Waiting

Waiting: the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens

²⁷  Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,

^h“My way is hidden from the Lord,

ⁱand my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸  Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is ^jthe everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

^khis understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹  He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰  Even youths shall faint and be weary,

                                                 and young men shall fall exhausted;                                                

³¹  but ^lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings ^mlike eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Isiah 40:27-31 ESV

   When we live in a society that has microwave dinners, instant coffee, Insta Pots, and drive throughs, we have come to embrace the mantra of waiting stinks.  Especially when we are waiting for an important answer or test result, waiting can be painful, heart wrenching and it just plain painful.  I would place a bet that we are all waiting on something, whether it is for a pandemic to be over, being able to gather with friends and family, a job that pays that actually pays the bills, or for a child to come out of a tough phase.  When we are in this stage of life, we often have a hard time seeing the big picture.  We are either so focused in the day to day or the moment to moment that we often become reactionary.  In essence we are responding instead of being proactive.  In essence we are to busy cleaning up messes instead of preventing them.  I think there could be a space and time between moving from being reactionary to being proactive and its called waiting.  Here are some ideas to remind ourselves when we are waiting.

   The first idea is our posture.  When I think of posture, I think about how we sit and our body language.  Body language is a big deal in non verbal communication and how people perceive us and how we interpret things.  If a friend is talking to us about something important and we are sitting on the couch, with our head down and our body slouched, we are portraying that we don’t care.  We also probably miss what is being said misinterpret what is being said on what we do hear.  Posture is about anticipation, and if we are not anticipating, we are likely to miss the opportunity, or to mess it up.  Just like an Olympic runner gets into their running stance in anticipation for the starter gun to go off for their race, we should be the same way.  Proper posture is preparing ourselves for the moment, so when it does come and the starter gun sounds, we can take off running.  The Apostle Paul tells is in 1 Corinthians 9 that we are to run the race with purpose and for things that are eternal.  The only way to do this is to be ready for what God has called us to do. 

    The second idea is laziness.  In essence holy waiting is not laziness is based on apathy or down right sin.  The apathy part comes in is that we know the right thing to do, but we don’t have the motivation or desire to do what is right. We would either have someone else do it for us, or we don’t care enough and if it does get done, oh well, because it was important.  In essence we would rather take a pill or have surgery to lose weight without doing the hard work of exercising and diet change.  This has disastrous consequences, because we ae digging ourselves a deeper hole and has serious consequences.  Those consequences keep compounding when we do not deal with them. 

   The second part is laziness as sin.  We know what we need to do, but we do something else.  If God commands us to wait, we get tired of waiting and then we come up with some thing to do that looks Godly but its not what God has called us to do.  The story of Abraham and Sarah come to mind.  God promises them a child in their old age and they get tired of waiting.  So Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her slave so that they could have their child.  This was culturally acceptable when the wife could not bear children, but this is not what God had in mind.  Gods plan was to use Sarah, not her slave and there were consequences for said action.  How much of our laziness is based on not wanting to take risk and wanting to be comfortable?  During times of waiting God is calling us out of our comfort zone and to take risk Godly and appropriate risk. In essence laziness is the antithesis of holy waiting

   The third idea is that waiting is preparedness.  What I mean by this is that during this time, God is preparing us for what is next.  This often means character refinement, whether it is removing something that is ungodly or installing something that is Godly or what is needed in the next phase of life.  This also could mean a time of healing and or rest.  There are times when as people, we need a break, not to do nothing, but to refuel and to recharge.  God knows our specific needs and to use a tech term, during this time, God is providing an update on us, and holy waiting is taking this update and putting it into practice.  Even the Apostle Paul did some holy waiting.  After his conversion in Acts 9, he disappeared for about three years, before he began his public ministry and missionary trips.  God was preparing him during this time to boldly proclaim the Gospel.

