Devotion.al

Tag: Paul

  • 3 Greats

    3 Greats

    Luke 11:9–13; 1 Corinthians 12:31–14:1

    It’s a little presumptuous to talk about Christmas. However, it is likely that Christmas will be very interesting this year. Either the traveling will breakout to overwhelm the system (which is suffering from abandonment, at this point), or everyone will stay home. Regardless, children will still eagerly await to see what the wrapped presents contain.

    Parents don’t wait for Christmas to gifts, or even until birthdays. Often the unthought present is a favorite meal or just a hug on a bad day. Little gifts of are generally just lived out. We actually don’t think of them…and that’s a good thing.

    Love is the best four-letter . It is also one of the most confusing words. When uses it here, it is a deep affection and respect. In other words, looking to the benefit of the other.

    His famous words are often used in wedding ceremonies. It’s not wrong (For, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…” 2 Tim 3:16). It’s just part of a bigger picture.

    Paul’s real focus is the “greater” gifts: faith, hope, love. In the context of these words, though, it is about the spiritual gifts given to the people of God. Going back to Jesus’ words, “If you then, who are , know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13)

    Our constant focus on love (though worthwhile) misses the point Paul is trying to make. The three greater gifts are what make the spiritual gifts powerful and effective.

    Great! You can a fish into believing it’s allergic to water! You obviously don’t love it.

    Fantastic! You know the Scriptures and the original languages! You have lost all hope with your .

    Wonderful! You are a talented medical worker through whom bodies thought gone can heal. You have left the soul (including your own) to wither and die.

    What should be the most interesting thing here is that Paul brings up three (faith, hope, love) and only speaks of one (love). Paul felt, it seems, that faith and hope were sufficient on their own, and needed no further explanation. Love, however, needed something more.

    In an era where “faith” and “hope” seem to be faded (if not gone) in the wider culture, and love has generally become a saccharine-sweet noxious feeling that is stuck in a romantic byway, the (that is, you) must relearn, regain, reteach, and rejoice in the 3 greatest gifts: faith, hope, love.

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, may we not take the lesser or greater gifts for granted. May we actually use them for your and to fulfill your will for our lives. Amen.

  • Cryptic Inheritor

    Cryptic Inheritor

    Genesis 29:16–30; Genesis 49:29–33; Galatians 3:27–29

    Having been to many cemeteries over the years, whether in the US or abroad, it can be amazing to see what people do as monuments. A war or emperor may have one. Rich and noble families would often have such a monument, collecting the remains throughout history. It isn’t new, by any stretch. David and many of his descendants were buried near one another.

    Abraham may or may not have intended to buy a family burial plot, but it ended up being such for a few generations. What is peculiar about Jacob’s time is that his favorite wife, Rachael, was not buried there. His first wife, Leah, who wasn’t the preferred one, was the one buried there, and where Jacob would be buried alongside.

    Family land has been fought over long before Jesus walked the earth. Even today, families fight over land and property fraying (if not destroying) family ties and loyalties. In some places, the national lines that divide governments attempt to divide families, yet instead, the family ties override the national .

    The bitter part of all of this is that people often fight over that which is dead and gone. Other times, their plans (buried with Rachael the favorite) are overridden by circumstances (buried with second best).

    All the battles and all the woes are only for a time. As much as an inheritance (even the simple family burial plot) may seem important at the time, it more often magnifies the pettiness of worldly affairs. -to-Dust.

    That has long been one of the hallmarks of the Christian faith…this world is not your home. Or, said another way, your true inheritance is not here.

    calls out this inheritance as something that crosses blood, and culture, and nation, and class, and gender. This imperishable seed of Abraham is not just something to grasp, it has already been given.

    ※Questions※

    1) When you “inheritance” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

    2) Why do Christians often fight over earthly inheritance or money when they have the imperishable inheritance?

    3) How might a daily reminder of your inheritance how you interact with others in the world? What can you do to put that reminder front-and-center in your ?

    ※Prayer※

    God, may we keep our eternal home perpetually in mind, along with all those with whom we want to it. Amen.

  • Right and Just

    Right and Just

    Matthew 1:18–21; Romans 5:6–11; Romans 14:1–23

    For whom will you die? Your child? Your parent? Your next door neighbor? A murderer? Your ? Your state?

    At some point in history, someone responded “yes” to at least one of these. A number of these are conscious choices. Others were forced upon people. Others were an unthought response from the heart.

    Most people will not die for someone they do not know. Many soldiers have died for their country, and many have died to protect their fellow soldier. Some soldiers have died to protect innocent people about to be harmed by those irreparably changed by war.

