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Devotion.al

Tag: relationship

  • Who Restores

    Deuteronomy 30:1–5, Jonah 2:2–9, Isaiah 44:24–28

    Have you ever recognized that there is an implied title and character of God that gets missed? Restorer.

    We use Healer, often, which is close. Another word could be Reconciler. We don’t use Restorer or Reconciler, because in most cases of their use (restore and reconcile), they are action verbs, not nouns.

    Yet, restoration and reconciliation are at the heart of Jesus. Think of it this way. Through Jesus’ sinless walk on Earth and his sacrificial death on the cross, we are reconciled to God (relationship). Through baptism and Jesus’ resurrection, we are restored (position) to the “place” we would have had prior to the Fall (Adam and Eve).

    It can be easy to fall into the reconciliation way of thinking, because while on Earth that is both our expectation and our experience.

    We get a taste of restoration in baptism, but it really is a poor experience in comparison to the full restoration once we are in Heaven.

    1) What do you think of restoration and reconciliation?

    2) How do you think restoration and reconciliation work with other people?

    3) We can understand how reconciliation works with our interpersonal relationships. How does restoration work? Thinking about restoration as God restores, is it possible for a damaged relationship to be restored? Why or why not?

  • Covenantal Bride

    Ezekiel 16:7–22, 2 Corinthians 11:1–4, Revelation 19:6–9

    The image of the church as the bride of Jesus was not a new concept. Israel/Judah was often compared to a wife, though, sadly, often an unfaithful wife. Despite the seeming graphic nature of this passage in Ezekiel, there is a strong implication of innocence, harking back to the Garden of Eden (prior to the Fall), when Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. The bride (Israel/Judah) found in the wilds was innocent.

    Where it becomes interesting (and disturbing) is after the hinted marriage (covenant). Very quickly the bride wanders away giving all that she has to others that are not her husband. This motif of unfaithfulness covers much of the story in the Old Testament. The Chosen People—the bride of God—did not remain faithful to the one who chose them.

    Despite this being the central theme of the Old Testament, it is not as if God gave up. Paul uses the imagery of a virgin (i.e., innocent) bride being presented to Jesus (God). It is not insignificant that Paul perceived the need to use this imagery. Despite the unfaithfulness to God in the Old Testament and the unfaithfulness to God (Jesus) in the New Testament, there is something significant in this marriage motif.

    Despite the altered state of marriage in our day and age in a myriad of ways, marriage is still very much part of God’s plan for us. While we, the “church”, usually focus on marriage as a societal, cultural, and religious piece, for God it is something far deeper. Paul uses the marriage imagery in a culture that does not, generally, view it as covenant. It is contractual. Yet, Paul maintains its covenant view, even apologizing for being foolish/silly. Imagine trying to convey the depth of the covenantal nature of marriage to people who don’t see God in it.

    Paul wants the Corinthians (and us) to not view our relationship with Jesus as transactional, but relational and covenantal. This covenantal view means that Jesus is at the center and core of the relationship, not just with God, but with others.

    Both Paul (2 Corinthians) and John (Revelation) view the bride as being prepared. Of course, in Revelation, it is at the conclusion of it all. For Paul, it is the ever-present tension of a bride being ready to give all (prepared) and getting ready to give all (preparing). The bride will always be getting more ready, to always be closer to perfection, even if it is at an inch at a time. The question is, does the bride think He is worth it?

    1) When you look at yourself, how do you see yourself prepared for and preparing for Jesus? How do you think the church is prepared and preparing for Jesus?

    2) How have you been transactional in your relationship with Jesus? How do you think the church has been transactional in its relationship with Jesus?

  • Enemies and Adversaries

    Rom 2:25–29, Revelation 3:7–13

    The struggle between Jew and Christian has long been the case. Initially, there was a mix of those with good motives (e.g., preserving the “true” faith, protection from apostasy) and bad motives (e.g., pride, influence). Then there were those who regularly challenged the theology for various reasons.

