Just pondering the idea of 'holiness' and how it is a pure type of specialness that is realized by an individual. We can be very 'familiar' with things and people.
Looking back now I realize that I was very 'familiar' as a child. My room. The food we ate. Places. They weren't special to me. Life just was and I didn't realize things would change or be gone. It was all about how I felt in the moment and what I wanted. Power and powerlessness. In one sense I just didn't 'know better' because I was young and naive even though I got street smart at a young age.
Holiness came into my life. I see that this doesn't happen for everyone. I link it directly to Jesus and not growing up because maturity can only account for so much. Holiness isn't sentimental. It is divine and pure. It is an unchanging specialness linked to grace, mercy, justice and love.
It isn't defiled and we all have seen what defilement is if we get old enough. My 'street smartness', if I had any, came from exposure to potential dangers.
Holiness is only dangerous to darkness. The meek and humble are at home in holiness but that sense of belonging is because of the love of the holy One. It isn't a place of carelessness because of the care that permeates the 'place'.
Jesus brought holiness out of the temple and into people's lives and we have that if we have Him. Life isn't easy but it is special.
You are special. You are important. You are not common. You are loved.
--
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Meal Preparation
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?" - Matthew 24:45 ESV
I read this passage this morning and it hit me kind of hard.
Access to provision is an important thing and only some people have it. It is granted by someone so that distribution happens and is controlled in some way for timely use. Breakfast is served early. Lunch at midday. Dinner feeds the worker who is finally resting from their labor.
"Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 24:46-51 ESV
The 'faithful and wise servant' part gets me because I don't see myself as either of these things but anyone who has worked in different places has seen how this works with other resources. Sometimes the person who ends up with the keys is just the one who has been around the longest and they landed on their desk. Their 'wisdom' and 'faithfulness' is just 'knowing the ropes' because they have seen it done hundreds of times. In other places, access is guarded fiercely and those who end up with it are not the people who will use it wisely or mercifully.
Grace... I have access to the cupboard of grace... everyone who understands what Jesus is like and what He has done has access but people need meals made. Jesus is the Master who has gone on a trip.
I can go in and make myself a sandwich and leave everyone else to fend for themselves but what will 'He' say when 'He' returns?
I can lord my access over everyone.
I can tell them to go get their provision. It is free after all. They just need to read the book but it isn't that easy is it? People read the book and don't find the cupboard of grace. It isn't the same as a meal cooked by someone who was trained to cook... who has practiced cooking over many years and observed how others have skillfully used the ingredients.
My Pastor was a man who got up in the morning and made breakfast for everyone. Then he made lunch. We always got a very special Sunday dinner. He wasn't a perfect person but those meals were very very good and nourishing. Grace was the main ingredient in all the meals he made. They, along with other things, healed my wounds and got me on a schedule of getting 'what I could never deserve or earn'.
There are always going to be hungry people. There are also going to be people who just don't appreciate the food they are served. It isn't up to their standard. They are critical and make you just want to hang up the apron.
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?" - Matthew 24:45 ESV
Boom.
Why is the person cooking meals? Is it the hungry people or is it a calling? Maybe at some future date the master might say, 'Wow. Everyone said your meals were always made with great care.' or 'Suzy loved your pancake recipe.' but when He returns the main issue will be what we did with the access we were given. Did we cook on a schedule so that people could be fed or were we occupied with ourselves and the power we had acquired?
--
I read this passage this morning and it hit me kind of hard.
Access to provision is an important thing and only some people have it. It is granted by someone so that distribution happens and is controlled in some way for timely use. Breakfast is served early. Lunch at midday. Dinner feeds the worker who is finally resting from their labor.
"Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 24:46-51 ESV
The 'faithful and wise servant' part gets me because I don't see myself as either of these things but anyone who has worked in different places has seen how this works with other resources. Sometimes the person who ends up with the keys is just the one who has been around the longest and they landed on their desk. Their 'wisdom' and 'faithfulness' is just 'knowing the ropes' because they have seen it done hundreds of times. In other places, access is guarded fiercely and those who end up with it are not the people who will use it wisely or mercifully.
Grace... I have access to the cupboard of grace... everyone who understands what Jesus is like and what He has done has access but people need meals made. Jesus is the Master who has gone on a trip.
I can go in and make myself a sandwich and leave everyone else to fend for themselves but what will 'He' say when 'He' returns?
I can lord my access over everyone.
I can tell them to go get their provision. It is free after all. They just need to read the book but it isn't that easy is it? People read the book and don't find the cupboard of grace. It isn't the same as a meal cooked by someone who was trained to cook... who has practiced cooking over many years and observed how others have skillfully used the ingredients.
My Pastor was a man who got up in the morning and made breakfast for everyone. Then he made lunch. We always got a very special Sunday dinner. He wasn't a perfect person but those meals were very very good and nourishing. Grace was the main ingredient in all the meals he made. They, along with other things, healed my wounds and got me on a schedule of getting 'what I could never deserve or earn'.
There are always going to be hungry people. There are also going to be people who just don't appreciate the food they are served. It isn't up to their standard. They are critical and make you just want to hang up the apron.
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?" - Matthew 24:45 ESV
Boom.
Why is the person cooking meals? Is it the hungry people or is it a calling? Maybe at some future date the master might say, 'Wow. Everyone said your meals were always made with great care.' or 'Suzy loved your pancake recipe.' but when He returns the main issue will be what we did with the access we were given. Did we cook on a schedule so that people could be fed or were we occupied with ourselves and the power we had acquired?
--
Friday, February 1, 2019
The Authority Of Grace
"By what authority do you do these things?"
This question was asked of Jesus and it was recorded in three of the Gospels (Matt 21, Mark 11 and Luke 20). Jesus was healing, forgiving and cursing an occassional fig tree. He pointed to John the Baptist and asked them who they thought gave him his authority and they just couldn't answer for political reasons but John's ministry was changing lives and preparing people for Jesus' ministry.
People might say, 'All this grace you give and talk about. By whose authority do you give it? Who are you to say what you do.' but liberators liberate because God raises them up. They make room for healing blessing and they curse a fig tree that has no fruit here and there also so that the structure will wither up.
Grace, unmerited favor based on what God did on the cross, gives people authority. It imparts authority to people that seem unworthy of it. Be that person no matter who says, 'Aren't you going a bit overboard with that?'
--
This question was asked of Jesus and it was recorded in three of the Gospels (Matt 21, Mark 11 and Luke 20). Jesus was healing, forgiving and cursing an occassional fig tree. He pointed to John the Baptist and asked them who they thought gave him his authority and they just couldn't answer for political reasons but John's ministry was changing lives and preparing people for Jesus' ministry.
People might say, 'All this grace you give and talk about. By whose authority do you give it? Who are you to say what you do.' but liberators liberate because God raises them up. They make room for healing blessing and they curse a fig tree that has no fruit here and there also so that the structure will wither up.
Grace, unmerited favor based on what God did on the cross, gives people authority. It imparts authority to people that seem unworthy of it. Be that person no matter who says, 'Aren't you going a bit overboard with that?'
--
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