Devotion.al

Tag: faith

  • Forging Character

    Forging Character

    Psalm 50:1–6; 1 Kings 14:1–18; 1 Timothy 1:12–20

    You probably believe that you have never had a prophesy (a “” from God) spoken “over” you. You might be right. As such, you’ve never had someone say to you, “I thought of you when I read/heard this.” Nor have you heard, “I felt I had to this with you.” Nor have you ever had your spirit “struck” by a sermon, a song, or a moment.

    If you’ve never had any of these happen, it might be time to stop reading this and God when it has happened (note, this wasn’t a whether).

    Not all prophetic words are positive for a person. Jeroboam, his wife, and their (Abijah) received a prophetic word. It wasn’t good. There are multiple points that are sad.

    Abijah was probably very young when he died (based on context). As he was young, he hadn’t developed the bad habits of his and . That he was the only member of the family to be honored in death is telling.

    The other sad part is that Jeroboam and his wife (and by extension their children) heard and witnessed the prophetic word coming true and their hearts were not (it seems) changed. God has relented in punishment (or reduced it) when a person repents. Jeroboam didn’t bother.

    Paul emphasizes God’s relenting tendencies by his own testimony. He reminds Timothy that he (Paul) was the enemy of Christ and Christians before he became the champion he was. In just a few words, Paul shows us the depth of the tragedy of Jeroboam and all those like him throughout history and today.

    Paul’s is also important regarding his instructions to Timothy about “waging war” (the implication being a war of faith) and the cast out Hymenaeus and Alexander. It may well be that this passage is about Timothy either mourning or trying to drawback Hymenaeus and Alexander into the church.

    It would make sense as Paul reminds Timothy that the prophetic word that was “over” him was about waging a war of faith. The situation with Hymenaeus and Alexander seemed to require some sort of battle with the two. Paul told Timothy that he (Paul) had let them free. As Paul was Timothy’s mentor, the strong implication is that Paul wanted Timothy to do the same.

    It is Paul’s preceding words that provide the “silver lining” to Hymenaeus and Alexander being handed over to Satan. They can still , for Jesus Christ is every faithful and loving. In addition, Paul added a “to be taught” clause, meaning that his expectation is that Hymenaeus and Alexander are likely to return.

    ※Reflection※

    • It can be hard to let someone fall away as Hymenaeus and Alexander. What can we observe about God in these situations? What can we observe about ourselves?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord Christ, thank you for your toward us and the unending you pour into our lives. Help our hearts to see your faithfulness and grace poured out for the world. Amen.

  • Mixing It Up

    Mixing It Up

    It can seem strange to question and particularly the of disparate people, but that is what is happening here. Jew and Gentile united in a single . The Jew and Gentile outside that faith assaulted it.

    Unity is a great thing. The church is supposed to be a place of unity. Yet, the church also remains the most divided. It is divided by culture, , skin color, , location and many other reasons.

    Yet, the “obvious” isn’t all bad. Really. If we didn’t have divisions, well, there would be one pastor…one…for everyone. Already, we know that wouldn’t work.

    Some sociologists state that our effective relational capacity is approximately 100. This “tribal” view of humanity would certainly explain much of what each of us experience in . It also explains the church.

    In many regards, the divisions that we see in the world are not that surprising. As the ability to connect the whole world in real-time expands and becomes embedded in our lives, we are all experiencing the stress of a “tribal” size beyond our capacity to deal with and understand.

    This does not spare us the responsibility to and understand. The “tribal” concept may be about to be turned upside down.

    The church of Iconium, for example, broke the “tribal” boundaries. The tribal-breaking church remains the world’s greatest . It is this that makes the divided church so painful.

    The world needs an enemy. Tribes need enemies. The enemies may not be ones of warfare. They may be economic or cultural or something else.

    The church is called to cross enemy lines not to defeat the enemy, but to reconcile the enemy, so that there are no more enemies.

    ※Reflection※

    • Which “tribal” identities do you identify with?
    • Which “tribal” identities do you struggle most with?
    • How do you think the early church overcame “tribal” identities?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, grant us the wisdom and grace to follow the example of your Paul along with the first churches, that we can truly be the witnesses to the world of your great love. Amen.

  • Freely

    Freely

    Psalm 147:1–11; 1 Corinthians 9:16–23

    Psalm 147 opens up powerfully. It really is good to sing praise to God. Every hopes that it is the pleasure of everyone who attends (whether physically or online) finds it a pleasure to praise God through singing.

    Of course, the psalmist is a songwriter/performer, so is obviously a tad biased towards this form of praise. There is indeed something powerful about music. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who find their best time of worship and praise through or stillness.

    The heart of worship is honoring God. A heart that honors God, worships God. Those people faithfully for the next experience of God’s .

    The expectation of experiencing God’s faithful love produces a response that can seem odd to a person who does not believe the same. has such an expectation. That is part of what motivates his approach to his (Christ directed) to share the .

    Paul’s response to God’s faithful love? Share the Good News freely. Not only freely in regard to cost, but also freely to whomever, and freely however.

    In many respects, the whomever and however continue to be a problem in regard to sharing the gospel. In some church somewhere, someone is saying, “Let’s not share the Good News with those people.” In another church (or maybe the same one), someone is saying, “We just can’t do it that way.”

    It’s easy to say, “Paul would…,” but the reality is that we don’t know what Paul would have done. We can only at the “heart” of Paul as seen through his words.

    We are often quite ready to put boundaries on many things in our lives. With whom and how (granted, without changing the Truth) however, the fewer boundaries we place the more likely we are to be where God already is.

    ※Reflection※

    • What surprising/unexpected ways have you seen the Good News shared/spread?
    • How should honoring/praising/worshiping God lead to sharing the Good News of the Gospel?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, may we find ways to share the Gospel that builds bridges of faith and love. Amen.

  • Walk Out Your Faith

    Galatians 5:2–15

    I’ve probably shared this before; forgive me. A number of years ago, I was in a bible study. In it was a woman who said, “I don’t believe in the God of the Old Testament, only the New One. Only the God of the New Testament is a God of Love.”

    Our study leaders were not the most theologically conservative. Even so, they quickly (and gently) corrected her. Yet, I know many people like her who were raised with the “hellfire and brimstone” type of sermons and teachings which predominately used the Old Testament to cause people to be terrified of God.

    The Jews of ‘s time weren’t so much afraid of God as they were not following the rules. The rules were the source of alongside the religious leaders who instilled fear.

    This same affliction has been part of the church for generations. People followed rules because they could “safely” belong following the rules. Of course, that does not mean they understood the rationale behind the rules, or believed it.

    Rules can be good and beneficial. Having an understanding of consequences of decisions is also good. When they become the or “proof”, they will often defy our with God.

    The biggest victim in that situation is . People like the woman in the story, or those who experienced hellfire & brimstone sermons often become unable to see God’s grace. That inability to see God’s grace then becomes the inability to see God’s love.

    Paul’s words to the Galatians were to remind them that they had God’s grace. To put an exaggerated point on it, he was telling them that they traded a city of gold for a rotten turnip. They embraced the rotten turnip, and dumped the city of gold.

    There is, of course, the danger of developing in such a way of needing grace that the way of living leads you to slavery. However, willfully (or ignorantly) skipping out on grace may be far worse.

    Being grace-filled is counter-cultural. It has been for quite some time. Being grace-filled is not being a doormat, it is people what they don’t deserve…God’s love.

    Read the for this devotional on BibleGateway.com
    • If you were asked to live out your faith in grace, what would that look like?
    • How does living out grace work with those with whom you ?
    • If you were to choose grace or rules, which would it be? Which does your life display?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, let your grace flow in, through, and out of us more and more. Amen.

  • Heart of God, Speak

    Heart of God, Speak

    Deuteronomy 18:15–20; Mark 1:21–28

    Prophetic speech is not unique to the Judeo-Christian community, not by a long shot. In the current world, there are many forms of prophetic .

    A short list (i.e., not exhaustive) of prophetic voices: environmental collapse; sustainability (related, but not the same as environmental collapse); gender identification; minority redress (including, but not limited to, white privilege); economic growth; and so much more.

    From a Judeo-Christian standpoint (and certainly from a number of political points within the church), it might seem dangerous to call these “prophetic.” The Global Wesleyan Dictionary of Theology says that prophecy is, “…an urgent message from God to an audience.”

    That being said, the only similar words with the same underlying (i.e., surpassing the human condition) meaning are revelation (firmly culturally tied to Christianity), (mostly having turned into meaning the fall of the modern world), oracle (too new--y even for many new-age-ers), and vision (which has too many meanings to be useful).

    The reason this is important is that for many of these “prophetic” voices they are sharing the urgent message from their “god”. In some of these cases, it should be understood that we are not talking about gods as if they were God. We are talking about a world understanding framework that for Judeo-Christians we would think God. This means that faith is as much a part of their prophetic voice as God is part of ours.

    On the other hand, there are many prophetic voices in these areas that are believers in and followers of Christ. For them, there is a direct tie between God, their voice, and the issue. As with many important human issues, it’s quite a mess.

    The great sage, Ben Parker, once said, “With great , comes great responsibility.” Christians have been given a unique power, that of the . In combination with the Word of God (the Bible), we have the ability to influence others, and thus must be very careful in using what we have. This is especially true when used with other believers.

    What has become also very evident is that people are disregarding prophetic voices that don’t agree with their line of thinking. This is the most dangerous. When we disregard the prophetic voices solely because they do not align themselves with our brand of Christianity (including denomination, political-alignment, lifestyle choices, or national origin), we are in grave danger of repeating the patterns of the Israelites…casting out the voices into the , while condemning ourselves.

    ※Reflection※

    What prophetic voices have you been hearing? What makes them prophetic? What, if any, change in your have they prompted?

    ※Prayer※

    Holy Spirit, you are living and active in this world right now. us the heart, wisdom, and discernment to hear the prophetic promptings of your people called by your . Amen.

  • In All Things

    Revelation 2:12–17

    A conversation that I have had many times, and you may, too, is why are there so many denominations? Aren’t we all one? Don’t we all believe the same thing?

    There are some things that are common among Christian denominations: God “the Father”, Jesus Christ (God “the Son”), the Spirit, the Trinity (Father, Son, ) that is One God, the fallen state of man, Jesus came to pay the penalty, Jesus came to reconcile man to God, Jesus died (penalty paid), Jesus resurrected (eternal ), by Christ we are adopted into the eternal of God through repentance, Christ will come again, Heaven and Hell (though understandings differ). Not exhaustive basics, but you will find that Christians agree to these. If you want the full list, the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed summarize this well.

    So, again, why all the denominations?

    Well, because we’re . Some would say pride divided the church. Others would say fear divided the church. Others would say nationalism divided the church. This is not an exhaustive list…not by far. The letter to Pergamum actually helps provide light.

    Pergamum was a city of many gods. The two prominent temples were one to Zeus (with supposedly 24-hour a day sacrifices) and one to Caesar (the emperor). Within the context of Revelation, it would not be surprising that Caesar is the primary focus, however, the regular sacrificing to Zeus is definitely important in this letter to Pergamum.

    Who the Nicolaitans were is unknown (plenty of speculation, though). From what can gather, however, they were a group of “fallen” Christians who were as much in and of the world as they were of the church. As they had not denied Christ, they weren’t too far gone. One can readily conclude that it’s close.

    While we don’t know the result, recent (the last few hundred years) church history shows us what can happen…denominations. We do not want to dismiss the Nicolaitans, but if we re-read the Scriptures, we can see wording that is often used the separate ourselves from others.

    In the time of the writing of Revelation, the food sacrificed to idols was a serious issue. While Paul (in  1 Cor 8:1–13) allows for eating such, it is with the expressed requirement that it not be a snare to those weak in the faith. In Pergamum, it was a problem and thus not to be done.

    What happened in Pergamum is the failure of and . This same charge can be levied at the church universal today.

    The flip side of this is making sure one disciplines (or divides, if necessary) for the correct reasons. There are far fewer reasons to separate than the many denominations provide witness to.

    In addition, there is the failure to disciple. Discipleship is divided into the why (theology, philosophy, information) and how ( life ). One without the other is only half-discipleship, and Pergamum is an example.

    Honestly, discipleship has become a buzzword and discipline…well, nobody likes it. The only problem? God requires them.

    ※Reflection※

    • What does “church” discipline mean to you? What would it mean to you if a friend “disciplined” you?
    • What does discipleship mean to you? What does it mean to disciple another? What does it mean to be discipled?
  • No Name

    No Name

    Proverbs 8:1–2; Mark 3:13–19

    Many people have had nicknames growing up. Some of them were insulting. Some of them were just strange. were relating an to something else. Others were shortening of a proper of the person.

