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1 Chronicles 29:11

04 Jun

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.
1 Chronicles 29:11

Dear God, sometimes I just need to stop and worship you. I forget to worship sometimes, and I’m sorry for that. I get into my thoughts, my pursuit of you, my problems, or just my desire to become the man you have for me to be that I lose track of how amazing you are and how humbling it is to really be in your presence.

I was listening to a podcast this week about aliens and what it would mean for humanity if they were real. For some, you aren’t big enough to account for aliens. They were actually debating whether Jesus’s death here on earth would be enough to cover an alien’s sin and reconcile them to you (I think that’s when I turned it off). They were discussing us being made in your image and how Adam was the highest form of your creation so if there is a species greater than us what does that mean about you?

Frankly, I see all of those topics as rubbish. As far as I’m concerned, you created it all. You are big enough to understand the car reaches of the universe. You know exactly how it is all out together. You know the worlds you created and the other life you created. You know what it takes to reconcile whatever needs to be reconciled to you. So stepping back from that amazing, macro level and drilling down to my little life, you are aware of everything about me as well. The expanses into my psyche. The desires and even sins of my flesh. You know about my situations and my prayer requests. You care about me. You love me. You work all things together for my good.

Father, I stand, sit, prostrate myself in awe of you. You are God. I am not. Lead me today. I have a friend who is dying. I’m going to go and visit him in a bit. Please guide his family and give me your words for him. Give his wife wisdom and strength. For my friends recovering from injuries and in the hospital. Please be the God of their healing. Make this pain count in their lives. Do it all for your glory, oh, Lord.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 4, 2021 in 1 Chronicles

 

Proverbs 15:1

03 Jun

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.
Proverbs 15:1

Dear God, I wonder if anyone ever built a fortune cookie company out of Proverbs. Each of them are seemingly isolated. I don’t know who broke them into chapters (was it the King James translators?), but they would seem just about impossible to organize. I guess one project that would be interesting would be to write each on down on a spreadsheet, build categories, and then sort them by category to see if I can find any unique patterns in the ones from similar categories. For example, this one would fit into a category I could call conflict. What could I learn by reading other proverbs on conflict by reading them together?

That being said, for this morning’s purposes, I hope I lived up to this wisdom recent with some people with whom I’ve disagreed. At the same time, there were issues that needed to be addressed. Silence wasn’t an option. Ironically, no matter how gentle I tried to be, I still don’t think my words were heard in the spirit in which I meant them. In one case in particular, the listener pretty much only heard things through the filter they brought into the conversation. As long as I had a particular stance, they were not going to hear anything else, regardless of how I said it.

Father, I don’t know what else to do by your figure out how to somehow lovingly press on, even though the road can be lonely. There are simply some things and some relationships that are outside of my ability to maintain on my own. Help me to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 3, 2021 in Proverbs

 

Revelation 21:1-4

01 Jun

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Revelation 21:1-4

Dear God, why are you telling us this? Why did you describe things in Revelation through John in such ambiguous ways? There are times when—well, I just haven’t had a lot of use for Revelation in my walk with you. I know it’s out there. I know it gives warnings for your people (and me). I know it describes some scary things as well as some hopeful and exciting things. But it can be so metaphorical that it’s hard to know what to take from it so I just kind of ignore it.

I guess one question to ask myself is what difference it would make if Revelation weren’t here and the Bible ended with Jude. what would it be like to not have any vision for hope? What would it be like to not have the warnings? What would it be like of you just told us in plain terms what you were trying to communicate in Revelation. Why the allegory? Well, when I consider my life and what it would be like without these descriptions, it feels like an emptier life. Even a promise of heaven seems smaller without the vague, incomprehensible descriptions John gives us. The warnings for the different churches are important too. They are warnings for me about not losing my first love, pursuing idols, etc.

Father, you have worked all of this together for my good—even in ways I cannot comprehend. I don’t always understand the ramifications of what you’ve done or what you are doing, but I know you are doing it. My faith is in you. Thank you for everything.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2021 in Revelation

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

31 May

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Dear God, where did Paul get this? Was he always right about some of these things? Did he misunderstand any of this end-of-time stuff? I think it’s safe to say that he thought Jesus would return much sooner than 2,000 years after his ascension. But did he have the rapture wrong? And I’m not trying to question Jesus’s ultimate return. I just wonder if it might be in a paradigm or reality that is beyond our human comprehension.

