Hebrews 1:1-4

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. ² And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. ³ The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. ⁴ This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Hebrews 1:1-4

Dear God, I assume Bible Gateway chose Hebrews 1:3 as its verse today because of the total solar eclipse we experienced yesterday in this part of the world. The idea of you, Jesus, radiating the Father’s own glory. You expressed the very character of God. You sustain everything by the might power of the Triune God. You cleansed me of my sin. You are now seated with the Father. I presume the Holy Spirit is here with me. What an amazing, awesome thing.

Yesterday’s eclipse was interesting. I happen to live in an area where we experienced “totality” for over four minutes. It was “awesome.” My wife and I used that word several times. Friends texted me that word later. “Awesome.” And yet it was just a simple reality of the moon moving between us and the sun and blocking most of the light for a few minutes. How much more awesome are you, but I take you for granted? How much more is who you are and what you put into place (including moons that can, from time to time, move in front of the sun) than the simple physical functions of the things that move around me?

Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, I worship you this morning. I confess that I simply cannot get my head around who you are. You are too great for me to begin to appreciate and understand. You are too much for me to adequately come to and worship. You are too amazing. If I really understood who you were I probably wouldn’t even be able to sit up straight right now as I type this. I would probably be lying prostrate on the ground and barely looking up as I type this feeble prayer. But you take me and my inadequacies anyway. You love me. You comfort me. You heal me. You forgive me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I offer this feeble prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Hebrews 12:1-2

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear God, how do I strip off every weight that slows me down, especially the sin that so easily trips me up? How do I run with endurance the race you have set before me? I do it by keeping my eyes on Jesus. He initiates my faith. He perfects my faith. His life teaches me. And sometimes I am actually able to do this, and when I do it is amazing.

I went to a beautiful funeral yesterday. Such a good man. But someone told a story about this Godly man when he was a young husband and father. He and his wife got in an argument right before he was to fly to New York on business. He was still angry when he landed in New York and got in a taxi. The driver noticed he was upset (I would imagine this driver had seen a lot of upset people in his cab over the years) and mentioned it to him. He told the young husband/father that he looked upset and he had the answer for it. “Just say three times, ‘Jesus, come into my heart!'” After some cajoling, the husband/father said quietly, “Jesus, come into my heart.”

“Good! Say it again, but louder,” the driver instructed.

“Jesus, come into my heart,” the man said with more confidence and a little stronger.

“Okay, one more time, but this time like you really mean it.”

“Jesus, come into my heart!” the husband/father said and started laughing. Jesus was filling his heart in that moment.

I don’t know this man’s evolution as a discipling Christian. I don’t know where this story fits into his narrative, but it is an example of what the author of Hebrews is saying here: keeping your eyes on Jesus, the initiator and perfector of our faith.

Before I go, let me say one thing. This taxi driver. What a legacy he left just by this one simple act of faith. Like the widow Jesus pointed out who “gave more than all these” by putting in her two little coins because she did it out of faith. She never knew the impact she would have through her act of faithfulness that day. She never knew I would be using her as an illustration 2,000 years later. And this taxi driver has no idea what kind of dominoes he knocked over by his witness that day.

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

I pray this through Jesus, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Lent Day 46

Dear God, before I get into today’s passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I want to look at something the priest read yesterday when I attended a “Stations of the Cross” service at our local Catholic church. This is an excerpt from the 12th Station:

My people, what have I done to you? 
Or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me. 
What more should I have done and did not do? 
I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for me.
I opened the Red Sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance.
I gave you a royal scepter, and you give given me a crown of thorns.
With great power I lifted you up, and you have hung me upon a cross.
My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me.
(from the Reproaches of Good Friday)

There are shades of your speech to Job in this, but it’s very convicting for me because I know that if your time on earth had come now and not 2,000 years ago, I would be as guilty as any. I wouldn’t have gone to see you, so my attitude would have been more apathy that hatred, but I certainly would not have worshipped you or even defended you.

