Friends and family
Ecclesiastes 4: A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.
Thereās power in relationships. I’ve heard it said that some people are “married to their jobs.” That is, their work is the most important thing in their life and because of that the most important relationship in their life has suffered. The writer reminds those with type āAā personalities that relationships are what make life worth living. A person who gives everything up to climb the cooperate ladder is chasing after smoke, wasting their life. Accomplishments are worthwhile only when thereās someone with whom to share them. Also, family and friends help us get up again after life has knocked us down. Thereās more to life than work, position, and financial rewards. In fact, these potential blessings can become a curse if they dominate our lives. Our most valuable possessions are our relationships. The greatest mistake a person can make is to neglect and lose the real “gold” of life for some job or due to an unhealthy devotion to the ladder of success.
Take Away: Our most valuable possessions are our relationships
Tag: relationships
Devotional on Song of Songs
Donāt just fall in love with being in love
Song of Songs 2: Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up, until the time is ripe — and you’re ready.
The woman, who co-stars in the opera, is speaking to her “sisters in Jerusalem” and she has some good advice for them. She tells them to wait for the right time and for the right person to be sent into their lives before falling in love. Sometimes young women are more in love with the idea of being in love than they are actually in love. They get emotionally involved with someone who has a very different agenda than they do and the result is, at best, disappointment and a feeling of having been used and cheapened. Song of Songs is a celebration of human love and sexuality — and the two are very much linked. The woman who is loved by the King says, “The real thing is worth waiting for — don’t sell out too soon.” Young women across the ages have faced the temptation to do otherwise but to do so is to accept a cheap imitation that won’t last. In Song of Songs, the opera about love, weāre told: “wait, you’ll be glad you did!”
Take Away: The real thing is worth waiting for — don’t sell out too soon.
Devotional on Isaiah
Taking it out of the church and into McDonaldās
Isaiah 48: But do you mean it? Do you live like it?
I don’t know how a pastor ought to look but apparently I don’t fit the part very well. Because of that through the years Iāve surprised people. I’ll be taking to a man about something, maybe a business deal, and his language will have words and phrases that Christians don’t use. Then, when he finds out Iām a pastor it all changes. I’ve even had people who started off using God’s name in some inappropriate way shift clear over to telling me how good God has been to them. Needless to say, I’m not impressed by such a sudden change of language. In this passage, the Lord’s complaint against Israel isnāt that they refuse to speak the language of God or that theyāve forsaken prayer. In fact, they say and do a lot of the right things. The problem is that none of it is backed up in their lives. They give God lip service and then turn back to their chosen life style. There’s a caution in this for all of us. It isn’t just a potty-mouthed used car salesman or a backslidden Israelite who should be concerned here. I talk the language of “Zion” a lot and thatās as it should be. However, when I’m not being “spiritual” what is it that I do and say? The measure of religion isnāt how loudly I sing in church. All that “religious stuff” has to translate into how I relate to people when I am standing in line at McDonald’s or driving in traffic during rush hour.
Take Away: What we say and do at church needs to be translated into what we say and do outside of church.
Devotional on Isaiah
That we may be one
Isaiah 60: I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen.
Sin separated them from their Maker and destroyed their nation. God sent their enemies to conquer them and then to scatter them throughout the world. Now, the Lord is making plans to gather his people from the four corners of the earth and make them into a nation of especially blest people once again. Isaiah encourages them that it won’t be long now before it happens. What plays out in the history of Israel reflects the larger journey of humanity. We read in Genesis of the fall of the human race in the Garden and the resulting “driving out” that takes place. Later on, Cain’s sin causes him to, again, be driven out. Then, after the Flood God tells the renewed human race to fan out and populate the face of the earth. Instead, they gather at Babylon to build a tower. The Lord confounds their languages, forcing them to scatter into many different people groups. This, though, isnāt the final intention of God. When the time is right, heāll gather his people to himself. Jesus tells his followers that God wants to make us one. He encourages us that in his Father’s house thereās room for all and that heāll take us there. Even as Isaiah describes a reuniting of Israel, the larger picture of the Bible describes God’s plan to reunite humanity in an eternal relationship with him. Since thatās God’s plan we can be sure that he’ll “make it happen.”
