Month: October 2024

Those who seek Him

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Written by Dan

It has been my observation that David paints an amazing picture of how to approach God. He is specific; we are to have clean hands, a pure heart, and we are to focus on Him alone with no other distractions or adulations. When we do this, then our capacity to trust Jesus and hear his guidance is magnified. How does he speak? I think the one true living God speaks through two pillars — nature and revelation.

The universe was not created to be unmitigated disorder. Rather, the earth was created into the most proper shape and size for us by God’s infinite wisdom. God’s revelation, his logos in action, his truth in activities; is his wisdom personified and exemplified in the creation of all that we know.

Psalms 24: 1-6 says — The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing [direction] from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek [his] face, the God of Jacob (NIV).

When I think of this creation, built in the framework of God’s wisdom, I immediately become aware that he made nothing in vain. There is no waste, God intended everything I can see, feel, smell, touch or hear to achieve some endgame; it was designed to display his intention and grace for us. It should also be observed; we are created to reflect God’s goodness, we are not made in vain, we have purpose, we are created to serve his use and benefit, we are the perfect habitation for his Holy Spirit, and this is the cool part — all of this was planned for us before creation, long before anything was existent – he planned us.

Psalms 104: 19-32 (paraphrased) says – You made the moon to mark the seasons, and mark when the sun goes down. You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. … People go out to their work in the daylight; they labor until the evening moon rises. How many are your works. In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. All creatures look to you for their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—You look at the earth and it trembles; you touch the mountains and they smoke (NIV).

So, I wonder, how do we approach God? This is what I think – God reveals the path through the light of His creation and His revelation. The work of God’s creation overwhelmingly proves to me that He is the one true living God. This created beauty draws us into His presence.  There is more.  His revealed Word is absolute truth, the Word provides our guideposts, the Word draws us into his presence.  We should note – God’s oracles (prophets) stomp all over any dribble eked out by soothsayers. Just look at the beauty and accuracy of any prophet in scripture. His message is profound and full of wisdom. The soothsayers produce vague platitudes for living, God’s prophets deliver deep pools of wisdom and foresight; their message is pure, considerate, impartial, and full of guidance for our life. (implied in James 4:17)

The soothsayers deliver their platitudes from dens and caverns with a soothing voice and ambiguous serene expressions; their message originates from dark vagueness as if the message is relevant. God delivered his message from the sunlight of Mount Sinai to all of us in distinct and intelligible logic – No darkness. Just Light, Love, and Holy Ground. Who do you think we can trust? Who has your best interest at heart? Do you want vague platitudes or focused instruction?  Hmmm.  I prefer God’s specificity.

I choose Jesus.

Things that Matter

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Written by Dan

It has been my observation – Paul tells us of the great race we are all engaged in, he often reminds us that every person who is involved in this competition needs to exercise self-control in all our thoughts and actions. We all know that in a human operated Tucson 10K Foot Race, the winner gets a medal. For us Christians, participating in the race that Paul speaks of, the prize is unique – it is imperishable. So then comes the question – what kind of things transition me into a top performer? Perhaps a better question is – what things will cause me to be the most useful to God’s mission here on earth? In a word – the answer is self-control.

In Galatians 5:22 we learn this discipline of self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. This transfers management of “self-control” from me to God’s Spirit. The spiritual power we gain from self-control happens when we respond to the word of God, knowing that greater joy will come through self-control, when we trust the Spirit of God to give us fortitude, and when we embrace God’s glory in his victory over our life. The mechanics of this action is simple — our will yields to his nudge both from his voice and from the scriptures. This is a demonstration of God in us working his plan (implied in Philippians 2:13).

Paul is telling us there are strong urges that we have to manage if we are going to move like a winner and graduate into the crown of righteousness. The urges we have to control are the impulses to do things that will weaken our zeal for God, our earnestness in prayer, our hunger for Scripture, our longing to love, our passion for holiness. How do we resist? We yield to Jesus. Consult often with the Holy Spirit about how to proceed.

Galatians 5:1-12 says — It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (NIV).

So, the mature Christian asks, what will improve my prayer life? What will draw me into God’s word? What will strengthen my compassion for others? What will help me grow? This is a call to order, a review of the impulses, habits, and practices of my life that interferes with my hunger for God. Paul brings up circumcision because it is a trip line in our race. People will work extremely hard to impose their definition of spiritual walk on you if you permit them to. They will spend a bunch of time wanting you to conform to their view, so they are comfortable their view is the right view. The larger the crowd believing a given point, the higher the probability the view is the correct view. Huh? This is a fallacy in logic. Think about this. How are laws built on public opinion working out for you?

The deeper truth – We start out in the race, confident, running a good pace. Then we are sidelined by some crazy teacher who throws up a little dust in the air and obscures our view of the goal with a new rule to follow – if we want to be ‘really spiritual’. I am convinced that kind of human objective followed by persuasion and distractions do not come from the Spirit of God. Any time you hear something new, take the time to dig through the word, looking for evidence that the message aligns with things the Holy Spirit has already stated. We are wise to avoid the ideas that pull you into confusion, whatever that may be, so we can avoid the trip wire (see Gal 5). Our self-control should focus us squarely on the things that matter.

