Devotion.al

Tag: wisdom

  • Circle of Life and Death

    Genesis 2:4–19, Isaiah 2:11–22, Proverbs 3:1–18

    “… to Ashes; Dust to Dust…”—Book of Common , Burial Liturgy

    The Circle of was (and remains) a powerful song. Just the title itself reminds us that life is a circle. Adam (i.e., mankind) came from dust. That dirt swept off the floor or vacuumed out of the carpet is just a large amount of dust. We look around our homes and can see dust on books, or tables, or bookshelves, or other places. Dust. If being compared to dust thrown in the trash can bothers you, you can think of yourself being made from stardust (like Carl Sagan wrote/spoke, and musician Moby sang). It may not be much better. It’s still dust. It is (and should be) humbling that we are of dust.

    revolves a lot around repentance. The greatest of repentance is pride. Understanding that we are but dust and ashes helps us keep ourselves in the proper . Hopefully, it helps us put aside our sinful pride. As Isaiah warns, God is not pleased with those who think too much of themselves. Humanity’s ongoing struggle is the warring of its own pride, both as a species and as individuals. The litany of items (cedars, oaks, mountains towers, walls, ships) were all things that people bragged and took pride in. Certainly, mankind had everything to do with the cedars, oaks, and mountains (that was sarcasm). People take pride in things that are not their own, and will often use that same pride against . Everything will come crashing down around pride-filled humanity, and they will be reduced to dwelling in caves and holes. The passage in Isaiah ends with humankind only having the in his nostrils…the breath that God put there (Genesis 2:7).

    God’s breath in us…we who are made of dust. “Trust in the LORD with all your , and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We often trust the dust and not the breath. We trust the filth and not the life that we have been given. In our pride, we rely on our own and others’ dust. When we trust God, and not our worldly knowledge and “wisdom,” we relinquish our pride. When we accept that we do not and can not understand it all, God is the only reliable answer. Once we arrive at that destination, true repentance can occur. With our repentance, we open ourselves to be formed and re-formed by the one through whom all things were made…Jesus Christ.

    One of the traditions of Lent is to something up. It is not a rule or must do, it is a tradition. It is a good spiritual practice.
    1) If you have decided to give something up, what is it? Why that? How will it draw you closer to God?
    2) If you haven’t decided to do this practice, why not? Again, not that it is a requirement

  • Not Always Better

    Deuteronomy 9:1–9:7, Psalm 36, Romans 5:20–6:11

    You have been trouble from the beginning of this! Moses’ long good-bye speech (all of Deuteronomy) is a summary of God, God’s message, God’s calling, and Israel’s past, current, and future response. It’s not pretty.

    We can often look at the Israelites and question their memory, wisdom, or sanity. How do they keep making the same basic mistakes? Of course, we really get the Cliff Notes or Spark Notes version. A quick summary of the highlights, 40 years of highlights. If you could only write the highlights of your , you could make it short, too. Plus, you would write about you, and some close , and maybe some large events. This summary of the Israelites journey from Egypt to the threshold of the Promised Land (for the 2nd time) is for a populace that many times larger than the City of Marysville. If we took only our highlights, or perhaps lowlights, our story may sound similar. Moses is driving home a point. Don’t take God’s for granted, and don’t ruin the inheritance of God.

    Much of the story of the Israelites’ travels from Egypt to the Promised Land is about hearts that were not continually grateful (and therefore humble). They had food they barely worked for (Mana). They were (generally) protected from enemies. Their clothes and sandals didn’t wear out. They had plenty of herds. They had plundered Egypt. They became comfortable with what they had and felt they should get more. They looked back at an idealized and false view of Egypt and threatened to to Egypt if they didn’t get what they wanted. They certainly weren’t . They were definitely stubborn. They were receiving the result of God’s promise to people long dead. God was faithful.

    Even in Moses’ time, the truth of ‘s words still rings loudly, “…where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more.” (Romans 5:21) Throughout the journey, God’s grace was abundant. While the Israelites didn’t think this way, apparently there were that wanted to sin more (or thought they should) so that God’s grace would be even larger. Paul’s head may have not been in his hands in disbelief, but nevertheless, his disbelief comes through his writing. Of course, we should seek to sin more! That’s what we were saved from! Why would we go back to that life? Oh, , that sounds familiar. The Israelites wanted to go back to “that life.” Somehow, the slavery that they left (the law and sin) was somehow better than the Promised Land (grace and blessing).

    That is, however, the problem with many of the sins we struggle with. It seems “better” to live that way. It seems “better” to the world. It seems “better” to those around us. It must be better than.

    1) Why do we often return to the bad stuff (habits, behaviors, thoughts) that has been and is working out of us?

    2) Why does our of the way we used to live still pull us back?

    3) The Israelites left harsh conditions. Why would they choose slavery over freedom? When have you done the same?

    FD) What is grace?

  • How Do We Look?

    Psalm 120, Mark 13:9-13, 2 Peter 1:20-2:9

    Psalm 120 is a lament. The psalmist is among those who live a life of lies. These same people are warmongers, seeking strife and conflict. The psalmist is living in foreign lands that seek no peace, but the cry of the psalmist’s is for peace. The psalm begins with the end. God answered him, the rest of the psalm is about what the problem was. The truth is that while the psalmist was referring to a specific people, we all know the type. There are those that do not seem happy unless there is conflict. There are those who do not trust peace. When one does not have peace, one resorts to force fairly quickly. We are all guilty of this to some degree. Sometimes the response is yelling, crying, ambivalence, disregard. These all are violent to the heart and soul of others, and often to ourselves. We quickly think that all violence is physical. The truth is that violence is the outward of an inward .

    Jesus’ words in Mark are certainly not comforting. They can be terrifying. The internal strife of families torn apart. Neighbors calling out neighbors. Remember the Second Great Commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the outward sign of it not being so. Jesus is warning that his peace is not the peace of this world. All too often, the peace of this world is bought and paid for by blood and . The peace of God is not so. The psalmist understood this. The response of the psalmist to those around him was, “God save me!” It wasn’t a slap to the face, or something more. It was . As Jesus continues, he refers to the Holy . The Holy Spirit is the source of the peace of God. When the Holy Spirit resides in us, we can to those around us with a and that is not ours.

    The God-ly wisdom of the Holy Spirit requires our humility. Peter has to confront people already who say that they have a new revelation from God. Peter is quick to point out that the prophets themselves did not understand their prophecies (unless granted so by God). It was only after the fact that it was proven that their prophecies were true. This is an important thing as the , and groups that masquerade as the church, often have those that call themselves prophets or revealers or divine actors of some sort that are bringing a new truth from God. Often these new truths are then used in ways that are violent to the hearts and souls of the innocent (and even not-so innocent). These people use the power of media, guilt, society, anything at all to crush the hearts of the people of God. We too can be guilty of using God in this same way. God’s ways are the ways of peace. God’s ways are the ways that sooth and heal.

    1) Has some “religious” person ever said something to you that was hurtful? How did that make you feel toward the religious they claimed to follow?

    2) Often (and rightly) people are told that if they are abandoning religion because of people, then they are looking at the people not God. What does that mean, then, when we also say, “we may be the only Jesus they every see?”

    3/FD) Being a peace-lover or peace-maker does not mean being a pushover. How does one make peace without violence?

  • Worth or Hardly Worth Doing

    Psalm 1; 2 Kings 5:1–14; Luke 3:1–18

    Let’s reword Psalm 1:1…

    How happy is the one who walks in the advice of the holy and righteous, who walks on the path set by God, and sits in the company of those who follow the Lord.

    Sometimes by writing the opposite in the Wisdom/Poetry literature, it helps to better understand what the writer is conveying. In Psalm 1, the Psalmist is talking about a filled with and by God. This is a life of relationship with God, and those who choose to be called by his name and be led by him, and in fellowship with other believers. This may often seem slow, monotonous, and unexciting. People will often avoid such a life, and look at things outside, which seem more dramatic or exciting.

    Naaman initially rejected Elisha’s instructions for not meeting his expectation. He was expecting at least a hand-waving! Naaman, at least, would have accepted miraculous (with the hand-waving), but whether it was geographic pride (my rivers are better than yours) or personal pride (Elisha didn’t come to see him personally), Naaman was ticked. What is particularly interesting is Naaman’s servants’ approach to the matter. They rhetorically ask him that if Elisha’s (God’s) requirement was some great feat (contextually, some military matter), wouldn’t he have done it?

    On the surface, Elisha’s hand-waving and a great feat are different. Truly, though, they both revolved around Naaman’s pride. His pride was a barrier to his healing. This is why the wisdom of Psalm 1 applies. Sometimes, living the clean (righteous, holy, etc) life isn’t doing huge things, are having huge things happening to you, but resting beside the living water of God, and taking in the and goodness that it brings.

    There are other times when resting in your life, leads to other issues. When John starts baptizing people, he calls out to the comfortable and those seeking excitement. He calls them Brood (or offspring) of Vipers. It is not a stretch to believe that John was telling them that their bite (i.e., hearts and words) would lead to death, as vipers are poisonous snakes. One could also infer the connection between the snake of Eden (tempting Adam and Eve into the first ) and the viper (who leads to death).

    The people, both the general populace and the Pharisees, could claim that they were looking for the Messiah (or his messenger), or looking for a better life. Yet, John does put a result out there. Those who say they repent (and thus could be baptized) were to display “good fruit.” The implication being that no good fruit was being produced.

    Naaman and John tie together the contradiction of the condition. If we think it’s it, we’ll do really hard things that require . However, sometimes the hardest thing is to do nothing exciting. On the other hand, we are also people of a culture who want to be like many of those baptized by John and just be done after that one thing. Yet, the true life offered through Christ is relational. is not meant to be “the “. It’s not even meant to be the beginning. Baptism is the public profession of the faith in Christ inside our . It is another step along the road of life with Christ.

    1. How do you see the need for excitement or big events driving your personal life? How about your work or school life? How about your faith and/or church life?
    2. We seek both comfort and excitement. Where do you find that contradiction in yourself?
    3. What would attract you to “sit” with God? What draws you away from it?
    4. [FD] What big thing would you like to do for God? What small things do you do for God?

  • Salvation of Becoming

    Psalm 2; Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 56:1-8; Luke 2:41-52

    Many people have taught and believed that once a person prays the Sinner’s that they are safe from Hell. The most famous one was used by Billy Graham to lead people to Christ. It is:

    Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my and . I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your .

    Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) has a slightly different version, which is:

    Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

    And there are plenty more. While Billy Graham led people to Christ through this prayer, something is missing. The Cru version both simplifies and expands on the famous Billy Graham version. Do you see the biggest difference? Look to the . The Billy Graham version goes, “…I want to…” The Cru version says, “…Take control…Make me…” Billy Graham firmly believed that with Jesus was not, “say the prayer, and you are done.” Yet, many Christians, using Billy Graham’s prayer, believed exactly that. Many responded (related) to Jesus and lived (or live) a life of daily transformation. Others, sadly, said the prayer, did not change (nor submit to being changed), went on the way they already lived, but assumed they were saved.

    The Cru version is better in that there is an identification that God will be doing the work, and the person will be doing the submission/inviting/surrendering. The Cru version gets closer to the heart of the matter. Salvation isn’t just a series of words, it is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

    In Psalm 2 we read, “You are my son; today I have become your .” This a relational transformation. This is the next step of salvation. Both passages of Isaiah consist of relational transformation, you were this, you are now this. Relational transformation is not new to Christ. Through the prophets, God was saying it constantly. It is not the rules, it is the living.

    This past Sunday, we heard about Jesus having difficulties of being a 12-year old boy, and doing things as a 12-year old boy would do. Part of the teaching was how after the event of being lost (okay, left behind) and found (at the Temple), Jesus was obedient, and increased in and stature. This too is relational transformation. There is a tidbit that wasn’t discussed, as it would have distracted from the message: the question of Jesus’ response.

    There are 2 common translations of Jesus’ words, “…being about my Father’s business…,” and “…be in my Father’s house…” There is a continuity in Jesus’ words, and that is the relationship to God the Father. While we might take it for granted (especially, since it’s Jesus), in the context of the day, Jesus was connecting his identity (and his inheritance) to God the Father, not Joseph his father. Culturally, this is similar to saying, “you’re dead to me,” to Joseph. While this, of course, wasn’t Jesus’ intent, we can take a lesson from it.

    When we pray the sinner’s prayer, make the commitment to allow ourselves to be transformed, and choose to be in relationship with God (Father, Son, and Spirit), we are telling the death, the powers of darkness, the world, and our sin, “you are dead to me.” We then take on the mantle of a child of God.

    1. If Jesus is the Savior, the Lord, why is the temptation so strong to just “get it done” with a prayer? How should the of that temptation inform your life with Jesus?
    2. Regarding your spiritual life (church, life groups, devotional reading, bible reading, prayer), are you tempted to just, “get it done,” so that you can check it off the list?
    3. Why does “get it done” work against a relationship?
    4. [FD] Why do you want a relationship with Jesus? What is a relationship?

  • Old With New

    Psalm 147:12-20, Proverbs 1:1-7; James 3:13-18

    He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and judgments to Israel.
    He has not done this for every nation;
    they do not know his judgments.
    Hallelujah!

    Psalm 147:19-20


    The fear of the LORD
    is the beginning of ;
    fools despise wisdom and discipline.

    Proverbs 1:7

    Christianity is rooted in Judaism. That must never be ignored or denied. Judaism provides context for the New Testament. The New Testament loses much of its weight and impact when separated from Judaism. That is not to say that Judaism as practiced today is insightful, just that , the 12 original Apostles, Matthias (the man who replaced Judas Iscariot), and Paul were all Jews. It would be better to say that Christianity is the fullest expression of what Judaism was intended to be.

    The essentiality of this understanding means that we, just as Jews have done, must wrestle with the Old Testament. The Psalmist declares that Israel (the Jews) are blessed as they know (and have experienced) God’s statues and judgments. The Psalmist basically is saying that everyone else has lost out, as they don’t know God. The understanding is that people who don’t know Jesus as the Saving of God have lost out. While there is a difference, there is a strong similarity: not being of the family of God is losing out.

    In Proverbs, the introduction ends on a powerful and significant note, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.” In this instance, fear is reverence and respect one feels towards one’s God. In other words, God is God, and I am not. Fools are those who do not have God in the right . This takes the “losing out” aspect and adds on foolish. This is the foolishness of the despairing and . This foolishness takes on a number of forms, pride, shame, ignorance, fear and even hatred. The words of James guide us in how to answer this. Wisdom.

    In particular, it is God’s wisdom that will guide the willing person away from the foolishness of the world, and toward the wisdom of God. As the bearers of God’s Word, we are to be humble and gentle. It is to come from a heart that knows God is God, and I am not. This same heart seeks to be like God and those whose hearts are far away and draw them closer.

    1) The world often looks at Jesus’ followers and shakes its head. It sees our weakness, and attacks it. In light of the passages we’ve read, how can we ?

    2) What do you think worldly wisdom is? Can and Godly wisdom ever be aligned?

    KD) Why do you think it is important to remember that God is God, and you are not?