Devotion.al

Tag: life

  • Growing Knowledge

    Isaiah 5:18–24, Luke 11:37–44, 2 Corinthians 11:1–11

    Much of today’s passages revolve around religious leaders, religious know-it-alls, and egotistical maniacs using religious language. It is really easy to point out the flaw of our and of course everybody else’s religious leaders. Oddly enough, they’re human too. The easy thing to point out is when their pride gets the best of them, and it becomes about them, and not God. We should not be so quick.
    In Jewish tradition, just accepting one’s was being a child (which was good). Yet, owning one’s faith meant digging into God’s words and ways, especially with . Ignorance was no excuse. Christianity continued that tradition (despite what many naysayers would have you believe). We weren’t just to inherit the faith, we were to embody the faith. There is one point where admonishes his charges to be eager to stop being children (“spiritual milk”) and become adults (“meat of the faith”). We are not to have a milk toast kind of faith.

    The flip side, however, is that there are those who take their to the extreme. These aren’t even the, “so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” These are the people whose quest for knowledge or pride in having knowledge overrides their with God and others. These people are often the religious leaders that Jesus struggled with. Their knowledge or legalistic formulae were perfect. Their walk was anything but.

    The “super-apostles” that Paul wrote about were people who were great debaters or scholars. They believed they have the corner on the right spiritual knowledge. They certainly had the rhetorical skills to make Paul acknowledge that he wasn’t good at public speaking. Yet, while he was religiously well-trained he set it aside to have a relationship with Corinthians so that they could see how the was to be lived out. Paul took his knowledge and applied it to their lives. He also lived with them. He loved them. When we talk about # this is what we are talking about. Milk knowledge is starting knowledge. It is not supposed to stop there. That’s just the beginning. As we walk in the life, we learn from and teach others. We struggle . We live life together. Great religious knowledge is the flip side of great religious ignorance. That little space between them is where we need to be.

    1) Have you ever experienced a Christian that saw themselves as so knowledgeable about the faith that you disliked them? What about that was uncomfortable for you?

    2) Have you ever experienced a person that called themselves a Christian, but as you talked with them, you realized they didn’t really understand what that meant? What was the feeling you had?

    3) The biggest thing about is walking beside one another. How can you walk alongside another in those situations above?

    FD) Isaiah uses the “woe”. There are 2 primary meanings: sadness and beware. Which do you think Isaiah meant?

  • How Do We Look?

    Psalm 120, Mark 13:9-13, 2 Peter 1:20-2:9

    Psalm 120 is a lament. The psalmist is among those who live a life of lies. These same people are warmongers, seeking strife and conflict. The psalmist is living in foreign lands that seek no , but the cry of the psalmist’s is for peace. The psalm begins with the end. God answered him, the rest of the psalm is about what the problem was. The truth is that while the psalmist was referring to a specific people, we all know the type. There are those that do not seem happy unless there is conflict. There are those who do not peace. When one does not have peace, one resorts to force fairly quickly. We are all guilty of this to some degree. Sometimes the is yelling, crying, ambivalence, disregard. These all are violent to the heart and soul of others, and often to ourselves. We quickly think that all violence is physical. The truth is that violence is the outward of an inward pain.

    Jesus’ words in Mark are certainly not comforting. They can be terrifying. The internal strife of families torn apart. Neighbors calling out neighbors. Remember the Second Great Commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the outward sign of it not being so. Jesus is warning that his peace is not the peace of this world. All too often, the peace of this world is bought and paid for by blood and . The peace of God is not so. The psalmist understood this. The response of the psalmist to those around him was, “God me!” It wasn’t a slap to the face, or something more. It was . As Jesus continues, he refers to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of the peace of God. When the Holy Spirit resides in us, we can respond to those around us with a grace and wisdom that is not ours.

