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Emails to God – Saying We Understand When We Really Don’t (Matthew 13:47-52)

09 Feb

47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Dear God, I like the question and answer in verse 51. He asks if they have understood these things and they say, “Yes.” Did they really, or was it one of those times when there was no way they were going to say, “No.”

I remember when my kids were young and they did something wrong. I would punish them and then go back and ask them why they were being punished. About half of the time they were wrong about why they were being punished. It was clear to me, but was it clear to them?

In this case, and for this parable, what does separate a wicked person from a righteous person? Where is that line? Frankly, I’m not perfectly clear. The rich young ruler had to sell all he had and give it to the poor. Do all of us have to do that?

Father, I admit that I don’t understand everything you are trying to teach me. In fact, right now, I feel a little dazed and confused on a couple of fronts. So this is where I need to discipline myself to focus on you and seek your wisdom and insight. Help me to understand what you are calling me to do and to embrace all that you are during these trials.

 
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Posted by on February 9, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Do I Really Think the Kingdom of Heaven is a Treasure? (Matthew 13:44-46)

08 Feb

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Dear God, I like how Jesus is trying to communicate to the people listening (and to me) that what he was offering through the kingdom of heaven is THIS special. It is worth THIS much.

I think I treat it as worth as much in my personal life, but to I communicate that it is worth as much to others around me? When I have an employee who is suffering, do I tell them about the kingdom of heaven?

In fact, I have a friend right now who is not only struggling with some personal relationship issues in her life, but she is also struggling with a health issue. How will I represent you to her? Will I remind her that the kingdom of heaven is a treasure to be valued and embraced, or will I try to be a blessing to her out of my own wisdom and power?

Father, help me to really believe that the kingdom of heaven is a pearl worth a great price. Help me to live like I believe it. Help me to remember it for myself and to embrace it wholeheartedly.

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Free Will and Blaming God for Suffering (Matthew 13:36-43)

07 Feb

36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Dear God, this story kind of coincides with the whole thing I have been doing lately with Job. Satan is sowing evil amidst your glory. It does make one wonder why you allow THAT to happen. Why allow him to sow in the first place?

I suppose it is another example of your respect for your creation and the fact that you allow even your angels free will. Just like the free will you offer to me.

I am sometimes amazed at how hard it is to accept the idea of free will for my children. Sometimes they get mad at me for reasons that I would consider unjust don’t like it. There’s a part of me that wants to force them to act the way I want them to act, including influencing how they think. But you’re right. If I were able to do that and pull it off, then any love they showed me would be empty and meaningless. So I suppose it is better to watch their mistakes and feel their ire than to make them love me.

Father, the thing that struck me about Job’s story is that everyone thought you were responsible for his suffering. Satan got zero blame for it. People get unjustifiably mad at you all of the time because they blame you for things that you didn’t do, or that you are working for their good. I have done it too. So please forgive me for when I have gotten angry and sinned against you. I am truly sorry.

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – What does it mean to be a mustard seed? (Matthew 13:31-35)

03 Feb

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[

Dear God, I think this story needs an example. What does this look like in real life? What does it mean?

One of my favorite Bible stories is of Jesus sitting in the synagogue watching the people come in. He sees different ones dropping money in the offering, but the one he singles our to his disciples is the poor widow who gave sacrificially. The thing I find remarkable about this story is that this widow left the synagogue that day never realizing that Jesus had used her as an example to his disciples, that it would be recorded by one of them, and that I would be reading the story nearly two thousand years later. In fact, that day, when she got back to her home, she was as poor as when she started and there is zero evidence that her lot in life ever changed.

This widow is a mustard seed. She is yeast. Unbeknownst to her, she is a living example of sacrificial giving and being willing to lay her needs aside because of her worship of you. She has been used in countless sermons and Bible studies. The story has been told on television shows and in movies. And she never knew.

