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Why Faith Is More Than Just What We Believe…..
devotional thought of the day:
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:26-28 (NLT)
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT)
127 The test, I don’t deny it, proves to be very hard: you have to go uphill, “against the grain”. What is my advice? That you must say: Omnia in bonum, everything that happens, “everything that happens to me”, is for my own good… Therefore do accept what seems so hard to you, as a sweet and pleasant reality. (1)
We hear the passages, the plea that is the question,
“do you believe in Jesus?”
We nod our head, maybe even say a strong, gut level yes. We proceed to talk about some aspect of doctrine, or some moment in the past where our “faith” became alive and meaningful. We know we are going to heaven, (aren’t we?) but we struggle to understand what that really means.
We believe, which I think too often we define as “we know”. We reinforce that when we talk of defending the faith as arguing about doctrine, or some theological principle or proof, such as the proof for the existence of God. Or even our “new believer’s class, which can appropriately cover a catechism, but is all question and answers, including some interesting tangents. Such knowledge is necessary and beneficial, but it is not what our faith is, it is simply a description of it.
Faith is a level of trust, a level of dependance on God. It is knowing that He will indeed keep His promises, the promises He has actually made to you and others who know Him.
It is knowing that all things will work together for good. All things, yeah, even when that moment occurs when you are revealed to be broken to the entire world. Yes, even those times you struggled with the brokenness of the world, and the inability of anyone to deal with it. As St. Josemaria encourages us, we accept what happens, not liking it, but confident in God will prove Himself again worthy of your trust, caring for you, healing you, holding you.
Faith is an intimate relationship with God, on His terms, based in His love, by His standards. It’s a non-negotiable relationship, what we call a religion. After all, He is the One who created us, the One who is pure wisdom, pure love, pure reality, pure grace. A grace, a charism, a gift of life that is beyond anything we can imagine.
The odd thing is, we find ourselves closest to comprehending it, not during mountaintop experiences, but in the midst of our brokenness. In is in the depth our sorrow, our anxiety, our grief that the light of the Holy Spirit comes in the brightest. It is the midst of those times we pray, and we depend, and trust, and find Him holding onto us.
Maybe you are there, in the middle of brokenness, in despair and need to know that God loves you. I assure you that He does. That He will pick you up, as He has picked me up. As He continues to minister to us all.
I’ll leave you with this, a video of Rich Mullins, whose brokenness…is as evident as his dependance, his trust, his faith in God
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 720-724). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
God, please turns their hearts.. not to me, but to You!
Devotional Thought of the Day
1 John 4:11-12 (NLT) Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
But after the Holy Spirit has performed and accomplished this and the will of man has been changed and renewed solely by God’s power and activity, man’s new will becomes an instrument and means of God the Holy Spirit, so that man not only lays hold on grace but also cooperates with the Holy Spirit in the works that follow.
But the real heart of Christianity is, and will always be, love of neighbor. For, in very fact, each individual is infinitely loved by God and is of infinite value. Christ says to each of us the words so feelingly formulated by Pascal: “In my mortal agony, I thought of you. I shed these drops of blood for you.
We all have people that seem to cause pain in our lives. Often we label the pains in the neck, or compare them unfavorably to hemorrhoids. Some of us have people that cause a more negative response, people who threaten us, who we label adversaries, or perhaps even enemies.
We may not even know them, they may be politicians of the opposing view, or someone who has their 15 minutes of fame for something that causes anger to well up in us. We may even label them names – either in discussion on FB or over lunch. Maybe we even can keep those names in our minds, But we still think of them as jerks, the personification of evil or simply call them assholes. You might, having read the last word of the prior sentence be shocked I use it, or you might be saying, “But pastor, they really are!”
Or you may feel guilt, worrying about why you can’t get over the feelings of frustration, anger, pain, hurt, and resentment.
Read the passage again that is in red above. Can we do this? Can we love each other, knowing that “other” has the same definition the lawyer received when he heard the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This ability to love them is the work that the Lutheran Confessions (in green) speak of, where the Holy Spirit makes our lives and instrument, and a means of the Holy Spirit’s work. It is the heart of Christianity that then Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of, to realize that for each one of us, every human being on earth, Jesus died, willing let his blood be spilled for you, and for them.
In an old hymnal (TLH), as part of the prayer of God’s people we found a very proper and timely prayer. It said something like this. “Father, turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries to you.”
This is where our heart begins to change, as we see their need, (and ours) to be reconciled to God. For that is the answer to everything. Without the blood of Christ, spilled to heal us all from the damage of sin, there is no hope to come together in peace. In Christ, the peace is not just compromise, but it becomes community, it becomes love deeper than any other.
It is in Christ, seeing Christ’s love for them, which we begin to be able to love them as well. That love may end up pleading with them, not to deal favorably with us, but that which is more important – their reconciliation with God. That becomes our goal; it becomes what we pray for, what we begin to do, to live for, even as God does…
And as we see the glory of God, as we worship Him, the glory of the Holy Spirit works through us… and they know they are loved.
As do we.
”Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 472). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
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. 290). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Reforming and Revitalizing the Church, and the Soul
Reforming and Revitalizing the Church, and the Soul
2 Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect. Romans 12:2 (TEV)
Hence, true “reform” does not mean to take great pains to erect new facades (contrary to what certain ecclesiologies think). Real “reform” is to strive to let what is ours disappear as much as possible so what belongs to Christ may become more visible. It is a truth well known to the saints. Saints, in fact, reformed the Church in depth, not by working up plans for new structures, but by reforming themselves. What the Church needs in order to respond to the needs of man in every age is holiness, not management.[1]
760 Here is a thought that brings peace and that the Holy Spirit provides ready-made for those who seek the will of God: Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deerit—“The Lord rules me, and I shall want nothing.” What can upset a soul who sincerely repeats these words?
2 Good works follow such faith, renewal, and forgiveness. Whatever is still sinful or imperfect in these works will not be reckoned as sin or defect for the sake of the same Christ. The whole man, in respect both of his person and of his works, shall be accounted and shall be righteous and holy through the pure grace and mercy which have been poured out upon us so abundantly in Christ.
3 Accordingly we cannot boast of the great merit in our works if they are considered apart from God’s grace and mercy, but, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31). That is to say, all is well if we boast that we have a gracious God. To this we must add that if good works do not follow, our faith is false and not true.[2]
It is not a day that goes by that I don’t receive some offer from someone to teach my church how to come alive. As well as some advice on what that looks life. Some say you will see unprecedented growth, others say that you will become more like the church in the past, others say they guarantee the church will give more. Some even suggest that the church will be more multi-cultural or multi-ethnic. All tis two can be yours with a complete set of spiritual Ginsu knives (helpful for circumcising the heart of course) Heck, there are other that talk about bein the cause-driven church. If your church promotes the right cause, if it is involved in feeding the hungry, helping people choose life,, if it is involved in missions, and everything will be perfect. There are even missions societies, and non-profit ministries all geared to helping you manage your church.
Yet we know better than this, we know that individual renewal doesn’t come from some slick portfolio, or some manaed duplication of what worked somewhere else. Even Pope Ratzinger noted that the plans of some in church leadership is needed, for such are nothing but facades. It doesn’t matter whether the façade is new, or old.
Renewal happens as we see the transformation that happens when we trust in God’s work renewing us. It happenns as mercy flows over us, as the Spirit provides us with peace. As we descrease and Christ increases in us, Paul says something similar when he says it is not I that lives, but Christ that lives in me. And as individuals in the church grow spiritually, as they are renewed, as they are conformed to the image of Christ, it is the church that is renewed as well. We sacifice all that we are, and find out who we really and truly are.
It is as we hear the promises sin the gospel and in the proises made in the sacraments. Promises we need to know because God’s law, shows us how broken we are, how in need we are of such healing.
Renewal comes from abiding in Christ, walking with God, knowing, simply put that He is with you always, even to the edge of the age.
[1] 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. 241). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1769-1771). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edi
[2] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 315). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
The Only Thing That Matters in the End…. His Love NEVER fails
Devotional Thought of the Day
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NLT)
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 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. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Almost all men are infected with the disease of wanting to acquire useless knowledge, but one thing alone is sufficient: the knowledge of the love of Christ.57[i]
You are standing at the shoreline at the ocean. The waves occasionally wash over your feet, the salt water foaming around them. But you can’t stand in one place all too long. For the water and sand, and your own weight work against you standing in place. The sand shifts, your heels and toes sink in, and soon you find yourself off balance.
There is an old hymn about that, On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, and a contemporary version of it called Cornerstone.
Despite the warning in 1 Corinthians 8, I wonder if the church treasures knowledge above love at times. Do we treasure the theologians and their systems that amaze us than the simplicity of hearing the words of Scripture testifying to God’s unending love? Do we treasure those that reveal the deep theological knowledge of theologians like Augustine and Chemnitz, or those who reveal the secrets of the end times, or the errors of all other theologies and the superiority of their own?
