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How Do You Plead?
How Do You Plead? 1 Corinthians 5:11-21
† In Jesus Name †
May you realize the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that mercifully and lovingly reconciles you and brings you back to our Father!\
The Plea
Two men stood in front of the judge and the jury, waiting to hear how their pleas were heard, and how their pleas for just would be answered. Whether they believed their pleas or not, their long struggle for the justice was about to be answered.
It was different this time, as I handed the bailiff the verdict, as justice was delivered.
In the back of my mind, I heard the words of Barry, one of my fellow jurors, CLICK
I would rather have justice, than the outcome of the law….
How I wish we could have had the time, and the opportunity to share with them the true nature of justice, that they could have heard that plea.
For that day, in the court room, the plea for reconciliation, the plea for true justice, was the furthest things from what occurred, the furthest thing from anyone’s heart.
And as everyone walked away from that courtroom in Norwalk, the verdict we had given was fair in our minds, but scripturally, it was far from just.
You see the wrong plea was entered… the plea should have been the pleading we’ve been given by Christ, as Paul wrote:
We speak for Christ when we plead, CLICK “Come back to God!”
Our Need For that Judgement
All over the news and the internet, people crying out for justice, crying out against what they perceive as injustice. If you talk to a judge or a lawyer, they can tell you the wait for justice can be three to five years. If you talk to those who are pleading for justice, their ideas differ. And a jury can struggle to determine what is truly just, for in a civil trial how can you put a price tag on it? How can you place a number of years in a criminal trial, that will bring to balance the injustice?
Even so, people cry out for justice, for things to be made right. We so want what we think justice is. But here is how God defines justice, (verse 19) CLICK
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them!
and
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
True justice, true righteousness is seen in the work that God our Father commissioned, the cost of reconciliation, of making people right with the Father.
True justice then, would have resulted in a friendship between the two men suing each other, and their ability to do so, knowing that Christ paid the price for both of their sins!
They could have known that, they could have known a kind of justice that would have healed the broken relationship that they had. For as their sins were counted against each other, as they were erased, what could separate them?
That’s justice, and it is so completely unexpected. CLICK
This is how Jesus saves us, this is how God planned for this, as we hear from Isaiah, whose words were written centuries before the cross.
5 But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. Isaiah 53:5 (TEV)
and
10 The LORD says, “It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed. Isaiah 53:10 (TEV)
In the very suffering and death of Jesus, we find all of us reconciled to the Father. That is justice. Being reconciled to God is the kind of Justice He seeks.
From my devotions yesterday, this quote explains it well, CLICK
But when a person has once met Christ, when a person has once seen Jesus and really learned to know him, then everything is changed. Then everything else is comprehensible and life is renewed. And you [priests] have really only one task: to present Jesus to all people in such a way that they see him and learn to love him.[i]
When God reconciles us, we are that new creation, as Paul says, the old life is gone, the new life, our new life in Christ has begun!
Everything has changed, the gift of God that is so incredible!
Our plea is different now…
As we look at what has changed, our plea for justice stands out. It is no longer a plea to some vague idea of justice that favors us over others, it is a plea for God’s justice, that they would know His love, that they would welcome His mercy.
It has changed as well from a plea to God for that justice, to a plea to those who cry out for justice, to hear God’s version of it, to be called back to God.
This is what the ministry is all about, this is what the Christ’s love compels us to do.
To share with each other, that in Christ, we have been reconciled to God. Christ’s work is so perfect, that there is no relationship that is beyond His ability to heal, as He brings us into Himself, as He makes of us, one family, one people. His people.
Reconciled to the Father, which is how we see each other. As His children, as those He died for, as those who no longer live for themselves, but live in Christ, who died and was raised for us. That’s why we plead, not to God, but with people to come back to God.
A plea that is an interesting word picture. We become their paraclete’s, the one’s that come alongside them, lift them up and lovingly carry them back to Jesus. If the word sounds familiar, it should. It is one of the names for the Holy Spirit. That is why our pleading is effective, for it is done in Christ, and by the Holy Spirit’s power!
What an amazing thing this message of reconciliation we have been given, this plea that God entrusts to us, to call out to others, to beg them to see the work of God, done for them, and to trust that God has reconciled them as well.
Two last thoughts about God’s Justice CLICK
When we love our neighbor, pleading with them to see Jesus, to recognize His work reconciling them to the Father!