    “Captain” was sometimes used in my childhood (thank you, Star Trek). Ian is pretty hard to make a nickname out though (except with rhymes, which aren’t quite the same) . I was (to my face) spared nicknames. It probably also had to do with doing my best to blend in the background.

    A new name was an ancient concept. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. Both received new names as they crossed a certain line of faith in and with God.

    Simon (Hebrew)/Peter (Greek) /Cephas (Aramaic)  received a name. As near as we can tell, he was a passionate follower of . Would the comparison of Abraham or Israel apply? It didn’t seem so immediately. Upon the resurrection, though, it seems that Peter did indeed cross “the line”.

    James and John were given a joint nickname. Their name has been hypothesized in many ways. My favorite is the easiest. Their was a very LOUD man.

    I shared an office with such a person. If he entered the office, I didn’t answer the phone or got off the phone, because it was hard to hear another person when this man talked in his tone. Imagine him yelling then (that happened…in the office…many times). That’s how I see Zebedee.

    What does that tell us about James and John? They were probably loud, too. Maybe not quite to their dad’s level, but close enough! That’s my thought, anyway.

    Have we forgotten the of names? The Harry Potter series had a villain “who must not be named.” In the “world” of Harry Potter, names had power.

    As a rule, Christians no longer write G-d, or Y-H, or something else. Many reverent Jews still will not write the name of God, or even the title. “Lord” is the translated euphemism for names of God.

    Yet, in other ways, we recognize and abuse the power of names: Trump, Biden, Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative. Often names are used to quell dissension and discussion.

    Other emblems of courtesy, such as “Mister, Missus, Miss, Ma’am, Sir” are falling into disuse. While these are titles, more than names, yet these too are power. That is actually part of the reason they have fallen into disuse. They grant power to others.

    That is the odd thing about names. They provide power and for ourselves. They can also provide power to others. They can also destroy. Like many such things, the power to destroy is very easy.

    The power to destroy seems to give us power. Yet, by tearing another person down, we often display the very weakness we are trying to hide.

    ※Reflection※

    • Have you ever had or given a nickname? What was the reason behind it? What was the feeling behind it?
    • Have you ever wanted to (or did) change your given name? Why?
    • What name of yours defines you best?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, the Name Above All Names, thank you for drawing us into your family. May we be of your name. Amen.

  • Abandon Ship

    Abandon Ship

    Jonah 3:1–5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29–31; Mark 1:14–20

    Jonah may have been the most successful preacher in history. He preached and an entire city repented, and a large city, at that. The church celebrates 4000 in one day as a supreme act, yet cranky Jonah exceeded that by far.

    We often question and scorn Jonah for running away from his call. It would be similar to you being called to North Korea to preach, “repent.” The destination is a scary place for such a preacher.

    Nineveh was known for the cruelty visited upon the defeated. People were impaled, beheaded, “stretched”. They worshipped a number of gods. They were enemies of Israel, and they were not friends of God. It was a good place to avoid.

    Jonah just followed his common sense. It seemed suicidal to go to Nineveh. There seemed no of safety by God, so why go?

    Plus, the demise of Nineveh seemed to be a positive for Israel. With the fall of Nineveh, perhaps things would be better for Israel.

    If Jonah’s logic were to be followed, then the world would be lost. This is why ‘s call for a sort of “disengagement” is very important to evangelism.

    Often, going to those crazy places is what we are called to do. There are people from many denominations that willing went where they are not welcomed to the Gospel. In many of those same countries (and more besides), there are indigenous believers whose very lives are in danger for the common they hold with us.

    Holding too firmly onto our understanding of the way things “should be” is generally us being too tied to the ways of the world. Holding on too firmly to the world often blinds us to the call on our that God has made.

    Simon, Andrew, James, and John did not hold too tightly onto the world. Although the don’t tell us such, it would be inhuman if the 4 men felt nothing as they left their livelihood, families, and much of their . There was still something about that caused them to release the world and follow him.

    ※Reflection※

    • What would you do or where would you go if you believed God was sending you?
    • What are some of the ways of the world that hold Christians back from reaching the world for Christ?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, give us the to forgo the world in whatever ways you call us. Give us the discernment to recognize your will and your call. Amen.