RSS

Category Archives: Hebrews

Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 19

19 Dec

14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Dear God, when I first read this passage this morning, it made me think of a sermon illustration I heard a year ago that talked about how you became incarnate on a planet of dogs in order to teach them and save them. I did a prayer journal on it at the time. Here is the illustration as I recorded it at the time:

A man had a dream one night, and he met God in his dream. He had been wondering about the incarnation and how it worked. “Why, God, did you have to come to earth as a man?”

God didn’t explain, but decided to show him why instead. He took the and they started traveling through space. Faster and faster until they started to approach a planet. When they arrived at the planet, still outside of its atmosphere, God stopped to tell the man about the planet. “This planet is controlled by dogs,” God said. “They are the highest life form here. The problem is, they are vicious dogs. They are cruel and mean. They destroy each other. They are filled with anger. But somehow, I want to help them. I want to teach them to love. I want them to know I exist and be in relationship with me. I want to show them how I love them. I want to help them take that love and give it to each other.”

The man replied, “That’s wonderful, Father. How will you do that?” 

“That’s where you come in,” God said. “I need you to do something for me. The only way to communicate with them is to become one of them. So I need you to go down there as a dog, tell them about me, and teach them through your example.” 

The man readily agreed. “Of course, I will do that for you and for them,” he said.

“There is a catch,” God added. “You won’t be able to teach them through coercion. That never works. You will need to come from a position of physical weakness to teach them what I need them to understand. They won’t learn if they are physically intimidated by you. So I am sending you as a chihuahua..” 

This caught the man off guard, but he saw the wisdom in it.

“There is another catch,” God continued. “In order to show them my power, you will have to die and let them kill you. Then, I will bring you back to life. This will show that you are truly my messenger and they should listen to you. It will be painful, but it is the only way. I cannot stand their viciousness with each other. I cannot be around it. So I need your perfect life to be a sacrifice for their sins, so that I will have a way to interact with them.”

Now the man was dreading this assignment for the first time, but he was willing to do anything God asked of him. He agreed to God’s terms.

But God wasn’t finished. “There is one more thing. When you are resurrected, you will remain a chihuahua for eternity. You will come to me and be with me, but you will be the chihuahua at my side. I am not a dog. I cannot relate to being a dog. But after you are a dog, I will need you to remain a dog so that you can continue to be my intermediary with them.”

It was then that the man fully understood what the incarnation of Jesus was all about, but instead of sending another sinful creature to be that intermediary, God was forced to send part of himself to earth. He was the only one capable of fulfilling this mission. This reconciliation with humans on earth. They are vicious, selfish, and cruel. But God loves us and wants to know him and live the lives of love and joy he has for us. So he sent a part of himself to teach us and sacrifice for us. To love us. To teach us about himself and what his love looks like. And to establish a way of being in relationship with us.

So here I am. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to learn about your son and what you taught me through him–through yourself and your own examples. Here I am to repent. Here I am to love you. Here I am to love others.

I reading Piper’s commentary on these verses, I liked what he said here: “Christ did not risk death, he embraced it. That is precisely why he came: not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). No wonder Satan tried to turn Jesus from the Cross! The Cross was Satan’s destruction.”

I really like that. Satan didn’t want it to happen because the Cross wasn’t Jesus’s destruction but Satan’s. The Cross was my pathway to life. The Cross was everything Satan did NOT want for me and the rest of the world.

Father, thank you for all of this. As I sit here this morning and pray through what you will have for me to share tonight at the special community Christmas service, let it be purely from you, about you, and for you and your purposes in our community and the world through the lives in that room and beyond. Let your Holy Spirit move mightily tonight.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 19, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

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

Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 14

14 Dec

6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

Hebrews 8:6

Dear God, the author of Hebrews uses an interesting description of Jesus here. It’s as one of “mediator.” You and Jesus are one, along with your Holy Spirit. So if I had been writing Hebrews (which I would NOT be qualified to do) I don’t think I would have used that description because it makes it sound like you had to be negotiated into it. We had an old contract that wasn’t working. We needed a new contract, but you were a reluctant part and we needed Jesus to negotiate with you. That just feels like an odd way to put it.

I think it’s important to see what the Hebrews author wrote after this in verses 7-13:

7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:

“The day is coming, says the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
    with the people of Israel and Judah.
9 This covenant will not be like the one
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the new covenant I will make
    with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
    and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
    nor will they need to teach their relatives,
    saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
    will know me already.
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
    and I will never again remember their sins.”

13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

He is referencing Jeremiah 31 here, and it’s such a beautiful sentiment. The picture is of you bending over backwards and doing everything you can to love us. To have relationship with us. To draw us to yourself.

Where does your benevolence end? I don’t know. What is the cut line between having eternal life with you and not having it? I don’t know. This passage makes it feel very broad. More broad, in fact, than I would have imagined. It sounds like you really made it beyond limits through Jesus. If that is true, that is amazing. The thing that catches me is that Jesus had so many parables about a sorting that will happen at the end of the age. So I do think that, to some extent, there will be a sorting, but I have a feeling you are taking a lot of things into account at that time.

I was thinking recently about some friends who are not followers of you, but they also have some extreme hurts from earlier in their lives that put a wedge between them and you. Those traumas pushed them towards different paths. I know in my own love for my children, I have a deep love for and longing to be in relationship with them even in times when they do not want me due to some hurt I may or not have been responsible for. But nothing pushes them out of the realm of my love. How much more so then are you willing to love me beyond the acting out in pain that I do.

Father, thank you for Jesus the High Priest. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for mediating a deal that is so gracious towards me. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for loving me and being here with me in this moment. I pray that you will wrap me up today as I go out and deliver gifts for Toys for Tots. Love the children through me. Love their parents through me. Be glorified through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 14, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 11

13 Dec

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. 17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Dear God, when I read this passage last night before I went to bed, I couldn’t help but think about the difference in perspective and knowledge the author of Hebrews had versus all of the characters we’ve read about so far in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 and 2. It’s a little like the movie Casablanca. It’s one thing to watch that movie when it came out–late1942–not knowing how World War II would end. Not knowing about D-Day, VE-Day or VJ-Day. Not knowing how Hitler would meet his end. The writers, director, actors, and crew making that movie had no idea what was going to happen. The audience going to the theater to see it for the first time had no idea what would happen. Their experience watching that movie is completely different from mine. I simply know things they couldn’t know. That no one could understand and appreciate until after Jesus’s resurrection, 40 days, and ascension. From Zechariah and Elizabeth, to Mary and Joseph, to the magi and Herod, they all thought he was going to be a king to free them. Maybe Simeon was the only one who knew something different was up (see Luke 2:34-35).

So going back to this passage, by the time this was written they were getting this thing figured out. Jesus didn’t come to wage a battle against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of this world (Ephesians 6:12). He came to make sure the Gentiles got grafted into the Kingdom too (Acts 10-11). It was all about putting a descendant of David (your son) on the ultimate throne forever, not some earthly, temporary throne.

Father, I just want to, once again, say thank you. Thank you for all of this. Thank you for being so much bigger than I can imagine. Thank you for loving so much more richly than you have to. Thank you for being so good in your nature that the closer I get to you the “good-er” I feel myself becoming. And when I say “good-er,” I mean less selfish, more faithful, and more loving to those around me. If that’s what I get when I get close to you, then you must be good as well. So thank you for all of this. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 13, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 12

12 Dec

8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

Hebrews 8:1-2

Dear God, I found out this morning (and it’s 6:00am now, so when I say, “morning,” I mean about an hour ago) that the topic I’m supposed to speak on at our community’s Church-to-Church Christmas Walk next week is “longing.” I had thought I was speaking on “celebration,” so now I need to shift gears a bit. Longing… Longing…

When I look at this passage and think about yesterday’s passage, I am reminded once again that the people before Jesus’s death and resurrection just had no idea of what was going on. No frame of reference. As I sit here and think about what I might say, what is coming to mind is this outline. I pray that this is from your Holy Spirit. I want to do my small part well:

  • Casablanca ignorance compared with the Jewish ignorance in the years between the Babylonian exile and Jesus.
  • They were longing to be freed from Rome. They were longing for Israel to be powerful again. To be a world leader. They were longing for a Messiah who would lead them there.
  • Jesus was offered every opportunity to be the Messiah they wanted, starting with the temptations Jesus experience with Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). But every time they tried to fit him into that mold he disappeared.
  • What Jesus offered was reconciliation of both the Jewish and Gentile soul to you. Jesus showed us your heart for us. He showed us what it could look like if loved others selflessly. Outside of getting away by himself to pray to you and spend time with you (which was obeying the most important commandment), Jesus did nothing for himself.
  • Hope: When I look at the world, what gives me hope? The hope that I have is that all of us, every single one of us, has a piece of our heart that longs for you. We find a lot of idols to try to meet that need. It might be human love, sex, drugs, work, food, accomplishment, accumulation of wealth, power and influence, etc. We have all of these things that we will look to that will make us feel important and our lives are worth living. And that the mistakes–the sins we commit–are okay. We want meaning. We want absolution. What we end up finding is a distraction that gets us to the end of life with no peace. But if we find you, we find peace. If we repent to you, we find absolution. If we worship and serve you we can simultaneously see we are on 1/6-billionth of the earth’s current population, but we are serving the God of all of it, we are loved by Him, and we doing our small part to be who he needs us to be. And when we fail we have a loving, forgiving God who forgives us and redeems our mistakes. When we are wounded, we have a God who heals our hearts.

Going back to this passage, you gave us a high priest in heaven. And here we are, all of us longing but only a few of us having our thirst quenched. And that doesn’t mean that those who find you don’t mourn. In fact, the mourning are blessed because they are comforted. It doesn’t mean they aren’t pour in spirit or in riches. It doesn’t mean they aren’t persecuted. Jesus made that clear. But relationship with you is the answer to our longing. Not power. Not glory. Not money. What will we do to avail ourselves of that relationship that is available to us? Will this Christmas be a chance for me to encourage others to find you and maybe help at least one person use that moment to count the cost, lay down their life, take up your cross, and follow you? As for myself, I pray that you help me to continue to evolve into the man you need me to be.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 12, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Hebrews 10:32-36, Jonah 3, Acts 17:22-34

24 Sep

32 Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. 33 Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34 You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Hebrews 10:32-36

Dear God, I had a thought cross my mind this morning: How do we bring the world to repentance? How do we bring the world, and our country, back to worshipping you with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and then loving our neighbors as ourselves? I see two options:

Jonah and Nineveh: When Jonah finally goes to Nineveh in chapter Jonah 3, he walks through the city and preaches that you will destroy the city in 40 days. So, in a way, there is still a threat of destruction here. They are just able to heed the warnings. They are able to come quickly to the end of themselves. It’s quite admirable how quickly the king and the people get there.

Suffering: Right now, I think there are some in the church who are admirably trying to be Jonah to our current society. They are trying to warn of your disappointment, displeasure, and a coming destruction. Some of them are more effective at it than others. Jesus offers a new Gospel than Jonah had to offer Nineveh, so it is not apples to apples. It is important to note that.

That leads me to an interesting question: What would Jonah’s message to Nineveh have been in a time that is after Jesus’s life, death and resurrection? Maybe it’s kind of like Paul preaching to the Greeks in Acts about the Unknown God (Acts 17:22-34). Instead of preaching fear and destruction, Paul preached reconciliation and relationship with you. Fruit of your Spirit growing within us. A changed life.

Father, I really don’t know that there is any turning of our collective hearts towards you at this point without some sort of suffering. And if that is what you have for us, I am okay with that. I’m not afraid of what happens if either Harris or Trump are elected president in November. I am not worried about preserving American Christian power and influence in the world. I am just worried about how you would have me influence the people you have put in my lives today. I am worried about loving you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I am worried about loving my neighbor as myself. I am worried about teaching people reconciliation to you. I am worried about teaching them about the God they don’t know. I’ve known you for 35 years, and I still have only scratched the surface of who you are. In fact, I don’t even think I’ve scratched the surface. But in this moment, right now, I just want to make my life a living sacrifice to you. All that I am for all that you are. My utmost for your highest.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
1 Comment

Posted by on September 24, 2024 in Acts, Hebrews, Jonah

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Hebrews 9:27-28

02 Jun

27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27-28

Dear God, it is interesting that this is the verse of the day for Bible Gateway while it is close to the New Testament reading for the Catholic church (Hebrews 9:11-15). For the Catholic church, today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. All of their verses of the day tie in Exodus 24 when Moses is talking about the blood of the sacrifice covering the Israelites, the Hebrews passage, and then Mark 14 when Jesus talks about his body and blood in the bread and the wine. I don’t know how the Bible Gateway people pick their verse of the day, but I noticed this one actually lined up pretty closely.

I prayed about this yesterday, but it’s still been on my heart. I just don’t know so much. One of the reasons I decided not to be confirmed Catholic was because I did not believe in the act of transubstantiation. And maybe I’m right. And maybe I’m wrong. And maybe I just hope that this isn’t one of those dealbreakers over which I will find myself on the other side of the cutline from fellowship with you. I want to be in communion with you. I want to experience communion itself. But if I do not believe the same thing about the Eucharist that Catholics believe then I know that they do not want me to take the sacrament with them. And that makes sense to me. I respect that.

I guess I’m saying all of this because I’m about to go and visit that mainline denomination church this morning that is going through the conflict over LGBTQ+ ordination I mentioned yesterday. I feel compelled to be there. Mainly to show love. I guess, in some way, I am passively lending my opinion that it’s not important we agree on this one issue anymore than it is important we agree on pre-marital sex, the ordination of women or divorced people, etc. There are only really a few things in Christianity, as far as I can tell, are definitely non-negotiable. The rest is working our faith out with you with fear and trembling, asking you to examine our hearts and purify us, and bring us to both repentance where needed and then complete worship of you and love for others.

Father, I honestly don’t know what Jesus would do if he were here this morning. I’d like to think he would be comfortable in any worship environment that elevated you and Lord of all. I’d like to think he would be comfortable at the Catholic church, the mainline church I mentioned, the new church that is starting today, or any other Christian church in town. He might even be comfortable in some of the churches that aren’t Christian, but they think their hearts are earnestly pursuing you. I don’t know. Help me to be Jesus this morning to the world around me. Help me to treat everyone with love.

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

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 2, 2024 in Hebrews

 

Hebrews 6:1-3

18 May

6 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

Hebrews 6:1-3

Dear God, this passage this morning reminded me of when I was in middles school and high school. I never went deeper. I never went beyond repenting and placing my faith in you. I attended a Baptist church where I walked the aisle several times, including regular church services and revivals. I went to Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) regional and national conferences and walked the aisle there too. But there was no discipleship. No change. No maturation of my faith. I needed to “move forward to further understanding.”

For example, forgiveness. My wife and I are reading a book called Habits for a Healthy Marriage by Richard Fitzgibbons, MD. for our couples group at church. We were reading chapter 1 last night and it was on forgiveness. Frankly, it wasn’t resonating with us because it felt like it was treating forgiveness as something you can just decide to do, but it can take a lot of work to become a person who knows how to truly forgive. I highlighted this one part: “When anger develops from something of this sort, there are three basic options for dealing wit this complex and powerful emotion: (1) deny it, (2) express it actively and passively, or (3) forgive the perceived injury.” My wife stopped me when I was reading the aloud and said that she thinks oftentimes people will just deny they are angry about something and then think they are forgiving the offense. I reflected back to her that, yes, there can sometimes be a fine line between denial and forgiveness.

This morning, we were talking about it again, and she told me about a forgiveness meditation she uses that is done by a Catholic nun. In it, you go to the cross, but you take the person who offended you with you. It sounded like a good way to working through actual forgiveness, and not just pretending like something didn’t happen (denial).

I guess my point is that discipleship is so important. I have a friend who is pastor of a local church, and they have been having a lot of baptisms lately, which is great, but they are really helping the newly baptized learn discipleship skills. They are trying to actually change lives by helping people truly reconcile to you and grow in you and not just check them off as baptized and then move on. I greatly appreciate that.

Father, I am still on my journey. It truly started 37 years ago when I attended an FCA Leadership Conference and they talked to us more about discipleship training for a week than they did about getting us “saved.” I still consider that to be my baptism in the Holy Spirit moment. So help me to continue to learn about your character and nature. Continue to transform me into who you have for me to be. Love through me. Bring people closer to yourself through me. Help mem to be part of baptizing people in your Holy Spirit. And help me to truly forgive, and not just deny I am hurt.

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

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 18, 2024 in Hebrews

 

Tags: ,

Hebrews 1:1-4

09 Apr

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Hebrews 1:1-4

Dear God, I assume Bible Gateway chose Hebrews 1:3 as its verse today because of the total solar eclipse we experienced yesterday in this part of the world. The idea of you, Jesus, radiating the Father’s own glory. You expressed the very character of God. You sustain everything by the might power of the Triune God. You cleansed me of my sin. You are now seated with the Father. I presume the Holy Spirit is here with me. What an amazing, awesome thing.

Yesterday’s eclipse was interesting. I happen to live in an area where we experienced “totality” for over four minutes. It was “awesome.” My wife and I used that word several times. Friends texted me that word later. “Awesome.” And yet it was just a simple reality of the moon moving between us and the sun and blocking most of the light for a few minutes. How much more awesome are you, but I take you for granted? How much more is who you are and what you put into place (including moons that can, from time to time, move in front of the sun) than the simple physical functions of the things that move around me?

Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, I worship you this morning. I confess that I simply cannot get my head around who you are. You are too great for me to begin to appreciate and understand. You are too much for me to adequately come to and worship. You are too amazing. If I really understood who you were I probably wouldn’t even be able to sit up straight right now as I type this. I would probably be lying prostrate on the ground and barely looking up as I type this feeble prayer. But you take me and my inadequacies anyway. You love me. You comfort me. You heal me. You forgive me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 9, 2024 in Hebrews

 

Hebrews 12:1-2

03 Apr

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear God, how do I strip off every weight that slows me down, especially the sin that so easily trips me up? How do I run with endurance the race you have set before me? I do it by keeping my eyes on Jesus. He initiates my faith. He perfects my faith. His life teaches me. And sometimes I am actually able to do this, and when I do it is amazing.

I went to a beautiful funeral yesterday. Such a good man. But someone told a story about this Godly man when he was a young husband and father. He and his wife got in an argument right before he was to fly to New York on business. He was still angry when he landed in New York and got in a taxi. The driver noticed he was upset (I would imagine this driver had seen a lot of upset people in his cab over the years) and mentioned it to him. He told the young husband/father that he looked upset and he had the answer for it. “Just say three times, ‘Jesus, come into my heart!'” After some cajoling, the husband/father said quietly, “Jesus, come into my heart.”

“Good! Say it again, but louder,” the driver instructed.

“Jesus, come into my heart,” the man said with more confidence and a little stronger.

“Okay, one more time, but this time like you really mean it.”

“Jesus, come into my heart!” the husband/father said and started laughing. Jesus was filling his heart in that moment.

I don’t know this man’s evolution as a discipling Christian. I don’t know where this story fits into his narrative, but it is an example of what the author of Hebrews is saying here: keeping your eyes on Jesus, the initiator and perfector of our faith.

Before I go, let me say one thing. This taxi driver. What a legacy he left just by this one simple act of faith. Like the widow Jesus pointed out who “gave more than all these” by putting in her two little coins because she did it out of faith. She never knew the impact she would have through her act of faithfulness that day. She never knew I would be using her as an illustration 2,000 years later. And this taxi driver has no idea what kind of dominoes he knocked over by his witness that day.

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

I pray this through Jesus, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 3, 2024 in Hebrews

 

Lent Day 46

30 Mar

Dear God, before I get into today’s passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I want to look at something the priest read yesterday when I attended a “Stations of the Cross” service at our local Catholic church. This is an excerpt from the 12th Station: 

My people, what have I done to you? 
Or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me. 
What more should I have done and did not do? 
I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for me.
I opened the Red Sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance.
I gave you a royal scepter, and you give given me a crown of thorns.
With great power I lifted you up, and you have hung me upon a cross.
My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me.
(from the Reproaches of Good Friday)

There are shades of your speech to Job in this, but it’s very convicting for me because I know that if your time on earth had come now and not 2,000 years ago, I would be as guilty as any. I wouldn’t have gone to see you, so my attitude would have been more apathy that hatred, but I certainly would not have worshipped you or even defended you.

But there is a question that is asked here that people today could stand to answer: “What more should I have done and did not do? There are some example of human suffering I hate such as sex trafficking and war, but even those are manmade. What do I expect you to do to stop them? How do I expect you to intervene in our lives to smite the bad people and build up the good? Who is to say which side of the cutline from good and bad I would be on? You, of course. But my point is whenever I have stopped to think about how things should be different–how the Bible could be better or more clear and concise, how you should approach evil in the world, etc.–I have no idea. We are who we are as humans. Maybe I could take issue with how you created us in the first place, free will and all, but I cannot take issue with who you are and how you love us. What more should you do that you have not done?

Here are today’s passages. It’s interesting that there is no Gospel reading. Jesus is apart from us for the time being. Part of our God has died, sacrificed for me. Amazing

  • AM Psalms: 88, 95
  • PM Psalm: 27
  • Job 19:21-27a
  • Romans 8:1-11
  • Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalms 88, 95 – Once again, they are pairing the worship of Psalm 95 with a lament psalm. In this case, it is Psalm 88. My wife mentioned yesterday a sermon she heard saying that Jesus might have had Psalm 88 in mind as he walked his path yesterday. I would love to be able to see into Jesus’s mind that morning as he walked a brutal and terrible road.

Psalm 27 – “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” That’s what we are doing now as we wait for Jesus’s resurrection. It’s also kind of the word I was getting from you way back at the beginning of Lent: Patience. Wait. I will wait patiently, Father. I will not force my own timing or agenda. I will wait.

Job 19:21-27a – I almost wish they had left our verses 21-24 because those are words of Job I think you would take issue with. But the faith beyond his ignorance in verses 25-27 is beautiful: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Yes! Yes!

Romans 8:1-11 – “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Sprit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Oh, Father, bring my spirit your life through your Spirit. Live in me! Forgive me of my sin. Forgive the mess of my bodily temple. Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for me to have the Holy Spirit in me.

Hebrews 4:1-16 – Lord, teach me what I am supposed to carry with me past this Lenten season. What should my time in scripture look like? Prayer? Service? Loving my family? Impact on my sphere of influence? In the case of this passage, Sabbath? Show me what to do. Reveal your truth to me.

Oh, Father, I offer this prayer to you in the name of Jesus, your son, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 30, 2024 in Hebrews, Job, Lent 2024, Psalms, Romans

 

Tags: , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →