A Toxic Combination: True Words and Self-deception

S - Jeremiah 7:2-8, 17-19 (NIV): ""Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless." … Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?  The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?"

O - Twice the Lord repeats his desire for his people to live in the land, to not be rejected and dispersed … though he has been warning them for a very long time.  The problem was their religious lives which were an amalgamation of God's words with earth's desire to control, perform and acquire.  The ultimate issue is not  so much about offending God but harming themselves (this also is stated twice).  Keeping/using the words of Scripture and losing their meaning is the genesis of this trouble then and now.  Hearing is to engage doing, not mere intellectual assent.  Loving God is always verified in how we're treating our neighbors and enemies.  Right or true words become self-deceptive and death producing when they are not lived out loud but merely spoken out loud.  The beauty of living them is not found in a flawless performance but a blameless expression of trust in the Living God.

A - I accept the truth that mercy always triumphs over judgment in the Kingdom which can never end; that our good is humbly included in God's glory according to his brilliance, power and grace.  Today, I am to engage the words and the fierce personal loyalty (trust) the Lord offers to me and asks me to respond to by my living not just my talking.  This is not a function of performance but of relationship; it is not about trying to deserve something but rather living out the design of loving the Lord back.

P - Lord who wants us to live and stay near,

Thank you for giving us yourself in each day you create and sculpt.  Thank you that there is always more grace than sin and a mercy which will always triumphs over judgment.  Please let me be a living letter from you to all I meet and would you please cause your life to come into me and to somehow come out of me unto the blessing of others and the revelation of your great kindness.  Lord, I do love you back.

Steve

The Direct Connect Between Earth and Heaven

S - John 3:11-12 (NIV): "I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?"

O - This conversation with Nicodemus is safe (late in the night, no crowds) and open hearted.  This leader in Israel openly confesses the Sanhedrin's assessment which they will never make public ("Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."). Jesus says in private what is intended for the whole world not just in generic concept but in the most personal terms. The verses above contain this conversation's third and final "I tell you the truth" statement. If we won't believe Jesus about earth we will not believe him about heaven.  Jesus speaks so plainly about both. The point is clear and the question which leads all the others is are we really believing Jesus about earth?

A - Even a cursory look around seems to confirm that many folks talk about believing him about heaven but give no appearance to actually be believing him about earth  (words, attitudes or deeds).  Yet this is not the kernel of the issue for me.  The issue for me is do I believe Jesus about earth?  What evidences can I see in my life which confirm or deny my belief? Jesus is always about one thing in all the truth he is and reveals…2X4ology.  I need to get and keep the 2X4 out of my eye before I attempt to help (or assess) another with any sawdust which may be in theirs. My assignment today, and every day, is to believe Jesus about earth so that I may really believe him about heaven.  I am so very thankful for the verba verbie … the words of the Word.

P - Lord of heaven above and on earth below,

Thank you for wanting to help me/us know how to live on earth and not just in thoughts about heaven.  Thank you for speaking plainly about both but for being clear on our need to come near you and stay.  Lord, I am doing my level best to believe you about earth because you are the truth.  Thank you for letting me see this in your written voice -- for sharing the secrets of your covenant with me.  I love you back.  I welcome you and your will on earth (in me) like they do in heaven.  Lord, thank you for not condemning the world.  Thank you for calling, helping, and letting us believe … unto forever relationship and irrepressible life.

All my love,

Steve

Pregnant Men and the Holy God

S - Jeremiah 30:5-11a (NIV): ""This is what the LORD says: " 'Cries of fear are heard--terror, not peace.  Ask and see:  Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale? How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. "'In that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. "'So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel,' declares the LORD. 'I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. I am with you and will save you,' declares the LORD."

O - The circumstances are more than dire. Men in labor, terror not peace, and all of this at the hand of the Lord because of Israel's stubborn refusal to do what she knows to do.  Yet, in the midst of his wrath the Lord speaks of Israel's salvation, freedom and blessing.  He identifies a David-king and tells them to not fear and to not be dismayed because he will yet act on their behalf and will save them. The guarantee for all this?  He, God Almighty, is with them.  Clearly, the Lord's wrath or anger is not like ours.   He is holy, even in his wrath; holy - not like us, not like me, not like this earth. When we make his wrath like ours we do a great disservice to all.  He really does delight in mercy, kindness and justice on the earth.

A - Children are all about presence.  The presence of a parent is the difference in everything…literally everything.  Jesus calls me/us to be childlike in every situation every day.  While children share the majority of feelings and expressions of their parents, they are not identical.  I do not want to be one who assumes the Lord's wrath is like mine. It is not because he is not like me … I am being called to become like him.  I want to turn into and be aware of and reliant on his presence.  Today I am counting on him making me more like him and promising to stop assuming he's like me. 

P - Father, Lord, Comforter,

Thank you for wanting us/me to be your children.  Thank you for making us like you and for you not being like us.  Thank you for mercy always triumphing over judgment and for your delight in kindness, justice and mercy on the earth and in us.  Lord, I thank you for your presence amidst all the challenges, trials, failures and fractures of life and for working everything for good.  Please let me work with you today.  Please help me be childlike today … unto the life that is really life.  I am asking for new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and for that which is too wonderful for me.  Lord, thank you for being holy … and for wanting me to become like you.  I want this too.

All my love,

Steve