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Joseph

20 Feb

Dear God, I am preparing my Sunday school lesson for this week, and I want to spend some time going over the things I’ve learned about Joseph over the last 24 years, since I first wrote God, Family, Job: In that Order?: A Study of Joseph, Jesus’s Earthly Father. Of course, my interest in Joseph started when I was at a retreat, and I started looking for a biblical man I wanted to emulate as a faithful worshipper of you, a husband, and a father. The list was short. Ultimately, I landed on Joseph and the Prodigal Son’s father. Since the Prodigal Son’s father was a representation of you, I ended up with Joseph. And I’ so glad I did. I’m so glad he was there to be Jesus’s earthly father. I’m so glad his example is there for me to follow.

When I think about Joseph off of the top of my head, here are my thoughts on an outline. Please guide me as I think about this, Holy Spirit:

  • His first decision: Divorce her quietly.
    • This decision would cost him and make him vulnerable
    • You needed Joseph to make this decision for your plan to work
  • He believed the dream and acted on it.
    • He married Mary but did not “consummate” the marriage
      • Did doubts ever linger?
  • He had to find a place for them to stay in Bethlehem
    • With family? In a tent outside of town? We don’t know.
    • What were their conversations like during the journey and before the birth?
  • The baby is born.
    • Had to improvise a difficult situation
      • Helping Mary made people unclean
      • Needed a better place but couldn’t find one
      • Doubts? What am I doing here? Was the dream real?
  • The shepherds.
    • Affirmation that this was all real! I cannot underscore this enough. If there were any doubts, the shepherds removed them.
  • The Temple (Simeon and Anna).
    • More affirmations.
    • Simeon’s warning to Mary.
  • The Wise Men
    • They created more problems than they solved.
    • More affirmations some months later.
  • The Dream and Escape to Egypt
    • Believing the dream
    • Survivor’s guilt?
    • Starting a new life? Gifts from the Magi?
    • Living in Egypt
  • Time to go home
    • More dreams.
    • Couldn’t return to Bethlehem because of Herod’s son. Ended up in Nazareth.
  • Lost in the Temple
    • He’s gone!
      • Where could he be?
      • Did Herod’s son, Archelaus, get him?
      • What were the conversations with Mary like for those three days of searching (four days of him being missing)?
    • Found!
      • He’s in the Temple and amazing people
        • Was this a surprise to Joseph and Mary? Had they already been amazed by him? When did Jesus start to display his knowledge and come into his mental maturity?
      • How inadequate did Joseph feel in raising your son?
  • Presumed dead
    • Sad that Joseph wasn’t around to comfort and help Mary during Jesus’s ministry.
      • Brothers and sisters seem to have been a hinderance
      • Would Joseph have been a hinderance too?

Father, there is so much for me to learn from Joseph. The least of which is that he, ultimately, considered his life nothing to him, even before his angel visit. He made a huge sacrifice just in his decision to divorce her quietly. I was just reminded of the scene in the first Captain American: The First Avenger movie when Steve Rogers, before the super serum, throws himself on a grenade to save everyone else, revealing the character the doctor was looking for in the man who would get this great power. That’s Joseph. Before you have him this great responsibility, even then, we are allowed to see his amazing character. Oh, Father, help me to be a man like that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

 

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1 John 4:7-12

19 Feb

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

1 John 4:7-12

Dear God, is your love really brought to full expression through me? I know it should be, but is it? When people see me, do they see you? Am I that tuned into you?

What does loving others look like? Well, what does it look like when you love me? For that, I guess it goes to the story of the Prodigal Son. When the younger son wants to leave, you let him walk away. When he returns you celebrate with no questions asked. When the older son experiences jealousy you console and comfort. In all of these cases, it’s not about you. It’s not about them hitting your standard for the standard’s sake. It is about you wanting what you know is best for them. You know that the younger son is better off when he is at home and not pursuing empty selfish desires. You know that the older son will be better off when he decides to love his brother and accept him.

