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Tag Archives: Obedience

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

24 Sep

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

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

Hebrews 10:32-36

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

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

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

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

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

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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

 

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Isaiah 48:17-18

03 Sep

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
Isaiah 48:17-18

Dear God, I think that sometimes we get confused by your pattern. On the one hand, passages like this tell us that if we obey you then things will be okay, but then stories about people like Job or Paul indicate that we shouldn’t focus on our own circumstances, but simply follow you. Maybe there’s a difference between whether people as a group/nation follow you vs and individual? I don’t know. But it seems to be pretty inconsistent.

I wonder what it would be like if it really worked that way–that you rewarded us as individuals for our performance and punished us for unfaithfulness. What if all of those who were rich were rich commensurate with their goodness and all of the poor were poor commensurate with their evil deeds? When I put it like that, it sounds like a terrible idea. It’s a little like what I was talking about regarding how you gave the Bible to us. What would have been better? Any other way would probably have been a terrible idea.

But what about as a country? Are the rules different for large groups of people than they are for individuals? If a country is lead by people who love, worship, and pursue you and then filled with people who love, worship and pursue you, then will that country experience your favor? It’s hard for me to thoroughly think through it just sitting here, but I can see where the rules would be different for larger groups of people than they are for the individual.

But I suppose at the end of the day, it is all about serving your larger purpose. Maybe, just maybe, you needed to use the 400 years of Israelite slavery to grow them in the incubator of Egypt. It’s horrible to think that millions of people had to live and die in slavery for that, but maybe. And maybe the early church had to be persecuted to get them out of Jerusalem and into the world. Maybe Stephen had to die a martyr for your plan to work.

Father, the truth is, my job isn’t to figure all of that out. My job is to remember you and everything you are. My role is to worship you, ask how you would like to use my life, and then yield to your plan. Whether or not I experience the peace Isaiah describes here is more contingent on the attitude of my heart than it is the circumstance of my life.

I pray all of this by the power of Jesus’s name,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 3, 2019 in Isaiah

 

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