The Only Real Good to Great

S - 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, 4-5, 13 (NLT): "If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody.  … Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. … things that will endure … the greatest … is love. "

O - Clearly tangible acts of love and relational connections are the pages we may put the name and words of Jesus on AND be heard.  The challenge comes in living out the dynamics and limitations of love under pressure.  Impatient, unkind, proud and rude are all very easy responses to slide or jump into … especially with those who are the closest to us.  Not irritable and keeping no record of wrongs … how many couples and families live this out?  What enables love, real love as described here, to carry and win the day?  It must be that the One who is love has empowered us to be like him.  Jesus not only commands us to love he empowers us to love.  He also does not require us to learn and live a life of love flawlessly, just blamelessly.  In the Kingdom of Jesus, the Kingdom which lasts and really matters, good to great has only one measure.  It is not sharpened skills, organizational advance, increased efficiencies nor broadened influence. The greatest of these … of all is love.

A - I am clearly not loving flawlessly … and do not need to agonize over this truth.  He knows how I am made and made the way for blameless living.  So, in my world, love is NOT rewarded.  It is tolerated and even enjoyed but it is not rewarded.  Production, power, performance, shoving your way forward, making something work at most any cost is rewarded.  Love is okay as long as it does not interfere with goals and this world's measures of success.  Has any Hall of Fame anything ever inducted someone because they loved?  Has corporate office given bonuses for loving?  Does the Church reward or use those who love?  All this to say, the good to great which will matter does not matter to the world (secular and religious).  It does matter to the Judge of all and it’s the assignment he gives me today while it's called today.  The superlatives produce a superlative life here and hereafter … and heaven rewards those who so live.

P - Lord who is love,

I admit my failures, recent and consistent, in this regard.  Loving enemies, those who hurt and reject, those who are close and those who are far away is formidable on a good day.  There have been many not good days and the pressures of things less than love combine to distract, dissuade and discourage.  Lord, empower my little life to make you glad and to do this according to love … not as a performance for you but as a partnership with you … for you LOVE the whole world.  I want to give the way I've received.  Jesus, enable me to think, speak, act and love like you.

In them,

Steve

Play Ball!? … NOPE!

S – Daniel 3:16-18, 28, 29 (ISV): “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “It’s not necessary for us to respond in this matter. Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you. But it not, rest assured, your majesty, that we won’t serve your gods, and we won’t worship the golden statue that you have set up.” … Nebuchadnezzar spoke up and announced: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! He sent his angel to deliver his servants who trusted in him.  They disobeyed the king’s command and were willing to risk their lives in order not to serve or worship any god except their own God. … there is no other god who can save like this.””

O – Why wouldn’t these three “play ball” with the king? He wasn’t asking them to refuse to worship their god/God … only to add his statue to their routine.  Should it have been that big of a deal? I mean, in that day and age that was how “things were done.” It’s the way the world of that time worked. Their entire earthly existence depended on accepting the world as it was and accommodating oneself to its practical matters of daily living … or did it? The Scriptures are clear from beginning to end … we really can’t worship more than one. Jesus put it this way (Luke 16:13): “No servant can serve two masters, because either he will hate the one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and wealth!”

A – 2 Corinthians (4:4) speaks of the god of this world blinding minds and keeping people from seeing Jesus.  This tragic dynamic is possible for all humans not just for those who’ve never expressed some kind of faith.  The god of this world doesn’t mind us following Jesus as long as we add him to the way things work on earth.  We can say his words, hold religious services and claim to represent his ideas but when push comes to shove in the practical matters of daily living and one’s future … if this world dictates my course of action and compels me with the threat of impending doom for failure to comply and I do--I am playing the game of multiple masters which Jesus warns me to refuse. He said to Nicodemus and he says to me (John 3:12): “If I have told you people about earthly things and you do not believe me, how will you believe me if I tell you about heavenly things?” This world (secular and religious) wants me/us to “play ball” with it and ultimately to die with it.  Jesus calls me to believe him and really live here and hereafter.

P – Lord in heaven above and on earth below,

Thank you for calling me/us to yourself today and forever.  You are the God of daily bread. You know our needs before we ask and you are pleased to meet our needs. I admit I cannot (and do not want to) serve two masters … and money wants me to serve it and love it but it will never love or care for me.  Today, I am thrilled to be able to say yes to you and no to all others; to join the ancient three in living out loud the fierce personal loyalty (trust) you deserve and offer.  I believe you will do all that you have said in providing and protecting. You are life and I want only to be with you and on your teamJ!

Yes to you and no to all others,

Steve

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

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