The Sham of Shame

S - 1 Peter 2:4-6 (NIV): "As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.""

O - Jesus is the ultimate, primary and eternal living Stone … the rock or foundation upon which everything exists seen and unseen.  He is building, working and shaping all things into the purpose which cannot fail.  We are assigned to come to him and to trust him in all things seen and unseen.  The one who does this (comes and trusts) will never be put to shame.

A - Shame is an intimidating threat in things seen and unseen.  Its ubiquitous malevolence wants to shape, direct and warp us/me in all things seen and unseen.  God and his kingdom are NOT shame based.  The devil and his are.  In this long obedience we are engaged, this journey which has held so many twists and turns of challenge and rejection, my assignment hasn't changed and neither has the Lord or his relentless love and indefatigable labor … working everything for good.  Today I am not responsible to make something happen or to find a way to accomplish what I think is best.  I am responsible to come near and to trust (fierce personal loyalty). The one, the anyone, who does this, cannot be put to shame.  Jesus, who is light, love, life, truth, peace, power and THE living Stone, dispels the dark and ominous cloud of shame and says don't be afraid merely believe.

P - Living God,

Thank you for calling us to yourself, to trust and live out loud according to love … not that we loved you but that you loved and love us!  Jesus, thank you for being the true light that dispels the darkness of shame and disables its life altering and life maiming warp.  Thank you for being the way, making the way and staying with us in the way of being shaped into your awesome image … unto shared family likeness and purposes of the Kingdom that never ends.  I am coming to you, trusting and waiting.  I do love you back.  I am so very glad to be near you.

ALL my love,

Steve

There Really is a Ton We Don't Know

S - Job 3:23-26 (NLT): "Why is life given to those with no future, those destined by God to live in distress? I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes."

O - Job chapter three records the first words spoken by Job after he and his friends sit in silence for seven straight days.  Job, under the weight of the mystery and misery of his condition, begins with why was I born and why did I have to live to see this day?  Would I not have been better off to be stillborn?  He curses the day he was born.  He observes the universal nature of death and sees it as a welcome relief.  22 verses will be expressed before he mentions God and then presents his current status and self-evaluation. His reference to God includes God's will as it works out in the destiny of humans and he sees his existence as futile and his future as only pain and darkness.  While Job cannot explain his current condition in terms of why or for what purpose, neither can he predict his outcome.  The reason?  God and his will on earth.  Job feared the things which came upon him. Had he lived in stalwart refutation of these fears he would have been unable to prevent them. Equally, he cannot make God come and change it all but neither can he prevent him from so doing.  He cannot understand nor predict his future any more than he could have prevented or explained his current situation. Our lives (all human lives are always more than just cause and effect. Jesus' life proves this and intensely affirms the opposite. God is not only purposeful in everything he causes and in everything he allows … he working everything for the good of those who love him back and stay called according to his purpose. 

A - I am so very thankful for all the things the Lord has never made me do, or have to live through … each day has enough trouble of its own and so do I. I do not judge nor disregard Job and his words and feelings.  I do turn into the Lord Jesus and his character, brilliance and self-revelation by his written voice, speaking voice and his very real life on this earth. I am not better than Job.  I am not smarter or more spiritual.  I am leaning into Jesus and relying on him, the Father and the Spirit to make my way plain in this day, week and season.  I don't know all about the things Job is wondering.  I do know Jesus and he reminds us all (John 16:33) "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." 

P - Lord who is peace,

I praise you for the beginning of this day.  Lord, let your peace come into me, your life come into me, your light come into me, your very self … that I may love you back, make you glad and engage your will on earth just like they do in heaven.  Lord, I am asking, knocking, seeking you and your will … unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.  There is none like you … please shape me as you wish that I might bear that strong family resemblance as your son, brother and friend.  I yield to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness.
Staying near,
Steve

Anyone and 2X4ology

S - Luke 11:23; 9:50 (NLT): ""Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. … Anyone who is not against you is for you.""

O - Both of these statements come from Jesus.  Is Jesus contradicting himself?  Is he just employing some Hebrew idiomatic language and style?  The beauty is while he may be using linguistic norms of his day he is clearly doing more than that.  The chapter 11 instruction (the first) is how we assess ourselves and the chapter 9 statement (the second) is about how we respond to others.  This is 2X4ology (i.e. take the beam out of your own eye) at its best. 

A - Amidst all the issues of interpersonal relationships and spiritual dynamics, Jesus consistently calls me/us to self-assessment in the context of his unconditional love.  Not only does his love make me safe and confident toward my own daily living, it insists I remember it is how he engages all others too.  The superlatives (the Greatest Commandments) are just that … the very best, the most important, the reality all Scripture hangs on and the directions for real life.

P - Lord who is love,

Thank you for calling me to 2X4ology and for these beautiful and life-giving instructions.  I am asking you to cause your life to come into me and to flow out of me.  Lord, I want to work with you … to be one who is intentionally helping.  Lord, I want to love you back make you glad by loving my neighbor as myself.  Thank you for loving me/us first and most and for refusing to change your mind.

Steve

Faith's "Not Doing"

S - Exodus 23:10-12 (NLT): ““Plant and harvest your crops for six years, but let the land rest and lie fallow during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest any volunteer crop that may come up. Leave the rest for the animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves. "Work for six days, and rest on the seventh. This will give your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It will also allow the people of your household, including your slaves and visitors, to be refreshed."

O - Refreshed, care for the poor, faith expressed in concrete, daily bread realities, the Lord's provision apparent to all, his goodness seen in the land of the living, his mercy for all demonstrated, not to mention excellent soil conservation.  All this hinges upon the compliance to believe the Lord by not doing.  This is an essential quality for a life of faith. The problems with these particular faith expressions include:

1. not doing something which is normally required.

2. intentionally risking the future by not doing something one can easily do in the here and now.

3. no apparent penalty for those who refuse to comply.  No one immediately drops dead by working on the Sabbath and no one's crops refuse to grow when planted in the seventh year.

This particular problem set is not reserved to historic Israel.  In fact, all followers of Jesus will be required to engage their faith with these dynamics in full swing.  As the Father's children we are told to not run after the things the pagans run after--daily bread, what to wear, what to store-up for the future, though these items are both lawful and at some point necessary.  Not gaining more or doing more can be quite difficult. It is at this precise point Jesus will call us to recognize the importance of learning this mode of living faith.  He says (Luke 14:26; 17:33) “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. … Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it."  Israel never did rest the land and they misunderstood and misused the Sabbath instruction.  Both ended in severe consequences … which of course is how most sin (not obeying) works.  There is little immediate consequence but long term devastation.  Jesus has come to lead us to life.  It is very good for us to take him at his word.

A - These not doing dynamics are very tricky to our human minds and to those around us.  Like Peter, it is very easy for me, in lawful and necessary terms, to have in mind the things of men and not the things of God (cf. Matthew 16:23-24). The result is a tragic conclusion which looks absolutely beautiful at first glance.  In this season of new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean, of believing for things too wonderful for me and of waiting upon the Lord, these dynamics are apparent and very challenging.  Taking Jesus at his word most often comes down to simple trust in his person - the fierce personal loyalty which he deserves and which lives out loud in taking him at his word.  To this I am giving myself heart and soul because I've given my very little self unconditionally to him.

P - Lord who Rests,

You are awesome.  You rest not because you must or because you tire but because it is a part of your image and nature.  Even your resting is productive, beautiful, life giving, powerful and compassionate.  Lord, I do (and want to) take you at your word and live out loud the words of Peter - Lord, because you say so I will ….  Help me to embrace the dynamics which a living faith requires and which you honor with more than things obtained or goals reached -- but in which you reveal yourself to those who are following.  Dear Lord Jesus, please keep revealing the Father to me/us so that his love for you may be in us and that you will be in us.  Yes, Lord … my answer remains yes.

Steve

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

S - 2 Kings 6:20-23 (NIV): "After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?" "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory."

O - What changes the inevitability of war?  How does one get the enemy to stop sending raiding parties to disrupt and destroy? Humans say "wipe out your enemy" and this will stop the raiding.  Heaven says "feed your enemy" and do good to those who despitefully use you.  What really carries the day in this real life story is the intervention of God because someone asked (Elisha) and because that same someone encouraged a response in keeping with heaven rather than earth.  The asking was not based upon fear or threat and therefore the request was not for a dead enemy. Instead it was based on heaven's nearness and the confidence of God's intervention; the request is for a restrained enemy unto a cessation of hostilities.

A - Jesus' words ('love your enemy') really do work on earth … we just rarely are willing to believe him when the pressure is on. The Northern Kingdom's problems were not based in Aram's hostility but in their unbelief and opposition to God.  This circumstance highlights the struggle I (we) have in doing the work of believing that we might also work the works of God. My assignment is in the asking according to heaven's nearness and living out loud the confidence and the words which come from God; today while it is called today.

P - Lord who loves enemies,

I do not want to use/say your words but live in contrast/opposition to them.  I do not want to navigate by that which human reason holds on to in direct disregard for you and your words.  O Sovereign Strong, please lead, enable and direct me so that each day my words, actions, thoughts and attitudes embrace who you are and your purposes on earth.  Take me by the hand, tell what to say and show me what to do.  Let me think like Jesus, speak like Jesus, act like Jesus and love like Jesus unto that which humans say can't be done.  Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
Steve

What is My Godview?

S - 2 Samuel 12:13-14, 21-25 (NIV): "Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."  … His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!" He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me." Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah."

O - The exchanges between David and the Lord are quite unusual when considered in the context of religious culture and mores.  Before David asks for forgiveness he's told that the Lord has already taken away his sin.  Even under the consequences of a dying child, he pursues the Lord and his tender mercies.  Then, when the season passes the Lord responds with NO grudge.  The next baby will be known to the world as Solomon but the Lord will call him Jedidiah - "loved by the Lord."

A - Does my worldview and my "Godview" include such possibilities as revealed in the life, times and God of David? Do I simply accept the religious (even well-intended) culture of my day or do I pursue the Living God who is already engaged in life on earth? David's penitent Psalm (Psalm 51) is based on the same "assumptions." The Lord loves us, forgives us and makes a way for us to go and grow forward; with the Lord nothing is impossible, too difficult or too wonderful.  While the culture of David's day focused on what is seen he knows better. David prays (Psalm 51:16-17): "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

P - Lord who pursues the broken hearted,

Thank you for your tender mercies which are new every morning.  Thank you for loving us at our worst and not just at our best.  Thank you for calling us to yourself and to the unseen so that we might really live.  Lord, open my eyes and please touch my heart to pursue you in the same way that David did.  Today while it is called today I can offer you the sacrifices you love.  Thank you that a heart broken open to you is always your desire.  I break my heart open to you.
Steve

Defying Death and Detailed Explanation

S - 1 Peter 1:3-5, 18-21 (NIV): "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. … For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

O - Faith and hope in God are not based on the crucifixion of Jesus but the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  The resurrection is the context of all Kingdom living (the reality which engages all the rest) not the crucifixion.  This does not minimize anything about the cross and blood of Jesus but rather connects the same with this reality.  Jesus is life.  Everything in God's kingdom lives (stones, words, water, sacrifices, bread, faith, hope, etc.); and it is a vibrant, irrepressible life. The resurrection can be understood but defies detailed explanation.  The crucifixion has been dissected to the millionth part … a dissection which wants to shift us from the Person who is the Gospel to information about the Gospel.  The resurrection keeps us focused on the Person and his Presence.  Like the crucifixion, all of our understanding must give way to the resurrection of Jesus of from the dead.  His resurrection is the proof of his person, his position and the forgiveness of our sins. 1 Peter 3:21-22 says: "and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him."

A - Today everything is possible for him who believes because Jesus has been raised from the dead.  Today, I am assured of my adoption and place in God's kingdom and family by the same reality.  The cross, like the Lord's nativity, is essential but not the point.  Jesus' coming was and is all about life, life to the full because he is life.  Today I get to ask for, welcome, expect, experience and share the vibrant, irrepressible, refreshing and death defying life and person of Jesus. He calls me to himself to live in him and with him even as he lives in and with his Father. 

P - Lord who is life and the exact representation of God,

Thank you wanting us always.  Thank you for wanting all.  Thank you for loving us first, most and for refusing to change your mind.  Cause your life to come into me/us and to come out of us. 

In Them,

Steve