Tag: perspective

Serving Your Judas

‌📖 Read

‌John 13:1—9; Romans 5:1–11

‌🔎 Focus

‌“For he knew who was to betray them…”
John 13:11 (NRSVue)

‌“After he washed their feet…”
John 13:12 (NRSVue)

“…Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:6 (NRSVue)

‌‌✟ Devotion

‌Jesus washed feet. The task normally left to a servant or the lowest person (in hierarchy) in the household was performed by the disciples’ teacher, and the person we now understand to be part of the Trinitarian God. Or to put it differently, God took the lowest place and washed feet.

‌How often are we about us? Probably too much. For most people, our self is our greatest temptation. Whether it be pride, pleasure, finances, power…we often operate from an, “I am first perspective.”

‌Jesus washed feet.

‌Let’s note who was in the room. There were Jesus’ 12 disciples. There was this one, named Judas Iscariot, who would betray Jesus to the authorities. John tells us that Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot would betray him.

‌Jesus washed his feet.

‌Before Judas Iscariot betrayed him, and while Jesus knew he would, Jesus washed his feet.

‌Most of us could complete understand regret if Jesus were to have known only afterward. If you knew someone would betray you, would you actually serve them? Jesus did.

‌Our world far too often operates from a perspective of, “what have you done for me lately.” There are those that make promises for the future and we hope they might (or won’t) fulfill them, knowing far too well that all such promises fall short. We accept (or hope for) the reality that all will not be accomplished as promised.

‌Jesus knew what Judas would do, but he washed his feet.

‌Why keep focusing on this? Why keep repeating, “…but he washed his feed?” There is a general feeling of fear, even of betrayal, going on. Families are ripping themselves apart over politics and policies. Families and friends are allowing those who are not in a personal relationship with them to define their relationships with others.

‌There is truth and wisdom about not being in relationship with toxic or harmful people, but are we really correctly defining who are toxic and harmful?‌

Judas Iscariot chose to betray Jesus. Judas could have repented (and some argue that he indirectly did). Would Jesus still forgive him despite his betrayal? Jesus washed his feet.‌

🤔 Reflection

‌Who are the “Judas Iscariots” in your life? How do Jesus’ actions inform how you could (or should) interact with them? What kind of “wash their feet” action might you being called to perform?

‌‌⏏️ Act

‌Acts of service (i.e., washing feet) can take many forms. Purposefully and prayerfully look for acts of service for a “Judas Iscariot” in your life and do them.

‌🙏 Prayer

‌Gracious God, help us put the example of Jesus forefront in our thoughts and actions, especially in regard to those by whom we feel betrayed. Help us to be gracious with them, as you have been gracious to us, loving us and dying for us while we were still alienated from you. Guide us into ways of thinking and doing the show loving service so that we might draw them to you. Amen.

2024 11 13
Narrowed Ways

Read: Matthew 7

‌‌🔎 Focus

‌“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” —Matthew 7:13-14 (NRSVue)

‌‌✟ Devotion

‌Depending on the publisher (including online ones), much of Matthew 7 is broken into sections. This is instead of the long speech that it is (including the chapters themselves). Our focus verse (similar to Luke 13:23-30) is often popped out all on its own, leading us to conclude that it stands alone.

‌This chapter is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount remains challenging to this day. As such, there are not sections that one can tear out separately from the rest.

‌All too often, the focus verses become solely about doing the right thing and living the right life. I’ve heard sermons preached, and I’ve preached them. However, when we put the focus passage in its context (within the Sermon on the Mount), it gets a bit harder (even arguably impossible) to think that way.

‌If we look at just the verse before:

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12 (NRSVue)

‌…and the verse after:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep‘s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Matthew 7:15 (NRSVue)

…perhaps our perspective would change.

‌What if, instead of being a standalone set of verses about narrow gates and hard roads, they were the transition verses between treating others as you’d have them treat you and looking out for false prophets?

‌Many of us have inherited a high view of the Scriptures (which we, I believe, should have). However, a high view of the Scriptures is, in many circles, a rigid view of the Scriptures, which does not allow for setting aside of traditions, such as looking at the narrow gate and hard road verses in isolation from the rest of Jesus’ words that Matthew has happening during a single event.

‌🤔 Reflection

‌In our expanded context of Matthew 7:12-15, we are presented with the Law, the prophets, and the false prophets. How might verse 12 impact your understanding of verse 15, when taken together? How does this affect your thinking about verses 13–14?

‌‌⏏️ Act

‌As you read the Scriptures, remember that while the Books are valid separations, chapters (except for the Psalms and Proverbs) and verses are not the original way the Scriptures were presented. Instead of defaulting to chapter, verse, and heading, read the words, and see what that does to change how you read and what you read.

‌🙏 Prayer

‌Jesus, you have the Word of eternal life. Let us remember with honor and dignity that through you all of Creation was made, that words do mean much, especially yours. Holy Spirit, guide our reading of the Scriptures that we are transformed from the inside out. God, forgive us when the tools that we deem to help us, interfere with what you have to say to us today. Amen.

2024 01 26
Greater or Lesser Than Evils

Read: Psalm 119:41–48, Deuteronomy 10:10–22, James 2:14–26

‌🔎 Focus

‌No one ever accomplishes good by means of evil, because they are themselves conquered by the evil. On the contrary, evil is corrected by good.
St. Barsanuphius the Great

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.
James 2:19 (NRSVue)

It is a good exercise to ask, what is evil? Why do we categorize certain perspectives, actions, or even people as evil? Often, what we judge as evil is really about what we view as normative, as if normal was automatically good (or evil, for that matter).

‌‌✟ Devotion

‌In the US, today is Halloween. It is a combination of many traditions, and always comes with a plethora of arguments as to whether Christians should observe it, participate in any type of recognition of it (Truck ‘n’ Treat, Harvest Party, and the like), or stay in a holy huddle.

‌In Christian circles, 31 October has some Western Christian specific applications. In a few traditions, this (though really beginning at sunset) is the beginning of The Allhallowtide season, which is a time set aside in the church year for first, observation of the Saints (known & unknown, martyred and not) who have gone before us to their Heavenly Reward. It concludes with All Souls Day, which is an observation of all Christians who have gone before (and we won’t talk about Saints and saints).

‌For those of us of the Protestant traditions (in other words, not Roman Catholic or a myriad of Orthodox), 31 October is also Reformation Day, the general agreement that the Reformation began with Martin Luther starting an argument about the sufficiency of Christ by nailing his proposals (theses) to the gate of churches in the German city of Wittenberg. To be clear, the undercurrents of the Reformation were already moving (from an historical viewpoint) in Europe (with martyrs, too). Luther’s dramatic postings (though in course with cultural expectations) created a great story.

‌The secular and non-Christian aspects that we are experiencing for Halloween are, truly, a perversion and syncreticism of pre-Christian, Christian, and post-Christian belief structures. Just a side not, perhaps instead of assaulting Halloween, we do something different (and I’m not talking about Harvest Parties and Trunk ‘n’ Treats). Not that I necessarily have an idea, but much of the angst and outrage borders on evil, which St. Barsanuphius was warning us about.

‌As we watch functionally innocent children walk around asking for candy—who are dressed up as ghosts, stereotypical witches, super heroes, and what have you—we need to ask ourselves why we perceive a particular costume as good or evil. It’s not that I, for example, don’t have opinions, but I have had to spend time pondering why a particular costume is “evil” versus “good”. This is not about relativism. This is about my perspective of normal masked with what is “good”.

‌If there were two kids, one dressed up like a vampire and one dressed up as Knight Templar (a knight order during the Crusades in the Near East), my automatic emotional response would be vampire=bad, and Templar=good. However, if I were born and raised from the Near East (regardless of faith tradition), I might be very hard pressed to figure out which is evil, because the Templars were not good from a Near East perspective, because they came in conquest (motives aside) for generations.

‌If I, as a parent, knew that my neighbor was from the Near East, and dressed my child up as a Knight Templar (assuming my child wanted that), am I doing evil to my neighbor? Am I loving my neighbor?

‌This is not about incidental errors, but actions performed despite knowledge. Which brings us to the words of James. The demons James refers to know who God is. They know God’s holiness. It is arguable that they might even be more aware of who God is than any of the Saints or saints that have gone before us.