   The fourth idea of waiting is alienation.  During this time of waiting, we often feel that we are in the valley and God is nowhere to be found.  There are two truths I think we need to remember.  The first one is that God does not abandoned us.  Our faith is like a tree, the only way for it to grow and for the roots to grow deeper is for a dry season to come.  The lack of rain forces the roots to dig deeper to find water, and when it is found, the tree will grow.  The deeper the roots, the more sturdy the tree is and less likely it is to be blown over in a storm.  That’s the same way with our faith, the more sturdy or mature our faith is, the less likely we are fall to heresy and things that are false.  In essence, we learn who we are and what our purpose is.  The second part of this is that the valley provides grass and nourishment.  We all love the mountain top experiences, but here is the thing, the nutrition and air is rather thin up there.  If we stay up there to long, we will either suffocate or starve to death.  Basketball players like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are known for being two of the best and most decorated basketball players of all time with a work ethic that was really hard to match.  What got them there is spending time in the gym putting up the countless shots, running the countless drills, and spending time in the weight room.  What got them their awards, praises, and endorsement deals was during their time of waiting during the offseason was spent working on becoming better.  Our relationship with God and our growth and maturity is more important than any job.  This doesn’t mean we all should go live in a monastery and pray all day because our emotional, spiritual, and physical growth and maturity will affect who we become and how we live our life on a daily basis and how we interact with others and perform our duties. 

    The fourth idea is focus.  It allows us to find out what is important and what is enjoyable and needs to go away.  In essence, holy waiting is spring cleaning for our lives.  It is allowing God to find those things that are not so attractive or down right ugly in our lives and either remove them or do a total makeover.  When this happens, we tend to become focused on what is important.  This is where we start to develop a plan and how we are going to execute it.  It is learning to to thirst for righteousness and learning to seek God with everything we have. My hope and prayer is that our holy waiting can be summed up in the third verse of Matt Redman’s song Better is One Day

My heart and flesh cry out
For You, the living God
Your Spirit's water to my soul
I've tasted and I've seen
Come once again to me
I will draw near to You
I will draw near to You

    To finish up this blog, I will end with the passage I started with. For those who wait on God, our strength will be renewed and we will not grow weary or fain of doing good.  This time of waiting, we learn not to rely on ourselves but to rely on God.  To quote John the Baptist, He must increase and I must decrease.

Temptation

Temptation: the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

Mathew 4:3-10 ESV

  Temptation is something we all face and it is part of living in a world that is fallen and having a free will to make our own decisions.  Temptation has often been displayed by having an angel on wone shoulder and the devil on the other pleading their cases on the decision we should make and how we should move forward.  The Bible passage above comes right after Jesus baptism.  I consider this Jesus coming out party.  The Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a Dove and the heavens open up and God proclaims that Jesus is His Son with whom He is well pleased.  Before we dive into the issue of temptation, we have to look at something that is important.  How do we balance this idea that Jesus was fully man and yet He was fully God.  So here is the rhetorical question that books could be written about, did Jesus divineness prevent Him from sinning, or since He had the power of God in Him, He was able to say no to the temptation so sin?  At the end of the day, this is one of those mysteries that we will not fully comprehend until heaven, but it is still something we need to wrestle with because it has implications of how we do life and how we read, interpret the Bible and how we view God and others.

   The first observation about temptation is that is not a complete falsehood or lie, because if it was, our chances to be swayed by such an idea would be zero.  It is like someone trying to get us to believe the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.  We all know that this is not the case and we can easily refute this lie and temptation.  Why temptation is so appealing is because it takes the  half truth and either twist it to make it look like the real deal with all the bells and whistles, and it mysteriously leaves out a portion of facts that are essential.  In the passage above Jesus uses the phrase “it is written” three different times.  Jesus realized that Satan was either taking the Bible out of context, or just omitting things.  Temptation sets out to distort the truth to make something look different than what it really is.  Temptation is all about manipulation.  It takes the truth and distorts it in such a way that it makes it false. 

   My second observation about temptation is this idea that it challenges who or what we value.  Yes, the core of temptation is challenging who and how we worship.  Temptation moves our focus from what we are currently focused on to something else.  No matter how cool the bells and whistles are, how often is the temptation leave us feeling empty in the long run.  In essence, temptation over promises and under delivers.  This is where the fear of missing out (FOMO) really comes in.  Temptation comes in and convinces us that if we don’t take this particular opportunity, we will miss out on a great opportunity.  Or it drives our fear of commitment because we fear if we commit to something, we can not do something else that comes along that is either greater or cooler.  Temptation and FOMO is often based on deception and not complete reality.  I call this the social media effect.  The whole picture is not being presented and often only the side that gets the most likes or support gets shared.  The hard work or the consequences are never shared or blown out of proportion. 