    Paul regularly had to oppose them to protect the fledgling churches. Oddly, we ought to be grateful, for without opposition we might not have even had the letters that we have. One could argue that it is because of the opposition that the church grew as it did (and many do argue that to this day). Without question, opposition forced the church to figure out what it did believe, wrestling with it over generations.

    Paul struggled to separate the Jewish Laws and customs from the new Christian life, and due to the Jewish basis of Christianity it continued to be an issue. Yet, what was an issue of understanding became something much darker.

    In Revelation 3:9, John wrote “…synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews…” This phrasing, which was intended to illustrate the same struggle that Paul had, became a verse of hatred. It’s easy to see why. Seemingly tying the Jews to Satan is pretty inflammatory. Christians for generations vilified and demonized Jews based on verses like this and an erroneously singular focus on who was the root cause of Jesus’ crucifixion (the Jews, rather than all of us). Some interpreters are quick to point out that what is translated as Satan is satanas, a Greek take on the Aramaic/Hebrew word for adversary. The question for some becomes is this a proper name (the Adversary) or a descriptive name (an adversary). The reality is that there is an adversarial relationship toward the church, trying to skew its theology.

    The reason this odd historical piece is important is that the church, still, often resorts to adversarial/enemy language when discussing or interacting with those whose theology is different. We cannot behave that way, for while we were sinners (enemies of God), even before we were born, Jesus died for us. Imagine if Jesus treated us as if we were his enemy.

    1) Is there someone you have treated as an enemy, that God is calling you to love?

    2) Is there language that you have been using the frames others as the enemy or adversary? (This is beyond just not agreeing with them on something)

  • People Needed

    Isaiah 30:8–17, 1 Thessalonians 2:2–12

    “To make Christlike disciples in the nations.”—Church of the Nazarene Mission Statement

    “Iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another.”—Proverbs 27:17

    Discipleship is not a program, nor is it a class. It is a lifestyle. If we are not careful, Sunday School, Life Groups, Youth Group, Children’s Church, even Sunday Service become mere flattery of our wordly wants and desires, rather than discipleship.

    If you aren’t being challenged by God’s Word and Spirit during or as a result of these (even as the leader), then it is all empty. Will the challenge always occur? No. If it rarely or never occurs, that is the “best” indicator.

    The problem is that we often just want easy, even at Church. Church, sadly, isn’t meant to be easy. Church, as framily, is meant to be transforming. Transformation can often be painful or uncomfortable.

    In Isaiah, we read the consequences of flattery and (pointless/false) positive words, and it isn’t pretty. Paul challenged the Thessalonians to listen for the Gospel, rather than be flattered by the speakers trying to turn them away from the Gospel and probably against Paul himself.

    We are to be challenged, not because our views are true or false, but through the maturing of our faith as it faces the real world is how we show the world the love of Christ, and become the light of the world.

    The hard part for our egos is that we often want people to be nice when we need them to be kind. What’s the difference? Think of someone standing on the railing of a tall skyscraper with a strong wind. Nice: “be careful.” Kind: pull them back, even if it hurts them. One is passive (doormat). One is life. In a true discipleship relationship, we need kind people, and we need to be authentic. That is scary.

    1) What discipleship relationships and patterns do you have?

    2) It’s easy to say prayer, bible reading, and attending church are your patterns. However, plenty of people do those, too, and we don’t call them Christians. What is the difference?

    3) With the new Life Groups in the Fall, what new path will you take? Will you join (or lead) a Life Group? Or will you start a small band with the covenant to sharpen one another? Or will you stagnate?

  • Be Strange

    Joshua 7:3–15, 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12

    The pivotal character in the book Dune at one point talks about having a “stamp of strangeness” put upon him. This stamp was definitely a different context, yet “stamp of strangeness” was and is exactly what God does to us when he calls us and we accept him.

    When the Israelites are finally about to enter the Promised Land, God calls on the Israelites to consecrate themselves. In other words, they were to emotionally, spiritually, and physically separate themselves for the work (taking, living, and thriving) in the Promised Land. This means that Egypt was a closed door. This means that they were to be separate even from their “relatives” (i.e., the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother). They were to be strange.

    Paul later tells the Thessalonians to be strange, too. In this passage, there is a cultural battle they are facing. In their larger culture, it wasn’t uncommon that a man had a wife (often a political or social marriage), a lover (intellectual and/or sexual), a concubine (generally an indentured servant or slave), and a prostitute. A man would be considered normal to have at least 3 of these, and potentially more (e.g., the number of concubines and prostitutes could vary). In some areas, this was encouraged. Heterosexual monogamy was strange. It doesn’t appear that there were specific issues that Paul was addressing, but an attitude and expectation. Just like the Israelites, Christians were to be strange.

    Due to human frailty, we often don’t want to be strange. We want to be normal. We want to fit it. While it is important to have non-Christian friends and acquaintances, it is due to the expectation of being strange that means we (as Christians) must have Christians in our most intimate (non-sexual) relationships where we are held accountable and hold others accountable.

    When we read Paul’s words today, they are strange yet again. The world is heading toward (and arguably is) a society of relationships that are not in line with God’s creation (especially sexually). One can point to a huge number of issues (and it’s not one or two) that are not only opposed to created intent but are also being found to inhibit or damage real relationships with people. Paul addresses that, too, when he talks about behaviors damaging others in the faith, and they don’t have to be participants to be damaged.

    All believers are called to be progressively sanctified. In other words, part of our Christian journey to be continually shaped by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ in partnership with fellow maturing believers. The “stamp of strangeness” grows stronger, and becomes a cross to bear in the world of the transforming nature of God.

    1) What are you actively doing to place yourself in an authentic accountable relationship? If nothing, what is holding you back?

    2) The world speaks and trumpets individuality. However, the world only celebrates “safe” individuality. What makes “Christian” individuality dangerous? Is there really such a thing is a Christian individual apart from the body of Christ?

    3) Thinking to the separation aspect, what is a place in your life that you need more separation from the world?

  • Not Anything; Something

    Ruth 1:2–18, 2 Samuel 15:19–37, Matthew 19:16–30

    Something more. Something greater than ourselves. That kind of thing calls to us very deeply. In this modern world, we have a greater amount of freedom to find that “something”. There is an argument that the only reason that we have that “freedom” is that we have so much more free time and wealth. The sad truth is that as a whole people work far longer hours with less vacation than other places in the world (even many “non-free” countries).

    A recent comparison came out, showing that Americans work far more and fill their lives with far more than serfs did centuries ago. Serfs weren’t known to live easy lives, have much wealth, or much freedom, but they did have time.

    What did they do with that time? Many of them belonged to (not just lived in) their community. They had places of connection and relationship. There were definitely downsides, but that people that were barely above indentured servitude had more time than we do says a lot about our technology and “labor-saving” devices.

    We are often called to something greater than ourselves, but we seem almost afraid of it. The increase of loneliness, anxiety, and depression are all psychologically, emotionally and spiritually connected to the lack of the “something”.

    Ruth, Ittai of Gath, Jesus’ disciples all made a decision to give up what they knew and had, even at great cost. All were facing the unknown. They chose to follow and surrender anyways.

    1) The rich young ruler/man was given a choice and made a different one than our other examples. How often are we the rich young ruler, rather that one of the others?

    2) What can you do to help others connect to something greater than themselves? What can we do as framily to help others connect to something greater than themselves?

    3) Because we belong to “the church” we often think that we belong to something greater than ourselves (we do). However, we often still behave as if we don’t belong to that “something” and that it is at best inconvenient to be reminded that we do. Why do you think that is?

  • Paths To Choose

    1 Samuel 5:1–6:12, Jeremiah 42:1–43:7

    Asking God what to do can be a “dangerous” prayer. It may lead to something that puts you outside of your comfort zone. It can also be the most fulfilling thing you ever do.

    Fulfilling God’s plans sometimes means that you don’t know you’re doing it. Let’s take the story of the Ark in the land of the Philistines. The precursor to this story is that the Israelites acted more like the Ark was a lucky rabbit’s foot, rather than a very holy symbol (and place of interaction) with God. The Ark, and by extension relationship with God, was not taken seriously. So, the Israelites didn’t keep it.

    The Philistines took it as a war trophy, displaying it before the idol of their god (Dagon). It went downhill from there. The consequence of their behavior was unpleasant. The war trophy became a symbol of a contagion to be avoided. The Philistines no longer wanted the war trophy. The priests of Dagon and the diviners (i.e., established non-friends of God) came up with a guilt offering and a test.

    The cows took the Ark back to the Israelites. After all of that, God’s plan and God’s glory was revealed. Yet, the Philistines, with all of that, went back to their old ways. How often are we just like them?

    The leaders seeking to escape the coming conquest asked for guidance and provided assurance that they would follow it. They heard it and got angry. They asked for guidance and did what was contrary to it. To add insult to injury, one infers that Jeremiah didn’t exactly go happily with them to Egypt. He went in obedience. What a mess.

    The story of the Philistines and the exiles has a similarity…God’s plan and holiness was right in front of them…they chose their own path.

    1) Have you ever asked God for guidance/plan? What happened?

    2) While it’s easy to judge the Philistines and the Israelites for their decisions, what reasons can you think of for their decisions? Have you used similar though processes for your own decisions?

  • Living Beyond

    Matthew 16:24–28, Romans 14:7–9, 2 Corinthians 5:14–15

    “Die to self.” This phrase is often spoken in Christian circles. When it is fully unpacked, it isn’t a bad phrase. However, it is rarely unpacked and instead just left hanging.

    The first, and primary, place in Scripture used to justify this phrase is found in today’s passage in Matthew. Here Jesus speaks about denying oneself. How do we get from denying to dying? That’s a really good question. It would seem that since Jesus is using the cross people automatically tie denying to dying. What if, however, Jesus isn’t talking about death but disgrace? The cross was a place of humiliating death. Despite our cultural appropriation of the cross, in Scripture, the cross is a symbol of death, betrayal (specifically toward the government), and disgrace (you were hung up naked). In fact, it wasn’t death that was the primary issue of the cross, but the disgrace. If we take that perspective, picking up one’s cross was tying disgrace to denial of self. That does put an interesting twist on it, doesn’t it?

    Paul provides a framework in Romans and in 2 Corinthians. It sounds similar, but it is different. Not living for oneself, but living for Jesus and others.

    A healthy part of a parent/child relationship is that the parent forgoes certain things so that their children can flourish. This does not mean that the parents are to “forget” themselves, for if they do they will hamper or even endanger their children. Not that there are not times, but as a general rule this is the case. Another way to think of it is the oxygen masks on airplanes. You may have gone through the “training”. The crew tells you to take care of yourself (aimed at parents) prior to taking care of your children. It is not because people want the children to suffer, but that the parents will make better judgments (oxygen does that) when masked, and are better capable of taking their children after taking care of themselves.

    The reason “die to self” is dangerous is that it implies (or one can readily infer) that one’s very self/identity/awareness is to die. This absolutely is not the case. We are not clones. Denying oneself is very different. In the concept of progressive sanctification (growing in God’s grace and holiness), God started and continues to do good work in each of us. We don’t cease being ourselves, but gradually and continually become a better version of ourselves, coming closer and closer to what we would have been had the world (and us) not fallen into sin.

    The last, maybe most important, reason that “die to self” should cease being used is that it misses the point. We are really to live beyond ourselves. That is what we are called to do. In a cultural climate that is showing increasing amounts of nihilism (especially in the younger generations), the way we speak of a transformative life with Christ shouldn’t use the image of death. Death is all around us. Many (regardless of political affiliation) call our current culture a culture of death (for different reasons, granted). Let’s not be part of the culture. Let us shine the light of LIFE with Christ.

    1) What are ways you can share about LIFE with Jesus to others?

    2) In what aspect of your life are you not living for others? Why? Are you sure?

    3) How will you change how you talk about living for something greater than yourself?

  • Seeking Reliably

    Psalm 24, Isaiah 55:1–13, Romans 11:33–36

    Many folks are obsessed with picking apart the Scriptures to find any issues or incongruities. Some do this out honest inquiry, some do it in an attempt to discredit the Scriptures. The reality is that we have to look at the Scriptures as the writers intended (which can be difficult) and literary type. Often people view the Scriptures as something they are not.

    This is an important concept to understand, especially in light of the last couple of days discussing the Holy Spirit and Jesus. The Scriptures are the starting point to understand God and our relationship with God.

    Psalm 24 is a victorious Psalm. Yet, God is no mere victorious general entering the city of Jerusalem. God is so much more. Tucked in the Psalm is “Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” This seeking is the next step. We are called to seek God and we start with the Scriptures. As we seek God and read the Scriptures, only then can begin to grasp just what it means to know the “King of Glory.”

    Isaiah’s is the call of God to each and every one to seek Him. In the midst of trials, exile, and destruction, God is still calling people to turn to Him. Will they all escape the judgement? No. That isn’t the point, and never was. The purpose of seeking God—to have our hearts turned to Him—is not to escape the pain, misery, and fallenness of this world, it is to place it all into the redeeming power of God.

    Redemption and reconciliation are very much a part of Paul’s message. When Paul speaks about the depth of the riches, it is not—again—to escape, but to put into perspective our experiences in the world. In comparison to God, what we think is small. In comparison to God, we are insignificant; from a human perspective, that is. God cares for us all. It is not that God diminishes our troubles or joys. It is that while what revolves around us is hugely important, there is still a larger picture.

    Knowing God means not just the Holy Spirit or Jesus or God the Father, but seeking God fully and doing our best to understand God. We have the tools and gifts: the Scriptures, the church (framily and tradition), our minds, our experience.

    1) What is one area of the 4 (Scriptures, church, mind, experience) that you rely or focus most on? Why? How might that be disadvantageous?

    2) What is the one area you are the weakest in? Why? How could you strengthen that area?

    3) As inheritors of the Protestant tradition, we often hold the Scriptures extraordinarily high to the detriment of the other 3. Yes, holding the Scriptures highly is a good thing. However, balance is required, so why is that a bad thing?

  • Beyond A Name

    Isaiah 43:1–4, 1 Peter 1:13–23

    Do you know somebody’s name? Of course, you do. You know yours. You know the names of loved ones. You know the names of friends. You probably know the names of people that are not that close. We sometimes dismiss the importance of names. If we thought about it, though, if someone doesn’t address us by name, we wonder if they really know who we are. We wonder if they care.

    God’s words to Isaiah tell us that God knows our name. God calls us by name. The Creator knows you by name. There is a relationship there. Once we acknowledge the relationship, then what?

    Peter reminds us what is fully responsive and reciprocating relationship with God is. Sober-minded. Some immediately attached alcohol to this. It really is about being firmly rooted in Christ, and not inclined to bounce around. Peter explains it as hope in God’s complete and utter grace.

    God doesn’t just call us by name. God calls us into a life of holiness. The 5 questions below are a modified version of John Wesley’s questions for bands. They are good for self-reflection and are best in a small trusted group of the same gender.

    1. How is it with your soul?
    2. What are your struggles and successes?
    3. Any sin to confess?
    4. Anything you want to keep secret?
    5. How might the Holy Spirit be speaking and moving in your life?

    You are called to a life of holiness. You can live it when surrendered to Jesus Christ.