Break from 1 Kings

The semester was almost over. The halls were decked out in green, red, silver, and gold. Every doorway was shimmering from the decorations. Snowflakes and angels swung from the ceiling. There was laughter and merriment everywhere. It seemed something marvelous was filling the air.

I was not feeling it. Yeah, yeah, another Christmas. I rarely got what I asked for. It meant going to church extra times whether the snow was creating a white-out or not. Others seemed happy and excited. I just couldn’t get into it. Once upon a time, in the deepest recesses of my memory, I anticipated Christmas (and the break from school), like everyone else. Not anymore.

I prepared little gifts and hid them in the mailbox or dorm room of the person to whom I had been assigned the role of Secret Santa. And, it was nice to get little gifts or notes everyday from my Secret Santa, but I wasn’t expecting much.

I will never forget that time in my life.

My Secret Santa included little rectangular white cards in each day’s surprise. There were words on them. I remember eventually figuring out that the words were from the Bible (so many women on my floor believed that stuff). Yet, I read them. Day after day for a week, the cards built the story of Christmas. One of the last cards I got said,

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.”  Luke 2:10

I remember thinking I could use some “great joy.”

The next day, the card read,

“for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Something struck me! TODAY. For today, that day, whichever day I wanted, a Savior – Christ the Lord – could be born for me. I pondered that a few days. Another, different woman on my floor, who had been willing to hang around with me all semester cornered me a few days later. She talked about why I felt so inept at pleasing God. She talked about how Christmas is all about the way to be pleasing to God, Jesus. I didn’t make any instant decisions, but I had a lot to ponder.

When I tell my faith journey story, I usually focus on the love, patience, kindness, and words of the second woman. Someone recently pointed out to a small group I had just shared my story with, that God used a seemingly benign college dorm activity to prepare my heart for Him. The activity was something rooted in the traditional celebration of Christmas – Santa! God intertwined the traditions and the truth of Christmas to call me to Him and into right relationship with the real meaning of Christmas. That’s a miracle. That shows that God is in control of everything.

Repent and Share

In my daily Quiet Time yesterday, I read John 3:1-14. It was the first record of John the Baptist’s adult ministry messages. I saw 5 key components to the message that Luke recorded for us. 

1. Repent for forgiveness from God (vs. 3)

2. Birth families and religion can’t save you (vs. 7-8)

3. Act out your faith by giving to those in need (vs. 11)

4. Be honest when dealing with fellow man (vs. 12-13)

5. Don’t extort or take just because you have the power to do so (vs. 14)

I think verses 3 and 11 kind of sums it up for me:

Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven . . . John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.

Repent and share (care about other people’s needs) summed it up for me. The message of the Gospel needs to involve repentance in all areas of our lives. Repentance of sins means ALL sins. John just gives a few pertinent areas (as Luke tells it). However John preached for 1/2-1 year before Jesus started His ministry . . . John probably confronted many other people regarding their specific sins as well. All sin must be laid aside. We won’t be perfect or live like repentant children of God all the time, but we can always repent (turn around, change behaviors, determine to continue to move away from sin). It takes practice.

The other part of John’s message in the passage was all about sharing what we have with those who don’t have and treating our fellowman with honesty and respect. I have a ways to go as we all do, but I can work on it. And in so doing, I can be a witness as to what God’s love is all about. That’s John’s basic message and so it should also be mine.

What Will I Be Remembered For?

Everyone will be remembered for something. I want to make sure that what I’m remembered for is not used as an example of what not to be like. That’s what happened in Luke 17:32 – 33 where Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Lot’s wife was an example of what not to be like.

Lot’s wife – we don’t know her name – was one who looked back on a sinful lifestyle and a sinful world and longed for it. I definitely don’t want to do that. Jesus thought her example was a great warning for His followers. She was being dragged away from Sodom (a city characterized by activity that was contrary to the way of life God wanted for His people) and yet she was looking over her shoulder longing for that lifestyle. What she saw, if she had time to see anything, was a city being destroyed by God as judgment for its wrongful ways. What happened to her was she was turned into a pillar of salt sharing in the destruction of the city she was longing for. As my Bible study book put it, “She became a lifeless pillar of salt, the picture of a misspent, self-centered existence.”