    My third observation with temptation is that it often takes us farther than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, and has a price we don’t want to pay.  How often does one night or a stretch of giving into temptation and bad decisions leads to horrible consequences.  Whether it is a night of heavy drinking that leads to a DWI or something worse, to saying or something that isn’t nice or correct to a significant person in our lives.  These things could and often do cost us misery, along with time, and we could lose money, respect, a job, or even a relationship.  Here is the thing, when we give into temptation, we can’t snap our fingers and things will be back to normal and everything will be fixed and back to normal.  If things are to be fixed, it will take time and a lot of hard work, which we have to be willing to do.  More importantly, we need to seek forgiveness from God and those who we offended and afflicted pain to.  Hard work doesn’t matter if forgiveness and turning from our ways is not involved.

   My fourth observation on temptation is that temptation is all about our ego and it destroys our perspective of who we are and especially who we are in God.  Temptation either inflates our ego and tells us that we are better than we really are and gives us a sense of false confidence. It is thinking that we don’t need God and that we have the talents and goodness to do what we need to do.  The flip side of the coin is that we are unworthy and that we do not deserve love, respect and that others are better than us.  Both sides of this coin often lead to some form of addiction to power, greed, self loathing and other things.  In essence, temptation seeks to destroy us and everybody around us, no matter the cost.

    My fifth observation is that temptation is not sin.  Temptation does not become sin till we act on it.  One can try and live their lives without facing temptation, but this mean we won’t be getting out of bed in the morning and even then I am not sure it will work.  In essence temptation is asking us to embrace the half truths and lies that this world has to offer and make them our own.  I am not sure where to pout this, so I am going to put it here, In the Bible, the Epistle James (1:13-18) tells us that God does not tempt us, but those temptations come from our sinful desires.  When temptation does show up and tries to bring us away from God, God does provide a way for us to overcome this temptation and not fall to it.  When we face temptation is a chance for us to say no to the temptation for us to draw closer to God and submit to His love and goodness instead of going down the path of pain and self-destruction.  We really can not talk about temptation without talking about Satan.  Whether it is the story of Job or the passage above, Satan is the driving force behind temptation.  Satan whole goal is not for us to follow Him, but it to make sure that we do not follow God and not have Him the Lord and Savior of our lives.  Satan has received his punishment and his goal is to bring everyone down with him. 

    There is a discussion of free will when it comes to temptation and I will save that for another blog.  To finish this out, temptation challenges us to hit the easy button and take the easy way out. Whether is fulfilling a need for self-reliance, authority, or worship of self in some way, its goal is to tear down and destroy.  In John 10:10, Jesus tells us that the thief (Satan) comes and uses temptation, seek, destroy and to kill, and that He Himself comes to not only give life but to give it abundantly.  In all reality, it’s a choice of two paths, and which one are we going to travel?  I am not sure if Kenny Rogers was referring to temptation when he sang this, but it applies, we have to know when to hold them, when to fold them, and when to walk away and when to run

Grattitude

Gratitude: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51:15-17 ESV

 

     This section of the Psalms comes from one of the most famous confessions in the Bible.  This chapter deals with King David’s confession of adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband killed to cover up his transgression.  The famous words of this Psalm is found in verse 10;

 

Create in me a clean heart oh God

And renew a right spirit within me

 

To be fair, this whole section of the Psalm is littered with talk about what is an appropriate sacrifice.  Sacrifice is not only our position and how we interact with God, but also our position and how we interact with others.  So one might be thinking how does sacrifice and gratitude go together.  I hope to get there by the end of this blog and just a heads up, it might have something to do with worship.

 

   My first observation is this, God is not only implying but telling us that we can not buy Him off.  No matter how hard we try, whether it is through our tithe, doing “Godly” things, or not doing something that is ungodly.  Spoiler alert, since God created everything, He already owns it.  We can not give something to God He already owns because it is already His and we are to be good managers of what He gives us.  If we were able to buy God off, it means two things.  The first one is that He isn’t fully God and in incompetent.  This also means we have more power and authority than we need, deserve, or are able to handle.  The second idea is that it makes us manipulative, only doing and giving things for our own benefit.  Sure there could people out there who are truly ultraistic, but at the end of the day, most if not all of us are in it for what we can get out of it.  If we could buy our way to God or His love, how many of us would beg, borrow, steal or just flat out lie to get what we want, no matter if it is with God or others?  My gut feeling is that we have already tried that and eventually it catches up with us in a bad way.

