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Devotion.al

Tag: give

  • Asking Questions

    John 6:53–69, Colossians 2:6–10 (read online ⧉)

    We are all subject to the latest fads or the latest rumors or the latest news. Then there is the latest science news or latest health fad. It can overwhelm a person pretty quickly. The truth of the matter is that we are simple creatures who think they are complex. We also like to think more of ourselves than we ought.

    When Paul talks about philosophy and empty deceit, he’s talking about things that don’t give life. “Give life” means something in the “Christian” world to many, but doesn’t mean much to those outside of it. This is where the real danger of philosophy and empty deceit come into play. Paul’s words were written to those who believe that Jesus had come to redeem humanity, that Jesus was that one that brought life.

    Yet, at the same time, many in the church were torn by the popular and new philosophies which drew them away from the apostolic teaching. We often don’t talk about the “schools” of thinking that were common with one or two leaders having (for a time) a pronounced impact on their cities. These people would use fancy language and (what seemed like) logic to pull people into their circles. Of course, as their circles expanded, so did their influence. Their goal was their gain, not (necessarily) the improvement of their followers. This is what makes it empty deceit. These impressive people draw people into their sphere of influence with the offer of a new life, but it all ends up being empty.

    By no means does this mean, as some have interpreted it, the philosophy is bad. In many respects, the vast deepening of Christian philosophy may indeed be what the church needs to reach the world and expand God’s Kingdom. Philosophy will often ask questions that need to be asked, yet many do not want to ask. That is one of the gifts that philosophy has for the church.

    The insight we have regarding philosophy and empty deceit comes from Peter, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

    1) How do (Simon) Peter’s words apply to philosophy? How do they apply to discern empty deceit?

    2) What is the difference between “normal” deceit and “empty” deceit? Why does it matter?

  • Prayer Fighting

    Exodus 3:1–10, Psalm 4, Isaiah 56:7, 1 Timothy 2:1–4 (read online ⧉)

    Phrases such as“fight your battles on your knees” and “win your battles on your knees”, along with terms such as prayer warrior, along with movies such as “War Room” all have an underlying assumption…prayer is a battle.

    There is far too much truth in it. First, the battle is against the powers of darkness. Now, to be blunt, we often give those same powers too much credence. Yet, from our limited and weak perspective, the darkness seems powerful.

    Battle is also applicable when it comes to ourselves. Sometimes it is weariness. Sometimes it is despair. We fight our desire to do something more. We get distracted (even before phones that was a problem). We fight ourselves when we pray.

    This leads to the next part of this battle…never go it alone. The greatest strength we have is when we pray together. We can lift one another up when we fall. Together (as we are called to be, anyway) we can bring each other rest when we’re tired, encouragement when we tend toward despair. We can even hold each other accountable regarding transactions.

    The biggest struggle when it comes to prayer is the length of time to receive answers and the answers themselves. Think of the Israelites. Their prayer wasn’t answered for generations, and by a guy who was (effectively) cast out of his Egyptian and Israelite relations. Their prayer was answered…eventually. How many prayed for liberation, and died not seeing it.
    Whether we are praying for physical healing, spiritual healing, or relational healing, it can be demoralizing to receive an answer we didn’t actually want. There are so many reasons why prayer may or may not be answered, but remaining faithful in our prayers is what we are called to be.

    1) What is the biggest prayer you remember making and being fulfilled?

    2) What is the biggest prayer you remember making and not being fulfilled?

    3) What is currently the biggest item on your prayer list?

  • Christmas

    Micah 4:1–8, Micah 5:1–4, Matthew 1:1–25, Luke 2:1–20 (read online ⧉)

    Long before doctors and hospitals, women gave birth at home. There has been a resurgence of interest in this, as society (specifically mothers) realizes that “home” provides comfort that a hospital room just can’t. The sterile, bland, cold, and noisy hospital room just sounds so cozy to welcome a new life into the world. Mothers will choose where they are most comfortable to give birth, whether it is at home or at a hospital or someplace else. It comes time for Jesus to be born, and neither is an option, so on to that someplace else…Bethlehem.

    Perhaps Bethlehem wasn’t too bad for Mary. Nazareth was home for her (and ultimately they returned there). However, those were the same people who saw a pregnant woman and knew that her husband wasn’t the father. The birth of her son might have been an absolute circus. Instead, along with many other strangers, she was in Bethlehem. Instead of being “that” Mary, she was just another face in a crowd of people.

    Micah’s seeming foretelling of where the Messiah would be born tell a tale. The first passage talks about Migdal Eder (or “the watchtower of the flock”), which is associated with Bethlehem. This place of sheep becomes very interesting as it is possible that was the place the shepherds were at when visited by the angels, and it would be near Bethlehem for a “quick” visit to the Messiah.

