tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174500312024-03-27T08:20:58.066-05:00Rev. Nance HixonNancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-51738618748813601152024-03-27T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-27T08:20:03.243-05:00Christ Also Suffered<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymgwC9aJhdFNrMjgEVjMejpMmUlGb361YUtNS1ocFdR2xT9M75QmE446bQq-Zg04_Rqpo4Y_gHzDzWj2NHdjdNDUmsBTHA3JM4KbmYuIBj9m0C-Y6jUWMcDCqZgPku3sxQW1VNPiwUoLK9VmuDNfJsjvzLzCU5Y3nsnvaetZ3uP-0Xnf_RogLuQ/s6000/wyron-a-34w-TQEMJDc-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="3376" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymgwC9aJhdFNrMjgEVjMejpMmUlGb361YUtNS1ocFdR2xT9M75QmE446bQq-Zg04_Rqpo4Y_gHzDzWj2NHdjdNDUmsBTHA3JM4KbmYuIBj9m0C-Y6jUWMcDCqZgPku3sxQW1VNPiwUoLK9VmuDNfJsjvzLzCU5Y3nsnvaetZ3uP-0Xnf_RogLuQ/w225-h400/wyron-a-34w-TQEMJDc-unsplash.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@wyron?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Wyron A</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/black-and-white-statue-of-a-man-34w-TQEMJDc?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for
the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” – 1 Peter 3:18</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’m a very empathetic person. That’s probably why the
promises about <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2021%3A1-5&version=NIV">the
new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21</a> are so central to how I
understand the gospel. I need to know that God cares about the hurts and needs
of the world. For me, that’s also why it’s so important to know that Jesus
suffered in his life. <b>God is not withdrawn and ignorant of our struggles and
pain—he lived among us and endured it all himself. </b>Jesus doesn’t only
sympathize with our weaknesses, like Hebrews 4:15 says, but he also empathizes
with our suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Recently I listened to the audiobook of Joni Eareckson
Tada’s memoir, <i>Joni</i>. If you aren’t familiar with her story, Joni had a
diving accident when she was 17-years-old that left her paralyzed from the
shoulders down. The memoir chronicles the early years of her life after the
accident: the emotional and medical rollercoaster, her struggles with faith,
the fame brought on by her artwork. Joni has experienced tremendous suffering—pain,
loneliness, disappointment, doubt, depression—and yet, she’s managed to find a
calling and make an impact in the world in the midst of all that suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As I listened to some of the descriptions of her experiences
and struggles early in the book, I found myself thinking, <i>This is so
awful—what Jesus went through could never compare to this. He was on the cross
for 6 hours, but she’s enduring this every waking moment, for years! How could
God ever understand the suffering of someone like her?</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But then, I came to this passage, which has helped me
understand the cross in a new way. Reflecting on Psalm 41:3, “The Lord will
sustain him upon his sickbed,” Joni writes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I discovered that the Lord Jesus Christ could indeed
empathize with my situation. On the cross for those agonizing, horrible hours,
waiting for death, He was immobilized, helpless, paralyzed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Jesus did know what it was like not to be able to move—not to
be able to scratch your nose, shift your weight, wipe your eyes. <i>He was
paralyzed on the cross. </i>He could not move His arms or legs.</b> Christ knew
exactly how I felt!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I still don’t think Jesus’s experience is anything like a <i>lifetime</i>
of paralysis, but I had thought Christ could never understand someone like
Joni’s experiences – yet, she didn’t see it that way at all. Jesus may not have
endured the length of suffering that many do, but, on the cross, he <i>did</i>
endure dimensions of helplessness and indignity that a quadriplegic would know
all too well. I never would’ve recognized that myself. It took someone like
Joni to show me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This Friday, I hope you find a way to remember and
commemorate Jesus’s suffering and dying “to bring you to God.” And I hope that
all of us take time to more fully appreciate just what all Christ endured for
us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>“This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved
us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.” (1 John 4:10) </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N3vdcdYVJ_Ot-Q0zURUguPKghSbKJ_XF/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-16899369889931698992024-03-13T00:00:00.000-05:002024-03-13T12:48:29.631-05:00Keep Them within Your Heart<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“My child, be
attentive to my words;<br />
incline your ear to my sayings.<br />
Do not let them escape from your sight;<br />
keep them within your heart.” – Proverbs 4:20-21</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In Proverbs chapter 4, a father is passing on the advice
that his father gave him, and one of the things he's concerned about is what
his child’s heart is holding onto (4:4), what they’re keeping within their
heart. (As a parent, this sure resonates with me! I worry all the time about
what I’m teaching my girls to keep in their hearts, whether it’s habits, feelings,
or priorities.) The speaker’s hope—like his father’s before him—is that his
child’s heart will absorb and hold fast to words of wisdom, insight, and
instruction. In other words, the kinds of words packed into every line in
Proverbs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There are a few proverbs that you may know by heart. “Pride
goes before a fall” comes from Proverbs 16:18. “Spare the rod, spoil the child”
(whatever you think about that) is based on Proverbs 13:24. For the most part,
though, I imagine that most of the book’s wisdom hasn’t quite reached the
heart-level yet for a lot of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What <i>has</i>? What sorts of things do you know <i>by
heart</i>? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Pledge of Allegiance. The alphabet. The Kit Kat bar
song. The Lord’s Prayer<i>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How did these things get embedded so deeply in your heart
and your memory? Sometimes rhythms and tunes play a role, but anything that you
absorb on the heart-level also involves repetition. It takes regular, sustained
exposure for something to take root down in the deepest parts of you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here’s what I want us to think about today: <b>What things am I
regularly exposing my heart to? What am I ‘keeping within my heart’ in my usual
routines and pastimes? <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Have you been filling up each day on the talking points that
your favorite political pundits like to repeat?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Do you pack your free moments with a steady diet of sports
news and clips?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Are you slowly, steadily memorizing every line from nine
seasons of <i>Seinfeld</i>? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Are you intentionally spending time studying, absorbing, and
holding on to words from scripture? Can you say, like the psalmist, “I have
hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you”? (119:11) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>You can’t keep something in your heart if you never put it
there.</b> And, whether you like them or not, some of the things you keep giving
your time and attention to will absolutely take up residence in your heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>So be deliberate with your heart today.</b> Give it what it
needs. Fill it with the things that you hope will shape the person you’re
becoming. And pay attention to the other things you may be stuffing it with—the
things that won’t help you love God and love your neighbors, won’t cultivate
the fruit of the Spirit in your life, and won’t make you look more like Jesus.
What kind of change do you need to make?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Take note of how you spend your time. Consider what you regularly consume. Be deliberate with your heart today.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You can listen to this week's devotional right here:</span></i></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KzgRWtl5paaWO3DtMjjKlY3qeuE6Dtrz/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-53499001405973917742024-03-06T00:00:00.018-06:002024-03-06T00:00:00.450-06:00Size and Worth<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxqsj0LafVJ2DbJFEzi_htRNtuHM5VZneED-P4dF8eRHB0dDGexRJaOqM2dgTwDrQm7bBJxRykZR64kLfkwCFTX41mau3HAKWGRIbCYBox2No5SG3sOb-4powwAh8kE_CRTL5LPv-o0XaQDCfreav3txs-awGb_VXZhyphenhyphenFggTjeRVeQX69ia4LtQ/s5760/manuel-will-gd3t5Dtbwkw-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5760" data-original-width="3840" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxqsj0LafVJ2DbJFEzi_htRNtuHM5VZneED-P4dF8eRHB0dDGexRJaOqM2dgTwDrQm7bBJxRykZR64kLfkwCFTX41mau3HAKWGRIbCYBox2No5SG3sOb-4powwAh8kE_CRTL5LPv-o0XaQDCfreav3txs-awGb_VXZhyphenhyphenFggTjeRVeQX69ia4LtQ/w266-h400/manuel-will-gd3t5Dtbwkw-unsplash.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@manufactured?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Manuel Will</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/rocky-mountain-gd3t5Dtbwkw?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">One of the foundations of prayer is the idea that God
listens to each of us and cares about each of us. If God weren’t listening, or
if God didn’t care, why would we pray? We take that for granted every time we
turn to God with our worries, our gratitude, or our questions.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And yet, a lot of people struggle with the idea that God pays
attention and cares so much about each one of us. Many faithful Christians,
even, find themselves asking the same question the psalmist asked:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When I look at the night sky and see the work of your
fingers—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">the moon and the stars you set in place—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">what are mere mortals that you should think about them,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">human beings that
you should care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, Jesus said that your heavenly Father cares about you so
much that he knows how many hairs are on your head. (Matthew 10:29-31) But when
you consider how <i>big </i>the universe is and how insignificant we seem in
the grand scheme of things, some of us still wonder. And the psalmist couldn’t
have realized just how far the night sky stretches. I read the other day that,
if you shrank the Earth’s entire path around the sun down to the size of a ring
on a girl’s finger, then the next closest star to us would be twenty miles
away. I don’t think we can really comprehend just how vast the universe is. The
poet Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote, thinking about all of our griefs, losses,
and struggles, “What is it all but a trouble of ants in the gleam of a million
million of suns?” It’s not difficult to understand where he was coming from.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>But do scope and scale really tell us about God’s concerns
and God’s heart?</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I love what Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote about all of this in
<i>The Meaning of Prayer</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>But surely, we ourselves are not accustomed to judge
comparative value by size.</i> As children we may have chosen a penny rather
than a dime because the penny was larger; but as maturity arrives, that basis
of choice is outgrown…A mother’s love for her baby is not a matter of pounds
and ounces. When one believes in God at all, the consequence is plain. God must
have at least our spiritual insight to perceive the difference between <i>size</i>
and <i>worth</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Your size doesn’t determine your worth. The universe is
unimaginably vast, and we, in comparison, are miniscule, short-lived things.