‌Yet, they shudder. I’ve heard many people ask, how could one know God (not bad or evil people, that’s different) and be against God? James doesn’t answer that question, but the implication is bigger than we think. Demons, who likely know God on a divine level beyond us, still oppose God. If the demons, who know God in ways beyond us, can oppose God, why not humans?

‌We can conclude that evil is opposing God. The implication with James, though, is that (perhaps) true evil is knowing God and opposing God anyway.

‌🤔 Reflection

‌What recently has evoked “that is evil” from you? Did you spend time evaluating why it was evil? When you declare something evil, do you ever check against the Scriptures to see what the Scriptures say?

‌‌⏏️ Act

‌As you observe (and maybe even give candy to) children as they walk your neighborhood tonight, look at their costumes. Ask yourself why that child chose that costume, and why they thought it was “good”? Then ask yourself why you thought it was good or evil and why?

‌🙏 Prayer

‌God, as we look about the world, we often conclude what is evil and what is good without asking you. Help us to look to you to define these terms, rather than how the world and our personal relationships tell us to. Help us to as filled with grace toward others in our perception of their wrong-ness, as you were while we were in our sin. Amen.

2023 10 31
Successfully Unsuccessful

Psalm 144; Song of Solomon 8:5–14; John 11:45–57 ISV

‌⁜Focus⁜

A great deal of water cannot extinguish love,
rivers cannot put it out.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would surely be viewed with contempt.
Song of Solomon 8:7 ISV

“…You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
John 11:50–52 ISV

When we look at people’s lives and the result of their lives, we ought to be looking from God’s perspective rather than the world’s (or the earthly) perspective.

‌⁜Devotion⁜

‌The comparison trap is real. Are my kids as successful as yours? Are your kids as well-adjusted as mine? Is your career doing better (financial, influence) than mine?‌

It is an easy mental and emotional trap to fall into because others are the only way we believe we can measure our lives. There is, of course, a problem with that. Who decides what makes for success?‌

The world looks at tangible (money and stuff) and intangible (influence and power). God looks beyond even the intangible.‌

In many respects, God’s baseline measurement is based on nothing we’ve done, nor anything we can do. God’s measurements begin with Jesus.

‌The High Priest, Caiaphas, had prophesied the death of Jesus. Not a good marker of success for Jesus, or anyone. Death is rarely a measure of success, but of failure.

In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, “If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, he would surely be viewed with contempt.” Jesus gave up the wealth of his house for love…his love for us.

The bride of Christ has long been a term used to describe the Church (as a whole). It is somewhat ironic, then, that the bride is saying such words, for Jesus is the groom. According to the bride’s words, then, Jesus is understandably viewed with contempt.

No one reading this, I hope, views Jesus with contempt, yet it seems that many Christians evaluate success in the lives of others, and in their own lives, based upon what the world views as success.

We will often hear that history is written by the victors, except that isn’t entirely true, for Jesus and those who followed him were the losers. Yes, Christianity did eventually win in the Western World. We can see how the church is growing outside of the Western world, where becoming a Christian is a losing proposition, and should question the definitions of success we’re using.

‌⁜Reflection⁜

‌What do you think of as success? Do you ever wonder if you are successful? Who/what are you allowing to define success for you?

‌‌⁜Act⁜

‌Talk to a believing peer and discover how they define success. Talk to a non-believer and discover how they define success.

‌⁜Prayer⁜

Lord Jesus, your birth, life, death, and resurrection break every human model of success. Holy Spirit guide our thoughts to success as you would have us define under the authority and wisdom of God, the Father. Amen.

2023 10 11
Perspective and Significance

Psalm 144; Ezekiel 19:10–14; 1 Peter 2:4–10 (ISV)

In the fictional universe housing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams), there is a machine called the Total Perspective Vortex. Originally built (per the fictional universe) to provide beings a comparison of themselves to the infinity of creation, it became a torture device to (effectively) destroy a being’s mind.‌

‌It sounds a little extreme, except that much of the religions over the years are concerned with is much about finding our place in the universe.‌

‌The (Roman Catholic) Church attacked Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei for proposing that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun (and the other planets) revolving around the earth. While the majority of the (entire Christian) Church now believes Galileo Galilei, we need to recognize that Galileo Galilei’s hypothesis was, for that era and theological framework, similar in effect to the Total Perspective Vortex.‌

