The Real Work

S - Matthew 24:46-47 (TLJ): "When the master comes and finds that servant doing the work he gave him, what a great day it will be for that servant. I can tell you without a doubt, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns."

O - While each follower of Jesus will receive some specific assignments to engage in on the earth, these opportunities will never really be "the work".  The work is only one for all who follow; one without respect to functional roles, resources, skills and the like. The work is believing the person of Jesus (John 6:27-29). Other good and even necessary activities cannot and will not replace this work which all of his followers/servants have been given (Matthew 7:21-23).  This work keeps us connected with his person and keeps everything possible (Mark 9:23).  All other actions pale in comparison to this and cannot be a replacement for the work of believing (Luke 18:1-8). What's possible to the one who believes? Everything! What will the master give over to the one who is doing this work? Everything!

A - It will be a great day for all when the master comes and finds us doing the work he gave us, the work of believing. This is my work even though secular and religious culture (Christianity included) wants me to believe something other than believing is really the work.  Jesus never called one person to a cause, goal or mission.  He only calls us to himself.  Follow me is the singular and exclusive call.  In following he identified my work … believing his person; not the concept of Jesus or merely in his capacities, promises and/or plans.  Today, I will do the work my master has assigned me knowing that it keeps me connected to him who is life and it keeps everything possible.

P - Lord of all and Lord of me,

Thank you for not calling me to a task but to yourself.  I am very glad to be following and to be engaging the work of believing unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.  Today is your day and I am yours in it. Lead on. I'll follow and believe.

Love,

Steve

Miracles: not for Proof but for Love

S - Matthew 16:1, 4 (TLJ): "The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. They wanted to test him. So they asked him to show them a miracle as a sign from God. Jesus answered, … It is the evil and sinful people who want to see a miracle as a sign from God. But no miracle will be done to prove anything to them. The only sign will be the miracle that happened to Jonah. Then Jesus went away from there."

O - While miracles certainly do inspire and affirm belief(s) Jesus says they will not be given to prove anything.  What was true before the miracle will be true not only after it but without it.  The person and identity of Jesus, the greatness, nearness and goodness of God, are not increased, changed or proved by miracles. The truth is and is evident without them. Those seeking a proof (the religiously righteous, socially upright, theologically based) in this encounter are called evil (literally wicked and hurtful) and sinful (literally adulterous) by Jesus; terms the secular and religious culture would not apply to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Miracles are expressions of a love that is already overflowing.  A love that must be proved to another will be a love that can always fall suspect.   The actions of real love are not given as a proof but as an expression and result that which already is. They are not given as a "reward" to the one who is loved but as an unavoidable expression of love. Jesus didn't come to earth as a reward for those who loved God. He came as the expression of God's person and love to the world he so loves.  (cf. John 3:16; 1 John 4:10). 

A - I do need, want and ask for miracles because I am loved.  Because I am loved I can ask anything in Jesus' Name.  Like any dearly loved child I don't always get what I ask for but I am always, deeply, relentlessly loved.  He has loved me/us first, most and refuses to change his mind.  Today, confident in him and his love, I get to follow, stay near and ask for anything because nothing is too difficult, impossible or too wonderful for him.

P - God who is love,

Thank you for loving us because you love us; for making us for yourself and giving yourself to us.  Today I welcome you and your will on earth, you and your love on earth, in me and through me, like they do in heaven.  Thank you for wanting us at our worst and for working everything for good.  Thank you for wanting me to asking for anything according to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and relentless love.  I am asking, believing, following, loving you back unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.

In Jesus' Name,

Steve  

Fortunately Jesus isn't Tired of the Sick and Tired

S - Luke 7:20-22 (TLJ): "So the men came to Jesus. They said, "John the Baptizer sent us to you with this question: 'Are you the one who is coming or should we wait for someone else?'" Right then Jesus healed many people of their sicknesses and diseases. He healed those who had evil spirits and made many who were blind able to see again.  Then he said to John's followers, Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind can see. The crippled can walk. People with leprosy are healed. The deaf can hear. The dead are brought back to life. And the Good News is being told to the poor."

O - Jesus hasn't stopped healing people and people haven't stopped needing to be healed.  The physical healings are only one facet of Jesus' healing people.  It's an important part but not the only one.  Both our physical status and our spiritual status need to see, walk, be made free from life-taking conditions, to hear and to be brought back from the dead.  This is one of the many beauties of Jesus … he comes to bring transformation to all people; a transformation touching body, soul and spirit. He IS the One we're looking for, the One we need.

A - I am so very grateful for the status of my physiology … eyes, ears, legs, overall health and energy are all in the very good category. Of course, this doesn't automatically mean my spiritual condition is the same.  Fortunately, Jesus is not only capable he is willing to engage me and my need, whatever the cause, source or status.  The old song says, "All to Jesus I surrender" … this response must not be limited to what is good, right, active and capable but must include that which is failed, feeble , diseased, dying and/or dead.  All really is all … unto the transformation he intends and I need in all of me.

P - Lord who heals,

I admit that I need you in all of me … unto a complete transformation.  I am not asking for self-help but help.  Thank you for wanting into it all, for asking me/us to surrender it all to you and to believe.  This I gladly do.  I welcome you and your will on earth, in me and through me, like they do in heaven.  Today, I welcome eyes that see, ears that hear, my internal crippledness, leprosy and deadness to be touched by you unto all you've planned, dreamt, died for and got up from the dead for.  I love you back.

Steve  

A Curious Conclusion and a Common Condition

S - Matthew 27:3-7 (NLT): "When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and other leaders. "I have sinned," he declared, "for I have betrayed an innocent man." "What do we care?" they retorted. "That's your problem." Then Judas threw the money onto the floor of the Temple and went out and hanged himself. The leading priests picked up the money. "We can't put it in the Temple treasury," they said, "since it's against the law to accept money paid for murder." After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter's field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. "

O - The conclusion of the leaders is quite curious.  It's against the law to accept money paid for murder but not against the law to pay for it?  Is not the entire law summed up in a single command? The stark contradiction in the religious leaders is actually the same contradiction in us all … it's just that ours is as unapparent to us as theirs was to them.  Like them we use the Scriptures to justify our decisions and actions rather than to rectify them.  We handle the word but do not allow the word to completely handle us.  Then, having fully engaged a flagrant refusal to do what the word says, we find a way to do something benevolent so we may feel our way to a more pleasant conclusion.  No one thought Judas would ever bring the money back … their conclusion? 'That was a close one, but we really dodged a major bullet there'.  The Lord is never shocked when we fail to do what we know we should.  His shock, his hurt comes in refusing to admit it and in judging others so harshly for the very things we are also guilty of.  Jesus always starts at love, then leads with mercy and then faces the facts … making a way for all who want to grow forward to do so.  This is how he calls all of us to act toward each other and even toward ourselves.  Love the Lord with all your heart, mind soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself.  Do this, he said, and you will live … for all the law and prophets hang on these two.

A - My working definition of a Pharisee really does fit here.  A Pharisee is someone who thinks they're in … and I think I'm in.  It is a function of my fallen nature, limited perspective and diminished capacities to miss the beam in my eye while calling attention to the sawdust in another's.  The Lord knows I/we won't live flawlessly.  He died to deal with this condition in us once and for all.  He does want us to live blamelessly … starting at love, leading with mercy and then facing the facts in the reality of not only his sacrifice but his resurrection from the dead.  Hope springs eternal in resurrection reality for this is the reality thrown open to all by the cross. Come to the cross but please don't stop there … step forward into resurrection life and hope for all.  Maybe one of the signs of leading with mercy is an indefatigable hope for any and for all.  In my experience, the absence of hope for all and in all circumstances confirms an absence of mercy.  Jesus says to all us Pharisees (Matthew 9:13 referencing Hosea 6:6) "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: `I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough."

P - Lord who is Almighty and All Merciful,

Thanks for loving all … even us Pharisees and for making a way for all.  Thank you for how you've ALWAYS dealt with me by starting at love and leading with mercy, facing the facts and making a way forward in hope.  Thank you for calling me to recognize my liability to be a Pharisee and to engage your apparatus for engaging all people.  Lord, forgive me my sins AND my Pharisee blindness, judgment, curious conclusions and failed expressions of who you really are.  Thank you that the presence of hope confirms the presence of mercy.  Thank you for having mercy on me, a sinner and for insisting I live this way toward all.

Leaning into the life that is really life,

Steve

Believing In or Merely For?

S - John 4:46-53 (TLJ): "One of the king's important officials lived in the city of Capernaum. This man's son was sick. The man heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was not in Galilee. So he went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, who was almost dead. Jesus said to him, 'You people must see miraculous signs and wonders before you will believe in me.' The king's official said, 'Sir, come before my little boy dies.' Jesus answered, 'Go. Your son will live.' The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. On the way home the man's servants came and met him. They said, 'Your son is well.' The man asked, 'What time did my son begin to get well?' The answered, 'It was about one o'clock yesterday when the fever left him.' The father knew that one o'clock was the same time that Jesus had said, 'Your son will live.' So the man and everyone in his house believed in Jesus."

O - The Lord's immediate response to this dad's understandably desperate request is quite interesting to me on several counts.  Apparently, asking Jesus for a miracle and believing in him is NOT the same thing.  Didn't the dad ask and didn't Jesus say in response to him 'You people must see miraculous signs and wonders before you will believe in me.'? Also, wasn't the miracle of the healed son the inspiration or confirmation for the entire household to believe in Jesus? The man had some faith because he takes Jesus at his word and leaves without Jesus coming with him to his home believing/hoping that his son would in fact recover and live.  Believing for something is not the same as believing in someone.  Jesus calls us to believe in him not just to believe for him to do stuff; all are called to follow the person of Jesus not just a concept of the Christ.

A - Believing in the person Jesus and not just the concept or a principle or promise is critical on so many levels.  When I am unable to grasp what is going on or why something is happening I can grasp his person and default to trust.  The Gospel is a person. God doesn’t want to capture a market share of the human race but to adopt human beings into his family. Heaven isn't offering us an improved version of self-help but help in the form of transformation.  Today the work is believing in the person of Jesus and in the ongoing context of a love relationship; Jesus want me to be asking for anything and to be willing for anything and everything he already has in mind to do.

P - Lord,

I do believe and please, please help my unbelief.  I want to keep asking big; to start my thinking, praying, speaking and believing at only one spot: with God all things are possible. Thank you again for loving me/us first and most and for refusing to change your mind. 

Grateful to be yours by right and by grace,

Steve

In Grave Condition

S - Like 11:43-44 (TLJ): "It will be bad for you Pharisees because you love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. And you love for people to show respect to you in the marketplaces. It will be bad for you, because you are like hidden graves. People walk on them without knowing it."

O - The Pharisees considered themselves to be strict adherents to the Scriptures and as a result to be the 'salt of the earth' type of people.  From their vantage point (distorted and myopic) the world was not only better off because they were on earth it would be even better if all people were like them.  For all the words of Scripture they quoted and the religious rules they engaged nothing was farther from the truth than their conclusions.  People, even those doing the respecting and giving them the best seats, were NEVER better off for being in contact with them.  In fact they were worse off … in scriptural imagery the people were literally made unclean because of their interaction with them.  

A - Jesus' point is not that I should try and find some "religious" people to disrespect. Neither is he asking me to wreak havoc in religious services.  What he is wanting me to do is to NOT be a Pharisee. The Pharisees claimed to love God but really loved the praises of people and money (Luke 16:14; John 5:39-44). Jesus calls me to love God and love my neighbor as myself.  According to Jesus all Scriptures hang on this ongoing response to God and to others, are fulfilled in this response and if I'll do it will end in eternal life.  There is nothing more important than loving according to these Superlatives … nothing.  Today I accept and embrace this assignment from Jesus.

P - Lord who is love,

Thank you that you don't want me to love things or religious expressions or the praises of people.  You want me to love God and love people.  This is to be done with all my might, heart, mind and soul.  I say yes to you and to this. 

In Jesus' Name,

Steve

Trust is NOT a Theological Conclusion

S - Proverbs 3:3-10 (NIV): "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

O - Trust, i.e. fierce personal loyalty, to/in Jesus is an uncomplicated commitment.  How can I know when my trust is only intellectual/theoretical?  When my theology says one thing and my life another.  The assessment for this can be found in the two responses these verses tell us to NOT DO.  Do not:

1. lean on your own understanding.

2. be wise in your own eyes.

Both of these are very easy to do all the while thinking one is trusting.  Trust does not come from our theological conclusions, knowledge of scriptural principles or understanding circumstances. Trust comes from a person to person response, a living out loud of the reality of his greatness and our littleness, of his awesome brilliance and our numbness, of his power and our weakness, of his relentless love, defiant mercy and powerful grace.  Trusting presence/person over resource, intellect, skill or history and staying childlike in our view of ourselves by doing what is right in the Lord's eyes and not our own eyes is key (Matthew 11:25-27, 18:1-4).  The result is described in the verses above … and this all for the sake of love - the Lord's love for us and our getting to love him back.

A - So how straight was Joseph's path?  Well, according to human understanding it just kept drifting farther and farther from his dreams … from bad to worse to absolutely terrible.  But then in one day he goes from Pharaoh's prison to Pharaoh's throne. How wise did Solomon end up?  Not very even though he is considered the wisest and even penned the verses cited.  In the end he was wise in his own eyes and so very foolish in the Lord's.  So, I choose the Lord's straight path and his humble wisdom unto his purpose in me and through me like it happens in heaven.  Trusting the Lord is all about his person not my current take on his plan or any claim I may lay to a promise.  It is deeply personal and fierce. Trust: fierce personal loyalty.

P - Dear Papa,

Thank you for serving your little children, for giving us instructions and then helping us to fulfill them; for inviting us to work with you in that which you could do faster and better without us/me.  I want to/need to lean on you according to presence and engage Jesus' words about life on earth so that I may, because of grace, be wise in YOUR eyes.  Daddy, I love you back.  Father, I am so grateful to be your child.  Dad, transform my life unto all you have purposed and desired.  I really do love you back.

Steve