The Promise of Freedom

Thinking about 2. Peter 2.19, this morning. Peter is severely taking to task false teachers in the church who promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you (NLT). Deep words. True words. How foolish we are if we turn aside from the excellency of Christ to pursue things that are useful in this world only. The endless pursuit of sex only makes you a slave to your sexual nature; there is no satisfaction to be found there. The same goes for power. The same for pride.

Don't shipwreck your faith in pursuit of a few colored glass beads and some temporal trinkets. True, lasting freedom is to be found in Christ alone.

Prayer: O Lord God, may I pursue Christ always. Christ before all things. May I see his excellency and desire him alone.

Don't Worry Mon

If we put Christ's message to his hearers in Luke 12.25-26 into a Jamaican context it would be "Don't worry Mon." As the NLT puts it: "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can't accomplish a little thing like that, what's the use of worrying over bigger things?"

So easy to absorb, but living it out is a slightly different matter. Anxiety comes easy to me so it's a constant battle to give it to the Lord over and over and remind myself that he expressly said not to worry.

Location:George Washington Memorial Pkwy,Arlington,United States

Clean on the Outside; Filthy on the Inside

Christ accuses the Pharisees of being clean on the outside—of having the appearance of being righteous—but filthy on the inside in Luke 7.39-41. They were doing things that made them appear religious, but inside they were doing just the opposite. As Christ points out, they were full of greed and wickedness. Do something, Christ says, to rid yourselves of that greed, "give gifts to the poor," and you will rid yourselves of greed and at the same time you will both understand God's heart and train yourselves in living rightly.

We would like to think that we are not like the Pharisees, but in reality we are. All too often I am motivated by greed rather than generosity, and stinginess rather than freely giving. Christ condemns this attitude very strongly here.

Prayer: O Lord may I not be a Pharisee, but may I have a heart for the poor; a heart for those less fortunate; a heart filled with compassion; may I have your heart.

A Certain Immoral Woman

Christ was such a radical in some ways that his actions seem radical to the casual reader 2000 years after his resurrection. A case in point: The immoral woman. I like the way the NLT puts it: "When a certain immoral woman from the city heard that he was eating there...she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair" (Luke 7. 37,38).

Two astounding things about this passage. First, Christ knows what the Pharisee in attendance is thinking about this whole encounter. Christ knows his mind! Wrap your brain around that.

Second, does anyone think that Christ didn't know the woman was immoral? I didn't think so. The woman was plainly immoral and known for it. Indeed, in the whole counter in Luke, she doesn't even say anything! The upshot: Her sins are forgiven. Wow! A truly remarkable encounter.

On Favoritism

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? (James 2.1 NLT). So simple and direct. If we are followers of Christ, we should not show favoritism to the rich over the poor, or to the poor over the rich; to businessmen over the working-class or the working class over businessmen, etc. Every person is equally as valuable as the next because they are a person. I suspect that sometimes it is a real struggle not to do this and we need to check our hearts and actions so that we don't do it. We honor God when we treat every person as God created them: equal.

A Sword Will Pierce Your Own Soul

Simeon's words to Mary at the presentation of the baby Jesus at the Temple as recorded in Luke 2.35: As a result the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul. Simeon's comment is fascinating. Why does he say that a sword will pierce Mary's own soul? Mary's soul would not be unaffected by her own child. How so? She will come to the point where she will understand that her own son will bear her sins in his body at the cross. The baby that she had delivered would himself deliver her from the power of sin and the sting of death.

Amazing.

Nature Gives Thanks

Reading in Ps 145 this morning, where David writes: All of your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will praise you (Ps. 145.10 NLT). This is one of those passages in which nature is described as if it were animate. How can a rock for instance thank the Lord, and yet this is what we find again and again in the Scriptures.

I find this interesting. Why would God choose to use revelation this way? I'm wondering if it is a manifestation of how closely linked he is with his creation and how all of creation points us towards him. This is not to imply that God is a part of his creation, as if we believed in pantheism. I think it points more towards the wisdom and loving care with which God created and sustains the world. He did not set it adrift and step back to allow it to run on its own. He is actively, carefully, and wisely involved in guiding and directing all of his creation. This is the message of the Scriptures.

Prayer: Lord Preserve My Life

Isn't it a self-centered prayer to ask God to preserve my life? Answer: Maybe or maybe not. It depends on the motivation. If I am praying that God will preserve my life so I can live a little longer and enjoy this world a little more (and by default him less), then yes, it is a self-centered prayer. However, in Ps 143.11, we have a great example of David praying this exact prayer in a way that glorifies God.

For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness , bring me out of this distress.

David's prayer is that in preserving his life, God's name will be glorified. David will get the help; God will get the glory. This is a God-centered prayer. When God demonstrates his faithfulness to David, it isn't David who will be praised, it is God.

This is why we can pray fervently and honestly for our own or other's restoration from illness. God is glorified when he heals people of illness, so it is good to pray that he will do so. Does he HAVE to heal them? Nope. He is God. He can do what he wants; however, he IS glorified; he is made to look great; his majesty and strength and power are demonstrated when he heals in response to our prayers.

So go on, O Christian. Are you sick? Is someone you know sick? Are you in danger? Pray fervently for God's preservation of life. As long as your desire is for God to look great!

Soliloquy from a Cave

In Ps 142 we have David's soliloquy from a cave. His lament. His difficulties poured out. It's not pretty; quite ugly in fact. David doesn't mince words.

He cries out to the Lord. He pleads for the Lord's mercy. He pours out his complaints. He tells God of all his trouble (If you're staying in a cave, then you're definitely in trouble). His enemies have set traps for him wherever he goes. No one cares. No one gives him a passing thought. No one will help him. He is very low. His persecutors are too strong for him.

And there in that cave, in the middle of his lament, we find the gem. "You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life." It takes desperation and a cave to strip away life to its bare essentials. A cave is a refuge when God is present, not because of the cave, but because of God. There is nothing else and David discovers that he has everything he really wants.

Prayer: O Lord God, may we understand what David discovered, that we need nothing else besides you.

Our Gracious God

I love Heb 4.14 in the NLT: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. It's a rather stunning truth that we can come to the Creator of the universe boldly; this would be something akin to an ant coming to an elephant boldly. Such is the nature of our gracious God; he wants us to come boldly. What do we find there? Mercy and grace when we need it most. God is adept at giving us just what we need, just when we need it (and not a moment sooner usually).

Prayer: May I, Lord, come boldly to your throne. You are the gracious God. You promise mercy and grace. You will give what you promise.

Worship Worthless Things...

...and one becomes worthless oneself. So says the NLT's translation of 2 Kings 17.15: They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshipped worthless things and so became worthless themselves. I like the way the NLT translates this. How true it is that when we commit our hearts to worthless things, we become just like the things themselves.

Descending into Sin

We have a picture of the descent into sin in Hos 9.7b: "Because of your great sin and hostility [Israel] you say, "The prophets are crazy, and the inspired men are fools" (NLT). Israel has reached a stage in sin in which, not only do they reject the messages that God sends through the prophets, but they call the prophets themselves "fools" and "crazy." This is a sign of a hard heart indeed, and it is the nature of sin. When the descent into sin goes far enough then not only are we doing what we want without regard to what God says, but we are actively opposing all that he is and does.

Notice, however, that the people would probably answer this charge by saying, "Well, we are not opposing God at all, we are just opposing these prophets who are bringing such a simple message." It's easy to justify what one wants to do, especially when blinded by sin. They were oblivious to the fact that opposing God's messengers was like opposing God himself.