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The Truth: Excerpt from “Everything Sad is Untrue” by Daniel Nayeri

05 Aug
This is a four-minute excerpt from the audiobook of Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Dear God, my wife played this audio clip for me yesterday. It’s from a book by Daniel Nayeri about his childhood. What makes his life unique and book-worthy? Well, he was an Iranian boy who had to flee to the United States with his mother and sister after his mother became a Christian and her life was in danger. Talk about persecution and giving up your life for your faith, this woman came from a wealthy, well-connected family. She gave it all up because she found Jesus and, to quote Mr. Nayeri’s description:

And here’s the part that’s hard to believe. Zima [sp?], my mom, read about [Jesus] and became a Christian too. Not just a regular one who keeps it in their pocket. She fell in love. She wanted everybody to have what she had. To be free. To realize that in other religions you have rules, and codes, and obligations to follow to earn good things, but all you had to do with Jesus was believe he was the one who died for you. And she believed.

When I tell the story in Oklahoma, this is the part where the grown-ups always interrupt me. They say, “Okay, but why did she convert?” Because up to that point, I’ve told them about the house with the birds in the walls. All the villages my grandfather owned. All the gold. My mom’s own medical practice. All the amazing things she had that we don’t have anymore because she became a Christian. All the money she gave up. So we’re poor now. But I don’t have an answer for them. How can you explain why you believe anything? So I just say what my mom says when people ask her. She looks them in the eye with the begging hope that they’ll hear her, and she says, “Because it’s true.” Why else would she believe it? It’s true and it’s more valuable than $7 million in gold coins, and thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and ten years of education to get a medical degree, and all of your family, and a home, and the best cream puffs of Jolfa [sp?], and even maybe your life. My mom wouldn’t have made the trade otherwise. If you believe it’s true that there’s a God and He wants you to believe in Him, and He sent His Son to die for you then it has to take over your life. It has to be worth more than everything else. Because heaven is waiting on the other side.”

So now I’m left humbled and convicted. What has following you ever really cost me? Maybe some family relationships, but I’m not even convinced that why I lost those relationships. If it is, then it has, indeed, cost me dearly, and I confess that I struggle with that sometimes. I wonder if loving you, following you and worshipping you cost me that and I wonder if I should regret my faith and discipleship. I do wonder sometimes. I’m sorry for that. The good news, I suppose, is that I’m very aware that I would be a mess if you were not my God and I didn’t know you better each day.

Father, this was beautiful. I pray for Mr. Nayeri and his family. Oh, God, please guide him. His mother. His sister. His father back in Iran. Any other family new members that now exist. Please help them to feel your love. Your presence. Your provision. Raise up your Church to love on them. Raise up people who will be your blessing of fruits of the Spirit to them. Please make the truth of who you are a good thing for them. And for all of the pain they have experienced in the past and continue to experience, please make it all count. Don’t let any of it be wasted.

I pray all of this completely submitted to the truth of who you are,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 5, 2023 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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James 1:19-27

02 Aug

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1:19-27

Dear God, there is a lot here. I wonder if I should bullet-point these instructions from James:

  • Slow to speak
  • Quick to listen
  • Slow to anger
  • Get rid of filth/evil
  • Humbly accept your word
  • Do what your word says
  • Control my tongue
  • Care for orphans and widows
  • Don’t allow myself to be corrupted

That’s a lot for 9 verses. But I guess it all comes back to the same thing: Find my peace in you and let your Spirit flow through me. If the fruits of the Spirit are growing in me then I will care more about others than I care about myself. In the words of Ted Lasso, I will learn to be curious, not judgmental. I will listen. I will replace a lot of my anger with sympathy and empathy. Of course, I will hear your word and obey it. And I will keep myself from corruption because I won’t be looking for selfish gain.

Father, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you. Jesus, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you. Spirit, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you.

I pray all of this submitted to your authority over me,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 2, 2023 in James

 

“How could my heart turn away? Jesus, I love you.”

31 Jul

“How could my heart turn away? Jesus, I love you.”

Dear God, these were the words in a praise song I was singing at a worship service last night that…well, I don’t know how to say it. I guess I questioned whether I really meant it: “Jesus, I love you.” I love the Trinity. I love all three persons that make up your being. And I am really, really grateful for Jesus’s example, life, and then sacrifice of death for my sins. I truly am. And I do love Jesus. But I guess there are always those difficult things that Jesus did that I don’t understand. Maybe I’m still not at peace with them.

