Tag: heart

Transformational Inheritance
In the Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (11th Ed), (1) a legacy is a gift of personal money or personal property, (2) something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor.

What a dry way to kill a legacy.

Abraham had plenty of personal property and wealth. He was successful from a material point of view. As we say today, though, you can’t take it with you. Stuff can only be given to or taken by others. Abraham was old and was looking at who would get his stuff. As he had no children, It was going to be a servant. While we often overlook this brief mention of Eliezer, this is a good example of someone preparing for the future without him in it. The small business owner that is a wise steward, will make preparations for the company after they are gone, especially for their employees and family members who are dependent upon the business. Abraham was looking out for his people and their families.

God then makes a promise to Abraham that Abraham will have a son to inherit Abraham’s wealth. Well, that’s the way Abraham took it. Then God took it up a notch and said that Abraham’s descendants would number like the stars in the sky. Then God said that there was this huge swath of land that Abraham’s descendants would get, too. While the wealth, property, and land were all good, it was Abraham’s faith (counted as righteousness) that was the true legacy. Faith was the true inheritance.

Through the wealth, property, and land, Abraham and his descendants prospered, fell into ruin, returned, prospered, fell, returned…and so on. Throughout it all, Abraham’s faith is what made it through all of it. Abraham’s faith was the legacy that he passed on, that he didn’t even ask for.

Generations later, an infant boy was born in the City of David. This infant boy had 2 parents who were out of their element (so to speak) before he was born. These 2 parents were inheritors of Abraham’s legacy, and they experienced its fulfillment in a way unimaginable at that point.

In his letter, Paul tells the Galatians (non-Jewish people, like most of us) that they (thus, us) are also inheritors to this legacy of Abraham. To play off of Paul’s words, the original inheritance that Abraham was concerned for was in regards to stuff, land, and the family “name”. This is more along the lines of the child (or slave) who is in bondage to their immediate gratification (the stuff). The true inheritance is one of faith and relationship with God, the Father, that we receive through the gift of the Son, Jesus Christ. It is through the power and working of the Holy Spirit that we are transformed from child (bound by the world) to inheritor (free in faith).
1. Elsewhere, Paul writes about childish things. What are some “childish” things that preoccupy your mind, heart, and soul?
2. The “world” is often concerned about the stuff, and we, too, may fall into that trap. It is good stewardship (according to Scripture) to have an inheritance for your grandchildren. What kind of inheritance do you want to leave?
3. What is the difference, if any, between inheritance and legacy?
KD) What is one thing that you want people to remember about you?
2019-01-10
Great Expectations
Psalm 55:1–7; Luke 2:21–38; 2 Corinthians 11:18–30

Families are often quick to share their expectations of a newborn (or coming) baby. The pressure can be on pretty quickly. The parents, too, have expectations of their children. They are often called “dreams” or “maybe someday.” As much as this can put pressure on the child, it can also put as much (or even more) pressure on the parents. Children are, through no fault of their own, the extension and legacy of their parents. Social media puts pressure on both, for the child to be a star performer, and the parent to be the parent of the star.

Pressure can take on many forms, but there are only 2 types: inside and outside. In the Psalm, we can almost feel the stress and strain that David is under. Many scholars think that this was written while Absalom was in the midst of the overthrow of David (2 Samuel 15–19). That being the case, it makes sense that David is feeling betrayed, and feels very much under pressure. He’s supposed to be the leader of the country and leader of his family, and now he is neither.

In the days of Jesus, the firstborn son would receive the majority of the family property, take over the occupation of their father, lead the family, and strengthen the family legacy. There was no expectation that the son would change occupation (more like pressure to retain the occupation of their father). Joseph and Mary would have this cultural expectation of their son. Yet, on top of it, there is this awareness that this son is not normal, and something unusual is foretold to happen with them. In honor of the Law and tradition, they go to the Temple to have Jesus circumcised. If they had any expectation of this being just a normal thing, the words of Simeon and Anna remind them that all is not normal with Jesus.

We can only imagine the interesting dynamic this created in the immediate family, but also the extended family. The extended family would have the expectation that Jesus would be the leader of his immediate family and follow in his father’s trade, and repeatedly reinforce that expectation. Joseph and Mary would have to be both soft and firm toward the extended family. They probably also lived with an underlying tension that the earthly expectation of Jesus was not the heavenly expectation they had been repeatedly told.

Based on the gap in Scripture regarding Jesus’ life, we are pretty certain that Jesus did follow his father’s, Joseph, trade prior to commencing his ministry. For the family, this would have put off the inevitable, yet it was still coming. The longer Jesus did everyday things, it would be understandable for Mary and Jesus’ siblings to anxiously await for Jesus to up and leave. If we re-read the scriptures, it is quite understandable for the family to be concerned that their entire legacy would be lost, as the powerful don’t like to be taken down. With the example of the Roman power around them, they could have been very afraid that Jesus’ call would negatively affect them, if not cause them to die.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions all the troubles he has gone through as he has traveled. There are natural, criminal, and cultural troubles. Then are troubles of hunger and clothing. While it seems to be almost a tag-on of troubles, we read about Paul’s “pressure” regarding the church. Other than following Jesus, Paul’s biggest concern, his biggest pressure, is regarding the churches. He loves them. He is concerned about and for them. While this phrase seems to be just tossed in there, Paul’s heart shows up in the 13 books of the New Testament that he wrote, THIRTEEN! His heart is for the churches and the people he loves that are in them. He feels responsible for them as leader, shepherd, teacher…and parent.

Jesus came to earth as one of us. He took responsibility for us. As an infant, there wouldn’t be any pressure purposely put on him, but it would still be there.
1. What puts the most “pressure” on you? Job performance? Child performance? Financial success? Material success?
2. When you are under a high amount of pressure, what is your normal response? Do you “just deal” with the pressure? Do you work through to resolve the pressure? Do you surrender it?
3. Jesus bore the “weight” of the world, yet said that his burden was light. How do you think that works?
4. [KD] Did someone ever tell you that you had to do something that you felt you should not do? What did that feel like? What did you do?
2019-01-09
It’s Forever

Psalm 68, Genesis 28:10-22, Hebrews 11:13-22

How often do we look at the world asking, “what’s wrong with the world today?” How often do we look around ourselves asking, “what’s wrong with everyone?” How often do we look at ourselves in the mirror asking, “what’s wrong with me?” Often this question comes when we feel as if we have no control, even over ourselves.

How do we then respond to the faithfulness of the psalmist? I have no doubts that the psalmist saw many things that were wrong in the world. Whether it was foreign nations, the powerful around him, the struggles within his family, or even the struggles inside himself. Despite all of this, the psalmist still trusted God. The concepts of good and evil, positive and negative, right and wrong, just or unjust are going through dramatic changes and challenges in our current culture. Many Christians are searching for solid ground to put their feet upon in the midst of this turmoil. All are seeking to be true to Jesus Christ, to their faith community, and to their framily.

Jacob was in disarray himself, at the time of his vision. Regardless of how you perceive of Jacob at this point, from a practical point of view, he was an exile from everything he knew. He was on his way to his uncle, who he didn’t know. In between the past and the future, Jacob had a vision. In this vision, Jacob received a promise that was the continuation of the promise God gave his grandfather.

While the psalmist may not have seen the Godly justice he anticipated, for sure Jacob (and his father and Grandfather) did not see the fulfillment of the promise. Yet, they held onto God. The author of Hebrews emphasizes their trust and faith. The author noted that they viewed themselves as foreigners and temporary residents. This should also be our perspective of things. When we have the long-seeing and long-reaching understanding that this is temporary, it gives us some relief from our human responses to everything around us, and to instead develop a Godly response to the world.

1) Why is it important to understand in your head and your heart that forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) didn’t see the fulfillment of the promise that God made to them?

2) Why might long-seeing and long-reaching be important to developing your Godly response to the world?

KD) Has someone made a promise to you that it took forever to be completed? How does that feel?

2019-01-03
Old With New

Psalm 147:12-20, Proverbs 1:1-7; James 3:13-18

He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and judgments to Israel.
He has not done this for every nation;
they do not know his judgments.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 147:19-20

The fear of the LORD
is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:7

Christianity is rooted in Judaism. That must never be ignored or denied. Judaism provides context for the New Testament. The New Testament loses much of its weight and impact when separated from Judaism. That is not to say that Judaism as practiced today is insightful, just that Jesus, the 12 original Apostles, Matthias (the man who replaced Judas Iscariot), and Paul were all Jews. It would be better to say that Christianity is the fullest expression of what Judaism was intended to be.

The essentiality of this understanding means that we, just as Jews have done, must wrestle with the Old Testament. The Psalmist declares that Israel (the Jews) are blessed as they know (and have experienced) God’s statues and judgments. The Psalmist basically is saying that everyone else has lost out, as they don’t know God. The Christian understanding is that people who don’t know Jesus as the Saving Son of God have lost out. While there is a difference, there is a strong similarity: not being of the family of God is losing out.

In Proverbs, the introduction ends on a powerful and significant note, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.” In this instance, fear is reverence and respect one feels towards one’s God. In other words, God is God, and I am not. Fools are those who do not have God in the right perspective. This takes the “losing out” aspect and adds on foolish. This is the foolishness of the despairing and dying. This foolishness takes on a number of forms, pride, shame, ignorance, fear and even hatred. The words of James guide us in how to answer this. Wisdom.

