RSS

Emails to God – Fathers and Children (Matthew 10:21-23)

07 Jan

21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Dear God, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I’m willing to pay this price. I don’t want my brother, father, or children to betray me. I don’t want to have to feel persecution in one place. I know this was said to the disciples, but I think, at least at some level, this is meant for me too.

I’m at a men’s retreat right now, and men’s retreats inevitably end up centering around the idea of fathers and children. I was in a small group yesterday where we were each to tell a story about our father. Some were great: “I grew up in the Cleaver home.” And some where awful: “I always hated guys like you because of your fathers.” At one point in the day, we were also asked what our greatest sorrow is and also our greatest fear. My greatest sorrow was hard. I have had sorrows in my life, but, thankfully, nothing too debilitating. But my greatest fear was easy: Am I failing my children spiritually? In essence, am I failing you and them as their father?

I always start my last paragraph of every one of these emails by addressing you as “Father.” Well, Father, I don’t know what my future holds in terms of my relationships with my children, but let me say this: I offer my relationships with my children to you. Do with it what you will. I adore both of them and I commit to you that I am willing to pay whatever price it takes, personally, in order for them to lead lives that are joyful and peaceful through submission to you. I don’t know what price you will ask of me, but I tell you now that I will pay it. You have put me on this earth, first and foremost, to be my wife’s husband, and then to be their father. Help me to be the best one that I can be for their sakes and your glory’s sake.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 7, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – “What Wondrous Love is This”

06 Jan

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

That caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul.

When I was sinking down,

Sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down,

Sinking down,

When I was sinking down

Beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside His crown

For my soul, for my soul

Christ laid aside His crown

For my soul.

To God and to the Lamb

I will sing, I will sing,

To God and to the Lamb

I will sing,

To God and to the Lamb

Who is the great “I Am,”

While millions join the theme,

I will sing, I will sing,

While millions join the theme,

I will sing

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing on,

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing and joyful be,

And thro’ eternity

I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on

And thro’ eternity

I’ll sing on.

I thought I would pick another hymn to get into tonight. I rolled through about 170 of them in the hymnal and landed on this one. I’ve always liked the somber tone of the tune. The music really makes this song work.

It’s almost as if the writer (hymnal doesn’t list a writer, but just says, “American Folk Hymn”) is getting a revelation of what their sin cost Jesus and God, but the first question focuses on Jesus and not the write: “What wondrous love is this…?” The writer apparently already realizes the depths of their sin before the song is written and starts the song with the marveling at Jesus’ love.

The second verse then goes back and picks up the writer’s knowledge of their own sin: “While I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown…” and then picks up Jesus’ sacrifice again: “…Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.”

Now, the third verse shows us that the write knows it’s time to worship while they are still living: “To God and to the Lamb, I will sing…While millions join the theme, I will sing.”

And the fourth verse takes us to heaven. Jesus’ sacrifice from the first verse saved us from God’s righteous frown, and now we will sing for eternity. I used to get a little freaked out about the idea of heaven and being joyful forever. My imperfect human heart doesn’t quite grasp that concept and it scares me, but I take comfort from those who have seen heaven in near-death experiences and talk about the pure joy they felt while they were there.

Let me know if you see anything in this song that you think I missed.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 6, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , ,

Emails to God – Shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16-20)

06 Jan

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Dear God, okay, these folks must have been absolutely Spirit-filled at the time if they followed through with this. Otherwise, how could anyone be excited to go out and get ready to be arrested, flogged in the synagogues (church of all places, meaning their message will be considered heresy to most—especially the Jews, the people Jesus is specifically sending them to), brought before governors and kings (how often does it work out well for the common person to be brought before a governor or king?), etc.

But verse 19 says that they shouldn’t worry because they will be given what to say. I think that is the part of this I want to grab onto today. I want to have the peace to know that, when I face trials of different sorts that I shouldn’t worry because you will provide for me in those situations. I am thinking of our building situation right now. We had more developments this week that made me start to feel overwhelmed again. This mountain seems so big to me. What are we to do next?

Father, give me the words to say and the actions to take. Let it be you and the Holy Spirit that speak and move through me, and not me. Let this process ultimately be a blessing to everyone involved. Draw each person closer to yourself and give them your peace and presence. From our board, to our staff, to our patients, to our volunteers, to our contractors, to the people who originally built the building, be glorified in each life and make this process a peaceful as possible.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 6, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Emails to God – “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

06 Jan

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (Text by Robert Robinson; adapted by Margaret Clarkson)

Come Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise his name—I’m fixed upon it—

Name of God’s redeeming love

 

Hither to Thy love has blest me;

Thou hast brought me to this place

And I know Thy hand will bring me

Safely home by Thy good grace

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with His precious blood.