Take Away: The Lordās intention is to unite the human race with one another and, especially, with himself.
Devotional on Lamentations
Real gold
Lamentations 4: Gold is treated like dirt.
The “gold” Jeremiah’s talking about isn’t the precious metal. He’s talking about the precious people of God. As Jerusalem lay under siege and then fell to the merciless invaders, he saw the most valuable “commodity” of all kicked aside and treated as worthless. When the devastation was finished, he saw people scavenging for a bit of food or even some kind of clothing to protect them from the elements. It was a horrible thing that Jerusalem fell. It was sad that all the valuables from the Temple were broken up and carried off as spoils of war. Worse than those things though was the devaluing of humanity. I sincerely pray that I’ll never see anything like what Jeremiah witnessed. Still, I take seriously the more general truth that’s found here: people are more important than things. I need to give thought to how that truth is demonstrated in my life. It may be as simple a thing as my dropping down on one knee to really listen to a child or it may be quite complicated, for instance, dealing with a boss who frustrates me to death but has deep hurts of his or her own. It’s good to be reminded today that its people who are true “gold.”
Take Away: People are more important than things.
Devotional on Malachi
Repentance lessons
Malachi 3: Return to me so I can return to you.
If my relationship with God is strained or even broken today thereās a remedy. When, like the Prodigal Son, I come to my senses, rise, and return to my Father I find that heās been waiting for me all along. What a relief it is to know that the Lord doesnāt hold a grudge against me. Rather, he patiently reaches out to me, calling me to himself. When Malachi states this spiritual fact of life to his congregation, someone asks for more information on this āreturningā business. Exactly how do they do that? The prophet has an answer ready. A sure sign that a person’s returning to God is honest repentance on their part. In Jesusā parable, the Prodigal is honest with himself and with his father. Heās messed up and he wants to make things right. He knows he doesnāt deserve re-admittance into his fatherās household as a son, so heāll take what he can get. That, my friend, is honesty. In this passage, Malachi points out that theyāve been dishonest with God in the stewardship of their possessions. He tells them that, for them, honesty with God means admitting their failure in this matter. This business of bringing sick and blind animals for sacrifice has to be stopped, confessed, and made right. Their practice of shortchanging God with their tithes has to end and be corrected. Thatās what repentance is all about: confession and change. Through his prophet, the Lord says, āIf youāll return to me in repentance, Iāll return to you and bless your life in wonderful ways.ā When a nation as a whole makes things right with God, Malachi says, itāll be voted āHappiest Nationā and be known as a ācountry of grace.ā Thatās a good place to live.
Take Away: A sure sign that a person’s returning to God is honest repentance on their part.
Devotional on Matthew
The Perfect Sermon
Matthew 5: Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.
In one glorious Sermon Jesus sums up the life to which God calls us. In every word we hear pure gold. Itās in retrospect that I realize that this beautiful, perfectly constructed Sermon challenges me at every level of my life. This chapter of the Sermon touches on everything from how to be blessed, to heavy topics like murder, adultery and divorce. Jesus deals with the promises we make and our relationships with our enemies. Obviously, the religion he teaches isnāt merely about āme and God.ā Just about every word in this perfect Sermon is about āme and you.ā It concerns my relationship with people I like (and maybe like too much according to the section on adultery) and people I donāt like (Iām to settle things with my old enemy quickly before things get even worse). He sums up this first part of the Sermon by teaching me to live āgenerously and graciously.ā Rather than protecting my turf Iām to think the best of people and be generous in my dealings with them. This pretty Sermon has teeth. Itās supposed to work out here in the real world. And, just so I clearly understand the measure of this gracious, generous life style, Jesus tells me that Iām to treat others in the same gracious, generous way God treats me. I need to spend a whole lot of time here at the Sermon on the Mount.