My own personal theory, which is not to be taken as truth is that death is at the intersection of when we cease to experience our “time” and we start to experience your “timelessness.” I know of too many stories of people experiencing heaven immediately, only to return. But I actually have one that is greater than that. When my mother-in-law died, my niece, who was, I think, 2 at the time, saw my mother-in-law in her home within minutes of her death. It was about 5:00 in the morning, she was with her mom, and she said, “Ama?” (That was her name for her grandmother.) Her mom asked her why she saw, and she said to yer mom, “Ama’s not scared.” It was only a few minutes later that her mom found out that AMA had just died.

I remember my mother talking about my grandmother being on her deathbed in the hospital and she reported seeing dead relatives in her room. I completely believe all of these stories.

There’s even one from Jesus’s own life. He got to hang out with Moses and Elijah. Now Elijah never died so we can see how he might be there, but if Moses was waiting for either Jesus’s death and resurrection or Jesus’s return in the rapture, how did he get there?

Father, at the end of the day, I don’t have to understand any of this as absolute truth. Frankly, I don’t think I’m capable of comprehending the absolute truth. What gives me peace is that I believe the reality you provide is for my good, and I can be at peace in my life, my death, and the lives and deaths of my friends because you have provided Jesus for my and our reconciliation, and your love is bigger than my ability to screw it up.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 31, 2021 in 1 Thessalonians

 

Discernment

29 May

Dear God, I’ve never been great at reading people. I tend to play things pretty straight so I expect others are doing the same. I forget to look beneath the facade someone is showing me and try to see what might be driving their motivations. I mean, I’ve gotten better at it over the last 10 or 15 years. I at least recognize the need to do it. One of the first things I do for new volunteers and employees at our clinic is show them a Chick-fil-a training video called “Every Life Has a Story.” It shows a camera panning through a Chick-fil-a restaurant, zooming in on each person, including the staff, and revealing a fact about their personal life in a caption beneath their smiling or not smiling face. If only we all came with captions.

There are some people around me that I need to really live up to being better about reading what’s going on beneath the surface. My wife. My children. My staff. My friends. I was talking with one recently, and I just knew that the words I was hearing didn’t match the demeanor I was reading. There was an unconvincing disconnect that told me things were not as they were trying to portray. Responding to that disconnect is another thing altogether.

Father, make me the husband, father, and friend you need me to be for those around me. Help me to know when and how to reach out, and when and how to remain silent. Help me to be what you need me to be in each life so that I would consider my own life worth nothing to me, but that I might complete the task and finish the race you have given to me, regardless of what it costs me. For your glory and your plan, oh Lord.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2021 in Miscellaneous

 

Sirach 44:1,9-13

28 May

Now will I praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time. But of others there is no memory, for when they ceased, they ceased. And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them. Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten. Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants. Through God’s covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake. And for all time their progeny will endure, their glory will never be blotted out.

Sirach 44:1,9-13

Dear God, I don’t normally look at the apocrypha, and I am not familiar with it at all. But I looked at the Old Testament reading for the Catholic church today, and this seems to fit with my current situation. Key words from this passage: ancestors, children, virtues, heritage, descendants, posterity, endure, glory. It’s what we all hope for, I suppose. At least a lot of us do. I certainly feel the weight of passing on things to my children and grandchildren that were passed on to me. I want there to be integrity and honesty. Humility and a strong work ethic. A willingness to sacrifice for what is right. A reputation of honor.

Sometimes it can be hard to know how to live up to these ideals myself, much less pass them on to my children. How do I ask them to be something I am not? And then when it is time to try to mold them through the responsibility you have given to me, how do I do it in mercy and love, while still not sacrificing the lesson you might have for them in the moment? If there is a fork in the road with my children or grandchildren, what lesson do you have for them in that situation, and how do I not get in your way and short circuit what you might be trying to accomplish in their life.

Father, when I am in the middle of the battle–when I am in the fog of war–help me to see you clearly. Help me to be wise enough to know how you need me to respond and when you need me to remain silent. When to act and when to not act. When to accept the things I cannot change, when I need to summon the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 28, 2021 in Sirach

 

Acts 20:24

27 May

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. – Acts 20:24

Dear God, you know I have a long history with this verse that goes back 34 years. It was one of the first verses I chose to memorize without someone like a Sunday school teacher or youth minister asking me to memorize it. But did I understand it then? Do I understand it now?

I came to see it differently a couple of years ago when I was studying Job. I used to think this verse was about being willing to be reckless for you. After all, that’s what Paul was doing. He was intentionally risking his life. Is that what I should do? Then realized after studying Job that that was partially true, but there was more. Job went through unbelievable trials to ultimately get to a point where he realized that nothing in the world or about his life was about being for his personal luxury. It was about whatever path you had fir him so that your will might be done in the world and in the lives of others–even an example for me thousands of years later. After studying Job, I realized that of all of the biblical characters, Paul seems to have gotten to that place of submission easier and faster than others. He sat in jail without complaint. He submitted to a path that, even though it meant his suffering and ultimate execution, lead to Christianity spreading to the West. And all of that spirit and knowledge is captured by what Luke recorded Paul as saying here.

Father, I have a financially comfortable life, and I sometimes feel guilty about that. But there are certainly other things that I don’t like about my life that you are using–at least that I pray you are using–to bring your kingdom and will into the world. So help me to really—ooo, this is a dangerous thing to pray–help me to really live into this concept. Help me to consider my life worth nothing to me. Help me to complete the task and finish the race you have asked me to run.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 27, 2021 in Acts, Uncategorized

 

John 3:17

26 May

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17

Dear God, my high school pastor loved this verse. He used to have a passage for us to recite at the end of each church service. One year, he had us do John 3:16-17. He made sure we didn’t forget this part. If his goal was to get us to memorize scripture it worked because I’m sitting here 35 years later and I can still hear the words ringing in my ears.

One thing about this pastor is that he really focused on Your love and grace. In fact, as I grew older and went back to listen to some of his sermons on cassette while I was in college, I realized his sermons were almost always on grace and there wasn’t much on discipleship. Going further down the road, as it turned out, he was a bit tormented by some guilt/shame in his own life. Putting it all together, I’ve wondered how much of his sermons and methods were an effort to emotionally reconcile himself to you, not quite grasping just how deep your love for him was.

Father, your desire is to love us all. As a father myself, my desire for my children is good things. Knowing how I feel about them informs, at least a little, of how I view your love for me. So help me on my journey of working out my faith and reconciling what my head believes and my heart feels. Help me to love my children the way you love me. And help me to carry your love and presence into the world.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2021 in John, Uncategorized

 

James 1:19-20

25 May

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
James 1:19-20

Dear God, yes, quick to listen. I’m such a lousy listener. My wife is much, much better at it than I am. And some of my biggest mistakes have come from getting angry fast and communicating it. I can be a mess.

There is an issue at hand right now that is testing how much I believe this passage, and my willingness to learn from it. What are you doing in the lives of everyone involved? Where are they coming from? I have my assumptions, but I’ll bet I would be surprised to see the world from their perspective. I think I know their perspectives, but I really don’t.

Father, I submit to you. I submit to this passage and James’s wisdom from 2,000 years ago. Thank you for teaching me. Thank you for loving and guiding me. Thank you for using me however you will in this world as your ambassador.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 25, 2021 in James

 

Romans 12:9-10

24 May

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:9-10

Dear God, I like the last part here where Paul encourages us to take delight in honoring each other. It can feel so good to pump someone else up. Why is that? What did you plant into our nature that makes it feel good to 1.) work, 2.) give, and 3.) love selflessly?

Here’s an epiphany I just had as I wrote that question. You gave us your nature and these are things that you do. These things are in your nature. You work hard. You give good gifts to your children. And you love us and delight in watching us grow and develop into better people. How interesting that the things that bring us joy in our existence are the same things that bring you joy in your existence. Hmmm.

Father, as I go through this day, help me to work hard, give sacrificially, and love genuinely. Help me to turn loose of self-pity, anger, pettiness, lethargy, and selfishness. When there is conflict to be addressed, help me to do it in love. Help me to do it with the other person in mind. For your glory, oh, Lord. So that you may increase, I may decrease, and my joy and peace in you can be complete.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2021 in Romans

 
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