 

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;

Seal it for Thy courts above

Amen

I am at a retreat tonight and the rest of the weekend out at Laity Lodge. We aren’t suppose to have Internet access, but I am staying in a place that accidentally provided it (of course, I helped it along by finding a modem and getting it plugged in so that the Internet could start working). So I feel like this is a great power I have, to access the Internet, and I should use it for good and not for evil. I will do my best to stay away from ESPN3 and try to stay focused on God. To that end, I thought I might use my Emails to God blog to share some of what I experience here.

At the retreat tonight we were singing this song. It is one of my two favorite hymns. My favorite is “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” The place where I am staying has the old Word Hymnal that I used to sell in my days of working for Word, and would you know that my two favorite hymns are hymns numbers 1 and 2 in the hymnal—and in the right order at that. What are the odds?

But I digress. Sometimes when I am singing a song and I feel like it isn’t hitting me like it should I stop and try to put myself in the mindset of the write while they wrote the lyric. They sat there with nothing and looked for words that expressed how they felt. What then can I tell about how they felt at the time by the words they chose?

I did this with this song tonight, and it really opened it up to me even more. The last verse is too easy to relate to, so I won’t even deal with that except to say that I heard once that the writer of this song, Robert Robinson, struggled with his faith throughout his life. Here is a quote from Wikipedia (so it must be true): “An unverifiable story is widely told of Robinson that one day while riding in a stagecoach a lady asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. He responded, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

But I digress again. I want to think about the first verse. There is a lot here:

  • “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace” – Again, thinking about his mindset when he was writing this, I got the image of someone who so badly wanted for his worship of God to be adequate. Do I have that feeling as I worship before God?
  • “Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise” – Because God has given me so much love and mercy He deserves for me to get this right.
  • “Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above” – I know that angels know how to sing to God. Teach me how to sing like the angels.
  • “Praise His name—I’m fixed upon it—Name of God’s redeeming love” – My worship is to focus on Him and His Name—really focus.

 

This is good stuff. If you are so inclined, do your own for the other two verses. Find something in here from God that you’ve never seen before.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 6, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , , ,

Emails to God – Empowered by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:9-15)

05 Jan

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Dear God, I don’t think I would have liked this assignment. In fact, I would really have had to have been filled with the Holy Spirit to do it. I don’t like the idea of going out with no money, extra clothes, etc. Heck, I am leaving for a retreat today at a nice place, and I am still going to pack a fair amount of clothes to take with me. Then I would have to find someone to put me up. Yeah. Good luck with that.

I think there are times when you call us to do extraordinary things like this, but I also think that the Holy Spirit empowers us when those times come. I can think of brave things I have done in the past, and I can tell you that each time I found that I had the peace of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit with me. I am thinking of the time my wife and I helped a homeless woman and her daughter in an extraordinary way. Or when I left a secure job to embark on the unknown. Or when I took a job that I wasn’t sure could support us. You prepared me for each of these little assignments, and, while they were difficult, I found them to be doable.

Then there are the times my fear and/or apathy left me sitting inactive instead of following your call. These examples are too numerous to count.

Father, I pray that you will prepare my heart, mind, soul, and body for whatever call you have for me. I pray that same thing for my children and my wife. Help us to all represent you well and to give you the glory for the things you are doing in our lives. Love others richly through us and be glorified in everything that we do.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 5, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Emails to God – Sending the Disciples to Harvest (Matthew 10:1-8)

04 Jan

1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Dear God, it is interesting that Jesus specifically sent them to the what was probably the tougher audience—the churched. He had worked so hard to keep his power a secret, but now he had empowered his disciples and told them to go to the people who were more likely to reject them. He told them to do it freely so that a lot of people would see your power. Was he hoping that the Jews would one day become missionaries to the Gentiles and Samaritans? Was he trying to build a base from which he could launch faith?

So who am I? I suppose that I am part of the base that now is supposed to go out and share you with others. Although I am a Gentile, after two millennia of the Christian faith, I would say that the term Gentile no longer applies to me. I was raised to believe in you from birth, so I have different responsibilities than someone who doesn’t know you or comes to faith in you later in life.

Father, much like my question yesterday about what kind of harvester should I be, today’s question is, What are my responsibilities since you have given me so much? Back then you saw the needs of the people and that you needed harvesters so you empowered your disciples and told them to go out and harvest. I think you are calling us to harvest too. So teach me to harvest. Teach me to love others. Teach me to be the servant you need me to be.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 4, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – What does a harvester look like? (Matthew 9:35-38)

03 Jan

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Dear God, this description paints an interesting picture. Jesus, openly performing miracles from town to town is starting to attract a lot of desperate people. I would imagine that people in one town would find him and then follow him to the next so that the crowd became quite large. Such a crowd would require some logistical support. They would need food, places to sleep and bathe, etc. I wonder if city officials would get wary when they heard that Jesus was coming to their town.

I would also imagine that the people Jesus saw in the crowd were not the wealthy or even middle class (if such a thing existed in that area at that time). They would have been the “harassed and helpless”. They would have been the desperate and disenfranchised. They would have been the sick and hurting. They would have been those who were broken and ready to stop. I wonder what kind of harvest Jesus envisioned for them. If there were plenty of “workers” to work the harvest, how would things have been different? Would fewer people have been following Jesus because fewer people would have been desperate?