When we minimize our faith to knowledge, when that is what we treasure, then we have to be careful as the sands shift under our feet. For the Kingdom of God is beyond any man’s ability to understand, never mind explain. We are all struggling, and we can have the right knowledge, and do all the right things, and still be worthless, spending our days trying to find the next moment of illumination, the next winning argument, the next solid theological fact that makes us that much more…
Vain.
Not because the fact is wrong, but because we put our roots, our trust, into the wrong thing.
We need something permanent, more stable; that doesn’t swing like a pendulum, or ebb and flow like the tide that erodes where we stand.
We need our roots to go deep into the love of God. For it never fails. It is our constant, our basis.
For when we talk of love not failing, we aren’t talking about a grade for a semester, We are talking about failing as in fading, as in weakening, as in failing to support and be stable. It doesn’t fail like the sand underneath our feet at the beach. It is far greater in every dimension than we can ever understand.
But it is something we experience, that we can know with our hearts far more than our tongues can explain. It is the constant in our life, as the God who is defined as love takes up resident within us. Never will His love abandon or forsake us. Never will it weaken or fade, never will we be separated from it. His love will always support us and it can and will flow through us to others.
Love simply is..
Because God is love.. and that love is revealed to us daily…
May we remember that His love is where our roots take hold, our foundation, our basis of life and may remember that because it will never fail.
57 Quoted by A. Mitchell Hunter, The Teaching of Calvin: A Modern Interpretation, 2d ed. (London: James Clarke, 1950), p. 82. But Hunter adds that Calvin “did not burn his classics; nor did he cease to peruse them” (pp. 82–83). Hunter’s quotation is from Comm. Eph. 3:19 (C.O. 51:188).
[i] Gerrish, B. A. (2004). The old Protestantism and the new: essays on the Reformation heritage (p. 61). London; New York: T&T Clark.
Yes, “she” would be welcome at my church, for all are…
Devotional Thought of the Day
19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 (NLT)
32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” John 12:32 (NLT)
. 21 I will pardon my people’s crimes, which I have not yet pardoned; and I, the LORD, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people.” Joel 3:21 (NLT)
There is a lady who’s name, face and voice have been plastered all over the internet lately.
She has been compared to Nazi doctors; she has been termed a devil, she has been called evil, her sin has been paraded all over the world.
And she is welcome to come to my church. She is welcome to come and know she is safe. Her sin will not be the only focus of the sermon and the message. People will welcome her, we might even rejoice that she has come! We want her to come to Concordia, and hear a message of hope, a message of love, a message of mercy, that all of us desperately need to hear. Not just her, not just that one sin either a mercy that covers every sin, for He died to forgive every sin.
Some may hear this in disbelief. You don’t mean the doctor from Planned Parenthood. The one who was involved in the selling of body parts? You surely wouldn’t welcome her into your church? Don’t you realize how guilty she is?
Yes, I do, Christ didn’t come to save the good people. He came to save sinners, people broken by guilt and shame, He came to save her. He came to save you and I. he came to save every one of us that has chosen evil over good at some time in our lives. Jesus came so we could be granted repentance and trust in Him, and given hope. This lady needs to know that God is still willing to reach out to her! He not only wants, He desires to bring her back to Him! Jesus died to make her reconciliation to the Father possible, as He has for every sinner.
You and I included.
For this is what the church does, it reveals hope to the sinner. It is i the church’s mission. We exist to give sinners hope. We exist to bring them into the Father’s presence. We exist to see everyone be cleansed of all sin and welcomed into the family of God.
And if God can do that for me, he can surely do it for her. For she is not a worse sinner than I am. Or for that matter Paul the Apostle who said,
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. 15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NLT)
That is how powerful the mercy of God is. He desires that she would know His love and mercy. And fellow sinner, we need to be so in awe of God’s love for her, that we don’t get in her way, that we don’t block her way to the Father.
He can work with her, she needs to know that, as does every other sinner we know. That Jesus has done this for us, we who are of all sinners the foremost, should give them hope.
I pray she comes into one of our churches this weekend, along with every other person who needs hope. And I pray she find it.
For that is God’s desire… and it should be ours
Lord have mercy on us all!
Sharing the Hope You have in Christ Jesus: Doing God’s work
Devotional Thought of the Day
27 “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:27-30 (NLT)
658 If things go well, let’s rejoice, blessing God, who makes them prosper. And if they go wrong? Let’s rejoice, blessing God, who allows us to share the sweetness of his cross.