And there is no greater testimony to God’s love and mercy at work in us, that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in us, than to plead with our enemies to be reconciled to Jesus Christ.
For it takes a level of peace to do this, a peace that goes beyond logic, that goes beyond understanding, a peace that unites all in Christ, where He guards their hearts and minds. AMEN!
[i] Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 191). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
The Image of God and His People You Will Never Forget (though you might want to!)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” 2 So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on. 3 Then the LORD gave me another message: 4 “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me. 6 A long time afterward the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. 8 Then I received this message from the LORD: 9 “This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! 11 As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me. Jeremiah 13:1-11 (NLT)
538 There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the bread. To this extreme has he humbled himself for love of you. (1)
There are many images in scripture used to describe the close, intimate relationship between God and His people. He is the Good Shepherd who carries his lost sheep home, the Father who runs to meet His prodigal son, The Bridegroom awaiting His perfect spotless Bride. We are His temple, His dwelling place, His home…
And then there is this one
God and His people, who are pictured as… His underwear? (that’s what a loincloth is…)
I mean, that is how close God wants His people to be to Him? Not only that, He wants us to be like clingy underwear?
TMI!!!
(which could stand for too much information or too much intimacy!)
It is an odd picture to be sure, this picture that the prophet Jeremiah puts on paper, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But it drives the point home in a way we cannot deny.
God wants His people close to Him, Closer than anything else.
Yet too often, we don’t want to be that close to Him, we don’t even want to be in his bureau. We want to keep God at just the proper distance. Close enough to rescue us when we sin, but not so close that His presence causes us to move with Him, We want to have our sins forgiven, but not have to spend time clinging to Him, having our lives wrapped around His life, going where He wants to go.
He wants us that close. He wants to be that involved in our lives, and we to be that involved in His. For even as the prophet Jeremiah pictures us as God’s clothes, Paul will picture God wrapping Himself around us
26 It is through faith that all of you are God’s children in union with Christ Jesus. 27 You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. Galatians 3:26-27 (TEV)
This intimacy is not just pictured, but occurs at a deeper level, as we take Christ’s Body and Blood into us, in the Lord’s Supper, where Christ hides Himself, as St. Josemaria tells us, that we can know His love.
This intimate relationship is why the Father sent Jesus to live among us, to die for us, to restore us to the very ideal that God created us to be…. HIs people, His pride, His glory, and that we can bring Honor to His name.
Remember, the Lord is with you!
And if you need help remember how close… remember this picture from Jeremiah!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1299-1301). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
In My Search for Meaning, In Our Search for Truth, Have We Lost Our Minds?
Discussion/Devotion Thought of the Day:
2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” 3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. Ecclesiastes 1:2-8 (NLT)
Men are all too inclined—the great philosopher of religion opines—to wait placidly for proofs of the reality of revelation, to seek them out as if they were in the position of judge, not suppliant. “They have decided to put the Almighty to the proof—with controlled passion, a total freedom from bias, and a clear head.” But the individual who thus makes himself lord of the truth deceives himself, for truth shuns the arrogant and reveals itself only to those who approach it in an attitude of reverence, of respectful humility. (1)
425 To realize that you love me so much, my God, and yet I haven’t lost my mind!
I am not a natural born philosopher. Matter of fact, my “favorite” quote on Philosophy sums it up – I may be wise simply because I know I don’t know it all. ( Paraphrased of course)
I once did, well, at least I thought I did know it all. I knew a lot back then. No, let me rephrase that, I picked up an retained data, and found uses for it faster than some others. But knowing data is not the same things as having complete knowledge, much less being wise.
Solomon had this problem as well, at least in the early chapters. For his wisdom and knowledge, recognized by all, still led him into discontent, a sense of failure, a sense of meaninglessness.
In the same place are all philosophers who try and hold the position of judge, as Benedict XVI points out clearly. Philosophers must be observers of reality, to live in awe of it. To ponder its depth, not rule over it. Solomon would eventually get there, (tomorrow in my readings perhaps?) to the point where he will define himself by his relationship with God. But even that is a position of suppliance, of faith, of dependence.
The philosopher who approaches reality without the reverence and humility that Benedict recommends ends up in Solomon’s position, a place where we indeed lose our mind, our psyche, and perhaps, our soul.