The amazing thing is that God was willing to be merciful toward Lot and his wife and his family in spite of their ties to a corrupt and defiling city. God sent His messengers to warn Lot of the coming destruction in Sodom. When Lot still procrastinated on leaving the city, the messengers took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hands and dragged them away from the city. God was willing to show compassion on Lot and his entire family. He’s willing to do the same for each of us.

But we can’t be looking back and longing for our old way of living. “Remember Lot’s wife!” What happened to her when she looked back? She lost out on the salvation that was awaiting her in the mountains, according to God’s merciful salvation for her. I don’t want to be remembered for looking back and longing for the old sinful ways of life. I want to be remembered for having faith and trust in God.

What do you want to be remembered for?

Take Action

Wow. Your master just sent you out in pairs to preach and perform healings and other miracles. You do it. People get better because you ask God to heal them. Demons run away from people they have been tormenting because you ask God to send them away. People invite you into their homes and feed you because you ask in the name of Jesus. Every situation brings a new surprise. You ask and you are answered. Amazing!

After a time, all of you regroup and join Jesus again. Everyone is talking at once. Everyone experienced the same kind of miracles. Yes. They were miracles brought about because you prayed. Of course you are just doing what Jesus said to do. Of course He made sure you wouldn’t look stupid praying and getting no results. He knew what He was asking you to do and He wouldn’t make you look foolish.

But now a crowd has gathered again. Over 5,000 people are hanging around, listening to Jesus preach some more. They are waiting to see what Jesus will do next. He’s been healing and preaching all day and they don’t want to miss a thing. You are hungry. You think it is getting time for dinner. The people don’t have food with them. They didn’t plan ahead – but neither did you. You looked for food and only found five loaves and two fish – barely enough to feed the twelve of you and Jesus.

You go to Jesus and suggest that He send the people away to go to the towns to get food and shelter for the night. Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey that’s a good idea.” He says, “You feed them.” You glance at each other out of the corners of your eyes and mouth, “What? What is He saying?” to those looking to you for answers. Jesus says, “You feed them.”

You think, “How can we do that? We have only five loafs of bread and two small fish.” Jesus looks at you, one by one. You can’t read His expression. You can’t tell if He’s angry, joking, teasing, or serious. But He looks serious. Did Jesus just let out a sigh? Maybe. He asks for the bread and the fish. He gives thanks to God and tells us to feed the people. As we go from group of people to group of people there is always bread and fish in the baskets. Every person there, all 5,000 plus, get enough food. We meet back on the hill by Jesus with twelve extra baskets full of food.

You sit back and are speechless. When Jesus said, “You feed them,” He meant we should feed them. But, He fed them, fed them all. He doesn’t say anything to you and you don’t know what to say to Him. You just healed people and preached the good news about Jesus, but you didn’t take the opportunity to feed the people, do a miracle. You don’t get it yet.

Thank God He is so patient with us. I don’t get it much of the time. But, like with the disciples, Jesus doesn’t get sarcastic with me, call me names, or ridicule me. He patiently waits and shows me Who He is all over again. He patiently waits for me to get it. He patiently waits for me to take the opportunities He gives me to give honor and recognition to Him. Do I hear His sigh? How many times each day is He trying to get me to take action? How many times today did He wait, see I wasn’t getting it, and do it Himself?

My response is to pray: Lord, help me see the opportunities to preach you and take action.

[Based on Luke 9.]

The Foundation

This week at church we started a new program: 40 Days in the Word. It is designed to get everyone – our pastor is praying for 100% participation – into the Scriptures everyday.

