2 Peter 3:8-9

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
2 Peter 3:8-9

Dear God, I’m learning more and more to wait on your timing. 32 years of experience with being a discipling Christian helps. Interestingly, as I look back, it feels like the first 25 years of that time set up my ability to learn the lesson over the last seven years. It was actually right at 10 years ago that things started to get harder than I knew what to do with. Then it was the next eight or so years of a valley that helped me to see beyond myself. I know there are more difficult circumstances and that the refining fire can be hotter than what I experienced. I’m just saying that it was as deep of a dark time as I’ve been through in my life and, in retrospect, I can say one of the things you taught me is that you are doing things I cannot see (and I might never see), but I need to trust that you are working all things for your best for the world, me, and those I love. I also need to understand that there is only so much you can do when dealing with the free will you grant us all.

So as I look around my life today, are there any areas where I’m being impatient with you? The good news, I think, is that I complain a lot less in my private prayers to you (but I confess I do still complain). The study I did of Job and then Paul, with Job’s learning that his life is yours and giving it to you without complaint is his duty, and Paul living out that principle by never complaining about his lot in life as he’s in prison, but “counting it all joy” instead, really helped me.

Father, what I’ve said this morning sounds arrogant and foolish. Please hear that I don’t think I’ve arrived. What I want to do is take these lessons I’ve learned and continuously apply them to my life so that I might be 1.) the best worshipper of you that I can be and 2.) living in the peace you have for me. Help me to be your ambassador, and, as I’ve prayed a lot lately, to be a catalyst for your kingdom coming and your will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Matthew 16:24-27

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.
Matthew 16:24-27

Dear God, when my wife and I were praying together this morning, we talked about laying down our bitterness—the wrongs people have done to us that stick around in our minds. Forgiveness.

She told me about a great novel she read that, towards the end has one last argument between a husband and wife. The wife is pious but unforgiving and bitter. The husband is not pious at all. Just before he leaves to live alone for the rest of his life, he calls her on it. Paraphrasing: “I’m not pious, but you are. But you don’t forgive. What good will your piety do for you on the other side when you’ve never forgiven others?”

I think that feeds into this passage. “Give up your life for my sake.” That means giving up the hurt and the bitterness too. It means embracing the role you have for me to play in this world instead of caring about what role I have for me to play in this world. It means seeing another person’s offensive behavior for what it might be beneath the surface and disregarding how it impacted/impacts me. Not that I should allow myself to be abused. But once I’ve removed myself from the abusive situation, I think you call me to let go and prayerfully consider what actions you would have me take for that other person’s good.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, please guide me. Teach me. Holy Spirit, pray for me. Pray for those who are on my heart as I type this out. And I also want to pray for the two people today I know who are experiencing memorial services/funerals for their loved ones. Please ease their pain. Comfort them. They are people of faith in you. Please meet them and strongly support them.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Psalm 56:3-3; Job 40:6-14

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 56:3-4

Dear God, this is one of those psalms that I don’t like to read because of you read this whole Psalm 56 in context it is one of those, “Kill all of my enemies,” psalms. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of that, although I can see where David would have these feelings come out of him when the Philistines had seized him in Gath. His life was threatened and he had enemies in ways that I never have and probably never will. So I’ll cut him some slack and just say that I don’t feel like the overall message of Psalm 56 is for me.

With that said, these two verses within the psalm are truth for me. The line, “what can mere mortals do to me?” strikes me this morning. What is the actual list? Starting with the most extreme:

• They can kill me
• They can arrest and torture me (my least favorite option)
• They can do numbers 1 and 2 to my wife and/or children (my new least favorite option)
• They can take away my job, money, home, reputation, etc.

Yes, there are things that can happen and they have happened to others including Job and Paul. But the lesson they taught in how to respond to that is worth learning. Better said, the lesson you taught through them is worth learning. I think it is summed up in this passage in Job:

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
Job 40:6-14

Father, help me to simply accept this day as you bring it to me. Love through me. Help me to not be needy, but to be at peace. I’ll take the road you have for me. Help me to walk it.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Jeremiah 23:21-22

“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying. If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.
Jeremiah 23:21-22

Dear God, am I a false prophet? Sometimes I get my scripture for the day from Bible Gateway’s verse of the day. Today’s verse was actually verse 24, but when I went back to get the context for it the words in verses 21 and 22 really hit me. Do the things that I do turn people from their evil ways?

