Monthly Archives: January 2019
It is Time…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! Psalm 27:7-9 (ESV)
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Hosea 10:12 (ESV)
540 You neither want to be an evil man nor a good one. And so, limping on both legs, you will have mistaken your way and filled your life with emptiness.
When I read the psalm above, I feel guilty. I resonate with the words in my heart, oh how I long to know the grace of God, fully in my life. ANd yet, I don’t seek his face enough. It is not as much God hiding his face from us, as we don’t look for Him as often as we should.
We try to get through life on our own, we try to act like we are mature Christians, we try to walk in His steps, but without His help. We are like the 3-year-old, trying on her mom’s high heels, (or his dad’s boots) And when we fall, we wonder why God abandoned us, why He allowed us to
We need to hear God, we need to take Him seriously on the fellowship He desires to have with us. It is how we need to live, really live. To live and walk with Jesus. To abide in the Spirit, to realize the righteousness, the holiness that rains down upon us.
God is with us, and the more we can seek Him, the more our brokeness is revealed to be a place where His comfort and peace powerfully is at work.
Stop what you are doing, spend a few moments seeking God, letting HIs mercy and peace wash over you, a demontration of the love …anad live a full and abundant life. For it is time
Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 2333-2335). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Holy Sacraments: Not a Theological Construct, but an Encounter with God
Devotional Thought of the Day:
21 After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened, 22† and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.” Luke 3:21-22 GNT
16 The cup we use in the Lord’s Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:16 (TEV)
7 On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. Acts 20:7 (NLT2)
10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” John 8:10-11 (NLT2)
Moreover, the people are instructed often and with great diligence concerning the holy sacrament, why it was instituted, and how it is to be used (namely, as a comfort for terrified consciences) in order that the people may be drawn to the Communion and Mass. The people are also given instruction about other false teachings concerning the sacrament.
There are several communion services in my life that will always come to mind. One of those had its sixth anniversary this week, as I remember a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half missionaries gathering in Macao one afternoon.
Another was my first Sunday in my journey
It started with hearing the elder say these simple words to people. Bod said, “take and drink, the blood shed for the forgiveness of your sin.” He said it with such confidence, such faith that each word hammered into the hardness of our hearts. I don’t remember anything else, save for one thing, as these words of God were heard, not just
The other thing I noticed was the body language of the people. People I knew from the community, people dealing with more brokenness (I would learn) than I could ever suspect. They approached the altar, hunched over, unable to look up, the burdens of the world, and their own sin so oppressing them. And then, as they received the body of Jesus on their tongues, as they drank from the chalice or the little cups, their bodies changed. They relaxed, the stern reverence was replaced with smiles that were filled with peace, and joy.
I know no other way to explain it, except to say they encountered Christ. They were overwhelmed by His presence, His mercy, His love. And when they sang the traditional Nunc Dimittis after communion, they like Simeon, knew God’s salvation. Not as theology, not as some fact, but something that resonated with every beat of their heart.
That joy allowed them to leave the brokenness behind, it allowed them to be free of what oppressed them. One of my professors would later describe this using the word “incarnational” not restricting the incarnation to an event in the Judean hills 2000 years ago but seeing it happen here. This is what the early Lutherans meant by the sacrament comforting their frightened consciences.
And each of the sacraments does this, baptism, the Eucharist, Confession and Absolution, as we participate, as we share in life with Jesus, who brought us to life in HIs resurrection.
This can’t be adequately explained, even by the best of theologians. The sacraments aren’t something that man has the power to research, to “objectively observe.” But they bring about a healing of our souls, as the promises of God become true for us, as the love of God, in all its measureless dimensions, is revealed, As we are transformed, and that is revealed as well, the glory of God reflecting from us, as it did from
Come, let us adore Him, for the Lord is with us. AMEN!
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). Article 24 of the Augsburg Confession: The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 56). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
7
The Resurrection: Something far beyond hope.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
16 The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. Matthew 28:16-17 (TEV)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not the happy ending of a movie. It is the intervention of God against and above any human hope, as it proclaims as “Lord” the one who accepted the path of defeat so that the power of the Father may be revealed and glorified.
No one could have written the script. It is far too unbelievable.
When the disciples saw Jesus, their mentor, their friend, their hope nailed to the cross, they didn’t just give up hope, they didn’t abandon it, it was sucked out them.
It wasn’t just Jesus who died, they died with Him.
For without Jesus, what was there to their world? They had given up everything to follow him, and yet, he was dead. He was gone. And with Him all their hope.
They were so devasted that even after walking around with the risen Lord for over a month, some still doubted, they still waivered, they struggled with the idea of hope being restored. They doubted, they waivered they struggled to adjust to the fact that Hope was alive again.
So why are we suprised we struggle with finding hope, and when it comes alive in Christ. When it is resurrected with Him as we are (see Romans 6 and Colossians 2) it takes time to get used to be able to hope again.
I’ve had to struggle with this, as life has changed dramatically. As health, or age, or work or even the impact of sin has caused me to redefine who I am, or who ministers alongside me.
The reaction that all is lost, that it is broken beyond repair, that I can’t deal with the life that is dealt me is overwhelming.
Yet know there is life, a fill and abundant life in Christ. We’ve been drawn into it, we are revived, we have literally begun life anew.
So how do we live in it, how do we throw off the doubt, the struggle? How do we simply spend our lives walking at peace in His presence?
It starts with adoration and contemplation. Adoring the Lord who loves us, realizing and exploring the depth of His love. Contempation of the Resurrection, trying to get our minds to realize the power and glory of what was more than broken,
Trying to get our mind around the fact that we have risen with Him, that we are made anew, that we are cleansed and forgiven.
It takes a little time, it takes us getting our minds off our ourselves, and just dwelling with Christ. And that time of adjustment takes patience and persistence. It takes time becoming aware of His presence and allowing Him to transform us.
So breathe easy, be patient with yourself. He is here, and all power and authority have been given to Him. Look to Him, let the Holy Spirit transform you.
Pope Francis. (2013). A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. (A. Rossa, Ed.) (p. 42). New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis.
Don’t Say it!!! (but what do we say then?)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NRSV)
How does God console?
Certainly not with pious platitudes like, “after all the tribulation it’s not as bad as it seems.” On the contrary, he allows us to see the suffering that has befallen us in all its horrors, but silently and calmly he shows us heaven.
I’ve seen it too many times, and even more, have I heard it.
SOmeone walks up to someone who is suffering and gives them some words that are supposed to be comforting, but are not. They think they are giving them Biblical advice, but they aren’t.
Sayings like, “God wouldn’t give you anything you can’t handle.”
What these words, these platitudes do is demean and minimalize the pain the person is trying to endure. They come across as uncaring as if the grief and pain you are dealing with are not that overwhelming, as if you can brush it off, pick yourself up, and act as if nothing happened.
But something did, and the pain is…enhanced by the “well-wishers” and people that think they are really helping.
But they don’t know what to say…and so they open their mouths, and stuff comes out…
All of us have done it, and most of us have the scars from hearing it.
So what should we say, when we don’t know what to say?
The first lesson is that you don’t have ot say anything. Be there, cry with them (see Romans 12:15) Your presence, empathy and compassion will be heard louder than even the nest words of comfort.
If you have to say things, reminders of God’s presence matter most, something like Psalm 139, or Psalm 23. Give them permission to cry out and grieve (check out Jeremiah 20 for instance)
Pray with them, that God would help them find a revitalizing rest and peace, for that He has promised.
To say it in another way, be there, but let the Holy Spirit comfort them
Be there… be quiet, help them know God is there…
Help them realize, carefully, that we are in the presence of God, and that is our ultimate hope and peace.
That is our role, and it is what we need to…
Lord, bless us as we encounter pain and suffering, help us to be wise and compassionate, investing time in being there for others. Help us to allow the Holy Spirit to bring the healing, as we step out of the way. Thatnk You Father, for ensuring that we aren’t alone as we minister as your hands. In Jesus name. we pray, AMEN!