<b>But, just like we delight in the flash of a lightning bug or the touch of a
kiss, God delights in things that are small and fleeting—like you and me.</b> The
Lord values us, the dust of the earth, like we value the tiniest pieces of
diamond dug out of the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That’s why, in another psalm, the writer can ask, “Does he
who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?” (94:9) And
he knows the answer. He assumes <i>we </i>know the answer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, he hears me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, he sees me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, he <i>loves </i>me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So we can pray, affirming all kinds of things at once. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>I am small. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>I am brief.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>I am valuable. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>I am his delight.</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nKZeTT91bMgeWdpNLTER9Pn3IjSr2-SY/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-34587372541526751632024-02-28T00:00:00.011-06:002024-02-28T08:19:24.851-06:00Without Ceasing<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMe9uAPiMOy9kHiKVvLS6Vkq6vQZdtDi73puYMQaCmDWxoxthxhVD6Rc6rxF60o1fOSUKQZT2nCYV68XqBEQaByc_iuNHDwq2aaAiwUed69ZBiljGINz0uzxyWgl65pqurPBPkiOlnc2aQ1PhV_pm5X1UejbR4SVjSkDtgHUlxsY_EfgZMPPp1Xg/s6000/alex-shute-hrhJlQCJdVE-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMe9uAPiMOy9kHiKVvLS6Vkq6vQZdtDi73puYMQaCmDWxoxthxhVD6Rc6rxF60o1fOSUKQZT2nCYV68XqBEQaByc_iuNHDwq2aaAiwUed69ZBiljGINz0uzxyWgl65pqurPBPkiOlnc2aQ1PhV_pm5X1UejbR4SVjSkDtgHUlxsY_EfgZMPPp1Xg/s320/alex-shute-hrhJlQCJdVE-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@faithgiant?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Alex Shute</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/yellow-and-green-letter-t-hrhJlQCJdVE?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Pray without ceasing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of people wrestle with that
seemingly simple command. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How am I supposed to do that?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Does he mean literally non-stop?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What kind of prayer is that? You can’t spend the whole
day kneeling with your eyes shut…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’ve tried to, but I just get so distracted!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A few people have shared about their success and the kind of
ongoing conversation they have with the Lord throughout the day. Most people,
though, try, fail, get discouraged, and decide “praying without ceasing” is
unrealistic, impractical, and out of reach.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">One morning recently, I dropped Noah off at daycare, and two
things happened the instant I stepped out of the building. They happened so
unintentionally and so quickly that I might have missed them, but for whatever
reason I noticed. First, the fingers on my right hand twitched, preparing to
stretch out to grab something. Then, in the same split-second, they froze and
relaxed again, as my body alerted my brain: <i>The thing you’re reaching for
isn’t there. Your phone isn’t in your back pocket.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I knew that I pulled my phone out sometimes after I dropped
her off. I <i>didn’t</i> know, until that moment, just how reflexively and
involuntarily I do it. I was acting on pure auto-pilot. My body knew just what
to do. I’ve trained it well, and now that’s become a deeply ingrained part of my
daily life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That morning, when I noticed just how attuned my body was to
my iPhone—without any conscious thought involved at all!—I realized that we
know how to pray “without ceasing.” We know what that looks like, and we’re
capable of it. We do it all the time. We bow our heads to our screens and give
our attention and engagement to distractions, entertainment, and shopping <i>without
ceasing</i>. We’ve trained our hands to reach for the phone at the first
opportunity. Our bodies are keeping track of the thing, alerting us when its out
of reach. It is a constant in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>What would it take to make prayer as constant, as deeply
ingrained a part of your daily life? How can you <i>train </i>yourself to pray
reflexively, at the first opportunity?</b> Maybe you won't suddenly be praying <i>without ceasing</i>, but you might start praying <i>more often</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That’s my hope with a lot of my prayer habits, that they
would train me to pray more. That’s the reason for the alarms on my phone telling
me to stop and pray, the purple wristband I’m wearing in Lent reminding me to “invite
the Spirit,” for stretching out my handwashing with the Lord’s Prayer. (I know
that one’s doing something, because now I’ll catch myself praying it when I
brush my teeth. I’m like Pavlov’s dogs, drooling every time the bell rings,
only I start muttering “Our Father…” every time I hear a sink running.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Training your body to reach for the phone (and your fingers
to unlock it and open an app) takes time and repetition. Training yourself to pray
more is no different. It will take a little while for you to get into a new
rhythm. And forming new habits always takes intentionality and effort on the
front end. Praying “without ceasing” will be that way, too. It won’t happen by
accident, and it will take some doing to get this plane off the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>But what can you <i>start</i> doing today, to begin training your
heart and your mind and begin inserting a new time of prayer, a new way of
connecting with God, into your life?</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this week's devotional right here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f0daVjslKmzMX3-T51nTaPuL9YvZpNVk/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-35120575625258127122024-02-21T00:00:00.003-06:002024-02-23T09:09:07.517-06:00"My God"<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Lately I’ve been reading Henry Emerson Fosdick’s book <i>The
Meaning of Prayer</i>. There are a lot of great insights in the book, but I
want to share something he said about Psalm 63.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Fosdick suggests that “the practice of prayer is necessary
to make God not merely an idea held in the mind but a Presence recognized in
the life.” In other words, until you start seeking and engaging God on a
personal level through prayer, God will only be a belief, a theoretical thing,
way off in some invisible heaven. <b>Prayer makes God a real Presence in your
life—a person you talk to, not just an idea you believe in. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Then he points to Psalm 63:1: “O God, thou art my God; early
will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a
dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” (KJV) Fosdick’s focus is on the
opening line, “O God, thou art my God.” He writes:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“O God,” is easy, but it is an inward and searching matter to
say, “O God, thou art <i>my</i> God.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The two phrases sound so much alike, but he sees a world of
difference between them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Oh God,” he says, is a theological statement, but “<i>my </i>God”
is personal religion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Oh God” is an opinion about the universe. “<i>My</i> God”
is a vital experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Oh God” is something you think about. “<i>My</i> God” is
someone you pray to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Oh God” is far off, removed from us. “<i>My </i>God” is a
real presence in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Fosdick’s concern here is that so many professing Christians
seem content to stop at “Oh God” and never journey on to the real destination:
“my God.” We say “Oh God” when we come to church, recite the creed, sing a
hymn, or write a check, but we never allow this God to invade our hearts and
lives with a love that re-evaluates and reorders <i>everything</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This Lent, I want to challenge you to move from “Oh God”
to “my God.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe you believe God’s out there, but you don’t talk to God.
Or your prayers are a list of wants and needs, but never make room for <i>God</i>
to speak, never assume Jesus has anything to say to <i>you</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe you attend church dutifully, but you don’t set aside
time to connect with God and foster that relationship during the rest of the week.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe you read and hear interesting messages from scripture,
but you don’t apply them to your life—you don’t let them impact how you treat
others, what you’ll say to someone, the way you spend money, whether you’ll
offer forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Is there some way you’re keeping the Lord at arm’s length? Then
what is one step you can take to make God a more regular presence in your life?
How could you begin prioritizing a personal relationship with God, instead of abstractly
acknowledging a deity? <b>How do you need to rearrange your schedule or change
your spiritual habits to start acting like God is “<i>my </i>God”?</b></span><b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this week's devotional below:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t37U-XD75rRlsRedHP-KpNQ0Dc4d-yw1/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-17143232690440101452024-02-16T00:00:00.017-06:002024-02-16T08:36:03.982-06:00Donkeys and Discernment<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I just wouldn’t feel right moving on from Numbers without
talking about Balaam.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You know: the guy with the talking donkey. (Balaam’s
“ass” in the King James Bible, much to the delight of church youth groups
everywhere.) We first meet Balaam in Numbers chapter 22. The King of Moab is
afraid of the Israelites, and so he sends a message to Balaam: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Please come and curse these people for me because they are
too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them
from the land. I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses
fall on people you curse. (22:6)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As it turns out, Balaam has so much success with blessings
and curses because it’s <i>the Lord</i> who works through this foreign prophet.
Of course, when the Lord hears Moab’s request, God tells Balaam <i>not </i>to
curse Israel, “for they have been blessed!” (22:12) Eventually, the prophet <i>does</i>
return to Moab with the king’s messengers, though, which leads to the donkey
incident. (If you want the full story and Balaam’s conversation with his
donkey, check out <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+22%3A21-41&version=NLT">Numbers
22</a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The King of Moab tries three times to get Balaam to curse
Israel. The first time (23:1-12) and the second time (23:13-26), seven altars
are constructed and seven bulls and seven rams are offered to God, then the
Lord gives Balaam the words to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The third time (23:27-24:13), things go a little
differently. The altars are built, and the sacrifices are made. But then, it
says, “Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless the Israelites,
so he didn’t go as the other times to seek omens.” (24:1) Apparently, before he
had been looking for signs of God’s will, like someone reading palms or tea
leaves. But he didn’t have to check for all that anymore. Balaam could already see
what God’s desire was. And that’s when<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> the Spirit of God came on him and
he spoke his message:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“The prophecy of
Balaam son of Beor,<br />
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly…” (24:2-3)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Balaam’s gift for prophecy has transformed from a matter of
asking to a way of seeing. He is so familiar with God’s will, from regularly
asking and listening, that he doesn’t even have to ask now. He has become a man
“whose eye sees clearly"</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">and that has to do with his connection to God’s Holy Spirit (24:2). <b>Because of that connection, he sees the world differently.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I think Balaam here gives us a great picture of <i>discernment</i>.