So when I look to loving others, what I am doing is wanting the best for them regardless of what it might cost me. If it is my wife, I want to love and support her in the things I perceive you are putting into her life. Now, if it is something that I perceive will take her away from you I will say so, but if it seems to bless her then I want that for her no matter what it costs me. Father, help me be willing to pay that price. If my children decide to pursue a path that costs me everything then I want to love them and bless them to pursue that path. If I think it is unhealthy for them and I am asked I will share my thoughts, but if they don’t then I don’t want to get in the way of anything you have to teach them (or me) through the process. Frankly, I don’t know what is your best for them. All I have to offer them is my unconditional love. The same is true for my coworkers, friends, and even just acquaintances or those you put in my path and sphere of influence. Father, help me to see all of this with your eyes. Help me to love each soul I encounter as much as I care about the existence of my own soul.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2025 in 1 John

 

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Luke 6:20-26

18 Feb

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Dear God, by almost any measure, I am not to be pitied. I have a relationship with you and a life that makes it fairly easy to carve out discipleship time with you. Just spending time with you and getting to know you. I have a good marriage to a really good woman who is kind and patient with me. I have a job that not only pays our bills, but is good work. Important work for loving others. Speaking of bills, my bills are paid. I have money in the bank. I have friends. I have men and women who are positive influences on me and who speak your wisdom into my life. My children are seemingly healthy and living successful, independent lives in committed relationships with significant others. We are all healthy. Yes, there are things within what I just mentioned that bring me sorrow or concern, but compared with 99% of the world, I am absolutely not to be pitied.

So that makes me wonder about this passage. Should I be concerned? Is it a problem that I’m not poor, hungry, or weeping (although there are times when I do weep)? Can diamonds be made with no pressure? Can strong steel be made with low heat? And when the heat comes, do I delight and rejoice in it? If I take a stand for you among those who mock you (I’m thinking about one friend in particular who is disdainful of Christian faith) and they ridicule me, do I welcome that and delight in it or do I soft pedal my faith around them so as to not inflame their anger towards me?

Father, I am going to spend some time over the next few days with this mini sermon from Jesus. It is largely similar to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, but not completely. Help me to glean some nuances from it that I might have missed from Matthew. Perhaps the way Luke put it will shed a new light on something you need me to understand. Speak to me. Inspire me. Love through me.

I give you all of me, in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2025 in Luke

 

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John 9

14 Feb

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”

But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

12 “Where is he now?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. 15 The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.

17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?”

The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”

18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”

20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”

27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

34 “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”

38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.

39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

John 9

Dear God, I have a lot of thoughts as I think about this story this morning.

  • Of course, I’m very interested in the blind man’s parents and how they experienced all of this, including the years leading up to it.
  • This story is obviously important to John because he takes 41 verse to tell it.
  • I wonder why this story was so important to John. It starts with him acknowledging that the disciples asked the wrong question to start this whole thing. Would Jesus have even healed the blind man had they not mentioned it?
  • The Pharisees are still hung up on healing on the Sabbath, but the only “work” I can see Jesus did was make a mud pie for the man’s eyes. I guess it’s a “spirit of the law” thing for them.
  • There is division among the Pharisees. Not all of them are against Jesus. Was Nicodemus there? If so, did he speak up or had he learned to keep his mouth shut after what happened in chapter 7? Maybe not since this wasn’t in Jerusalem, but I’m sure Nicodemus wasn’t the only Pharisee that was secretly believing in Jesus.
  • Who were these people who felt the need to tell on Jesus (verses 13-14)? Self-righteous snitches? Instigators? I’ve known people like this. I guess I’ve probably done it a time or two myself. I’m sorry.
  • Why did the Pharisees ask the man’s opinion about who Jesus was (verse 17)? What were they trying to get him to say? Were they looking for someone to punish that day? Then they asked him parents the same thing. Sounds like a trap to me. But why were they taking out their anger on this man and his parents? Why stop there? Why not start asking everyone around what they thought? How about the people who brought the man to him? The self-righteous snitches. Why didn’t the Pharisees ask them who they thought Jesus was?
  • John tells the detail of the Pharisees asking the man to tell them the story again. This story was obviously a big deal for John for him to give us so much detail. He probably told this part because of the piece where they man asked the Pharisees if they wanted to be his disciples too.
  • They threw him out of the synagogue. Was he ever allowed back in? Was he banished as the parents feared would happen to them?
  • Jesus went and found the man. That’s kind of a cool detail. He didn’t come across him later. He heard the story and then sought him out. Oh, my Jesus! You are wonderful!
  • Some of the Pharisees overheard Jesus’s conversation with the healed man. They couldn’t admit their own weakness in front of Jesus.

Father, I will admit my weakness in front of not only you, but in front of anyone. I don’t feel the need to be something I’m not. I am a sinful man. I am a man who loses faith. I am a man who is often wrong and doesn’t have it all figured out. I am loving this story more and more. Thank you for preserving it for me. Thank you for using it to comfort me. I offer you my repentance and my worship.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2025 in John

 

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John 9:1-2

12 Feb

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

John 9:1-2

Dear God, the disciples asked a binary question here that they didn’t realize was completely off-base. They errantly thought negative circumstances were an indication of bad actions. It kind of goes back to Job. In fact, it’s kind of weird that the Book of Job didn’t dispel this errant theology from the beginning. I guess the prosperity gospel goes back a long way and its roots are so deep and attractive that we don’t want to let go. The thing that prosperity gospel brings us is the idol of control. We think our actions will drive outcomes and so we will ignore Job and determine that our own actions will manipulate you into working everything out the way we want it.

So, they started with the wrong assumption. If I see a blind man, there must be sin behind it. In this case, they assumed the sin belonged either to the man (although I don’t understand why they would think that since he was born blind) or, more likely, to the parents. So these two poor parents had probably lived a lifetime not only caring for a blind child when he was young, but also feeling blamed by their community for their son’s situation. And as I’ve said before, maybe they accepted that blame and took it. Maybe they remembered that time they committed that sin and now lived with the guilt of it having produced a blind son. Or maybe they didn’t feel they had sinned so they blamed their spouse. Had their blind son driven a wedge between them? Or between them and you? Did they feel judged by you?

How does this apply to today? To my life? Well, there can be circumstances that we aren’t pleased with. Relationships that are broken. Outcomes we don’t like. Unemployment. Health issues. Financial crises. Children who are struggling. Damaged marriages. When these things happen, do we ask the right questions, or are we as ignorant as the disciples and just assume that the family we see with a struggling child is responsible for that child’s struggle? Do we assume that someone is to blame for the struggling marriage? For the health issue? Maybe these things come into our lives so, if turned over to you for redemption, they can bring about your glory in our lives and for others.

Father, help me to be much, much less judgmental of other people. Help me to be an encourager. Help me to see the person who is struggling and not immediately think they should repent, but instead offer them your comfort, love, and power. Help me to accept all of that for myself as well. Basically, the disciples start this story believing a lie. Help me to recognize the lies I believe and reject them for your truth.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2025 in John

 

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1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

10 Feb

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

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

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

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

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

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

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

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

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

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

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Isaiah 6:1-8

09 Feb

6 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Isaiah 6:1-8

Dear God, this might be the passage in Isaiah with which I am most familiar. I remember that some Christian song opened with someone reading from it about 30 years ago. I think it was Wes King. Let me look for it.

Okay, I just found it. It’s a song called “Holy” by Wes King:

“Holy” by Wes King

“In the year of King Uziah’s death
I saw the Lord, sitting on a throne
Lofty, and exalted
With the train of His robe filling the temple
Ceraphim stood above Him
Each having six wings
With two, He covered his face
With two, He covered his feet
And with two, He flew
And one called out to another, and said:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts”

Oy Vay Ist Mer, I am, undone
I am a man of an unclean heart
My eyes have seen the King
I’ve seen the Lord, Almighty

Holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

I am naked beneath, the Gaze of God
My heart is shattered
For I have, seen my shame
Dust and ashes beneath His mighty throne
I am unworthy, I shudder at His feet
But with fire, He touched my lips
And took away my sin

Holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
Holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

He has cleansed me, I’m not what I will be
For when I see Him, I shall be as He

Holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
Holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

So there is no way I can ever express with my human mind just how different you and I are, Father. It’s amazing you can even hear my prayers, know my thoughts, or care about my life. What am I to you? Who am I to you? There is a huge difference between me and my dog. When it comes to understanding and abilities, I am light years ahead of my dog in comparison. But on a continuum of intelligence, on a scale of 1 to 10, my dog is a .1, I am possibly a .3, and you are 100. But in my literal world–in my little reality–here I am. I am foolish. I am unclean. But I offer what I have to you. Here am I. Send me.

Father, what would you like me to do today? I think I will visit a friend’s church this morning. I will try to bless people who made donations to our nonprofit through acknowledgments for their gifts. I will go through the money I have and figure out how you will have me use it. I will work on my Parents of the Bible project. And I will enjoy the Super Bowl with a friend. Is that all you would have me do today? Of course, I will love my wife. I will pray for my children, their significant others, and my relatives. I will reach out to some of my relatives and offer love. I will submit myself to you. Father, thank you for touching me with Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Make me a fisher of people. Make me a lover of people with your love.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 9, 2025 in Hymns and Songs, Isaiah

 

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Mark 6:6b-11

06 Feb

Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. 7 And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. 8 He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. 9 He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.