    The God-ly wisdom of the Holy Spirit requires our . Peter has to confront people already who say that they have a new revelation from God. Peter is quick to point out that the prophets themselves did not understand their prophecies (unless granted so by God). It was only after the fact that it was proven that their prophecies were true. This is an important thing as the church, and groups that masquerade as the church, often have those that themselves prophets or revealers or divine actors of some sort that are bringing a new truth from God. Often these new truths are then used in ways that are violent to the hearts and souls of the innocent (and even not-so innocent). These people use the power of media, guilt, society, anything at all to crush the hearts of the people of God. We too can be guilty of using God in this same way. God’s ways are the ways of peace. God’s ways are the ways that sooth and heal.

    1) Has some “religious” person ever said something to you that was hurtful? How did that make you feel toward the religious they claimed to follow?

    2) Often (and rightly) people are told that if they are abandoning religion because of people, then they are looking at the people not God. What does that mean, then, when we also say, “we may be the only Jesus they every see?”

    3/FD) Being a peace-lover or peace-maker does not mean being a pushover. How does one make peace without violence?

  • Trusting God’s Way

    Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

    Has someone ever said to you, “I don’t trust anyone?” First, imagine living like that. Someone who lives such a paranoid life could never be happy. You cannot love if you cannot trust. Second, anyone who says that hasn’t walked down the road of thinking that through to the end. You certainly cannot function in modern society, or really among humans, without some level of trust. Even when driving (when trust is often least), we generally trust people. We have no choice. To get from one place to the other we have to expect that everyone is trying to get to their destination, too, and will behave accordingly. Oddly enough, if such a person were to exist, there is still one person they have to trust, themselves.

    While it is almost impossible to distrust everyone, it is far to easy for people to believe in those who are in power or have influence. We often seem to turn off our common sense and our ability to discern right from wrong when dealing with certain people. Sometimes, even more strangely, we continue to trust people that have already betrayed our trust. People put a lot of trust in the things of man: wealth, power, influence, cars, homes, boats, , etc. The most dangerous trust, though, is when we get to the point where human knowledge trumps God. For clarity, we’re talking about God. We aren’t talking about, for example, evolution and Genesis, or Jonah and the whale (fish). We’re talking about things of man rather than God. The thing that probably endangers man most of all is knowledge.

    Whether your of the Garden of Eden (a story in the book of Genesis) is a parable (story) or definitive , the underlying truth (other than humankind’s pride) is that knowledge is a barrier between us and God. We put it there. We chose, and daily choose, to put knowledge between ourselves and God. Our society honors and elevates those who use knowledge to oppose God. This is nothing new. The sad state of most American Christians (and there are exceptions) is that if there is an enemy (of which America has had and has made many) the general is not one of, “God, forgive us.” It is, “…raise the Department of Defense budget.” We often justify this response by saying, “it’s a wise choice.” The question we should constantly be asking ourselves “is it the God-ly choice.” Now, here is the real rub. Honest (with themselves) Christians may on many fronts including “just” war, dealing with poverty, dealing with immigration. That is perfectly okay (and ). What is not normal, and should be, is, “what is God’s response to this through me?” Am I honoring God, or dishonoring God. Again, the reality is that different people will come to different conclusions. Yep.

    When we trust God’s redemptive work in us and by extension God’s redemptive work in others, we can trust people not because people are trustworthy. We trust God’s work because it’s God’s work, not ours. When we trust God’s work, we become that tree planted by the water, nourished by the love and grace of God. God’s transformative grace continually works on, in, and through us. Changing our lives from ones that trusted the things and ways of man, into lives the revolve around God and his love. When God justified us he set us apart to be weird. Trust God. God does amazing things.

    1) Even in the , people often turn to the ways of man. Why do you think that is?

    2) Especially in the church, people turning to the ways of man is problematic at best, sinful at worst. How can you tell when something is the “ways of man” rather than the “ways of God”?

    3) Often the phrase, “the reason of the heart,” is used to not judge another (and justifiably), but also it is used to justify our personal actions. Why is the concept of only God knowing our heart (both feeling and motivation) both freeing and very dangerous?

    FD) How can you start asking yourself “is this God’s way” ? What do you think the result will be?

  • Working It

    Ecclesiastes 2:18–3:8, Matthew 20:1–16, 1 Peter 1:17–2:1

    There is a movement afoot for people to enjoy their work. Younger people are throwing off the chains of previous generations that did work they did not enjoy so that they could support their families.

    This is not to say that previous generations were wrong, but that many younger people are now blessed to be able to do what they . There are those that still labor in thankless, joyless jobs to support their families.

    There are those that are/were blessed to truly enjoy what they do/did. Everyone in that position, regardless of age, lift your in praise and gratefulness.

    In the time when Ecclesiastes was written, most people labored and didn’t enjoy what they labored at. Much later, American Puritanism took the duty of labor to provide for the family and added religious obligations to it. Later still, American consumerism has twisted this even further to where people work on their “vacations” or put off family and social connections for the sake of work. Many companies are now as much consumers of workers as their workers are of products.

    While the labor of Ecclesiastes was hard and often thankless, it was accepted as the way things were. This is in comparison today when many company work cultures have come to a place where the is that people ought to be thankful that the work is hard, thankless, and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    That’s not what taught about the .

    In the parable of the laborers, the landowner went out 5 times to gather workers. The eager, ambitious (and probably starving) ones were there bright and early. Then, as the day goes by, there are still more laborers who either didn’t respond the first time, or didn’t even bother to show up any earlier. And the ones called last may have well already worked another job before getting a second one. We don’t know the state of any of these workers.

    We do know who called them. Who are we to judge who worked the hardest or longest for the ? How many baskets of grapes did each pick? It doesn’t matter. The landlord, like God, cared that they showed up and that they worked.

    That they showed up and worked is important when reading Peter’s letter. Peter starts out with the Father judging impartially according to their work. That sounds ominous.

    What if you look at another person who seems to be working harder than you, and is certainly more successful than you are working for the kingdom? What if, instead, you are looking at someone who seems to be working less hard than you, and producing less fruit for the kingdom? The landlord paid the workers the same.

    God “paid” each of us the same. He “paid” with his Son. Through the sacrificial of Jesus in his and death, the penalty of our sins is gone. No matter when we gave ourselves to Jesus, we all get “paid” the same. Now what?

    1) In this context, obedience and work are equivalent. So, then what does Peter say our behavioral should be?

    2) The drive to work, consume, and sustain is good. Yet, when contaminated by it is bad. How does Peter define this sin contamination? How are you doing in ridding yourself of it all?

    3) The work we do on earth can be exhausting. The work we do for the Kingdom shouldn’t be but often is. What can we do to not be tired?

    FD) Is it fair that the laborers were paid the same amount even though they didn’t work the same amount of time? Why or why not?

  • Confessional Life

    Psalm 51, 1 John 1:8-2:6, Mark 13:31-14:2

    Honesty is the best policy. Or is it? Some people will take advantage of our honesty. Some people will look down on the honest. Think about politicians. Most people don’t them. Many of their campaign promises are false, or impossible whether due to finances, political will, and politics in general. Yet, they remain in power despite a general perception that they are not trustworthy. Many are treated like royalty or some sort of figure. It just doesn’t make sense.

    David was not the best-behaved person. He did a lot of things wrong. Yet, as Psalm 51 shows, he was honest with himself (eventually) and with God. Once confronted by his , he confessed. David knew that God (through the prophet Nathan) was righteous in condemnation. David threw himself (proverbially) at the merciful feet of God. David knew that God would be right condemning him, yet still faithful that God would redemptively.

    Our own honesty may begin with the confession that we are still far from perfectly following Christ. In fact, the more like we become the more aware of how far we are from him. That is the point, though. Our pride can and does often keep us from being honest, especially with ourselves. Many churches make some sort of proclamation on Sunday that is in line with this passage in 1 John. Since it is done every week, it can become rote and is not an honest confession. When it becomes rote, like the temple sacrifices often were, then the true confession of sin doesn’t occur, and the between God and self is not restored. Taking this passage of 1 John in conjunction with David’s words, “…Against you—you alone—I have sinned…” Even though David harmed , just as we have, ultimately the sin is against God. Sin really is the damaged relationship between man and God. God paved the way. We have to walk the road.

    In addition, we have this reality that Jesus presents in Mark. We don’t know when our time will come. It is not about God waiting to drop the other shoe. God doesn’t work that way. It is about a life of confession, truth, and relationship. When this life is lived out and the time comes, all will be well.

    1) What do you need to confess to God? When you confess, are you truly repentant, or are you just going through the motions?

    2) There are two common perspectives of confession. One is forgiveness from the lawgiver (escape). Another is a of relationship. When you think of confession are you being honest about your of it?

    3) Sometimes being honest is hard. What is the hardest honest you have ever had? What made it so hard?

    FD) What is the different between a liar, and a person who told a lie? Are they different?

  • Changing To Embody

    Psalm 37:1-12, Jeremiah 12:1–17, 2 Peter 1:2–10

    We can look around, and what’s wrong with the world. Those who are corrupt or greedy seem to be doing so much better than good people. When we look around, we can either be discouraged or we can look up.

    This really is nothing new. The psalmist reminds himself and us that envying is short-sighted. It is also unwise. When we trust God and do good we live securely. securely, however, does not necessarily mean comfortable as the world wants it. That’s why looking side-to-side becomes a distraction. When we are looking side-to-side we are not secure in ourselves.

    Isaiah is looking side-to-side. He takes the of the “wicked” though and perceives it as a test of his . Isaiah defines it as God him to know his heart. God already knows Isaiah’s heart. This more about Isaiah understanding his own heart, his to his fellow man, and his relationship to God. There is also another relationship that is important to understand, and that is the relationship with the land. The land itself mourns at the wicked who are present in it. While Isaiah’s heart might be right, the hearts of the people around him definitely are not. The affect him, others, God, and the land. All because their hearts are not right with God. And God is the key to a good and secure .

    As Peter opens with the grace of God, we understand that it is by God’s grace that we are even able to approach the throne of God. It is through this grace that we begin the journey of transformation from the life of the “wicked” to the life of the righteous. Peter then provides us with a roadmap with waypoints of increasing Christ-likeness. As we become more Christ-like, the temptation to look side-to-side fades away. The of God shines more deeply in us, transforming us to more-and-more find our worth in God and not others.

    1) Do you shaping you to be more God-facing, rather than people-facing?

    2) Do you see the waypoints (2 Peter 1:5-8) in your life? Do you see any change in your life embodying each of these traits more and more?

    3) What makes these traits contrary to the world? Why is it important to understand why they are contrary?

    FD) How can we help each other develop these Godly-grace traits?

  • Stripped

    In we need fuel. People need to eat. Extroverts need people to charge. Introverts need solitude to charge. Yet, the greatest fuel we need to live the fullest life is God. The psalmist praises God for who God is. In all the chaos of life having a right of God is essential. The psalmist concludes that God’s got it. It is very interesting the switch from to a self-awareness before God. There is also a sense of desperation or something not quite right as it ends. All is right with God, but all may not be right with the psalmist.
    Simon is not immune to things not being right. When calls on him to go back out to sea, Simon is exhausted. He just finished working a hard night, and it being an unsuccessful too. He was likely tired to the bone, both emotionally and physically. Yet, he was obedient and respectful to this Jesus of Nazareth. As worn out as he was, he repeated his night’s work. This time he was blessed with a catch beyond . This does not mean he was no longer exhausted. He was probably more tired than he was. Yet, there was now a positive side to his exhaustion. In the midst of his exhaustion, he had a God-fueled emotional recharge. While his catch was good and he had acknowledge Jesus, he was still beat.
    The recipients of the letter to the Hebrews were also tired. The author chose a marathon (a tiring race) to emphasize the duration of the race of life. The author invokes Jesus as the source of the , which echoes the water aspect that recharges the soul. This is essential as the author continues acknowledging the weariness of the readers. There is obviously a deep concern that they are exhausted and are being tempted to up.
    This is where the author of Hebrews digs in. . This discipline often takes the form of wearing us down, so that we are stripped of our pretensions and presumptions. God then really starts to work on us then.
    1) One of the biggest themes of current culture is “not enough time”. When we don’t have “enough time”, we get exhausted. Is that something you have or are experiencing right now?
    2) When you get tired and exhausted, what good things don’t happen, or what good things do you not do?
    3)Have you ever had a “God-stripped” experience? What transformation occurred as a result?
    FD) What is discipline? Why is it good?

  • The Nudging

    Moses is in need of help. He can’t do it all. What’s odd is that it would seem that Moses didn’t maintain the lesson learned from his father-in-law (see Exodus 18). It’s not entirely the same. In Exodus 18, it was the “priestly” judges who were selected. This is more along the lines of a professional judiciary, such as we have from local, to district, to appellate, to supreme judiciaries. We have something different here. What has occurred is the selection of senior spiritual leaders. They are leaders, too, but it is the application of the that makes this important. There are a couple of story-lines occurring here, and that can lead to some confusion. It is often assumed (and has often been taught) that Eldad and Medad remained in camp because they were disgruntled, putting them with the grumbling people. The text does not make that clear. It is our . We do know that Eldad and Medad were selected by Moses (so, much less likely to be among the disgruntled). What if they just hadn’t made it, yet? Or, what if they did not feel worthy or were scared? Both reasonable based upon experience God’s miracles. They had been …and the Holy fell on them anyways.‌

    Joshua was offended on Moses’ behalf, but Moses noted that it is God’s spirit, not his. Many, many years later, has a similar experience with his disciples. Within in the context of arguing which disciple was greater than the other, and Jesus shutting that conversation down well, John ups the game reporting that a man who was not among the disciples are successfully driving out demons. John then states that they (in other words, “I wasn’t the only one, Jesus.”) tried to stop the man, but Jesus stopped even that. The disciples were “offended” by the man driving out demons, but were they upset on Jesus’ behalf or their own. Jesus’ response would indicate that this was about them, not him.‌

    Often we can become overly concerned with the “right” way of doing things. With the Holy Spirit, the right way can often not be our way. This is not to say the God is a god of chaos. God makes and creates order. However, our concept of order and “right” can be at odds with God at times. Joshua and John (yes, with some pride in there) assumed they were doing the right thing by saying “this is wrong.” Yet, God did it, so it wasn’t wrong. It just didn’t fit their idea. Philip may have learned a lesson by the point of this story in Acts. The of the Holy Spirit didn’t hurt either. Philip obeyed and went to the “desert” road for a divine appointment. Nudged further, he approached an important chariot. There is a lot in this story that is missing, but the essentials are there. Philip in obedience approached a chariot that would have been awkward for him normally to approach. Through obedience to the Holy Spirit, Philip then leads the Ethiopian to Christ. After the Ethiopian’s baptism something strange happens, the Holy Spirit “carries” (in Greek, it’s more of snatch) Philip away. The Ethiopian goes on his way rejoicing. The way the journey from Jerusalem to Gaza is , it sounds immediate, but it was actually quite a journey by foot. We don’t get that from Luke’s words, we just have to know geography. This is important as the way Luke writes this gives us an idea that Philip teleported from Gaza to Azotus (a.k.a., Ashdod). While it is quite possible for God to do such, a better way to think of this is that Philip did what was needed and did not stay there rejoicing in the victory. He continued on the mission.‌

    Far too often we get comfortable with the success and want to “stay” there in the happy time. The Holy Spirit is always calling us on to the next thing. The next thing may not be immediate (and often isn’t). Sitting with our victories and successes, though, makes us stagnant. The same can be said of sticking to the old known formula. It worked for its time. The Holy Spirit may have stamped “expired” on it. We need to be ready for the Holy Spirit is doing.‌

    • 1) In the last week, how have you seen the Holy Spirit move in your ? How about the lives of others?‌
    • 2) What is the Holy Spirit nudging you to do? Who is the Holy Spirit nudging you to to?
    • 3) Often times we may think the Holy Spirit is nudging us to talk to someone so that they can be “fixed”. This isn’t always the case. When have you had a Holy Spirit encounter where you were the one that learned rather than being the one who taught?‌
    • FD) Have you ever said something to defend the efforts of others? Why did you do that?