Father, I think that sometimes I try to see what my seed and yeast are turning into, but, once again, you have me on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know. You are calling me to be like this widow—faithfully ignorant of the impact my life is having. So help me to turn loose of my need to be noticed, appreciated, and admired. Help me to turn loose of my need to leave a legacy and simply find the joy and peace that comes from faithful service and sacrifice to you.

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Why does God Allow Evil People to Live? (Matthew 13:24-30)

01 Feb

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Dear God, I meet with a good friend from myWacodays every Friday morning via Skype. It has been one of the great blessings in my life over the last several months as I have tried to process some personal struggles. Anyway, one of the things we discussed a few weeks ago was this passage. How did we feel about God leaving the weeds here among us? Did that frustrate us? Does answering this questions also deal with the question so many have about how a loving God can still allow evil in the world.

That is when I had this epiphany: I think you left the weeds here out of respect for us. You didn’t want us to be destroyed among the weeds. Go back to when Abraham was pleading forSodom. He asked if you found just a few righteous left would you not save the city. You said you would. In the end, it came down toLotand his family (although his family’s righteousness might be considered questionable) so you removed them before you destroyed the city. After Noah and the flood you were so grieved by what you had to do that you said you would never destroy the world through a flood again.

So, you allow evil to continue in the world because to remove it would be to harm us in some way. It still doesn’t completely answer the question of why there are things like human trafficking, child molestation, rape, etc., or even hunger, poverty, and painful deaths for some of the righteous. But this parable does let us know that you are thinking about us and you have us in mind when you consider all that you are allowing to happen on earth.

Father, life is complicated. Help me to be at peace with whatever complications are coming my way. I am studying Job right now, and, while he kept from cursing you for his pain, he did question why he had to endure it. So as different stresses and even sufferings come into my life, prepare me to handle them with your grace. Prepare me to handle them the way that Jesus handled his pain in the garden on the night he was betrayed—Father, let this cup pass from me, but not my will but yours be done.

 
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Posted by on February 1, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Needing an Explanation of the Parable (Matthew 13:18-23)

31 Jan

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Dear God, I find it interesting that in verses 16 and 17 you tell they that they are blessed because the can see and hear, and yet you go on to lay the meaning of the parable out for them anyway. Perhaps they were not as seeing and perceiving as they might have been. It seems to me that the disciples were continuously not seeing and perceiving. They missed your lessons all of the time.

Of course, I miss your lessons too. I don’t always (or even often) understand what is going on around me. Heck, I don’t quite understand what is going on around me right now. I don’t know what you are doing in me and through me as a dad, husband, employee, church attendee, son, brother, or friend. I know that it seems like there is something missing in me in each of these areas, but I just can’t put my finger on it.

Father, right now, I really need your wisdom, vision, insight, and discernment. I really need to understand how to love my wife. I really need to understand how to parent my children. I need to understand how to be a friend to those who need me. I need to understand how to lead the organization where I work. So help me. Since I am currently on vacation with my wife, please help me to be the husband and father she needs me to be. Help me to be the husband and father that you need for me to be for her sake. I can’t tell what that looks like, but I know that right now I am afraid I am missing it somehow.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Ever Seeing, but Never Perceiving (Matthew 13:10-17)

29 Jan

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Dear God, I wonder what it was about these twelve men that made them different. What made them seeing AND perceiving? What made them able to hear AND understand? (verse 14) Why wouldn’t you want all of us to “see with [our] eyes, hear with [our] ears, understand with [our hearts] and turn, and [be healed]”?

I admit that there are some things that you try to show me that I just don’t understand. It seems like I am one of the people that you do not reveal things to. But then there are other times when I “get it” and can respond to what you are calling me to do. As I sit and think about this, my inability/ability to “see” seems to change depending upon what area of my life I am talking about. I have pretty good clarity at work. I can often see what you are doing and calling me to do there. I have a little less clarity in marriage. I often know how to respond to my wife, but there are times when I am insensitive and don’t have a clue. And I have even less clarity in my parenting. In fact, I was wondering recently if Satan wasn’t really trying to attack our family’s unity and I was missing it.

Father, help me to be seeing AND perceiving. Help me to hear AND understand. I want to glorify and honor you in every area of my life. In addition to that, I want to feel your peace and be a minister of your peace in every area of my life. Help me to bless my wife and children. Help me to bless my family. Help me to bless my friends and coworkers. Help me to bless our patients. And help me to bless those I simply encounter today. Touch the world through me.

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Accepting the Fruit God Grows in You (Matthew 13:1-9)

28 Jan

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Dear God, what does fruitfulness in a life look like? I think it can take a lot of forms. Of course, in this context it all starts with allowing your Word to take root in our hearts and flourish. But then, when it has flourished, how will it reveal itself to others?

I had a great experience yesterday. My wife’s birthday is tomorrow and so some of her blogging friends that she mainly knows through the Internet (although she did meet many of them once in the fall at a writer’s retreat) decided to shower her with loving posts, poems, etc. It overwhelmed her. It was fun for me to read because what I saw was a woman who had touched so many others without even realizing it. And what was it about her that was touching them? It was the fruit returning “a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

Ever since I have known my wife I have seen the ability she has to connect with people on a deep, deep level. I connect with a thousand people about an inch deep, but she digs deep with someone within moments. I have not only admired this trait in her, but I must confess that I have coveted it too. I would love for someone to spend thirty minutes with me and leave feeling known and loved. That is the fruit that you bear in my wife’s life, and it is beautiful.

Father, I know that you have gifted me in completely different ways that you gifted my wife. The problem is that the gifts you gave me are often more publicly acknowledged and affirmed than the gifts you gave her. But days like yesterday, when she saw the comments of dozens of people telling her that their lives are better for having known her, are powerful. I am grateful for that for her. Please help me to be at peace with the gifts you gave me. Let them take root and grow. And please continue to encourage my wife for the fruit that is born in her life.

 

 
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Posted by on January 28, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Figuring Out When Your Child is Grown (Matthew 12:46-50)

25 Jan

46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Dear God, it can be so hard to know what is appropriate when you grow up. Sure, Jesus was at least 30 in this story, so he was pretty grown up, but I am 41 and it can still be hard to know when to bend to my parents’ will and when to draw a line and say that I need to do something different.

The same is true from the parents’ side. Our children are teenagers right now. They aren’t quite ready to be on their own (although they probably think they are more ready than my wife and I do), but they are ready to make some decisions for themselves. So what kinds of decisions do we turn over to them and what do we keep for ourselves? I make mistakes in this area all of the time. Frankly, lately, I have been wondering if I haven’t been erring too much on the side of letting them make their own decisions. I actually feel like I have given them too much freedom and it isn’t working.

Father, teach me to parent my children at the ages they are at now, and to parent them as they grow. I have no answers. I only have questions. I had no idea it would be this hard and that I would feel soooo unequal to the task. So please love them through me. Parent them through me. Please help my wife and me to be completely united as their parents. Help us to be completely united as man and wife. Love and encourage them through us and guide them into a life of oneness with you.

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2012 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Aspiring to be a Ninevite (Matthew 12:38-45)

24 Jan

38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Dear God, Jesus seems to be pretty frustrated here. But I like the analogy here to Nineveh. I have always been amazed at their willingness to repent. What was going on in their lives and society that made them so willing to submit to you? How were they so ready to embrace you.

There is some kind of line here between those who believe themselves to be righteous (the people Jesus is speaking to) and those who know they are not and need you. But I think what Jesus is looking for are those who already reject evil and yet are willing to embrace him/you too.

Father, help me to be embrace you regardless of how in control I might feel. Help me to completely turn loose of my self-righteousness and consider it as worthless to me so that I might feel your direction and love. Be glorified in me. Give me your peace. More importantly, give me your direction. Show me how to leave my family and lead my business. Show me how to manage my own life. When you think of me, I hope you think of me more as someone who is from Nineveh and less like someone who is in Jesus’ audience in this story.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Matthew

 

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