RSS

Category Archives: 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

10 Feb

29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

Dear God, how many times have I read 1 Corinthians 13 without first reading what came before? How did Paul segue into this? What was his set-up?

He was talking about the different gifts and how not everyone has them, but then he told them what is universal to all of us. He told them about love, which is the “way of life that is best of all.”

I kind of talked about this a few days ago when I talked with you about how we treat life as if it is simultaneously precious and then cheap. Our lives are precious to us. Our existence is important. But then when we tear down another person. Bully them. Are indifferent or rude to them. We act as if their lives are not important.

And Paul is good here about explaining the difference between being kind and loving. In 13:3, he talks about how giving to the poor is fine, but if you don’t love those around you then you still aren’t hitting the mark.

Father, I have a conversation coming up soon that could be difficult. Help me to lead with love. Help me to truly love this person and be concerned about them. Help me to be compassionate, but to also understand that a higher bar set for them can be good for them as well. Holy Spirit, whisper in my ear. Speak to me and through me. Help me to be exactly what my friend needs me to be this morning. I want the absolute best for her. I want to love her in the purest form of your love. And I have relatives I want to know how to love as well. I have other friends. Of course, I have a wife who needs my love. Help me, Father, to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 10, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

18 Jan

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

Dear God, I was talking with my wife last night about this generation and how the perspectives of a 20-year-old now seem so different that how a 20-year-old would have seen the world 20 years ago. But then, hasn’t that been true with every generation? Rounding off to even numbers, I am sure a 20-year-old in 2020 sees the world very differently and has a much different philosophy of life than did a 20-year-old in 2000. The same would be true for the 20-year-old in 1980, 1960, 1940, 1920, and 1900. The 20-year old in 1960 saw the world much differently than did the 20-year-old in 1940.

So, while I might want to scoff at Paul’s comment that the temptations we experience are no different than the temptations others have experienced, the truth is, they all have the same root. The temptation delivery system might be different. Porn, alcohol, and illicit drugs might be more accessible now, but there is also much less privacy and it’s harder to hide our bad actions. It still comes down to the fact that we allow selfishness, self-gratification, and a need to escape reality to take us away from you and from the life you intended us to have.

Back in September, I made a list of the things that I need to do, as a minimum, to maintain my relationship with you. Here is what I came up with:

  • The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a “have to” for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
  • Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
  • Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
  • At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
  • Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
  • Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
  • Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
  • Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.

Then I came up with kind of a bonus list of things that are good if I add to it:

  • Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
  • My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
  • Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
  • Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
  • Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
  • Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

Father, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. The temptations are different now, but their delivery system is. I can do so much in the privacy of my home that people might never know about. Save me from that. Help me to maintain the boundaries of my “floor” and then build on that floor with walls a roof made up of the other things I added to the list later. And do all of this so that I might fully experience you in my life–at least as fully as humanly possible on this side of the death divide. I want to experience the fruit of your Holy Spirit now as much as possible because you are the only true source of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Help me to live into that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 18, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

“Would you still follow Jesus?” (1 Corinthians 15:12-20)

29 Nov

Dear God, I was listened to the Holy Post Podcast yesterday that interviewed a friend of Tony Campolo’s, Shane Claiborne. They were discussing Tony’s recent passing, and there were several good parts of it. I expect to listen to it again, but as I sat down this morning and thought about it, I think this is my favorite part. Claiborne mentioned this as one of Tony’s core messages when he would speak to groups, and it is something I trace back in my own life to when I used to say the same things to kids at camp when I was a counselor 35 years ago.

I remember a couple of years later when I was sharing that philosophy (theology?) with a Christian friend who was older than me, and he scolded me for it. He pointed to Paul when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” This caught me flat-footed and I remember not having much to say in return. That conversation was 32 years ago, and it’s amazing how much it still haunts me now.

If I were to have another shot at that conversation, I would want to point out the context of that verse:

12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

In my opinion, and perhaps my friend would still have disagreed, for Paul, the idea of afterlife with you is part of the argument for Jesus’s resurrection. You can’t separate them. If no afterlife, no resurrection. If no resurrection, no afterlife. As I sit and think o this now, I just had a thought that takes what Paul taught one step further. If no afterlife, then no reason for us to even care about you. No reason for the incarnation in the first place. No reason, honestly for you to care about us any more than we care for our pets. Our lives would be so unbelievably insignificant in your presence as specks of dust that are here and gone (Psalm 103:14-15), then what would be the point. No, afterlife is truly the lynch pin to everything I believe in about you.

With that said, following Jesus and what he taught us is not about picking the lesser of two evils: It’s a pain to follow you, but it’s better than hell! It’s about the opportunity to follow you and live a victorious, sacrificial life here on earth that grows the fruit of your Holy Spirit within me regardless of what it physically costs me. It’s about the peace I get here. The love. The joy. The patience. The goodness. The kindness. The gentleness. The faithfulness. The self-control. Knowing you. Loving you. Serving you by serving others. That’s what it all is about. That’s what I’m offering others when I talk to them about you. It’s not a guillotine over their head and a threat that they better follow you or else. It’s an invitation into true life.

Father, I have got to be better about offering this life to others! I am sorry that I’m not. I’m sorry to you, but I’m sorry to them as well. Help me to really get this concept and compel me to live it out. Thank you that you taught it to me. Help me to teach it to others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 29, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 121, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

13 Nov

121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 121

Dear God, when I read this passage this morning, it reminded me of what I learned from Walter Brueggemann about the psalms being categorized into three categories, with some psalms fitting into more than one: Orientation (God, thank you, everything is going great), Disorientation (God, help, everything is going wrong), and Reorientation (God, thank you for bringing me through everything going wrong). For this poem, I see it as a kind of psalm of reorientation. The psalmist is saying claiming his own victory through Jesus and then encouraging those in disorientation with it. In the first two verses, he is remembering back on his life and his times of disorientation and needing help. And you were faithful to be there for him.

Then the rest of the psalm is encouraging others. Encouraging us. Hey, I’ve been there. I know it’s hard. But he will not let your foot slip (verse 3). He will be your shade from oppression (verses 5 and 6). He will protect your soul from evil and keep it with him (verse 7). He will guard you (verse 8). This psalmist is the voice of evidence that you are good and an encouragement to those around him. To me sitting here today.

I was visiting with a friend yesterday who is experiencing pain that I have experienced. We shared our pain and our experiences. Our weaknesses. In some ways, I was like the psalmist trying to encourage her. And while my pain still exists, you’ve taught me to use it to form who I am in you and then encourage others in similar situations. Oh, how I pray that this friend does not experience the pain to the extent I have. Please, Father, be with that situation.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Then there is the pain of death. But Paul is being the psalmist here to the Corinthians. To us. To me. He is giving us comfort in the midst of our pain when we lose someone. Maybe when we fear our own death. He is reminding us of what the Old Testament prophets said about death.

I mentioned Saturday the friend who died suddenly. This is a time of disorientation for all who knew him, but especially his wife and children. Extreme disorientation. How could it not be. But I pray that they will find comfort. That you will raise up people to be your hands and feet to them. I pray that they will welcome in and accept the help and love you have for them. Be glorified, somehow, through this loss. Do not let this pain be wasted. Help his widow one day get to the point where she is the psalmist for others. Where she is encouraging someone else that their foot will not slip because of you. That you will be their shade. It won’t be today that she is the psalmist. And it won’t be tomorrow. But help her and all of your church to be that encouragement to a lost world and to all in the church who are currently disoriented. Help us to be what you need us to be so that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 13, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Psalms

 

Tags: , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

31 Aug

26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Dear God, I was talking to a friend yesterday about doing these prayer journals and how sometimes when others read them they tell me that they think I am a little hard on myself or ask if I’m okay. I always tell encourage them to spend some time writing down their prayers before you and do their best to honestly examine their own hearts before you. I think they will find that it is impossible to sit before you in an earnest manner and not feel a need to repent before you and find the things in their actions, thoughts, or attitudes that need corrected. And it’s a good thing. It’s quite therapeutic.

That’s what I thought of when I read verse 29 from 1 Corinthians 1 this morning: As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. No, I do not boast in myself. Oh, I’m tempted to. I’m tempted to point out to people how great of a person I am. How smart I am. How good I am at this, that, or the other. When I guest preach or sing a Sunday school class, I have to spend a lot of time in prayer about my ego and my motives for teaching or preaching. On my way to the church, one of the songs I always sing is Casting Crowns’s “Nobody“: I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul. Ever since you rescued me, you’ve given me a song to sing. I’m living for the world to see nobody but Jesus.

Father, be with me today. For every person I interact with, make me the man you need me to be. Love them through me. Love me through them. Teach me through them. Make me an instrument of blessing to the world, but not for my glory–for yours. Oh, Father, today, I am just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 31, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

12 Aug

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Dear God, we tend to think that sexual immorality wasn’t a thing until the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Before then, everyone waited until marriage, was faithful in marriage, and never had wandering eyes or lustful problems. But I suppose there is a reason prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession. There is this weird thing about our sex drive that really does create both beauty in our lives and huge problems if we let it.

I have no frame of reference for what prostitution was like two thousand years ago. Five thousand years ago. I think of the story in Genesis when Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law (widow of his son), thinking she is a prostitute. He is okay to join himself with a prostitute, but when he finds out the daughter-in-law is pregnant he is ready to have her killed until he realizes she is the woman he slept with (Genesis 38:12-29). How did Paul feel about that story?

