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Devotion.al

Tag: remember

  • Dividing Rightly

    Dividing Rightly

    Luke 12:49–56; John 17:20–26 (read online ⧉)

    Jesus’ words are definitely uncomfortable. They are intended to be. The image of warm cuddly Jesus is great in pictures and in our hearts. It also true. However, there is a hardness to Jesus that we try to ignore, for when we see it we often become afraid.

    It is here in these words that some of our fears seem to be right there. Separation from family is a big one. In a culture where family was the primary social and survival network, dividing from one’s family was often a death sentence.

    If you were to take Jesus’ words and put them in someone else’s mouth (for the sake of argument, President Trump), there would be many people who would immediately agree that this sounds like Trump. Trump, whether by his own actions and words or by the overwhelming dislike toward him by many seems to have fulfilled this.

    Before you think that this is supporting or defending Trump, it is neither. It is actually a mirror. Our society, and in many ways the whole world, is divided just as these words of Jesus go.

    If we view others as being part of the family of God (whether in our biological family, church family, city, state, country, continent, the world), these words had better be distressing! We are divided from our brothers and sisters in Christ, because of skin color, language, nationality. Not much of “be as one” as we ought to be.

    In many respects, this is what makes faithful Christians dangerous to many powers. Loyalties that supersede the state is bad. Authoritarian countries have been known to keep or gather familial “hostages” to assure the return of scientists, teachers, politicians, athletes, and business leaders. Faithful Christianity is more dangerous insofar as keeping things within the state, yet strong ties outside of the state.

    It’s likely you thought of one of those authoritarian nations. It’s not just authoritarian nations. We can look at the United States and see the tensions that go along with Christianity. Certain Christians are challenging the authority of the government around churches being closed for health safety. Many of these same Christians challenge the Patriotism and even the faith of those who question the government or the country in other circumstances.

    This is not to point at a side, nor think that another side doesn’t have as bad or worse issues regarding faith, patriotism, and country.

    Division under the direction and love of Jesus Christ isn’t bad. In fact, it is scriptural. However, within the division, there still needs to be unity of heart. This unity of heart is toward fellow members of the Body of Christ. We love them because God loves them.

    When we question whether another’s motives are Christian, we first need to look in the mirror to make sure we are being Christian.

    Remember, the love of each other (unity) is how the world knows that Jesus is in us and that Jesus was sent by the Trinity to the world. Our love for each other, especially in these times, is how the world can see that Jesus is love.

    ※Prayer※
    God, you are love. As your children, we are to be love. Help us to be strong in love. Amen.

    ※Questions※
    1) Arguing well and respectfully is a lost skill. Why do you think such a vital skill to a democracy, republic, and faith communities has been so deeply lost?
    2) Why does arguing often devolve into issues of authority and power?

  • Seashell Summer

    Seashell Summer

    Matthew 3:1–13; Mark 10:35–40; John 13:1–11; 1 Peter 3:18–22 (read online ⧉)

    What is one thing you think of when it comes to Summer? How about a Summer trip or vacation? Today is the first day of Summer. Today is also National Seashell Day, in honor of trips to the ocean being the summer trip that many people take.

    For those of us more familiar with coastal life, the sea may not represent the most interesting thing. For many, it is a place of recovery and peace. For others, it is a place of power and majesty (there really is nothing like a storm on the Pacific coast). For others still, it is a place of family and fun. Then for others, it represents the most dreaded time of all, concentrated time with family.

    The seashell actually has a place in the Christian world, too. If you are familiar with Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, and Roman Catholic baptism traditions, it is not uncommon for the priest to pour water over an infant 3 times using a seashell invoking, “In the name of the Father (pour 1), and in the Son (pour 2), and in the Holy Spirit (pour 3).”

    Where and how the seashell (in particular the Scallop seashell) was tied to baptism is tied to 2 men. The first would be St James the Greater who supposedly used the seashell to beg for alms on his pilgrimage, allowing even the poorest person to feel generous and able to give. How this exactly would have gotten tied to baptism is a mystery, so is unlikely.

    The other likely avenue is St. Augustine, who had a vision of a boy trying to empty the sea with a seashell. After suggesting the boy why of this pointless activity, the boy retorted why are you trying to comprehend the entirety of the mystery of the Trinity. This as some greater weight, tying in water, pouring of water, and the Trinity. Still, someone would have had to make a huge leap.

    There is another theory that John the Baptist used such to “aid” in baptism. However, one of our Jewish friends made a valid point that John would not have used an “unclean” (or non-Kosher) item to do such. Of the 3, the tie to Augustine makes the most sense.

    However, there appear to be mosaics and frescos that predate Augustine that still have the seashell. Take your favorite theory and it’s fine. Just note that using a seashell for baptism is not mentioned in the Bible, so it is neither necessary nor forbidden.

    The methods of performing baptism (immersion once, immersion thrice, pouring, drawing the cross, infant, child, confessing, adult) have long been an issue in the church. It is one well worth wrestling over for it is a command of Jesus. Yet, seashells are a weird non-sequitur, and there may be others you can think of. Such traditions and symbols can be valuable, but only if used and explained.

    While denominations have been formed over methods and timing of baptism, none of them deny the significance of baptism. Wesleyans (such as the Church of the Nazarene, of which Generations is a part) believe that baptism is an outward sign (public profession) of inner faith. Other traditions hold that baptism is the act by which a person (particularly a child) is irrevocably sealed to the family of God. There are myriads of understandings.

    What isn’t up for debate is whether one should be baptized. The symbolism of death and resurrection. The public profession of faith. The commandment of Jesus. All are part of the Christian journey and life.

    One thing to leave you with. The tradition (inherited from the Jews) is baptism in “living” water. If you do make a trip to the sea or rivers, take some time with God and remember your baptism.

  • Kneel

    Kneel

    Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 14:32–42 (read online ⧉)

    Peter was concerned about the kingdom here on earth, not the kingdom that Jesus was ushering in. Jesus would have nothing to do with that thinking. Jesus chose the will of God the Father over his earthly will. It’s not as if the human side of Jesus wasn’t tempted. Remember, Jesus was tempted in all ways.

    It is not accidental that a few short verses later that Jesus spoke about his disciples (e.g., Peter) having to deny themselves for the cross. By invoking the cross, it isn’t the pretty crosses many of us wear. It was the ugly cross. You died in misery, publicly, naked, and it started with you carrying the very thing upon which you died. It was shameful and for rebels. That was merely the Roman side. For the Jews, a person who died on a tree was cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22–23).

    Therefore, Jesus tying the cross to discipleship must have come as quite a shock. Jesus was all but promising that his “true” followers would have to willingly pick up their own means of execution and shame, and be cursed. The disciples found that encouraging…right?

    When we gloss over the cross when we read about losing lives then gaining, we can miss the significance of what it means. It isn’t just about the cross. It isn’t just about the humiliation. It isn’t just about the curse.

    It’s about submission.

    Submission is a hard word, especially for many Americans who value their individual liberties. Submission, or the lack thereof, may be why we are seeing what we are seeing right now. This is not about the submission of one skin color to another. This is not about the submission of one culture to another (though there is a bit of that). This is certainly not about submission to the government (though there is a Christian response to that).

    This is about submission to Jesus Christ and then mutual loving submission to fellow believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.

    How this is to be practiced is hard. It’s really hard to figure out, especially with the focus on individuality and individual liberty that the United States (and Western Culture as a whole) is so obsessed with. We often view our submission as if the “other” person wins and we lose. That isn’t Jesus’ way.

    When we lose, we win. When we submit in Christian love and mutual Christian submission, we submit to Jesus Christ, who submitted to us, by dying for our sin.

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, as we look to you as our example, help us to surrender ourselves to your authority. As we submit, help our hearts know that the person we submit to already died for us that we might be whole. Amen.

    ※Questions※

    1) As a Christian, who might you have to submit to in Christian love and humility?

    2) Can a “worldly” Christian submit to others?

    3) While submitting to Christians should be (relatively) easy, why is it so hard? What about submitting to people of the world?

  • Not Them Anymore

    Not Them Anymore

    Matthew 15:17–28; Ephesians 4:17–24 (read online ⧉)

    For I am the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy. —Leviticus 11:45

    When the Israelites were brought out of the land of Egypt, it wasn’t going to be things as usual. We often focus on the slavery and the misery, for this was the reality of the Israelites in Egypt by the time Moses was born, and very much so after his return from Midian.

    Today, we would say that this was in the rearview mirror. That was their life. It was to be their life no longer. However, that also meant that practices that they copied from Egyptian culture had to be culled. Other than their bloodline, there were only three things that otherwise tied them together, their story, circumcision, and a promised land that was not in Egypt. That’s it.

    We look back at them and say, YES! Many would argue that the United States couldn’t keep the “dream” of the Founding Fathers alive, and it hasn’t been 300 years! They waited over 400 years! How tightly they must have held onto those 3 things. Yet, there would have been a lot of other stuff that they took with them. They needed to understand that a line has been drawn. They are now called to be holy, for God is holy. The key (oversimplified) part is that God defined what is holy.

    The first piece (again, oversimplified) was don’t be an Egyptian (don’t even walk like one). That extended to other tribes and nations, too. The Promised Land contained the Canaanites. They were the people that the Israelites were supposed to drive out for they would cause the Israelites to fall away from God (so said God). They didn’t drive them out. So, down the timeline we have one of these Canaanite women come to Jesus so that he will heal her daughter.

    Here, as in other times with Jesus, that while he is first called to the Jews, to those that pursue, he would still respond. That Jesus would still respond to a generational enemy tells us much about Jesus. It also tells us that being “called out of Egypt” is more than the story of Exodus. It can be our story, too.

    Paul sets this story forward in Ephesians, too. This letter was likely a circular letter passed among the churches of Asia Minor and found a permanent home in Ephesus (hence the name). Historians come to that conclusion for a number of reasons, but one of the more interesting points is that this letter is not addressed to anyone specifically (see other letters of Paul). Paul intended or expected this letter to have a life of its own (kind of like those forwarded emails and now Facebook messages that keep coming back year-after-year).

    That makes this particular passage from Ephesians even more interesting. He makes the statement that the hearers/receivers of the letters should not be like Gentiles. Sounds pretty straightforward, except that many (if not most) of them were Gentiles! Paul, so to speak, was telling them that they were now called out of Egypt.

    Gentiles are, to these Christians, a different people from themselves. They, who were once Gentiles, were called to be Gentiles no longer!

    ※ Prayer ※
    God, you called us out of the darkness of our souls to be something greater than we could be on our own. As we look with hopeful expectations for the returning to some sort of normal, help us to remember that we are daily called out of Egypt to be your holy people. Amen.

    ※ Questions ※
    1) Swap Gentiles with American (or whatever nationality is your “heart” nationality). How do Paul’s words feel now?

    2) Those of the so-called Western Civilization are often blind to the differences between the general culture and the Christian culture, often because we fail to understand what it means to be Christian. What is one thing you can think of that conflicts?

    3) Life as usual is not (really) the Christian life. What is unusually Christian about your life? Do any non-Christians practice the same? If so, now what?

  • Calling Others

    Calling Others

    John 6:44–51; Acts 15:12–21; Romans 1:16–25 (read online ⧉)

    One of the hardest things for any believer is the understanding that a loved one may not be with them in Heaven. Whether one believes in Dante’s 7 circles of Hell, the Hell of endless torment, or the Hell of eternal life “merely” not being in God’s presence, or the Hell that is interim before the Great Day of Judgement and one’s final decision toward life or annihilation (Revelation 20:11–15) it doesn’t matter insofar as not having that loved one with you in eternal life.

    So, in avoidance of this hard truth, many people have developed a folk theology that there is no Hell and no eternal separation from God. It is not just Christianity that is experiencing it. In face, if one were to boil down the religions of reincarnation (mostly Buddhist and Hindu, but not exclusively), it’s that one is not good enough to not be incarnated so they get to start all over again. It’s not Hell in the Christian sense, but repeating lives until perfection can sound pretty close.

    The hardest part for all of us is the tension that we walk. Most of us aren’t “old school” knocking on our neighbor’s doors and barging into their lives to “save” them. Sometimes we are made to feel guilty because we’re not. Yet, if your neighbors are automatically resistant to Christianity because of a lifestyle choice (for example) that they “know” God “hates”, only time will ever work through that. That being said, one has to be will to work through that time.

    Family is often the hardest. Oddly enough, we won’t know all the pieces that brought a person to walk away from, ignore, or even hate Jesus and his church, and that’s even when they’re family. Sometimes, even more heart-wrenching is that some of the events that solidified our faith are the very ones that destroyed the faith of others. Shared experiences do not necessarily equal the same results (part of the whole nature versus nurture debate).

    It “used to be” so much easier. We would recite a formula (as I look back on it, almost like a magic spell), and people would be saved. Or we’d follow a “road” in the Bible, that “proved” that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no perfect formula nor is there a perfect road that will finally bring people to Jesus, at least not one that works in every time and place, and for every person. The reality is that this often displays a human sinful flaw…our desire to be the hero…our desire to save…our desire to be Jesus.

    Paul’s words seem rather harsh to our post-modern ears. Some people read them as, “They don’t believe in God? Then to Hell with them!” However, Paul is addressing a fundamental reality, “they” want proof? It’s all around them, and you (personally) will not change that perspective. This is when Jesus’ words of calling people to the Father make the most sense. The Truth is there. People’s hearts have to be open to see the Truth behind the truth. Only God does that.

    Prayer

    Father God, we know only you, through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit, call people to you. Only you can truly call. Help us to surrender that to you. Help us remember that it is not us. Guide us into the places and conversations that you want us to have, that is part of your calling of others to live in and with you. Amen.

    Questions

    1) What was the most recent conversation with a non-believer like regarding Jesus? When you look back on it, how does that make you feel?

    2) Do you feel responsible for someone else’s decision to follow Jesus? How is it your responsibility? How is it not your responsibility?

    3) Knowing that there is no perfect way to bring people to Jesus, how do you react to that? How does that make you feel in regards to the conversation in question 1?

  • Faithfulness Remembered and Expressed

    Psalm 119:9–16; Haggai 2:1–9; John 12:34–50 (read online ⧉)

    Haggai’s message was to encourage people who were feeling worn regarding the temple and its rebuilding. While the people of Israel were rebuilding their lives, the restoration of the temple was not moving as well. There is the political climate regarding the difficulties that would arise with the surrounding powers with the temple rebuilding. For those who were old enough to remember, Haggai reminded them of the glory of the old temple, trying to stir them up so that they could invigorate others. Through Haggai, God reminded them that he was faithful and that things could be great again, should they do their part to honor God through rebuilding his temple. God would then fill his temple with his glory.

    This God’s glory in the temple paradigm was to be cataclysmically changed with Jesus. God could no longer be viewed as distant, but now very much present. Like all huge changes in thinking, it was going to be painful and jarring. The pain of transition would begin with Jesus betrayed and hung on a cross. Jesus foreshadowed what was to occur, but the people seemed to have a sense themselves as they proclaimed that the Messiah would remain forever; a not-so-subtle dig that if Jesus ever died he was not the Messiah.

    Jesus did not allow the nay-sayers to change his story. With his declaration equating denial of him and his words was denying God the Father and his words, Jesus made it clear that their understanding of the Messiah was not complete.

    He ultimately answered their challenge with:”…I know that his commandment [Jesus’ obedience to death] is eternal life.” John 12:50

    In other words, only by dying will Jesus actually become the Messiah who remained forever.

    1. What is your reaction to Jesus’ obedience being death?

    2. When you think of martyrs who also were obedient, what is your response to their choice? Why?

  • Expecting or Distracted?

    Psalm 51:1-12; Habakkuk 3:2–13; John 12:1–11

    It is so easy to be distracted from the important things in life. Some blame electronics. Others blame the media. Others blame no prayer in school. Others blame a culture that has walked away from its somewhat Christian-ish roots. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human behavior.

    O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
    and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
    In our own time revive it;
    in our own time make it known;
    in wrath may you remember mercy.

    The opening stanza of Habakkuk’s song tells us that our disengagement from God is nothing new. Habakkuk calls us to be in awe of God. If you’ve ever had the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds fly over you in formation, you’ve had that sense of thunder through the entirety of your body. The jet wash passes over you. The sound overwhelms you. Plus the smell (which you may not like) of burnt jet fuel. There is an almost instinctual resonance to such an experience. Multnomah or Snoqualmie Falls with the spring runoff can do the same with the overwhelming volume of water, both noise and sheer amount.

    All of that pales in comparison to the awe that we ought to feel when we contemplate God. As we wait for Christ’s return we, like Habakkuk, want God to make his glory undeniably known, and that his overwhelming wrath to overcome sin and evil, with a lot of mercy. While we may not be overwhelmed by God, there still appears to be that wiring inside of us that is looking for it with hopeful expectation.

    Hopeful expectation.

    The Jews, under Roman occupation, were waiting for something. Some didn’t know what they were waiting for. Some were waiting for a revolution. Some were waiting for a Messiah. Those waiting for a Messiah—a savior—had a hopeful expectation.

        “You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed.” [Habakkuk 3:13]

    1. Are you being truthful to yourself when say, “I’m waiting expectantly for Jesus to come back”?
      • If not, what is keeping you from seizing the truth that Jesus is coming back?
      • If so, what can you do to build up the expectation in others?
    2. The power of Good Friday (the day Jesus was crucified), is followed by the blessing of the Resurrection. Yet the Resurrection is not the end. It is only the beginning. How is the Resurrection the beginning for you?

  • Trust, Truth and Restoration

    Daniel 9:16-19, Psalm 25:1-10, 2 Timothy 4:1-5

    Daniel knows that God is holy and righteous. Daniel knows that the people of Israel are in exile and hopeless because they chose to ignore God and the many prophets that He sent. They chose to follow their leaders who looking to earthly things to gain personal value and power. Daniel understood that the current situation was a consequence of unfaithful behavior.

    Yet, Daniel had enough trust in God to know that God would listen and that God, ultimately, wanted Israel restored, not just as a nation or people, but as a people of God. Daniel understood that it would only by God’s mercy that Israel would be restored. He was confessing on behalf of an entire people that they had missed the mark, yet he still asked.

    1) In Psalm 25:6-7 (NIV), the psalmist writes, “Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.”
    Just like Daniel, the psalmist was appealing the consequences based upon God’s mercy and love, knowing that both preexisted the errors of the psalmist. Daniel, too, that God’s mercy and love existed long before he did, or the tribe and nation of Israel existed. The underlying thought here is that there was something that needed to be forgiven; there was something that needed to be repented of. Is there something that you think could be a problem, but aren’t certain that it is a problem that God is concern about? Bring it to God, anyways! That small thing could very well help you heal in other areas in your life, or God may use it to show you what is really hampering your relationship with Him.

    2) In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is warning Timothy that people will get to a point where they will not listen because they don’t want to. It is no different than what the people of Israel had done for generations prior to their exile. The very things Daniel was repenting of. We are often quick to say that there is false teaching all around us, even in our church!

    Have you thought there was false teaching? What did you do?

    Do we ever call something false teaching that does not conflict with scripture, but appears to conflict with our understanding or traditions?

  • Do Black Sheep Stay Black?

    Genesis 49:1–2 and 49:8–12, 2 Samuel 7:12–16, Luke 1:67–79, Revelation 5:2–14 (read online ⧉)

    You might have gathered from all the scriptures that this is about the lineage of Judah. The lineage of the same guy from yesterday’s devotion who seem to not particularly care about those of his lineage that followed him. Despite that, his father made a prophetic pronouncement that Judah had the scepter and the staff. The scepter represents the ability and position of rule. In other words, kingship was the domain of Judah. In addition, the same word also can be translated as branch or offshoot, which are also words that were applied to the Messiah. The staff probably mentioned in the translation you likely read is troublesome. The KJV is closest with ruler (and that is the way it is often translated elsewhere with Judah). In Hebrew, it also means engraved. Where does this lead us? Combining ruler and engraved is similar to a seal, so going out on a limb…authority. Kings, rulers, presidents have power. Authority is the right to use power.*

    David’s eventual rule over the Kingdom of Israel seemed to begin the fulfillment of Jacob’s prophesy. Then Nathan delivered the Lord’s message. What a message that was! What an amazing way to fulfill an old prophetic message from Jacob the patriarch of Israel. What seems odd is that there does not appear to be a direct acknowledgment of Jacob’s message. It’s there, but it is more implied than directly stated. It seems a reverse of Judah’s perspective. This also shows that despite Judah’s behavior, good can still come from bad. It all depends on what we do with it when we turn to God.

    During Zechariah’s prophecy over his son John (the Baptist), Jesus’ lineage is tied to David. This sees a deliberate tie to the message from God about David’s specific line having the authority. This same line is still the line of Judah. The Israelite concept of a Messianic figure comes long after Judah dies (though it is easily argued that there was plenty of foreshadowing). There is no way that Jacob or Judah could have imagined that God would have become man through their lineage. It would have been far beyond their imagining.

    When Jesus walked the earth, his lineage was predominantly tied to David. After his death and resurrection, however, the name of Judah regained some prominence in all that surrounded Jesus the Christ. We see this in Revelation where it all gets tied together: Judah, David, Messiah, salvation, eternity. What beautiful symmetry.

    1) Does your family or social circle have a “black sheep” (i.e., the person all avoid)? What makes that person a black sheep?

    2) Judah was a black sheep insofar as his behavior (remember yesterday, plus other things). The Messiah, your savior, came from a line of the black sheep. What does that tell you about the potential of your family’s (again, or social circle’s) black sheep?

    3) Why is understanding God’s redemption of black sheep important for our lives and others?

    Action: Look for a way to begin the restoration of a black sheep.

    *This is not a statement on whether current people in power have authority (that can be argued multiple ways with multiple bases), just to be clear. That there was a perceived need to make this statement should also cause each of us to pause and wonder what is really going on in our hearts.

  • The Sky Is Falling, Right?

    Psalm 27:1–6, Acts 9:1–22 (read online ⧉)

    The psalm may have stirred up a hymn or worship song in your mind. If wired a certain way, maybe you started singing. This psalm is from a person who is very weary. The psalmist feels as if there are neverending battles needing to be fought. The psalmist perceives that as long as God is there it’s okay. Now that doesn’t mean from a human perspective that everything will work out fine, just that as God is there it’s okay.

    The psalmist resorts to being in the house of God and seeing God in the temple. God is worth it, so thinks the psalmist. Is there hope and assurance that everything will ultimately work out? Yes. However, trusting God often means not trusting ones’ own plans.

    American Christians, with some justification, are perceiving more and more that the culture (and maybe even the world) is turning against the faith. There has always been some opposition to the faith. It’s not a new thing. Perhaps what we are seeing is a return to true balance, meaning that those that deceived themselves that they were Christians or misunderstood themselves as being Christians have begun to be free of those particular shackles. This in no way implies that Christianity is bad (just to clarify), but that many people misunderstood (and still do) what it means to be a Christian. Instead of mourning or getting defensive or getting angry about all the changes (including in our families) perhaps we ought to look to the psalmist for guidance. We are not called to win on our own, but to work on God’s plan and timetable (honestly, the hardest part). That of course, doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play. Quite the contrary we each have a part to play.

    Paul (formerly Saul) had a part to play. He was one of those who was slandering and attacking Christians to purify the Jews of this sect. His name became feared. His arrival meant nothing good. Except that God had a plan. It certainly, from the outset, didn’t seem like a great plan. Let’s have this guy harass and even endorse the killing of Christians. Let’s have him go from synagogue-to-synagogue and even town-to-town and cleanse the faith. All seemed lost or at least losing. Until Saul had a fateful encounter with Jesus. The event was so profound that Saul chose to go by Paul, meaning that he set aside the old and became new. Remember, he was “the enemy.” Now, his writings are an essential part of the Bible.

    1) Politicians often use fear to motivate. Fear of “losing” Christianity is starting to grow. What should be the proper motivation regarding working for or expanding the Kingdom?

    2) If love is the reason for our faith, then why are we allowing fear to drive our decisions regarding our faith?

    Action: Pray the psalm, asking God for insight as to what it means for your faith and your world.