March 9-15
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:27-35; John 4:1-6
Scripture Thought (Psalm 95:6-9): Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, 8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Reflection: We’ve all heard, and perhaps have used, some form of the expression about the tail wagging the dog. It’s somewhat comical when we try to picture this happening. The closest we come is probably cartoon versions. It’s used to express situations in which things have gone awry by having a backward relationship between the head and that which follows or expresses the intentions of the head. The wrong part is calling the shots; it never works out well.
As we read the Psalm for the past couple days, we come face to face with the possibility of a backward relationship between Christians and their Lord. Is it possible that we sometimes forget what is affirmed by the Psalmist, the most obvious of facts--He is our God? Our God! The Maker, the One who calls us His own. We, on the other hand, are the people of his pasture. That seems odd to begin with--pastures are for livestock, especially sheep, not people. We are more than livestock, yet we are still a flock under his direction, supervision, care, control. It isn’t fitting for any flock to direct its shepherd, and it is not appropriate to have people giving God direction.
Yet as we offer and listen to prayer requests we seem to forget this at times. We are very quick to tell others to pray that God will do this or that, maybe even in this or that manner. We want all the details so we can give better direction to God when we finally end up taking our desired outcome and prepared directions to Him. Maybe, if we’re particularly pious, we’ll end it with the phrase, “if it be Your will.” Perhaps if we paid more attention to what His desire is for us first and foremost, we’d better understand how to pray differently, in a manner that recognizes our relative position in the scheme of things. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. It’s a recognition that He knows us and the situations before us and doesn’t need us to tell Him what is the best way forward. It’s a way to rest in the middle of a storm. The Israelites needed food. God knew that; and He provided it in a way no one would have imagined. Much of the time we don’t know what to pray for, as far as outcomes are concerned. That doesn’t really matter, for as long as we come in humble acknowledgement of our all-wise God, He’ll provide the things we truly need.
Prayer: Creating, loving, redeeming God, we come to You because You invite us. We come in humility, knowing that it is only by grace that You hear us and answer us. Before we call, You will answer. Before we know what to ask, You provide. Forgive us for taking on ourselves the role of directing. Teach us to trust in moments of fear, confusion, and anxiety. Teach us to receive in joy what You provide. Amen.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:9-21; Ephesians 2:11-22
Scripture Thought (Eph. 2:17-22) 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Reflection: Peace. On both sides of a divide that is being shattered, peace. An end to the division and the dawning of peace. That has to sound like a good thing any time. The problem is how to bring it about in a manner that does not minimize or appear to make light of the concerns of either party. Paul is writing to a Christian community comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. The former considered the latter as heathens without knowledge of God, without the discipline of the Law specially revealed to their ancestors as part of a covenant between God and their own people; the latter considered the former as arrogant claimants of a superior status in relation to God. The Jews boasted about the things God had done in their history to prove their special standing in the eyes of God. The Gentiles tended to scoff at such claims--like the one about providing food and water in miraculous fashion while the exodus from Egypt was transformed into a march toward the “promised land.”
Insiders and outsiders. The privileged and the deprived. Is it much the same between the church and the world today as it was between Jew and Gentile in the first century when Paul was writing his epistles? Do we in the church consider the blessing and calling of God in Christ as a possession, while considering those outside as less than ourselves? As the call of Abraham, father of the Jewish race, was to bring blessing to the whole world, our purpose is to demonstrate what God’s rule looks like, and to extend the love and justice that characterize that kingdom to the place in which we find ourselves. And as Christ “gave himself for us” we will find situations in which we lay down our rights, our status, our goods for the sake of our neighbors. For they may be “outsiders” at present; but the blessings of God are intended for them, too. And we are called to deliver them. Doing so just might break down some dividing walls in our communities. The barriers between people are in our thinking, not in God’s view of human value. His giving of the Son was the end of blaming someone else, for He took on himself the sins of the whole world. He didn’t consider his privilege as God’s Son something to be protected, but as something to be invested into the people who needed hope, needed purpose, needed to be saved from a godless present and future. So did we all. And so must we imitate him.