It seems like Paul wrestler with how this works with the New Covenant too (Galatians 4 and 5, for example). He would talk about freedom from the law, but then how that didn’t mean we just had a free pass to sin. When it comes to finding that line, I think I heard Andy Stanley put it well recently (I think it was him). He said something to the effect that you aren’t sitting up there giving us these rules to satisfy you, per se. They are for us. They are for our good. The evil we do hurts you because it hurts us and it hurts others. It hurts your creation and that evil/damage is something you can’t abide. Yes, the New Covenant includes an aspect of grace, but there is still damage being done.

Father, I’m a believer in the idea that the more I encourage someone into relationship with you and the more they dive into you the more the Holy Spirit will teach and convict them. I suppose my role is to be willing to call out the damage someone is doing to themselves through sin that I see in their life, but do it through love and concern. “Hey, I see you hurting yourself through this,” and that sort of thing. So give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you. May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Dear God, I think of two things when I read this. First, we are supposed to pray for things like blessing of the work you’ve called us to and protection from others. I probably don’t pray for specific things enough.

Second, the idea of having a “full understanding” and exuding an expression of your love, and then having patient endurance. I really like the phrase “patient endurance.”

I have several things happening today. I will address at least three groups throughout the day. While I am talking to all of them, I do pray that your Holy Spirit will completely fill me and express your love to those listening. One of my presentations is supposed to inspire people. One of them is to thank group of people and help them experience joy from their decision to partner with our group. And the third is to honor someone and give them a service award. The only way I will do justice to any of the three is if my heart is a complete expression of your love.

Father, please lead me into being all yours today. Help me to understand you a little better and worship you. Provide for what you know I need to be what you need me to be. Do it all for your glory and so that your will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Dear God, why did Jesus leave us with what we call “The Last Supper” or “Eucharist”? Or I guess a better way to look at it would be to ask what would be different if he hadn’t said what he said and did what he did in the breaking of the bread and pouring of the wine on that last night before his crucifixion.

I discovered something interesting today. Well, maybe I knew it before, but if I did I’ve forgotten it. When wanting to see the recording of the last supper, I wanted to see how John portrayed the breaking of bread and pouring of wine in his gospel. He gives us chapters and chapters describing that last meal, starting in chapter 13. But much to my surprise, he didn’t mention it at all! That really surprised me. Why did he not think to include that part all those years later? Had he stopped doing the eucharist at that time in his life? I found it odd that something so important to the modern church was completely passed over (pun intended) by one of the core disciples/apostles.

But back to my question. What would be different if Jesus hadn’t left us with the eucharist? Well, let’s look at what Paul said: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (Verse 26) Then in the subsequent verses he gets into the state of our hearts when we take the bread and wine, but I think this is the part that’s important. It makes me wonder if we didn’t regularly go through this act of physical remembrance of Jesus’s body being broken and his blood being spilled would we forget what he really did and just let his life morph into being of no more significance than the great prophets?

Father, help me to never water down the significance of Jesus’s sacrifice and the subsequent power he/you displayed through his resurrection. Help me to keep my heart pure and ready to participate in the eucharist whenever the opportunity presents itself to me. And help me to “proclaim [Jesus’s] death (and resurrection) until he comes.”

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

The Drunkeness of Noah – Genesis 9:8-15, 20-23

The image above is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The image is called “Failed Savior” and was created by Ned Bustard.

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life…

²⁰ Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
Genesis 9:8-15, 20-23

Dear God, when I opened Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups this morning, this is the first image I turned to. I’ve never liked this story, and I almost turned away. But then I got to thinking that perhaps I should explore this story more. Why does it hit me that way?

I’ve never liked the image of the human Noah. Why tell us this story? Why not just leave it at verse 19 and the part about you putting your bow in the sky as a reminder of your covenant with us? I really don’t need to know about Noah getting blackout drunk and being discovered by his son. Or do I?

My first inclination was to focus on Noah’s shame in this image and the reaction of his sons (and then his subsequent response to them). When I looked at Bustard’s image, I saw:

• A fat old man passed out.
• An umbrella. I thought it was a clever nod to the rain and a way to use it to give Noah a little modesty. Obviously, Bustard wasn’t going for a period piece.
• The wine bottle and glass are also obviously not period, but communicate that the subject of the image is drunk and passed out.
• The life preserver was a nice nod to the ark.

That’s what I saw. But here’s Bustard’s description of the piece:

Hebrews 11:7 states that “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” But although he was instrumental in saving all of the living, Noah was not the promised Savior. Noah is shown here drunk, lying in a cruciform, and with a life preserver forming a halo of sorts around his head. He is an inebriated old man, and the symbol of his saving work is broken and covers him as poorly as the fig leaves covered the shame of Adam and Eve.

Hmm. I had never thought about comparing Jesus and Noah. I hadn’t thought about Noah being your “savior” for the remnant of humanity and comparing that with Jesus being our Savior. The halo. The cruciform. The fact that the umbrella is broken. I had missed all of that. Interesting.

Father, there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). Except for Jesus, of course. Thank you for a complete savior. Thank you for an inclusive savior. Noah was an exclusive savior, sent by you to preserve the remnant of mankind. Jesus was sent to rip away the veil between you and us and present all of us to you as an unblemished bride. Help me to live into that and to carry that to others who need you today.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

4 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

5 “Fools fold their idle hands,
leading them to ruin.”

6 And yet,

“Better to have one handful with quietness
than two handfuls with hard work
and chasing the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

Dear God, this kind of follows up on yesterday’s prayer. I heard it in an Andy Stanley sermon I listened to while I was on a bike ride last night. I wonder at what point Solomon emerged from this wisdom of pitying the oppressed and into being an oppressor. I was watching an interview with a movie star this morning and she mentioned that she had won her first major award at 26. She was young and pretty. But then, as she put it, people started to “remove obstacles” from her and she began to take advantage of being a star. Her father sat down with her at one point and told her, you’re becoming an ***hole. She said that she is now a believer in all of our need to have obstacles in front of us. It seems to me that she might be right in that the removal of obstacles from Solomon’s life became a detriment to the wisest man who ever lived.

All of that being said, there is a great message in these verses. When my drive for success is motivated by jealousy of and competition with others, then I will absolutely be chasing the wind. As Andy Stanley put it in the sermon, someone will always have an “er” over me. They will be smart-er, cut-er, rich-er, happi-er. They will have more successful children, better jobs, prettier homes, more fulfilling marriages, or whatever. I can’t chase them all. Better to focus on you and your call to me while ignoring all others. Following your call is the best way to find my contentment. Chasing the perceived success of someone else will only lead to exhaustion and emptiness.

Father, help me to be peacefully quiet. Help me to embrace all that you have for me today. Help me to bless others for their success and to care more about their peace and contentment than I do what they have that I don’t have. Help me to be an instrument of your peace in their lives.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

Mark 8:34-37

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Mark 8:34-37

 

Dear God, I was scanning through Facebook this morning when I ran across an essay called “What If All I Want Is A Mediocre Life?” I’m not sure I totally agree with it, but it did come to mind when I read this verse today. Sometimes, oftentimes, there is a price we are asked to pay for great accomplishment and notoriety that is too high. It can cost us relationships, peace, and even our own soul.

In our couples group from church last night, we talked about how the dreams we had when we got married are very different than how things have played out. Any goals we were striving for back then changed. Even one couple (not in the group) that we know that has only been married for two years has already experienced life-altering changes to their dreams. He has health issues that keep him from working full time (and he’s only in his 20’s), and her post-secondary school ended up closing and she lost a couple of years worth of coursework. We can throw everything we have at life, pay the price, and still end up with nothing.

If, however, we hitch our wagon to your train we can at least carry your peace along the journey. And at the end of the journey, we will have our soul. The only thing we have to do is pursue you and then listen for your guidance each day–okay, that’s easier said that done.

Father, please help me to understand what what it means to take up my cross and follow you. Help me to deny my own ego and embrace your call. Help me to love well. Help me to have mercy. Help me to be your ambassador.

In Jesus’s name  I pray,

Amen

 

Ephesians 5:25-33

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Ephesians 5:25-33

Dear God, I think (I would certainly hope) I am better at this than I used to be. It’s amazing how my relationship with my wife impacts both of our lives. I mean, it’s kind of obvious that it would, but what I’ve noticed is that the more I follow these verses the more I tend to get from the relationship because I learn from her and she makes me better.

I was actually talking with a friend yesterday about some of the things that I’ve learned from my wife. One of the examples I gave is that she is great at getting people to open up and share. She has always been a great listener. As a journalist, she has really trained herself to draw people out. My ability to recognize this in her as a strength has made me better about truly showing interest in others (now, if I could just remember their names!). If I didn’t have this attitude of respect and service towards her then my arrogance would likely destroy any chance I have at being positively impacted by who she is.

Father, I don’t want to lie to myself and think that I have arrived when it comes to loving this woman, your daughter, to your standard. I’m sorry to you and to her for when I fail her. I don’t mean to. Help me to have open eyes and to love her in the way you want her to be loved. Do it for her sake, and for mine as well.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen