Devotion.al

Tag: reflection

  • Defining Justice

    Defining Justice

    Psalm 52; Jeremiah 21:11–14; Revelation 21:22–22:5

    “This then is how you should live, begin your morning by administering justice. All those who know and follow the will of God will people from their oppressor, particularly for those whose God promised has been stolen from them.” [A paraphrase by Ian]

    There is no question that oppression, justice, and theft are phrases that are repeatedly thrown around right now. How they from place to place and culture to culture also cannot be ignored. There is also a historical aspect to this as the time of Judah and Israel what was meant by this was pretty clear cut.

    Today, it isn’t so clear-cut. There are several possible reasons: (1) we’ve made it too complicated, (2) our understanding has matured, (3) we are applying worldly concepts and understandings to Biblical ones. There are probably a couple of more.

    In almost all societies in history, there is a gap between those who “have” and those who “have not”. How “having” is just or not is part of the question. For many, medical care is a matter of justice (and they have a lot of unjust things to point to). For , medical care is a personal matter of responsibility (and they can point to a lot of unjust things, too).

    Matters of justice include (depending on ) skin color, national origin, first language, career, order, social standing, economics. From the standpoint of the Law, what was oppression and stealing was very clear cut. That doesn’t mean that the Law was followed, hence Jeremiah’s statement about starting the morning with justice. Where it gets really difficult for many of us is beyond the Law version of justice. A great many Christians from the early to today believe that went beyond the Law to God and Love Others. Yes, that is the summation of the Law and the Prophets provided by Jesus. Yet, Jesus also commands to not sin, and he expanded (yes, expanded) the concept of sin from actions to relations.

    Administering justice is easy when it is down and defined sharply, though some of the gymnastics lawyers and judges go to redefine things gets interesting at times. So, what happens when it is relationships? If you want a simple answer, I’m sure someone sells a book on it.

    Justice is not the same across all situations. It would be nice. Different people, different contexts, different histories, create different justice. Yep, there. A different justice.

    ※Reflection※

    • How do you emotionally to different justice issues?
    • How do you think through the Law and Jesus when you think about justice issues?
    • Why is it worth, and why is it essential, to wrestle with justice, especially in the light of the City of God from Revelation?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, help us to live, love, learn, heal, and reconcile all things and peoples justly; where you define just. Amen.

  • Wrong Thing Vision

    Wrong Thing Vision

    Psalm 52; Ezekiel 31:1–12; Galatians 6:11–18

    “When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?”

    That philosophical question is designed around the of a being. “Sound” being a human word, the implication is that the tree wouldn’t make a sound, as there is no one around to . From a purely scientific standpoint, of course, the tree makes a sound. We understand that even when we are not present, there still will be sound waves. The animals will certainly hear it and try to out of the way.

    Yesterday, when we read about the cedar, it was referring to the David line. In today’s passage, is refers to kings and leaders, just not the Davidic ones. The cultural awareness that the cedar represented royalty helps us understand that the cedar might be used in multiple contexts to represent the kingly leaders.

    The difference here is that the tree representing Assyria goes down and has no legacy. Yesterday, the Davidic cedar had a bough taken off and replanted. Here, there is no legacy. In fact, the land animals resting on it show that it is nothing more than dirt.

    The tree, oddly enough, goes down not necessarily for Judah and Israel’s benefit, but to show Egypt who God is. Or perhaps we should say, remind Egypt who God is (reminding Judah and Israel, too).

    Governments, as they are a gathering of people, look to other governments and other people to get an idea of how to succeed, and often how to beat the other guy. Governments too busy looking at the other “guy” aren’t looking to God.

    Often when we are busy looking at the “other” (whether people, governments, and many others), we are not looking at the right things, let alone the things we can control.

    refers to the new creation. When we look too much to the world we lose of the new creation that is inside of us. It’s not that we corrupt it, but we can avoid it. As we look to others to define us or oppose us—instead of God—we miss out on the new creation. As the “others” look to unGodly things, they are often looking at the unGodly things of others, creating a vicious cycle.

    We need to break the cycle. How we break the cycle will be a very thing. We, like Paul, may end up bearing marks like Christ on our bodies. We almost definitely will bear them on our souls.

    ※Reflection※

    • How much do you reflect on the new creation inside of you?
    • Do you ever see when the world tries to change this new creation?
    • Are you more driven by leaders, governments, or people within your circle? How do you try to influence them for Christ?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, us the freedom to recognize that we have been freed from the ways of the world. Help us to look to you first, so that we may transform the world through your for us. Amen.

  • Finer or Better Things

    Finer or Better Things

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; 2 Kings 14:1–14; Mark 4:1–20

    Every generation is in danger of not being as as the one(s) that preceded it. There is, of course, the huge possibility that “this” generation (whichever generation “this” is) will restart a journey of renewed faithfulness. The in the US—and so-called Culture—is experiencing a diminishment of significance (whether perceived or real). The US is about 4 decades behind Europe in this.

    While taught in parables (such as in today’s passage in Mark), the Old Testament is mixed between prophetic , history, poetry, and realistic/poetic history. The story of Amaziah is historical, and yet there is something there for us as a parable.

    In many respects, the church has been Amaziah. We haven’t dealt with our shrines (see yesterday’s devotional) and our blind spots. We were proud of our significance and we struck out against the world…and we lost.

    In response, the gold, silver, and objects that we held so dear as vital to our well-being were taken away. We have been stripped of much of our . In fact, much of the church is drenched in mud and other filth that will take years to clean off and even more years to remove the aroma.

    Like Amaziah, we confused our title (king, or Judah, or “the church” or “the on earth”) with authority and worldly power. We also confused the title with a right to certain outcomes. We have been deeply disappointed.

    This is a good thing.

    Perhaps it is my pastoral and “church” circles, and not yours. I hear the constant refrain of “back to normal” and I don’t want that. I want a church and a people that care more about planting the seeds of the saving of Jesus Christ than are worried about Washington, D.C., COVID, and so forth.

    It is not to say that we should not be concerned about Washington, D.C., or COVID (or whatever else). It is to say that they have become gods and idols that we turn to while still saying we are God’s.

    ※Reflection※

    • Where in your do you see yourself following the trappings rather than God?
    • What is missing in the message from/to Amaziah and Joash, and why is that important?
    • How and where are you casting seeds? Are you casting sparingly or generously?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, help us to release everything of the world so that we are free to only grab onto you. Amen.

  • Faithfully Wise

    Faithfully Wise

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; 1 Kings 10:26–11:8; Hebrews 11:4–13

    We often will use the wisdom in regards to King Solomon. He was granted the gift of wisdom for the benefit of the people, and they greatly benefited. With the temple being built, on the surface, it would seem that they were benefiting spiritually (or at least religiously) too. Except that all the benefits were short-lived. Eternally, they were of minimal or no value.

    While calling the US a nation (whether from the beginning or up until now) is really a mischaracterization, it is helpful to think of the US as Solomon.

    Through the inheritance of conquest (Israel took the land, right or wrong, as the US took it from the previous inhabitants) and also hard work, there was financial, societal, and personal security. Everything was going well. Then certain things pulled the US away from its origins. The US, for example, went from a nation needing outside help, to be being one of the dominant (and at times the only dominant) countries that “gave” support (with the general of benefits, even if only figurative).

    The US has chased after TV, space, the moon, computers, the , and you can probably add more to the list. Each of these things, for a time, became more important than the country itself.

    The church (and thus us) fell into this same trap. We had the “wars”, attractional, missional, Sunday School, discipleship, and even digital. Churches chased after these things. Could they serve the kingdom? Yes. Did they server the kingdom? Not always. Where this gets really messy is that some of these may have been beneficial for the kingdom for a time and place (and perhaps still), but at the same time, many churches have stuck to their models rather than their .

    And in case you think that I want the “good old days”, I can easily add “ and brimstone sermons”, liturgy (which I do ), rural, urban, poor, rich. Anything can inhibit the church—and the people called the church—from fulfilling its mission. Then we are no better than old Solomon.

    Solomon had wisdom, but his had waned. Contrast this with the faithful listed in Hebrews. Some of them may not have had wisdom, but they had faith.

    Often this is where the church and its people can sidetrack. When we lose faith and trust only in wisdom (particularly worldly wisdom), we will often make decisions that we believe are correct (they certainly may be wise), and yet do not align with faith or trust in the will of God.

    ※Reflection※

    • What kind of things/thoughts/“wisdom” have you had/experienced that led you away from God?
    • How do you discern when something good is taking you away from God?
    • What do you think is the mission of the church and the people of the church? How will you use that to filter your actions and the actions of your church?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, may we in wisdom AND faith, that we are your faithful people on your mission. Amen.

  • Choosing the Fruit

    Choosing the Fruit

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; Genesis 3:14–24; Hebrews 2:5–9

    There is something odd about the story in the Garden of Eden, and it isn’t the Fall (though that is central to our faith). The story in the Garden of Eden revolves around loving obedience/respect of God (that was a failure) and two trees.

    The apple (usually red) is the fruit to represent the fruit of the Tree of the of Good and . Not being a red apple fan, it can be hard for me to see the attraction (as Eve was attracted to it). It really wasn’t an apple, maybe. We don’t know what it was.

