Blessed are the hungry

Blessed are those who hunger

and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

It is funny how often this can be turned towards a cry for justice for those that are oppressed and to some extent it can be said that that is for what it was meant. It is a call to look at those that are suffering with thirst and hunger, those that are being driven down in physical pain and it is so much more. It is a call to all of us who suffer under godlessness and pain inflicted by a world that has no sense of care for the spiritual well-being of the world, just worries about the bottom line. A world that has those that cry out for social justice, but give no reverence to the provider of all and does not understand the injustice they bring upon others when they cast our Lord God aside as myth or superstition.
God is the only one that can feed a hungry world because the food that He provides does not only nourish the real, human hunger that can overcome us, but He feeds the deeper hunger that eats away at all humanity. I love the saying, “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” This saying may be old-fashioned, but the reality is that when things are at their lowest point there is a desire that is inane to all humanity to cry out for the creator, our Lord God. The cry can be in anger and may even be a vile curse spat out in all its venom, but there is an acknowledgement of something greater.
God calls us when we are hungry and thirsty. He fills us so that we are satisfied, but when we turn away the hunger returns with a vengeance. We are all hungry and thirsty until we eat of the bread and drink from the cup, then and only then can we be filled.
You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.
He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
Matthew 5:6 (The Message)

Blessed are the meek

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 (NIV)

As I continue this process through the Beatitudes the challenge continues because the words that Jesus speaks continue to defy logic, or so it may seem. It causes me to initially rebel again and again. Again Jesus bombards the thought of by challenging me to understand how one who is meek will become great and it makes me think of the story of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20. We are all called to the work of God and there will be those who are bold and step forth and do all the work from early on and there will be those who are fearful, those who have nothing and come in with heaviness and will step into grace in the end, but will receive the same as those that have been there all along. The fact is that pride can be the downfall of believers.
What do I mean by this? There are those believers in the world that are bold in their faith, but sometimes their boldness stands as a stumbling block to others. I’m sure that most everyone has known such a Christian. The Christian who stands in a strong self-righteousness because he feels that he has been so faithful and will quickly call out others in their flaws, I’m sure that most of us can pick out one or two Christians like this and some of us might even be guilty of that ourselves. Matthew 20:16 (NIV) says, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” The problem with this self-righteous pride is that it causes others to stumble and poses the danger that the works that you do become the defining factor of your faith, but the reality is that Christ is the only one that can save anyone and the work has been done.
The Message version of Matthew 5:5 reads this way, “You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” That is the essence of meekness, not feeling that anything is deserved or owed, but feeling blessed with the life that you have been given. When we come to God with that thankful heart it can slowly change in us the desire to possess more things and make us more desirous of the relationship that we can have with Jesus Christ, the only one that can bring us salvation and has given us all that we should ever need. No one has ever been satisfied by anything that can be bought because the moment that you possess those things something bigger and better comes along. The only cup that fulfills all desires is the one poured out on us in the blood of our Lord, so when we come as meek wretches acutely aware of how wretched we truly are we can find that we have been given everything.

A mournful heart

“Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4 (NIV)