We are too much like the laborers of the first hour in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1–16). Once they discovered that they could have earned their day’s pay of one denarius in a much easier way, they could not understand why they had had to labor the whole day. But what a strange attitude it is to find the duties of our Christian life unrewarding just because the denarius of salvation can be gained without them! It would seem that we—like the workers of the first hour—want to be paid not only with our own salvation, but more particularly with others’ lack of salvation. That is at once very human and profoundly un-Christian.Escriva,
A recent response to a blog indicated that I was doing something wrong, by trying to show that sharing one’s faith, doing the work revealing the love and mercy of Christ, was wrong. The writer thought I was unjustly burdening people, by using the law to motivate people.
Except that in a relationship with God, sharing the good news of His mercy, the love He wants everyone to know, isn’t hard, or burdensome. It is if we condemn people for not doing it, but it isn’t if we free them to be able to share the greatest gift they have ever been given.
Like Herod talking to John the Baptist, I like and dislike hearing the words of Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict). They ring very true – why are we jealous of those who find a relationship with God at the last minute? Are we upset that we had to work harder alongside our master?
I’ve often explained it this way. Imagine some billionaire is down at the local bank, handing out million dollar checks to whoever shakes his hand. You get yours, deposit it. What do you do? Do you simply go home, or go to the local BMW dealer? Or do you get out your cell phone and call a few friends? Do you consider it work, do you consider it burdensome to do so? No, you do it because you know people who could use some cash, and you care about them.
It’s the same thing with the good news that God loves you. Yeah – you. He loves you so much to carefully strip away everything that hinders you, all the sin, all the resentment from being sinned against, all the crap in your life. Is that worth more than a million dollars? If we realize it is, then shouldn’t we joyfully share it with those who are hindered and broken by sin?
That is what being yoked to Christ is about in this life. It’s about doing the Father’s will, helping fulfill His desire that all would come to the transformation that is true repentance. Serving others, ministering to their needs, helping them find Jesus, and the hope He gives them in life. Some have the vocation of doing this as shepherds of God’s people. But if they are doing it while they are shepherding, so the church is doing it alongside them. Which is why the burden is easy. We aren’t alone. We bear this with all the church, and with the Lord of Life, the Holy Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
It is bearing our crosses, it is abiding in Christ. When we see people come to know Him, to receive His mercy, His forgiveness, His love, it is an incredibly joy filled experience. When the road gets a little rough, when thins don’t work as we planned, when we are rejected or when we are oppressed, we still are sharing His cross, His yoke, and dwelling in His presence, the joy remains.
It is the only work, the only vocation I know of, where we beg people to join with us, as we rest in peace. His peace.
Enjoy it!
Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1538-1539). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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. 217–218). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Has the Church Forgotten the only Fact it needs to focus on?
devotional thought fo the day
“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20b (NLT)
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Mt 1:23
“For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Mt 18:20
“Answer: A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol.
If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.” (1)
2. In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1:15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14–15) and lives among them , so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. (2)
584 Stir up the fire of your faith! Christ is not a figure of the past. He is not a memory lost in history. He lives! Iesus Christus heri et hodie: ipse et in saecula! As Saint Paul says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today—yes, and forever!” (3)
We cannot probe more deeply into the roots of the world in order to change it than by resting on the Heart of God, thus making it possible to call upon the living Ground and Power that supports everything and is alone capable of restoring all things (4)
When something keeps showing up in my morning devotions, I figure it must be something I need to share with those who read my blog. Actually, I don’t want to admit the real reason, and writing the blog helps me, because I write what I need to hear/read. It is God’s way of seeing if there is anything functioning in my brain, trying to get me to understand the most critical fact the church needs to remember. The critical fact I need to remember.
To know that not only God is, not only does He love us, but that He is with us. He has designed us to live with Him, describing us as being in Christ, abiding in Christ, the Holy Spirit residing with us. Over and over and over. That is why we can trust in Him because He is present because we have a relationship with Him, a relationship more intimate, more complete than any other relationship we have.
It all begins and ends with that relationship.
Every doctrine focuses on it, from Justification that makes it possible. Sanctification, the doctrine of being set apart, to that relationship. The sacraments, by which the reality of the relationship is communicated. Scripture, the record of the promises God makes to us, and a record of how He faithfully keeps those promises. Faith, the trust that becomes the natural expression of the relationship.
This is where we need to focus; it is this fact that is the reason for evangelism. It isn’t about transforming behavior (though that may happen), it isn’t worry about whether the world reflects what God teaches us is good and holy behavior. (We struggle with it, why do we expect them not to?)
This is what our religion is all about, walking with God. Everything else in Christianity, in our religion brings us to know this.
It is what matters in the end, and it is what gets us through this day.
I need to be reminded of this daily, so I expect that you will hear of it often.
The Lord is with you!
1. Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 365). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
2. Catholic Church. (2011). Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei Verbum. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana
3. Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1395-1397). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
4. 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. 211). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
The Method That Works When Dealing With Evil…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted. 2 But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness. 3 I was looking the other way, looking up to the people 4 At the top, envying the wicked who have it made, 5 Who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world. 6 Pretentious with arrogance, they wear the latest fashions in violence, 7 Pampered and overfed, decked out in silk bows of silliness. 8 They jeer, using words to kill; they bully their way with words. 9 They’re full of hot air, loudmouths disturbing the peace. 10 People actually listen to them—can you believe it? Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.
11 What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch? Nobody’s tending the store. 12 The wicked get by with everything; they have it made, piling up riches 13 I’ve been stupid to play by the rules; what has it gotten me? 14 A long run of bad luck, that’s what— a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.
5 If I’d have given in and talked like this, I would have betrayed your dear children. 16 Still, when I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache... 17 Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture: 18 The slippery road you’ve put them on, with a final crash in a ditch of delusions. 19 In the blink of an eye, disaster! A blind curve in the dark, and—nightmare! 20 We wake up and rub our eyes… . Nothing. There’s nothing to them. And there never was. 21 When I was beleaguered and bitter, totally consumed by envy, 22 I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox in your very presence. 23 I’m still in your presence, but you’ve taken my hand. 24 You wisely and tenderly lead me, and then you bless me. 25 You’re all I want in heaven! You’re all I want on earth! 26 When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, GOD is rock-firm and faithful. 27 Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again. 28 But I’m in the very presence of God— oh, how refreshing it is! I’ve made Lord GOD my home. God, I’m telling the world what you do! Psalm 73:1-28 (MSG)
212 That Christ you see is not Jesus. At best it is only the pitiful image that your blurred eyes are able to form … Purify yourself. Make your sight cleaner with humility and penance. Then the pure light of love will not fail you. And you will have perfect vision. The image you see will really be his: Jesus himself. (1)
Evil.
We encounter it daily.
You see it as the acts of ISIS are discussed, we hear that some think that police are evil, or politicians, or maybe someone close to you. Someone who has betrayed you, or disappointed you. We wonder why there can’t be anything done against evil, whether it is some physical action that stops their work, or a physical judgment in which we can all rejoice.
Psalm 73 looks at this issue, why those who are evil can appear to be successful, we might even dare use the word blessed. But the psalmist can’t even bring himself to ask publicly that question. To do so would betray the people he is set aside to lead in worship and praise of God. But this existence of evil, is too much, and that they succeed, and are not punished, there is no logic to this. There is only questioning, and even that we feel seems to be wrong. For to question, does that mean we don’t trust God?
The answer is not found in words, they fail.
It is found in the sanctuary, the Holy Place, the temple of God. It is found as we realize the presence of God in our lives, in the comfort His presence brings.
That is why I am so completely overwhelmed when we commune, as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. There is something that is not only humbling, as the Psalmist mentions, but healing as well, Comforting, Assuring, building our confidence in a way that goes beyond words. God, giving Himself, to rid us not only of the evil in the world, but the evil in our lives.
His promise, His action, His death on the cross – giving His life, for us. Letting His blood be poured out, so the nations could be reconciled.
As St. Josemaria says, it is then, our vision cleared by seeing Christ, humble and at peace, we can turn evil over to God. We know His protection, His peace.
We can even find rest, knowing that He is Lord, and Savior, and the One who loves us.
So if you have to deal with evil, at whatever level. Look to Christ – let Him cleanse you.
He will.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 604-607). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
“OH NO!” HE CRIED, “I SCREWED UP, AND GOD WILL GET ME FOR THIS!”
Devotional Thought of the Day:
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 (NLT)
168 “It made me laugh to hear you speak of the ‘account’ our Lord will demand of you. No, for you He will not be a judge—in the harsh sense of the word. He will simply be Jesus.” These words, written by a holy bishop, have consoled more than one troubled heart and could very well console yours. (1)
A young man approached me today, concerned about a sin. I won’t go into details, but the bottom line was that he was afraid of being judged for it. He felt that if he died tonight, God was going to use the law and crush him for this sin.
We’ve all been there when some sin we’ve committed, whether this morning or 40 years ago is used to torment us, to single us out to face the wrath of God. The young man isn’t alone, I’ve been there, you possibly have as well. The number of people I have had in my office, or talking over lunch, or texting me at midnight to find out that they haven’t lost their salvation is beyond count.
Yes, there is the other side of the coin as well, those who think they sin isn’t big enough to merit the firing and pain of hell, and those people, who say they believe in Jesus, but dismiss the concept of hell, not because of scripture, but because of how they want to see God.
Both extremes, the idea that a sin won’t send you to hell, and that a sin is unforgivable, and will result in your eternal death, are misplaced.
God is just, and God is merciful. To the lady caught in adultery, His words are full of grace, so revealing the desire of God to restore us as His children, and forgiving our sin, all our sin is part of that restoration. We need to be cleansed of it all; we need to be proclaimed forgiven, that we stand with the adultress, uncondemned.
Knowing this should cause us to run for absolution, to run to him counting on the promise that He will cleanse us of all unrighteousness. To run to those whom He has entrusted to forgive and bind sins and go – this – I need this one forgiven! I need them all forgiven. And to rejoice, to celebrate when you hear once again that He forgives your sins and cleanses you of all unrighteousness!
That is what people need to hear, so they never doubt the love of God, so they don’t have to try and justify or minimize their sin.
Sin is what it is, and there is hope for sinners. Found in the death of Christ, for those sins, in His burial (see Romans 6) and in His glorious resurrection. For the power of that resurrection will raise us as well. Clean, holy, alive in Christ Jesus.
This is why we have hope… because of His love.
AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 520-522). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Godly Paradox: The Blessing of a Angry, Jealous God
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 GOD, you smiled on your good earth! You brought good times back to Jacob! 2 You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people, you put their sins far out of sight. 3 You took back your sin-provoked threats, you cooled your hot, righteous anger. 4 Help us again, God of our help; don’t hold a grudge against us forever. 5 You aren’t going to keep this up, are you? Scowling and angry, year after year? 6 Why not help us make a fresh start—a resurrection life? Then your people will laugh and sing! 7 Show us how much you love us, GOD! Give us the salvation we need! 8 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say. GOD’s about to pronounce his people well, The holy people he loves so much, so they’ll never again live like fools. Psalm 85:1-8 (MSG)
1 I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. 3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 (NLT)
We find in scripture many mysteries, many things that we can know, but never quite understand. There are also things that we label paradox, the things we can understand, yet seem, not quite right, perhaps a little unbelievable.
The concept of a jealous God fits that last category, and if we don’t work through it, we will never understand His anger, and why He threatens and pours out His wrath.
If we do understand why God is a jealous God, if we understand why He is angry, there is a wonderful blessing to be known. A simple blessing.
Here it is:
You don’t get jealous, you don’t get angry when a relationship is stepped all over, or worse, ignored, unless you care, and care deeply.
God’s anger, God’s jealousy is proof of how much He loves us, how much He cares, how he longs to show us His mercy and love.
But this seems paradoxical at first. So take a moment, stop, breath a few times and think it through,
We like the fact that God is patient with us, but does patience have a cost? Of course it does. It means that God is willing to wait until we remember He is there, until we come to our senses, until the Holy Spirit’s work is done.
We like the fact that God is willing to go to extremes to bring us back to Him. Searching for us, (even though He knows where we are), calling to us; sending us messengers prophets and evangelists, and shepherds to rescue us and guide us,
Foreknowledge doesn’t turn God into some kind of metaphysical robot, It doesn’t take away the pain of the times we rebel, of the times we walk away, the times we choose to sin rather then revel in His love and care. While He knows the outcome, that doesn’t relieve the sorrow He knows as we spend time away from Him, as we spend time like the prodigal, dirty and muddy and hungry for something that will sustain us.
God wants this intimate relationship with us, He wants to care for us, to be our God, we His beloved children.
When stuff gets in the way of this relationship, when we create other things that would take His place, that we trust in, that we place our hopes in, He would destroy them. And someday He will. Yet for those who trust in Him, the wrather and anger that we deserve, that we are owed. God dealt with that too, and poured out all His anger and wrath, because He desires this, and was jealous of how we spend our time and energy, by nailing Jesus to the cross.
In doing so, we can be restored, the jealousy fades and we become what He desires more than anything…. HIs family.
Rejoice that we are in the hands of an angry God….. and realize that His desire for us is a blessed thing!