Prayer: Lord Christ, you have broken down the true barriers by giving yourself for the sake of the world--the whole world, and not just our little corner. Expand our vision of where your blessing should flow, the persons who are in need, and the resources you give us to continue your work. And so lead us to heal the broken-hearted, set the captives free, make the lame to walk and the blind to see. Amen.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:1-8; Colossians 1:15-23
Scripture Thought: (Col. 1:19-23a) 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
Reflection: What does God look like? On one level, it’s a silly question; God is spirit, non-corporeal, without physical form. In fact, this is so clearly instilled an idea that there is a commandment against making any physical representation of God. That’s what idols are--attempts to reduce God to a form, thereby limiting Him. So in that vein, it is virtually blasphemous to ask what God looks like. On the other hand, however, we have Paul’s incredible declaration: Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. And to underscore the point, he adds that God was pleased to have all the fullness of deity dwell in Jesus. That sounds like an invitation, even an encouragement to think of God when we see Jesus, and draw conclusions about who God is by seeing what Jesus does. If one wants to know what God looks like, he or she should look at Jesus. As Jesus himself put it, he who has seen him, has seen the Father--they are one and the same. But how?
It should be clear that it is not the physical form of Jesus to which Paul is pointing. Rather, he wants to think about what Jesus did with his body. How he used it was a display of who God is. So maybe the answer just given should be slightly altered, so that if we want to know what God looks like we should look at what Jesus did while he was visible. The character of God is what we should see in Jesus. And that character is so heavily favorable toward wayward, sinful people that no one saw it coming. He wants to redeem, not destroy; he wants so badly he will die to make it happen.
People occasionally go to great lengths to make someone else’s life a bit better. Recently there was a story of a man with a severely disabled son. The father noticed a distinct glimmer of joy in the non-verbal, immobilized son when he took him for a ride, a walk. This led him to train for a marathon--while carrying his son. The marathon became a triathlon competition, with biking and swimming added to the marathon. Grueling, to say the least. One might say it is lavish love for his son. And we can often be found with tears welling up around the eyes when we see it displayed in stories such as this one. I suggest that we are stirred by such acts primarily because they mimic God’s ways, whether or not they were intended to do so. God’s love in Christ is to show the perfection of his love, its inexhaustible grace. That’s what He looks like. Just watch Jesus to be sure.
Prayer: You have shown us what is good, O Lord, for You have displayed Your heart and Your desires, Your love and Your redemptive ways. Let us meditate thereon; for it flies against our own selfish nature, and calls into account those who would rule by iron fist. Your word to us in Christ is to return, for You have cleared our accounts of all unrighteousness. How grateful we are we cannot express, except to be imitators of Christ. To this we commit ourselves and seek Your aid. Amen.
, March 11, 2020
Texts: Psalm 128; Ezekiel 36:22-32; John 7:53-8:11
Scripture Thought: 24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Reflection: “Great” is a word thrown around rather casually, applying to everything from a meal at a restaurant to actors and athletes, to individual performances, and a host of other things we like and by which we are at least momentarily impressed. It hardly seems fitting to use the same word to apply to the Maker of heaven and earth and all that is in them. What would a word that is so flexible mean?
How is greatness measured? What sort of standard is there by which we might judge the relative greatness of people, of nations, of leaders? Is it by the power to punish or subdue any and all rivals? Is it by the accumulated wealth, the depth of the treasury, the opulence of the buildings and furnishings? Is it by the fear that is instilled in the hearts and minds of any who would oppose or contradict its authority? Is it by the ability to carry out the intentions and desires of those who rule, thwarting all opposition? Or perhaps it is recognized by the beauty that is created, or the physical or mental prowess that is displayed. Is this what constitutes greatness? When Christians claim that God is great, what are they saying? What sort of greatness is most prominent in the total biblical account of God and His works, His ways? Perhaps most importantly, how does God choose to display His greatness? What is so great about His greatness?
The prophet Ezekiel, as Yahweh’s spokesman, gives a different picture of greatness, distinguishing it from the possession and execution of raw power. That power had been on display from Israel's delivery from Egyptian enslavement, the awesome display at Mt. Sinai, the conquest of the land, along with so many “minor” miracles along the way. It also included the delivering of a rebellious nation into the hands of its enemies. But this latter move set the stage for what God seems most anxious to reveal. He declares that He will do the unthinkable--bring the scattered nation back together and make it prosperous and strong once again. He would pull the people out of their captivity, even while the captor nations were still strong, and rebuild. Even as disobedient as they had been, He would redeem them and their land. Redeeming love for His own would be the most prominent characteristic of Yahweh’s greatness. It’s the same kind of love and redemptive desire that was great enough to shame the hearts and melt the anger of a self-righteous mob while rescuing a trembling soul with no defense against the charges of the crowd or of the law itself. One greater than the law was there. May his kind of greatness become our measuring rod.