Take Away: The Christian life is as much about āme and youā as itās about āGod and me.ā
Devotional on Ephesians
A secret to the victorious Christian life
Ephesians 4: I donāt want anyone strolling off, down some path that leads to nowhere.
God never calls people to be half-hearted, costing along, distracted followers. Heās given us everything we need, in fact, abundantly more than we need to live victorious Christian lives. With this in mind weāre to take it all and run with it. Thereās no need for fits and starts, stumbling and struggling back to our feet. Rather weāre to confidently move forward on our spiritual journey. Some folks donāt get it. Rather than moving forward they wander along, taking detours in which theyāre in real danger of totally losing their way. So, how can I best get on and stay on track? The Apostle frames it in terms of relationships. He describes the victorious Christian life as one filled with āacts of loveā and in which things that strain our connection to our brothers and sisters in Christ are quickly recognized and resolved. After all, he reminds us, weāre traveling this road together and weāre connected in our mutual love for our Master, Jesus. If I fail to love and allow little things to fester in my relationships with Godās people, I become one of those half-hearted, distracted Christians who are in danger of wandering so far from the path that I become lost in the darkness.
Take Away: We really do need each other.
Devotional on Philippians
What does it mean to have a genuine relationship with Christ?
Philippians 3: I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally.
A friend of mine commented that he was preparing to do a certain thing. His intention wasnāt to do something bad but it seemed to me that there was a superior course of action. In an off handed remark I asked, āHave you asked the Lord about it?ā His response was, āOh, the Lord understands.ā Later, I found myself thinking about the exchange in view of my own life. How often do I do whatever I want to do with the attitude: āItās okay, the Lord understands.ā Tell you what; I donāt treat my wife that way. When Iām thinking about taking some out of the ordinary action I talk it over with her. Most of the time I could probably go ahead and she would āunderstandā but the thing is that we have a relationship with one another that includes our respecting each other and valuing one anotherās opinions on things. Surely, I should have a similar respectful, intimate relationship with the Lord. Thereās a place for prayers along the lines of, āLord, Iām thinking about doing this, what do you think?ā The Apostle says he gave up a lot of stuff that he might have a personal relationship with Jesus. If I want to have a vital, real, living relationship with Jesus one of the things I must give up is having a self-willed, presumptive attitude toward him.
Take Away: Do we treat the Lord as a real person or as some abstract idea?
Devotional on 1 Peter
Putting Jesus on display
1Peter 2: Treat everyone with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
Being a Christian in a non-Christian society has its challenges. Sometimes Christians are viewed with suspicion and other times with contempt. Peter says itās up to us to correct the mistaken views of our faith. We do that, not by standing up for our rights or debating to prove our point or by withdrawing from society. Instead, we take our spiritual lives out to the streets and let our faith be seen by anyone who cares to look. We treat people well, granting them dignity no matter what their station in life. We treat one another well, refusing to sink to petty infighting over minor differences of opinion. We live as people who reverence God, unashamedly putting our high regard for the Lord on display. Finally, we conduct ourselves as good citizens, not using our citizenship of heaven as an excuse for neglecting our duties as citizens of the country in which we live. The result is that people who donāt know much about our religion will come to respect us. That, in turn, will open the door for us to have a real influence for Jesus. We donāt try to win people by beating them over their heads with our Bibles. Rather, we win them by putting the Jesus we serve on display in our lives every day and in every situation.
Take Away: People are drawn to lives that reflect the real Jesus.
Devotional on 1 John
Good for what ails you
1John 3: For God is greater than our worried hearts.
