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?'
--
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Treasure In Heaven
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light..." Matthew 6:19-22 ESV
What does it mean to have 'treasure in Heaven'. I have been pondering that for a week or so on and off.
Treasure that can't tarnish.
No moth (or biological agent) can access it to defile it.
It can't be stolen or diminished.
That sense of belonging and ownership fills us with light. We are not looking at God's house saying, 'Wow, It would be nice to live there.' No. We look and say, 'Something there belongs to me and no one can steal it and nothing can destroy it. That is my place.'
Putting things in storage is an active process. A decision is made to forego access to a thing and sent it somewhere. We can send our minutes and hours to Heaven. We can make decisions based on eternal perspective. We can be full of light on the inside.
--
What does it mean to have 'treasure in Heaven'. I have been pondering that for a week or so on and off.
Treasure that can't tarnish.
No moth (or biological agent) can access it to defile it.
It can't be stolen or diminished.
That sense of belonging and ownership fills us with light. We are not looking at God's house saying, 'Wow, It would be nice to live there.' No. We look and say, 'Something there belongs to me and no one can steal it and nothing can destroy it. That is my place.'
Putting things in storage is an active process. A decision is made to forego access to a thing and sent it somewhere. We can send our minutes and hours to Heaven. We can make decisions based on eternal perspective. We can be full of light on the inside.
--
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Looking For Life In All The Wrong Places
I remember being a teenager and thinking, 'Life is out there and once I get away from here I'll find it and be free.' I didn't put it in just those words. It was more like a kind of 'angst'. I see it everywhere. People live for the weekend. They long to be married if they are single. They want to retire if they are working.
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." - Jeremiah 2:12-13 ESV
Oppression can cause depression and people seem to lose the ability to retain joy. Life seems to seep away and we go looking for it or perhaps we lose hope. We despair and think we will never have what we had before. We will never find that thing that will complete us or satisfy us.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." - John 1:4 ESV
I talk about Jesus a lot. You may have noticed. I'm not looking for a soulmate or the fountain of youth because I have Him. I have come to believe He Is that thing that was missing in my life. The Greek New Testament informs me that this is so and I have found it to be true. I still get dissatisfied with things, places and institutions. There is much I don't understand or even agree with about how life seems to be but He adds flavour to every dish. He floods my heart with joy when it becomes a barren wasteland. He causes me to love people even after having to drive next to them on the highway.
"But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." - Acts 13:51-52 ESV
Actually, It is the Holy Spirit who does this. He Is this filling and is involved in it because of Jesus and Christ is the focus of it.
"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." - John 15:26 ESV
People who have everything and those who have lost everything can still have this and this is no 'second place' thing. The stuff won't mend that cistern. People can't either. God may use people in the process but Jesus is the key ingredient.
Jesus says things like this...
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." - Matthew 11:27 ESV
That is why I talk about Him so much. He is my favourite subject and I also worry about people who seem to be happy (and unhappy) without Him.
--
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." - Jeremiah 2:12-13 ESV
Oppression can cause depression and people seem to lose the ability to retain joy. Life seems to seep away and we go looking for it or perhaps we lose hope. We despair and think we will never have what we had before. We will never find that thing that will complete us or satisfy us.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." - John 1:4 ESV
I talk about Jesus a lot. You may have noticed. I'm not looking for a soulmate or the fountain of youth because I have Him. I have come to believe He Is that thing that was missing in my life. The Greek New Testament informs me that this is so and I have found it to be true. I still get dissatisfied with things, places and institutions. There is much I don't understand or even agree with about how life seems to be but He adds flavour to every dish. He floods my heart with joy when it becomes a barren wasteland. He causes me to love people even after having to drive next to them on the highway.
"But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." - Acts 13:51-52 ESV
Actually, It is the Holy Spirit who does this. He Is this filling and is involved in it because of Jesus and Christ is the focus of it.
"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." - John 15:26 ESV
People who have everything and those who have lost everything can still have this and this is no 'second place' thing. The stuff won't mend that cistern. People can't either. God may use people in the process but Jesus is the key ingredient.
Jesus says things like this...
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." - Matthew 11:27 ESV
That is why I talk about Him so much. He is my favourite subject and I also worry about people who seem to be happy (and unhappy) without Him.
--
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The First Chapter Of The Gospel Of John
I'm reading this again and again. God became personal.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ') For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." - John 1:1-17 ESV
Not much to say really.
I just want to buy 10,000 little gospels of John and give them out saying, 'Please just read the first chapter and if you have any questions just ask me. I put my contact information on the back page.'
Just these 17 verses are so loaded with truth.
This is truth we could never get by looking at nature or exploring the inner reaches of our minds. We had to be told this.
The English translations don't even do some of this justice. The Greek is so much more elegant and specific.
I love how the writer doesn't even give Jesus' given name until verse 17. He leaves it mysterious. The ideas are so large and expansive. Light and darkness. Creation and nothingness.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God," - John 1:12 ESV
The writer isn't going to say his name until verse 17 but at the same time he is saying His name because he is explaining the 'nature' of this person we call Jesus.
Every word here is pure. It is like divine poetry. I would sell all that I have to have this. That is the worth of this information and yet God gives it to us freely.
Thank you God. Thank You for showing us a relationship that was happening before you spoke the universe into existence. Thank you for revealing 'the life' that is the light of men.
--
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ') For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." - John 1:1-17 ESV
Not much to say really.
I just want to buy 10,000 little gospels of John and give them out saying, 'Please just read the first chapter and if you have any questions just ask me. I put my contact information on the back page.'
Just these 17 verses are so loaded with truth.
This is truth we could never get by looking at nature or exploring the inner reaches of our minds. We had to be told this.
The English translations don't even do some of this justice. The Greek is so much more elegant and specific.
I love how the writer doesn't even give Jesus' given name until verse 17. He leaves it mysterious. The ideas are so large and expansive. Light and darkness. Creation and nothingness.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God," - John 1:12 ESV
The writer isn't going to say his name until verse 17 but at the same time he is saying His name because he is explaining the 'nature' of this person we call Jesus.
Every word here is pure. It is like divine poetry. I would sell all that I have to have this. That is the worth of this information and yet God gives it to us freely.
Thank you God. Thank You for showing us a relationship that was happening before you spoke the universe into existence. Thank you for revealing 'the life' that is the light of men.
--
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Some Won't See It Coming
"...you did not know the time of your visitation." - Luke 19:44b ESV
Just thinking about God's 'visitation' and it's qualities. It seems like one of it's characteristics is that some people see God in the circumstances and others don't. God visits Abraham's tent and Abraham gets that this is God but Sarah laughs in the tent. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and people pull palm branches off the trees and throws coats on the ground he is about to ride by on but others are criticizing him.
The fact that some people 'miss' the visitation appears to be evidence that there was a visitation.
It just seems to be a trend but in a way, it is a vexing one because unstable people 'see things that no one else does' also and make claims that God visited them and showed them things.
God's visitation is like a large wake that forms behind a big vessel passing by. That wake disturbs the otherwise calm water in a very linear way. God's wake brings hope, freedom from guilt or shame, forgiveness and healing. It is orderly.
"They said to you, 'In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.' It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." - Jude 1:18-25 ESV
Yes. Wow.
We are looking for something not everyone is going to see and perhaps is easy to miss if our focus is on other things. We are looking for a 'visitation'... not a subjective delusion. We stay built up and kept in the love of God. We 'wait' on mercy while 'having' mercy for those who doubt. God is able to keep us. All glory belongs to God. All majesty, dominion, and authority do also.
--
Just thinking about God's 'visitation' and it's qualities. It seems like one of it's characteristics is that some people see God in the circumstances and others don't. God visits Abraham's tent and Abraham gets that this is God but Sarah laughs in the tent. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and people pull palm branches off the trees and throws coats on the ground he is about to ride by on but others are criticizing him.
The fact that some people 'miss' the visitation appears to be evidence that there was a visitation.
It just seems to be a trend but in a way, it is a vexing one because unstable people 'see things that no one else does' also and make claims that God visited them and showed them things.
God's visitation is like a large wake that forms behind a big vessel passing by. That wake disturbs the otherwise calm water in a very linear way. God's wake brings hope, freedom from guilt or shame, forgiveness and healing. It is orderly.
"They said to you, 'In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.' It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." - Jude 1:18-25 ESV
Yes. Wow.
We are looking for something not everyone is going to see and perhaps is easy to miss if our focus is on other things. We are looking for a 'visitation'... not a subjective delusion. We stay built up and kept in the love of God. We 'wait' on mercy while 'having' mercy for those who doubt. God is able to keep us. All glory belongs to God. All majesty, dominion, and authority do also.
--
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