    1) Have you ever had the experience of the family coming for the firstborn of the next generation? What was it like?

    2) What if instead of a nice clean family it was the worst and the least that came to rejoice with you? What then?

    3) Who do you think had the greater joy, the shepherds or the families of Mary and Joseph? Who would it be easier to celebrate with? Why?

  • God Seeks Everyone

    Job 33:14–30, Nehemiah 12:31–43, Luke 15:3–7 (read online ⧉)

    Elihu (from Job) is probably the most enigmatic person in the Book of Job. He just appears and disappears. It is almost as if there is something more going on than just a tirade. Now, Elihu definitely said things that were wrong, but many of his words are the truth. Just like any of us, we cannot take all of his words and reject or accept, we must take his words wisely. Most of the words we read today are not, ultimately, in line with God’s heart. However, the underlying Truth is that God seeks to keep everyone from eternal separation from God (or Hell). God will sometimes use extreme measures that we can see this, while we often willingly maintain our blindness.

    Restoration of our right relationship with God is pictured in Nehemiah. Finally, the Jews get it (even if only for a time). Thanksgiving processions of hearts and tears, plus praise and offerings. The people had rediscovered joy, and their neighbors heard it. God had never given up on the Jews…ever. God just understood that they didn’t understand where real joy was. He had to, as much as it pained him, give them space to learn it.

    This is part of Jesus’ constant frustration with many people. They categorized people into the redeemed and unredeemable categories. There wasn’t a “not yet” in their thinking. They forgot that God is in the redemption business, and never stops redeeming. So many stories that the Jews shared (and gifted to Christianity) are about God’s redemptive work in the world, specifically in the Israelite (now Jewish) people. Yet it was forgotten.
    We should always be aligning ourselves with the ways of Heaven. Rejoicing in the redemption of others is an essential practice. In fact, even if we are the 99, we should be just as loud as Heaven for the 1, for we, at one point, were the 1, too.

    1) How are your redemption categories? Do they need to be realigned with Jesus’?

    2) Redemption results in rejoicing. The church, full of humans, often struggles with rejoicing for the redemption of “certain” people. Why do you think that is? How should the church respond to redemption in comparison to the world?

    3) Why is it important to realize that to God no one is unredeemable?

  • 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 blessing has been a mainstay for the Jews and Christians for millennia. The pronouncement of blessing, protection, acknowledgment, grace, favor, and peace pretty much sums up what a life 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-Giving God.

    When Jesus, 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 respond. 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, evil, and unjust. Then they experience the unimaginable. Now they were, they felt, like sheep without their shepherd. This time, peace is the tranquility in the storm. 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?

  • 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 peace…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 give us peace: whether it is food, clothing, riches, power, 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 prophecy. 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 worship God directly (Levites in Israelite culture, all Christians) received a covenant of life and peace. All that was required was reverence, which often seems to be sadly lost even among those who say they “fear” God. Out of the reverence words of Truth were to come, and turn those living in sin 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?

  • Thankful Reset

    Psalm 147, Deuteronomy 26:1–11 (read online ⧉)

    There are plenty of tales around Thanksgiving. While historians try to break out the supposed truth of what “really” happened, people are still adding pieces of their own making to the legend and story that surround the “first” Thanksgiving. There will be people that will try to paint the Puritans (and other colonists) with a wide disparaging brush (not without some justification). There will be people that will paint the First Nations Peoples with an overly generous brush. Regardless, there were human people involved that, for whatever their reasons, gathered to gather to give thanks.

    When Lincoln called for a national observation of Thanksgiving, it was during the Civil War. Some viewed it as a calculated political move, and it probably was. However, there was also the beginning of exhaustion with the whole thing. This was around the time when the Union realized that the war was not going to be quick. In the midst of such turmoil, a time of thanksgiving helped the people to set aside, even temporarily a horrible situation. Also, this is a way of resetting the mind and heart to look at a picture bigger than oneself.

    Thanksgiving in praise helps to lighten our hearts, especially when we carry the heavy burdens of loss, trial, finances, and so forth. How it works is somewhat of a mystery, yet science is confirming that thankfulness and gratitude help to rewire our brains. These re-wired brains are more resilient to trials and tribulations. In other words, we are able to withstand the emotional turmoil of trouble when thankfulness and gratitude are foundational elements of our regular practices.

    Take Psalm 147, for example. Say it out loud. Does something happen inside? If yes, great! If no, then it’s time to meditate on this Psalm. Recognize who God is and what God has done. These should not be empty words. If they are empty words for you, then you will likely struggle deeply with developing gratitude and thanksgiving.

    Moses’ direction to the Israelites prior to the entry into the Promised Land was to set a tone. They hadn’t yet worked for the fruit of the land. They were not to make assumptions. They were not to be arrogant. With the land promised to be fruitful, they were to be thankful that it was. Their hearts were to be full of gratitude toward God for providing it. If we follow along with the story of the Israelites, their focus on themselves and their own ways quickly lead them away from God.

    1) Why might ingratitude lead a person away from God?

    2) Why do you think gratitude changes your perspective and improve your resilience?

    3) Do you think it is important that we have a national observance of thanksgiving? Why?

  • 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 leader. Cups, it seems, were not always so common.

    The prophet Zechariah has a vision 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 end. 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 nation 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 identity 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 Salvation. The “blood” of the New Covenant 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 freedom we bought. Lastly, though, each of us may have something that needs to be sacrificed to live a life 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 learn 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?

  • Season’s Traditions

    Mark 7:1–13, Galatians 1:13–17, 2 Thessalonians 3:3–15 (read online ⧉)

    We are rapidly coming (or for some already entered) into some of the heaviest time of tradition in the calendar year. For many, it starts with October observations. For others, it starts with Thanksgiving. For others still, there is Christmas. The list of Christian and non-Christian observations is pretty long. A “high-altitude list”: Yom Kippur, All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, Day of the Dead, Reformation Day, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, sometimes Ramadan, and many others. Oh, then New Year’s.

    Sometimes observing one of these out of sequence (i.e., starting Christmas decorating and music on November 1st) creates a little bit of tension. This is actually a good thing. One of the problems that Jesus was confronting was how traditions had become disconnected from intent. Sometimes the tradition, such as washing 7 times, is a minor issue. Other times, such as when “dedicating” one’s wealth to the temple (corban) rather than taking care of one’s family, tradition becomes a problem.

    For many centuries, the “mainstream” church has had a church year. The church year begins with the 1st Sunday of Advent. Advent ends with Christmas. Christmas (the “season”) ends with Epiphany (The visit of the Magi). Then we have some Ordinary (i.e., numbered weeks) time. Then Lent, Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter, the Easter season, which ends in with Pentecost. Anyway, each of these is intended to provide some Christian and spiritual formation, which is why much of the church has maintained it. The more Evangelical molded church has begun adopting some of these “seasonal” periods. This is a good thing, for these are good traditions…as long as they are not disconnected from the why.

    Traditions do not have to be bad. In fact, we hope they are not. Yet, the tension of introducing, maintaining, and even abandoning traditions needs to always be there so that we don’t lose touch with the why.

    Paul notes that he was heavily invested in traditions. All of his traditions were an attempt to honor God, but God was often lost among the rules. Yet, that does not mean all the traditions were bad. In fact, many of the traditions (and rules) give us guidance as to how to appropriately walk with God and others. Many of these traditions also teach us theology and about what God has revealed to us about God.

    As you begin your seasonal traditions (even the food choices for Thanksgiving), give some deeper thoughts as to the “whys” of your traditions. You may discover something far deeper than you expected.

    1) How do you keep the “whys” of your traditions alive?

    2) What are important aspects of traditions for and to you?

    3) Is it unreasonable to seek God in all our traditions?

  • You…Priest…You

    Malachi 2:1–9, Colossians 3:5–17, 1 Peter 2:1–8 (read online)

    In a number of bibles (both translations and iterations), this passage in Malachi has the header of Warning to the Priests. You may have read that yourself. This passage is indeed to the Israelite priests, who fulfill the forms of worship, prayer, supplication, and sacrifice, but do not fulfill the heart of any of it. Tying the heart of worship to honoring God’s name should give any of us pause. Look at what God is equating to the behavior of their hearts: animal poop and entrails. In other words, what’s coming out of them is crap. Pretty harsh.

    The problem that many Christians have reading this passage is, “this doesn’t apply to me.” Except if you read Paul’s and Peter’s letters, the category of Israelite/Jewish Priest actually does apply to all of us. Paul’s letter removes the human-based barriers between people. Peter removes the concept of non-priest. In other words, the warning of Malachi does apply to each of us.

    Now, we could say that the Law doesn’t apply to us. Okay. Yet, the “Law” of love (love the Lord your God) would seem to wipe that argument out in context. While we use and have the titles of priest, pastor, reverend, minister, and while they have a certain place within the church, that does not spare us from the priesthood of all believers.

    Re-read Malachi. Replace “you” with “me”, and “your” with “my”. Take this personally.

    1) How have you violated what God calls on us to do/be according to the words in Malachi?

    2) Scripture is pretty down-to-earth. This passage in Malachi shows it (along with a little rephrasing). Why is it important that the Scriptures are so down-to-earth? What happens when we over gentle the Word of God?

    3) Barriers are a common tactic. Why do you think it is important that Paul and Peter removed them? What barriers need to be removed in your life, particularly with how you categorized and interact with other people?