John moves to his favorite topic: love. Frankly, he sees love as a cure-all, good for what ails us. Are we at odds with our brothers and sisters? Love will fix it. Are we struggling in understanding Godās purpose for us and in grasping what Jesus has done for us? The key is love. When we see countless wrongs in the world and wonder what should be done about them John says the key component in our response is, you guessed it: love. The test of love proves or disproves our relationship to this God who is love. As his love is allowed into my life — as itās allowed to influence how I feel about, well, everything, its then that I know Iām where God wants me. For many of us our greatest challenge is loving self. I, more than anyone else, know my faults and failures. It may be that Iāve been verbally abused and have come to believe that what was said to me and about me is true. Possibly, deep in my psyche is the belief that if anyone really knew me theyād see so many flaws that theyād never love me. John tells me that thatās simply untrue. The One who knows me best, who āknows more about us than we do ourselvesā loves me with a powerful, sacrificial love. He thinks Iām worth loving, worth dying for. As I accept his love for me, and his evaluation of me my relationship with myself changes. Once again, even as I struggle with my own self-esteem, the answer is love.
Take Away: Love is the greatest.
Devotional on 2 John
Pastor to people
2John: My dear congregation, I, your pastor, love you in very truth.
Compared to some books of the Bible, 2John isnāt much of a ābook.ā Itās more of an āemail.ā Itās just a few lines, written as a quick placeholder for a congregation by their pastor. Heāll fill in the material in person. He greets them by declaring his love for them. I canāt help but think, as I read this opening line, thatās itās a beautiful thing when a pastor loves his or her congregation āin very truth.ā Because of that love-based relationship John starts his note to them by encouraging them, telling them how happy he is with them. Anyone who thinks the pastorās job is to ātell it like it isā and āset people straightā needs to spend some time here. John tells his church how much he loves them and how pleased he is with their faithfulness to Christās command that his followers love one another. Itās only after doing that that he moves on to warning them about some false teachers who are taking advantage of gullible Christians. He has more to say to them, but until he can be with them personally, he thinks this little āemailā will do. The brevity of this letter speaks volumes about the friendly, loving relationship between this pastor and his congregation. I canāt help but think that sometimes saying less is saying more.
Take Away: Pastors need to love and appreciate the churches under their charge. Churches, on the other hand, need to love and appreciate pastors who lovingly care for them.
Devotional on Exodus
Identity crisis
Exodus 1: He killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
Moses is thought of as the grandson of the king, but heās raised by the woman whoās secretly his own mother. On one hand, heās an Egyptian and a member of the ruling class at that. On the other hand, heās a Hebrew, condemned at birth, a member of a nation of slaves. Sooner or later he has to decide who he is. That day comes, even though his expression of solidarity with Godās people is quite flawed. First, he kills an Egyptian who mistreats a fellow Hebrew. He then tries to be a peacemaker between two Hebrews who are having a fight. Thereās no question in his mind or in the mind of Pharaoh which side heās on and soon Moses finds himself fleeing for his life. Iāve heard some sermons about how Moses should have waited for God to call him to be the liberator of his people and that, had he done that, it would have saved him four decades of leading sheep. For all I know, those sermons are right on. Still, Iām taken today with the need to decide early on which side one is on. Moses is likely mistaken when he kills the Egyptian, but his decision to cast his lot with a nation of slaves rather than be a member of the Egyptian royal household is courageous and ought to be appreciated by all who read the story. Iām glad that early on in my life the Lord spoke to my heart and that, right then, I decided to say āyesā to him without over thinking what such a response might mean. Today, I wonāt give Moses a āthumbs upā on what he did but Iāll certainly give him credit for why he did it.
Take Away: Sooner or later we need to decide what side weāre onā¦and the sooner the better.
Devotional on Exodus
The Ten Commandments
Exodus 20: I am God, your God.
