Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: 1 Corinthians 10
Notes: The overarching principle in relationships in the church is: be considerate of others first, even if you're just not sure of where they stand.
Yet: inanimate objects are not inherently evil, and while you may avoid something for the sake of another Christian, you have the freedom to eat/use when there's no danger of offending another's conscience.
Mind the negative example of those who have gone before us, and live holy lives.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: 1 Corinthians 6
Notes: Lord, that we would have the gentleness and courage to create a true Christian community that avoids worldly courts of law among ourselves, and lives pure lives. May we be authentic witnesses to your demands, but even stronger witnesses of your good news. Please give us the courage to not modify your gospel to suit the desires of our culture, yet have the wisdom to not pointlessly drive people away from you with sound bites and decisive speech. 

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: 1 Corinthians 5
Notes: Accommodation is exactly what the spirit of this day would have us do...and don't we have a lot of leaven leavening the dough of the Church today. Yet, how do we avoid legalism on the other hand? Who has the spiritual wisdom and the guts to correctly lead a congregation so that church discipline heals rather than destroys? How will an entire community have the spiritual discernment to differentiate between a 'wicked person' and the one who is genuinely desiring to follow God, but still battling the fleshly nature (as in progressive sanctification)? How would a pastor even broach this subject in a culture that looks to cultural values ("live and let live") over biblical teaching? Yet, how do we avoid abuse in so fleshly a Church if the church attempts to practice church discipline? On the other hand, in a large and more anonymous church, how many people does it take so that "the Church" is making a decision - or will anonymity shield any but the most obviously wicked person? "Not associate with" - where we're not sure, may we err on the side of love and associate, or will we then just ignore this teaching, not really knowing anyone well enough?

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 12
Notes: Worshipping Jesus is not the time to be scrappy, but an opportunity to go all out. While we are called to be stewards, offerings to God, and love for another (even another human?) can be extravagant (God won't run out of resources because we loved too much).
My life is to be an offering to God, to the point that I 'lose out' on life, or even give my life altogether. However, I must be careful to notice where God is working and join in His work. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is needed more than strategic planning. Note also, though, that in this same chapter Jesus condoned expressing extravagant love. Losing my life for Him must then not equal a rejection of my family, and failure to care for them, or perpetual unwillingness to spend any resources on them. Our God is not a pauper who will starve but for our resources. Yet, that I would be sure not to love my life too much to lose it.
Do I love the approval of men more than the approval of God?

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 9
Notes: Have I developed schemas of how I expect God to work, or am I ready to look at His work and receive whatever He chooses to do, and worship Him for it?
What began in unbelief turned to accusing God of sin, reviling the one He healed, and generally turning spiritual leadership into a human endeavor to enforce their belief system about God, or be ostracized and excluded from the community. How deceived and evil we can be once we believe we know it all!
We would be wise to retain the humility of the one still searching for further enlightening, rather than believe we've "got it."
Lord, please help me to always humbly look to you and not build schemas of how you operate and first fail to recognize you, and then possibly fall into all kinds of sin defending my schema.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 6
Notes: God draws us to Himself, it's not our ability that brings us to Him (44 and 65).
As I am nourished by Jesus and His teaching, I am able to live as a child of God. Lord, please fill me with you several times a day and year round. I commit to taking the steps that will have me listening deliberately and intently. Help me not to race through those times, buy to drink deeply rather than conquer.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 5
Notes: Paul writes to obey the authorities. Yet, Jesus does not appear to extend that obedience to the 1000 steps per Sabbath rule the Jews had come up with. Jesus healed the lame man and sent him off - no hard sell evangelism. When he returns, Jesus tells him, "sin no more." Is here further detail for Peter's "made proclamation to the spirits [below]?" "Jesus didn't judge people" - not according to this passage. Jesus sought to carry out what God told Him to do -> is that what I am doing?

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 4
Notes: Someone else planted. The Lord knows how to steer a conversation, even when another tries to derail it by throwing in bait for meaningless argument to avoid talking about where it hurts. The harvest fields are ready now.
Lord, I often feel like I am in a drought-ravaged land, where no one wants to talks about you. Please give me opportunities for witness. You have said that the fields are ready for harvest. Also, please guide my conversations, and give me your wisdom and your words, as well as your love.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 3
Notes: We are told that most people become Christians when they are children. Nicodemus ask, "...when he is old?" and Jesus answers, "it is possible...when one is born of the Spirit." And when it is God who is doing the work, what do we care about statistics?

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: John 2
Notes: Mary had faith in Jesus to help in ways she had never seen before. God has compassion for us on all of our needs. God is not a pauper. He blesses extravagantly. Access to God in prayer was a serious matter to Jesus that warranted decisive action. -> I will ask God for help for the things I need, and trust Him for extravagant blessings, because He has compassion on His own.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Ephesians 5
Notes: Are my beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions loving? Am I free of immorality, impurity, and greed, filthiness, silly talk, and coarse jesting in what I contribute to interactions, and which interactions I seek out? Am I light in the Lord, filled with goodness, righteousness, and truth? Do I know what pleases the Lord and do it? Do I expose darkness, or just ignore it? Am I deliberate about the use of my time? Do I praise the Lord before others? Am I humbly submissive to others, not just those in evident authority over me?
-> I will schedule to read Ephesians 5 weekly for a while to remind myself of these things and test my life against them.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Ephesians 4
Notes: Walking worthy of God's calling - can there be a higher standard?
Humble, gentle, patient, lovingly tolerant, preserving unity diligently, we are to be gifts of Christ to the church, equipping the Body for service (which makes us servants first), goals: unity, knowledge of God, maturity; speak the truth lovingly, dependence on other Body members, replace former behaviors with holiness and righteousness, industriousness to be able to give gifts, speak to edify and bless (give grace), kind, tender-hearted, forgiving.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Ephesians 3
Notes: Knowing Christ is a gift we receive through His Spirit whom He has given to us according to the riches of His grace. There is no ability or supply shortage - He provides both. Let's ask Him with faith to let us know Him in his fullness.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Ephesians 2
Notes: We sometimes struggle to associate with those far away from God. Yet, they are the ones the holy, pure, and perfect god LOVES, and they are the object of His grace.
Good works are not a nice-to. He has already prepared things for us to do - let's make sure we know what they are and actually do them!
We are one temple with the worst of sinners. Lord, please help us to love our fellow Christians and those who until now are still far off with your love.
Lord, please fill me with your love and help me keep my eyes peeled for the good works you have prepared for me to do today.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Ephesians 1
Notes: Truth - we are the recipients of EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING! (3)
Command - we were chosen to be HOLY and BLAMELESS before God. (4)
Truth - we exist (live) for the praise of the glory of his grace. (6) -> how then shall we live to fulfill this charge? That's why He gave us the Holy Spirit! (13-14)
Truth - Wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of God come in response to prayer - even intercession from others (Paul). (17) -> what an important charge to us!
Lord, please help me to faithfully fulfill my mission of living in such a manner that you will receive praise, and interceding for others (and myself) that they may increase in the knowledge of you - and give praise for their love for you!

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 52
Notes: One has to wonder whether Zedekiah ever repented once he sat in a prison cell in Babylon, looking at his utter failure, never again able to see, haunted by the memories of the last days and hours he did see. Thank you, Lord, that we can come to you for forgiveness. Please help me seek your face regularly so I may not stray from your direction. May I also tell the story of your forgiveness to those who can't imagine it is available to them.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 50
Notes: Being the foremost military power in the world is meaningless if God has decided that your reign is over. Babylon fell because of her worship of other gods, and as punishment for her destruction of God's temple and His people. Aren't we also addicted to persistent idolatry in our worship of our possessions and perpetual entertainment?

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 47-49
Notes: Even those who do not profess the God of Israel are held responsible for their disobedience to their maker. Three are promised return, and God pledges to defend the orphans and widows of Edom. -> Nations that are not God's Display Nation (us, too!) are still held responsible for their disobedience. While we are not called to legislate non-Christians into acting like Christians, we should be clear in our message that God is not giving unbelievers a free pass at disobeying Him, especially in their treatment of the weak (widows and orphans). That latter part should also be a warning regarding our own priorities.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 46
Notes: Human solutions - like Judah's alliance with mighty Egypt - are false securities. Egypt, too, is under the judgments of God. Israel, on the other hand, whose situation (exile) looks hopeless, can yet look to God for a future. -> put your trust in God only, even when human solutions seem surefire answers.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 45
Notes: Early in Jeremiah's ministry, God gives guidance and a promise to his servant Baruch: even though the content of the prophecies may be depressing, and even though Baruch may be giving up dreams he had for the future, God assures him His providing in the future he will actually experience. What a gift of compassion to receive in the dark times they lived in! -> The same God who had compassion on Baruch is our god in the difficult times we live in. He is still just as compassionate, and we can trust Him to care for us according to His wisdom.

Righteousness, Godliness

Righteousness is our relation to God, whereas godliness is our reflection of God.

Olford, Stephen, Anointed Expository Preaching, Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville, TN, p. 43.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 44
Notes: The Jewish men's decision to flee to Egypt placed them right back in the midst of idolatry, and they ignored or (more likely) supported their wives' worship of the 'Queen of Heaven.' When Jeremiah confronts them, they reject his message with revisionist history ascribing what blessings they had in the past to their former idolatry. -> We are responsible for the environments we place our family in, and for what worship we allow in our households. A culture that teaches 'to everyone his own' should not distract us from our call to live right worship in our homes. Note that while God's message came to the adults first, he vowed to hold every member of their family responsible.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 42 and 43
Notes: A people that is stricken with fear will gladly find an excuse why they do not need to obey God's directions. Once panicked, they will force others to join them. Like Jeremiah, we need to be careful nonetheless to faithfully proclaim God's message to them.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 41
Notes: The 80 men from Shilo and Samaria comprehended that it didn't take a building for them to be able to worship in Jerusalem. The carnage and destruction of the Babylonian attack produced fear and disorder, but not a searching for God in many of the remnant in Judah. God did not supernaturally stop the evil, looting, and piracy - the mass murderer escapes with most of his men. -> tragedy will not automatically produce a turning to God among a people that had abandoned Him, and God may not force Himself on them, but allow the evil to pursue their desires, which may also hurt some who do want to return to God.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 40
Notes: The Babylonian who set Jeremiah free recognized the authority of God, even as he had helped to defeat God's people. Gedliah, the new governor, wanted to bring peace and order to the land, but failed to call on God, even after all that had happened, both generally and specifically regarding the allegations about a threat on his life. Taking care of your people is good, but it must come out of a relationship with and dependence on God.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 39
Notes: In the midst of the low point in Jerusalem's history, the destruction by the Babylonians, God (who had called them to carry out his judgment) saves three (groups of) people: Ebed-melech the Ethiopian - a foreigner - "because he trusted in the Lord," God's prophet, and the very poor whom their own countrymen had oppressed all these years, and who now receive the vineyards and fields their fellow Jews would not let them have. The last thing Zedekiah ever saw was not just the slaughter of his sons but also that of the bad advisors he felt too weak to oppose for the sake of righteousness.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 38
Notes: When your situation seems hopeless and weak people fail to protect you and evil people try to destroy you, count on God to be faithful and provide you with salvation even from unexpected sources. Note that even after miraculous salvation from certain death, you may still find yourself in a prison cell.

Today's Devotional Thought

Passage: Jeremiah 37
Notes: Faithfulness does not guarantee exemption from evil done to you. It is okay to ask for lessening of torture. God can even use an evil ruler to save His people. Even the evil ruler may grasp His need for prayer, and a message from God. -> don't give up on prayer for authority, even evil rulers sometimes serve God's purposes.

Reading through the Psalms

I've been desiring to read in the psalms with some regularity, but I keep skipping days, and forgetting where I was (most days, I do it during a break at work using my phone). So, here's my new system for "remembering" what to read:

1. Take the day of the month.
2. Add to it according to the month you're in times 30, with January being 0, February being 1, March being 2, April being 3, May being four, June being 0 again, July being 1, etc.
3. November and December I may read Proverbs instead, or start over with 0 and 1 again.

This way, I can figure out what to read today, and don't have to remember, write down, etc.

So today, I was reading Psalm 81.

Establishing the Boundaries of a Passage

A quick look at Logos'  Tools|Passage Analysis, Compare Pericopes shows us where a number of translators saw the boundaries of a passage. Note how this screen shot demonstrates that we should not too readily assume that 1 Peter 2:9-12 are a unit.

Compare this with how the results for 1 Peter 4 point to a boundary between verses 11 and 12.

Why Fast?

One of the benefits of fasting is to teach us the discipline and build the habits to be content with and do with less, leaving us with more to give to others.

Why I Am Not Giving Up Facebook for Lent

As a minister, I'm in the people/relationships business. It may not be all I do, but it is a major part. Facebook is one of four major communications platforms for me (face-to-face, phone, and e-mail being the others). If I'm going to be salt and light, shutting off communication is not going to be my first step.