Prayer: Father, in a world easily impressed by the wrong things, may we seek the One who alone is great and good. Teach us to put away our mistaking of power for greatness, and learn to believe more fully in the power of love and grace. For no power on earth or in heaven can separate us from that love in Christ Jesus. Yes, great are You, Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, March 10
Texts: Psalm 128; Isaiah 65:17-25; Romans 4:6-13
Scripture Thought: Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Reflection: The season of Lent, with its emphasis on such things as confession, repentance, and sacrifice, can become a bit more somber than is warranted. Yes, we should engage in these things. We should look at the ways in which the non-believing world has influenced us, and at the manner in which we have imitated that way of life, rather than testing its legitimacy by what God has to say. We should seek to implement new patterns in our lives that help us to break away from the thoughts and habits that thwart the imitation of Christ in our lives. All needful; all proper for the season.
But today’s texts paint a bright picture. It’s a picture of what the promise really stands for--a future so glorious that it cannot be adequately expressed. The writers are saying, “Trust me; the efforts at self-discipline, spiritual awareness, and self-examination are worth it. They will yield more than you can imagine.” The age to come is not to be missed! They are also reminding us that merit has no role to play in that age--except for the merit of Christ. Our part is responding in faith.
It seems wrong-headed to attempt to promote acceptance of Christianity by focusing on what will be avoided if one adheres to the faith. Wouldn’t it be so much better to present the prospects of life that is what everyone inwardly longs for in the first place? Our problem in our humanity isn’t so much that we don’t know what we want--we want love, we want freedom from want, we want safety, security, prosperity as the result of our labor, political freedom, etc. Our human problem is that we seek these things in our own way, a way that actually thwarts our own efforts and the attainment of the goal. So easily do people fail to trust God to provide the best life we can ever desire. He went to great lengths to restore our prospects for life, now and in the age to come. What is your (or my) vision of the good life? Will we trust God to provide it--or something better?
Prayer: Jesus, you came and suffered so that we might live--not just barely, but abundantly. Correct us when we stray by chasing after things that are not what you know to be our true prosperity; teach us to love that which is truly good, and accept what You bring as true gift. Amen.
Monday, March 9
Texts: Psalm 128; Numbers 21:4-9; Hebrews 3:1-6
Scripture Thought: (Heb. 3:3-6) 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Reflection: How clearly do you think God is seen today? Could you tell someone where to find Him, where to look for Him? How would He be recognized? Could He be living closer to people than expected, such that He could be hidden in plain sight? How often have you or I failed to see what we were looking for simply because we didn’t expect to see it there, where it was? The mind can do some funny things to our vision, such that our expectations actually influence our ability to see what’s in front of us.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever it was, uses the image of a house to represent the work of God. Why? What is it about a house that makes it a suitable illustration of what God is doing in the world? And what can it mean for us to be God’s house? Houses are places where persons live. In most contexts, they are an identifiable mark of the person or persons who live in them. Sometimes we even include the house in which a person lives as part of the description we will give to someone asking about who an unfamiliar person might be. We might answer with something like, “Oh, that’s Joe; he lives in the two-story brick house on _____ St.” Or maybe, “That’s Jill; she and her family just bought the white Cape Cod on ____ St.” If I follow this line of thinking with the Hebrews text, it leads me to ask again, what can it mean for “we” (Christians) to be God’s house?
Quite simply, we are the place where God dwells, where He can be found. Jesus made it so by redeeming us, turning us from people who were lost themselves, homeless, and building us into the place where God could be found by those who are looking for Him. He lives there--among those people. It’s not an individual image; it’s a corporate metaphor that God is using. The question for us is what people see in us, this house in which God is to be found? Not the physical building we typically call “church,” but the character of the people who comprise the congregation--would someone looking for God recognize Him because He lives in us? Lent isn’t only about personal reflection and confession; it also has to do with the body of those with whom we worship, where the principles and directives of Jesus take shape and get their validity. Or not. Maybe we should have a few conversations about this with the people who share our pews.