I choose Jesus.

Parable of an Unforgiving Servant

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Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, came to him and asked him a question. “Lord, how many times should I forgive someone when they do something wrong to me?”

Jesus knew that we should always forgive someone if they are sorry for what they have done. Instead of saying “always”, Jesus said, “Peter, you should forgive someone seventy-seven times!” Some versions of the bible even say, “seventy times seven”.

Then Jesus decided to tell Peter a parable to help him understand how important it is to forgive someone when they are sorry. A parable is a simple story that has a very important meaning. This is Jesus’ parable:

Once there was a king who was very rich. He had many servants who worked for him. Some servants were in charge of lots of the king’s money. They were also in charge of other servants.

The king checked to see if one of his servants cared for the money. When the king checked on the money, he discovered that his servant had not paid the bills but had borrowed the money for himself. It was not just a little money. The servant had borrowed thousands and thousands of dollars! He had borrowed so much money that he could never pay it back. This man had a huge debt.

At first, the king decided the only way to get his money back was to sell the servant and all of his family as slaves. The servant was very upset. His wife and children would all have to go and live in different places. They might never see each other again. The servant begged the king to forgive him for what he had done. He begged and begged him to not sell his family as slaves.

The king felt sorry for the servant. He decided to forgive the servant for borrowing thousands and thousands of dollars. He even told the servant that he would not have to repay the money.

Do you think the servant was happy? Do you think he was so happy that he treated everyone nicely that day? No, he did not.

When the servant left the king, he found another servant who owed him money. The servant only owed this man a few dollars. His debt was very small. Even though the king had been nice to him, the servant grabbed this man and began to choke him. He told him he would put him in prison until he paid back the few dollars.

Some of the other servants heard what had happened and went and told the king. What do you think the king thought? He had forgiven the servant a huge debt, but the servant could not forgive another even a small debt.

The king was very angry and threw the man in prison. He would have to stay in prison until the debt was paid.

Do you think Peter understood the parable that Jesus told him about forgiveness? The parable means that God has forgiven us for everything we have ever done wrong to him. He has forgiven us a huge debt! Now he wants us to forgive people when they are sorry for the bad things they do to us. God forgave us a huge debt like the king in the parable did and we should forgive others for their small debts against us. That’s what the servant in the parable should have done.

Scripture Reference:  Matthew 18:21-35

Reconnecting with God’s Promise

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Written By Dan

It has been my observation while reading Psalm 115, our God reassures us that reconciliation and grace are always on the table, waiting for us to engage, waiting for us to yield. God made the earth we walk upon; he made all things on the earth for us. The earth was intended to be a cool place for us to live. It is unmistakably generated by God’s power, with his authority, and his immense wisdom. Yet, it pleases Him to make space for us to govern ourselves on earth and make use of his resources. His hand stretched out and created the heavens, he commanded all the hosts (angels) bringing them into existence, governing their activities and influence. All this is extremely good news for Israel, their God is creator and overseer of the universe.

Psalms 115: 1-11 says — Not to us Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—he is their help and shield. House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the Lord—he is their help and shield. (NIV)

This is easy to ingest academically, but it is hard for me to wrap my mind around all this, to embrace it, and rely on it in everything we do or say. We are told in concrete language what God will do for us, that we might rest in his assurances, and build our life upon the notions of grace, redemption, and salvation. Let yourself think of this from God’s view. We are scheduled to last forever. Always around. Imagine one of your neighbors scheduled to be your neighbor forever. Always leaning in for more favors, wanting play time, wanting help in the yard, needing help to repair car troubles in the middle of the night, long endless talks. No relief – forever — 24/7 forever. Imagine a trillion of your closest neighbors always there forever. That is God’s perspective with a human flair. What an amazingly patient God we have. What human would design or plan this?

We have been given a remarkable gift. Liberty forever. This liberty has been proclaimed on the hilltops; God has put power into our hands. God has raised us up in righteousness, so that he may execute his promises through our hands. We are blessed.

What if I was an exiled Jew in Babylon; hoping (vaguely) for a return to a promised land I can barely remember. It seems like a hollow promise, never to be honored, but I say the words to stay out of trouble with my Jewish neighbors. I wait, wondering if the promise might be true. And then comes Cyrus. He closes in on my Babylon; we are anxious, not sure what will happen. Then it becomes clear. Cyrus captures the city and seems to be a reasonable person. Then Cyrus talks about sending the Jews home. Cyrus says he plans to facilitate the rebuilding of Jerusalem. How could I have planned that? Could this happen? The promise seemed like a bridge too far, but now things are changing. Who is this God? My Goodness. What is next?

Then I heard we are leaving for Jerusalem in a few days. We were captives, now we are a migrating nation, heading home. Home. How could this happen? Our bondage is over. God has redeemed us. He really did what he said he would do. Selah. Assuming the New Covenant and grace are part of your life, Elohim’s unmerited affection underscores a promise. The promise? We are heading home.

I choose Jesus.