Father, there are all kinds of addictions that are an issue in our lives. Food is certainly an issue for me. I have an unhealthy relationship with it. Portion control. The types of food I eat. Whatever it might be, I have a terrible time controlling myself with it. But the struggle gives me sympathy for others. It gives me empathy as well. None of us are as strong as we think we are. I certainly am not. So help me today. Help me to be at peace in your presence. Help me to hear your still small voice and follow it. Help me to be pure of heart, mind, soul, and body. Help me to love richly. Help me to be the man you need me to be for my sake, the sake of my family, and for the sake of your kingdom in this world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 12, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

21 May

10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”

13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. 16 (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) 17 For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Dear God, what role do I play in divisions? It’s probably more than I know. For example, there is a church in town whose message scares me a little because of its political overtones. How would I respond if I went to church there? How should I respond? Would I speak my peace to leadership privately and then join in worship? Would I silently disagree with what is happening and just try to be your presence? Would I let people know where I disagree and then sow dissent within the congregation? Heck. Even praying here right now, I’m not totally sure what the right thing to do would be.

Being a non-Catholic attending a Catholic church has actually given me a lot of freedom to silently disagree when I disagree. I know I’m the minority there. I know that the things I disagree about really don’t make much eternal difference. I know the people I’ve met there, nearly every single one, loves you deeply and worships you. So my disagreements are immaterial.

Perhaps that’s my answer. The way I live my life inside and outside of community (which hopefully is always the same) is going to say what I believe without me having to say it. And as long as I am in a church that preaches you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, our redemption and reconciliation to you through Jesus life death and resurrection, then even something with a more politically active focus than I’m comfortable with would just be another flavor about which I might even be wrong.

Father, let there be peace within your church, and let it begin with me. Help me to love everyone who calls on Jesus as their savior and reconciler to you as my sister or brother. From there, make my life and my activities about encouraging Jesus in the lives of others. I was thinking about a coworker this morning who is such a good woman, but just needs to enjoy what can be possible by fully sinking into you and pursuing you with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help me to know how to lovingly encourage that in her and everyone else with whom I come into contact today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 21, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

Acts 8:1-8

17 Apr

8 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.

Acts 8:1-8

Dear God, this passage from Acts actually plays into the verse of the day from Bible Gateway:

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

We are all foolish and we have no idea what you are up to, whether we believe in you or not. For Saul and the other Jewish leaders at the time, Jesus’s message as carried by his followers was foolish, but those who were being saved through that message knew what was coming from you out of it.

What strikes me about this passage is how those who thought they were winning were actually losing, and those who thought they were losing were actually winning. None of them had any idea in real time what what happening around them.

I know that Paul would look back on this time (when he was still Saul) with tremendous regret (1 Corinthians 15:9). I am sure he was horrified at what he did to persecute Christians before his own encounter with Jesus. And, frankly, I’m not sure anything less than the encounter he had on the road to Damascus would have converted him. When he was Saul, he thought he was winning and fighting the good fight for you. He was ignorant. In fact, he was losing because he was scattering your believers out of Jerusalem and spreading the message farther.

The people who were being persecuted probably felt like they were losing. I can imagine conversations between husbands and wives or friends and how they made their decisions to leave Jerusalem. I’m sure there was a lot of fear. Children were being uprooted and moved. Their friends were in prison and likely beaten or tortured.

So I’ve made that point there. The question for me today is what in my life feels like loss but is actually accomplishing your goals, and are there things where it feels to me like I’m “winning” when I’m actually losing? There are certainly sorrows that I lament every day. Are those “losses” somehow being used and redeemed by you? There are also areas of great success. Are any of those actually pitfalls that I should not embrace but discerningly question?

Father, at the end of the day, well, I just have no idea. I’m too small-minded. I’m too ignorant. But I’m here to worship you this morning. I’m here to submit to you. I’m here to try to do what you want me to do today. For the things that look like losses, I will look to you and see if there is anything for which I need to repent or if they are situations I should simply submit to. For the things that look like wins, I will try to critically look at them and discern if there is anything I need to do to see through any personal benefit I’m receiving (whether materially or emotionally) and determine how to worship you best through it. Holy Spirit, please help mem with all of this today.

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

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 17, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Acts

 

Lent Day 44

28 Mar

Dear God, Maundy Thursday. The Last Supper. The bread/body, wine/blood. The washing of the feet. The betrayal. The blood from sweat. The prayer to take the cup. The anguish. The healing. The prayer for our unity. So much happens. Thank you.

Here are today’s verses from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. Ironically, I have not hardly read the commentary from the book. Maybe 10% of it. I’ve almost exclusively just used the passages each day. Maybe I’ll go back and read it when I’m done.

  • AM Psalm: 102
  • PM Psalms: 142, 143
  • Jeremiah 20:7-11
  • John 17
  • 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32

Psalm 102 – When I started reading this psalm, which contains the introduction, “A prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before the LORD,” I thought of Jesus praying this psalm. The pain and the anguish. May I never forget the fully human nature of Jesus as he faced this. He didn’t get a divine intervention from this pain. He was fully you, but he was also fully Mary. Oh, Jesus, thank you.

Psalms 142 and 143 – Again, I imagine these words layered over Jesus’s experience nearly 2,000 years ago. The lament. The dread. The fear. The love. The submission. The devotion. The determination. The strength. The self control. The kindness. The goodness. The faithfulness. The patience. The gentleness. All of the fruits of the Spirit on full display that night. Amazing.

Jeremiah 20:7-11 – Jeremiah had moments of feel very rejected. Each day I fill out a 6-question survey on how I’m doing emotionally and physically and share it with a friend. It’s on a scale of 1-5, and the idea is to be able to see how your friend is doing at any given time. It has proved to really bond this friend and me together over the last 18 months. I have a tendency to use “4” as a baseline, bump it to 5 if things are fully engaged at that level in that particularly category, and let it drop to 3 or even 2 if it was a bad day. Most days are 4s and 5s, but sometimes I give a 3, and a few times I’ve given a 2 on some of the questions. I can imagine that Jeremiah had a lot of days that were filled with 2s. The path you had for him was certainly contentious and full of rejection by man. His pain was real. But your presence and comfort to him were real as well. Just as it was to Jesus as we began his final journey to crucifixion.

John 17 – Ah, the prayer at the Last Supper. I knew this chapter even before I opened it. Jesus prays for himself, Jesus prays for the disciples, and then he prays for all of us, including me. He will do more praying later in the garden–anguished prayer–but for now he is covering us in prayer. Father, answer those prayers, even today. Use things in our world that are happening in your Church that concern me, and redeem them for your ultimate glory. Bring us all to repentance for our idols. Help us to look only to you for our path forward.

1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32 – I need to be sure to find some time tonight to take your bread and drink your wine. I need to remember the body and the blood you gave for me. And the idols Paul mentions in 10:14. There is all kinds of idolatry. Anything that we look to for our fruits of the Spirit–especially peace (in my opinion)–instead of you. Our government? Our economy? Our spouse/significant other? Our children? Our job? Our reputation? I’ve been guilty of all of these and more. Please help me to be free from idols, look only to you for my peace, and help my friends and your Church to have our eyes opened to its idols, repent, and return to you.

Finally, I want to pray for a couple of friends experiencing the deaths of their mothers and one who lost their spouse, all this week. For the woman who tragically lost her spouse two days ago from an accident, please strongly support her in every way. Support her through this terrible time. Provide every need so that, ultimately, she might find rest in you. And for her children as well. For the two friends who lost their mothers this week, please comfort them. There is no one like Mom. Please help them and comfort them as, even at their older ages, they are motherless for the first time. Help them to find their rest and peace in you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and everything that the next 72 hours represents, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 28, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

Tags: ,

Lent Day 33

17 Mar

Dear God, I’m here to worship this morning. There are so many things running around in my head. It’s Sunday morning, so there are a couple of church things running around in my head. Then there’s some work stress. Then there’s family stuff. I’m still mourning the loss of a friend and thinking about her family. But in the midst of all of this, what I need to do is worship you. “Oh, God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you. I will seek you in the morning. And I will learn to walk in your ways. And step by step you’ll lead me. And I will follow you all of my days.” (Step by Step by Rich Mullins and Beaker) Lead me this day, Father. Step by step.

Here are the passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM Psalm: 118
  • PM Psalm: 145
  • Jeremiah 23:16-32
  • John 8:31-9:1
  • 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

Psalm 118 – It ends the same way it began. “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever” Lots of stuff in the middle, but this is the truth that bookends my life.

Psalm 145 – Lord, let me be someone in this generation who will commend you and your works to the next generation.

Jeremiah 23:16-32 – Oh, please help me not be someone who speaks and teaches things that are against you. Keep me from error and heresy. And give me the courage to speak against heresy when I see it. But please make my words align with your truth. Do not do anything false in me.

John 8:31-9:1 – Such a provocative scene between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. It’s almost hard to read.

1 Corinthians 9:19-27 – Oh, Lord, help me to run this race. Help me to carry your message of reconciliation between us and yourself to everyone around me.

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

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 17, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

Tags:

← Older posts