The second line Jesus spoke to those listening at the Mount of Olives. First, He challenges the normal sense of those listening by stating that the poor in spirit are blessed and now those that are mourning, man, it sounds like a hard sell. I don’t know about you, but I have lost a few people in my days and these words would not have resonated well with me. Death is the end in many people’s eyes, even those that believe in the life hereafter. It is comforting to know as a Christian that eventually we will be reunited with those that past before us, but in the here and now those words can fall flat. To watch someone that you love and remember as being strong and comforting become weak and frail is heart wrenching. Then when that loved one dies it quickly becomes a reality that you will no longer hear her voice or feel his arms hold you. That is where the pain becomes real and to hear those words that, “they are in a better place”, can fall flat and feel like the platitude it truly is. I know that when my grandmother, Kathleen Hanson, died in 1999 those words brought little comfort. I was grieved because I was over 500 miles away when she passed and wasn’t able to come and say goodbye before she took her last breathe. What one has to understand is my grandmother was more than just grandma; she had been a great friend and companion. When I was growing up her and I had great conversations on faith and politics, she was a very special person in my life and here I was in Oklahoma and she was in North Dakota, dying and I was unable to be there with her in her final days. My faith was not really strong in Christ at that point in my life, so those words of hope, of a better place, were not very comforting. So, here we sit with this verse from Matthew and the question, what do we do with Jesus’ words?
I like to look at different versions of scripture to gain different insights and the Message version of this verse says it this way, “You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” You may ask, “How does that make it any better?” The reality is that in life we tend to focus on others and forget to focus on God. It is true that in the midst of a loss the pain just doesn’t disappear because someone reminds us that the one we love is now with God, but what happens is God mourns with us for the loss we feel. The shortest verse is John 11:35 (NIV), “Jesus wept.” The context of this shows the humanity of our Lord, He wept at the news of Lazarus’ death. He wept when He had heard that a good friend of His was now dead, but He knew that it was not the end. He wept, I think, also because those that were close to Him did not fully understand and did not trust in the promise of God and only saw the death as an end and not a new beginning, so he raised Lazarus from the dead and extended his days here on earth. Jesus, I believe, wept for these two reasons because He loved His friend and knew that He would miss Him, but He wept because He heard the anger and the disbelief of those that saw the passing of Lazarus as the worst thing that could have happened. When we lose the ones we love and our hearts are broken the faith that we hold in the one Jesus Christ can be strengthened because in our pain we can be wrapped up in His arms and brought comfort. We walk around in life often times believing that we don’t need anyone and though we may worship our Lord on Sunday, on Monday our lives can be lived as if we are on our own. Do you feel that way? What role do you give Jesus in your life? Think of a time that you have been embraced by the Lord. If you can recall, think of what it felt like and if you don’t know of or can’t think of a time or are in the midst of mourning, what is preventing you from allowing yourself to be embraced by Jesus?

Blessed are the poor...

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

Christ’s message within the beginning verse of the Beatitudes, as written in Matthew, is one that I have struggled with since seriously beginning to look at them within a class at seminary that I took in the fall semester of 2004. Each petition brought me into a deeper walk with Jesus struggling with what He is speaking to me. The words cause me to cry out, “You’re killing me, Jesus!” It really is difficult because these words challenge all that I have been enculturated with since I was a child and as I ponder them I understand that, to some extent, they are meant to kill the old self. It fits into another of those troublesome verses Matthew 10:39, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Faith in Jesus Christ is a struggle because it calls us to give up our natural, sinful desires and give ourselves fully over to the Holy Spirit. These verses are best explained in The Message, “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” We are a culture that likes to be in charge, or at least feel we are, over everything. Uncertainty creates anxiety and anxiety creates a high level of stress and this stress causes a variety of other issues. We get caught up in the busyness of life we forget to do the most important thing and live. Families are separated and disjointed and God is left on the sidelines. We are so caught up in our gods that we forget about the only true God who redeemed us in His precious blood and understands us because He walked among us.
When we walk before God with all of our brokenness and give that brokenness over to Him, He lifts us up and renews us making us whole again. First, we need to realize our own brokenness and then when He renews us He stays in us and with us and holds us together. It is only when we forget to give it over to Him that we begin to fall apart once again as broken beings. We need to be poor in spirit to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work within our lives, so we will know and feel His full promise, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, Father in Heaven, we lift our hearts to You this day. We come to You broken and weak, fill us with Your Spirit, renew us in Your promises. Help us to constantly remember that all we have is because of You and that in our lives it is You that we should see in the center. You are eternal Lord and when all those distractions fade there You will be. Lord, Jesus Christ, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may we not lose sight of what is important. Amen.

Would you believe?

Would you believe?
Luke 1:1-25; Mark 1:1-11

Imagine being Zechariah in the temple having come to terms with the fact that he would not have a child and then being confronted by the angel Gabriel telling him that his wife, who is older, will become pregnant. They will not only have a child, but a child that will be great in the eyes of the Lord. Then he doubts and is struck dumb, he can no longer speak. What fear Zechariah must have felt, but what joy must have welled up when he knew it was true.
Some may act as though they would not be like Zechariah doubting. I hear it often, “If only we could’ve lived at the time of Jesus, how it would have been to walk with him.” The truth is that had we lived at the time we probably would not have believed. Like Zechariah being given the truth directly from an angel of the Lord we are given the truth of Jesus Christ in the Word, in God’s Word revealed to us within scripture. We hear the words and how often do we not truly believe? Do you believe that Christ is present with you so much so that if confronted you would risk everything? Would you believe?

Cleansing Waters

Cleansing Waters
Isaiah 40:1-5; Matthew 3

For those that have grown up and read the stories of Christ’s birth and Christ’s coming, but they still question who is this Jesus Christ?  There are those that don’t know who Jesus Christ is other than when His name is used as a curse.  This Jesus of Nazareth who was the Christ, the Messiah, and the Savior was a man.  Jesus of Nazareth was a man that grew up and went through all the pain of the world, but He was God the Messiah, the Christ, who came incarnate, into flesh, to save all of humankind.  He was the one foretold throughout the Scriptures.  He was obedient to the will of His Father, He was a servant to all of creation, and He gave everything to those who did not truly deserve it.  He gave us a model in which we could attempt to live our lives, but did not require it.
There are many people that hear the word Christian and think of judgmental, narrow minded people that look down on and condemn others for failures, but walk in their lives blind to their own.  Some of these sentiments are justified.  Our human nature makes it much easier to look down and judge others in order to lift ourselves up.  In Matthew 3 we find Jesus, a sinless man and the son of God, placing himself on the same level as us entering into the cleansing waters of Baptism with John the Baptist, who was crying out and warning of the danger that is lurking in the hearts of many.  John saw all those that held themselves up in high regard coming not in faith, but out of a piety to “cover their bases.”  That is why he calls them vipers and does not welcome them with open arms, for them this was just another washing, not a cleansing or a renewal.  Baptism is more than just another washing, it is an adoption.  It is an adoption that makes us God’s children and it comes not through anything magical in the water, but a belief in this man, this God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  When we enter the waters of baptism we are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  As we walk in our baptism daily we are continually renewed and made clean all it takes is a heart that is willing to turn it over to Christ.  We, too, can hear the words the Father spoke to Jesus as he rose out of the water, “This is my child with whom I am well pleased!” (modified from Matthew 3:17).  We all are adopted as children of God through the cleansing waters of baptism.  We all can know the promise of salvation and when we know this promise, we all are called to walk in humility and servitude as did Jesus Christ.  We are to serve all humanity in the midst of their suffering and show them Jesus in how we live our lives.  We walk in the knowledge that all that needed to be done has been done and serve others in the comfort of that knowledge, not out of any necessity, but out of love.  We serve out of the love that we hold in our hearts for the one who gave us everything, our Lord Jesus Christ!  People will know Jesus Christ as we meet them in our day to day lives as representatives of Christ.  How do people know Christ through you?

A Place of Rest

A Place of Rest
Psalm 107:10-16; Jeremiah 49:17-38; Hebrews 3:16-4:5

We have been given a great promise that began in creation and has been fulfilled in Christ. Our Lord God promises us a place of rest that we may join Him in when we leave this mortal coil. Paradise is the promise that we can look forward to as our resting place. Luke 23:39-43 recounts the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the two criminals crucified on each side of Him. One mocks Jesus asking Him to prove that He is the messiah, but the other knowing his own guilt speaks out on Jesus’ innocence and asks to be remembered by Jesus within His kingdom. We find the promise given to him that this thief would enter paradise with Jesus Christ.
The promise comes with belief in the one who fulfills the promise our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can fulfill this promise. The problem is that just as throughout the history of God’s people – Israel – throughout history have not trusted in the promise of rest, the promise of paradise with our Creator, the one and only God – Yahweh – who has been with us triune for all time. We need only to trust in that promise or we will be lost like the thief that chose to mock Jesus. That thief found the hopelessness in his own pride and received no promise of rest, but eternal suffering and pain.
We need only to commit our hearts and our minds to our Lord and Savior revealed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing us salvation in sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and known in the love of the Father. God made the greatest covenant with Abraham to be a blessing to all nations which He fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord may our hearts always be turned to You, may we received Your grace. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen.

Come with soft hearts

Come with soft hearts
Psalm 106:40-48; Jeremiah 47:1-48:25; Hebrews 2:8b-18

Above is yesterdays readings, I apologize that I did not post a devotion for yesterday, but the readings for today and yesterday complement well the message that God is placing on my heart. May God bless you and fill you with His glory today.