In particular, it is God’s wisdom that will guide the willing person away from the foolishness of the world, and toward the wisdom of God. As the bearers of God’s Word, we are to be humble and gentle. It is to come from a heart that knows God is God, and I am not. This same heart seeks to be like God and love those whose hearts are far away and draw them closer.

1) The world often looks at Jesus’ followers and shakes its head. It sees our human weakness, and attacks it. In light of the passages we’ve read, how can we respond?

2) What do you think worldly wisdom is? Can wordly and Godly wisdom ever be aligned?

KD) Why do you think it is important to remember that God is God, and you are not?

2019-01-02
Put Ahead

Psalm 150, Mark 11:23-25, James 3:11-4:6

“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. HALLELUJAH!”
Psalm 150:6 (NIV)

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”
Mark 11:25 (NIV)

“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
James 3:16 (NIV)

Without question, Psalm 150 is a song of praise and adoration, and it is often best to start with adoration. Some people have been taught to use during prayer was ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. Adoration, though is often too easy, and we skip to supplication, because confession and thanksgiving are harder. Confession is probably the hardest.

In Mark and James, Jesus and James (respectively) speak about putting ourselves above others, especially when it comes to prayer. Praying for others, especially those with whom we are in conflict, is essential to a functional Christian framily.

Jesus ties forgiving others into our own forgiveness. This serves as a litmus test of sorts. You see, when we have fully accepted, embraced, and embodied the truth of forgiveness we’ve received through the cross, we are able to forgive others, and that can be very difficult. When we don’t forgive others, can we really say in hearts that we are forgiven? Forgiveness isn’t about those who hurt us, it is about us.

James address a different, but similar heart issue in his letter. Envy and selfish ambition are signs of a heart that puts itself first, and not God, and certainly not others. In a framily, putting oneself ahead of others breaks the essential bond of framily.

1) In your own words, why is forgiveness essential?

2) Why do envy and selfish ambition create disorder?

3) Agape love is self-sacrificing love. How is agape love fulfilled in forgiveness, and the lack of envy and selfish ambition?

KD) Supplication is a word that means ask for something. Why is that last in the order of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication?

2018-12-27
Pieces of Love

Isaiah 52:13-53:12, John 15:7-21, Luke 1:68-79

This passage in Isaiah does not use the word love. In fact, it sounds that God is cruel.

This passage does not use the word love. It preaches and lives it from its very core.

How? Through Jesus. Only through Jesus was such a horrific event transformed from terror-inducing to life-giving. Only God can take something soaked in death and turn it into something that produces life, and only through the very being of God’s self: the second person of the Trinity, Jesus.

Jesus’ words to his disciples were just words. It’s not that they didn’t think Jesus’ words were unimportant, but they were lacking the understanding of how deep their meaning was. As we quickly approach Christmas, we should hold in our hearts and minds, as we celebrate the gentle, warm and easy baby in a manger, that Good Friday and Easter are coming. A simple child will change the world.

Zechariah’s prophecy for his son, John, was both filled with joy of and fear for his son. Such a prophecy means that his son would expect a life of hardship and opposition. Prophets are often unloved by those that God sent them to. A father’s joy of birth, overshadowed by what was to come. God the Father, and all the Heaven’s, filled with joy of the coming birth of the Messiah, yet that simple life-giving act was known to not be the act of salvation, but merely the starting point of salvation fulfilled by the cross.

When we speak of Christian love, it is a hard love. This is not the soft and gentle love that the world wants, but the love the puts other ahead of self, and the lower above the higher. Jesus shows us what godly love is, and we struggle to do it. We often think of it as easy, but it violates the world’s love, and the world will do anything to oppose it.

Christmas is love in action. Christmas is the celebration of a loving act, by a loving God, fulfilled by a loving God, to call back to love a world filled with fear, anxiety, prejudice and hatred.

Most parents have learned a truth of love. Having a child is having part of your heart forever outside of yourself. Imagine how God feels. Billions of pieces of God’s heart are walking on this planet right now.

1) What are your thoughts about being “a piece of God’s heart”?

2) Often when following God, we have to release those we love to Him. If you’ve done that, how does it feel? If you haven’t, can you imagine what it feels like?

2018-12-23
Joy Refill

Psalm 47, Psalm 48, Revelation 19:6-9

“…God ascends among shouts of joy…”
Psalm 47:5

“…[God’s] holy mountain, rising splendidly, is the joy of the whole earth…”
Psalm 48:1

“Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory because, the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.”
Revelation 19:7

All around God is rejoicing. There is not only worship and glorifying, there is joy. While God is just, God wants to be surrounded by rejoicing, or joy-filled, saints. You and I are called to be those joy-filled saints. It is one of those strange things where it is our duty to be joy-filled. Dutifully joy-filled seems contradictory, as if we are being commanded (as in obeying the law or a vengeful dictator) to feel a particular way. It isn’t that. Duty acts as a check and balance. It is our duty to assure that we are joy-filled saints. When doing our duty of checking the joy in the tank (so to speak), and we find it empty, we know that we need to refocus on God, giving thanks to Jesus Christ our Savior and surrendering (again) to the Holy Spirit.

The image of bride has been applied to the church since the beginning. In that image, there is a tension of collective (everyone) and individual being the bride (not in a gendered way) of Jesus. The bride prepares herself. While she may be crying as she walks down the aisle, the tears should be ones of inescapable joy, of love and thankfulness of an eternal bond. A bride that is not joy-filled walking down the aisle should really be rethinking the marriage.

That is why it is our calling to be joy-filled. Every day we take one more step down the aisle toward Jesus. When it comes to Jesus, it isn’t good to be a runaway bride.

Lastly, the populace of Heaven (of Heaven!) is rejoicing at this marriage! How amazing is that? Instead of viewing us as dirty or unworthy, we are the celebrated bride, and everyone is happy for the groom, Jesus!

1) Heart check. Are you joy-filled toward God?

2) What things can people do to refill their tanks of joy?

3) What practices or habits do you use to refill on your joy?

KD) What does it mean to refill on joy?

2018-12-18
The Hope Beyond Us

Psalm 38, Isaiah 32:10-20, Joel 2:12-13

In regards to their salvation, many people struggle with two particular areas. The first is pride. Realizing that one’s salvation involves the surrendering of self, a person can stop right at the light. Holding onto one’s self (one’s pride) can keep a person from taking the final step of surrender into God’s salvation.

The other area is sin. Often the struggle with sin goes hand-in-hand with pride. If we look around us at the world, however, we can see that the world’s definition of a “good” person might not meet God’s definition of “good.” You may have heard a phrase similar to, “good enough is the enemy of great,” usually used in the business world. Let’s take that with sin. Good enough could be “better than the other person” or “everybody’s doing it” or “no one else is getting hurt by it.” Great is God. If we’re “good enough” are we the enemy of God?

It sounds harsh. David, according to the world, was “good enough.” He committed sins, just like other leaders. He killed people in war, just like others. He was, it seems, a weak parent. While he wasn’t an enemy of God, per se, at the end, his greatest project of building God’s temple was handed over to his son because of the blood he had shed.

There are consequences of doing wrong. Our legal system takes care of some things. Our social circles take care of other things. At the end of our lives, God takes care of the heart things, as we stand before the throne.

The passage in Isaiah takes us through the good enough, through the consequences, and to the hope. The passage in Joel calls on us to be honest with ourselves, and what we have done, all in the context of God’s grace, compassion, and love.

To get to the best part of the story of ourselves, we need to dig into the ugly part of ourselves, hearts conflicted with pride and sin.

1) Why do you think it is important to know the starting point of a journey?

2) Does the starting point of a journey determine the end of the journey?

3) Why do you think people judge/condemn others (or themselves) for the starting point of their journey, rather than focusing on getting to the right end?

KD) What does it mean to you to be good enough? Why would you want to be better?

2018-12-13
Listening for Peace

Psalm 7, Isaiah 36:13-20, Luke 14:31-33

Peace is fleeting. We look around the world and cannot help but recognize that a lack of conflict only lasts for a short time. World leaders are speaking well of one another, then the next day attacking one another. People at work or school say positive or encouraging things to us, then say horrible and damaging things to others about us.

As editors and news-writers know, bad news, wars and bad behavior sells. It seems that we are conditioned to seek out the bad stuff. Good or heart-warming stories often don’t get the eyeballs or the clicks, at least in comparison to the bad.

When trying to convince the people of Jerusalem to surrender, King Sennacherib has his messenger make huge promises that after taking a moment, one realizes is impossible for the King to do without devastating the other countries he has already dominated (and probably made similar promises to). This is similar to politicians and leaders who make wild promises to those already in their camp, and then even more to those outside their camp in an attempt to draw them in. This is often the promised peace of the world.

King Sennacherib promises peace, his peace. His peace is the surrendering of self, property and even national identity to be pulled into his sphere of influence, and be controlled. Even in the United States we have people who express themselves in the same way as King Sennacherib.

All too often, we allow ourselves to believe that everything will be alright (we’ll be “at peace”) when have an item, prosperity, land, or health. We can deceive ourselves and put too much emphasis on what will pass away, rather than what is eternal.

1) If you listen to a person, such as a politician, talk in a peaceful way or in a warlike way, which are you more likely to respect? Is one perspective more realistic than the other?

2) How do you think that is different than how Jesus speaks of peace?

KD) How do you talk about peace with your friends? How can you help adults in your life learn (or re-learn) about peace?

2018-12-06