blindly rages and cares more about hurting another than blessing the enemy. This is the context of John’s hate.

    We are called to pray for the of our adversaries. Even more so are we to seek the benefit of our brothers and sisters in Christ. John’s primary concern is not the family ties of blood and culture that Jesus brought to light. John’s concern was what we at Generations call (friends who are like family).

    This framily is found within the body of Christ. Because of its place within the body of Christ, it should not have divided loyalties. Of course, when it comes to human frailty, we all know that isn’t the case.

    As we work through our hopes and fears of COVID and elections, we will often be tempted to hate our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must strive against that, for a house divided against itself will not stand, and then what would we say to Jesus?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, you prayed to the Father that we would be one. Help us to be united in you, while we yet still remain individuals with different thoughts and experiences. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) Is there someone in the body of Christ with whom you are angry? Pray for them. for the peace of the to fall upon and fill both them and you.

    2) How can you work to be one with your brothers and sisters in Christ while you have differing opinions?

    3) How does the concept of Jesus before family still cause you and others trials?

  • Clothed in Rags

    Clothed in Rags

    Psalm 94; Luke 6:27–36; 1 Corinthians 4:9–13

    Bless your enemies. Except “bless” means something more than just be nice or even help them. “Bless” means to for God’s divine to come on them.

    We all want blessings, but we are being called to ask for God’s blessings for those who make our lives difficult, miserable, or (in some extreme cases) seek to kill us. This is a high bar of . It’s a hard high bar of expectation.

    In many respects, this may be the hardest teaching of Jesus. To assuage our own feelings of anger, betrayal, and trespass, we want vengeance! We want victory! We want !

    “For [the Most High] is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.” (Luke 5:35)

    “That is foolish,” proclaims the world. The world is right, from the world’s perspective. From God’s perspective, however, foolish is following the world.

    Paul declared himself a disgraced spectacle that the world spat upon. Yet, Paul was determined to carry on. He chose a path to bless others and to be gracious to others.

    This world could use a lot more of this, don’t you think?

    However, the problem is that we want others to do it first. This isn’t the path that Jesus set out.

    The world has taught us that a win-win scenario is false. Or to put it another way, that life is a zero-sum game. The world is correct. It is their math that this the problem.

    The world’s math does not include God. The world’s math does not include Jesus (unless he can be used to make ). The world’s math is incapable of including the Holy .

    So, why, as believers…as children of God…do we assume the world’s math is correct?

    Yet, we do. We say and live as if the world’s math is correct.

    What has also become increasingly clear is that the has long been dressed-up in the world. Now the world is handing us filthy rags to wear, and we are offended. We took the nice clothes from the world already, if the world is done with us, why would they want to us nice things?

    So, what are we to do with the rags of the world? Realize they are the rags of a world that is passing away. We still have our “clothing of white”. Even in its “not yet” state (i.e., we don’t have it yet), it is still better than the finest clothes of the world.

    ※Prayer※

    God, help us to look at the world as you do…a place that is passing away. Help us recall where we are called to live eternally and to look at the world through your eyes. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) What is something that you need to surrender to the world?

    2) What is something that you need to surrender to God?

    3) How are these two things the opposite side of the same coin?

  • Using Ways

    Using Ways

    Luke 16:1–9

    This is one of those interesting parables.

    I knew a small business owner who taught a Sunday School lesson on this passage. He was quite honest that he hated it. As a small business owner, he could not understand the apparent for a person who reduced what was owed.

    This is understandable. He viewed this as stealing by the manager and  by those who owed the rich man. In most respects, he (the small business owner) was right.

    The rich man is more the vehicle of the story. The first thing to recognize is that the rich man received an accusation. That’s it. In Jewish law, it took 2 or 3 witnesses to convict.

    Jesus tells the story in such a way that we understand that there is truth to the accusation. Of course, the manager freaking out pretty much made it clear that there was a lot of truth in that accusation.

    There are two really important things to learn from this particular parable.

    The first is Jesus’ admonition to use the ways of the world wisely to gather friends. This does not mean that Jesus is suggesting theft or unGodly methods. Jesus is suggesting using the world’s ways (i.e., books, TV, radio, the ) to make friends and to influence .

    This is good advice. In fact, without being open to the world’s ways, we often have no common ground with which to open conversations that lead to God. The world’s ways include business, , education, and pretty much everything. Yes, let’s use it all to bring people to God!

    The second piece is often overlooked. I have certainly overlooked it.

    The rich man and even the manager are successful in the world. We often focus on that, which shows our own hearts.

    The people for whom the manager reduced the debt were the poor. We have to that our concept of middle-class is historically a pretty recent one. Most of these people owed debts that they may never be able to pay.

    They would be, effectively, owned.

    Why is this important? Well, the underlying implication is that the poor will have the dwellings (i.e., heaven), and the only way the rich man or (specifically) the manager will have a place in eternity is through those that he gave .

    The concept of “class warfare” predates Karl Marx by centuries. While this passage and conclusion would seem to reinforce such a concept, at the same time, all things are possible with God, especially with a contrite heart.

    ※Prayer※

    Heavenly , may we—your children—be always looking for ways to use the world’s ways to expand your family, , and glory. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) What do you think of the rich man and his to the manager’s initiative?

    2) What ways of the world can you think of that you can use to bring people to God?