And so it begins. This God who spoke to Moses through the burning bush, this God who brought the plagues to Egypt in securing their freedom, this God who delivered them at the Red Sea now describes how theyāre to live. He didnāt bring them up out of Egypt so they could do their own thing, living as they pleased. The Lord God brought them out of slavery to be his own people. Their relationship to their God is going to be very different than the Egyptians relationship with their gods. The very first thing their Redeemer does is state Ten Commandments to them. These Commandments are just as focused on how a man treats his neighbor as how a man relates to his God. In this new relationship with the Almighty theyāll treat the Lord with absolute reverence, but theyāll also treat one another with respect, honesty, and fairness. One doesnāt have to be Jewish or Christian to recognize the brilliance of the Ten Commandments. In just a few words the foundation is laid for a God-fearing and just society. To this day thereās no finer expression of how society can function at its best. This gift from God to his people is every bit as impressive as was his parting the Red Sea for them.
Take Away: We can find no better set of rules for living than what we find in the Ten Commandments.
Devotional on Exodus
Living as one of Godās people
Exodus 22: Donāt be stingy as your wine vats fill up. Dedicate your firstborn sons to me.
If anyone thinks the Law given at Mount Sinai is all about the Ten Commandments or at least is filled with regulations concerning their religion they need to spend some time in the second half of the Book of Exodus. The regulations stated here are a mulligan stew of civil, personal, and religious rules and regulations. The Lordās just as interested in telling them how to settle a property dispute as he is in telling them how to conduct a worship service. For instance, he tells them that as they prosper in the land he’s giving them that theyāre to live generous lives. Then, in the very next sentence he tells them that theyāre to dedicate their firstborn sons to him. For these people, thereās to be no difference between their āreligiousā lives and their āsecularā lives. Instead, theyāre to live their āwhole livesā under the authority of God. Refraining from eating the meat of some dead animal they find in the field and making sacrifices only to the Lord God are both filed under the heading of ābe holy.ā A lesson for me in all this is that my life as a whole is to be lived under the authority of the Lord. Iām to live a generous, honest, compassionate life. Not only am I to dedicate my children to the Lord, but, as my āwine vats fill upā Iām to be a generous person, sharing the blessing the Lord has given me. The two, secular and religious, are really just one, living as one of Godās people.
Take Away: My entire life is to be lived as a person of God.
Devotional on Exodus
Itās a local call
Exodus 29: Iāll move in and live with the Israelites. Iāll be their God. Theyāll realize that I am their Godā¦.
Moses, their leader, is on the mountaintop, both physically and spiritually, in conference with God Almighty whoās giving him all kinds of instructions. The Lord intends to make the people of Israel a unique nation on the face of the earth. Right now the Lord is in the process of setting everything in motion. In the midst of the detailed plans for the Tabernacle and itās furnishings I hear an earth shaking promise from God. He says, āIāll move in and liveā¦Iāll be their Godā¦theyāll realize thatā¦.ā This concept is both humbling and thrilling. The Lord isnāt going to sit up on Mount Sinai, distant and unapproachable. Instead, heās moving in with them. Some years ago a joke was going around about churches having a āgolden telephoneā providing direct access to the Lord. The punch line depended on where the joke teller lived. Of course, for me, Texas was the featured state. Using the golden telephone in Texas is much cheaper because calling heaven is local call from Texas. In this passage in Exodus we find that the Lord intends that it be a ālocal callā when his people call his name. Heās moving in and has no desire to be beyond our reach. Itās humbling to think that God Almighty would take such interest in mere human beings. However, itās also thrilling to consider that he wants to move into my neighborhood and be an active participant in my everyday life. For Moses, this is all about the Tabernacle and worship there. For me it is all about Jesus coming and then sending his Holy Spirit to āmove in and liveā in my heart. āOh Lord, come on in, youāre welcome here.ā
Take Away: The Lord is as near as my next thought directed to him.
Devotional on Deuteronomy
The distant reach of failure
Deuteronomy 1: Don’t be terrified of them, God, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you.
The “you” in this passage isnāt the members of the present congregation. Itās their parents. However, Moses is speaking to them as a nation of people, seen as one with the previous generation. This doesn’t sit well with my Western mindset. We Westerners are individualists who like to think we make our own decisions apart from others. In this case it was 40 years earlier that Moses had said these words and “they” refused to hear, refused to have faith, and refused to obey. The penalty was 40 years in the wilderness — an experience all those in the congregation hearing this sermon did share, at least to some extent. Soon it will be their turn to hear, believe, and obey. Moses is preparing them for it by reminding them of their already shared failure in their parents. Still, God is the God of Second Chances. Soon they will stand on the banks of the river. To a great extent they will have the opportunity to erase the failure of those who went before them. While Iām no expert on “generational curses” (or “generational blessings” for that matter) Iām reminded that my failure or faithfulness reaches far beyond my individual life.
Take Away: Itās unlikely anyone ever sees the full extent of their influence, be it for good or for evil.
Devotional on Deuteronomy
Intimacy with God
Deuteronomy 4: What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us?
Iām tempted to focus on “national gods” here. In this distant day each nation has its own gods and itās unthinkable for anyone to imagine a nation kicking out its gods to worship those of another nation. Iām pretty sure a case could be made that we still have “national gods.” In the instance of my country those gods are named “Materialism” and “Pleasure.” However, instead of pursuing that line of thought (come to think of it, I guess I already did!) Iāll focus on what itās like to worship the true God. Humans donāt make this God out of some precious metal. Rather, this God makes human beings out of the dust of the ground. This God makes no demand of those who serve him that he doesn’t first make of himself. For instance, before he calls people to love him he first loves them. In fact, this God always acts first, moving in grace-full ways in the lives of people. And, as Moses says, this God seeks intimacy with his Creation. Moses wants his congregation to realize how blessed they are. Of all the nations of the earth, they have the God who willingly involves himself at every level of their lives. Today, this Almighty Being invites me to experience that same level of intimacy, that personal day-to-day relationship with him.
Take Away: What a privilege it is for the creature to have intimate fellowship with the Creator.
Devotional on Judges
(Donāt) Make yourself at home
Judges 3: But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites.
Itās their first test and they fail it. Theyāve failed to remove the pagan people from the land and now their test is to live near them but not become one of them. They miserably fail. Before long their young people are getting married to Canaanites and the perverted worship practices of those people is being accepted by them. Simply put, they feel right at home with these heathen. In his anger, God turns his back on them and soon everything falls apart. How at home am I in my society? Jesus loved sinners. He ate with them and genuinely liked them. But he never became one of them. On one hand thereās the example of the Israelites who feel so at home with the Canaanites that they adopt their ways. On the other hand we have Jesus who loves people and fellowships with them, but in doing so, invites them to be the ones who are changed. God help me to love the lost without making myself “at home” with them in the manner of these Israelites.
Take Away: Is the Church changing the culture or is the culture changing the Church?
Devotional on Nehemiah
Hard to pronounce names
Nehemiah 10: The sealed document bore these signatures.
The Book of God has been read and a song of invitation has been given. Now, the civil, religious, and family leaders line up to put their names on the dotted line. Once they finish, the people join in a binding oath to obey the Laws of God. Itās these signers who draw my attention today. I doubt they ever imagined that almost 2500 years later Iād be sitting here looking at their names: Mica, Bigvai, Hasshub; an entire page of names that mean only one thing to me: these are people who committed themselves to obey God. I don’t know what Adin or Beninu did for a living and I don’t know what became of their family tree. Hariph and Nebai might have built big businesses or designed impressive architecture but 2000+ years later thatās all lost to me. It’s their relationship to God that still resonates across the centuries. If the Lord tarries for 2500 more years I will, no doubt, be forgotten too and that’s okay. Iāll add my name to the only list that really matters and join these remembered people as a committed follower of the Lord.
Take Away: In the long run itās your relationship to the Lord that matters the most.