‌On the other hand, in contemporary fiction and philosophy, there is a deep concern regarding the Butterfly Effect. This is the theory that if time travel were possible, a person going back in time could catastrophically affect the timeline (including the era from which the time traveler came). Many people have bought into this concept, and yet disparage the one small thing they do today.‌

‌Perspective matters deeply to how we function in life and how we treat others.‌

‌For me one of the most peaceful things is to stare at the night sky at the stars (most effective away from city light pollution). It brings peace to my soul and heart. It also guides me to have a better perspective of myself. I am tiny compared to the entire of Creation. I am only 1 person among over 8 billion people walking the earth at this moment.‌

‌For you, this may be disquieting. We have a need to be significant, but so much around us shows how insignificant we are.‌‌

Lord, what are human beings, that you should care about them, or mortal man, that you should think about him?
Psalm 144:3 (ISV)

‌‌God cares about us. No matter how insignificant we believe or are told we are, God cares for and thinks about we humans. In comparison to the infiniteness of God, we are not even microscopic, yet God loves us.

‌‌If we derive our significance from others, we are often emotionally and spiritually doomed. If we derive our significance from God, however, that is a solid foundation on which to place our worth and identity.

‌‌There is, though, the danger of arrogance. “I’m loved by God, so I can do…” We are all guilty of this to some degree.

Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land!
‌Ezekiel 19:13 (ISV)

‌When we get too full of ourselves, or when we look too much to others, we can be in the desert of faith and relationship with God. It’s not that God ceases to care, quite the contrary. We can be chasing after things that we think will water and feed us, but we end up in a desert, where receive the bare minimum to live.‌

‌The desert experience isn’t necessarily bad, ultimately. It can teach what is really important if we let it. On the other hand, far too many people stubbornly refuse to move from the desert, and so end up dry and withered. That doesn’t have to be the end.‌

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
‌1 Peter 2:10 (ISV)

‌God is merciful. Yes, we’ve done stuff that doesn’t please God. We could even say that because we are fallible and fragile creatures, we will never measure up to God’s holiness and love. God is merciful.

‌⁜Reflection⁜‌

‌To whom are you significant? Why?‌
‌How do you think significance and mercy are related?‌

‌⁜Act⁜‌

‌Share with someone what makes them significant to you.‌

‌⁜Prayer⁜‌

‌God, it is often so hard to see my significance to you. Help me to be understand my significance to you, and help me focus on you defining my significance, rather than leaving it to others. Amen.

‌

2023 10 09
Wise in Whose Eyes

Psalm 119:121–128, 1 Kings 4:29–34, Ephesians 6:10–18

‌We are often presented with the wisdom of Solomon. The Scriptures seem convinced that Solomon was gifted wisdom beyond normal humans by God. Yet, Solomon retained his freedom to make choices contrary to God revealed instructions.

‌We cannot know the heart of Solomon. Perhaps he believed he was doing the wise thing (and he was politically) by marrying many foreign women for the protection of the nation. However, elsewhere, the Scriptures tell us that Solomon got a bit lost later in life and would worship gods other than God with his foreign wives.

‌If you read the passage from the psalm, you can get either the mental image of a truly faithful and humble servant or the image of one who thinks they are.

‌Every time I read these verses, I ask myself if I (at the time of reading) am being the true servant or the self-deceiving one. I have learned, over time, that depending on where I am spiritually, I can be either or even both.

‌There is a temptation to automatically think one’s perspective of self is correct, and that even includes the question of being a true servant or a self-deceiving one.

‌There are many Christians who have been deceived (and self-deceive) that they are not faithful servants because they have not lived up to the archetypal perfect Christian. Thus, they are accused of, or self-accuse, being hypocrites. While the “perfect” Christian is often thought to be only a legalistic issue with Holiness denominations (such as my own, the Church of the Nazarene), I have spoken to many people who have internalized this who were raised in completely different Christian traditions.

‌The Western World, with its Christendom history, has also internalized this to both its and the Christian faith’s detriment. I have met very few Christians (only 1, I think) who believed they had become the perfect Christian. The rest, well, the more they perceive that they have been shaped by Jesus Christ, the more they realize they have further to go.

‌At least for today, read Paul’s words to the Ephesians in the context of realizing that we have allowed the world to falsely define what it means to be a Christian, and we ourselves, have created the ideal Christian in the mold of unachievable perfectionism, which is (really) legalism that destroys the spirit.

‌Freedom in Christ is not truly possible when we are held in bondage to perfectionism or legalism. The external behavior may be seen as correct, but God wants the heart.

‌※Reflection※

‌What is your reaction to the psalmist’s words? Why do you think that is?

‌How does the wisdom the world differ from the wisdom of God? How are the two similar?

‌※Prayer※

‌Lord, as we ask for wisdom, help us to be able to tell the difference between the wisdom of the world and your wisdom. Help us not be discouraged as the world tries to define for us what it means to follow you, while we diligently and humbly seek you. Amen.

2023 08 01
Hanging on by a strand

Seth Godin recently posted the following…

There are three strands, present for most everyone:

Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status)

Safety (survival and peace of mind)

Meaning (hope and the path forward)

The changes in our media structure, public health and economy have pushed some people to overdo one or the other and perhaps ignore a third. When a social network finds your button and presses it over and over, it’s hard to resist.

New cultural forces catch on because they hit on one or more of these. And politics is understood through this lens as well.

See the braid and it’s a lot easier to figure out why we might be stressed.
“The Braid Out of Balance”, Seth Godin

This brought to mind a passage in Ecclesiastes

Then I turned to re-examine something else that is pointless on earth: Consider someone who is alone, having neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his work, and he is never satisfied with wealth. “So for whom do I work,” he asks, “and deprive myself of pleasure?” This, too, is pointless and a terrible tragedy.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If they stumble, the first will lift up his friend—but woe to anyone who is alone when he falls and there is no one to help him get up. Again, if two lie close together, they will keep warm, but how can only one stay warm? If someone attacks one of them, the two of them together will resist. Furthermore, the tri-braided cord is not soon broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:7–12 (ISV)

The long-standing “go it alone” mentality of US cultural history is still very much present, despite much of the US culture going through upheavals. The braid (Godin) or cord (Ecclesiastes) is a good image to use when we think of our lives, and the inputs we have, whether power, safety, and meaning (Godin) or friends and companions (Ecclesiastes).

Bad Math

One of the things one learns about ropes (or cords or braids), is that it is possible to use them where one strand breaks as it bears the brunt of the load. The other two strands then have to bear an additional 50% that were not planned or expected.

We may all understand giving 100%. Yet, most of us understand that we are just not capable of doing that all the time (we do have to rest). When that 1 strand is broken, the load is now 150%. Again, do-able for a short amount of time.

It is when the last strand is broken that we experience a brutal reality of 300%.

No one can sustain that.

Strong Strand

As I look around me, I see people within and without the faith in Jesus Christ¹ who are leaning on something other than Jesus. Within the faith, in particular, the concern is those whose faith appears (for I cannot see their heart) to be more on a particular iteration of the Christian faith (not-so-essential theology), rather than Jesus. Even more concerning is when their iteration goes hand-in-hand with a particular political perspective (and this is not only those on the so-called right—or extreme right—of the political spectrum).

As much as I am trying to elevate Jesus, much of our knowledge about Jesus is written in the Scriptures (i.e., The Holy Bible). That, too, may result in another extreme, though, and that is only looking at the Scriptures in isolation. If we (as an individual) are the only reader, contemplators, and interpreters of the Scriptures, we will likely (as history repeatedly shows) get ourselves in trouble.

Not that reading it together often seems much better, for the record.

If you are looking for a faith community to join in, or have one, always keep hold loosely. I don’t mean waver. I mean don’t hold so tightly onto your tradition that you are unable to hear the other branches of Christianity honestly (rather than listening to debate), and even other faith traditions all together (including secularism and atheism).

Open Hand

I know someone will read the above and try to say that the other Christian traditions or other faiths will lead people astray. It might be true. However, if we are unable to engage them, then if person gets one strand of their faith (Christian or not) broken, just as the opening quote, everything may well unravel.

“I have decided to follow Jesus,” is a refrain from an old hymn, and it is my truth. Following Jesus means that I regularly have to wrestle with my faith, my faith tradition (Wesleyan-Holiness-Arminian), my political leanings and tendencies, my experiences. It also means I have to welcome the uncomfortableness of wrestling with the faith, (faith and cultural) traditions, political leanings and tendencies, and experiences of others.

Growth and Strength

I have one caveat to the strand/cord/rope illustration. Instead of a rope that breaks and frays over time, I would say that what makes up the rope is more like a muscle. If you work it (in harmony with the other strands), it gets stronger. If you don’t work it, it rots in place.

¹For clarity, faith in Jesus Christ as defined via the Apostles’ Creed, Creed of Nicaea, Nicene Creed, Chalcedonian Creed, Athanasian Creed.

2023 04 27
Veiling Mystery
Psalm 111; Isaiah 25:6–10a; Mark 6:35–44

The veil has long existed as a physical reminder of mystery. The truly veiled bride becomes a mystery (again) as she walks down the aisle toward an anxious and waiting groom. Modern weddings have pretty much eschewed the bridal veil. The bride may have a nominal veil, but it serves no purpose but to fulfill a clothing tradition, as it does not mask the bride as she walks down the aisle. Even when we think we know what is behind the veil, there is this mystery of “what if” behind the veil that still attracts us.

The veil mentioned in Isaiah is a mystery in and of itself. Some translations leave it as a “shroud” or “veil”. Others name it a “burial shroud” due to its Hebrew root being “tight wrapping”. However, a “tight wrapping” can also be interpreted as “swaddling clothes” (i.e., for an infant).

The veil stuck in the middle of a feast and the destruction of death definitely puts some additional ambiguity in there (Hey, it’s a mystery!). Christian commentators will often invoke the “death of death” in this. They may be right.

However, at least some of the Jewish commentators put this in the middle of something completely different. Depending on how certain words are translated, this passage isn’t a positive message to non-Jews. According to Rashi, the whole feast is actually a trap, where the feast appears to be fine food and wine, but is actually the leftovers and the dregs (the debris left in the bottom after wine is aged), and that the nations (granted, that attack the Jews) will be destroyed.

Talk about a complete 180° turn! To Rashi’s understanding, the wrapping (the “veil”) is more of the vision that there is no escape from punishment. It is actually mind-blowing to read completely different understandings of Hebrew from people who were often trained to think the same way about Hebrew.

This apparent contradiction is one joy I have in the Scriptures, and why I’ve loved writing these devotionals. How can there be two completely different understandings of both the Hebrew and the interpretation?

First, of course, are the presuppositions. From a Jewish perspective, Isaiah is all about the immediate punishment of the Jews for their sins, and the subsequent punishment of those that afflicted and assaulted the Jews for their sins (on top of attacking the People of God). So, we should not diminish or dismiss their understanding. In fact, it can actually deepen our understanding.

One of the biggest lessons to learn from the Scriptures is the surface lessons and the deeper ones. Much of Isaiah does indeed lend itself to both (as do much of the prophetic works). The nations that attacked the Jews? Yep, they received their punishment, and they could not escape. The temptation of the land trapped them (the Romans has somewhat of the same problem generations later).

On the other hand, the coming of Jesus did not overturn the traditional understanding of the Scriptures. Jesus’ coming transform the understanding. A Jew who does not believe Jesus is the Messiah, Lord, and Savior will not have their understanding of these words transformed.

Just as we who have come to know Jesus have been transformed, so too have the Scriptures. Not literally, for Jesus is the Word, but in understanding. When the Word in the flesh came, the Scriptures gained new light, and humanity was gifted a transformed understanding of who God really is.

※Reflection※
- What are some “veils of mystery” that you can think of? What impact do they have in your life?
- How do both understandings of these verses in Isaiah inform you about God?
- Why is transformation such an important concept when it comes to the Old Testament and our reading and understanding of the Scriptures?
※Prayer※

Lord, you have and are the words of eternal life. Transform our hearts to hunger for your Word, that we can bear your Word into the world, and be a light to one another. Amen.

※ A Post Script ※

As I’ve communicated before, God has released (directed?) me to something new and unknown (a mystery). This is the last daily devotional. I thank you for journeying with me through the Scriptures. As I delve into what God has in store, expect to still hear from me, just in a different way than devotions have been done. I pray that God will continue to bless your walk with Jesus and that you find those Christian companions who will continue to deepen your faith and understanding. -Pastor Ian
2021 07 28