    Based upon what was provided in the story of the Fall, neither Adam nor Eve had experienced or evil. Therefore, even their concepts of and good were not very deep. Describing a beautiful to a person born blind, or beautiful sound to a person born deaf is kind of like trying to explain, good, evil, or life to people who have no experience.

    What did the fruit of the Tree of Life have? Some people have created imagery that show that the Tree of Life also produces apples. That similarity is interesting but peculiar.

    It is the fruit of the trees, though, that show something about God. Some say that God put the trees as a test for humanity. It might be better to think of them as aspects of God in material form. As Christians, we talk about eternal life as the ultimate of following Jesus Christ. Eternal life was originally just a fruit. As Christians (and definitely as Nazarenes/Wesleyans/Methodists/etc), we talk about and believe in it. To be , one must know what evil is…perhaps.

    This, of course, will immediately cause many to shake or tremble, for by that logic, if God is holy (which God is), God must know evil. The fruit of the trees shows that. Knowing what evil is does not mean one is evil.

    The fruits are a foreshadow of what is to come for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We will receive the “fruit” that remains in the Garden and will know what evil is so that we know what truly Holiness is.

    ※Reflection※

    • How does knowing evil help you know what holiness is?
    • Why is knowing holiness important?
    • As you think of yourself on the spectrum of 1 (Holy) to 10 (Evil), where are you?

    ※Prayer※

    God, you have made us lower than you and yet us so much. Help us to know what evil is that we will instead know what it means to seek you. Amen.

  • Changing Diapers

    Changing Diapers

    Psalm 74; Isaiah 26:16–27:1; Luke 11:14–28

    When Joni (my wife) was pregnant with our first (to be born) child, we had an odd conversation with another couple. They told us (almost mockingly) that soon our conversation would change to include the color and consistency of our child’s poop. We chuckled. That was ridiculous. Who would talk about poop so much that a couple would bring that up? A few months after our first was born, we had to laugh at ourselves when we realized that was exactly what had happened.

    Before our first was born, we could read lots of books and received lots of advice. Nothing prepared us for being a parent. Conversing about poop was only a minor change. A weird one, definitely, but only a minor one.

    For those of us on the other side of pregnancy, we tend to forget what we were like before it. When Isaiah talks about pregnancy and childbirth, we envision that, but we neglect the before. Just like we could never imagine talking about baby poop as a topic of conversation, we couldn’t understand the life change of having a child…until it happened.

    The same really can be said of Israel. They didn’t understand. There were a few who got it, but they were (it seems) very few indeed: Moses, Joshua (mostly), maybe a couple of judges (though most were a mess), Samuel, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets (major and minor). To round up, that’s maybe 30 over 1500-ish years. Granted, these are the ones about. So, if we round up even more to 300 people, every 5 years of Israel’s history (prior to Jesus), a single person gets it.

    Before someone proverbially smacks me, most of the Israelites are followers (and, yes, the numbers are hyperbole). They followed where the leaders led (sometimes). Sounds kind of like us.

    So, when we get to Jesus, we get the testing and questioning and just flat out not believing. Yes, we think we would better to Jesus than “those” people obviously did. Except, we are on the other side of the pregnancy.

    We have the Spirit. For us, looking back we see where God was moving. The Jews to this day also see where God was moving, as do the Muslims. We, however, see Jesus. That is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    That is the gift that people pre-Pentecost didn’t have (even the disciples). It is the gift of those who know Jesus or who have responded to the nudging of the Holy Spirit through prevenient (that which goes before ) grace.

    Being aware and recalling what we were like before knowing Jesus through the Holy Spirit will help us reach the world. There is a caveat to this. For those who knew Jesus as a child, this may be very hard, unless there was a significant spiritual crisis of some sort in later years (based on my witness of this). So, if you don’t know the pre-pregnancy (i.e., pre-Holy Spirit) life, that’s okay. God will still use your life and story to reach .

    Many people will question our , not because it is unbelievable (though many will use that word), but because the Holy Spirit has not been ignited in them. We are to remember that almost all of humanity was like that. We were no different. We them grace and in this, for God did the same for us.

    ※Reflection※

    If you were a teen or adult when you came to know Jesus, what life like before then? If you were a child when you came to know Jesus, what spiritual “desert” or “wilderness” did you experience that transformed your faith into something greater?

    ※Prayer※

    Holy Spirit, help us to recall what transformed our with God through you so that we are able to translate that into the lives of those yet unsaved. Amen.

  • Skies and Hearts Aflame

    Skies and Hearts Aflame

    Psalm 74; 1 Kings 18:17–40; Revelation 20:7–15

    Being made a fool of for Christ is something that Christians have had to deal with through the ages. Whether it’s because of beliefs and practices that go against the norm, or the reality that Christians are just as fallen as the of humanity. There is, however, the question of making a fool of Christ by our actions. Bluntly, do you have the faith of Elijah?

    Do you have the strength, resolve, and faith to believe that God will down fires from Heaven to burn up an offering? You could quickly dissemble this question by saying, we don’t do sacrifices anymore. Except, that isn’t the point.

    We say things such as, “lighting strike me…” or “…catch on …” (literally, not spiritually) when we say or do things against God. We don’t really believe it, though. If we did, then being more like Elijah would actually be possible.

    However, we often mock people as Elijah did. Yes, there is a contextual part to Elijah’s mocking, but there often isn’t for us. We just try to make people beneath us by our responses.

    Often we view ourselves as the ones that are suffering the wrath of Gog and Magog, when in fact we are the ones acting like it. We think we are like Elijah, when in fact we are the priests of Baal.

    Just so we’re clear, I put myself in that same place. I recognize my own tendencies and failures. I recognize when I put on the clothes of , but behave in ways that are unrighteous.

    We have two paths before us. We can be Elijah, or we can be those deceived (Gog and Magog) and/or destroyed.

    Elijah did have a unique relationship with God, and a unique responsibility given to him by God. We cannot, theoretically, call down fires from Heaven. God does not seem to work that way anymore. This also doesn’t mean that God won’t. God does work in many ways far more mysterious and wonderful (think of the ).

    Calling upon God for of people, hearts, and nations will change more than a few hearts for a short time (the Israelites, unsurprisingly, returned to their old ways). We are indeed to be this era’s Elijah. Instead of the fire of (which is really what Elijah called for), we are called to bring the fire of the Holy Spirit to first ourselves, then through the furnace of , bring the fire of God into the lives of others…not to burn them.

    ※Reflection※

    • What other responses do you have to the story of Elijah? Where else do you see yourself in it?
    • What are your thoughts regarding the fiery lake in Revelation? How does that fire contrast (if it does) to the fire of Elijah?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, you have refined us through the fire of the Holy Spirit. Help us to carry that refinement into our lives and into the world. Amen.

  • Sighting Evil

    Sighting Evil

    Psalm 74; 1 Samuel 16:14–23; Revelation 20:1–6

    Evil spirits or the “ of evil” has a in culture throughout the ages. Even for those who have no deistic belief, there is an understanding that something is completely evil.

    There was nothing positive about the Holocaust. In fact, most people would state that the men and women (for there were both) who created and perpetuated it were evil. There seems to be no question that there was a “spirit of evil” when it came to the Holocaust. The primary spirit of evil took the form of the other. Jews were the others (along with gypsies, we often ignore). Jews were blamed for the punitive consequences of World War I, which destroyed the German economy and culture (in some ways). This allowed a person such as Adolf Hitler to become the .

    However, the Christian take on Hitler, as hard as it is, was that there was a possibility of for him (along with all the others). How one could, on earth, move beyond what he led takes more than I could comprehend. The spirit of evil takes on many forms. Some of them seem benign. Some of them being obviously harmful. Christians over many years have argued over what makes something evil, or if something is indeed evil. A number of changes in American culture and law in the last few decades have certainly been at the fore.

    The spirit of evil that Saul had sounds similar to a split personality. In many places, we read that Saul cared for, respected, and relied upon David. Yet, Saul would try to kill David in many ways, including by chasing him down with an army. The divergence of thinking certainly sounds like modern mental illness. Which leads us back to evil. If someone is mentally ill, is it a spirit of evil or is it something else?

    Whatever guise or seeming, until all is over and we are at the throne of God, we will be dealing with a spirit of evil (or many spirits). While the Book of Revelation tells us the end (though God’s victory doesn’t really come as a surprise), what it means that evil is bound for a thousand years, but will have to be released for a time after that is beyond us. We can guess, but it would only be a guess.

    This not a suggestion for fatalism. If we believe that God is good, died for us, and that we have the Spirit in us, then evil’s presence is not pre-determined to lead to evil. It is our own thoughts and actions. Our actions, though, cannot be limited to our circle, but must also be part of our .

    ※Reflection※

    • What do you think the difference is between evil, , and mistakes? How might understanding these 3 things adjust our interactions with the world?
    • When was the last time you used “evil” in conversation? Was the context actually that of evil, or was it something different? If it was evil, what made it so? If it wasn’t truly evil, what might have been a better way to phrase it?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, help us to guard our hearts against evil. Help us to understand your view of evil and to be those that bring upon it. Amen.