 

   My second observation about gratitude is that it is about accountability.  Gratitude is more than just being grateful or giving thanks.  Accountability is admitting to mistakes, growing/maturing from them, and doing what we are responsible for.  When King David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan about his adultery, David could of pulled out his king card and had Nathan disposed of too.  Instead, David went and he responded to Gods rebuke of his actions and sought forgiveness for what he had done.  He also owned up to the consequences, and was a father to the son he had with Bathsheba and the family strife that continued through out the rest of his life. 

 

   Accountability is doing the things we know we should do, Whether it is how we spend our money, to what we eat, being a good spouse to ones significant other, being a parent to ones children.  Accountability is more about being proactive than reactive.  There are always going to be things that catch us off guard, but when we are proactive, and seek to take care of things that are within in our control, life tends to go better.

 

  My third observation is that gratitude is more than just the gifts and actions.  Don’t get me wrong, actions, along with gifts/sacrifice along with the words that we speak are important, but the more important thing is our attitude or the condition of our heart.  How often do we do or say things as a form of self protection or to make us feel better?  As people, we tend to do or say things to provide either some sort of diversion so people do not see our weaknesses or those spots that are really sensitive.  Or how about when we do things to gain some sort of good karma and to try and right something we did that we feel guilty or ashamed about.  When we do this, we fall into two traps.  The first one is that we make ourselves out to be better people than we really are.  It is more about the show, and less about the go.  In essence, we try and impress people with our words, actions and our gifts.  At the end of the day, we fall down exhausted because no matter what we do or say will ever be enough.  Then we will become burnt out and jaded,  The second trap is that we try and cover up some sort of guilt.  Trust me on this, the guilt and shame will never go away when we do this, and it will send us further into depression and the spinning will keep getting faster. 

 

  My fourth observation is this, gratitude is more than giving gifts or doing good works, or saying thank you.  God doesn’t want our gifts or our words, not that these are unimportant, but He wants us fully committed to Him and His calling.  Gratitude is not only being thankful for what others or God has done, but it is the giving of our whole selves.  This means the good, bad and things that we do not want to see the light of day.  Because of free will, we can decide whether we disown God and suffer the consequences, or embrace Him and His will.  We can call it many things, such as holiness, perfection, sanctification, Christian maturity, but at the end of the day, It is allowing God to restore His full image in our lives and for us to be fully present not only with Him but others also. 

 

  I will leave you with this.  True gratitude not only requires, but demands a response.  This is where worship comes in.  Worship is more than just singing a few songs and hearing a sermon and then walking away to live our lives.  When God is fully shaping us back into His image, we live our lives differently.  Its not that these actions saves us, but it is a response to what God has done and is doing in our lives.  Our gifts and sacrifices can not save us, but it is a response to the one who can and that is Jesus.  Our worship, gifts, and even our sacrifices should point back to God the Creator of all and to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

 

Questions

   What are the things we do or say that hide habits, hurts, and the unspeakables?

   In our accountability, are we reactionary, or proactive?

   How often do we try and earn our salvation?

Advent

Advent; the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and let her cry

That her warfare is ended

That her iniquity is pardoned,

That she has received from the Lord’s hand

Double for all her sins.

A voice cries;

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God,

Every valley shall be lifted up,

And every mountain and hill made low

The uneven ground shall be level,

And the rough places a plain

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV

 

   I was at a local park recently and seeing the bare trees and the light snow on the ground got me thinking.  My smart thought was that even in the barrenness of winter, there is still a beauty in nature.  I have noticed that with the snow on the ground and the bare trees, things seem to echo a little more and I can hear things not only more clearly, but often things that are far off can be heard like the whistle of a train horn or traffic on a distant road.  I can see through the woods better because the leaves are not acting as a shield or cover for things that reside in the woods.  It got me thinking what does this idea of barreness affect our lives, but play into Advent. 

  My first observation is that this idea of bareness forces us into this fight or flight concept.  We can either fight the bareness of our lives by changing habits, such has praying harder, reading self help books or the Bible more, to attending small groups, and even seeking counseling.  None of these things are bad, but in our fighting are we keeping the real issues at arms length and not addressing it.  For me, I can eat less and exercise more to lose weight, but it still doesn’t deal with the issue of that I find comfort in food because it doesn’t tell me no.  The flight concept is either not recognizing the problem or doing nothing about it because it is to hard.  How often do we not deal with a problem because it is to hard, or we have to change something that we hold dear, or admit that we are just wrong.  I know I don’t like to be wrong and how can I be wrong if I don’t admit to it.

   My second observation is that sometimes we just need to embrace the suck.  If 2020 has taught us anything, that is embracing the suck is necessary.  It does not mean we throw are hands up in the air and doing nothing, because that adds to the mess.  Instead it is moving forward, picking our battles, and extending grace to ourselves and others.  Embracing the suck forces us to be in the present and the here and now, and not fast forwarding to 2021.  To paraphrase my favorite narcissistic television doctor, Gregory House, things change and its not always for the better.  A presidential election hasn’t made things better and I am not so sure a change in the calendar year will provide the change we are looking for, but what can make it better is our attitude and how we treat others and ourselves.  Do we extend grace, love and truth, or do we extend, hate, bitterness and anger?

  My third observation on why bareness can be beautiful is because we have the opportunity to embrace our own humanity.  This means that we have the ability to recognize the good in our lives, and things that are not so good.  When we embrace our own humanity, we can embrace not only how others see us, but how God sees us.  This means that those areas in our life that are painful, we can start to deal with them.  Whether it is a relationship or expectations that have not been fulfilled, we can take a look at those and start the healing process.  When we embrace our humanity, we realize just how selfish we are and how our disobedience and sin has altered our relationship with others and with God.  Thankfully God forgives and He can make all things new. 

   So one might wondering what connection bareness has to Advent.  Being barren has the connotation of expectation.  With bareness, we can either expect that things will stay the same and nothing will change, or there is the expectation that things will improve and that spring and new life will eventually come.  Advent is the same way, because it is about expectation.  Advent is about the expected coming of the promise Messiah.  The nation of Israel held on to the promise of the Messiah will come and make things right.  The Messiah did come in the form of Jesus being born in the manger.  Just like the nation of Israel, we are in the season of Advent right now, expecting Jesus to come back again. This time when He comes back, it is to gather His people and commune with Him eternally.  Advent is not only about preparing ourselves for the coming of Messiah, but also embracing and sharing Gods grace, joy, hope and love. 

Questions to Ponder

    What does it mean to embrace the suck?

    How does our expectation inform us on how we live?

Creator

Creator: A person or thing that brings something into existence

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 anything 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.

John 1:1-5 ESV

 

    When I think of the word creator, I often think of someone who is often good with their hands at building or making things, or someone who is talented musically.  A creator could be someone like the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, who was so talented with a pant brush that his paintings are known all over the world and often go for absurd prices. Or a creator can be someone like my grandfather who was always tinkering and building or modifying something.  The classic definition of a creator is someone who can make something great out of nothing.  As humans, we need things like paint, paint brushes and a canvas to create something because we do not have the capability to create something beautiful or even destructive out of thin air.  The only person that can create something out of nothing is God, and a prime example of this is the first two chapters of Genesis.  The big Latin word for this is Ex Nihilo, which literally “out of nothing.”  So God is the only one who can create something out of nothing and call it good.  Here are some observations about being a creator.

 

    My first observation is that God is eternal.  One needs to be in existence before they can create.  This is why I chose John 1 as our passage, because it shows not only that God is eternal, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit are eternal and a part of the creative process.  Being eternal means that one has no beginning and no end.  To be honest, being eternal means that one has no beginning and no end.  It is like being on the plains of Western Kansas, where one can not see the beginning or the end of it.  God the Father also, works in conjunction with the Son and Spirit to create and it helps dive into the mystery of the Trinity.  It shows that the Son and Spirit are eternal and equal with God the Father and not created beings.  We can dive into the Jehovah Witnesses and the Arianism Heresy another time, but in order to create, one needs to be present to do so. 