10 “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. 11 But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

Mark 6:6b-11

Dear God, there seem to be so many things happening around me that disappoint me. I don’t like how some things are unfolding in the culture. They concern me. And there is so very little I can do about them. That’s what I thought about this morning when I read this story. I would guess that if I had asked any of Jesus’s disciples or even Jesus himself how they felt about what they saw happening around them and unfolding in their culture, they would have been concerned too. So what did Jesus tell them to do? Go out and cast out demons and, I assume, preach repentance and reconciliation with God, although, ironically, they still did not even come close to grasping what all you had in mind through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

So here I am today. I have work to do. I have a job that needs me to be loving and compassionate. I have a friend who needs some comforting today. I have a wife who needs my love and support. I have children who need my prayer. I have these writing projects I’ve felt led to, wondering what exactly I’m supposed to do next.

Father, help me to not look to the world or the culture for my comfort or my peace. It’s okay to lament. It’s okay to see things and prayerfully take action. But you are my hope. You are the only thing that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You are the only thing in which I can rest. So I start this day just loving you. Appreciating you. Thanking you for the blessing my wife and I got yesterday and praying over it and what we are trying to pass to someone else through that blessing. Cover our actions, Father. Guide my wife and me. Care for our children, siblings, nieces, and nephews. My parents. Lord, be glorified in this earth.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2025 in Mark

 

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Psalm 1

05 Feb

Psalm 1

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
    follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand around with sinners,
    or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
    meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
    bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
    and they prosper in all they do.

4 But not the wicked!
    They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
    Sinners will have no place among the godly.
6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
    but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalm 1

Dear God, my wife and I were talking about the poetry of the Book of Psalms last night, and she mentioned that Psalm 1 is a nice straightforward one that is a good entry point into appreciating the poetic imagery the words paint. So I looked at the Catholic passages of the day and then Bible Gateway’s verse of the day, and since none of those really spoke to me I thought I would double back and see what I might get out of Psalm 1 today.

So this psalm is in two parts. The first stanza, which is physically separated from the second in the New Living Translation, talks about the good person. The second talks about the wicked.

When it comes to the good person, it reminds me once again of the saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. I would extend that to the five things we allow to speak into our lives the most. So it could be people. My wife is the person I spend the most time with. Then there are coworkers. I don’t spend constant time with them, but I get time with them four days a week, and we share a bit with each other throughout the day. Then there are my friends. But before friends, there is the media I consume because I can’t think of any friends I spend more than an hour or so a week with, and that is only if we have lunch that week. Outside of that, it’s possibly a text here or there.

So if I am planting myself somewhere, am I a tree planted by water, am I a tree in a rainy climate that is away from the stream but still getting some nourishment, or am I planted where there is no rain and I am dependent upon the accidental rain that might drift by me to nourish me? As it relates to this passage, I believe I keep myself from getting counsel and input from the wicked, the sinners, and the mockers. But I don’t know that I’m planted by a river. I think I am probably in the area that gets pretty consistent rain, but my roots are not always getting the water they need.

Father, help me to see how I might improve where my tree is planted. How I might improve the inputs I allow into my life, the average of which influences who I am. Help me to be the positive source of your nourishment for others around me. Use me however you will. I want to be a fully nourished tree so that my life might be glorifying to you and you alone.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2025 in Psalms

 

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Hebrews 12:1-4

04 Feb

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. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

Hebrews 12:1-4

Dear God, the part of this passage that struck me this morning was verse three: “Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people.” The irony is, those people didn’t think of themselves as sinful. They thought they were right. They thought they were in the middle of your will. They couldn’t see their legalism that actually led to lower standards not higher. What I mean by that is going back to the sermon on the mount when Jesus was saying, “You have heard it said…but I say…” He actually wanted more from them when they were thinking he was a heretic who wanted less.

So where is my sin? When I am hostile towards others who I think are wrong about something, is my sin getting in the way of seeing things clearly? Is my self-righteousness causing pain and suffering for others? Should we all be asking ourselves this question more?

Father, maybe the first thing I need to recognize in myself is hostility and start looking for my sin there. Where am I hostile? What sin might be driving it? Help me to think about that throughout this day and into the future. Holy Spirit, poke me when it comes up and remind me to look for my own sin when I need to. Obviously, it’s not a sin to be angry. There can be very appropriate times to be angry. But I want to be angry when you need me to be, not when I want to be. Help me to find that line and recognize the difference when it is happening.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 4, 2025 in Hebrews

 

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