Devotion.al

Tag: redemption

  • The End of the Matter

    The End of the Matter

    The of the Matter

    9 September 2020

    Jonah 4:1–11

    How could you them? Really? Look at them! If you’d left me alone they would have died, just like they should have!

    Why Jonah is so upset? There is a lot of conjecture, but Jonah’s anger really does seem out of place. Perhaps he had something against the city of Nineveh. That, at least, would help to make a little more sense of the story.

    Jonah could have been a hero! In fact, for bringing the message to Nineveh, he really was a hero. He was a very bitter one.

    Our media is filled with stories of heroes. We like heroes. There’s a reason why Marvel movies have made such an impact. DC and Marvel comics dominate the comic book scene with their hero lines.

    Jonah didn’t want to be a hero. He didn’t want to save the Ninevites. He did anyway, kicking and screaming.

    We are called to the world, not just our favored people. Whether we’re talking about a particular nationality, ethnic group, gender group, sexuality group, or any other group, they all have the in them. The Imago Dei (or “image of God”) means that they are valued by God regardless of anything else.

    If we are followers of God…if we God…should we not value those that God values?

    As followers of , we do not have the luxury to hate, despise, belittle, downplay, or dismiss . God them so much that he died for them. We only have to talk to them and be kind to them.

    We (most likely) are not Jonahs. We are simply people who have found . The kindest thing we can do is the redemption we have found.

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, may we look at our fellow humans as you do…bearers of your image. Amen.

  • Red or White?

    Red or White?

    Genesis 18:16–33; Jeremiah 5:1–9; Romans 3:5–24

    God hates me. God would/could never me. God doesn’t care about me. No one can measure up to that standard.

    Any of those sound familiar?

    When we read stories such as Sodom and Gomorrah it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of destruction. Yet, there in the story there something important to read.

    Abraham’s questions about the 50, 45,40, 30, 20, 10 and the response to the question gives us some insight. From all appearances, there was one righteous man…Lot. Even Lot’s “righteousness” might have more to do with Abraham’s and not Lot’s (see Genesis 19:29).

    From our human , what happened seems out of proportion. The ways of Sodom and Gomorrah were obviously long wrong.  God did not do this on a whim. Yet, in the middle of all the wrong, 10 righteous people would have prevented disaster.

    As the of the glory of Judah approached, there, too, was an opportunity to change everything. All it would have taken is one righteous person. As the Scriptures show, however, that was not to be.

    What does this say about us? tells us that it is the very unrighteousness of humanity that displays the righteousness of God. Even in that, there is .

    There is a long list that is part of Paul’s words. It is a list (Romans 3:10–18) condemning humanity for its response to God. Why would God want such creatures?

    If you had someone who constantly said bad things to you, tossed your gifts at your feet (or the garbage), and gave credit everyone but you about the good things you’d done for them, what your response be?

    God’s answer was through the cross. ? We aren’t by any measure of that . Truth? God did it out of love.

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, thank you for the cross. Father God, thank you for your mercy on us. , thank you for drawing us to you. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) When you read Paul’s list, how does it feel? To you feel condemned or judged? Or, do you feel something else?

    2) How does grace and redemption feel in the face of that list?

    3) What do you think your ongoing response should be as a result?

  • Releasing Darkness

    Releasing Darkness

    2 Kings 25:1–12; Ezekiel 33:21–33 (read online ⧉)

    The fall of God’s City. The first taking of people had happened 9 years prior to the verses in 2 Kings. Then almost 1-1/2 years of a siege. The so-called People of God were people in misery.

    The warriors fled. Let that sink in. This is not COVID-19. This is war. Those that fight the wars and defend the people…they fled. It is likely some of them were paid, foreign soldiers. However, the army was still mostly Israelite. They fled their own blood. They left their own blood behind. Abandoned.

    King Zedekiah then compounded the problem and tried to flee with his soldiers that remained. They abandoned him. The King abandoned his people and was abandoned in turn. As a result, all but a very few were taken away.

    The very poor remained. These were the people that were likely oppressed by the other Israelites. They could have well been the remnants of the non-Israelite tribes (Anakites and Gibeonites, for example) who were the ones who stayed. Likely the thought process would be that they would grateful for the departure of the Israelites and be loyal.

    Poor Ezekiel then had to deliver the news to the exiles. Jerusalem had fallen.

    Ezekiel delivered the message. The people heard but didn’t really listen. Then the messenger came (note that the timeline of this passage is not straight) and affirmed Ezekiel’s words.

    Sadly, despite the confirmation of Ezekiel’s ministry, he was still ignored. Despite all the prophetic words spoken to them (those of Ezekiel and ), they still would not believe.

    A number of modern music artists (and it really is nothing new) have songs of and (sometimes theirs, sometimes that of the writer). These songs often have a cathartic effect, and it would seem that the exiles took Ezekiel’s words that way. What is also interesting is that Ezekiel is compared to a great singer/musician. It is known that many prophets did prophesy to music, and that could be the context.

    Even when faced with all of this, Ezekiel remained faithful, and the Israelites remained faithless. God wasn’t done with . The Israelites were done with God.

    ※※

    God, help us be the to those that are done with you. Help us be your ambassadors that draw them to your . Amen.

    ※※

    1) Have you ever listened to a sad or dark song, and felt release after it? What was it like?

    2) Ezekiel was popular. He was attended to. He wasn’t listened to. Can you think of anything similar in your life?

  • Who Makes You

    Who Makes You

    Romans 9:14–33 (read online ⧉)

    A vignette from a …

    “It’s your fault,” said the child.

    “How so,” asked the parent.

    “You knew, and you didn’t stop me,” responded the child.

    “Except I warned you before,” the parent replied.

    “So, what,” retorted the child. “What’s that got to do with stopping me?”

    Or, a different vignette…

    “It’s your fault.”

    “You were warned.”

    “You made me so mad, though, that I wasn’t thinking, and I did it. So, it’s your fault.”

    Paul’s use of Old/First Testament imagery causes many modern people to struggle with these verses. In the Wesley/Arminian , these words are a particular struggle, as they appear to not to be free will, a core belief in the tradition.

    However, what we miss is the rhetorical questioning that is going on in the Greek. A rhetorically adequate translation would be more along the lines of, “Yes, while God can make you, that does not make it God’s fault that you still chose your path.” One theologian argues, with some decent reasoning, that even when God hardens hearts (sometimes called judicial hardening), it’s not that the hearts weren’t already hardened. It is that God firms their already stubborn and ungodly hearts so that their immediate will result in the display of God’s .

    In other words, God helps them be more firmly where they have already decided to be. Their decision was made first.

    Now, unlike some other Christian traditions, this is not a one-way road. God is in the redemption business! Even when God hardens the heart for one action, there is often a redemptive action waiting in the wings. It is here that a person will choose to continue to harden their own heart or not.

    The potter and the clay? An analogy, not a description. This passage, too, is often confused as that Israel (and thus the of us) are lifeless clay. Paul asks, what if? Paul is not concluding that God made some people for wrath and some are not.

    God did not make us that way. Just as the passage of the Potter’s House, Paul is not saying that God did it so that people are separated from God. God made is so people choose to be separated from God.

    This, too, is hard. For those of us who know God, and have a saving relationship with God, it is beyond our comprehension that people would choose anything other than God. Be grateful that you have chosen.

    Paul’s ultimate conclusion is that God set out works for the people of Israel to do. They believe that is was the works (the tasks) they did to fulfill the Law that made them . This was all while the lesson of Abraham was right there in the Scriptures…following and choosing God through faith.

    ※※

    Gracious God, we thank you that we have been gifted the freedom to choose you in . May you shape our hearts and guide our lives that we can help also choose you. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) Do you think you have ever experienced a time when God “hardened” your heart? Why or why not?

    2) Why do you think people believe that God designs people and plans for people to be inflicted by God’s wrath?

    3) What is the hardest thing to realize and feel about knowing that you have to daily choose God?

  • Walk Away

    Walk Away

    Hebrews 2:1–4; Hebrews 6:4–8; Revelation 13:11–17 (read online ⧉)

    Those who have fallen away is a hard subject for many of us. We know people who at point affirmed that Christ was their Lord and Savior, but through various experiences, conversations, perhaps even discouraging events, they walked away from their that they had held onto dearly. Often it is because they have hard questions and they receive, “you just have to have enough faith,” or “don’t question the teachings,” or many other responses that are not .

    The question then becomes, “now what?” It really isn’t something good. Just as teachers are held to higher standards than other believers (James 3:1), former believers are held to a higher standard than non-believers. This is not because they became better people, but because they walked away from their . The author of Hebrews puts is very starkly, to be saved again, they have to crucify Christ again.

    This sounds impossible, for Jesus Christ died once for all. However, that really isn’t what the author is saying. Especially for those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior later in life (especially post-childhood), the acknowledgment and acceptance that Jesus Christ died for us has a far deeper and harsher meaning. We become more aware of just what that means. For many of us, that was a hard enough journey.

    Imagine someone whose hard was hardened toward God and walked away. That road back to salvation will be so much harder to walk than the first time. Peeling away the new and probably harder and thicker layers. Often the pride built when walking away has to be torn down, and then the other layers of guilt have to be torn down again. It is no easy road.

    The author of Hebrews isn’t saying it impossible. By God’s grace, mercy and love, the road to can indeed be walked many times. It does depend on how one left the road and how one kept off the road. There are no easy answers, and the road is always different for each person. If you know of someone on a road that is not the Redemption Road…THERE IS . Do not lose hope! With God, all things are possible!

    As of late, this has come to the fore as there have been a number of high profile people who have “left” the Christian faith (though, when you actually read what they say, it’s not closing the door).

    At the same time, with the COVID-19 response, we are seeing good-intentioned Christians stirring up the pot with concerns regarding vaccinations, government controls, “conditioning” and other things using the imagery of “the Beast.” Now, to some degree or another, the concerns have validity. Using “the mark” and “the number” of the “Beast” as a scare tactic (even as perceived justifiable one) helps to plant stones on the paths of those wandering away from the faith, and even those who are struggling in their faith, yet faithfully walking the way.

    This is not to say that those invoking “the Beast” are at fault, just like the person who spoke poorly or wrongly is singly at fault for another person walking away from the faith. And that is probably the hardest thing to from the author of the Hebrews. We all have the responsibility to build and strengthen our faith, just as we are responsible for what we do that weakens it. What we can do is be open to as they struggle. We also need to be open to others regarding our struggles.

    , Son, and Holy Spirit, please strengthen our faith, whether it be in trying times or normal times. Help us to walk the path resolutely even when we . Please help us be among those who will lift us up when we stumble and fall. Help us to be the family you have called your children to be. Amen.

    1) What famous person are you aware of that walked away from the Christian faith? Other than the fact of their walking away, what do you know of their story?

    2) When was the last time you answered a seeking question with an answer that you regretted later? What did you learn about yourself and God through that?

    3) What is the best way to share the love of Jesus to those who are seeking or doubting?

  • Die to Resurrect

    Psalm 98; Micah 7:7–9, 18–20; 1 Timothy 6:11–20 (read online ⧉)

    Micah’s unwavering loyalty and in God can be hard to swallow for many. Micah believes that he can for and trust in God.

    What is fascinating with Micah’s words is that he admonishes his enemy who is gloating over Micah’s fallen state. Micah doesn’t defend himself. In fact, he openly and forthrightly acknowledges that he has sinned against God. What a fantastic pattern that we should all follow! When we hide our sins in the dark, they can fester and rot deep within us. Yet, when we shine the on them, they cease to rot. The consequences may be awful and shameful, but the light cleanses them.

    Micah owned his transgressions. Micah owned the consequences.

    Micah believed that God would redeem and rescue him. He had decided to wait upon God’s timing for his restoration. That is often courageous for us when we are in the midst of trials and tribulations. Micah was in the middle of them, too.

    The redemptive that Micah had of God was immense. He understood that God’s grace and were beyond comprehension. In addition to his own redemption, he looked to the redemption of his people…of God’s people. Micah understood that the people were far off from God. Micah also understood that God’s faithful and unfailing love was always waiting to Resurrect the repentant heart.

    While the Jews had the Law to define the particulars of their calling, (non-Jews) still had the Imago Dei (the Image of God) in them telling them deep down what they were doing was not in line with the Creator of the universe, even when they didn’t understand. Hence that is why Paul talks to Timothy about fleeing from much of what is common to the temptation of humankind. Timothy was both Greek and Jew (thus dirty to both “sides” of the family). He probably has some awareness of the Jewish Law, but he would have also been quite familiar with what was common (and considered acceptable) in Greek/Roman circles.

    Thus Paul was calling Timothy to something greater than either bloodline or culture. He was calling Timothy to Jesus Christ. When Paul recalls Timothy’s “good” confession. Instead of confession, a better (and longer) way of saying it would be a strong, firm, public declaration of allegiance. Timothy had (effectively) declared that Jesus Christ was more important than all of that, and Paul was holding him to it. Timothy, as the “successor” to Paul and a in his own right, was to hold on tight to what he “confessed” he believed, and to not let others draw him away.

    Paul reminded Timothy that all that was going on now was in preparation and was before the age to come, the age of Resurrection. The underlying truth being that if Timothy let go of the faith in the here and now, the age of Resurrection might very well not come to him.

    Timothy may not have had the depths of pain that Micah did, though it’s likely that his heart was broken at the (martyr’s) death of Paul and other Christians. For Timothy, the Resurrection life held in the midst of pain. The Resurrection life that Micah was expect was, without question, different in scope than Timothy was expecting. Both, however, were dependent upon a with God.

    God, may we continue to place our sins and failures before you in hopeful expectation, not to avoid the consequences of our actions, but to restore and maintain right relationship with you. May your father’s heart continue to be gracious to us. May the sacrifice of you, Jesus, continue to remind us of the cost, drawing us closer to you through the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

    1) How do you balance the fear of and concern for punishing or consequences with hope and faith with God?

    2) The life of a Christian is full of many little deaths. What is the latest death that you have experienced that has drawn you (or is drawing you) closer to God?

    3) There is an old saying that a coward dies a thousand deaths, and a hero only one. What is the difference between that and the deaths that a Christian experiences?

  • Redemption in the Darkness

    Psalm 107:1–16; Isaiah 60:15-22; John 8:12-20 (read online ⧉)

    Psalm 107:2–3
    Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
    and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

    Isaiah’s stirring for Jerusalem is that not only of but also claiming a prominent and dominant role in the world. The nations that dominated Jerusalem would then nourish and protect it. This revitalized and restored Jerusalem would have the lost and exiled returning. A city full of woe and misery would become full of life and .

    Isaiah’s vision continued where the basics, bronze, and iron, would be replaced by gold and silver. This is not just a sign of wealth, but where what was once the sign of wealth would be commonplace. In the midst of all of this is God. This new vision of Jerusalem has God at the center, and not just as the center of , but the center of all life, replacing the sun and the moon. The ebb and flow of life would be fully guided by God. The ultimate crown of , children, would be so numerous that even the smallest group would become a clan. This is to a people lost. This is hope to a people who feel that they have nothing left.”I am the of the world,” Jesus said.Often we can find ourselves stuck in darkness. The of darkness is being able to see the smallest light. The spark of , in the darkness, can feel as if the sun is there.

    1) Have you ever experienced an inescapable (real/physical) darkness? What happened when you saw a light?

    2) How does Christ fit into your idea and/or experience of darkness?

  • Salvation Praise

    Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22; Genesis 9:8–17; Ephesians 1:3–6 (read online ⧉)

    Destined to be a child of God. This is such a comforting phrase. As in all comfortable things, there is a danger. This comforting phrase is often, and understandably, taken as being directed toward individuals. Yet, if we use both Old Testament and New Testament phrasing, it is better (and more safely) understood as a corporate destiny.

    As part of Noah’s , we are corporately covered insofar as God will never flood the entirety of the earth again. Just as the 12 Tribes of Israel were the of God, corporately, so too is the . How an behaved and responded toward God was, and remains, from the corporate selection.

    We are all part of the corporate destiny, and we have our place in it (accepting the gift of redemption and salvation). To be clear, accepting the gift does not mean that the act required (Christ’s on the cross) for salvation was anything but God’s.

    There is a tension here. Salvation is also quite personal and individual. Salvation is best expressed and the saved life best lived within the community of believers. There is a balance, and we don’t want to be overly weighted to individual or corporate salvation.

    We testify and give thanks through our worship and of God. As part of both our corporate and personal activity (our “liturgy”) is to praise “… his glorious that he freely bestowed on us….”

    The psalmist declared…

    1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
     for his steadfast  endures forever.
2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
     those he redeemed from trouble
21Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
     for his wonderful works to humankind.
22And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
     and tell of his deeds with songs of

    1) When thinking of your salvation do you tend to think of yourself as an individual?

    2) Have you ever thought of your salvation as being part of the Body of Christ (the Church)?

    3) Why do you think there is a difference? What difference does it make to you?