 

   So here is a rabbit trail, if one is basing their hope on evolution and everything starting with a big bang, wouldn’t their need to be particles or something there to combust to have a big bang moment.  This means what where we live, things we take comfort in and people we have interactions with, not only has a begging by some random lucky explosion, but it also has an ending with nothing.  It makes life that we live pretty bleak and meaningless, because what we take comfort in or worship eventually will fail us and can not get us out of the predicament we find ourselves in.  There is a Christian form of evolution where God created things or got things going, and then He took His hands off and let things run their course.  This not only makes God a Deist where He creates and walks away, but also it could make Him a narccacistic thug who enjoys watching us destroy ourselves. 

 

  My second observation is that God creates because it is a part of His nature.  God is God and He can do things as He pleases.  One of Gods characteristics is that He wants to be in relationship.  God the Father created the heavens and the earth because He wants to share the relationship He has with the Son and Sprit with all of creation.  It is Gods nature to share the relationship He has within the Trinity with all of creation.  God desires to dwell among His people and for Him to be our God and for us to be His people.  This could make God out to be needy, which He isn’t, but instead God creates to show His goodness.  What makes God not needy is that He is willing to let people go and do their own thing if they don’t follow His standards.  The thing that is in Gods nature of being a Creator, is that He realizes that with in relationships, it is a two way street.  God can and has provided a way to be in relationship with Him, but it is our choice to take that offer.  God does all the heavy lifting, but we have to follow in obedience and faith for the relationship to work,  If we don’t we suffer the consequences and eventually the relationship is cut off. 

   My third observation is that God the Creator not only cares for His creation, but there is a pecking order within the created order.  The Trinity is at the top of the pyramid and has authority over all and is eternal.  If we go back to the creation story, we find out that what sets humans apart from all other creation is that we have a soul.  From my understanding of it is that our soul is actually God breathing life into our bodies.  What makes us different is that we are created in the image of God and the rest of creation does not have this distinction.  This means several things, the first thing is that God put us in charge of all creation and to care for it.  This does not mean we own it and we can do whatever we want, or we fall into pantheism and saying that God is in the created. Even though God created everything, not everything has his stamp, or breath.  This is reserved for us as people, and that means how we care for and manage Gods creation says a lot about who or what we worship.  A side note, the created things are for us to use and to manage, and not to worship or consider it equal.  Here is the thing about being created in Gods image and having a soul, it means even though our bodies age and become wore out, our souls don’t.  Eventually are bodies will return to dust and our souls will go to eternity and receive Gods fair and just judgement.

   My fourth observation is that God cares for His creation.  I know I have tried to weave this idea throughout this blog, but I think it is something we need to wrap our heads around.  Especially during a pandemic and a hateful election season.  The Gospel of Matthew shares that if God cares for the sparrows and cloths the flowers, how much more will He care for us.  The Psalmist declares that God knitted us in our mother’s womb, and knew of us before we even did.  God does not abandon His creation, we might not get what we want, but we will always receive what we need.  Our goal should not just be a person created in the image of God, but also becoming a child of God and there is a difference.  Being a child means that we as the created are submitting to Gods authority and being transformed by His power on a daily basis.  This is probably off topic, but God doesn’t want us comfortable and safe, but He wants us to rely on Him and to step out of our comfort zone.  This means that we don’t do things that are stupid, but we do things that are risky. 

    To wrap things up I will leave you all with these couple of thoughts.  The first one is that since God is creator, not only can He create things, but He can make all things new.  No matter what we have done, or where we have been, God can and is willing to make things new and restore us, not only now, but for eternity.  Let me close with this Psalm

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works,
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains and they smoke!
 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.

Psalm 104:31-31 ESV

Questions to Ponder

   What does our meditations and or prayer say about our wants and desires?

   How often do we worship the created and not the Creator?

   What does Gods actions say about His nature?