Psalm 107:1-9; Jeremiah 48:26-49:16; Hebrews 3:1-15

We are a society that is driven to self-help. All one has to do is walk into a bookstore and look at the self-help section and the size and know that people are looking for answers. People want to feel better. We glorify beauty and we glorify it almost to the status of God. In movies, sports, and television we are given heroes to look up to, supposedly. In the past heroes were people of good character and integrity that did something great to deserve recognition. Today heroes are created by media for an ability or gift that they have been blessed with, but often the gift is the whole premise that we look up to and not the person.
As we look through the readings in Hebrews for yesterday and today we are confronted with the idea of angels and the way in which we are to view Moses. Angels are these glorious beings created by God. We see images of them in all forms of media and most often they are portrayed as being the beautiful beings with great strength. We see them as being just below God, but in the reading of Hebrews we find that through Jesus we have been given something more, we received salvation and were elevated above all angels through Jesus Christ. The angels became not only servants of God, but servants to support us in our faith.
We continue and we look at the model of Moses who helped in bringing God’s chosen people out of slavery and gave us the covenant which God made with His people. He was and is not to be seen as someone to worship, however, but was only one who God utilized to do His will. However throughout history our hearts have been hardened and continue to be hardened against God from time to time when challenged to do His will. What are the things that you hold above God? What are you needing to do to soften your heart towards God? How can we help soften others hearts to see the greatness and glory of God?

Above All Else

Above All Else
Psalm 106:32-39; Jeremiah 45,46; Hebrews 1:10-2:8a

Let me make it brief…angels are created beings by God. Once they held great status, but because of Jesus Christ we are raised above the status of angels. God got it and He got it right in His Son, Jesus Christ. The people rebel and continue to rebel against the will of God, so God decided to fulfill His law in His Son. He kept His law for us through Jesus Christ. We have been promised one thing above angels and above all else – salvation.

Glorious Christ

Glorious Christ

Psalm 106:24-31; Jeremiah 44; Hebrews 1:1-9

When you walk through you day to day life how much of a place does Jesus Christ have in it? I mean really, if you attend church on Sunday, do you leave Jesus Christ behind? The world fills our time and our minds with such great thoughts of what isn’t done or what needs to be done and it can seem that we truly give Jesus about one hour of our focus a week if even that. This isn’t an odd thought or an odd reality and is not truly new. We see it in the verses from Psalms and Jeremiah today. None of us truly mean to do this relegation of Jesus to that time we spend in church, but it is so easy. Exodus 20:1-17 gives us the Ten Commandments and what we find in the first verses is that God is jealous and wants our full devotion. The people of the Old and New Testaments faced much of the same distractions that we face that draw devotion away from the world and the two most common are the ideas of work and pleasure.
Work is what we all must do to provide for our families and ourselves. Work is what we are called to do and God is happy to provide for us within our labor. What happens with our work is it begins to define us and the ends of work which is to provide for ourselves and our family changes to a means of definition. In our work we become defined by what we do and draw us away from the focus to be defined by our Lord God and our family. This is not unusual and is nothing new. Jesus we knew was a carpenter, Matthew was a tax collector, Simon Peter – a fisherman, etc. These were how they were defined by the society, the culture from which they came. Jesus walked away from His vocation and followed the will of His Father – God – and called all the disciples away from their vocations. No longer were they defined by their vocation, but became followers of Jesus Christ. They became disciples and though they once were all the things that once defined them by vocation they died to the greater glory of being defined by God and Christ.
Pleasure draws our focus away from our families and God because it feeds of the desire of self-fulfillment. Simple pleasures that are truly harmless can become a trap. Such as the pleasure of eating or drinking are not dangerous unless they become a center of focus and lead you away from glorifying God. The same is true with sexual relations. God wishes for us to enjoy those things, but things like gluttony places the pleasure of tastes and fragrances put you in the center taking the place of God. That is also why things like pornography and sex outside of marriage are not healthy. What becomes central is not the true gift of sex which is the sharing of two in love, but the seeking of pleasure and the objectification of each partner. A man or a woman no longer is seen as a brother or sister in Christ, but as an object of desire for self-gratification and pleasure. Pleasure becomes god.
When you look at your life where is Christ present? Christ is not to be relegated to one hour on Sunday, but He wants to be involved in all aspects of your life. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 highlights the importance of a partnership and how a partnership joined together in God in Christ is strengthened. Christ is to be the center strand that holds all else together. In your work and in your life how is Christ lived out? Would anyone know you’re a Christian? What are the words that someone would use to describe you and your life? When you look at your life think of how you can witness this glorious Christ?

Servants of God

Servants of God
Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:1-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

We are servants of God, right? As Christians we have been given the calling to represent Christ in the world. Yet we tend to get caught up in the silliness of pointing out the differences. We fight over how some as followers of Christ honor our Lord. Romans 14:1-12 speaks exactly to this issue in the early church. Different groups were arguing about things of conscience and not being willing to compromise on things that had nothing truly to do with salvation. Paul wrote to the followers advising against this.
We live in a divided world and a divided Church. Denominationalism and theological differences of opinion continually stand in the way of the world being able to experience Christ fully. What Paul saw is exactly what he was speaking out against within Romans 14:1-12. What can be seen consistently within the history of Christianity is the strife of humans vying to know the mind of God. How vain of a people are we? With Christ at the center hearts are driven to do that which is pleasing to Christ. The Holy Spirit compels us away from those things that dishonor God. Now the sinful nature that tries to compel us and control us mustn’t control us any longer. It no longer has a hold on us because we have been freed in Christ. The danger of this denominationalism is the danger of basing faith focused on differences not on Christ. We, as followers of Christ, are to do that which the Holy Spirit compels us to do to glorify Christ with one test and one test only the Word of our Lord. Let us focus on being servants of God.

Is God's Will Yours?

Is God’s Will Yours?
Psalm 106:13-23; Jeremiah 42:1-43:13; Philemon 1:12-25

Our will drives us to desire things that are unhealthy and against God. Our world tells us to lookout for numero uno and carpe diem, but sometimes that makes us not think of the neighbor or act as though there are no consequences. This is the sinful nature that attempts to drive us and control our lives. This was seen with the people of Israel after being led out of Israel creating the golden calf and bowing down in worship. Most everyone understands the concept, “Seeing, is believing.” Though we are constantly surrounded by God’s creation and can trust that God is all around us when we walk in our faith we often walk along as though God can’t see what is going on.
Jeremiah faced a people that asked for help from God and asked Jeremiah to represent them since they knew he was a prophet of God. They asked for God’s will and promised to follow it, but when it didn’t fit what they wanted to do they rebelled. How often is it that when praying for guidance from God we truly pray that God’s will matches our own. We live and act like we wish to please God, but do that which is contrary to what we know would fit God’s will. We read scripture and often the Word that comes to us from God is troubling. Is your will in line with God’s or are you wanting to create a god that fits your faith?

Trusting in the Promise

Trusting in the Promise
Psalm 106:6-12; Jeremiah 40:1-41:18; Philemon 1:1-11

Do you truly trust the promise? What I am asking is, do you truly and honestly trust the promise of given to us through Abraham and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Many of us as Christians say it with our mouths, but don’t truly believe it in our hearts. The promise is something that we can live in and walk in constantly, but as we read through the Bible, as we read through the love story of God, we hear the tale of how God has been true to His people, us, but we have been unfaithful.
Throughout the Old Testament we find that God is continually trying to redeem His creation. God makes a promise to Noah that the great flood will never happen; God makes the promise to Abraham, Genesis 18:18, that he will be a blessing to ALL nations. God then fulfills that promise in Jesus Christ. The gift of Christ’s blood is the fulfillment of that blessing or that promise. God’s love is the only unconditional love that we can all rely upon. It is that love that cleans away all the mud that covers our lives that mud and dirt and grime called sin, through Jesus that can all be washed away.
When you are baptized you can enter into the promise. In baptism you are adopted into God’s family, baptized into the promise of Jesus Christ. We celebrate that fact each and every time that we come together in celebration of another’s baptism and in celebrations that help us to remember our baptisms. Then throughout our days we can walk always remembering that promise, remembering our baptism. When we become dirty in sin, we can wash it all away in our honoring of our baptism. We can give it all up to Jesus Christ when we confess all of it to our Lord, holding nothing back, no worries. Nothing is too great when you look through the history has there been any time that God has not kept His promises? No! Not once has He forgotten His promise, though we constantly forget ours. We can trust in that promise because our God is a God of Truth. Our God is not wood, stone, or metal, our God is the one and only Creator and the only God that can keep His promises.