Discernment is the ability to recognize God’s will, the best course of action
in a situation. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>When you are discerning, you see the world differently.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> And this’s rooted in love, knowledge, and insight (Col 1:9) and in
transformation and renewal (Rom 12:2).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I don’t think Balaam is special. Frequently asking and
listening, and staying open to the Holy Spirit, will make any of us more discerning
people. But that connection with God and that clear-sightedness shouldn’t be
taken for granted. When we first met Balaam, he can't see as well as a donkey, and the next time we hear about him, in Numbers 31, he’s
killed after plotting to lead the Israelites away from the Lord (see 31:7-16). <b>Every
day we have to recommit ourselves to seeking the Holy Spirit if we want to see
the world differently, see the world from <i>Christ's</i> point of view.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, what you are doing to listen for God’s voice and to open
yourself up to God’s Spirit today? </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FixY0ElXtXNRnEz1t_CDOrX1-1LT6X2W/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-20092946394184295572024-02-07T00:00:00.002-06:002024-02-07T09:39:52.438-06:00Blind to the Wonder<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the
road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew
impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and
Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?”
they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we
hate this horrible manna!” </i>– Numbers 21:4-5</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Complaints in the wilderness are nothing new. The Israelites
have been grumbling about their provisions from the moment they crossed the Red
Sea (see Exodus 16 and 17). What struck me as I read Numbers 21 recently wasn’t
<i>that </i>the people were complaining. It was what they said: “There’s
nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Nothing to eat?</i> What about the manna, the miraculous,
daily sustenance from God that you’re griping about?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Nothing to drink?</i> There was water gushing out a rock
just the chapter before, enough water “to satisfy the whole community and their
livestock.” (20:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How on earth could these people miss the incredible work of
God that had been sustaining them in this desert?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But as I was scratching my head over this, it occurred to
me: some of these Israelites have been eating manna their entire lives. This is
the very end of the 40-year hike through the wilderness. Few of these people
would even remember Egypt. Most had never lived anywhere but this desert. <i>All
they knew</i> was this wonder, survival by God’s mighty hand and outstretched
arm. Their senses were dulled to the incredible. That was just the water they
swam in, day-by-monotonous-day. The miracles were all white noise by now. The
people had become blind to the wonder of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It's easy to find fault with the Israelites in Numbers, but
what if I turned to the person in the mirror? <b>If familiarity can obscure the
wonder of something as extraordinary as manna, imagine how easy it must be to
overlook the wonder of God’s very <i>ordinary</i> gifts in our lives today.</b>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of the heavenly lights,” James says (1:17)—and if I tried to
catalogue all the good and perfect gifts in my life, we’d be here all day. But
how often do I shut a crammed refrigerator and complain, “There’s nothing to
eat”? Or groan when my daughter wants her tired Daddy’s attention? (Emily and I
once thought we couldn’t <i>have</i> children.) Abundance and blessing are the
water I swim in, day-by-day, and yet I can be so blind to the wonder of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And I bet I’m not the only one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I want you to stop what you’re doing, and name one
incredible gift of God in your life. Try to name something that you <i>know</i>
you always take for granted.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A friend.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A job.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A vehicle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A breath of air filling your lungs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now, since God’s so used to hearing our grumbles, tell God how
good that gift is and what it means to you. Don’t skimp on the praise—heap on
the superlatives. <i>Let God have it</i> with gratitude.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If you and I got in the habit of doing that more often, I
wouldn’t be surprised if our eyes became more attuned to the everyday wonders
of God’s love and care.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to today's devotional right here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LYgCW6btF9uQNrhs7oGD2fu1OquiqQuA/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-60548913715298623162024-01-31T00:00:00.028-06:002024-01-31T00:00:00.141-06:00A Blossom in the Wilderness<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This is hardly my first time reading the book of Numbers,
but something was impressed upon me this time that I don’t remember feeling so
strongly before: this is a really <i>ugly</i> book. For me, this read through,
the ugliness was oppressive and relentless:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Lord strikes Israel with a deadly plague after the
people crave some meat, like they ate in Egypt. (11:33-34)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">God condemns all the Israelites over twenty to die in the
wilderness because of their rebellion. (14:29-30)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When a man’s found gathering wood on the Sabbath, God
commands Moses to have him killed. (15:32-36)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Three men lead a revolt against Moses and Aaron, so the
Lord has them and their families destroyed, then wipes out over 14,000 more
Israelites before Moses and Aaron intervene. (Numbers 16)</span></li></ul><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span>That kind of stuff unnerves me, if I'm being honest. I don't always know what to do with it</span><span>—except to acknowledge that it's scripture, God-breathed and useful (2 Tim 3:16), even if I can't understand how.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But th</span>en I arrived at chapter 17. Aaron’s leadership was called into question, so the Lord devised a plan. God said to Moses, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs,
one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes… Place these staffs in the
Tabernacle in front of the Ark… Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the
man I choose. (17:2, 4-5) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, staffs are gathered, labeled, and left in front of the
Ark. We don’t see what happens next, but I can just imagine the skinny white
shoot peeking out of Aaron’s staff and stretching out its first, pale green
leaves. Then, years pass in hours. The shoot reaches higher. The leaves, darker
now, spread everywhere. The first white blossoms bloom. A bee buzzes through
the Tabernacle. Petals fall, kernels grow, and the hulls split to reveal an
almond shell within.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When Moses entered the Tabernacle again in the morning, “he
found that Aaron’s staff… had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe
almonds!” (17:8) Aaron was God’s man—just look at the garland of life and
beauty crowning his walking stick.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As I was reading Numbers, this scene was a refuge for me, a
brief glimpse of beauty in an ugly book. It gave new meaning to Isaiah’s
promise that<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The desert and the parched land will be glad;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">it will rejoice greatly and shout
for joy. (35:1-2)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Aaron’s staff is a literal blossom in the wilderness. <b>For a
moment, this desolate, oppressive, relentless place bursts into bloom.</b> By the
time I reached chapter 17, I needed that. This trek through the desert was
leaving me spiritually dehydrated, and Aaron’s staff was an oasis. Here, I
recognized the God of Genesis 1 and of Revelation 21 and 22.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’ve never shied away from acknowledged the ugly parts of
scripture. I think Christians need to be aware of and honest about a lot of
things in Numbers. But, at the same time, I’m not going to be preoccupied with
this. Not because it’s unimportant, but because it would do my soul and my neighbor
no good. Instead, I’m going to follow Paul’s instructions in Philippians: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent
and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is
true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely,
and all that is worthy of praise. (4:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m going to remember the ugliness, but I’m going to dwell
on the beauty.<b> An old, gnarled staff that’s sprouting, budding, blossoming, and
producing—I’m going to focus my thought on <i>these </i>things, the things that
nourish my heart.</b> My heart needs more beauty, not more ugliness. Especially if
I want to go out and bring some more beauty to the ugliness in our world.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional right here:</i></span></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1frRAsy2-BCwXmlwqJdTpyC17KV5O7KIc/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe></span>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-61596584407750531562024-01-24T00:00:00.010-06:002024-01-24T00:00:00.144-06:00Tassels<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG55jDDRD3E-v0eMZChVQxsdsuo8WaEAqqr4mSRzJvlqTfcy7Rqg2wXweCLAQ9Ij6mObhyaGngOiwq9kWve8pE9lesfTpg7ST4CDzld8WzH0KFs_PEKRp0D3anMk1NyuAmuXlCuoscKiUfBXq3BAH4l8Tq-7uDfx8dDIEGK4xCjE5PxXzz-lO0Kw/s4307/pexels-huibre-venter-6340893.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2680" data-original-width="4307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG55jDDRD3E-v0eMZChVQxsdsuo8WaEAqqr4mSRzJvlqTfcy7Rqg2wXweCLAQ9Ij6mObhyaGngOiwq9kWve8pE9lesfTpg7ST4CDzld8WzH0KFs_PEKRp0D3anMk1NyuAmuXlCuoscKiUfBXq3BAH4l8Tq-7uDfx8dDIEGK4xCjE5PxXzz-lO0Kw/s320/pexels-huibre-venter-6340893.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Something caught my eye recently, as I was reading Numbers
chapter 15. The Lord tells Moses,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Give the following instructions to the people of Israel:
Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your
clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you
will remember and obey all the commands of the L<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span>
instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone
to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands
and be holy to your God. (15:38-40)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now, I immediately tune out most of the Old Testament
commands that have to do with clothing. If you want to lose Nance, just start
talking about every little detail of a priest’s garments (Ex 28), what to do
when a skin disease shows up on your clothes (Lev 13:47), or prohibitions of
wearing blended fabrics (Lev 19:19).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But this time was different. It wasn’t the tassels
themselves or the blue thread that stuck out to me, though. It was the
reasoning behind all that: “When you see the tassels, you will remember and
obey all the commands of the L<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span>…
The tassels will help you remember that you must… be holy to your God.” (15:
39, 40) Everywhere they went, those tassels were a visible reminder to all of
Israel of their call to obedience and holiness. The tassels kept the people
aware, throughout the day, of who they were and <i>whose</i> they were. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">(Many modern Jews still use these – they’re called <i>tzitzit</i>.
You can see some in the image above.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I think the L<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span>
commanded Israel to don those tassels because God knows that we need continual
reminders. We serve an invisible King (1 Tim 1:17) who lives in a place you can’t
find on a map. We’re up to our ears in busyness and distractions. Not to
mention, we’re constantly tempted to reject obedience and holiness. And so, the
Lord came up with tassels, to redirect the people’s attention and remind them
of their covenant commitments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Do you have any “tassels” of your own? Something that serves
to remind <i>you </i>of who you are and whose you are?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Years ago, for a lot of Christians, a W.W.J.D. bracelet was
that tassel. Those white letters reminded you, throughout the day, to give thought
to your choices and to recall Christ’s example.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But a tassel doesn’t have to be worn. <b>It’s anything that
nudges you to live, this moment, into the person God’s created you to be.</b> An
alarm on your phone encouraging you to pray. A sticky note on your mirror where
you jotted down a challenging verse from scripture. A Bible you sat on top of
your smart phone before bed, to start your morning off on the right foot. A cross
tattooed on your wrist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I think there’s a lot of wisdom in sewing some tassels onto
our days, and if you don’t have any regular reminders that can interrupt and
redirect you towards Christ, I hope you’ll find some that work for you. Don’t
let the busyness, distractions, and temptations carry you off, away from God’s
presence. <b>Stick some holy roadblocks in your life, that force you to stop and
remember, that call you to obedience and holiness.</b></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You can listen to this week's devotional here!</span></i></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MOA_8QN_F1SGatoEu9ExmKCnXiU9_B8y/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-84936660410312107522024-01-17T10:30:00.004-06:002024-01-17T13:42:20.282-06:00Find Your Hobab<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In Numbers chapter 10, we meet a fellow by the name of
Hobab. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If you’re anything like me, you don’t remember reading about Hobab
before. He’s only mentioned twice in the Bible. He is, we’re told, Moses’s
brother-in-law, the son of Reuel (which is apparently another name for Moses’s
father-in-law Jethro – see Exodus 18). In Numbers 10, as the Israelites are
about to embark on what will turn into a 40-year journey through the
wilderness, Moses turns to his wife’s family for help.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">One day Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab son of Reuel
the Midianite, “We are on our way to the place the Lord promised us,
for he said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well,
for the Lord has promised wonderful blessings for Israel!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But Hobab replied, “No, I will not go. I must return to my
own land and family.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Please don’t leave us,” Moses pleaded. “You know the places
in the wilderness where we should camp. Come, be our guide. If you do,
we’ll share with you all the blessings the Lord gives us.” (10:29-32)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Israelites were entering a desolate, unknown territory.
But Hobab hadn’t lived all his life in Egypt like the Israelites. He knew the
lay of the land before them, and he could guide Moses and the people on their
journey.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In life we find ourselves walking so many roads that <i>we</i>
have never travelled before, but <i>others have</i>. As you parent, at work,
going through a divorce, caring for aging parents, following Jesus—most of the
challenges we face have been faced and overcome (or at least survived) by someone
before us. <b>Others have journeyed through that wilderness and come out with
experience and wisdom that can guide <i>us</i> on <i>our</i> journeys. </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They are our Hobabs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses understood how critical this kind of guide is. That’s
why he wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. When Hobab balked at Moses’s first
offer, he <i>pleaded</i>—‘Please! You know where we ought to camp out here.
Come and be our guide’. (10:31) Moses knew that “Plans fail for lack of
counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Prov 15:22) Hobab’s counsel was
essential for Israel’s success.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And wise, experienced guides are essential for our journeys,
as well. Moses was never shy about accepting help from others—Aaron, Jethro,
Hobab—and we shouldn’t be either. The Lord created people to do life together,
and Jesus called twelve disciples to follow him together, because we’re
stronger and more faithful when we have strong and faithful supporters in our
lives. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of
three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecc 4:12)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>So don’t try to cross this wilderness alone. </b>Don’t enroll in
the school of hard knocks when you know plenty of graduates who’re ready to share
what they learned. Seek counsel for the challenges ahead. Enlist a guide for
the journey. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Find your Hobab.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to today's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETLOM_Gm00yyUQNIswy1RhFiS_rFgSDn/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-54228381555882971632024-01-10T00:00:00.011-06:002024-01-10T00:00:00.136-06:00Without Grumbling<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Is there <i>anything</i> worse than having to get out of bed
and go back downstairs for something after you’re settled in for the night?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Probably. But in the moment, I couldn’t name one thing. I
forgot the monitor, so we can hear Jo wake up. Emily wanted me to bring up a
cup of water for her. The cat starts wailing, because—I don’t know, a door is
shut (that he doesn’t want to <i>walk through</i>, but he doesn’t want it
closed, either)—and it’s time for him to go stay in the guest room. I didn’t
make sure the house was locked before I came up. Whatever the reason, it is invalid
and intolerable, because I’m already in bed. It is the worst thing imaginable.
And I’m going to tell the world about it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A lot of y’all may
not have witnessed this, but in the right setting, I am an expert complainer. I don’t
appreciate things upsetting my plans, stealing my precious free time, or requiring
me to move when I’m not planning to move, and I know how to express it. After
all, most of my job is finding words. I have some experience expressing myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I also have some experience with the Bible, and, while I was
reflecting recently on the latest grounds for griping, I remembered something
in said Bible about all of this. It’s from Philippians 2:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Do everything without grumbling or arguing,<b> </b>so
that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without
fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them
like stars in the sky… (2:14-15)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” That line
itself is liable to set a grumbler grumbling. At best, by the grace of God, you’ll
roll your eyes and say, “<i>Fine!</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But as much as I need to hear those words sometimes, it’s
the lines after them that really got me thinking: Do everything without
complaining or bickering, <i>so that you may become children of God without fault
in a warped, crooked generation</i>. Then, Paul adds, you’ll shine like stars
before the watching world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In this passage, <b>Paul points to our contentment and our ability
to be interrupted and inconvenienced without grumbling as what sets Christians
apart from the world around us.</b> If you want to be <i>different</i>, a child
of God in a warped generation, you can start by putting a lid on those gripes.
But if you complain every time you have to get out of bed and go downstairs,
congratulations: you’re acting just like any self-avowed heathen might. You’re
not shining with any light from Christ in the world. <b>It’s when you bite your
tongue, when you stop demanding your own ease and fishing for sympathy, that you
shine.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">(Paul also points to <i>arguing</i> as a mark that
distinguishes someone as a child of God. I don’t have time to get into that
now, but how’s <i>that</i> going for you? How’s that going for <i>any </i>of
us?)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The next time your schedule, your expectations, or your
comfort get disrupted, and you suck in some air for carrying your gripes out
into the world, I hope you remember: you have two options in that moment. You
can tell the people around you things they don’t want to hear anyways, or you
can shine a light into the dark of discontent and anger that we live in every
day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I hope you—I hope <i>I</i>—will choose the light.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this devotional right here:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kE-ZQ5OnpLk7goMyFcPauoeQlIRhHH7r/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-86065885927984775242024-01-03T00:00:00.013-06:002024-01-03T08:24:03.893-06:00New<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I think that "new" is one of the most important
words in the Bible. “New” is the name of God’s solution to all the world’s longing,
hurt, and brokenness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Lord’s people cannot keep up their end of the covenant,
so God makes a new covenant. (Jer 31:31; Luke 22:20)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The people don’t have it within themselves to be faithful to
the Lord, so the Lord gives them new hearts and a new Spirit. (Eze 36:26-27)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Creation is not as it was meant to be—it’s infected with
death, decay, suffering, and scarcity—so God will make a new heaven and a new
earth. (Isa 65:17; Rev 21:1-4)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>We</i> are not the people we were created to be—<i>we’re</i>
infected, with greed, rage, jealousy, lust, and self-absorption—so God makes us
new creations in Christ. (2 Cor 5:17)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Isaiah 43:19 sums it all up nicely, when the Lord tells
aching and weary people: <b>“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in
the wasteland.”</b> In the wilderness, where you’ve felt so lost and hopeless, I am
making a way. In the wasteland, where you feared you’d waste away yourselves, I
am pouring out streams. I see your situation, your struggles, and your needs,
and I’m doing a <i>new thing</i> for you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">We believe in a God who makes things new (Rev 21:5). God
sees the cracks in our lives, sees the jagged edges in this world, sees our
frailty and pain and desperation, and, like at creation in Genesis, God takes
it in God’s hands, forms it and molds it like the dust of the ground, and
breathes new life into it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">At the beginning of January, we’re always thinking about change
and fresh starts. “New year, new you,” right? I got an email Monday from a
gym offering me a discount on membership, so I can get started on a new
lifestyle. There’s not a thing wrong with that – I probably <i>should</i> exercise
more – but I hope our horizons this new year, our goals and expectations for
transformation, go beyond physical health to include our <i>spiritual</i>
wellbeing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Praying more, or praying <i>better</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Studying and learning scripture more deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Finding new avenues of service.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Beginning the long-avoided work of forgiveness or reconciliation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Wherever you’re at today, whoever you are right
now, God can make you new. God can bring the change you’re longing for—that’s <i>what
God does</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What new thing are you hoping to see in your life or in the world around you this year?
And how could you be a part of the change you want to see?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This past Sunday I had the rare pleasure of sitting in a
church service instead of leading one, and the pastor opened with a New Years prayer
that I want to leave you with:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Creative God, you make all things new in heaven and on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">We come to you in a new year with new desires and old fears, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; tab-stops: .25in .75in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>new
decisions and old controversies,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; tab-stops: .25in .75in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>new
dreams and old weaknesses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Because you are a God of hope,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; tab-stops: .25in .75in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
know that you create all the possibilities of the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Because you are a God of love, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; tab-stops: .25in .75in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
know that you accept all the mistakes of the past.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Because you are the God of our faith,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">we enter your gates with thanksgiving and
praise,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">we come into your presence with gladness and
a joyful noise,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">and we serve and bless you. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to today's devotional right here!</i></span><br /><p></p><p></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FAmUa7I7TgiP8jhqPGGa7v2rYXxlVUFF/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-58603974043078339102023-12-20T00:00:00.009-06:002023-12-21T09:55:28.942-06:00God's Fingerprints<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKl12jQlLGr6o04czSrZfg0Ivn7oHI3fShkHcYOHdzrN1pB0PTS1GqsyHwDOU7hAkruxs3CwHhCLy0IUOvqIosDfIt8wbxKNbl6JBlqW3FP7j238Nj5D1kih3pFM9yyb9hyR02xzOiy_nb05SAqtXClWIelpGqfDQMcjaKoJsHh-E6Zzp5V57GkA/s6000/kolby-milton-xpwRVmBcEK8-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKl12jQlLGr6o04czSrZfg0Ivn7oHI3fShkHcYOHdzrN1pB0PTS1GqsyHwDOU7hAkruxs3CwHhCLy0IUOvqIosDfIt8wbxKNbl6JBlqW3FP7j238Nj5D1kih3pFM9yyb9hyR02xzOiy_nb05SAqtXClWIelpGqfDQMcjaKoJsHh-E6Zzp5V57GkA/s320/kolby-milton-xpwRVmBcEK8-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@kolbymilton?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Kolby Milton</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/orange-light-on-a-street-xpwRVmBcEK8?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br />Yesterday, our congregation hosted a big, annual Christmas party for clients with the local hospital system's mental health treatment services. This has everything you could want in a holiday shindig: piles of food and plenty of desserts to go around, a visit from Santa Claus, caroling, and kids playing elf and passing out every gift off your list. Elvis even shows up and sings (that's when some spontaneous dancing broke out this year). </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It's a really <i>joyful</i> time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The book of Acts is the story of the news about Jesus crossing the borders of Judea and reaching to the ends of the earth (1:8). At first, the apostles are preaching to fellow Jews, and so their presentation of the gospel is bursting at the seams with Old Testament references. Peter spends 25 verses preaching and teaching on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and 11 of those 25 verses are direct quotations from the Old Testament. That's because his audience knew the scriptures, and they understood themselves as the children of Abraham, followers of Moses who were awaiting a "Son of David" savior. This was <i>their</i> story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Richard Beck has pointed out that, in Acts 14, for the very first time, we see the gospel preached to an audience made up entirely of pagans who've never heard of Abraham, Moses, or David. That <i>isn't </i>their story. There are no Jews or God-fearing Gentiles in the crowd at Lystra<span style="line-height: 107%;">—</span>these people worshipped <i>Zeus</i>, and Hermes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So how does Paul introduce his unbelieving listeners to the God of the Jews?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Even though these folks don't know the scriptures, this God, Paul insists, hasn't left himself without a witness. "<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (14:17) The <i>kindness</i> of the Lord that we experience in our ordinary lives witnesses to God. It's the testimony telling the world about the God of the Bible. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">How do we experience God's kindness? What are the specific things Paul mentions that testify to God? He points to rain from heaven, crops in their seasons, food</span></span><span>—</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">and what else? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Joy</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Joy testifies to the one who made heaven and earth. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Joy is evidence of a God who has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Joy points us towards the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him wouldn't perish, but have everlasting life.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Joy is God's fingerprint. It reminds us that, though we may not see him with our eyes, <i>God's</i> <i>been here</i>. God's at work. And God's work, God's desire for us, is that we would have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10), that our joy may be complete (John 15:11).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><b>And just think: whenever you can bring some of that joy to another person, you're working side by side with our Lord, making, even in just a small way, the kingdom come and God's will be done on earth, the way it is in heaven.</b> That's what happened at our Christmas party yesterday. Elvis impersonators, tambourines, banana pudding, and fried chicken</span><span>—some days that's exactly what the Kingdom of God looks like. That's how you know, <i>God's been here</i>.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I hope you experience real joy this Christmas, that you see God's fingerprints all around you. I also hope that you and I will start to wonder: how can I bring joy to someone else this holiday season? How could <i>I</i> leave God's fingerprint on someone's life this Christmas?</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">You can listen to this week's devotional right here:</span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dqJd-gACgTnt4aSeJtnN0SqaMmYWSG2j/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-66742091967083050452023-12-13T00:00:00.007-06:002023-12-13T00:00:00.134-06:00Hope for the Hopeless<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Do you remember Hagar, from the book of Genesis?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hagar was a slave girl of Abraham’s wife Sarah. As the years
passed and their promised child still didn’t arrive, the couple started getting
nervous about God’s timetable, and Sarah started scheming: <i>Hagar</i> would
sleep with Abraham and conceive an heir for the octogenarian. Her plan worked
too well: Hagar, when she realized she was pregnant, “no longer respected” her
barren mistress (16:4). Sarah, in response, “dealt harshly” with her (16:6),
causing the young woman to run away.<b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now Hagar, a slave girl forced to bear her master’s child,
is wandering alone in the desert, with no idea where to find shelter or
provisions and no place to make a home for her son. It’s hard to imagine a more
desperate, hopeless situation for a young girl to find herself in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And that’s when it happened. “The angel of
the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness,
along the road to Shur.” (Gen 16:7) When she must have thought all was lost,
Hagar was <i>found</i>. I love that it tells you <i>exactly </i>where she was
when that angel appeared: beside the spring along the road to Shur. I can just
imagine Hagar telling the story, ‘I was on the road to Shur, and I got to the
spring—you know the place—and that’s when I heard this voice…’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The angel assured her that she could return home and told
her,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“You will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael
(which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of
distress…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to
the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She
also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” (16:11, 13)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In Hebrew, “the God who sees me” (verse 13) is a name: <i>El-roi</i>.
That’s who the Lord was to Hagar. The God who found her, heard her cry, and saw
her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hagar’s story is an example of something we see a lot in
scripture: <b>how God arrives just at the moment when you feel most lost and
alone, when things seem most hopeless, right when you’re tempted to despair.</b>
<i>There</i> and <i>then</i> is when you hear the voice of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A vulnerable girl roaming, parched and pregnant, through the
desert. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Slaves wailing as their Egyptian masters murder their
newborns. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A fisherman out of his boat and out of his depth, flailing
in the waves, crying out for a Savior. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A body tattered with nail, spear, and thorn holes lying in a
pitch-black tomb, the entrance stonewalled shut.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And that’s when God shows up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That’s because, no matter how dark and desperate your
circumstances are, God is <i>El-roi. </i>The Lord sees you and hears you. And,
because God is <i>El-roi</i>, the God who sees, there is <i>always</i> hope.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this devotional right here:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_TQhEkXIr_8EhkFGtrRZcbvZ4ESVXqvF/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-50088679600663863482023-12-06T00:00:00.004-06:002023-12-06T12:54:43.419-06:00Redefining "Enemies"<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This past Sunday, I preached about peace and what it would
take to bring a little more peace to our everyday lives and relationships. One
of the scriptural passages I shared was Romans 12:20-21: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“If your enemies are hungry, feed
them.<br />
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.<br />
In doing this, you will heap<br />
burning coals of shame on their heads.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Don’t let evil conquer you, but
conquer evil by doing good.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Another verse we heard came from the Sermon on the Mount in
Matthew 5, red letters straight from the mouth of Jesus: “You have heard that
it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to
you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (5:43-44)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Both of these scriptures, you probably noticed, address the
topic of <i>enemies</i>. <b>Paul and Jesus give us a new, Christian definition
of what an enemy is: an enemy is <i>someone you love</i>.</b> It’s someone you
do good to, caring for them and supporting them when they're needy. It’s someone you pray for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That’s what an enemy is, for a Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">One of the sicknesses plaguing the Church in America today,
I believe, is that we treat people with whom we disagree like they are enemies,
and then we don’t treat those enemies like <i>we </i>are<i> </i>Christians. We identify
this person or that group as our enemies, but we act like enemies <i>aren’t</i>
people we’re supposed to care for and support and pray for and do good for.
We act like an enemy is <i>not </i>someone you love. Instead, we embrace the
world’s definition of "enemy": someone to be disrespected, loathed, and thwarted
at every turn. <b>Like I heard another pastor say once, the problem is not that
Christians fight—it’s that we don’t fight<i> like Christians</i>.</b> That’s a
problem because, no matter how righteous you believe your cause is, it’s an
unbiblical and unfaithful approach to your opponents. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If my faith consistently does not affect the way I treat
people who don’t like me, and I don’t like them, if it doesn’t affect how I talk
to and talk <i>about</i> people with whom I have profound disagreements, then
it’s just a Sunday morning faith. I’m not denying myself and taking up my cross
daily (Luke 9:23). I’m not opening my heart up to the Lord—only the parts of it
that he won’t try to rearrange.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But, this Christmas, the Prince of Peace is calling us to follow
him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Are you using scripture’s definition of "enemy," or the world’s?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Who is that enemy you have not loved?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What would it look like to do good to them this week? What
would be the first step towards praying for them?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How is Jesus challenging you to be a <i>faithful</i>, <i>Christian</i>
enemy to someone today?</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can listen to today's devotional right here:</span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ba17WoHMCzdUs8rZHbOVSgziWkhVSEEz/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-2896336044398337912023-11-29T00:00:00.001-06:002023-11-29T00:00:00.146-06:00The Work of the Evil One<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In my sermon on Sunday, I mentioned a verse from 2
Corinthians chapter 4, where Paul says that “the god of this world has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ.” (4:4) Hearing Paul talk about a lowercase ‘g’ “god of
this world” probably sounds a little odd, but I bet you can guess whom he’s referring
to: <i>Satan </i>is the so-called “god of this world” who’s trying to blind
people to the gospel. That reminds me of what Jesus says in the parable of the
sower in Matthew 13:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on
the path, and the birds came and ate them up… When anyone hears the word of the
kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what
is sown in the heart; this what was sown on the path. (13:3-4, 19)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Again, the evil one—Satan—is at work to keep people from
receiving the gospel message. Apparently, that’s one of the goals of the evil
spiritual forces in the world: to keep the good news from taking root in people’s
hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What I’m left wondering is, <i>What does that look like? </i>How,
exactly, do these spiritual powers blind us and snatch away from us the words
God’s Spirit whispers to our hearts?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’m tempted (<i>very </i>tempted) to talk about cellphones
right here. They have this uncanny ability to somehow tune out everything going
on outside your head (like the other people trying to talk to you) <i>and</i>
everything going on inside your head, too (like God’s “still small voice”). I
think that kind of distraction is absolutely a powerful tool for Satan and very
useful for snatching up gospel seeds in our hearts. Some of us need to take
that more seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But maybe it would be more useful if each of us investigated
our own lives to uncover the methods Satan uses on <i>me</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When I read something in scripture or a devotional that challenges
me or inspires me, what snatches that away? When I feel God speak through a
song, a sermon, or a conversation, what can eventually blind me to the message
I'd heard?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Is</i> it my phone? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Or is it my <i>temper</i>? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe it’s my preoccupation with the news, or my anxiety
about the future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It could be that really good looking someone who just walked
through the door, or the person who gets under my skin who walked in after them.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The busyness at work, the craziness at home, my favorite menu
item at the restaurant I’m driving to, or the driver behind me who ought to
have his license revoked—whatever it is, whether it’s a steady habit, a regular
temptation, or a flash of disruption, it erases everything else that was
written on my heart a moment ago. It snatches. It blinds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You can find Satan in gut-wrenching atrocities and manipulative
lies, but you don’t have to look anywhere so shocking. You’ll see Satan
wherever the hope of forgiveness and promise of new life we have in Jesus is
uprooted or obscured. If you investigate, I imagine you’ll find your heart and
mind are smudged with diabolical fingerprints. Because evil does not want you
to hear, doesn’t want you to know, doesn’t want you to find the life that you
were created for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe we need to start investigating our lives, uncovering
Satan’s methods, and rooting <i>them </i>out.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this week's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbj-7REgx3cq1idYfIoXJ-nHiIYf0KCk/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-80821078382878775102023-11-22T00:00:00.022-06:002023-11-22T00:00:00.170-06:00Enduring Love<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXX7427qM62KES9du4UAtMzqMStGC57ZaVdDYvwfGQMQjZkXkKxh2Q2p97Tl7DiSGPVYu1HPx6GCmSWZkbBqkBEZklcT67v31dfjgHMGbvej01L2w28_d3LyrmG1zvDtV9pMp2w_n_fNY-0O4FspY81ARwZCcoXKh88hNfZfXMu_MF-ctLnhTT_A/s5472/priscilla-du-preez-bJPn27RFg0Y-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXX7427qM62KES9du4UAtMzqMStGC57ZaVdDYvwfGQMQjZkXkKxh2Q2p97Tl7DiSGPVYu1HPx6GCmSWZkbBqkBEZklcT67v31dfjgHMGbvej01L2w28_d3LyrmG1zvDtV9pMp2w_n_fNY-0O4FspY81ARwZCcoXKh88hNfZfXMu_MF-ctLnhTT_A/w400-h266/priscilla-du-preez-bJPn27RFg0Y-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@priscilladupreez?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/yellow-flowers-decor-bJPn27RFg0Y?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I think of scriptures that talk about gratitude, the
first passage that comes to mind is Psalm 136. You might recognize it as that
one really repetitive psalm:<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Give thanks to the Lord, for he
is good.<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Give thanks to the God of gods.<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Give thanks to the Lord of lords:<br />
<i>His love endures forever.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">to him who alone does great wonders,<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">who by his understanding made the
heavens,<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">who spread out
the earth upon the waters,</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span> </span>His love endures forever.</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> (136:1-6)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It's a song of thanksgiving to the Lord for all of God’s “great
wonders.” The verses ahead describe the first Passover and the crossing of the
Red Sea (136:10-15), the journey through the wilderness (136:16), and the
conquest and settling of Canaan (136:17-22). The examples are all different, but each one illustrates the same thing, the words of the refrain: <i>His love endures
forever</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Israel filled their praises with specific and tangible instances
of the enduring love of the Lord. They gave thanks and sang of God’s love
because they had seen it.</b> They could point to it. If this psalm had been expanded
by Christians in New Testament times, they might have said,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">He assumed human likeness,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>His love endures forever.</i><br />
He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="text-indent: 0.25in;">His love
endures forever. </i><span style="text-indent: 0.25in;">(see Phil 2:5-8)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The incarnation</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">when the Son of God became a human being</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">and
the cross are specific and concrete instances of the enduring love of the Lord.
That’s love you can point to.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But where have you seen that love in your own life? If <i>you</i>
were going to expand the psalm, what instances of God’s enduring love would you
point to? I want to challenge you, today or tomorrow, to write another few
verses and add your praise to this song. <b>Name some specific and tangible
examples of the love of God that you’ve experienced, and then call them what
they are: <i>his love enduring forever</i>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The four final verses of Psalm 136 declare:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">He remembered us in our low estate<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">and freed us from our enemies.<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">He gives food to every creature.<br />
<i>His love endures forever.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Give
thanks to the God of heaven.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span> </span>His love endures forever. </i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(136:23-26)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you see the enduring love of the
Lord all around you this holiday.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this week's devotion right here:</i></span></p><p></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SP_Vmr11OWlXOfxQMxLtLj1Dji4E3Aza/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-43939040148276698842023-11-08T00:00:00.009-06:002023-11-15T08:25:02.044-06:00A Bunch of Hypocrites<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“They’re a bunch of hypocrites!”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Have you ever heard someone talk about churches like that?
Maybe you’ve said it yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I get it. I've spent as much time around church folks as anybody over the last 25 years, and, on occasion, I've seen the judgment, the meanness, the gossip, and the moral lapses that you hear about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But could there possibly be a redeeming message to take away
from Christians’ endless inconsistencies and failures?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In a great book called <i>Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way
Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides</i>, pastor Scott Sauls points
out all of the hypocrites we meet in the stories of scripture:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">Paul wrote about gentleness (it’s a fruit of the
Spirit!), but he didn’t always use it when writing about his opponents.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">Peter happily welcomed uncircumcised Gentiles
into God’s family—unless the circumcised Jewish believers from Jerusalem were watching.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">Noah was supposed to be the most righteous man
in all the world, but he drank himself legless.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">King David kept composing psalms after what he’d
done to Bathsheba and Uriah.</span></li></ul><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Just to name a few! But, after he points this out, Sauls
says,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“It is the hypocrisy… in the Bible that sometimes encourages
me more than anything else. It reminds me that God’s relentless grip on me, not
<i>my </i>relentless grip on God, keeps me in his love.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hypocrisy isn’t something to be celebrated, but it is a reminder
of a central gospel truth: it’s God’s grace that saves us, not our ability to do
all the right things and avoid all the wrong things. <b>My feeble grip on God is
enough, because it’s his strong grip on me that does the saving. Sinful
Christians actually shine a spotlight on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of our
God.</b> Like Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And because we serve a God whose forgiveness pardons sinners
and whose grace embraces even hypocrites, Sauls says, he has the <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">freedom to be honest about my sins, shortcomings, and
inconsistencies… I can allow my hypocrisy to be brought into the light by God
and others. I can also invite God and others to help me forsake my hypocrisy
and grow into the person God has created me to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Once we admit that Christians are going to fall short and that
the church will never be free of hypocrisy, we don’t have to pretend to be
perfect anymore. <b><i>Everybody </i>sins. Hypocrisy happens. You can own your faults
and sins, instead of trying to hide them or justify them.</b> And once you own them,
you’re in a position to repent and change.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. And the sooner we’re
honest about it, the sooner the Holy Spirit can enter our hearts and lives and
start to heal and transform our hypocrisies by God’s power and grace. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional below:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JUc-dLSaj-_-ZyUg-ellJxQ3MkK2It4A/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-80643387269747801702023-11-08T00:00:00.005-06:002023-11-08T00:00:00.157-06:00Our Golden Calf<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Recently I preached on the infamous scene in Exodus 32 where
Aaron casts a golden calf for the people of Israel to worship. It’s a pretty
shocking moment, really. The people haven’t even finished finalizing their
covenant with the Lord, and they’re camped at the foot of a mountain <i>blazing</i>
with God’s glory (24:17). Yet, they seem to think it’s a very sensible thing to
exchange “the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass” (Ps 106:20),
to trade the God of the plagues and the Passover, the God who stomped through
the Red Sea like a kid in a puddle, for an inanimate object they just made out
of old earrings. (32:2-4)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">After everything that’s already unfolded in Exodus, this
scene exposes the sad truth about idolatry. No matter how brightly that gold
glistens, it pales in comparison to the Great I Am.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In that sermon I said that modern idolatry is more subtle
than the Old Testament variety. Offering sacrifices to a golden statue should
set off any modern believer’s alarm bells. <b>The idols that seduce us today
don’t demand <i>literal</i> worship—they simply ask for more and more of our
time, money, energy, and devotion.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This point really came home to me a few days after I
preached the sermon, when I was at a Bible study on Ephesians, and we read
Ephesians 5:5: “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy
person—such a person <i>is an idolater</i>—has any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I typically think of greed as an issue of stewarding your
resources well. Are you using what God’s given you to satisfy your desires, or
to pursue God’s? Are you heaping up non-essentials, while some Lazarus
lies at your gate, going daily without life’s most basic essentials? (See
Luke 16:19-21.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But Ephesians isn’t concerned with our priorities, our
contentment, or even the needs of our struggling neighbors. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Ephesians is concerned about <i>idols</i>, and it calls
greed idolatry. This is the subtle kind: you don’t bow down to anything, but
you set your heart on material things that make life more pleasant. If I
devote my life to working for money to spend on more possessions, I’ve devoted
my life to more possessions. And if that’s what I’ve set my heart on or
devoted my life to, how can they belong to Jesus?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’ve often heard Christians lament our culture’s gradual
acceptance of certain practices—unrestrained sexuality, widespread profanity,
Wednesday and Sunday sports for kids, pervasive cohabitation, the list goes on.
I rarely hear anyone worrying over our deep-seated consumerism. Yet, it seems
to me, that our commercials, store displays, online ads, and shopping apps are
training all of us, every day, in greed. They’re teaching us what to desire—the
next car, the new tool, the latest device, the handiest appliance, the
trendiest look. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Meanwhile, <b>scripture and the Church try to point our
desires in a different direction: “As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
living God.”</b> (Ps 42:1-2)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Are you paying attention to which desires preoccupy your
mind? <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Have you ever stopped to evaluate your contentment and
your desire for more? <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What can you do today to guard Jesus’s place at the
center of your life from any would-be challengers?</span><o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can listen to today's devotional below!</span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ennKJZXcGD3Hm4QTA8TxjzPrWfo5YPtJ/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-32068030512472086112023-11-01T00:00:00.004-05:002023-11-02T13:35:08.899-05:00Israel's Magic 8 Ball<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">By the time you reach Exodus 28, all of the epic stories of
deliverance from slavery are over. The Red Sea has been crossed. Manna has been
miraculously delivered. Water has poured from rocks. The only popular story
still to come is the incident with the golden calf in chapter 32. Almost
everything else here in the last part of the book is instructions for building
the tabernacle (a tent where the Lord will dwell with the people) and its
various accessories and descriptions of building the
tabernacle and its various accessories. There's lots of detail and lots of
repetition. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Chapter 28 is focused on crafting the garments for the
priests to wear when they're serving at the tabernacle. If you're into sashes,
gold embroidery, and scarlet yarn, this is the chapter for you. To me, this
stuff gets pretty mind-numbing after a while, but I did find myself chewing on
one odd detail when I reread this chapter recently: the Urim and Thummim.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What's the Urim and Thummim, you ask?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">While describing the priest's breastplate, it says, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may
be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron
will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his
heart before the LORD. (28:30)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">They are the “means of making decisions for the Israelites.”
Scripture is pretty spare on the details, but the priest somehow used the Urim
and Thummim to inquire of the Lord, when the Israelites wanted to discern God’s
will (see Numbers 27:21 and Ezra 2:63). They sound like some kind of Magic 8 Ball
that speaks for the Lord. “Yes definitely.” “My sources say no.” “Ask again
later.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now, why would the people need these mysterious objects to
help them know God's will? They were just given laws detailing
exactly what the Lord wanted from them. Not only do they get the Ten
Commandments in Exodus 20, but they then receive dozens of more detailed laws applying
the Ten Commandments to different, everyday scenarios (in chapters 21-23). <b>God
already told them what to do, in black and white. So what are the Urim
and Thummim for?<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There's not one verse in the entire Bible, much less in
Exodus, that discusses gambling. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There's no verse that tells you exactly how much of their
money Christians should give away, only that we should be generous and ready to
share (1 Tim 6:18). On a related note, there's no precise definition of greed,
nor is there ever a clear line drawn between innocent desire and covetousness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How do you balance being a "friend of sinners"
(like Jesus) and "bad company corrupts good character"? (1 Cor 15:33)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Do "love your enemies" and "turn the other
cheek" apply in times of war? Can Christians take up arms against the
enemies of their nation?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I could go on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Some situations are too complicated for a simple
"Thou shalt not." </b>If you want to follow Jesus faithfully in
all the moments of life, having laws isn't enough. You need the Urim and
Thummim, too. You need <i>discernment</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Today, we don't have an Urim and Thummim. Those are long gone,
and it’s not even clear what they were or how they worked. There are no more
Magic 8 Balls for discerning God's will for your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What we do have are: 1) the words of scripture, 2) the
example of Jesus, and 3) the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These won't always
yield as clear answers as we'd like, though. There may be times when there's
more than one right option. There will be moments when you pray, study, and
listen, and you're still not sure <i>what </i>God desires—but it’s time to make
a choice. Sometimes you'll make the <i>wrong</i> choice (and then grace abounds).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Discernment isn’t always simple or easy. But it’s essential.
The Bible, long, deep, and inspired as it is, will not resolve every predicament
or question in black and white. Maybe that’s God’s way of teaching us to rely
on <i>Him</i>, not just a book. To “trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and lean not on your own understanding,” to “in all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Prov 3:5-6)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, how are you inquiring of the Lord and trying to discern God’s
will in your life today?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to this week's devotional right here:</i></span></p><p></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cFQkXv6s8dMS-GpYF3HH9402E34DEB-Y/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-4983960859233661432023-10-25T00:00:00.001-05:002023-10-25T08:57:26.766-05:00Your Daily Bread<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When Jesus tangles with the devil in the desert, the first
temptation he faces springs from his hunger. “After fasting forty days and
forty nights, he was hungry.” (I bet!) “The tempter came to him and
said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’”
(Matt 4:2-3) Jesus famously fires back, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (4:4) I like
how Eugene Peterson put it in <i>The Message</i>: “It takes more than bread to
stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Words from God’s mouth</i> were Jesus’s bread. They were
what sustained him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Forty days in the desert, hunger and an offer of bread: this
scene is a sort of reenactment of Israel’s desert wanderings, for 40 <i>years</i>,
which included rumbling stomachs, grumbling words, and the daily miracle of
bread (manna) from God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The first time they complain to Moses about food is in
Exodus chapter 16. This is when the Lord begins to provide the daily bread for
the Israelites. There’s one strange condition attached to the manna, though:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until
morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of
it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell… Each morning
everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted
away. (16:19-21)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The manna was literally <i>daily</i> bread: it arrived every
day, and it lasted only for the day. Tomorrow, you’d have to get back out there
and gather it again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now, remember what Jesus said about bread in the desert. “Man
shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God.” Words from God’s mouth were his bread. They sustained him in a way
literal bread couldn’t—it takes more than that to stay alive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If we’re going to follow Jesus’s example, we need words from
God’s mouth to feed us. We feed our bodies with meat and grain and fruits and
vegetables, and we feed our hearts, souls, and minds with God’s words.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And, like the Israelites discovered in Exodus 16, this work
must be done daily. Theologian Walter Moberly writes, “<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Yhwh</span>’s bread is not the sort that can be kept overnight. It
can only be collected afresh each new day.” The bread we need from God, his words,
won’t keep. You can’t live today off of what you gathered yesterday. <b>Reading
scripture, listening for the Holy Spirit in prayer, conversing with brothers
and sisters on the journey alongside you—these things nourish us, but what you
did yesterday, last Sunday, last week, isn’t enough to sustain you today. You
have to get back out there and gather it again.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What are you doing today to feed your heart, soul, and mind?
Other voices in the world will gladly feed your anger, suspicion, greed,
prejudices, and lust with <i>their</i> words, every single day. So, what are
you doing to maintain a healthy diet, to receive the words you need the most?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady
stream of words from God’s mouth.”</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Listen to today's devotional right here!</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IUmtGA9ydnZwfjwo59Q8vI9igfpfXcUK/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-44652060267784519672023-10-18T00:00:00.019-05:002023-10-18T06:19:18.116-05:00Is It Time to Get Moving?<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You probably know the story of the Hebrews crossing the Red
Sea after their escape from Egypt. You might have that scene from <i>The Ten Commandments </i>or <i>The
Prince of Egypt </i>permanently stamped in your memory from when you were a
kid.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What you may not remember—what I didn’t remember but
noticed recently—is something the Lord says to Moses just before the epic miracle
on the beach that day. Moses offers the people this rousing call to courage and
faith:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue
you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD
himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today! </i>I
read that and think, ‘Yeah! That’s it! Sometimes you just have to put yourself
in God’s hands and leave all the rescuing up to him.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But then, in the next verse, the Lord speaks: “Why are you
crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!” (14:15)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses told them, “stand still.” God said, ‘Why are you just
standing there? Get moving!’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Sometimes you just have to put yourself in God’s hands and
leave all the rescuing up to him. <b>But this was not one of those times. This was
one of those times when you need to get busy doing your part to see God’s purposes
accomplished in the world.</b> Even in a moment that demands a miracle, like
the Red Sea crossing, you may have a part to play. Your efforts, however small
they feel, may be a part of God’s solution. A <i>critical</i> part, even. The Lord
could have evaporated every single drop of water in that sea, and it wouldn’t
have done any good if the people hadn’t laced up their shoes and walked across.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thomas More, a saint in the Catholic Church, once prayed,
“The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labor for.” Praying
and crying out to God are beyond valuable. Yet, you shouldn’t settle for prayer
if God is sending you out as a laborer. When the Lord says “get moving,” it’s
time to get up off your knees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Think about the struggles you’re enduring, the dreams you’re
concocting, and the needs you’re staring at right now. Are you standing still,
watching for the Lord’s rescue, when you really ought to get moving? Don’t stop
praying! But do start considering: how could I be a part of God’s solution?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z3TUs0mMH90oEFpUWFBLBFid9NInB8sP/preview?usp=drivesdk"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-20460871451426275082023-10-11T00:00:00.006-05:002023-10-11T08:12:10.461-05:00Gripe like Moses<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A few weeks back, I wrote about <a href="https://nancehixon.blogspot.com/2023/09/blaming-god.html">blaming God</a> and how so many
of the prayers in the book of Psalms are quick to let God have it when life
goes off the rails. I was reminded of that recently while reading in Exodus.
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh for the first time in Exodus 5. But this initial
“Let me people go!” backfires spectacularly:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave
drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to
supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather
their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before;
don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying
out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ (5:6-8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Instead of securing the Hebrews’ freedom, Moses and Aaron only made their workload heavier.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When the Israelite foremen give Moses a piece of their mind
for getting them into this mess, Moses turns around and gives <i>God</i> a
piece of <i>his</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why
have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent
me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought
trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
(5:22-23)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses places the blame squarely on God. <i>You </i>brought
trouble on this people. I spoke to Pharaoh in <i>your</i> name. <i>You </i>have
not rescued your people. Moses knows how to point the finger at heaven as well
as any of the psalmists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now, the psalms are prayers, meaning they are <i>our </i>words
to <i>God. </i>What you don’t get in Psalms is God’s response. But in Exodus,
the Lord speaks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>So, how does God respond to Moses’s resentful accusations?
Does he chastise his servant? Maybe put him in his place? Does he threaten him
for his impertinence, or explain that Moses simply can’t understand his
mysterious ways?</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Chapter 6, verse 1: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what
I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let [my people]
go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God doesn't chastise or threaten. God tells Moses: this isn't over yet. It's as if he says, 'You think I did all of this, Moses? I'm about to<i> </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">show you </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">what I can do.'</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>God doesn’t berate Moses for his accusations and anger but <i>reassures</i>
him that things won’t always be this way. Because Moses <i>wasn’t wrong. </i>The
Lord agreed with him: this <i>isn’t</i> the way things should be. We <i>do </i>need
to do something about this.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The next time you find yourself ready to gripe at God, to
tell the Lord, “Why have you brought all this trouble? Was <i>this </i>your
plan? You haven’t rescued us at all!”, don’t reverently bite your tongue. Go on and gripe, like Moses. Tell the Lord exactly what you think. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You might be surprised to hear
God respond: ‘You’re right. And I’m going to do something about it.’</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to this week's devotional here:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1845_ioOuI-y76frMGlfBhs8Mw0nXoTzQ/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-46194403305192344632023-09-27T00:00:00.029-05:002023-09-27T08:28:05.653-05:00Broken Instruments<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPv6Yl1hdZhgj9-DTLsLDT3cIjyXzVYvRWFYLSqdJnmCSHO0yq12XLJV9Wps7Wz_I45f025y0YxVGtxLEOs76zefeCx64C9STw6lUi_zNqlfOaiISYJGhn_C69LzvMi-qrfpHEf3UM6M3aN7LGSgKuq1Uk3oCKDYN3WeX-CGzW2Sg3Uq6EmKsm9Q/s1600/2b%20Copenhagen%20Cathedral.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPv6Yl1hdZhgj9-DTLsLDT3cIjyXzVYvRWFYLSqdJnmCSHO0yq12XLJV9Wps7Wz_I45f025y0YxVGtxLEOs76zefeCx64C9STw6lUi_zNqlfOaiISYJGhn_C69LzvMi-qrfpHEf3UM6M3aN7LGSgKuq1Uk3oCKDYN3WeX-CGzW2Sg3Uq6EmKsm9Q/s320/2b%20Copenhagen%20Cathedral.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've been working our way through the book of Exodus in our
Wednesday night Bible study for the last few weeks, and something that's come
up a few times along the way is Moses's <i>imperfections</i>. What do we
learn about Moses in the first few chapters of the book?</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">He's a murderer and fugitive from the law (2:11-15)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">He wasn't even committed enough to his Jewish
heritage to circumcise his son (4:24-26)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">He's a poor public speaker (4:10)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; text-indent: -0.25in;">He's considered an Egyptian, not a Hebrew, by
on-lookers (2:16-19)</span></li></ul><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses has a few strikes against him with the Egyptians <i>and
</i>with the Hebrews. Sure, he has some unique qualifications for the job, too.
He has experience and knowledge of both the Egyptian and Hebrew cultures. He
clearly has a heart for the plight of the Hebrew slaves. But he's hardly an
ideal candidate for going to Pharaoh, demanding "Let my people go!",
and leading Israel out of Egypt. He has some serious imperfections.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Moses's story reminds me of something I heard Rick Warren
say in an interview a couple years ago. He remarked that, <b>"God only
uses broken things. If he used perfect things, nothing would get done."</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Yes, Moses had some brokenness, some imperfections. Everyone
does. But God looked past that and called Moses, and, as a result, there
were impossible miracles and astonishing deliverance. One of the foundational moments
and defining acts of salvation in the story of scripture was accomplished: the
Lord conquered Pharaoh’s power, emancipated the slaves, and established a
nation. Everything else that comes in the story of the Bible—David and Solomon,
Jonah and Daniel, Mary and Jesus—all of it is only possible because the Lord
used Moses, imperfections and all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe God’s calling you today. Maybe the Lord has a job for you,
but, like Moses, you’ve got a list of excuses, of reasons why God should go
find somebody else. You might even have some very good reasons! Your brokenness
intersects with God’s purpose, and you don’t see any sense in even trying. You’re
just not the ideal candidate, not a perfect fit for this job. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But Moses already showed us just what God can do with broken
and imperfect people. The Lord can accomplish impossible miracles and astonishing
deliverance—through <i>you</i>. And it doesn’t take a sea rushing out of your
way to astonish. Bread falling from the sky isn’t the only kind of impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Bread in somebody’s pantry, where there’s usually cobwebs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A shelter for women and children making room for more beds,
more deliverance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Someone who lives on the street feeling noticed, respected,
and loved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A ride to the doctor for the shut-in who’s had to cancel too
many appointments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A whole week sober for the first time in years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A father telling his child “I’m sorry” for the first time <i>ever</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>These</i> are the kinds of miracles that the world outside
your window needs. Nothing supernatural, per se. <b>No Red Seas or manna
required. Just an imperfect but willing instrument in God’s able hands. </b>How might you make a difference and make the world look more like that today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Don’t think it can’t be you. God only uses broken things</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>You can listen to today's devotional below:</i></span></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CByMUSLC4Q50m9S6J2DTgqi6x6kZPvT2/preview?usp=drive_link"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17450031.post-40947191331041025452023-09-20T00:00:00.011-05:002023-09-20T08:30:12.823-05:00A Soul at War<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from
the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.” – 1 Peter 2:11</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I was reading in 1 Peter the other day, when this verse
caught my eye. There are desires of the flesh that “wage war” against our
souls—they’re relentlessly hostile towards and <i>destructive</i> to our souls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Well, <i>that’s</i> kind of alarming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So what are these “desires of the flesh”? These sound
like things we should identify, so we can avoid them, don’t you think?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">1 Peter goes on to describe how to “conduct yourselves
honorably” (2:12) in relation to governing authorities (2:13-17) and within
your household (2:18-3:7). Then come a few verses that, based on what they’re <i>promoting</i>,
suggest a few “desires of the flesh” to me:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Division (3:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Hardheartedness (3:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Apathy and hate (3:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Arrogance (3:8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Getting payback (3:9)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Evil words (3:10)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Deceitfulness (3:10)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Sowing conflict (3:11)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That phrase, “the desires of the flesh,” also pops up in
Galatians chapter 5. Paul calls on his readers not to “gratify the desires of
the flesh,” because those desires are opposed to the work of the Holy Spirit
(5:16-17). And unlike Peter, Paul was sure to outline <i>exactly</i> what he
meant: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger,
quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like
these. (5:19-21)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There’s some overlap between the two—notice especially
division and sowing conflict in 1 Peter and strife, quarrels, dissensions, and
factions in Galatians—but between these two letters, we get a pretty wide range of
“desires of the flesh.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Your habit of returning fire any time you feel you’ve been
criticized or insulted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">That quarrel in your family or your church that you have no
interest in <i>de</i>escalating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Your confidence that you know better and see things more
clearly than those idiots who think <i>this </i>or do <i>that</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The nights out getting drunk with your buddies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Those lustful thoughts you don’t mind indulging and the
dirty websites you don’t mind visiting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">These things may seem more or less harmless. You may not
have ever given a second thought to the <i>morality</i> of it all—why would
you? It’s pretty normal behavior. And some of it you’re enjoying quite a bit!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But Peter wants us to recognize the reality: these desires
of the flesh that you’re enjoying are hostile to you. They’re trying to destroy
your soul. <b>They want to sharpen your self-interest and dull your love. They aim
to normalize harshness, to break habits of understanding or apologizing, and to
grease the wheels of toxic cycles. They want to leave you content with your
sins and disinclined to pursue transformation.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Well, what are we supposed to do about it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">1 Peter does gives us a powerful challenge <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%203%3A8-9&version=NIV">in
3:8-9</a>, but, as much as I love those verses, it’s Paul’s words that I think
we need the most. How are we supposed to avoid falling into the trap of the
“desires of the flesh”? He follows up his catalog of “works of the flesh” (5:19-21)
with some familiar words:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">By contrast, <i>the fruit of the Spirit</i> is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. (5:22-23)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>If you want to combat the desires of the flesh waging war
against the soul, step one is to invite the Spirit to plant something new in
you</b>, to cultivate in your heart the antidotes to the poison apple the flesh
offers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You need reinforcements to win this war. It’s time to bring
the Holy Spirit to the front line.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> Listen to this week's devotional right here!</i></span></o:p></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Isg4Pzv5y-Nu5b_gs5bpoHMRs6nLqNK7/preview?usp=sharing"></iframe>Nancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07462331473004050279noreply@blogger.com2