Prayer: Jesus, Builder of the church, help us to see what You see when you assess this life we build together as living stones, the materials out of which You are making a dwelling for yourself in a confused and hurting world. Grant that we might repent of our failures to represent You well; save us from becoming an abandoned shell of what You intend us to be. Lead us to be a place where neighbors want to join us and feel Your hospitality for all who are weary in life. Amen.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:27-35; John 4:1-6
Scripture Thought (Psalm 95:6-9): Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, 8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Reflection: We’ve all heard, and perhaps have used, some form of the expression about the tail wagging the dog. It’s somewhat comical when we try to picture this happening. The closest we come is probably cartoon versions. It’s used to express situations in which things have gone awry by having a backward relationship between the head and that which follows or expresses the intentions of the head. The wrong part is calling the shots; it never works out well.
As we read the Psalm for the past couple days, we come face to face with the possibility of a backward relationship between Christians and their Lord. Is it possible that we sometimes forget what is affirmed by the Psalmist, the most obvious of facts--He is our God? Our God! The Maker, the One who calls us His own. We, on the other hand, are the people of his pasture. That seems odd to begin with--pastures are for livestock, especially sheep, not people. We are more than livestock, yet we are still a flock under his direction, supervision, care, control. It isn’t fitting for any flock to direct its shepherd, and it is not appropriate to have people giving God direction.
Yet as we offer and listen to prayer requests we seem to forget this at times. We are very quick to tell others to pray that God will do this or that, maybe even in this or that manner. We want all the details so we can give better direction to God when we finally end up taking our desired outcome and prepared directions to Him. Maybe, if we’re particularly pious, we’ll end it with the phrase, “if it be Your will.” Perhaps if we paid more attention to what His desire is for us first and foremost, we’d better understand how to pray differently, in a manner that recognizes our relative position in the scheme of things. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. It’s a recognition that He knows us and the situations before us and doesn’t need us to tell Him what is the best way forward. It’s a way to rest in the middle of a storm. The Israelites needed food. God knew that; and He provided it in a way no one would have imagined. Much of the time we don’t know what to pray for, as far as outcomes are concerned. That doesn’t really matter, for as long as we come in humble acknowledgement of our all-wise God, He’ll provide the things we truly need.
Prayer: Creating, loving, redeeming God, we come to You because You invite us. We come in humility, knowing that it is only by grace that You hear us and answer us. Before we call, You will answer. Before we know what to ask, You provide. Forgive us for taking on ourselves the role of directing. Teach us to trust in moments of fear, confusion, and anxiety. Teach us to receive in joy what You provide. Amen.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:9-21; Ephesians 2:11-22
Scripture Thought (Eph. 2:17-22) 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Reflection: Peace. On both sides of a divide that is being shattered, peace. An end to the division and the dawning of peace. That has to sound like a good thing any time. The problem is how to bring it about in a manner that does not minimize or appear to make light of the concerns of either party. Paul is writing to a Christian community comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. The former considered the latter as heathens without knowledge of God, without the discipline of the Law specially revealed to their ancestors as part of a covenant between God and their own people; the latter considered the former as arrogant claimants of a superior status in relation to God. The Jews boasted about the things God had done in their history to prove their special standing in the eyes of God. The Gentiles tended to scoff at such claims--like the one about providing food and water in miraculous fashion while the exodus from Egypt was transformed into a march toward the “promised land.”
Insiders and outsiders. The privileged and the deprived. Is it much the same between the church and the world today as it was between Jew and Gentile in the first century when Paul was writing his epistles? Do we in the church consider the blessing and calling of God in Christ as a possession, while considering those outside as less than ourselves? As the call of Abraham, father of the Jewish race, was to bring blessing to the whole world, our purpose is to demonstrate what God’s rule looks like, and to extend the love and justice that characterize that kingdom to the place in which we find ourselves. And as Christ “gave himself for us” we will find situations in which we lay down our rights, our status, our goods for the sake of our neighbors. For they may be “outsiders” at present; but the blessings of God are intended for them, too. And we are called to deliver them. Doing so just might break down some dividing walls in our communities. The barriers between people are in our thinking, not in God’s view of human value. His giving of the Son was the end of blaming someone else, for He took on himself the sins of the whole world. He didn’t consider his privilege as God’s Son something to be protected, but as something to be invested into the people who needed hope, needed purpose, needed to be saved from a godless present and future. So did we all. And so must we imitate him.
Prayer: Lord Christ, you have broken down the true barriers by giving yourself for the sake of the world--the whole world, and not just our little corner. Expand our vision of where your blessing should flow, the persons who are in need, and the resources you give us to continue your work. And so lead us to heal the broken-hearted, set the captives free, make the lame to walk and the blind to see. Amen.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Texts: Psalm 95; Exodus 16:1-8; Colossians 1:15-23
Scripture Thought: (Col. 1:19-23a) 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
Reflection: What does God look like? On one level, it’s a silly question; God is spirit, non-corporeal, without physical form. In fact, this is so clearly instilled an idea that there is a commandment against making any physical representation of God. That’s what idols are--attempts to reduce God to a form, thereby limiting Him. So in that vein, it is virtually blasphemous to ask what God looks like. On the other hand, however, we have Paul’s incredible declaration: Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. And to underscore the point, he adds that God was pleased to have all the fullness of deity dwell in Jesus. That sounds like an invitation, even an encouragement to think of God when we see Jesus, and draw conclusions about who God is by seeing what Jesus does. If one wants to know what God looks like, he or she should look at Jesus. As Jesus himself put it, he who has seen him, has seen the Father--they are one and the same. But how?
It should be clear that it is not the physical form of Jesus to which Paul is pointing. Rather, he wants to think about what Jesus did with his body. How he used it was a display of who God is. So maybe the answer just given should be slightly altered, so that if we want to know what God looks like we should look at what Jesus did while he was visible. The character of God is what we should see in Jesus. And that character is so heavily favorable toward wayward, sinful people that no one saw it coming. He wants to redeem, not destroy; he wants so badly he will die to make it happen.
People occasionally go to great lengths to make someone else’s life a bit better. Recently there was a story of a man with a severely disabled son. The father noticed a distinct glimmer of joy in the non-verbal, immobilized son when he took him for a ride, a walk. This led him to train for a marathon--while carrying his son. The marathon became a triathlon competition, with biking and swimming added to the marathon. Grueling, to say the least. One might say it is lavish love for his son. And we can often be found with tears welling up around the eyes when we see it displayed in stories such as this one. I suggest that we are stirred by such acts primarily because they mimic God’s ways, whether or not they were intended to do so. God’s love in Christ is to show the perfection of his love, its inexhaustible grace. That’s what He looks like. Just watch Jesus to be sure.
Prayer: You have shown us what is good, O Lord, for You have displayed Your heart and Your desires, Your love and Your redemptive ways. Let us meditate thereon; for it flies against our own selfish nature, and calls into account those who would rule by iron fist. Your word to us in Christ is to return, for You have cleared our accounts of all unrighteousness. How grateful we are we cannot express, except to be imitators of Christ. To this we commit ourselves and seek Your aid. Amen.
, March 11, 2020
Texts: Psalm 128; Ezekiel 36:22-32; John 7:53-8:11
Scripture Thought: 24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Reflection: “Great” is a word thrown around rather casually, applying to everything from a meal at a restaurant to actors and athletes, to individual performances, and a host of other things we like and by which we are at least momentarily impressed. It hardly seems fitting to use the same word to apply to the Maker of heaven and earth and all that is in them. What would a word that is so flexible mean?
How is greatness measured? What sort of standard is there by which we might judge the relative greatness of people, of nations, of leaders? Is it by the power to punish or subdue any and all rivals? Is it by the accumulated wealth, the depth of the treasury, the opulence of the buildings and furnishings? Is it by the fear that is instilled in the hearts and minds of any who would oppose or contradict its authority? Is it by the ability to carry out the intentions and desires of those who rule, thwarting all opposition? Or perhaps it is recognized by the beauty that is created, or the physical or mental prowess that is displayed. Is this what constitutes greatness? When Christians claim that God is great, what are they saying? What sort of greatness is most prominent in the total biblical account of God and His works, His ways? Perhaps most importantly, how does God choose to display His greatness? What is so great about His greatness?
The prophet Ezekiel, as Yahweh’s spokesman, gives a different picture of greatness, distinguishing it from the possession and execution of raw power. That power had been on display from Israel's delivery from Egyptian enslavement, the awesome display at Mt. Sinai, the conquest of the land, along with so many “minor” miracles along the way. It also included the delivering of a rebellious nation into the hands of its enemies. But this latter move set the stage for what God seems most anxious to reveal. He declares that He will do the unthinkable--bring the scattered nation back together and make it prosperous and strong once again. He would pull the people out of their captivity, even while the captor nations were still strong, and rebuild. Even as disobedient as they had been, He would redeem them and their land. Redeeming love for His own would be the most prominent characteristic of Yahweh’s greatness. It’s the same kind of love and redemptive desire that was great enough to shame the hearts and melt the anger of a self-righteous mob while rescuing a trembling soul with no defense against the charges of the crowd or of the law itself. One greater than the law was there. May his kind of greatness become our measuring rod.