    Whether a person is “”, “just”, or “good” often isn’t part of the equation, at least not consciously. Many righteous or just people have died at the hands of “good” people. and just-ness are often not appreciated when unrighteous and unjust actions and behaviors are confronted.

    Yet, there is this strange point at which we appreciate the just and righteous. Take Joseph, husband of Mary, (earthly) of . δίκαιος [dikaios] is used to describe Joseph. It also is the same word that says is the kind of person no one would die for.

    Joseph—long revered for his just, obedient, and merciful behavior toward Mary—would not be a person that others would die for. That just doesn’t seem like that could be true. On the other hand, if we had to choose between a person who confronted us with our unrighteous behavior versus someone who never said a bad thing about us (and all other things being the same)…who would we choose?

    Human behavior being what it is, we’d likely not choose the righteous person. If we were to draw the parallels, we wouldn’t die for the father of Jesus. That could also mean that we wouldn’t die for Jesus, were Jesus only a man.

    This is not to condemn or judge anyone. This is where we need to reflect. According to the Old Testament, prophets were often not treated well. Some were killed. There is a strong implication that the number of prophets that were killed is much higher than surface texts provide for.

    When we are honest with ourselves, we often see our lives and history as following many of the same steps as Israel. This is not just our back-and-forth wanderings regarding a faithful with God, it is also how we treat the righteous.

    We often think of ourselves as righteous or just. Intellectually, we may very well be. When it comes to our emotions and cultural upbringing, though, our actions are often contrary to our intellectual assents. This is where we often need to ask for guidance.

    ※Questions※

    1) What tools/skills/information do you use to determine the righteous or just action?

    2) How often does culturally righteous/just action conflict with Godly righteous/just action?

    3) How do you after the fact upon realizing that an was unrighteous/unjust?

    ※Prayer※

    Father God, please let your guide us into your righteousness and justice, that we may bring honor to your name. Amen.

  • Prayer Filled

    Prayer Filled

    Psalm 19; Matthew 6:7–15; Romans 8:18–27

    We decided to get “weight management” dog food for our dog. She is a little overweight. Strangely (and this should have been a big clue), she got a greater volume of food with the “diet” food than with her food. Instead of a cup-and-a-half per meal, she got 2 cups per meal.

    Anyone who understands basic physiology would understand that the more food one eats, the stomach “learns” and expands. Our dog has become accustomed to the larger amount of food and had made it quite clear that she is hungrier than she used to be. Not a real help for losing weight.

    It is, however, why the “diet” food requires more volume than the regular food that is of importance…filler. The manufacturer puts more “filler” into the food, so that the dog is “deceived” into thinking they’re getting enough food. At least in our dog’s case, that trick doesn’t seem to work.

    Often, we fill our prayers to God with filler. We deceive ourselves that the amount of words mean that we are praying better. Sometimes, it’s with the standard speaking filler words such as: uh, um, like, okay, and. Other times it’s filled with: Father, God, , Spirit, Father God.

    It seems strange to consider God’s names as filler. If we were to speak to people in front of us using their name in every sentence, it would get awkward quickly. When it comes to prayer, specifically public prayer, filler has become the norm.

    The prayer filler, in this case, isn’t automatically bad. It does indicate, however, that we may need to re-learn lessons from the Scriptures.

    The Psalms are short and long. The longest, Psalm 119, is a poem using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as a starting point. Don’t use that as your determiner of prayer length. Psalm 19 isn’t really a prayer yet verses 12–14 summarize what a prayer could contain. It has breadth. It also has limits.

    The words, in many respects, are less important than “the meditation of the heart.” The groanings of our innermost being (Romans 8:26) gets to God. We don’t need to use lots of words, for the is with us.

    However, often this becomes, spew it out, let God sort it out. When it comes to the “groanings”, we seem to operate this way, but ‘s groanings were wordless (or there are no words to say it), not lots of words.

    Perhaps the greatest gift of the Lord’s Prayer is organization. We have a pattern. As we publicly or privately pray, let’s look to the Lord’s Prayer as our map. The Lord’s Prayer is simple. It is deep and profound. Yet, it is simple. Jesus’ preamble about the many words use gives us some boundaries for our prayers. We get what to pray for and how not to pray.

    ※Questions※

    1) In keeping with “the meditation of the heart”, what is the state of your heart when you pray?

    2) Do you organize your prayers and petitions, or do you just speak? What is the difference between rote and organized prayer?

    3) Is silent prayer ineffective? Why do we seem to judge the of our prayers by the number of the words we speak, rather than by the heart with which we speak?

    ※Prayer※

    Holy Spirit, guide the meditations of hearts and the words from our mouths to be holy and sanctified prayers that bring you, the Holy , and . Amen.

  • Weak Win

    Weak Win

    1 Corinthians 9:19–23

    Kevin Fast holds several Guinness World Records. One record is pulling three firetrucks weighing in at 109 tons across 100 feet in just 34 seconds. Another is pulling 15 cars at once. He made the record for the heaviest plane pulled.

    Kevin is immensely strong. In his job, he doesn’t talk much about his feats of . However, in powerlifting circles, people will come to him for advice. Why Kevin? Kevin is a Lutheran pastor.

    Kevin is strong. We admire the strong. Every four years people watch the strongest athletes in their field compete at the Olympics. Generally, every year there are professional athletes who compete for the Lombardi trophy (American Football), Lord Stanley’s Cup (Ice Hockey), the Commissioner’s Trophy (Baseball). We watch their feats with amazement and enjoy watching people at the peak of their field compete.

    If, however, we were asked to watch the weakest people on earth compete, would we bother? Sadly, the only ones who would are often those who seek to mock others. If, on the other hand, we watch the weak improve themselves (whether it’s the Biggest Loser or The Worst Cook in America), we can celebrate their victories with them.

    chose to be weak. We often skip over that one on the list. We like “all things” or “under the law” or “without the law”. We don’t like weak.

    The weakness Paul speaks of is not weakness (granted, in comparison with Kevin Fast, all of us are weak). Paul is referring less about physical weakness more about those whose or in God is weak.

    We often look at others and see their strength, comparing ourselves to them. That isn’t particularly healthy. Paul took the self-less route and chose to appear to be like the weak. He suppressed his strengths so that the weak could be encouraged and not depressed.

    Being weak is not a strength, so the thinking goes. Yet, through weakness, is glorified. Through weakness, more people are brought into fellowship with God. Through weakness, none of us are alone.

    We all are weak in something, without exception. Others balance out our weaknesses. With one another in companionship, we are forever stronger than when we are alone, no matter how strong we think we are when we stand in solitude.

    ※Questions※

    1) What is your weakest skill? Where are you weak spiritually?

    2) What is your response when someone says to you, “you’re weak”?

    3) How does recognizing and embracing your weaknesses help to expand God’s ?

    ※Prayer※

    Holy , guide our hearts to be -filled towards those we perceive as weak, and may they be grace-filled toward us in our weakness. Amen.

  • Sabbathing

    Sabbathing

    Sabbathing

    5 September 2020

    Luke 6:1–11; Romans 14:5–13

    During COVID, my employer has continued to be operational. Due to the nature of the business (manufacturing of civilian and military aerospace, along with medical), being an “essential business” meant that things continued as usual.

    Other than “essential” businesses, most people have stayed in their homes. Even one of the worst commutes in the country (here in the Puget Sound) has been almost reasonable (until recently) as people just weren’t commuting.

    Staying at home meant so little was occurring. Human activity was cut in half. What has been amazing is how quickly nature recognized it. For example, multiple times at my employer, we have seen a coyote wandering around in the middle of the day. This is down the hill from the Everett Boeing complex.

    Nature has taken notice and advantage of humanity’s absence. It is not just in the Puget Sound. It is many places. Humanity inside and nature was free to run.

    The land has received somewhat of a . It is resting from the frenetic pace of humanity.

    For a brief moment, humanity also took a brief break. Now, however, the frenetic pace has found a few more notches to go up. Public people are now brazenly acting as bad as the “trolls” ( term for people looking to cause trouble and ) that used to be condemned. Online bullying is now encouraged so that people think and espouse the “correct” things.

    Humanity needs a Sabbath.

    There were arguments within the about what day the Sabbath is. This denies the Lord of the Sabbath. Blue Laws (laws that closed almost all businesses on Sundays) were a legalistic attempt to enforce a Sabbath, but they could never fulfill the spiritual aspect of it.

    This was ‘s point to the Romans. Already there were arguments over which day was correct to God (besides all of them). Part of this may be attributable to the days of the week being named after Roman gods. Just a conjecture.

    Paul’s and ‘ point was that the Sabbath was an of worship, not a day of the week. Even today, that is still a discussion for many that don’t differentiate between cultural norms and spiritual needs.

    ※ Prayer ※

    Lord Jesus, help us to keep our Sabbath focus on you and to live out the Sabbath in our lives. Amen.

    ※ Questions ※

    1) What does Sabbath mean to you? How do you live out a Sabbath?

    2) How can you live out a Sabbath that will draw to live out a Sabbath, too?

  • Getting Out

    Getting Out

    Getting Out

    1 September 2020

    Acts 12:1–12:19; Acts 16:23–34

    The story of Peter being freed from prison is often used when talking about the of praying for . Even scientific studies have shown a correlation between a person being prayed for and improvements in health. There is power in prayer.

    There is also power in being freed from prison, especially the prison of our own minds and hearts. I’ve been thinking these last few days about my time with Celebrate Recovery (CR). CR is a re-Christianized version of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which was originally Christian.

    In CR, I met wonderfully broken people. Yes, they were wonderfully broken. They had come to the end of themselves and found Jesus. Through Jesus, the , and a loving (CR) they began the long road of recovery.

    Prayer was part of every story of recovery. From the beginning to the now, prayer was there. The prisons of chemical addiction, emotional addictions, and sexual addictions were being identified and broken.

    Did people fall again? Of course. God, though, is pretty strong in the area of lost causes, and many in CR only ever viewed themselves as lost causes. God, therefore, had a lot to work with.

    Does CR just automatically “flip-the-switch”? Of course not. It does, however, take a person’s pain and experiences and mold it into a follower of Jesus Christ who has true empathy for the struggles of others.

    One of the “features” of CR is the recovery story. Here, a person shares their story from all the hard, painful, and even humiliating things that became an addiction, to the breakdown of pride that lead them to Christ, which led them on a lifelong journey of recovery.

    Sometimes it’s those stories that break through the ego of others. The chains fell off and Silas, and the jail doors came open. Instead of just escaping, they used this example to lead another person and his family to Jesus Christ. Their prison freed another man from his.

    The world is full of prisons: , racism, prejudice, , anger, hatred. We are called to show people that we are no longer bound by the prisons of the world. Of course, the means we need to see that we are in prison and that we need to get out.

    ※ Prayer ※

    Spirit, sharpen our spirit and will that we can leave our prisons through the and power of Jesus. Amen.

    ※ Questions ※

    1) What was the first thing you think of when you see “prison”? Why? What has shaped that in your life?

    2) Have you ever seen someone leave their “prison”? What was your reaction?

    3) Leaving our prison can be instantaneous or it can take a lifetime. What prison are you looking to be free from?

  • Nope. I’m Good.

    Nope. I’m Good.

    Nope. I’m Good.

    2 September 2020

    John 8:31–41; Philippians 3:1–11

    What are you relying on? This is a question that we each need to ourselves on a regular (if not daily) basis. It becomes easy to slip into relying on something without realizing it.

    In industries such as manufacturing, timber, construction where safety is a big issue, it can be easy to fall into ease. As organizations create stronger safety programs and better safety equipment, workers can grow into a sense of . Then they may overly rely on their safety equipment. Then they make mistakes that endanger themselves, , and the successful completion of their jobs.

    This can also be seen when people spend lots of money (often more than they make) to have a good life. This somewhat works when the economy is going well, but things happen, and economies weaken.

    This can also be seen in , from local to international, as people make assumptions about their supporters or even their countries as they move around and make deals.

    It is also seen in the church. While the apparent dominance of the Moral Majority of the 1980s–1990s indicated that the “church” was strong, it showed that the church had lost its way. The church relied on politics and to make a difference, rather than the and of . As the church becomes culturally sidelined, there is a growing awareness of not just the earthly power lost, but also the freedom gained and the power from on high that comes with it.

    The Jews understood and venerated their ancestors, particularly Abraham and Israel. They venerated Moses as the Prophet of the Most High. They had the Law.

    They had become reliant and comfortable. It seems strange for them to be comfortable with the Roman occupation. It was just the status quo, and no one wanted the boat to be rocked.

    Then along comes Jesus to rock the boat, and all the complacency came to a head. For too long the Jews had taken their (very) special place for granted. It was time for them to wake up.

    Part of Paul’s awakening was through this as well. While he still proudly proclaimed his Israelite heritage, he set it aside for the greater of being a follower of Jesus. While he didn’t toss his heritage out (for it gave him the framework to understand the work of Jesus), he recognized it for what it was…a foreshadow of what was to come…the Body of Christ.

    ※ Prayer ※

    Jesus, may we be shaken daily by who you are so that we are never complacent. Amen.

    ※ Questions ※

    1) Where is your life of too complacent?

    2) Where do you see the life of the church too complacent?

    3) Where else in life (outside of faith) are you seeing complacency?