Sacrifice

Sacrifice: an act of offering to a deity that is precious and requires the death of the victim on an altar; the destruction or surrender of something for something else

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
    but my ears you have opened^[c]—
    burnt offerings and sin offerings^[d] you did not require.
 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.
I desire to do your will, my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

Psalms 4o:6-8 NIV

 

When I first read the first this passage, two things came to mind.  The first one is the famous Micah 6:8 passage of loving mercy, doing justice, and walking humbly with our God.  This passage gets quoted all the time and it implies that our faith requires some sort of action.  In essence there is some sort of standard of how we are to conduct ourselves not only with God but also with others.  The second thing that came to my mind is the Old Testament sacrificial system.  Not only did the nation of Israel bring gifts to the altar to recognize Gods goodness and protection, but they also sacrificed a spotless animal for the forgiveness of sin and so they could maintain a right relationship with God.  This is where the Day of Atonement comes in where the Hight Priest sacrificed a spotless sheep for the sins of the whole nation.  It got me thinking that God has a standard of not only how we interact with Him, but how we interact with others.  Here are some observations I have made.

My first observation is that God can not be bought off.  How often do we try and use good works or deeds to get on Gods good side.  It could be that we lead a small group, be a sponsor in some sort of recovery program, to dropping an extra twenty bucks in the offering plate/online giving.  This sort of sacrifice comes down to two things.  The first one is that we are trying to make ourselves look better than what we are.  We are trying to distract God and others from our issues,  addictions, and our quirks.  In essence, we are trying to earn our way into heaven.  The second thing that this form of sacrifice brings is this concept of karma.  If we do more good things for God and others than bad, this means we will get into heaven.  It does not work this way with Christianity, because we can not earn our way into heaven.  If we could, Jesus death and resurrection is pointless.  To borrow a little Marin Luther, salvation comes through grace, faith and Scripture. 

My second observation is that intentions matter.  How often do we sacrifice something to get what we want.  This often is a form of manipulation, because we are holding dirt on someone and we will release it until we get what we want.  In essence, we are using people to get things, and this is not very Biblical.  We often forget about truth, honesty and integrity, because we are more concerned about stepping on people to get what we want.  Is it destroying people get a job promotion or pay raise at work?  Or is it destroying the Ex so the family for friends will like you more than the other person.  True sacrifice is where our intentions is based not on the giving or the giving up of something, but point ourselves and others to the throne of Jesus.   

My third observation is that sacrifice is relational.  My question is, can we truly give up something great, if there is not relationship.  I think that is the direction of the Micah passage.  Our sacrifices either do not carry as much weight or becomes pointless if there is not a healthy relationship.  If we are only in relationships based on what we can give and receive from each other.  It is seeing people as things or transactions and not people made in the image of God.  This business way of doing life often makes us, lonely, jaded and bitter because we often feel that our sacrifices that we put out is greater than what we receive.  This sacrifice is more of what I can get out of life than what I can give. 

My fourth observation is that true sacrifice requires not just a part of us but all of us.  In the passage above, I think that God is railing on the Israelites because He wasn’t getting all of them.  They only had one foot in the boat, and the other foot was out to bail just in case things got bad or uncomfortable.  Our sacrifices become meaningless if we are not all in.  God is telling us through David that He wants all of us or nothing at all.  This reminds me of the Movie Happy Gilmore where Adam Sandler’s character gets into a fight with Bob Barker’s character.  How often are we like Sandler and become frustrated with God and ask Him if He wants a piece of us.  Bob Barker’s character responds, “I don’t want a piece of you, I want the whole damn thing.”  When something only has are partial attention or commitment, how often do we get wondering eyes and start looking else where and doing other things that distract and cause trouble with co and others.

To wrap up, when we sacrifice or give ourselves completely to God, our outlook, intentions and relationships all change for the better.  In essence, it is a realization that everything is Gods to begin with and that sacrifice is giving everything back to God, including our whole lives.  This is when we become a living sacrifice and not only does Gods power through the Holy Spirit change us from the inside, and empowers us to do great things.  Thins changes how we view and interact with people.  This only happens when we commit to God and His laws and desires become ours.  Here is a warning, when we are living sacrifices, it is easy to get off of the altar.  This is where grace and forgiveness comes in. 

Questions to Ponder

  What makes it difficult to be a living sacrifice?

   How do our intentions affect our relationships?

   What is that one thing that God is calling you to give up or to step out on?

   Why do we desire to manipulate God and or others?