Prayer: Father, in a world easily impressed by the wrong things, may we seek the One who alone is great and good. Teach us to put away our mistaking of power for greatness, and learn to believe more fully in the power of love and grace. For no power on earth or in heaven can separate us from that love in Christ Jesus. Yes, great are You, Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, March 10
Texts: Psalm 128; Isaiah 65:17-25; Romans 4:6-13
Scripture Thought: Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Reflection: The season of Lent, with its emphasis on such things as confession, repentance, and sacrifice, can become a bit more somber than is warranted. Yes, we should engage in these things. We should look at the ways in which the non-believing world has influenced us, and at the manner in which we have imitated that way of life, rather than testing its legitimacy by what God has to say. We should seek to implement new patterns in our lives that help us to break away from the thoughts and habits that thwart the imitation of Christ in our lives. All needful; all proper for the season.
But today’s texts paint a bright picture. It’s a picture of what the promise really stands for--a future so glorious that it cannot be adequately expressed. The writers are saying, “Trust me; the efforts at self-discipline, spiritual awareness, and self-examination are worth it. They will yield more than you can imagine.” The age to come is not to be missed! They are also reminding us that merit has no role to play in that age--except for the merit of Christ. Our part is responding in faith.
It seems wrong-headed to attempt to promote acceptance of Christianity by focusing on what will be avoided if one adheres to the faith. Wouldn’t it be so much better to present the prospects of life that is what everyone inwardly longs for in the first place? Our problem in our humanity isn’t so much that we don’t know what we want--we want love, we want freedom from want, we want safety, security, prosperity as the result of our labor, political freedom, etc. Our human problem is that we seek these things in our own way, a way that actually thwarts our own efforts and the attainment of the goal. So easily do people fail to trust God to provide the best life we can ever desire. He went to great lengths to restore our prospects for life, now and in the age to come. What is your (or my) vision of the good life? Will we trust God to provide it--or something better?
Prayer: Jesus, you came and suffered so that we might live--not just barely, but abundantly. Correct us when we stray by chasing after things that are not what you know to be our true prosperity; teach us to love that which is truly good, and accept what You bring as true gift. Amen.
Monday, March 9
Texts: Psalm 128; Numbers 21:4-9; Hebrews 3:1-6
Scripture Thought: (Heb. 3:3-6) 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Reflection: How clearly do you think God is seen today? Could you tell someone where to find Him, where to look for Him? How would He be recognized? Could He be living closer to people than expected, such that He could be hidden in plain sight? How often have you or I failed to see what we were looking for simply because we didn’t expect to see it there, where it was? The mind can do some funny things to our vision, such that our expectations actually influence our ability to see what’s in front of us.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever it was, uses the image of a house to represent the work of God. Why? What is it about a house that makes it a suitable illustration of what God is doing in the world? And what can it mean for us to be God’s house? Houses are places where persons live. In most contexts, they are an identifiable mark of the person or persons who live in them. Sometimes we even include the house in which a person lives as part of the description we will give to someone asking about who an unfamiliar person might be. We might answer with something like, “Oh, that’s Joe; he lives in the two-story brick house on _____ St.” Or maybe, “That’s Jill; she and her family just bought the white Cape Cod on ____ St.” If I follow this line of thinking with the Hebrews text, it leads me to ask again, what can it mean for “we” (Christians) to be God’s house?
Quite simply, we are the place where God dwells, where He can be found. Jesus made it so by redeeming us, turning us from people who were lost themselves, homeless, and building us into the place where God could be found by those who are looking for Him. He lives there--among those people. It’s not an individual image; it’s a corporate metaphor that God is using. The question for us is what people see in us, this house in which God is to be found? Not the physical building we typically call “church,” but the character of the people who comprise the congregation--would someone looking for God recognize Him because He lives in us? Lent isn’t only about personal reflection and confession; it also has to do with the body of those with whom we worship, where the principles and directives of Jesus take shape and get their validity. Or not. Maybe we should have a few conversations about this with the people who share our pews.
Prayer: Jesus, Builder of the church, help us to see what You see when you assess this life we build together as living stones, the materials out of which You are making a dwelling for yourself in a confused and hurting world. Grant that we might repent of our failures to represent You well; save us from becoming an abandoned shell of what You intend us to be. Lead us to be a place where neighbors want to join us and feel Your hospitality for all who are weary in life. Amen.