I guess the question I ask myself is, What kind of worker are you looking for and how can I help? If the harvest is all around me, then how would you have me work it? Is there something I should be doing that I am not? Is there a need I am missing? Should I be more evangelical, generous, service-oriented? What does your harvest need? Those are the questions that roll around in my head.

Father, teach me to be a harvester. I need to understand what that looks like and, if I am not doing it, learn to do it in a way that will enable you to work your will through me. Be glorified in my life, and help me to see your vision for how I should live my life.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 3, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Emails to God – How Much Should I Advertise It? (Matthew 9:27-34)

01 Jan

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

Dear God, I find it interesting that Jesus ignored the blind men until he got inside. He was really trying to keep the range of his power under wraps. I guess I can see a few reasons for this. First, he probably knew that the crowds would go nuts if they saw it and try to point his ministry in a direction in which he didn’t want to go. Second, he was probably trying to avoid a run-in with the Pharisees just yet, although they were about to see the exorcism and not like that either.

One of the thing that each Christian has to deal with is how publicly should we live our lives as Christians. Should we be more like Tim Tebow and talk about our faith at every opportunity? Should we be more like RG3 and mention our faith and that it is important to us, but not talk about it all of the time? Or should we be private to the point where people are not sure what we believe in, if anything at all? I think option #3 is definitely out, but the answer probably lies somewhere between Tebow and RG3.

In my own life, it can be hard to find the balance. I want to let people see you through me to the point where they are drawn to you and want you for themselves. On the other hand, I don’t want to be oppressive about my faith to the point where people are turned off and see a relationship with you as unappealing. It is a hard line to walk, and I fear I fall off of it more than I stay on it.

Father, help me to represent you well, starting with my children and wife. Help me to be your humble representative. Help me to lead them into your presence and foster and environment that is conducive to them accepting you and seeking you out. Love them through me. Love friends and neighbors through me. Be glorified through me so that others might be drawn to you and not pushed away from you.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 1, 2012 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – Riding Jesus’ Coat Tails (Matthew 9:18-26)

27 Dec

18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

Dear God, this is almost the Cliff’s Notes version of these two stories. Matthew streamlines them for us. He doesn’t go through the whole process of Jesus asking who touched him to be healed. He doesn’t tell us about the little girl’s mourners who try to get rid of him. He just gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ power, and how it is related to the involved people’s respective faith. Mark gives us more detail, but Matthew gives us the basics. I am glad we have access to both.

In this case, Matthew is showing us a man who is, indeed, the Messiah. He is showing us the raw power that flowed through Jesus’ human frame. He (Matthew) remembers it as being one of the first things that happened when he joined the group. That must have been amazing for Matthew. I can imagine that he would have felt excited about his decision to leave his tax collection business and join Jesus’ entourage.

Of course, there will come a time when Matthew will wonder if he had made the biggest mistake of his life—namely the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. But for now, this is exciting stuff. Jesus is obviously special, and Matthew gets to ride the wave a little.

Father, remind me of how special you are. Yes, there are times of struggle, and each day has a little bit of struggle for me now, but for the most part, this is a time when I can look at just about every area of my life and see your blessings. So help me to remember that. Help me to feel your smile and live into the love that you have for me today. Help me to worship you the way you deserve to be worshipped.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 27, 2011 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Emails to God – “You may now dismiss your servant in peace.” (Luke 2:28-32)

26 Dec

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel

Dear God, I am going to break with the normal routine of going through Matthew and use http://www.biblegateway.com for the verse of the day. I wonder what it would be like to perceivably reach the end of my life and be ready to go. Since I have had this job I have gotten more used to the idea of my own death because I see so many memorial donations come through for loved ones who have died. I can see that it truly happens to everyone—none of us are going to get out of life alive.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with my wife’s 97-(soon to be 98-)year-old grandmother. It was a nice visit with her, and I think she is doing remarkably well. It was our last conversation right before we left that struck me. I think she is feeling her time ending. She told me that my wife and I need to be thinking about what we will want to say at her memorial service. She talked for a few minutes about the end and how her doctor told her he was trying to get her to 100, and she said that she didn’t really want that. I think she is about to the point where she is physically done. She is emotionally spend after having lost her daughter (my wife’s mother). She is even getting mentally spent.

Father, my prayer for her is that she will get to Simeon’s point of peace. That is the only thing that was missing from our conversation yesterday. She is tired, and she is girding herself for death, but she is not yet at peace with the idea. Help her, regardless of how many days, months, or even years she has left, to be at peace. Administer your peace through her remaining daughter. Administer your peace through her sons-in-law. Administer peace through her grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends. Administer your peace through your spirit as she sits alone and ponders all that you are, all that you have been, and all that you will be to her.

 

 
1 Comment

Posted by on December 26, 2011 in Luke

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →