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Devotion.al

Tag: word

  • Grateful In Ashes

    Joel 2:12-17, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 4:21-6:10 (read online ⧉)

    Through the prophet Joel, God sought to realign the life of the Israelites to Him. God was calling them to live a life oriented to Him. God didn’t want them to miss out on the life they were meant for. As we begin the Lenten season, it is a time for each of us to reflect upon what in our life is keeping us from being oriented on Him.

    From the early days of our faith, Christians have observed the remembrance of Christ’s passion (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter) with great reverence. It became the custom to prepare for that observance by a season of prayer and fasting, and the reconciliation of those who had been separated from the community of faith. When keeping the season of Lent, we take to heart God’s call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and practice in our daily lives the work of reconciliation. You are invited to the observance of Lent through self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.

    On Ash Wednesday, many people to receive the mark of ashes, which is a reminder of our mortal nature and of God’s invitation to receive Christ’s redeeming work. The ashes are a sign of repentance, that one’s life is not as God-focused as it ought to be. It is a declaration that all is not well, that something needs to change.

    As we walk together through Lent, through our paths of reflection, self-denial, and repentance, this is all part of our response of gratitude to God who sent Jesus Christ, the ultimate love letter, to us that we can see that God wants us as His Children.

    1) Giving up something (self-denial and/or fasting) is often practiced during Lent. The purpose is to grow closer to God. If you choose to do this, what will you give up? We challenge you to share whatever this is with someone who will hold you accountable.

    2) Other practices for Lent are focused prayer, self-examination, deeper scripture reading, all of which are intended to draw us deeper and to slow us down. What will you focus on this Lent to grow your Christian walk?

    3) One of the newer trends is to give up something you know you need to give up already. Do you think that could be effective as a spiritual discipline? Why or why not?

  • Learn Deeply

    Mark 9:2–13, Mark 9:30–32 (read online ⧉)

    School could bring happiness to some, and great misery to others. Often the refrain of children is, “what’s the point.” “This is useless.” “I’ll never use this.” Perhaps you’ve said it yourself. Learning can often be hard. Learning new concepts can be even harder. Learning things that shatter your self-perception or perception of the world are the hardest of all.

    With Jesus’ fame as extensive as it was and growing, he and the disciples were probably not often alone, although we don’t really know. Only 3 of the disciples witnessed the Transfiguration. Did the 3 really not tell the others? Can you imagine witnessing such a sight and having to keep quiet? Apparently, they did. Was it possibly just one of those amazing things among other amazing things that they experienced.

    Perhaps it was time to process all those events. Jesus seems to have set some focused time with the disciples. They experienced yet something else that didn’t fit. They had to understand at some point. What is interesting is that this particular time is framed in reference to the coming cross. The implication is that Jesus did some more extensive teaching of his disciples to understand what would happen. Based on future responses, it is likely that Jesus was setting the foundation/groundwork for them to be able to understand in the future, even while they didn’t understand at that point.

    Was it frustrating to Jesus? Many would say, “of course not! He’s Jesus!” On the other hand, Jesus is man, so it makes sense that he would be quite frustrated with their thick-headedness. Teachers deal with this on a constant basis. Parents deal with this on a constant basis. Trying to pass on knowledge requires giving them the framework to build on future knowledge. In an often desperate attempt for the “them” to get it, though, there is this push to get information into them. Yet, that often results in frustration and setbacks.

    Jesus provides us a small example. Give space to process. However, in today’s world, everything is pushing information to us. We often don’t have time—and don’t make time—to process information. This means that the information we are given becomes a confused mess, and often our responses are the same. This leads to hard feelings and wall-building, which is not the intent at all.

    1) What is God calling on you to sit and process? What is one big thing/goal/learning that God has brought into your life that you need God’s help to work through?

    2) Who do you have in your life do you have to help you process things, especially “God” sorts of things?

    3) How do you process things? Do you have another word for “process”?

  • Full Sanctuary, Empty Hearts

    Ezekiel 33:30–33, Matthew 15:1–9 (read online ⧉)

    Let’s be honest with ourselves. Let’s look at ourselves. Let’s look at the lives we lead, the lives we live. Is it us that God is talking to Ezekiel about?

    Reading only the surface of the Scriptures, of course not. The Israelites had turned prophets into spectacles. Perhaps the merchants and peddlers followed the prophets hawking their wares. Perhaps the people’s hearts were so calloused that even the words of God—sharper than any sword—could not carve the hardness away. Pastors, preachers, teachers, prophets, evangelists, apostles all speaking the Word of God, and no one listens. Truly listens.

    When hearing the word of God, do the people respond even with a heartbeat, or does it just go in one ear and out the other? God’s word never returns void, but the human heart often wants nothing to do with feeling the Creator of the universe actually love them. Sound crazy when said that way, yet we look at the world and come to no other conclusion. The sad part is much of that same lack of response occurs in the pews on Sundays. Yes, it’s true. People are concerned about others falling asleep or being on their devices, but the truth is that sometimes sitting there “listening” is a more deceptive behavior than anything else.

    The words in Ezekiel continue with empty and pointless worship. Jesus’ words in Matthew while echoing Isaiah also echoing Ezekiel. How many people don’t worship God when singing the songs? How many even listen to the songs?

    As Jesus continues on about traditions, are Sundays or Saturdays the “right” tradition for a day set aside for God and rest (Sabbath)? Is it which songs are song, or which words of God are repeated?

    1) If you are concerned about other people worshiping or listening to the word when you should be, what might be the problem?

    2) How do worship traditions strengthen your faith? How could they weaken it?

    3) How are the essentials for worship defined? Who defines them?

  • Smite Me or Hug Me

    2 Kings 17:34–41, Psalm 27 (read online ⧉)

    This passage in 2 Kings is a little odd. To make sense in English, fear is not used in a manner consistent with the Hebrew. In the opening (v34) and closing (v41) verses, fear is actually a descriptor (adjective) of the Israelites. In the rest of the verses, “fear” is something you act out. Now, the trouble is that fear has many layers to it. Another way to think of this passage is, “The Israelites did not fear, honor, or respect God enough to solely obey God’s ways, disregarding the covenants made between God and their ancestors. Instead, Israelites feared the false gods of other nations and tribes that did not rescue them mightily and definitively from slavery in the land of Egypt. They feared those gods and viewed them as being at least equal to God. While they feared God, they did not honor or respect God exclusively as they were called to do.” This is not a perfect translation. It isn’t even really a good one. It does help to better understand what is going one when fear was involved.

    Fearing God as the punishing master was never the point. While obedience was required, it was to be out of devotion, admiration, awe, and love. This is one of those cultural pieces that often get lost for us, especially when using the word fear. The other one is the perception of many believers that God is capricious and vicious. What is truly sad is that the gods of the surrounding nations were truly capricious and vicious. How God ended up being cast in that light is a peculiarity of human nature.

    We know that by this point that the descendants of Israel had walked away from God in their hearts if not solely in their actions. This is an important concept to understand as when we read Psalm 27 we get a completely different image of God. If one was truly afraid, why would one view God as a protector? In addition, the psalmist says that his heart will not be afraid. So, fearing (as in terror) God is not a solid image of God.

    Where does this come from? Sure, some of it comes from the Israelites. However, much of it comes from Christianity. There are many old (centuries) and new sermons that abused the concept of fearing (awe) God, turning it into something truly terrifying. You may be one of those who was terrified by sermons delivering a concept of an angry God who was looking for some reason to smite you.

    1) Why would fear and awe get confused? How do you differentiate them when it comes to God?

    2) Why is the concept of overly fearing other gods still relevant today?

  • Another Test?

    Nehemiah 8:1–6; Luke 24:18–27; Acts 17:10–15 (read online ⧉)

    The Israelite Exiles have returned home, sort of. As Ezra reads the Scriptures, the remnant of Israel learns what it means to be God’s chosen people. Generations had already wandered away emotionally and spiritually. Then they went into exile in a foreign land with various gods and practices and unlearned even more. The confrontation with God’s Word was probably startling to many, and heart-wrenching for others.

    Even when theoretically well-established with the Scriptures, and even being (outer) disciples of Jesus, disciples such as Cleopas still needed to have things explained further to him. Perhaps, like many of us, it needed that “one more time” to get. Perhaps Jesus said it the “right” way this time so that Cleopas understood. Maybe for Cleopas, it took the report of the Resurrection and Jesus’ explanation and the breaking of the bread to “get it”. We just don’t know why it took so much for Cleopas (and we really can’t forget Cleopas’ companion) to get it, but each of us has had a similar experience, where we just need to go over it and over it and over it (whatever “it” is).

    This is what makes the Bereans a good example. They eagerly dug into the Scriptures to validate what they were told.

    1) When was the last time you eagerly dug into the Scriptures?

    2) The Israelites needed to test things against the Scriptures but didn’t. How is your habit of testing things against the Scriptures?

    3) Do you recall that we are to test the Scriptures through the lens of God’s love for us as displayed by Jesus Christ? In what ways is this displayed by Jesus’ explanations to Cleopas and his companion?

    Action: take one opinion or commentary regarding or from the world and test it against the Scriptures.

  • Mocking Truth?

    Luke 23:32–43, 2 Peter 3:1–18 (read online ⧉)

    Humor can be cruel. Often it is aimed at an individual who is different than us. Sometimes cruel humor helps us avoid our own insecurities. Humor can be quite painful at times. However, it the cruelty that wraps itself in humor that becomes something completely different. It leads to diminishing of others, not just for a laugh (though that can be quite painful), but for a lifetime. It also leads to blindness, especially blindness to truth.

    Crucifixion was not uncommon in Jesus’ day. It was designed to be what it was…a murderous spectacle. Yet, there were certain things that were added on to it that were not normal: the purple robe, being hailed as “King of the Jews,” the crown of thorns. The soldiers mocked him. The Jewish leaders mocked him. The people mocked him. In the people’s defense, their fear of both the Roman soldiers and the Jewish leaders put them in a situation were likely many of them felt as if they had no choice but to join the mocking. However, just like many of us, this doesn’t particularly excuse it.

    By the time of Peter’s letter, the return of the Lord seemed that it would never happen. The people, therefore, were being mocked for their expectation. In addition, because their expectation was “obviously” false, their way of life and their beliefs were also mocked.

    Peter seeks to remind them that God’s words never return void (Isaiah 55:11). By implication, he is pointing out that God’s promises have come true. By implication, he also points out that the Prophets often did not know the exact timing, just that God was moving. That was the same situation that the church was experiencing. God was moving, it was just not the way and the when they were expecting.

    As Peter also felt the need to reinforce “the Word” conveys some concern the people were diminishing the truth and/or the validity of the Scriptures. Just like many of us are experiencing in this day and age. We experience the scoffers and the doubters, who look at us and the Scriptures and shake their heads in despair of us. They pity us. As belief in the Truth of Christianity wanes, we approach the disbelief alive at the time of Peter (though there is a long way to go). It becomes progressively harder as the ratio of believer to non-believer changes amongst our families, friends, coworkers.

    1) How do you maintain your trust in the Word in the midst of all this disbelief?

    2) What other concerns do you think Peter had in this passage?

    3) Have you ever been mocked or scorned? How about for your faith?

  • 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.

  • Rest or Death?

    Psalm 23 (read online ⧉)

    Psalm 23 is that one Psalm that even many non-Christians appreciate (if not love), and even those who have walked away from the faith still hold onto. Even with people who do not fully understand the imagery of a sheep and shepherd grasp some of the very important pieces from it, even when they don’t believe in God.

    God loves them. Yep. That’s part of what makes this Psalm so amazing. People understand the caring and cherishing love that is conveyed in this Psalm. Those who don’t believe in God or have long struggled with the concept of a loving God versus a harsh God still get it! They want it!

    God cares about them. Making people rest. Places of calming. Places of healing. Who doesn’t want that? And it calls to the unbeliever too!

    Yes, there is a lot more in this Psalm that has called, drawn, nourished, healed people for generations. That is part of the problem. This Psalm is peaceful. It draws into a place of peace. That’s all good. However, it’s supposed to be a place of rest. If it is a place of rest, that means one needs to rest from something. Too often, though, we just want to rest. Rest is good. God built us that way. Too much rest is bad. We become more and more lethargic. We don’t want to move/go. We want to remain at rest.

    At the risk of taking too much out of context, let’s look at the word מְנֻחֹות [mânuchah /men·oo·khaw]. Depending on the translation it means still (KJV, ESV) or quiet (NIV, CSB). When applied to water, there is a concept of the water’s presence being relaxing. In a culture that did not view water as particularly relaxing (there was more fear), this is very important. We, on the other hand, have a more relaxed view of the water.

    Still or quiet does not mean stagnant. While the water is still or quiet, it is still “alive”. It moves. It has life in it. Too often we believe we want still or quiet, but we end up with stagnation. Water that is not stagnant has a cycle of its own. Stagnant water evaporates into nothingness. It ends up being nothing. It ends up being useless.
    Resting in God is essential. It is important. It needs to be regular. The purpose of God-based rest is to do God’s work. Far too many people rest and are resting too long.

    1) What does it mean to be stagnant in God’s Kingdom?

    2) People, programs, ministries, facilities, thought processes, and so on can all become stagnant, even the ones we love. Where do you see stagnation?

    3) What is the difference between stagnation and building up over a long period of time? How can you tell the difference?

  • Eternal Clay

    2 Corinthians 4:7–13, James 4:13–17 (read online ⧉)

    What are you living for? Who are you living for? These are not simple questions. They can be difficult thoughts. They can actually be kind of depressing. They can be quite depressing really. For when we talk about what we are living for, we acknowledge that the life we are living now will come to end.

    This is why Paul’s words can actually be encouraging. You’re a clay pot! Wow! Sounds great! I’m fragile. I’m breakable. Yep, that really encouraging.

    The tale goes like this (how much truth, who knows), a shepherd boy was throwing rocks into random caves. He heard a shattering noise. When he got to the cave, he found parchment inside a clay jar. What he found, we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls. What was in many clay jars in a series of caves were books from the Bible. Phrased a different way, the Word of God was in jars of clay. Scripture in jars of clay that lasted (in some cases) more than 1500 years.

    We often look down on ourselves for we often see our weakness and our mortality. Yet a fragile person (or group of them) managed to preserve delicate parchment in breakable jars of clay, and it survived 1500 years. All too often we look at ourselves and limit what we can do. Yet, look at what people who were just trying to do their best could do. The Essenes (the ones responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls) were people who simply lived their best lives for God. We have been blessed because they did.

    Our fragile beings, which suffer along with the rest of humanity, have the opportunity, however, to carry something much greater than we ought to be able to. We get to carry Jesus inside of us. When the image of God was placed into humanity, who could have imagined that we would also be able to receive so much more than the image.

    It’s odd, if you think about it, that by living in these bodies we have, we get to identify with the incarnation of God in Jesus, and we also identify with his death. In other words, by identifying with our jars of clay, we identify with eternity.

    1) What do you say about yourself about what you are not able to do for the Kingdom of God?

    2) If we have eternity inside of us, why are we so worried about that which disappears like a vapor?

    3) If you couldn’t fail, what would you do for the Kingdom of God?

  • The 3 Rs: Regret, Remorse, Repent

    Matthew 27:3–4, Luke 17:1–4, Acts 8:9–25, Acts 16:22–34 (read online ⧉)

    According to Merriam-Webster…

    regret means (1)(a) to mourn the loss or death of, (b) to miss very much; (2) to be very sorry for

    remorse means (1) a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs, self-reproach

    repent means (1) to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life; (2)(a) to feel regret or contrition, (b) to change one’s mind

    The words we use mean something. We often use regret and repent interchangeably when we talk about sin and forgiveness. How we use these two words really matter. The key to this is Jesus’ words. If the brother repents, then forgive them (and we won’t talk about the counting piece, as that is merely a distraction for today). We, understandably, question how we can tell that someone has repented. If we were to take Jesus’ words literally, we would especially question it if the person came back 7 times in a day repenting. If we use the understanding of feeling sorrow and changing one’s mind, it seems that the person really didn’t change their mind.

    Yet, if something has been ingrained and habituated, 1 day of repentance isn’t going to make a heart-, mind-, and behavior-deep change. If that were so effective, the percentage of people “breaking” their New Year’s resolutions wouldn’t be increasing day-by-day. Repentance (sorrow along with change of mind/heart) may not be a short road to walk for many issues. Sometimes the repentance for an action may be jeopardized by other behaviors and habits that resulted in the behavior repented for. For example, one doesn’t just have an adulterous affair one day (with certain psychological issues being the exception). It builds up. Staring at the other sex. Flirting with them. Placing them above your spouse. It all builds on one another. While a person may repent (whole-heartedly) of their adultery, the other behaviors that lead to it still need to be addressed.

    Regret, on the other hand, is something different. People will often regret their bad actions, but only because they were caught. Or they might regret their actions because they perceive they lost out on something they wanted. Another way to think of it can be found in the current cultural phenomenon called FOMO, which is an acronym of Fear Of Missing Out. FOMO is a fear of the potential regret one might feel for not doing something. The reality is that we all have regrets.

    The difference between regret and repent is different than a similarity in the potential grief of both, which is often where we confuse them. Regret, by and large, is selfish. This is not always the case, granted. However, if one thinks about when feelings of regret (or conveyed) it usually is not about harm inflicted upon another (that is remorse), it is about how the bad thing affected the person feeling regret. Remorse lies between regret and repent. At least remorse is about another (i.e., less selfish), but there is still selfishness involved.

    Many Christians, probably most of us, love the word repent until they need to repent. We don’t mind regretting, too much. We’re okay with remorse. The reason why regret and remorse are tolerable is they don’t really require anything of us. Repentance, on the other, requires all of us.

    1) What have you regretted in life? Why?

    2) What have you felt remorse for in life? Why? Did you make amends, or what happened?

    3) Skipping the often ingenuine “I repented of all my sins”, what have you repented of? If you committed the action that you repented of, did you really repent, or was it really regret and/or remorse?