I am not saying we are to give up on philosophy, on deep thought, on exploring, with great awe, the existence and meaning of life. To search out what is real, what is true. We need to do this, and St. Josemaria gives us the place to start, in realizing the love of God, for us. That is where philosophy and theology should, no must start. In the depth of a relationship with the God who not only defines reality, but creates it. As St. Paul encourages,
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (pp. 166–167). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 1053). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition
May These Words Burn into You Mind, with more intensity than “It’s A Small World” or “Let it Go”
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Thank GOD because he’s good, because his love never quits. 2 Tell the world, Israel, “His love never quits.” 3 And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world, “His love never quits.” 4 And you who fear GOD, join in, “His love never quits.“ 5 Pushed to the wall, I called to GOD; from the wide open spaces, he answered. 6 GOD’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me? Psalm 118:1-6 (MSG)
286 There is nothing better in the world than to be in the grace of God. (1)
If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, there is an experience that burns into your mind as you go on what seems to be a simple, sweet ride. Just reading the title will bring back the melody that for the first 30 seconds seems nice, but after the three days inside the ride, you will never again be the same. (Okay – Google said it is only a 12 minutes ride – but it does seem longer than that, like the length of Gilligan’s 3-hour tour!)
The same intense pain may have echoed through your mind, if you took your 2-10 year old child to see the movie “Frozen”, and proceeded to have every day for the next few years haunted by shrill remembrances of “Let it Go, Let it Go!
I sometimes wonder if the music teams will be tasked for providing the music in Hades
Now that I’ve traumatized you ( we call that preaching the law in all of it strength!) it is time for another message to burn into your minds. The message that the Psalmist repeats so often in scripture,
His love never quits
The Psalms have us repeat the message over and over, His love never quits! (Some translations prefer to translate it “His mercy endures forever!”
I prefer the “His love never quits” but also recognize that we have to understand the definition of love, in this case, the word “cHesed” in Hebrew. It is more than just an infatuation, or a desire to be physically intimate with someone. Matter of fact, it is much more intimate than can be seen just in physical actions. It is a communion of souls, a dance of lives so intertwined that we cannot distinguish who is who anymore, for those who love each other not only fit that well together, they move that well together.
They are melded into each other’s life so completely that it is deeper than “it’s a small world” or “let it go” can burn into our minds.
It’s to receive God’s grace, the gift of His love and mercy, which we find our hearts and souls healed. That we find ourselves so caught up in His presence that we sing His praises even without consciously thinking to sing. To know His mercy and love so well that His love and mercy exudes (I can’t think of a simpler way – except for sweat – and that doesn’t sound right)
Try whistling it’s a small world near someone over the age of 30… they will continue where you left off (warning – they will be upset at you) Or sneak up behind a family at Targe or Walmart and sign softly, “Let it go…”. The impact of those songs will resonate with them, and though they hate it, it will dominate their mind for a while.
The same idea, without the hatred, is true of the gospel! It is true of this statement, “His Loves never quits” You can use “His mercy endures forever” if you want. The more we recognize this truth, the more it burns into our hearts and souls, the more it will affect our lives, our thoughts, our very being. The more comfortable we will be, living in the presence of God, knowing our body is the temple, the place set apart for His body to dwell.
The more we will realize a level of joy and peace… that truly helps us to desire to dwell in His Kingdom.
That’s why we repeat these phrases, over and over, and over.
God’s love NEVER quits….
Lord have mercy upon us, and refine us in the fire of Your love that never quits!
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 755). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What Would Socrates Think of Our Facebook Profiles?
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
15 You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God’s adopted children by which we call out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 If we are his children, we are also God’s heirs. If we share in Christ’s suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him. Romans 8:15-17 (GW)
Do not forget: anyone who does not realize that he is a child of God is unaware of the deepest truth about himself. When he acts, he lacks the dominion and self-mastery we find in those who love our Lord above all else. (1)
“The unexamined life is not worth living” (attributed to Socrates)
One of my favorite authors back in my collegiate days was Peter Kreeft. He had a couple of books that portrayed the average college student, questing after the best things in life. Socrates would show up on campus, and through some strategically asked questions, the person would find their quest changing, and what they would see is that they needed God.
They needed to see reality from His perspective. By asking themselves the questions that Socrates put forth, they realized how twisted life becomes, and how what we desire, isn’t what we desire.
The questions weren’t easy to face; The same questions we need to face, the questions that aren’t easy, either.
Will we face them? Especially as we put our views out on FB as if we were had the knowledge of Einstein, or the Wisdom of Pope Francis, or the power of a president or a king? FB is the place that empowers us to put whatever we want out for the world to read. We might even think that it happens without consequence. We will use the power of FB and Twitter to announce that we are gods? That we have the authority to determine what is right, no matter what God says. That we have the authority to condemn those who are evil, not according to scripture, but because we think they are. We may be the conservative calling those who sin differently to repentance, we might be the liberal condemning those who don’t see things our way, and throwing away our religion. Will we continue to defend our divinity, and deny it to those unlike us?
Or will we, in humble awe, with incredible adoration, realize that God has desired, made possible, and re-created us to be the children of God?
Examining our life, asking the questions that Socrates would ask, guiding us into what is real, what is important, brings us to a shocking reality.
That we aren’t gods, but that we desperately need a God, who cares, who loves, who heals, who guides and empowers us. A God who instructs us how to love, not just by laying down the guidelines, but is the example of that perfect life.
The deepest truth? Yeah – we were sinners, we still struggle incredibly with sin. If we say, we don’t, we lie, and accuse God of being a liar. But the deepest truth is that He will make sinners saints, and is doing so now.
We have to realize that God neither approves of our sin. That like the women caught in adultery, His words are, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Rather Jesus gives us repentance as He reconciles us to Him, helping us to endure, and healing us of the sin’s damage, and restoring us to life.
That is who we are, the children of God, the friends of Christ.
to base our lives on any other identity, is to fail to examine our life, and is to live life as a lie.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 619-621). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Given for YOU (plural!)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
2 How I want to be there! I long to be in the LORD’S Temple. With my whole being I sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrows have built a nest, and the swallows have their own home; they keep their young near your altars, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. 4 How happy are those who live in your Temple, always singing praise to you. Psalm 84:2-4 (TEV)
22. Whenever the Sacrament of Baptism is duly administered as Our Lord instituted it, and is received with the right dispositions, a person is truly incorporated into the crucified and glorified Christ, and reborn to a sharing of the divine life, as the Apostle says: “You were buried together with Him in Baptism, and in Him also rose again-through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”.40
Baptism therefore establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it. But of itself Baptism is only a beginning, an inauguration wholly directed toward the fullness of life in Christ. Baptism, therefore, envisages a complete profession of faith, complete incorporation in the system of salvation such as Christ willed it to be, and finally complete ingrafting in eucharistic communion. (1)
“…for, thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd,” etc.”
I am sitting in my office, the first day “back” from a short vacation with my mother.
I am filled with anticipation for tomorrow, even as I thumb through my mail and lose some of that joy. For some would try and use their “authority” to convince me what i know about my congregation isn’t true with the church at large. That somehow there is a “us and them” in the Church.
You see, there is something special, something sacred, as the people of God are gathered to the altar, and as baptized believers, share in the body and blood of Christ. As I communed at another congregation on the other side of the United States last week, my heart looked forward to being “home”.
That is how I look at the divisions that exist in the Church. There are some that won’t be healed until we are all home, before the Father. He will settle the squabbles that exist between various siblings in the church. But being “home” means celebrating the feast with all who are believe and are baptised. For from God’s perspective, we cannot deny our brothers and our sisters, united in Christ at baptism, are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
Some discuss this in arrogance and pride, rather than sorrow and regret They put in roadblocks to the unity that is the Church in Christ by focusing ont he division, not the hope. They weep, not over the brokenness of the church, but over those who would look to that brokenness being healed in Christ. ( By the way, I am not talking of just one incident, or from just my own denomination)
I love the way Vatican II puts it in the quote above – we are linked together, all who are reborn in Christ. It’s a beginning, a start to seeing us all linked at the altar, the foretaste of the feast to come. Our baptism gives the vision of what should be, what will be in Heaven, and yes, something that should be worked towards here. Not dismissed with a – well that is them, and this is us mentality.
I also love the way the Lutheran confessions, in a section that deals with those (the Roman Catholic hierarchy at that time – but equally applicable to divisive types of today) describe the church as a child would, “the believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”
I read those words and hear the voice of Jesus, “take and eat, this is my Body, given for you” and “take, drink of this all of you, it is my blood of the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sin”
There is our goal, to hear the voice of the Shepherd, to grow in unity until we realize that we are one in Christ. Just as He and the Father are One. What begins in baptism is our goal, our desire, just as it is His. Complete unity, because He has lovingly healed the brokenness, giving us new life.
It is that unity in Christ, the miraculous unity of baptism in Christ, that gives me joy. I look forward to sharing in that unity tomorrow, as people gather here, as they hear of the peace promised and given by the Lamb of God, as they commune together with God. As we deal with division, as we deal with brokenness and separation, may we never forget that His feast is what we were re-born to share.
His love, His unity, trusting in Him and His work.
Lord, Have mercy on us all.
(1) Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
(2) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 614). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Who Am I? Who are You?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Romans 11:36 (NLT)
Your boat—your talents, your hopes, your achievements—is worth nothing whatsoever unless you leave it in Christ’s hands, allowing him the freedom to come aboard. Make sure you don’t turn it into an idol. In your boat by yourself, if you try to do without the Master, you are—supernaturally speaking—making straight for shipwreck. Only if you allow, and seek, his presence and captaincy will you be safe from the storms and setbacks of life. Place everything in God’s hands. Let your thoughts, the brave adventures you have imagined, your lofty human ambitions, your noble loves, pass through the heart of Christ. Otherwise, sooner or later, they will all sink to the bottom together with your selfishness. (1)
It is amazing how much our identity is wrapped up in things. Who we are is wrapped up in what we are able to do far more than we think. Far more than is good.
You don’t believe this, lose your driver’s license on a trip!! You can’t rent a car, you have trouble checking into your hotel ( lucky I am staying with someone), There will be a myriad of things that will become impossible, others that just become difficult.. Take away the mask that we thought was our identity, and we think we lost our identity. We get stressed ad anxious; we try to come up with a million logical options for replacing what was lost.
Not the driver’s license, or the tablet, or the home.
Our identity. Or what we perceive our identity to be.
WE have to remember that our identity is found, not in things, but in Christ. For if we died with Him and have risen in Him, then He is our identity.
St Josemaria understood this, as his early ministry was spent in a war-torn state, where he had to hide his priesthood from those where killing priests, as he left his beloved homeland. The lesson is not one easily learned, but it is one we need to be reminded of daily.
Before I am Pastor, before I am Dt’, before I am Kay’s husband, William’s daddy, before I am a son. Before I am a driver and resident in the state of California.
I am His.
That’s enough to get me through this life.
It will be enough for you as well.
AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 540-545). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Our Need for Prayer
Devotional Thought of the Day:
3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? Hebrews 2:3 (NLT)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
The more you suffer, the more you are tempted the more you need to pray; prayer now alone can strengthen you with help and consolation. Let not pain and fierce temptation paralyze you prayer. The devil does all he can to prevent you from praying at these times. But rather than give into weak human nature which absorbs the soul in its paid so that it sees nothing else for the time, turn your eyes to our Lord and speak to Him standing so near. He is with you, looking on you lovingly, listening for your words. He tells you to speak, that He is there to hear you, that He loves you and you have not a word to say to Him, no look to give Him. What ingratitude! Look at Him speak to Him without ceasing, The deeper your agony, the deeper you must bury yourself in the Heart of your Beloved, and cling to His side with ceaseless prayer! (1)
I have to admit, while I don’t spend the time i would like, perhaps as much time I really need in prayer, the words in blue resonate with me.
I know them true, and it is why I can desire to spend more time, more hours, more days in prayer.
You may ask why I put the first reading there, about ignoring salvation. Simply put, because salvation isn’t just about the event, where God cleanses us from sin, washing us clean as He promises in our baptism, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh and giving us His Spirit, (see Ezekiel 36:25). Salvation is rescuing us from and delivering us to something that is incredible.
As we are saved we become something. We become part of the people of God, daughters and sons of God, adopted and marked as His children, we enter into a entirely different relationship with God, one where He promises to never forsake us, never abandon us, never to stop working in our lives. We find life, a life lived in fellowship, in community, in communion with God.
And that is what we should never neglect, that is what we need to grow in, the awareness that the Lord is with you. (and yes, thank you – also with me). We need to learn to depend up this, not as a fact, but as reality. He is with us, ready to listen, ready to comfort, ready to heal, ready to reach out into this broken world.
Prayer then becomes the way of life, the very meaning of our salvation. Walking with God. Please re-read the second scripture passage and the italicized blue above, there is our hope. our peace, our comfort, our very ability to live.
In the past couple of weeks, many people I know have encountered death of their loved ones. I’ve talked to others, who have lost jobs, or are afraid of losing a relationship. Just knowing this is exhausting, tiring, painful, the feeling of emptiness and loneliness I observe is… crushing. For those directly involved, the devotional writer gets it right. The sorrow and grief consumes us. Nothing else can matter in that moment.
Until God breaks through, until He reminds us that He is here. There is a strong correlation between how quickly we hear His voice in those moments, and the time we spend walking with Him at other times. Even if we feel that there aren’t the other times. Yet if we neglect this, if we take Him for granted, it may take a longer time to find Him, when only His comfort is the answer. Don’t neglect Him, don’t
Then we can find rest and peace, dwelling in His love.
So pray my friends, realize God walks with you, and share with Him everything… and spend some time in stillness, and in quiet, and know He is God. AMEN!
(1) from Celtic Daily Prayer: Finian Reading for April 10th.
The Incredible Awe and Joy found in the Cross of Christ
Devotional Thought of the Day:
5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and 6 my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you— even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. 7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. 8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. Psalm 42:5-8 (NLT)
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:2 (NLT)
15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15 (NLT)
I sit here in my office, as prayer requests continue to role in. There are so many people out there who are hurting, grieving, struggling. There are families, torn apart, not just by the loss of a loved one, but by the turmoil that was anticipated, the turmoil there just below the boiling point,
I am sad, discouraged, grieving with those who grieve. Yesterday was hard, as we prepared for our serving, celebrating Christ’s last supper, the night when thoughts of death oppressed Him, our Lord. Oppressed Him as He looked upon the disciples, who hadn’t learned the lessons of serving yet. They argued about who would be first in the Kingdom. (after Jesus of course!) Oppressed as He considered Judas, who would betray Him with a kiss, and Peter, who would betray him not once, but three times. Considering the agony of the garden, where his closest friends couldn’t pray with Him one hour, even as many refuse to do so today. Considering that pain adds to the pain I am enduring, as tears come too often, as I consider the trauma of friends, the pains, the battles, the grief.
it seems ironic that this day, the day when He would die, when we celebrate His death, I would find joy and relief.
I came across the verses above, these incredible words of promise. That God’s love would pour over us like the constant swell of the ocean’s waves. That the days of dealing with our sin, and the brokenness that it thrusts upon us are over. Christ has been victorious, over my sin, over the bondage of guilt and shame that Satan used to oppress us.
It will be nearly 48 hours before this sinks in, and I like that. I need to spend some time in the awe of Christ dying for me. You should as well.
He died for us. Those nails that physically held Him to the cross didn’t bind Him there as strongly as the love that drove Him there… and again the words of Hebrews comes blaring back into my ears….
For the JOY set before Him!
The Joy we know, that we need to know, even as we feel discouraged, tired, betrayed; as we know grief, and pain,
and LOVE.
May you find rest and joy in this moment of contemplating His death, the death He embraced for you. AMEN!
Love Includes Gently Correcting Each Other
Devotional Thought of the Day:
2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. Hebrews 5:2 (NLT)
10 Never reprimand anyone while you feel provoked over a fault that has been committed. Wait until the next day, or even longer. Then make your remonstrance calmly and with a purified intention. You’ll gain more with an affectionate word than you ever would from three hours of quarreling. Control your temper. (1)
It is one of the most challenging parts of being a pastor or a parent, or a good friend.
It takes not only courage, but a level of love for the other person, that embraces the discomfort and the threat of rejection.
Still it is essential, it is necessary, and it can be done with gentleness and compassion. It must be done.
We have to learn to correct each other, and as the priesthood of all believers. We can’t afford not to be there for each other.
But this correcting has to be done as Hebrews describes the high priest doing it, with gentleness! Not in anger, not as a reaction to the error. But mourning over it, crying out to God in prayer for the wisdom to communicate the correction completely.
Gentleness doesn’t mean we become a pushover. The term in Greek there means a measured or precise amount of compassion. With the coolness and calmness that doesn’t come in the middle of a situation. But to take a step back, look at the cross, and remember that God desires that the other person to come to repentance. God wants them to be transformed, to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus..
That has to be the motivation for the correction. To help them, to break down the walls, and seem them benefit from the correction.
It will be challenging, they might reject you for a time, they might get angry, even if you do it as precisely as Christ woul have. Remember, they nailed Him to the cross. And that worked out all right, for that measure of compassion is so evident to see.
Walking this way through life will be a blessing to you as well. For to correct others and to allow them to correct you, takes great faith. We have to trust in God the Father to at His promises. Which means we have to walk with Him, constantly talking and listening to Him! And that is a wonderful place to be!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 185-187). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
