Devotion.al

Tag: evil

  • Expecting or Distracted?

    Psalm 51:1-12; Habakkuk 3:2–13; John 12:1–11

    It is so easy to be distracted from the important things in life. Some blame electronics. Others blame the media. Others blame no in school. Others blame a culture that has walked away from its somewhat -ish roots. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human behavior.

    O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
    and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
    In our own time revive it;
    in our own time make it known;
    in wrath may you remember mercy.

    The opening stanza of Habakkuk’s song tells us that our disengagement from God is nothing new. Habakkuk calls us to be in awe of God. If you’ve ever had the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds fly over you in , you’ve had that sense of thunder through the entirety of your body. The jet wash passes over you. The sound overwhelms you. Plus the smell (which you may not like) of burnt jet fuel. There is an almost instinctual resonance to such an experience. Multnomah or Snoqualmie Falls with the spring runoff can do the same with the overwhelming volume of water, both noise and sheer amount.

    All of that pales in comparison to the awe that we ought to feel when we contemplate God. As we wait for Christ’s we, like Habakkuk, want God to make his undeniably known, and that his overwhelming wrath to overcome sin and evil, with a lot of mercy. While we may not be overwhelmed by God, there still appears to be that wiring inside of us that is looking for it with hopeful expectation.

    Hopeful expectation.

    The Jews, under Roman occupation, were waiting for something. Some didn’t know what they were waiting for. Some were waiting for a revolution. Some were waiting for a Messiah. Those waiting for a Messiah—a savior—had a hopeful expectation.

        “You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed.” [Habakkuk 3:13]

    1. Are you being truthful to yourself when say, “I’m waiting expectantly for to come back”?
      • If not, what is keeping you from seizing the that Jesus is coming back?
      • If so, what can you do to build up the expectation in others?
    2. The power of Good Friday (the day Jesus was crucified), is followed by the of the . Yet the Resurrection is not the . It is only the beginning. How is the Resurrection the beginning for you?

  • Who Gets In?

    2 Kings 21: 1–18, Luke 13:31–35, Romans 11:1–12 (read online ⧉)

    Scripture leaves no question as to Manasseh. He was not a man after God’s own . While the image of God was in him, he in no way honored it. He led his people even further away from God. He is not alone in his . While he may have led the people away from God, they chose to follow. We could excuse their behavior by saying that they were afraid to oppose Manasseh, however, God does not excuse them. There is a lot to unpack there, but not for today.

    God does say that the people of Israel (and Judah) have done evil since they left Egypt. The time has come, it seems, for something to happen, and happen it did. The people of Judah were eventually sent into exile.

    By the time of Jesus, Israel was again in the clutches of a foreign authority. Just as during the exile, that did not mean that God stopped working, it just wasn’t as expected or often as desired. Jesus is quite blunt about the whole thing when he states that a true prophet of Israel (with some exceptions) will die in Jerusalem, by the hand of Jerusalem. That’s a pretty dark statement.

    A people who disregarded God and kill God’s prophets in the very city God “placed” his . What kind of could they possibly have?

    An amazing kind.

    had the unenviable task of sharing the with Jews and and placating the long-standing cultural frictions between the groups. Add into this the addition of Gentiles to God’s redemptive plan (despite it being in the Old Testament), and the tensions to cast out the “other” group(s) from the redemptive story was probably pretty strong. Paul had to well to the Gentiles who (at least some) seemed to think that now that they had received redemption, the Jews had lost it. Some Jews probably felt that Paul was saying that, too.

    Redemption is available to all.

    1) Have you ever thought or said that someone is beyond redemption?

    2) Reread Romans 11:12. Compare that to the behavior that Jesus noted. What does that tell you about God’s and ?

    3) Have you ever had to walk between 2 competing groups like Paul had to? What was it about? How was it resolved?

  • Gospel Politics

    John 8:31–59, Acts 13:46–52 (read online ⧉)

    One of the biggest struggles we—as Christians in America—continue to face, and will face even more deeply, is the hardness of heart to the Gospel. This will include people who identify themselves as Christians. As it becomes harder to be a cultural , the pressure to not be a Christian at all will continue to . Yes, it is sad. We became complacent and comfortable, which rarely produces a – Gospel. We ought to really read the Gospel accounts, and even Acts and the Epistles where we are the Jews (including Pharisees and Sadducees) and the Judaizers.

    Currently, ‘ family is growing most quickly in places where Christianity is often opposed or co-opted by the government (becoming a false Gospel and in the process). People not part of “the West” are the Gentiles of which we read. We, “the West”, have become what we thought we overcame. You might immediately protest this. It’s not bad to protest this. However, as we look at how the church family has been split between 2 political parties, we can see that our understanding of following Jesus Christ has become twisted.

    Most politicians are practical with their politics. They will commit (or at least pretend) to what will get them votes. Theirs is not, by practice, a Gospel of love. There are “planks” in both political parties that Christians should support. However, if it were an all-or-none supporting the entirety of a political party’s platform (and this would even include those outside the normal two), all Christians would probably—if they remained true to the teachings of Jesus Christ—have to stop voting. This isn’t solely an American thing either. This is the reality in most democracies/republics. No one political party will agree with all the teachings of Jesus. Yet, we have people focusing on political parties and politicians, and not on Jesus Christ.

    We are the Jews. We have become partners with the State. We have even gone so far as to demonize that call themselves Christians as if our own house is clean, as if we are God, being able to judge (more like condemn) the heart of another person.

    John tells us that the Jews, not being able to stand against Jesus, called him a Samaritan (in other words, he wasn’t a “real” Jew) and demon-possessed! Wow! What chuztpah! We are hearing that from Christians that person is not a “real” American, “real” Christian, “evil”, “deluded”, and so on. THE WORLD JUDGES US BY THE WORDS WE USE. Look at the words we are using against each other. These are the same that sing, “blessed be the of the Lord!”

    As Western “civilization” walks and runs away from Christianity, there are still plenty of people waiting to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Many of them are far away. Many of them are right next door.

    1) What ways can you think of to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world? Look at each of those ways. Will the world actually listen to them? Why or why not?

    2) One of the tendencies of the Jewish leaders was to say, “come to us.” In what ways do modern Christians do the same? In what ways are modern Christians different?

    3) Politics is a very sore and volatile subject these days. How can we still use politics to share the and grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

  • Trust and Temptation

    Genesis 3:1–20, James 1:12–16, Hebrews 2:13–18 (read online ⧉)

    The reality is that humanity has a hard time God. The story of Adam and Eve is a great allegory of humanity and . Adam, especially, should have trusted God wholeheartedly. Eve, too, should have trusted God and should have trusted Adam. However, Eve listened to the serpent. Adam, in turn, listened to Eve. They who had access to God as they did still trusted someone else over God. Part of this, it seems, is immediacy. The serpent was in their immediate surroundings. This is why the world can be dangerous to our spiritual well-being. We are in it. It has immediacy in our lives. It can pull us away from God. Even when we fully believe that we trust God, the world can still pull us away. Sometimes it will be little things. Sometimes it will be big things.

    This awareness becomes important as we go through . One of our big temptations, as we saw in the story of Adam and Eve is to blame other people. However, if we do that too much, people begin to avoid us. We, needing affection, will often turn to something else to blame. Sometimes we’ll blame political parties or government (yes, it involves people, but generally people who are disconnected from our daily lives). Sometimes we’ll blame chance. As James points out, however, we also blame God. People have blamed God for the temptation of Adam and Eve. “God should have known and prevented it,” they’ll say. “And, since God didn’t prevent it, God cannot be good, and must be …” Yes, it goes downhill quickly. James is making that exact point. For once it is God’s fault that we are tempted, the slippery slope down to God is evil comes into play. It’s not that you couldn’t stop there, but that many can’t. There are certain traditions that say (in effect) that while God perfectly controls all things, and while God is not evil, there is still evil, so it’s a mystery.

    That doesn’t, let’s be honest, work very well. It also put into doubt as shown by the passage in Hebrews. None of us want to be tempted. So, if (the Son of God, and part of the Triune God) is tempted, that would mean that God wants God to be tempted. If we, who are fallen and sinful, don’t want to be tempted, why would God want to be tempted? It is here that we have to make a turn. God’s holiness isn’t diminished by temptation, it would be diminished if temptation was succumbed to. As Jesus didn’t succumb to temptation, Jesus’ holiness wasn’t diminished. So, what does this have to do with trust? Jesus, as a man, trusted God’s plan, and leaned on that and his love of God and his that God him. Jesus was tempted in alignment with God’s plan, not because God wanted the temptation to occur, but to show that Jesus was both God and man, showing people that God loved the and was willing to die for it.

    1) How do your own temptations inhibit your trust of other people? How about your trust of God?

    2) How does temptation and blame go together? Why do you think that is?

    3) Other than the basic, “God is not evil,” why is it a dangerous practice spiritually to blame God?

    : Decide on one (and only one) temptation to place before God. Surrender it. Pray about it and surrender it every day.

  • Peace and Blessings

    Numbers 6:22–27, Luke 10:3–12, John 14:25–30, John 20:19–28 (read online ⧉)

    The Levitical or priestly has been a mainstay for the Jews and Christians for millennia. The pronouncement of blessing, protection, acknowledgment, grace, , and pretty much sums up what a with God should result in. What makes this tiny passage even more strange, yet intimate and comforting is that God states that this is God’s name. Perhaps not a name in the proper sense, but God’s name nonetheless. God’s name would then be Blessing Protecting Shining (i.e., “I see and acknowledge you”) Gracious Favoring Peace- God.

    When , therefore, sends out the disciples, they are being sent out on his (God’s) behalf to bestow peace upon others. So, think about this…they are to withdraw their peace from houses that do not . If peace is there…if God is there. If peace is not there…God is not there. There there is how peace is lived out. The disciples were to go to the first house that welcomed and accepted them. They were to go from house to house to get a better deal (certainly not the way our culture functions). Were they to do this, they would be contaminating God’s peace that they were sent with.

    This becomes even more apparent in Jesus’ bestowing of peace on his 11 disciples on his final night with them (Judas had left at this point of the evening). They were no longer just sent with his peace (as they were before), but now they were bearers of his peace. It sounds similar, granted, but it is different. Similar to baby birds, they went out (previously) and came back. However, now it was time to leave the nest, and they had to carry forth on their own.

    Yet, even on their own, Jesus still has to restore their peace, just as it is with us. They had just witnessed something horrible, , and unjust. Then they experience the unimaginable. Now they were, they felt, like without their shepherd. This time, peace is the tranquility in the . Only Jesus can give it so deeply. Only when we embrace it do we receive it.

    1) What does it mean to embrace the peace of God? What might it mean to us and the way we live our lives to embrace the peace of God?

    2) Surrender is a significant part of God’s peace. What needs to be surrendered for God’s peace?

    3) What has to be surrendered for the world’s peace? What is the difference in surrendering to God and to the world for peace?

  • Church of Destruction

    Galatians 2:17–21, Ephesians 2:1–10

    There has been a lot of talk in some circles about the increasing percentage of the U.S. population that calls themselves, “nones.” This is used to define categorize people as those having no definitive religious identity. This “none” categorization is awful. It covers a huge range of people.

    The panic, in some circles, is that as the percentage of “nones” increases, the number of self-identified “Christians” decreases. What makes the “none” categorization and the conclusion that follows awful is that there is zero nuance. There are people who are Jesus followers (and are saved) that do not identify as . Not that they deny Jesus, but they deny American Christianity. That is an important concept. There is also plenty of Americans who identify as Christian…because they are Americans.

    Among the nones are another group, “spiritual, but not religious.” There is some similarity to the “non-Christian” Jesus followers. However, by being more general in regards to “spiritual”, there is less defining, and that is part of the problem.

    The Common English Bible has an interesting translation of Ephesians 2:2…”You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2, CEB)

    The interesting characterization is that of following a destructive spirit. Before we start pointing at the world (which definitely has its of issues), we need to start recognizing the destructive spirit(s) in our churches. There are so many lines that people are drawing within our churches that are separating us. Think of . In the current atmosphere, even the most die-hard political person takes a deep when someone else (especially of unknown persuasion) mentions politics, and that’s just Democrat and Republican. What happens when we actually start talking about the issues? And, this is in our churches! Then we have cultural issues, too, and many of those are more deeply and tragically ingrained than politics.

    1. What issues/concerns keep you from connecting with in the church? Why?
    2. The CEB’s “destructive spirit” sets a different tone than the often implied or demonic spirit. Why is that an important shift? How does that open the discussion? What is the danger in only calling it a destructive spirit?
    3. Any “spirit” that does not bring to God and build up Christ’s can be dangerous. Can thing of some “church” spirit that might fall into that realm?

  • Right Things

    Isaiah 1:10–31, Habakkuk 1:2–4, Luke 17:5–10

    In many courtrooms, there is an image or a statue of Lady . Lady Justice is the supposed personification of the ideal judicial system: blind (no favoritism), sword (swift and cutting decision), scales (balance of “good” and “”), toga (justice as a philosophy). Most of us recognize that this is the ideal. Every justice system is exactly that…human.

    Our sense of justice, our philosophy of justice, should be based upon and informed by the Scriptures. Israel and the Jews would have agreed with that statement in concept. Sadly, just like today, concept and reality are not in line. This is God’s point through Isaiah. All the rites are being followed, but the of God is not. By not fulfilling and following the heart of God, the Jews were spoiling (as in making rotten) their sacrifices to God. Who wants rotten meat?

    There are many cries for justice, and many are good calls. Far too many appear aligned more for political than actual justice. And this is also rotten. Yes, the right thing is being done…for the wrong reason. Or, the right thing is being done but is contaminated by the wrong thing also being done by the same people.

    Habbakuk’s cry out for help sounds like so many people. Really, though, it goes along the line of a person talking to God, “There is so much injustice, cruelty, and pain in the world. Why aren’t you doing something about it?” Then God responds, “funny, I was going to you the same question.”

    It’s ‘ words, though, that may shine the real light on the issue. Pride. Jesus points out that servants should not be seeking for fulfilling their duties. Yet, there seems a pervading current of recognition that fills the .

    1) If we do the right things to the church, are they really the right thing?

    2) If we do the right things to build the Kingdom, are they really the right thing?

    3) If we do the right things because they are what God called us to do, but they don’t build the church, don’t build the kingdom, are they still the right thing?

  • Blessings and Consequences

    Exodus 34:1–27, Ezekiel 18:1–32

    There are many instances in where and consequences appear to be related, but at the same time aren’t.

    Often times, especially for “simpler” crimes, we see only the person convicted, not the victims. And when we see the victims, we see the victim of the crime itself and not the “invisible” victims. The invisible victims? There are many. Often there are far more invisible victims than visible ones. This is not (in any way) intended to diminish the actual victims and their pains…not at all. It is to widen our understanding of consequences.

    When God appears to threaten families (whole lineages) with the sins of a forebear, it can seem to be too much. Of course, if one notices the blessings are for 1000 generations and the “” for only 4, there does seem to be an odd imbalance. How does it work when 1 generation is faithful, and the next is faithless? Is it an equation of 1000-4=996? Then the next generation is faithful, and it is again 1000? Perhaps.

    On the other hand, there might be another thing going on here. We have to recall that is everything in the ancient world. The thought of the 1000 generations after you would have been a strong motivator to do right. Watching your children, grandchildren, and (if you live long) your great-grandchildren suffer the consequences of your wrongs would be a strong deterrent.

    This is why understanding who the invisible victims of crime are is so important. The children of the criminal are often deeply affected (for life). The children of victims are deeply affected. The extended families of both perpetrator and victim suffer. It may be in small ways, but the smallest thing can turn a to good or bad.

    The consequences of the sins are carried on. There is a reason why (especially) negative traits (e.g., alcoholism, abuse) are passed down in families. The offender (e.g., the alcoholic or abuser) may have repented, but the damage has been done and usually gets passed down. That is reality.

    That there has to be a clarification of this tells us that there had been some sort of abuse. Whether it was “just” the saying, or if there was something that was far deeper, pervasive, and (or sinful) is up for interpretation. That God saw it as necessary to clarify would seem to indicate a strong spiritual problem that needed to be addressed.

    With these 2 passages, we see guilt and consequences. People may incur guilt with God and . They can , seek forgiveness, and receive it. The consequences, however, remain. The guilt is ours. The consequences are not. When we , it may seem it affects only us, but we may never fully understand the consequences our sins have for others.

    1) What does it mean to be guilty? Toward whom are you guilty?

    2) Have you seen or experienced the consequences of another person’s sins? How did you feel about those consequences? How did you feel about the person as a result of those consequences?

    3) There is a trap when we focus on these two passages, and that is ignoring collective sin. What are collective sins that you can think of? What do you think the consequences were/are?