Tag Archives: Faith

Open Concept Faith

Posted on May 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 9
1-2 Now in that first agreement between God and his people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on earth. Inside this place of worship there were two rooms…this part was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies…6 Well, when all was ready, the priests went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to, doing their work. 7 But only the high priest went into the inner room, and then only once a year, all alone with blood that he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins and the mistakes and sins of all the people…9 This has an important lesson for us today…The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way.

Sunday Thoughts:
The design and function of this place of worship, this “sacred tent down here on earth” is more than a description of a place, it’s a picture of us. God certainly had us pegged didn’t he? This earthly-body place of worship has those same two rooms; an outer one and an inner one.

That first system was comfortable, most of the time. The outer room, a Holy place, was maintained to make sure it was possible to get to that inner room with it’s limited access. The inner room was the place where “mistakes and sins” could be dealt with by the right person at the right time and “all alone.”

Faith compartmentalized like that is comfortable for us. We do have a place we can manage the maintenance of that Holy outer room. We call it church. We have someone we call pastor or priest we can depend on doing their best work to make us acceptable to God. But there’s still that curtained-off room where Holy is actually changed into Holiness.

“This has an important lesson for us today.” There is no more need for separate rooms to “tide us over.” No more mere maintenance waiting for the right time to come. No more limited access. No more “all alone.” “Christ came with God’s new and better way,” Open Concept Faith.

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The Safety of a Useful Crop

Posted on May 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

These people are “enlightened,” thought, decision and discipline are key to their faith. They’ve “tasted the heavenly gift.” Their faith has also included feeling and experiencing the power and goodness of God. These people “have shared in the Holy Spirit” and yet they “have fallen away” and there’s no going back. Why hasn’t their faith kept them safe?

How in the world do rain and crops fit in? Maybe knowledge about God is like the rain. It falls often, and broadly, over the land preparing large portions of it to be able to grow. Our faith may be our personal plot of land drinking in the rain and prepared to grow…but there’s a big difference between a muddy field and a useful crop. Maybe our blessing is The Safety of a Useful Crop.

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Divine Reading

Posted on January 13, 2016 | Leave a comment

It was just a few years ago that I first heard of Lectio Divina (Latin for “Divine Reading”). It’s not a theological analysis of biblical passages but choosing to read and ponder your personal relationship with God through his Living Word.

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God took a risk when He gave Adam the possibility of choosing not to obey rather than physically preventing him from eating. Think about the trust involved in giving that freedom to Adam…and to us!  That’s prime Divine Reading [and pondering].

For God to be willing to risk letting his creation make a wrong choice seems like the ultimate submission on his part. The omnipotent God staking His reputation on “our” choices because “He first loved…” is pretty amazing when you think of it.  He did have a plan but sometimes I just wish he’d done it the other way.

Lord, give me this day the courage to make you proud.

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Posted in Divine Reading, Genesis, Prayer, Wednesday

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Every Moment

Posted on January 10, 2016 | Leave a comment

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

Don’t live in the paralysis of self-analysis wondering about your every choice. Believe that God is in Every Moment, every thought, everything that happens; that His Spirit is guiding and interceding; that your behavior is being influenced by God…whether or not you’re consciously aware of it. That’s the “much more in my absence” part.

Be prepared to be dragged into the correction of conscious awareness sometimes; to have to admit you made the wrong choice, to have to repent, to have to forgive, and to have to ask for forgiveness. That’s the “fear and trembling” part.

Be prepared to have moments of grace and glory that warm you, change you, teach you, humble you…and surprise you with the conscious awareness of knowing that you did hear from God and responded. Remember it’s a joint effort, you are not in this alone. That’s the “working out” part.

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Stable Foundation

Posted on December 27, 2015 | Leave a comment

image

I’ve still turned the Christmas lights on this morning. I’m not quite ready to give them up. There is relief, though, that I can turn down the intensity of wanting to acknowledge each day of Advent with a blog post and return to my “Sunday and Wednesday” plan. It feels like a long exhale after heavy exercise. You do it for all the right reasons but it still feels good to be done. The benefits always come after… So I decided to look at what I’d written last year after Advent had ended.

From 2014
“I Thessalonians 1:3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s something of a letdown now that the intensity of Advent is done. There’s a sense of needing to come off the mountain high of this last month. That’s just what I Thessalonians 1 has offered me. It’s a reminder that my words are “work that comes from faith,” and …effort that comes from love. They brought me to that high point of of my Advent and Christmas celebration in those days and now this realization; there is no mountain high without the “stable” foundation, the…perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ IN the presence of our God and Father.”

One word appeared in both the paragraph I began with and last year’s writing…intensity. I liked finding I’d felt that intensity again this year. It’s the “Stable” Foundation that’s a benefit from the “exercise.”

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Posted in Appreciation, Birth of Jesus, Thessalonians

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True Light

Posted on December 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

John 1:9-14 12/7/15
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John’s Scripture got me thinking about another light source.  The first thing that came to my mind was a Flashlight.  As a kid did you ever shine your flashlight in someone’s face?  I did.  I’m sorry to admit how much fun it was to hear my victims squeal and squirm to get away from that obnoxious beam and know they couldn’t even tell who was torturing them.  That’s how my mind works.

But here’s how the Holy Spirit works in my mind.  When I typed that word, flashlight, I realized how similarly flashlight and “false light” are spelled.  I think God meant my first thought  to be an object lesson.  There’s such an obvious difference between my flashlight confession with it’s purpose to blind and conceal and the light John speaks of that’s meant to illuminate and reveal.

False light may be what happened then because “though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”  That’s what makes this Advent journey so important.  Scripture, and thoughts, in these daily doses is light for the path.  We walk to recognize for ourself the True Light of God’s reality revealed at that cradle…”The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

 

 

 

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Posted in Advent, Birth of Jesus, Christmas Bread, Daily Faith, John

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The Real Jesus

Posted on November 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

Excerpts from Mark 3 NIV
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him…21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”…

Thoughts:
I’m having a negative reaction to everything I read today.  I don’t like reading that Jesus was angry and distressed.  I don’t like that he made plans to keep himself away from the people.  I don’t like that his own family was ready to haul him away because they thought he was out of his mind.  This is a clear indicator that I’m deeply involved in romanticizing the human Jesus and I don’t like that either.

I read a book “Imaginary Jesus” by Matt Mikalatos.  It’s not a “Christian” book per se, it’s a novel and underlying the humor of it is a very serious reality.  It’s the mistake of seeing Jesus as what we need him to be in any given situation.  Here’s part of the description from Amazon: “When Matt Mikalatos realizes that his longtime buddy in the robe and sandals isn’t the real Jesus at all, but an imaginary one, he embarks on a mission to find the real thing.”

I don’t want to miss The Real Jesus because of my need to make him look and act like I think he should…but…I don’t want him to be angry, or distressed either.  That’s too raw, too human, and too much a mirror of what my reaction might be.  Maybe that’s the point.  The Real Jesus will show me my own humanity despite my creative attempts to mold him into an imaginary image.  Obviously he’s not finished yet.

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Posted in Daily Faith, Growth, Mark, Real Life

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Inspired Risk

Posted on November 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

Habakkuk 2 :1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.  2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

Thoughts:

My “station” is the Lazy Boy early in the morning looking for God to speak to me through his Word and sometimes the words of his people who have shared their inspiration in their own writings.  One of my favorite quotes is from Oswald Chambers: “patience is not the same as indifference.”

It’s that Lazy Boy that’s made all the difference between patience and indifference for me.  If I’m there and I get nothing it’s patience.  If I’m not there, it’s indifference.  It’s an Inspired Risk to believe God is there with truth for me.  It’s an Inspired Risk to believe I do have a “revelation.”   It’s an Inspired Risk to find my own words of faith and then run with them.  I won’t get it right every time…but there is an appointed time.  Patience is an Inspired Risk: “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come …”

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Posted in Habakuk, Real Life, The Real "Me"

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Home Improvement

Posted on October 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

It’s obvious even among the most devoted believers that there are individual quirks leftover when God deals with the serious business of saving a person. Surely you know someone of deep and true faith that gossips, or lashes out, or lies, or….[you fill in the blank].

It’s easy for me to see those flaws in others and much harder to recognize them in myself. These are the hold-out things that can become the secret weapons of the enemy.  He can’t have our souls back but he can cause a lot of hurt and havoc in our lives with those leftover quirks.

Jesus has saved my soul and now he’s standing ready to save me from myself; to free me from those quirks.  After all these years, and hours of devotion, and true transformation here I am seeing one of those little “quirks” in my own life. It’s awful and it’s wonderful at the same time.  It’s awful to see it…and wonderful to know Jesus has got a plan for me to be free of it.

I’m crawling up on the altar again Lord, to sacrifice one more “last” thing…again…to you. I love you. I love that your purpose is to make me whole and into your likeness, first with redemption and now with renovation. It’s the best kind of Home Improvement.

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Posted in Confession, Daily Faith, John, Real Life, The Real "Me"

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Read ‘n Ponder

Posted on August 26, 2015 | Leave a comment

2 Peter 1:2-8
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My Thoughts:
One repeated word in the passage caught my attention…Knowledge.  I want everything needed for a Godly life.  I want to know about God but even more importantly I want to know God.

Definition: knowl·edge, noun 1. facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education

I found this quote by James Ray that made sense to me…”Knowledge comes from acquiring information—Knowing comes from ownership.”

Rereading the passage with particular attention to that one word I noticed that knowledge is not the end product of this passage.   It’s just a step in the process of finally getting to the real goal, love.  That’s key.  It’s not about learning enough facts to be smart about God.  That’s knowledge.  It’s all about figuring out how those facts  get worked into me so I can understand what real love is like.  That’s productive and effective knowing. That’s ownership.

That is why I read ‘n ponder.

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