Pope Francis. (2013). A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. (A. Rossa, Ed.) (p. 40). New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis.
Revealed His Glory: A sermon and worship service based on John 2
Revealed His Glory
John 2:1-11
† In Jesus Name†
May the grace of God help you realize the glory of God that is revealed to you as experience His glory, may you grow to do what He asks, and depend
Who saw the glory revealed?
As I studied the gospel reading this week, one phrase kept grabbing my
attention.
This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory
This thought, that Jesus revealed His glory for the first time, just needed to be looked into, it needed to be meditated upon, and I think it is a key for us today.
There is a question that accompanies it though, something else we need to think through.
Here it is, “who was this glory revealed to?”
We are going to look at three different groups, those who experienced it, the servants who had done what He said, and the disciples who would grow in their faith and dependence upon Jesus, as they saw His glory revealed.
As we see and experience His glory, I pray we are changed even more dramatically that the wine was changed!
Experiencing it without seeing it
The first group is the “master of ceremonies” and the bridegroom, and probably most of the guests. They certainly experienced the miracle, yet they didn’t know where the wine had come from, they simply enjoyed the wine, and the fellowship it caused.
The master of ceremonies didn’t understand
it either, as he asks the logic of
serving the best, when people are drunk .
Yet that is part of the glory of God,
Even when we have been consuming the cheap stuff of the world, when we are tired and worn out, and even broken by
The world will do that, as it tempts us to believe we enjoy the cheap things it offers. Fame, pleasure, the things money can buy, or the security of having a solid financial portfolio, or our political party ascend in government.
These things are illusions, and like cheap wine, they will seem to satisfy for a moment. Compared to the glorious mercy and love of Jesus, they simply begin to fade away.
People encounter God’s glory all the time. But will they recognize it?
Will they see it in the hand of someone who comes to their aid, or their neighbor who tries to tell them about Jesus? Will they see God’s hand guiding them?
Will we recognize His presence, when we hear His word, will we realize His presence when we kneel here, when we
Or will we not discern His presence, and as Paul warns, and eat and drink judgment upon ourselves?
The servants
The second group to experience the glory of God, revealed in Christ, was the servants. They knew where the wine had come from, they played a role in the miracle’s occurrence.
Told by Mary to do what Jesus said, they did. I can’t imagine why they did, but they did!
Grabbing some huge stone pitchers, filling them with water, and then taking a ladle of it over to the master of ceremonies.
Seriously? Taking a ladle of water over, and …. A miracle happened…
I mean if that could happen, if water could
be turned to wine, what else could happen?
Could wine also be the blood of Christ?
Could a little round piece of bread also be His body?
Could we be transformed into the image of Christ?
The disciples depended on him
The glory of Jesus revealed in that miracle had the greatest effect on the last group.
They had only recently started hanging out
with the odd rabbi, scripture tells us just a day or so, just after Jesus
baptism. I am not sure they knew all
that much about him, but they were invited to the party with Jesus.
So they went.
They would have seen the interaction of Jesus with his mother, and with the
servants.
They surely would have sampled the wine and been amazed.
And scripture says they believed in Him.
Not believed in him like a mathematical fact, because the miracle defied all form of logic.
Miracles always do.
Believed in him, had faith in Him in a way that changed everything else in their lives.
That’s what truly seeing the glory of God revealed to us does,
It helps us see that we can and should depend on God.
We can toss aside every other thing that we would depend upon for joy, or the illusion of it, for we have found real joy! We have found real peace, knowing that God will provide what we need in life!
The disciples would do that, these men that would watch Jesus die, and then see Him, risen from the dead. They would experience the Holy Spirit, they would baptize thousands, and share every day in the body and blood Christ, as they prayed and fellowshipped with all that would be united to Jesus.
They believed in Jesus, for they had seen His glory revealed!
His glory revealed?
I need to make one thing clear. We need to define what it was that Jesus did
that revealed His glory.
Some may think it is transformation of water to wine, and that is, I have to
admit, a pretty cool miracle.
I think it is more than that though, it is the response of Jesus to those in
need, the response to a plea from His mother to come to their aid. To make sure the celebration of two becoming
one was not diminished.
Remember, a way for us to understand the love of Jesus for the church is the
true love between a husband and wife.
Ephesians 5 describes that so well, especially the mercy of Christ,
which sees us as holy and perfect and glorious.
We understand this miracle in view of that,
and we realize that He loves us in the same exact way. That Jesus will transform us, just as He
transformed the water.
Even as His glory is revealed through scripture now, and when someone was
baptized, and as we take and eat His body and drink His blood, in an under the bread
and wine.
Jesus loves you, and the glory you see I that love, and know in that mercy is
eternal.
And each day, the Spirit readies us for the final wedding feast, described
in Revelation
6 Then
I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty
ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us
give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and
his bride has prepared herself. 8 She
has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen
represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. 9
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who
are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true
words that come from God.”
Revelation 19:6-9 (NLT2)
And as those disciples were invited to the wedding feast in Cana, so you are invited to this wedding feast. For you, church, are His beloved.
And until that day, you dwell, your hearts and minds guarded by Jesus, in that inexpressible peace of God. AMEN!
Dealing with Evil in the Church…without losing your faith.
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
Genesis 50:19-21 (NLT2)
In one of his (Boccaccio) stories in the Decameron, a practical Jewish businessman, Abraham, is contemplating conversion and baptism, at the gentle leading of the pious archbishop of Paris, but has to reside at Rome for a season to do business with the Borgia family and the papal bankers. The archbishop asks him if he wouldn’t like to receive baptism before his trip, but he is a practical man, and business must come first. The bishop is convinced that Abraham will never join the Church once he sees her corruptions with his own eyes; but when he returns to Paris, he asks to be baptized! He explains to the startled archbishop, “I’m a practical Jewish businessman. I don’t know theology, but I know
I have been grieving over the church recently.
It seems like we are entering a season where evil seems to be winning, thrusting its devastation both near and far. I see the broken lives, some still in denial about what is going on, about their role in the game, I sense that others don’t really care, passing by the broken lives as the priest and the Levite did on the road.
On the national level, the battles are like icebergs. In my denomination, you see it in the reactions to a document which alleges chronic, planned and coordination bullying. The Catholic Church has its internal wars going, as do the Methodists, Baptists, and other groups.
And what is even scarier, the wars we see are often not the real war. As any counselor/manager knows, the stated problem is rarely the real problem. Those are deeper, even at the point of sub-conscious, as our souls can’t bear the trauma.
On a local level, sin has raised its bitter head to many times in the past two months. Again, the temptation is to deny the seriousness of the impact on individuals and parishes. We want to say, “that’s their problem, it won’t affect me or mine.” Yet, even in saying that, we acknowledge the division in the church.
To that point, Peter Kreeft’s Socrates referents Boccaccio, and makes me think deeper. Could our evil be used by God to draw others to Him? (This is by no means an excuse, or should we use it to justify or be complacent about evil – we need to confront it) The Jewish businessman finds hope because the church perseveres in spite of the corruption, in spite of the evil.
It requires a great deal of faith, or truly depending on God to see this. It takes the attitude of Joseph, who can piece together all the things God used ot come to a point where the family is preserved, where they are provided for in the midst of another storm.
God doesn’t like such things, or plan them, and I am sure they break His heart. Yet, His love finds a way to use them to bless us, all things, even the evil, even the brokenness. He promises that so many times, along with the fact that He will never leave us or forsake us.
We need to know that in these dark days, and in those to come.
He is with us, He will be with us, and somehow, He wiwll use even these times.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your heatts and minds in Christ Jesus
Kreeft, P. (2003). Socrates Meets Machiavelli: The Father of Philosophy Cross-Examines the Author of the Prince (p. 162). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
What incredible things God has promised to do in YOUR life!