I wonder if this is why I never imagine myself praying to Jesus when I pray. I pray in my heart to the Father. I pray in my heart to the Holy Spirit–that part of the Trinity which Jesus said he would send to help us. I guess, theologically, I’ve wondered if we haven’t put too much emphasis on Jesus’s current role in our daily lives and accidentally deemphasized the part of your nature that you sent to dwell in us–the Holy Spirit. Your Holy Spirit.

I told a friend today that I’ve been feeling a little dry spiritually lately. It probably has something to do with the resurgence of some souring family relationships that break my heart. It might even have something to do with the dog days of summer and just how oppressive hot, cloudless, rainless days over and over again can be. But it’s in times like this that I think it’s important to keep showing up. Keep worshipping you–both corporately and privately. Keep praying. Keep serving. I guess that’s the point Mother Teresa got to in her life. Apparently, she felt a separation from you she never overcame. I’m certainly not in that kind of place, thankfully. I wonder if hers was a result of just seeing so much human suffering with human eyes. That can be hard to square with a loving God in our own wisdom. Sometimes, I think the reason some Christians keep themselves in a protective bubble is because it is easier to understand you in that context. It is the suffering, both experienced and witnessed, that can be hard (see Job and his friends). But it can also be what brings us to a whole new level of faith (see Job).

Father, I love you. Jesus, I love you. Holy Spirit, I love you. I don’t fully or even mostly understand the Trinity and your make-up, but I know that I am a grateful man who lays himself before you.

With all my love, and through the grace of Jesus I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 31, 2023 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

1 Timothy 2

29 Jul
This image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups compiled by Ned Bustard. The image is called “Eve with Fruit” and was created by Tanja Butler.

2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 5 For,

There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. 7 And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth.

8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

9 And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. 10 For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.

11 Women should learn quietly and submissively. 12 I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. 13 For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

1 Timothy 2

Dear God, I have to say, this is a tough one for me, starting with verse 11. Paul was so good with women and liberating to them. Jesus was the same. That’s what makes 1 Timothy 2:11-15 really hard for me. That and the fact that I know so many women who have something to teach me. Locally, my favorite preacher I’ve heard in town is a woman. She is the associate pastor of a church, but if I ever happen to visit on a day when she is preaching it is a good thing. I like her.

And I have to say, Paul blaming Eve for the fall back in the garden seems a little harsh too. Was Adam not there? Not a part of it? I just stopped this prayer to go and grab a biblical commentary written by Gary Demarest. He leaned into the idea of supporting women in leadership and confining Paul’s words to Timothy’s specific situation where he was serving and not women overall. He used Paul’s words in support of women serving and playing a major part in Christianity in other books such as Romans and Philippians to back that up. Overall, I don’t think Paul thought we would be still reading this specific letter he was writing to Timothy 2,000 years later.

With all of that said, what is this image of Eve created by Tanja Butler and what did she see in this story that she put down through this image? Frankly, it is hard for me to make a lot out in this image.

  • I see Eve with long hair cascading over her body. She appears to have not clothes, so this is “pre-fall.”
  • She is looking up as if looking at the fruit in the branches of the tree.
  • I see leaves and round items that I assume are the fruit she eats.
  • It looks like her hands are clasped together, but I don’t think she has a piece of the fruit yet. I think she’s just eyeing it longingly.
  • I’m surprised that I don’t see the serpent or Adam. I think Butler has her alone in this moment. I assume Satan has done his work and left her to sit with her temptation. Adam isn’t there to talk through it with her. It’s just her and the fruit. I’ve had that loneliness with temptation before. Just me, alone, longing to do something I shouldn’t do.

Bustard has an interesting take on the Adam and Eve story in his commentary on this passage and piece of art:

In a perfect world the only perfect and sinless woman that ever lived was fed the first lie…[ellipses his] and she bit. In the Garden of Eden, while sitting under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve was tricked. On the other hand, her husband was not taken in. Adams broke the Law knowingly. And he was punished for his disobedience. But that was not the end of it. Since Adam was the representative for all of humanity, his wife and all of their children were also punished for his sin in perpetuity. Part of the punishment was that both Adam’s labor and Eve’s labor were saddled with pain. As men and women have complementary gifts, they also have complimentary cursings. yet there is hope. Paul says that even in spite of the conditions of the curse (like the dangers of childbirth), the descendants of Even and Adam will be saved–if they continue on in the faith.

Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups, page 242.

Father, I think for me and this image, what is sticking with me is the solo image of Eve struggling with temptation. As I said, I’ve been alone with temptation before, whether in my office at work thinking through options to a problem, to being at home and wanting to do things that might satisfy my own desires and/or addictions. I guess this gives me a fresh look at the words, “And lead me not unto temptation, but deliver me from evil.” I offer that to you as my prayer this morning.

I pray this through the grace you offer me in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 29, 2023 in 1 Timothy, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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“Forever” by Third Day

28 Jul

“Forever” by Third Day

I see a hand reaching out to help me
But I don’t understand all of your ways
You are still the Potter and I am just the clay
And though I know at times I am too proud
To reach for You, to help me out
And if I waited on myself to get it right
I would be waiting here forever

Your grace is never going to change
Your faith will always remain
Your love is the same yesterday, today, and forever

I see a world looking for an answer but I don’t know what for
When will we realize that we’re sinners in the hands of a loving God who came
And died and wants to set us free
Oh how he longs to be with you and me
And if we waited on the truth to change
We would be waiting here forever

Your grace is never going to change
Your faith will always remain
Your love is the same yesterday, today, and forever

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Brian Holland / Freddie Gorman / Lamont Herbert Dozier

Dear God, this is almost a continuation from yesterday’s prayer. It plays off of Hebrews 10:31

31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

When I read this for the first time this week a few days ago, it made me think of the line in the second verse of this song that says, “We are sinners in the hands of a loving God who came and died to set us free.” I believe this line from the song is also a twist on the sermon by Jonathan Edwards in the 1740s called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Reading the Wikipedia description of this sermon, I found this diary entry from pastor Stephen Williams, who was in attendance:

[B]efore the sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying out through the whole house — “What shall I do to be saved?” “Oh, I am going to hell!” “Oh what shall I do for a Christ?” and so forth — so that the minister was obliged to desist. [The] shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing. After some time of waiting, the congregation were still, so that a prayer was made by Mr. Wheelock, and after that we descended from the pulpit and discoursed with the people, some in one place and some in another. And amazing and astonishing: the power [of] God was seen and several souls were hopefully wrought upon that night, and oh the cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenances that received comfort. Oh that God would strengthen and confirm [their new faith]! We sang a hymn and prayed, and dispersed the assembly.

I bolded part of his diary because that is probably the most amazing thing I’ve seen in myself and others when they come to faith in Jesus and accept your grace through him: “cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenance that received comfort.” I’ll be frank, Father. I don’t know how I feel about threatening people with hell in order to get them to accept you, but I do know that whenever anyone makes that decision regardless of the motive, the relief and forthcoming joy after that relief is palpable.

So back to this song, for the last two days I’ve had it going in my head when I woke up in the morning. It’s been nice, and I’ve liked it. So I thought I would look at it a little and spend some time with it this morning in your presence.

Here’s the first verse again:

I see a hand reaching out to help me
But I don’t understand all of your ways
You are still the Potter and I am just the clay
And though I know at times I am too proud
To reach for You, to help me out
And if I waited on myself to get it right
I would be waiting here forever

So I truly don’t understand all of your ways. I never will this side of heaven. I can’t figure out the future. I can’t dictate what will happen in the next moment, much less the following years. Sure, I can influence by my actions, but there is no way I can see how the dominoes will fall. I also know that I cannot undo all of the things I’ve done wrong–to you or to others. I simply need grace and to learn from those mistakes so I won’t do it again.

I see a world looking for an answer but I don’t know what for
When will we realize that we’re sinners in the hands of a loving God who came
And died and wants to set us free
Oh how he longs to be with you and me
And if we waited on the truth to change
We would be waiting here forever

This is just kind of an exasperated moment. I think the writer is even exasperated with himself. He uses the collective “we” in the second line. But we do. We pursue happiness. We pursue self-fulfillment. We pursue peace. We pursue what essentially turn out to be the fruits of your Spirit, but we try to grow them by planting our seeds in rocks and thorns. In fact, I really enjoyed the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, and a lot of people who watched it loved it. It finally occurred to me that it was teaching pursuing the fruits of the Spirit. The problem is that it was doing it apart from you so it needed a contrived television script to pull it off. People are hungering for your fruit. They just don’t want to humble themselves and risk losing themselves. What they do not realize is that surrender brings them to a freedom through which they can find themselves.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, my Triune God, I give you all my praise and worship. Thank you that your grace is never gonna change and your will always remain, and your love is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 28, 2023 in Galatians, Hymns and Songs, Matthew

 

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Hebrews 10:26-31, 32-11:1

26 Jul

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said,“I will take revenge.I will pay them back.”He also said,“The Lord will judge his own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 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. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 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. “For in just a little while,the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith.But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Hebrews 10:32-11:1

Dear God, this all started with Hebrews 11:1 being the verse of the day for Bible Gateway. I decided to go back and look at the context for this fairly famous verse: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” It’s interesting to see the ramp up to that verse that was arbitrarily cut off from the preceding verses by someone deciding there could be a chapter break put right there.

With that said, the thoughts that stand out to me are, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and the faith the author of Hebrews is specifically referring to here is one that is the desperate faith a person has in your existence that comes in the midst of suffering for that faith.

My first inclination is to say that I haven’t suffered for my faith in you, but it occurs to me that I actually have to some extent. There is one family member in particular who is very disdainful of my faith. And I’ll admit that there are times when I imagine that person reading something like this and judging me harshly. Disdainfully. I think that he somehow thinks my faith in you cheated him somehow. That it made his life worse. That breaks my heart. It also sometimes makes me ashamed of my faith (I sat here a second before I wrote the word “ashamed” because I wasn’t sure that was the right word to use, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was, indeed, the right word).

So why am I still here even though I sometimes feel ridiculed and judged for my faith in you? Even though I feel ashamed? Well, because I truly believe in you. I truly believe you are the God. Jesus is truly your son/my savior who offers me grace in the midst of all of my sin. “Beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, peace for despair.” (“Beauty for Ashes” by Crystal Lewis and Isaiah 61:3)

Father, what do I have but you? Holy Spirit, who can comfort, counsel, and guide me but you? Jesus, who can heal and give me grace but you? You are my God. I pray for the fruits of your Spirit to be known to those around me. I love them.

I pray this in the name of the Triune God,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 26, 2023 in Hebrews

 

Matthew 20:20-28

25 Jul

20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked.

She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

22 But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

24 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:20-28

Dear God, “but among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.” That’s probably what I need to hear this morning.

I need to reframe my mind. It needs to start with being yours. Your worshipper. Your servant. And then I need to carry that to my wife, my children, my coworkers, and our clients. I cannot demand any kind of respect. I just need to be your slave.

Father, I am sorry for comparing myself to others. I am sorry for thinking that I deserve something over someone else, or for getting indignant when someone else tries to advance themselves over me. That is not your way. I must decrease so that you can increase in my life. Help me, Father, to decrease joyfully and with a servant’s heart. Thank you for having so many people pray for my wife and me this week. We need it.

I pray all of this through my submission to you and faith in Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 25, 2023 in Matthew

 

1 Corinthians 5:9-11, 6:9-11

22 Jul

The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups compiled and written by Ned Bustard. The image is called “The Monkey and the Bride” and was created by Ned Bustard as well.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11, 6:9-11

9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer[j] yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Dear God, I read this passage and then I spent some time looking at this image. What did I see?

  1. A woman bent over
  2. A monkey riding on her back as if riding a horse and using her hair as reins (the monkey is holding a banana with his/her tail for good measure)
  3. I see a broken piggybank below her
  4. There is some kind of portrayal of a round man next to the piggybank. Is this gluttony? A false god? Not sure, but it doesn’t seem good
  5. Is that a church in the backgroud, down the road? The Holy Spirit fire coming out of the top?
  6. Certainly, there is a dove representing the Holy Spirit (triangle for Trinity) offering the woman a crown

One thing I didn’t notice without Bustard’s description of the piece is that the woman is “bruised and battered by the ravaging effects of sin.” Isn’t it funny that the part of me that is still sexist expects the sinful person to be portrayed as a man and not a woman. I just don’t think about women being in sin as much as men. For example, when I think of alcoholics, I think of men and not women. My wife visits a treatment center for women once a month, and when she first started doing it I was just having a harder time thinking about the women being so flawed. What it is about me that sees men as much more flawed and sinful than women? Is it my knowledge of myself and knowing how awful I can be? How awful men can be?