Great idea. No kidding. I have for a rather long time, 33 years, understood the importance of the Bible and have made it my personal goal to read, meditate, memorize, and apply its teachings to my life on a daily basis. I’ve had periods when it seemed impossible to fit into my busy schedule. I’ve had times when it seems I cannot function without its daily guidance. In the last few years, I have found that it is not a forced practice. I want it. It’s more like a longing. When I don’t fit it in somewhere in my day, something is just missing. It’s kind of like not saying, “I love you,” each day to my husband. I need to maintain that one-on-one contact with Jesus. Like I get in reply from my husband, I need my daily boost of Jesus’ reply to me. He says, “I love you, too.”

There are people I’ve come across in my life who place prayer in the center of their relationship with God. Prayer is one of the vital skills or tools for maintaining a relationship with Jesus. It’s the talking part. But, I need the listening part to come first. I can, and have, talked all around stuff with Jesus. I’ve yelled at Him. I’ve argued with Him. I’ve pleaded with Him. I’ve whispered in desperation to Him. But, my words do not change my life. His Words to me change my life. I need to hear Jesus’ suggestions commands on how to apply His Word to change my behavior. His Words change me. All my talking ever does is convince me my poor ways of thinking and behaving are okay.

Of course, reading the Bible like it is a nice storybook, does not change me either. After listening to the video devotion for today (available to all at www.40ditw.com), I read in Luke 6:47 out of The Message:

“These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.”

Here it is! Jesus tells us that His Words are not just for renovating our broken down lives. It is a place to begin anew to build new lives on firm, solid foundations. Lives built on the foundation of Jesus’ Words – of all of Scripture – are full of hope and healing. Hope and healing is a different life from the doom and gloom my own thoughts, feelings, and words give me. I want that foundation of hope under my life.

So, this week I begin the 40 Days in the Word program and I invite you to join in. Check out the link above, listen or watch the devotion, and open your Bible to learn why and how to listen to Jesus.

Truth or Popular

Conviction is coming from reading the Gospel of Luke. It started as an academic exercise. Deciding to review my acquaintance with the life of Jesus, I thought reading through the Gospels (the Biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) would remind me of Who Jesus is. What it is doing is reminding me of whom Jesus wants me to be.

I recently wrote in an email to a friend:

Today I read a few verses in Luke 6. Then I stopped and just focused on 3 verses, 24 - 26. Verse 26 was enlightening:

"There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular." [The Message]

This reminds me of the saying I've heard around the youth group before: What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. I like this. It talks about how doing what is right, what is true and what is honoring to God, is not necessarily what is comfortable to hear or do. The effect of making people uncomfortable usually means we are not popular in the common meaning of the word popular (liked, admired or enjoyed by many people). I don't want to be unpopular or put people off, but I do want to proclaim and do right and truth. I must do that – but I can strive to do it out of love and in as loving a way as possible. Sometimes it actually feels like it is burning inside of me, a pain deep within my heart for those who do not know Christ and are far away from a meaningful, honest, and accurate encounter with Him. There are so many falsehoods and lies people believe regarding Who Jesus is and what He asks from us. It is up to us to give witness to the truths, leaving personal agendas and politics out of it, especially to those who so desperately need our Savior. It is up to us to preach the Truth -- not some manmade version of the truth. It is up to us – ME – to share the hope and love and life of Christ to those who need Him – to those who need a healer, a physician, a Savior; to those who, like us, need Christ for an eternal hope and a better quality of life right now.

As I write this, I hurt. I fall so very, very, very short of what is needed. I am not the witness Christ would have me be. I can only ask for forgiveness, ask for guidance, ask for wisdom, and try again. Do you feel the same longing to meet people's needs, to bring them to a place where their desperation leaves them, and in the place of the desperation, put in the peace of Christ?

Then, it passes. I don't think I can live there all the time, but I don't think I let it burn strong enough or often enough to be of use to those who so desperately need a Savior. But, I do the best I can. I work to do better. And, God uses what I give. For His glory.

For another take on this concept, see article posted one minute before this one.