Tag Archives: Reality

Psalm 119:145-152 ק Qoph Axe, Back of Head

Posted on September 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

Psalm 119:145-152 ק Qoph Axe, Back of Head,
145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
and I will obey your decrees.
146 I call out to you; save me
and I will keep your statutes.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promises.
149 Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
150 Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
but they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, Lord,
and all your commands are true.
152 Long ago I learned from your statutes
that you established them to last forever.

I write what I “think” I know because I want God to know I think. More importantly I believe God knows what I need to know and “wants” me to know it. I wonder if that’s the process of discernment?

I’m guessing that’s why the Psalmist writes too. Maybe discernment is the secret of why he uses this obscure title Ooph – axe, back of head. The “back of the head” according to a Google search about anatomy is the “occipital lobe that controls sight.”

What the Psalmist sees are his circumstances but he knows there is a tool, that can cut away the debris of life and reveal another reality. The decrees, statutes and promises are the “axe” that can split his own worried thoughts from what he sees to what God wants him to know; “you are near, Lord, and all your commands are true.”

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Psalm 119:33-40 ה He – Window, Lattice

Posted on August 3, 2016 | 1 comment

Psalm 119:33-40
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.

I continue to be amazed at these little headings I’ve always ignored before. They don’t speak my language but it’s becoming apparent to me that they speak God’s language and therefore there’s something to consider beginning with “He.”

“He” is God/Jesus/Spirit in my mind. “He” is the window, the clear divider, allowing us to look inside and outside ourselves just as the Psalmist did.

The Psalmist could clearly see a holier place as he looked through that window from the inside out. God was offering teaching, understanding, obedience, direction and delight. Those were the things he wanted to focus on.

Looking inside the window to himself from that holier place, the Psalmist could see focus was more than just his wanting. He saw his need was to depend on God to fulfill his promises to turn his heart and eyes to the statutes and laws that would preserve his life.

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Simplicity and Complexity

Posted on May 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 10
1. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship…8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Thoughts:
The challenge of so many words of simple truth repeated in slightly different ways made this chapter seem complicated to me. I finally had to re-read these 14 verses in the light of a 3-point philosophy of writing I learned way back in junior high. My “aha” moment came when I realized that Simplicity and Complexity have to coexist in the life of a believer.

1 – Tell them what you’re going to tell them:
• “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—…”
2 – Tell them what you want to tell them:
• “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
3 – Tell them what you’ve told them:
• “For by one sacrifice he [Christ] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

There’s more to these words than just reading and agreeing. The simple part is the truth that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The complex part is recognizing that within us the deep and mysterious truth of “once and for all” and “made perfect forever” coexists with the reality of our life; we are still “being made holy.”

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Bottom Line of Confidence

Posted on April 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Dictionary Connections:
con·fi·dence –
1. the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.
2. a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.

This dictionary turned out to be the key to my thoughts again this morning. Those two parts of the definition of confidence point out something we deal with in our daily lives; knowing the difference between confidence and self-assurance.

I know other versions of the Bible use the word “boldly” in place of “confidence” but I prefer this one. There are times when my grip on being able to live my faith as well as I speak it has been reduced by weaknesses to the Bottom Line of Confidence.

Those are the times when approaching the throne of Grace and getting to Jesus has very little to do with my boldness or self-assurance. The Bottom Line of Confidence looks more like a determined belly crawl through enemy lines, knowing I need to get to that throne no matter what. I may arrive there looking much worse for the wear but I’ll be there. There…where receiving mercy and finding grace become the reality of what I’m confident in, not how capable and self-assured I am on the approach.

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A Family for God

Posted on April 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

We live in an age where “family” has taken on what seems like new meanings. Blended, mixed and single parent families often seem confusing. The lament seems to be what has happened to the traditional family?  That question made me consider families in the Old Testament when a man had many children by many wives. Wasn’t that traditional…then?

That second question made me think about how easy is it is to be “not Godless, but not Godly either.” That phrase is where I find real value in the stories of those Old Testament characters who’s traditional lives seemed to be such a mess, and in my own life as well. Somehow all our confusing and questionable ideas of “traditional” still are combining to become A Family for God with room available for more imperfect characters.

It isn’t the traditional that God is looking for at all; it’s the Godly. I’m rethinking my use of the word traditional in light of God’s concept of the perfect family: Himself, Jesus and [your name here]. “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.”

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Way Beyond Your Expectations

Posted on March 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

John 20:11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white,seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”(which means “Teacher”).

Remember the chorus of a country music song from awhile back?
I was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places
Lookin’ for love in too many faces
Searchin’ their eyes, lookin’ for traces
Of what I’m dreamin’ of…

This Scripture reminded me of that chorus and how easy it is to miss a new encounter with Jesus because of mistaken identity or because we’re looking in all the wrong places. We think we know just what to expect of him, but…

Jesus may not always always look like what we’ve imagined he would…or even should…look like. We may find him in places and situations we never expected we would see him. That would certainly describe this early morning encounter between Mary and Jesus. Look how her awareness of the world changed when he spoke her name.

This is Easter morning, 2016, the most important reminder of your spiritual life.  Remember hearing Jesus first speak your name? That was Continue reading →

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That’s the Truth

Posted on January 17, 2016 | Leave a comment

2 Peter 1:12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

Thoughts:
I had to stop and remind myself to pay attention to what comes after verse 12 because that verse is such an important thought for me.  I believe it with all my heart. I can be devout, I can be faithful…but…I am only “established in the truth [I] now have.   I am still a learner.

There are so many controversies that rage in the world of faith; devout people blowing up abortion clinics, devout muslims killing themselves and others in the name of holiness. Devout Christians with polar opposite views on the very same subject. Christians, like me, wanting so much to do the right thing and have the right position on any topic.  In the name of God, the temptation becomes picking a side to follow…rather than picking a Savior to follow.

That’s the Truth I need to be reminded of.

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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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