Regardless, there is the Holy Spirit in the bottom of the picture, positioning himself where the woman can see him. Not flying in from above, circling the woman. Not waiting over by the church. No, Bustard put the Holy Spirit on the ground, right below her, right in her line of sight, offering her the crown that you offer to all of us and a path to your community (the church). Will she accept? Will she reject the monkey, confess the things that bring her shame and then move towards your peace? Or will she continue to walk on by, rejecting the Holy Spirit’s offer?

Father, this is the part when I try to put myself in the woman’s place. What monkeys are riding me and using my hair as reins to control me? Are they the sins of sexual immorality, greed, or idolatry? Maybe it’s the sins of lethargy and self-indulgence. Even today, I’ve had all day to spend with you, but I waited until a slow moment in the afternoon–after 4:00pm–to break from my own selfish agenda and discipline myself to sit here. But I am here now. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for nudging me and bringing me in here. Thank you for the freedom you offer me from the monkeys/demons that want to destroy me and steal the joy you have for me. Thank you for…well, everything.

I pray all of this through the grace of Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 22, 2023 in 1 Corinthians, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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1 John 1:6,8,10

20 Jul

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth….If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth….If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
1 John 1:6,8,10

Dear God, so I skipped verse 5, 7, and 9 intentionally. They are the ones we want to read. They are the opposites of these verses. We don’t like to think of ourselves and “lying,” “living in spiritual darkness,” “fooling ourselves,” or “calling [you] a liar.” No, I like to think of myself as all of the good things. But am I “fooling [myself]?” Maybe.

I was speaking with a woman in line at the post office yesterday, and we were talking about showing kindness to people who are working in a place that is understaffed. In context, we were abut 5th and 6th in line and there was only one person working the counter. I could tell he was overhearing our conversation and he seemed grateful that we were saying out loud, “Everyone is shorthanded. Be kind to those who show up.” In talking with her, I gave her a compliment. I said, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve told one of our volunteers. You’ve heard of ‘resting b**** face?’ Well, you have ‘resting joy face.'”

Father, the fruits of the Spirit include love, joy, and peace, not to mention patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Help me to exude all of these today. Not in a manufactured way, but in a way that goes back to verse 6. Help them to flow as fruit that grows in me out of my fellowship with you. And do it all for your glory so that others might be drawn to you.

I pray all of this through the grace you extend to me by Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2023 in 1 John

 

1 Chronicles 29:10-14

17 Jul

10 Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 

1 Chronicles 29:10-14

Dear God, I attended a Summer Adoration and Benediction of the Holy Eucharist event at the local Catholic church last night where my wife, who is Catholic, and I (who am not Catholic) attend. I have to say, it was one of the most worshipful group experiences I’ve had in a while. Just lovely. It was great to sing to you with such depth and yet softness. Those who were leading the singing had the perfect pitch to their voices. And the acoustics in that old cathedral combined with the soft, simple piano (and by simple, I mean, in the best way, what seemed to be an intentional shunning of elaborate keyboarding and just simply embracing the melody and the chords in a soft way) just invited me in to rest in your lap and sing to you. Here is the program for the evening:

With that said, this passage from 1 Chronicles was the first passage read. I thought it a very fitting beginning to the service. Great work by David here. Good, clean worship–without wishing death on his enemies. This one line didn’t stand out as much to me last night as it does tonight: Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. For David, this was him claiming your authority over him and over Israel. For me, I want to claim your authority over my life and everything over which I might have influence. Not that I have the power over anything like David did over Israel, but to whatever extent I have influence, I yield it to you.

Father, you know my aches. You know my joys. They are all yours. My life is all yours. Help me to remember that this evening as I lie down to sleep. Help me to remember that in the morning as I go to work and share your love with those around me. O Lord, whatever I have is yours.

I pray all of this through the grace of Jesus’s blood,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2023 in 1 Chronicles

 
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