But there is a question that is asked here that people today could stand to answer: “What more should I have done and did not do? There are some example of human suffering I hate such as sex trafficking and war, but even those are manmade. What do I expect you to do to stop them? How do I expect you to intervene in our lives to smite the bad people and build up the good? Who is to say which side of the cutline from good and bad I would be on? You, of course. But my point is whenever I have stopped to think about how things should be different–how the Bible could be better or more clear and concise, how you should approach evil in the world, etc.–I have no idea. We are who we are as humans. Maybe I could take issue with how you created us in the first place, free will and all, but I cannot take issue with who you are and how you love us. What more should you do that you have not done?

Here are today’s passages. It’s interesting that there is no Gospel reading. Jesus is apart from us for the time being. Part of our God has died, sacrificed for me. Amazing

• AM Psalms: 88, 95
• PM Psalm: 27
• Job 19:21-27a
• Romans 8:1-11
• Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalms 88, 95 – Once again, they are pairing the worship of Psalm 95 with a lament psalm. In this case, it is Psalm 88. My wife mentioned yesterday a sermon she heard saying that Jesus might have had Psalm 88 in mind as he walked his path yesterday. I would love to be able to see into Jesus’s mind that morning as he walked a brutal and terrible road.

Psalm 27 – “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” That’s what we are doing now as we wait for Jesus’s resurrection. It’s also kind of the word I was getting from you way back at the beginning of Lent: Patience. Wait. I will wait patiently, Father. I will not force my own timing or agenda. I will wait.

Job 19:21-27a – I almost wish they had left our verses 21-24 because those are words of Job I think you would take issue with. But the faith beyond his ignorance in verses 25-27 is beautiful: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Yes! Yes!

Romans 8:1-11 – “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Sprit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Oh, Father, bring my spirit your life through your Spirit. Live in me! Forgive me of my sin. Forgive the mess of my bodily temple. Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for me to have the Holy Spirit in me.

Hebrews 4:1-16 – Lord, teach me what I am supposed to carry with me past this Lenten season. What should my time in scripture look like? Prayer? Service? Loving my family? Impact on my sphere of influence? In the case of this passage, Sabbath? Show me what to do. Reveal your truth to me.

Oh, Father, I offer this prayer to you in the name of Jesus, your son, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Lent Day 11

Dear God, I had an interesting thought when I read yesterday’s PM psalm, Psalm 51. Of course, it is the psalm David writes after Nathan confronts him about his sin with Bathsheba. There’s a line in it that I guess has always made me cock my head in not understanding, but I allowed myself to articulate it this morning: “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4a) No, this isn’t true. I think the whole idea of sin is that you don’t want us to do it because they all have consequences against ourselves and usually at least one other person. In this case, David’s taking and impregnating of Bathsheba and killing Uriah had consequences for a lot of people. Of course, there are Bathsheba and Uriah. But there were other victims. Joab got brought into it when he was forced to be the one to have Uriah killed. The servants who retrieved Bathsheba for David and then had to transmit the message from Bathsheba to David. Ultimately, this was an open secret that undermined David’s moral authority with his family and in the kingdom. David’s oldest son Amnon rapes David’s daughter, Amnon’s half-sister, Tamar, and David doesn’t do anything about it. Did the Bathsheba incident compromise Amnon’s attitudes towards how you treat women and David’s response to Amnon’s sin. I think the answer is yes. Then Absalom kills Amnon because of David’s inaction, bringing sin upon both Absalom and Amnon. And then there is poor Tamar who is not protected by her father. Ultimately, Absalom’s sin and David’s response to it leads him to reject David and king and lead a coup that results in a lot of deaths, including Absalom’s. So no, David’s sin was not against you alone. You didn’t tell us to not commit adultery or murder because it just makes you angry. You told us to not do those things because it hurts your created beings that you love, including us.

And then Jesus took it all a step further in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and tells us that lust equals adultery and hate equals murder. He didn’t say it, but this leads me to the idea that coveting equals theft, lies of omission are lies, etc. Why? Not because my lust or hate hurts you. It’s because it hurts me. So I respectfully disagree with David’s sentiment here. When I sin it is certainly against you, but it is also against me and anyone else my sin touches.

So with that out of the way, here are today’s readings from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

• AM Psalm: 55
• PM Psalms: 138, 139
• Deuteronomy 11:18-28
• John 4:1-26
• Hebrews 5:1-10

Psalm 55 – David has a lot of psalms that express his anxiety. I wonder if he struggled with that more than most, or if most of us would express these feelings if we take the time to sit and write down our thoughts. I think it is the latter. I know that the experience of writing these journals unearths anxiety in my heart that I try to tamp down in the normal course of my life. I’m so grateful I have found this process to focus and channel my thoughts on you and how I relate

John 4:1-26 – The woman at the well. I recently heard someone describe her as the first apostle because she brings her friends to Jesus and they believe. She is the first recorded person to bring others to Jesus. Nor sure if I completely subscribe to that theory, but it’s kind of sweet to think about that way. Someone taken out of her sin and bringing others to Jesus out of her wonder and joy. But what I really like about this story is Jesus breaking down the barriers for Gentiles to worship you. I don’t have to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice animals and worship you. The sacrifice is made. Now, I can be over 10,000 miles away from Jerusalem, across an ocean, and I can worship you. I could be on the moon, Mars, or any other place in the universe and worship you. If this were a text, I would put a heart emoji here.

Hebrews 5:1-10 – I’m just going to say that this passage is weird. I’m honestly not sure what to do with it. Oh, how I would love to know who wrote Hebrews.

Father, you know the concerns on my heart this morning. I know others can read this so I want to respect the privacy of others by not being specific here, but you know what I’m thinking. Please be very present. Comfort those who mourn. Comfort and heal the anxious and damaged. Heal the sick. Comfort the sick. Help the caregivers. Heal marriages. Reveal secrets that bind people in their pain. Oh, Lord, show me your way today. Help me to be exactly who you need me to be for the people I am with. For your glory and not mine!

I pray this in Jesus Christ, my savior, and with your Holy Spirit, my paraclete,

Amen

 

Lent Day 10

Dear God, good morning! I thought maybe this morning I would start my just talking to you without looking at the Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. For these first moments, I just want to be with you. I know that, for some reason, you just want to be with me. Holy Spirit, you are always with me. You take me to the Father. You are the Father’s presence with me here. And so I just want to be with you. I want to feel you for a moment. I want to feel your comfort. Your love. Your encouragement. I want to hear your instruction, your encouragements, and even your rebukes.

I also want to thank you. There were some good things that happened yesterday. And not necessarily for me. We were hopefully able to get a very sick man to the hospital in a situation where if we hadn’t interacted with him he could have been permanently impaired or might have died. That really felt like providence. You guided us to a medical solution for another patient who was in desperate need and for whom we had both worked very hard and prayed. I had a nice lunch with a friend yesterday. I have another one scheduled for today. Yes, you are good, and I want to acknowledge just how good you are.

Okay, not to spend some time in today’s passages which are:

• AM Psalms: 40, 54
• PM Psalm: 51 (I know what this one is and I definitely don’t want to forget it tonight)
• Deuteronomy 10:12-22
• John 3:22-36
• Hebrews 4:11-16

I am still fascinated to be spending so much time in Deuteronomy and Hebrews. I wouldn’t have guessed they would be such a large part of my Lenten journey.

Psalm 40 – Oh, I like this one. It almost feels how I started this prayer this morning: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.” Oh, Triune God, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, thank you. I’m just filled with so much love for you in this moment. So much gratitude. I know it’s an emotion and it can fade, but right now it is here and it is real.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 – Verses 12 and 13 start out great too: “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” That is just so good.

Then he talks about not being stiff-necked in the next paragraph. What struck me is the empathy he calls them to. He talks in verse 19 about loving the aliens because they were once aliens. I don’t want to focus on the alien part of this (not that it’s not important), but the idea that they should have some empathy for others. They should see themselves in others. Relate to others. Oh, Father, help me to completely relate to others and see myself in them.

John 3:22-25 – This is the story of people around John the Baptist being afraid that Jesus is stealing John’s thunder and taking away from John’s greatness. John has the right response. Oh, how I want to decrease so that you might increase, Father. I want to deflect any glory I get to you. I want to simply be your vessel. I accept that it will not always be my time. There might be a time when I need to step aside from the work I do for the sake of what you want to do in that work. There will certainly come a time when I will pass from this earth. And there will be a time, unless my end is sudden and premature, that my capacities will diminish and I will need to step aside. As some who work for the President of the United States say, “I serve at the pleasure of the President,” my words to you are, “I serve at the pleasure of God almighty. Who was, and is, and is to come.”

Hebrews 4:13 – “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” I’ll keep this part confidential, but you know what my prayer is for this. Oh, Father, please heal hearts by revealing truth and shattering secrets.

Father, I close this time with you still in the same grateful, loving place as I started. Oh, how I love you. I have some work to do today. Help me to do it very well and for your glory.

I offer this prayer to you through Jesus my Christ and with the Holy Spirit my paraclete,

Amen

 

Lent Day 8

Dear God, so I actually remembered to read my evening psalms yesterday, so I can start this prayer off without a recap.

As I start this second week of Lent and continue to go through Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I am enjoying the discipline of getting up that little bit earlier each day to make sure I get this done. In fact, this was the easiest day so far.

Here are today’s passages from the book:

• AM Psalm: 119:49-72
• PM Psalms: 49, 53
• Deuteronomy 9:13-21
• John 2:23-3:15
• Hebrews 3:12-19

And here are my thoughts from some of the passages:

Psalm 119:64, 68 – The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees…You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. –

John 2:23-25 – Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. Oh, God, what is in our hearts, what is in my heart, is so awful. Can be so awful. I see now what we do in your name and I can see why Jesus had to walk so carefully through this world. Jesus knew what was in them. He knows, you know, what is in my now. You know I cannot be trusted. Right now, I am struggling with an issue, and I do not trust myself to be right about it. I have strong opinions, but am I right? Oh, reveal your truth to me. Give me ears to hear and eyes to see.

John 3:1-2 – Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Speaking of not knowing what is going on, Nicodemus was earnestly trying to figure out what was going on. He wasn’t doing anything showy. He wasn’t grandstanding and trying to make a point to Jesus or be smarter than him. He went quietly at night. Probably partly to not be ridiculed by the other Pharisees and partly so that he could have an honest, seeming humble conversation with Jesus. It was probably 15 or 20 years ago that Nicodemus became one of my top five favorite Bible characters (along with Joseph, Jesus’s earthly father, Jonathan, Naomi, and Hagar). It seems that he and John ultimately became friends as part of The Way after Jesus’s resurrection because John is the only one to give us some stories about Nicodemus that only Nicodemus could tell him. But my point is, pretty early on, Nicodemus earnestly sought out Jesus and asked his earnest questions.

Hebrews 3:16 – Who were [the Israelites with Moses after 40 years in the wilderness] who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? I have seen you move. I have seen you do amazing things. I have seen you do amazing things in my own life and the lives of others. And yet I still doubt you. I still sometimes live as if you are not part of me. I still make idols out of other things and look to them for my peace.

Father, you know what I’m thinking about right now. It’s something that has potential to lead me into conflict with a good friend. Give me a humble heart. Help me to fully live what I believe in my head. Help me to fully love with your love. Help me to repent when I need to repent and be strong and offer myself as a sacrifice when you need me to sacrifice. Even if it costs me everything I look to for my security. But help me to do every single thing in love. With your love.

I offer this prayer in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Lent Day 7

Dear God, I did it again. This is becoming a pattern. I forgot to read the PM psalm yesterday.

Okay, I just read Psalm 44 (yesterday’s PM psalm). I am so glad I didn’t miss it. The lament is real. for the first third of it as they talk about you abandoning them in battle, I assumed it was because of Israel’s collective disobedience, but verse 17 says, “All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.” It says a lot more along these lines, but the sentiment is the same. As I said, the lament here is real. It reminds me a bit of Job and his friends telling him he must have done something wrong and earned your displeasure, but that wasn’t the truth at all. You were just silent.

Okay, here are today’s passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

• AM Psalm: 45
• PM Psalms: 47, 48
• Deuteronomy 9:4-12
• John 2:13-22
• Hebrews 3:1-11

Here are my thoughts as I read each of these passages:

• Psalm 45 – I don’t like it. Is that bad to say? It’s a wedding song for the king marrying a young woman, but it feels like it has no place in our current society. And I don’t think it embraces what Jesus taught. I might be wrong, Father, but my heart is disturbed by this psalm.
• Deuteronomy 9:4-12 – Now, this one I like. Basically, it is showing the Israelites their sins and explaining how you love them anyway. Will I be “stiff-necked” before you, Father? Oh, I hope not. My hope and desire is to be completely submitted to you and the path you have for me, no matter what it costs me.
• John 2:13-22 – Ah, the story where Jesus clears the temple. Interesting that John records this as happening earlier than the other gospel writers do. But this passage enforces something that I heard several months ago that I believe. Jesus, Paul, and the other writers of the New Testament appear to be more concerned about making the church more Christlike than making the world more Christlike. If the church is Christlike then the world will want to be part of that church because the world is starving for the fruit of your Spirit.
• Hebrews 3:1-11 – It’s interesting who the author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 95:7-11 as a quote from the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 3:7) and then talks about the lessons the Israelites learned over those 40 years in the desert.

Father, it feels like we, as your church, are poised for some desert time. It feels like we need to be humbled and broken down. It feels like we, your church, are stiff-necked. That’s just how it feels to me. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the concerns I have are not of you, but from the enemy. Maybe I’m absolutely wrong. If I am, please show me. Make it clear to me. But if I am right, affirm that as well. There is an issue that is heavy on my heart this morning. It has nothing to do with the things that normally trouble me, but it is heavy none the less. So please speak to me. Show me how to respond. Comfort me. Inspire me. Live through me. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on this earth, through my life, as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Lent Day 6

Dear God, when it comes to the PM Psalms from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Based on the Book of Common Prayer I keep forgetting to read them in the PM. At least I have for the last two days. So I started this morning by reading yesterday’s PM Psalm, and it was Psalm 103. The thing that struck me about it was verses 15-16: As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. What a great and humbling thought. Of course, it is true. I was thinking just this morning about a godly man who used to be a vendor or the nonprofit where I work, but he died several years ago. I don’t think he had any children. There will be some people of this generation and maybe a few for the next 30 or so years who will remember him, but when we are gone, his memory from this earth will likely be gone. As for me, the memory of my time on earth will likely be gone 100 years from now. but what won’t be gone are the butterfly effects of what I did while here on earth (both good and bad). My life has knocked over dominoes in other lives. How can I help it. I’ve helped some. I’ve harmed some. Anyway, I pray that my life is more of a help than a hurt to your plan on earth.

So here are today’s passages from Sacred Invitation book:

• AM Psalms: 41, 52
• PM Psalm: 44
• Deuteronomy 8:11-18
• John 2:1-12
• Hebrews 2:11-18

Alright, I’ve read everything, including the commentary from Sacred invitations, and here are three things that struck me:

• John 2:12 – [After the wedding at Cana and Jesus turns water into wine] he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. I just found it interesting that, at this point, Jesus’s mother and brothers were good with him. That wouldn’t always be the case, but so far he wasn’t doing anything that was outside of the paradigm of who they thought he should be.
• Hebrews 2:16-18 – For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his bothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. This plays into the commentary I’m about to share, so I’ll comment after that.
• Sacred Invitation: Monday, Day 6, Paragraph 5 – In John 12:23, in the last day or so before his crucifixion, after the Greeks request to see Jesus, he responds, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” We must not miss this: everything that happens throughout the life and ministry of Jesus leads to the cross. The cross is not an intrusion on an otherwise-planned completion of his ministry. It is the whole point. This statement makes me think about Catholic mass and how the partaking of the Eucharist is the entire point of the mass. Everything else is just a part of the service that points to that moment in the service. But Jesus came here to make atonement. To be my substitute for my guilt. That was the point. The rest of his life was to teach and be an example, but the point was his death and resurrection

Father, as I sit with this Lenten season, help me to really soak my soul in the idea of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Help me to see it anew as I spend this time with you. You are my God. I bring you my worship.

I pray all of this in Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

Hebrews 1:1-4

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. ² And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. ³ The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. ⁴ This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Hebrews 1:1-4

Dear God, this was the Verse of the Day on Bible Gateway this morning, and the beginning of verse two really struck me. You spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, but you spoke through your Son 2,000 years ago. Part of what Jesus did by coming to earth was not only to live sinlessly, be martyred and then rise again, but also to teach. Sometimes, as amazing as it sounds, I don’t think we ingest the teaching as much as we should. I mean, sure, we look at some of the stories and parables Jesus taught, but do we really take and apply them?

So as I sit here this morning, I am wondering what I think, off of the top of my head, Jesus was mainly teaching when he was here:

• Worship you with everything we have
• Love our neighbors
• There will be a sorting at the end of the age. I’ve tried to get away from this one, but it’s there. He said it several times, and in different gospels.
• Worry about your own repentance first before you worry about the sins of others (and when you have repented, have mercy on the other like you have mercy on me)
• Have faith in you (God) and not in ourselves (consider the lilies)
• Have mercy while not sacrificing the standard you set (woman in adultery)
• Have self-awareness so that I won’t be hypocritical
• Don’t be oppressive to others from my own self-righteousness (Pharisees)
• Forgive (70X7)
• And this isn’t explicitly in there, but I think it is implicitly in there: Don’t worry about things you cannot control like the government, but serve in the sphere of influence where you put me
• Do not pursue wealth or the things of this world
• Sometimes even bad things happen so that you can get glory when they are redeemed, or the thing can lead to redemption itself
• Spend time alone with you in prayer. Even he survived his earthly experience by regularly getting alone with you (and Moses and Elijah here and there as well)

I would say that is a pretty good list. Of course, it’s not completely conclusive. I’m sure I missed a lot of things, but this is what I carry with me. Sure, I fail in all of them. I like to judge without repenting. I often don’t come close to loving you and worshiping you with part of my heart, much less all of it. I am hypocritical. I worry about things out of control and make idols of them. And I often fail to set aside time to just spend it with you.

Father, yesterday, I was feeling distant from you and really dry. One interesting thing I did was to go back and listen to some 1970s and 1980s Amy Grant songs that meant a lot to me when I was a young Christian. It helped me tap into that just a little bit. A little like playing certain songs from the beginning of my wife’s and my relationship brings a flood of affection for her. So even this morning, I was still listening to some of those old Amy Grant songs like “I Have Decided” and “Sing Your Praise To The Lord.” It’s good stuff. So let me just affirm to you in this moment, “I have decided I’m going to live like a believer. Turn my back on the deceiver. I’m going to live what I believe. I have decided being good is just a fable. I just can’t because I’m not able. I’m going to leave it to [you].”

I pray this in the name of Jesus,

Amen

 

Hebrews 10:26-31, 32-11:1

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said,“I will take revenge.I will pay them back.”He also said,“The Lord will judge his own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while,the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith.But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Hebrews 10:32-11:1

Dear God, this all started with Hebrews 11:1 being the verse of the day for Bible Gateway. I decided to go back and look at the context for this fairly famous verse: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” It’s interesting to see the ramp up to that verse that was arbitrarily cut off from the preceding verses by someone deciding there could be a chapter break put right there.

With that said, the thoughts that stand out to me are, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and the faith the author of Hebrews is specifically referring to here is one that is the desperate faith a person has in your existence that comes in the midst of suffering for that faith.

My first inclination is to say that I haven’t suffered for my faith in you, but it occurs to me that I actually have to some extent. There is one family member in particular who is very disdainful of my faith. And I’ll admit that there are times when I imagine that person reading something like this and judging me harshly. Disdainfully. I think that he somehow thinks my faith in you cheated him somehow. That it made his life worse. That breaks my heart. It also sometimes makes me ashamed of my faith (I sat here a second before I wrote the word “ashamed” because I wasn’t sure that was the right word to use, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was, indeed, the right word).

So why am I still here even though I sometimes feel ridiculed and judged for my faith in you? Even though I feel ashamed? Well, because I truly believe in you. I truly believe you are the God. Jesus is truly your son/my savior who offers me grace in the midst of all of my sin. “Beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, peace for despair.” (“Beauty for Ashes” by Crystal Lewis and Isaiah 61:3)

Father, what do I have but you? Holy Spirit, who can comfort, counsel, and guide me but you? Jesus, who can heal and give me grace but you? You are my God. I pray for the fruits of your Spirit to be known to those around me. I love them.

I pray this in the name of the Triune God,

Amen