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Author Archives: John D. Willome

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About John D. Willome

I post a blog of daily devotions that are my prayer journals based on scripture.

Matthew 9:9-13

05 Jul

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” 13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Matthew 9:9-13

Dear God, after I read this passage this morning, I remembered a conversation I had with a friend on Tuesday. I hadn’t thought about it since then, but now I remember. He asked if I would join him in prison ministry at a state prison about an hour and a half from here several times a year. My initial reaction was, No. No, I don’t want to do that. I told him I would consider it and pray about it, but then it left my mind as soon as he left and I have thought about it in three days. But here I am. I’m praying to you. I’m thinking about it. I suppose this is where I will live up to my word with him and “think and pray about it.”

Jesus certainly didn’t mind sitting with people of questionable repute. In fact, he was seemingly quite comfortable with them. He loved them. He wanted the best for them. He called on them to change and follow you, to be sure, but he didn’t insist on that before he came to them. In fact, a lot of people got help from him without ever having asked for forgiveness. I’m thinking the woman caught in adultery for one. I’m thinking about the man lowered through the roof. Jesus forgave without them ever asking him to. Very interesting.

Father, help me to really consider this invitation from my friend. Help me to completely hear from you what you want me to do. Are you calling me to this? Are you not calling me to this? I don’t know. But I know I want to really hear you on this one. There is so much need in the world. I know I don’t have to solve all of it, but I certainly want to use my life to touch those you are calling me to touch. Help me to know what that is.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 5, 2024 in Matthew

 

Psalm 19:12-13

04 Jul

12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
    Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
    Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
    and innocent of great sin.

Psalm 19:12-13

Dear God, my hidden faults. My deliberate sins. You don’t want either for me. The deliberate sins…well, they are just selfish foolishness on my part. Some are bad habits. Some are born out of selfishness. Some come from be fighting for my own rights that I should have already laid at your cross to follow you. I am sorry for these sins. I am sorry for this foolishness. Once again, here this morning, I lay them at the foot of your cross so that I might pick up your yoke and walk with you in the life you want me to live.

Then there are the hidden faults. The sins that are so engrained in me that I cannot see them. Like an odor in a room I’ve gotten used to. Others can smell it when they walk in the room, but I’m oblivious. So give me eyes to see myself. Give me your eyes. Give me ears to hear myself. Give me your ears. Raise up voices around me who will be your voice to me. Reveal to me the things I need to know.

To quote the song “Spirit of the Living God,” “Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.” That is my prayer this morning, Father. Fall afresh on me today. It’s the 4th of July, and I am about to attend a worship service where my wife is leading singing. Fall afresh on me and everyone in the room this morning. For her, make it not about her voice, which is beautiful, but make it about your Spirit falling on all of us, from the priest on down. Help us to leave that place worshipping you and taking you into the world so that others might have the joy of knowing you.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 4, 2024 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms

 

Ephesians 2:17-22

03 Jul

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-22

Dear God, it’s amazing to see how many ways the Bible finds to tell me that you love me. That’s something even now I tend to take for granted. You love me. You love the people I love. You love the people I don’t care for. Like a parent loves a child at the deepest levels of their soul, you love us that much and even more. I’m sorry I don’t really know how to appreciate that.

And then there’s the matter of spreading your love to others. Sharing it. Helping other people be drawn to you. To experience what it means to sink their roots into your river and feel you flow into them. To grow your fruit.

Father, help me to be a source of your love for others today and to encourage just one person to embrace your love for them. I pray for the two new pastors in town and the new church that started last month. Help all of them. For the new church, while it breaks my heart that it felt it needed to break away from another church to star anew, I pray that it will fill a need in the community that wouldn’t otherwise be met. Fill the leadership with your love, compassion, wisdom, and Spirit. Help them to hear your voice. For the new pastors, well, there are always criticisms of the last guy. The day I leave my position there will be criticisms of me. Help these two pastors to avoid those traps. Help them to follow their predecessors in love, to follow you completely, and to be part of your kingdom coming and your will being done in their churches and in our community as it is in heaven. Show me how to support them as well. And for those who are on my mind who are facing physical challenges, I pray that you will heal, strengthen, and comfort them. Strengthen their caregivers as well.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2024 in Ephesians

 

Jeremiah 17:7-8

02 Jul

7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Dear God, I am so grateful to have learned more about the context of Jeremiah and his prophecy after having gone through the Bible in a Year Podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz. It really helped me to enjoy and appreciate these passages more. Instead of complaining about how people misuse Jeremiah 29, I can actually spend some time with these passages and consider them.

In this case, I was thinking this morning that I am feeling a little spiritually dry right now. Even doing these prayers to you is more out of self-discipline than it is waking up and longing to spend time with you. But then the thought occurred to me that I cannot always be in that mode, and that there is a value in showing up and plugging into you on a daily basis regardless of my emotions or desires. Planting myself here does make a difference. Worshipping you and spending this contemplative time with you does quench my dryness.

Whenever I read this passage, I always think of the H.E.B. Family Foundation Ranch where I have spent a lot of time. Thirty years ago, they were doing a lot of renovations and they drained a river so they could do some work. The cypress trees along the river started to dry up. They had always lived with a constant supply of all the water they wanted, and now it was gone. The dryness didn’t last long. They damned up the water again and the trees were fine, but they certainly suffered for a while.

Father, please let your river continue to run through my life, and help me to always seek you. Help me to always love you. Help me to remember my need for you. And then let your river flow through me and to those around me and within my sphere of influence.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 2, 2024 in Jeremiah

 

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Romans 12:1-2

01 Jul

12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Dear God, it’s verse 2 that caught my eye this morning: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. I think you’re transforming me into a new person. Well, let’s say this: I know I am being transformed into something new. I pray that it is you who is transforming me into your image.

There are times when I see myself transforming into something that surprises me. Something different even than what the church normally teaches I should be. Or I think about things in a way that the church says I should not think. In these instances, is the church the “world,” or am I?

Father, I really want to hear you clearly. I want to understand who you are. I want to see others with your eyes. I want to hear them with your ears. I want to know your heart for me and for them. I want to know who to help each person I know heal. Of course, I want to be healed as well. I feel like I am working through that slowly but surely. I guess, beyond anything, I just want people to be reconciled to you so that they can be at peace with themselves, their “enemies,” and you. Help me to introduce you to people in that way.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2024 in Romans

 

Zechariah 14:1-9

30 Jun

14 Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! 2 I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.

3 Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. 5 You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

6 On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, 7 yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.

8 On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.

9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped.

Zechariah 14:1-9

Dear God, I’m going to confess that I don’t have the full context of this passage, and I probably shouldn’t even being praying on it out of context. I got here because verse 9 was the verse of the day from Bible Gateway, and it made me think about my thoughts on the end and what things will look like on that day.

Frankly, I think my thoughts are simultaneously about as both heretical and truthful as anyone else’s because we just don’t know. I say that because I don’t think any of us really know.

The video I watched on Christopher Hitchens about his antagonism towards you and your people has stuck with me the last couple of days. Not because anything within me was shaken. No, it was more because I felt sorry for him. And, again, not because I think he’ll end up in “hell,” but because he seemed so unhappy and to be wallowing around in his unhappiness and enticing others to join in his unhappiness. Frankly, if I’m right and at the moment of our death we enter into your new earth through your timelessness, I hope Jesus looked at him and had mercy on him, just as he did Paul on the road to Damascus.

My wife was talking with someone who had a near-death experience recently and they told her about seeing a white dome and all was well. I know some neuroscientists have explained the stories as something biological that happens. And the fact that the man heard a voice say it wasn’t yet time for him to die is not what really happened. But I simply don’t think that can be discounted. Physical explanation? Maybe. Does that mean it’s not real? No.

We have been living and dying on earth for a long, long time. Billions and billions, and billions of people have lived and died. So far, I am on part of that list, and one day my journey will be completed. And it doesn’t matter what I think about what will happen. It doesn’t matter if I am right or if I am wrong. But I think my mission should be to work the opposite of Mr. Hitchens. As I perceive him working so hard to drag people into his misery, I should be about offering your joy and peace, relationship with you and reconciliation with you, as possible. Help me to be better about that, including in my conversations with friends today.

I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2024 in Zechariah

 

Numbers 21:4-9

29 Jun
“Desert Serpents” by Tanja Butler as presented in Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard.

4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Numbers 21:4-9

Dear God, before I get into praying about this passage, I want to just spend some time with this image. Is there anything here I can learn from Tanja Butler’s “Desert Serpents”?

  1. I see Moses holding his staff which is shaped like a shepherd’s crook. Is that right? Were all staffs that way? It’s not important, I suppose, but it reminds me of all of the images of Joseph in the stable with Mary and the baby Jesus that portray Joseph as holding a shepherd’s crook. Why?
  2. The serpents on the ground are mainly black while the serpent on the staff has much more white in it.
  3. Moses has his hand up towards the serpent and he is looking at the serpent.
  4. I’m trying to tell what that is behind Moses. Is it supposed to be a hut? A pile of hay? I’m not sure.
  5. The staff upon which the serpent is mounted looks a bit like a cross as we perceive the Roman crosses to look later in history.

Really, that’s about all that I’m noticing. Bustard points out in his commentary that later in 2 Kings 18:4, the Israelite king breaks destroys this very serpent because the Israelites had turned it into an idol. And of course, Jesus references this serpent in John 3:14-15 when he’s talking to Nicodemus and he compares himself with this life-saving serpent.

I think about human nature and our wont to complain. Our wont to take over our lives ourselves and abandon you. Our wont to only submit to you after we’ve come to the end of ourselves.

I was listening to an interview yesterday with John Dickson, an Australian who was comparing Christianity in the United States with Christianity in Australia 12 years ago. I’ve heard him before. He is where I got the line that Jesus gave us four tools and four tools only to impact our world because they are the only tools he used: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. One comment he made is that now that Christians are a minority in Australia they no longer have the option of political power and enforcing their will on the minority, so they are having to lean into these four tools. His perspective is that even with Christians still in the majority in the U.S., if we don’t limit ourselves to Jesus’s example and continue to push to politically force our will on the rest of the country, we will only hasten our decent into what Australia has become.

Father, the thing I need to be better at is persuasion. I need to first understand why I believe what I believe. I need to not just spout off opinions without thought, but to think through why I believe what I believe and then form those thoughts into coherent, legitimate arguments to persuade my neighbor. And if I lose, then I need to lose well and prepare harder for the next time, both in exploring why I believe what I believe and then articulating it in a good way. So help me to do that. Help me to be the man you need me to be in the lives of others. Help me to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2024 in Numbers, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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2 Peter 3:8-10

28 Jun

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
2 Peter 3:8-10

Dear God, all of us have trouble really knowing you. Even now, as I sit and type this, I’m not sure what to make of it or say about it. Peter goes on to talk about the new heavens and the new earth. What does that look like? How does that fit into who you are? Your existence as an entity—a deity—THE Deity?

At the behest of a friend yesterday, I listened to a couple of YouTube videos by a renowned…I guess I would call him a humanist. Maybe atheist. Anyway, he was certainly hostile towards you. It was interesting to hear the effort he has gone to to not only refute your existence but also get others to join him in his cynicism and anger. He just seemed so unhappy. It made me wonder, “Who was it? What was the name of the person who pissed you off so much that you dove this deep into this life mission? Because I doubt it was God Himself. It was probably someone. Perhaps a pastor or priest he heard about abusing his power. Perhaps someone he knew who was hypocritical. Perhaps someone who was simply mean to him and represented Jesus poorly.” That’s what I thought as I watched him speak. I just didn’t see any peace in him at all. And none of what he said shook my faith in you because I rejected the premise of his argument which was that we should be equal to you and deserve the same agency you have. I just don’t believe that.

Father, I look at the world and the things I don’t like and ask myself, what would I do differently if I were God. The Bible is this weird collection of books that have been combined together to give me insight into you and who you are. I can read it and let it mold me into who you want me to be for my sake. But it’s a weird way to teach your people. To communicate with your people. But if I were you, how would I have done it differently. If I don’t like the evil that other people do such as human trafficking, what would I have you do? Strike each person who commits sexual assault, purchases another person or trades them down and kill them? Okay, fine, but where is the cut line for who gets cut down and who doesn’t. If the humanists are so upset about you not doing something about it, why aren’t more of them doing something about it? I just don’t know, Father. I just know that you are God. I am confident of that. I am confident that a man named Jesus lived, died and resurrected (Why else would his followers have died representing that truth? They wouldn’t have died for a lie.). I am confident that my life is better when I love you and follow the teachings of Jesus. I am confident that I need absolution for my sins for my own sake as well as my reconciliation with you. The peace that the absolution brings me is too great to have it be meaningless and unreal. So I will go into this day loving you, loving my wife and family, and loving others. And maybe I can be that person who helps someone like Mr. Hitchens come back to you instead of driving them away.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2024 in 2 Peter

 

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Matthew 16:22-26

27 Jun

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Matthew 16:22-26

Dear God, I am seeing things from my point of view and not from yours (verse 23). That seems like the story of my life sometimes. I try to see them from your perspective, but my own selfish agenda gets in the way. The idea of truly giving up my own way and letting go of my life instead of hanging on is hard. To really understand that striving for worldly gain will likely…there I go again, inserting the word “likely” like it’s a probability and not a certainty like Jesus said. Let me try again. To really understand that striving for worldly gain will cost me my soul. That’s harsh.

Upton Sinclair, in his book  I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked apparently said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” I was listening to an interview this morning with a sports writer in Austin named Cedric Golden talking about recruiting in college athletics. In it, he said, “I think the new way of doing business is more financial. I’d love to say that it’s all about going into moms’ and dads’ living rooms and saying, ‘We’re going to take care of your kid for the next four years. He’s going to get a degree, and blah, blah, blah.’ That game has changed. When [the University of Texas] had their first official visiting day of the football players a couple of weeks ago, they had six Lamborghinis parked at the facilities, engines revving.” I was so disgusted. Not with UT, but with the state of college athletics overall. So much for telling our children there is more to life than money. There is no measure by which they can tell that by many of our lives.

Father, that includes me. Yes, I’ve passed up more lucrative opportunities to stay in my current position, but I also make a pretty decent living and have a comfortable lifestyle. Am I someone who is willing to have my mind changed when it will materially cost me something? Am I willing to let go of my life? Am I willing to consider my life worth nothing to me (Acts 20:24)? Holy Spirit, nudge me today. Show me when I am being selfish and self-serving. Show me when I am judging someone else and not exhibiting your love. Show me the opportunities you have for me to be your hands and feet and help me to not miss them. Help me to love you with everything I have and to then follow that up with loving my neighbor as much as I love myself.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 27, 2024 in Matthew

 

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Leviticus 19

26 Jun

19 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

3 “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.

4 “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you[a] will be accepted by God. 6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.

9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.

11 “Do not steal.

“Do not deceive or cheat one another.

12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.

13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.

14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.

15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.

16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.[b]

“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.

17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.[c] Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

19 “You must obey all my decrees.

“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.

20 “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[d] 22 The priest will then purify him[e] before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.

23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden.[f] Do not eat it. 24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise. 25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.

26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood.

“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.

27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.

28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.

29 “Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.

30 “Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.

32 “Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord.

33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. 34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

35 “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume. 36 Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or liquids must be accurate.[g] I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 19

Dear God, our modern church, and even I as an individual, have a difficult time knowing what to do with the Bible. How do we use it? How am I supposed to use it? Am I supposed to use it as a rule book? A user’s manual for my life? A guide? A way of getting to know you?

There’s so much here in Leviticus that I violate on a regular basis. Just in the last 30 minutes I shaved as I got ready for work. Verse 27 above tells me not to trim my beard. The very next verse says I should not get tattoos. While I personally don’t have any tattoos, I know plenty of people who do, and a lot of them earnestly love, serve, and worship you. Some are pastors. Then there’s the whole thing about sex with the slave girl. Frankly, that one confuses me a little bit because I can’t tell if the person who is having sex with her is the one who owns her or if she is owned by someone else and then betrothed to a third person, but the person being talked to is just the one having sex with her. Anyway, you get my point. What do I do with this stuff?!?

The answer I’ve come to is that I look at this book (meaning the Bible and not just Leviticus) read it while inviting your Holy Spirit to join me in that process, listen to scholars and those who can help me interpret it, and then let it slowly (sometimes it seems painstakingly slowly) mold me into who you want me to be for my sake and for your glory. So what is it you need me to be? You need me to be better at worshipping you. You need me to be more loving of my neighbor. You need me to pursue purity in a way that gives your Holy Spirit room in my heart to grow your fruit in my life. Did the Israelites of the past fall away from you because they broke these rules or because they started letting their idols take your place in their hearts? I think it’s the latter. That is the temptation that will lead to my destruction. If I leave you. And if I am here with you then I think your Holy Spirit will use passages, even weird ones like this, to guide me into your purity and your love for me. And if I can get others to embrace you and encourage them to spend time in scripture along with your Holy Spirit, then they too will find you and let you guide them into who you want them to be.

Father, thank you for the reconciliation I have with you through Jesus. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for covering for the mistakes I make as well. I made one last night that I regret, and I am sorry. Thank you that nothing bad came from it. And I ask that you especially care for a precious family member who is gravely ill. Care for her daughters and grandchildren. Use this situation to heal hearts, souls, and relationships. Bring peace to everyone, including this precious, good woman who loves you dearly.

I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 26, 2024 in Leviticus

 
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