Devotional
37 None of this fazes us because
20 God can do anything, you know—far
The working of God’s Spirit produces disproportionate results that do not make sense humanly. The outcome is beyond human logic to understand or natural powers to accomplish. Such humanly unaccountable effects fit
Thus she came to understand Chesterton when he described men and women who, signed with Christ’s Cross, cheerfully walk through darkness. Finding this hidden life means releasing the sources of this world’s energy, linking the world to the power that can save it, giving it the resources for which it seeks in vain within itself. It means digging for and uncovering the wellspring of joy which can save and transform things and people and which has the power to undo and make good past suffering. Seek the things that are above! This is not a mere clutching at a straw but a setting-out on the great Easter journey into the region of genuine reality.
Often times, we think of God doing “immeasurably more” in regards to His doing something incredible in our lives. As if each one of us would become the next Mother Theresa or Billy Graham. As if what we do will receive blessings that are worldly, fame, riches, health, pleasure. That we will slay giants, or shatter the minions of evil that oppress those we love.
After all, God can do
I think Pope Benedict makes a good point in this point highlighted in green, what God does that is beyond belief, beyond our ability to measure is to make good past suffering, to reach into our brokenness; and flood it with so much joy that we count as a blessing what we once complained was a curse.
This isn’t about calling evil good and good evil, make no mistake, but it is about God redeeming the time. It is about the memories now longer haunting us but instead leaving us in awe of God’s love that sustained us in the darkness.
It is about seeing the little things that God sets up, the 10 minutes with a friend there, the prayer said last night, the determination to just rely on God, even as we can’t see where we are going. It is about the peace we feel, as our sins are washed away, as we trust in the words God desires us to see. This abundant blessing is seen in how a little round peace of bread and sip of wine bring us peace as we recognize we are sharing in the body and blood of Jesus.
in those moments, the world can fall apart (or at least we believe it is!) and we are sure God is with us. He has revealed Himself to us in those moments, and we will never forget it. As we focus on Him, the Spirit is turning us into God’s work of art (Eph. 2:10) which again, is more than we could ever expect, ever hope.
God is with you, doing more in you than you could ever imagine…so rejoice, and as you realize you dwell in His presence, be at peace! AMEN!
Willard, D., & Johnson, J. (2015). Hearing god through the year: a 365-day devotional. Westmont, IL: IVP Books.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (p. 26). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Life’s Priorities and Work
Devotional Thought of the day:
15 Work hard so you
538 A terrible person is one who is ignorant but at the same time works tirelessly. Take care that even when you are old and decrepit, you keep on wanting to be better trained.
One of my favorite sports teams has a motto, “No Day’s Off!”
And it doesn’t mean 7 days in the office, 10 hours a day. As St Josemaria says, it is a terrible thing for
You could say the same for a surgeon, whose hands are precious. He wouldn’t engage in activities that would
The same would be true for a pastor, a minister (in our synod, a Director of Christian Ed, Director of Worship, Deaconess or Deacon) any lay leader or really anyone in the church. Our lives need to be not just balanced between work and rest and time spent in devotional reading of God’s word, prayer, and adoration/worship of God, in receiving the sacraments (all of them!)
But we have to understand what our primary vocation is, what we need to focus and work on, and what are the things that support that work.
What is it? Something we have in common…
Being the Church, being the bride of Christ. Finding our rest and peace in Christ as He mercifully heals our brokenness, as our sin is forgiven, as we are made alive as we are joined to Him in baptism. Our vocation is our being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Those things I mentioned as part of the balance that
It is that walk which the rest of our “life” (our work, our family, our roles at church and in our community) needs to resonate. Depending on God, realizing that He is involved in every part of our life, He sustains us, this is our primary role in life – our relationship with Him.
And as St. Josemaria points out, we need to continually be guided in this and to be trained by those who walk with Jesus as well. (that is another post perhaps) We need to work hard at it, for depending on God takes intent and focus, things easily lost in this crazy world and time.
This is our core, the experience of the love of God that is beyond our ability to explain. To spend time realizing that love, and learning to depend upon it.
Know you are God’s family and spend time experiencing and learning what that means. Celebrate it with others, and realize, this is your life!
Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 2327-2330). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Why am I stuck with doing this?
Devotional Thought of the Day
10 Moses heard all the people complaining as they stood around in groups at the entrances of their tents. He was distressed because the LORD had become angry with them, 11 and he said to the LORD, “Why have you treated me so badly? Why are you displeased with me? Why have you given me the responsibility for all these people? 12 I didn’t create them or bring them to birth! Why should you ask me to act like a nurse and carry them in my arms like babies all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors? Numbers 11:10-12 GNT
479 “Pray for me,” I said as I always do. And he answered in amazement: “But is something the matter?” I had to explain that something is the matter or happens to us all the time; and I added that when prayer is lacking, “more and more weighty things are the matter.”
It’s the thought of the mom as she picks up after her children or her husband. It’s the thought of the manager after he sends his workers home for the day, It’s in the mind of the secretary who has to deal with unreasonable people, guarding her boss from them. It’s the thought of the nurse, who has to care and clean up patients, who cannot care for themselves. it’s the thought of the pastor, burnt out after the holidays and yet still having to meet the needs of people in crisis. The denominational officer, trying to figure out why another church is struggling.
And we cry out to God, why have YOU stuck us here?
Why did you give these people into my care?
Why can’t these people be “normal”, why are they so needy, so unaware, so irresponsible, and why do I have ot work them, clean them up, get them back healthy, and teach them to play well with others?
If St Josemaria is right. we are going to deal with those people all our lives. There is always something broken, or some relationship that is breaking. There is always another mess to clean up, another person or church in trauma, another friend caught up in sin.
So how do we survive? How can we keep our strength
Fellowship with God, deep, intimate fellowship, and sharing that with others, so we develop a burden to pray for each other, to bring the other before the throne of God, knowing that is where they will find the peace, the rest, the healing they need.
And that includes those people we have to serve, whether those in ministry with us or those we serve.
And it is where we need to be ourselves. Because life is like a boxing match, and sometimes it seems like the bell will never ring, ending the round.
So please pray for me… and let me know what I can pray for you!
may you know you dwell in His peace!
Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 2100-2103). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Is Life/Work/Ministry Boring and Bland? What an Opportunity!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
Luke 16:10 (NLT2)
507 You tried to belittle somebody else’s work by mumbling: “He has only done his duty.” And I said, “Does that seem so little to you?” The Lord gives us the happiness of Heaven for doing our duty: Euge serve bone et fidelis… intra in gaudium Domini tui— Well done good and faithful servant, enter into eternal joy! (1)
The things that challenge me the most in life are the most mundane. The times in life where I am supposed to go through the motions, the moments were the tasks are simply boring, where the actvity is bland..
How do i trudge through those days, eager for the oppostunity to do something new! And I am not the only one, and it is not just about taking out the trash, or cleaing the gutters, or more data entry, or mopping the bathroom floors after a toilet was clogged int he preschool restroom.
It happens in the church as well. For it takes persistence and patience to see a church impact its community, to become a community of faith that the community knows it is alive.
Maybe that is why the focus is on planting new, and the experts claim the best growth happens in new churches, and why we take our most dynamic and driven guys and send them for church planting training before we see that they can shepherd people?
And so in the church, we simply mimic the culture again. And give up on the hard work of doing that which is the fun, the flashy, and the presumed high rate of return!
But how do we do our job, how do we do our duty with zeal and a strong focus when it seems like we can do it, with the same effort it takes to snore? How do we stay with it, day in and day out? How do we stop ourselves from doing things in a simply rote manner?
Can we learn ot put all our effort, all our focus into the mundane?
The only way it is possible is to realize Who entrusts us with the work and spends the time with us, as we work. One who would wash our feet, the One who listens to our complains, to our whining, the One who patiently comforts and cleanses and heals us.
he is with us in the mundane, the boring and the bland, He is with us strengthening us, empowering us, helping us realize what we do is not done alone, and that it actually
Lord help us to see the normal everyday life as a gift we share with You. Help us to do it well, so well that others will give glory to You. AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 2209-2213). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
