6/16/24 – Dwindling Discipleship?

Question: “What is the cause of the decline in Christianity in America, and what are we to do about it?”

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While you might find this question to be a two-parter, it is actually a three-part question, as we must determine if there is actually a decline in ‘Christianity’ in America, or is it more a loss of the hidden character of a less-than-adherent cloaking of ‘being a Christian’. What I am suggesting as the first part of the question is have we been ignoring the CINO (Christian In Name Only) reality in America for a long time? It is a fair reading to think I am being cynical in even asking the question. However, if we want a true answer to the question actually asked, we must determine what the baseline of “Christianity” is that we are assuming we are losing.

IF there is a true component of CINO realism in American society, then simply acknowledging the self-unmasking of the population of not-true believers does not indicate that there is a decline in Christianity in America that our question presumes. For the most part, the pre-2000s society presumed that it was out of step with the mainstream culture to not be “Christian”, and that meant that it was easier to claim Christian membership than to note your skepticism or open non-belief. I believe this cultural normism continued into the early 2000s as that non-believing population slowly became less apt to hide their lack of belonging to the Christian population.

For the purposes of our discussion, I will stipulate that we have no way of knowing what population the nonbelievers that felt a need to falsely belong actually could be quantified. In the same sense, we can not really know what part of today’s believers are attempting to conform to a perceived need to belong even if they have serious doubts or outright disbelief. So, it might be that we have no way to quantify any loss of the population of Christians in America – then or now. With that in mind, we will assume that the question reflects a truism on its face.

What might make it less likely that people today would become Christian?  First in my mind is the questionable image of Christianity that the ‘in the news’ Evangelical Christians that are showcased in our political discussions and machinations today.  If any thoughtful person was to contemplate upon the base values of Christianity, it becomes harder and harder to equate the self-serving, egotistical, less-than-loving stances, and outright rejection of those in need, that we hear from Evangelical Christians as they defend their political stands and reasons for raising their voices in today’s  discourse.  I have to ask anyone that understands the message of love from Christ if they would agree to become a member of this Christian population based on the alleged Christian message coming from some in the news cycle today that seems to fly in the very face of Christ’s message in Scripture? It seems to me that even in a society much more accepting of hypocrisy as displayed in today’s political discourse, it is really hard to swallow the benefit of believing in this Christian population, much less publicly advertising membership. I raise this as one reason Christianity wanes in today’s America.

Secondly, there is much research that cohorts under the age of 50 seem much less interested in becoming a member of ANY group than our older generations that based their societal connection on membership in specific groups.  With the cyber universe allowing perceived membership without the need to actually participate or associate, it is so much easier to achieve a sense of ‘membership’ without belonging – or you might suggest it is easier to ‘belong’ without being an acknowledged ‘member’ of a group.  If you think this is a valid reason for a decline in the membership in Christianity, you might actually find the ‘population’ of Christians has increased rather than declined – it’s just harder to identify members, and thus it appears that the Christian population has declined.  This lack of acknowledgement of belonging does not mean that there are less Christians today, only that we can’t point them out.

I would condition my feelings on reason number two countering the assumption of our question with the understanding that Christianity is based on community as noted time and time again in Scripture.  However, that norm from Scripture ignores that coming together in community was the ONLY way to build Christian understanding and commitment in the days before the internet, phones, radio and other means of mass communication that is available to us today.  So, I am not sure an increased ‘cyber’ community of Christianity is actually an overall benefit to the Christian population or commitment.  It boils down to the “Great Commission” from Christ – to make believers.  (A note:  Christ meant believers in the love and purpose of God, not simply believers in Him – which we sometimes see as that Commission.)

Third, and possibly the strongest reason that Christianity has declined (if it has…) is the universal manifestation of the original sin – wanting to be God ourselves, meaning we want to be in control.  As the possibilities to exert some form of control in our lives multiplies through the strengthening of ‘individualism’ in today’s society makes it less necessary to claim a “God” actually is in control of us, much less the universe.  We see ourselves more and more as the only controlling factor in our life that we can acknowledge with any degree of certainty.  In actuality, that is a totally false and counter interpretation of reality today.  We are even less in control of our own lives and our environment than ever before.  This in and of itself is, I believe, why we cling even harder to the idea we need no god as our guiding light and key to continued life.  Like a shipwreck victim in choppy waters, surrounded by sharks, we create our own version of reality to escape the certainty of total lack of control…even as we will perish from ignoring reality.

If three reasons are enough to quench your thirst for a reason, then it remains to answer the second part of our question – what do we do about it?  I would point out that this is the easiest – and hardest – answer and aspect of the question.  We should get involved and BE the ‘light on the hill’ that Scripture suggests of us as Christians.  It does not mean we have to be a “Billy Graham” and ‘convert’ a multitude of non-believers, nor does it mean we should become a pastor/minister/cleric in order to spread the Word.  What it means is that we should accept the perfect path that God wove for us in the Tapestry of Creation, our thread in that ‘Big Picture’ we Christains call The Word of God.  

So, how hard is it to follow your path?  Well, first you must believe you have a thread.  Then you have to open yourself to the possibilities God placed on that path – yes, God prepositioned opportunities to be an evangelical Christian in the truest sense … giving you an opportunity to testify one-to-one.  The hard part is recognizing you may have only “Ten Seconds” of testimony in the path God set before you.  So, I’d just suggest you be an open professing and practicing Christian and let God take it from there.  “Adding” Christians to the roles is NOT our job, our job is to be ‘good advertising’ and being ready to advocate for God-love and show the way to eternal love relationship with that God – so don’t be shy in claiming your Lord (Jesus) and advocating His teachings.  That’s all we need do….it’s all we are called to do.  In other words, don’t just be a CINO, be true to your namesake – introduce others to your God.

Thoughts? Comments?

5/23/24 – New Direction?

For those of you that still might check in on my Meanderings now and again, you know I spent almost 5 years working on a theological thought of the day by addressing a random verse from the Bible. I learned a lot from those theological attempts to address God’s Word as it seemed to me. I know this form of devotional time is not right for everyone, or maybe even a few of us. So, I am thinking a new way of communicating God’s desire to know you might be due. Would you consider submitting your question(s) regarding what you are wondering about God, His Plan, or how you fit into it? I could then tackle your question with a response that might help you in your search…at the very least, it may give you a reason to argue and search on your own! If you ask a question I work on an answer, your identity will not be revealed, but your question will appear exactly as you send it. I will answer that question as I feel led, and reference some Scripture I feel is relevant to the way I answer that question.

If this concept finds some interested enough to make it a somewhat regular communication, we will embark on this new project together.

God has taught me one thing in all this – we are meant to be individuals. We think as individuals, we understand as individuals, we learn as individuals, and most importantly – we experience God as individuals. This is exactly what God intended when He made us each unique. We come to realize there is a God, that He loves us, and that He wants us in relationship with Him as individuals – and in our own time and way. What is right for me may never gain your interest or allow you to experience God as He intended YOU to experience Him and relationship with Him.

I look forward to whatever new direction DAD plans to send me on, and I know He will provide some form of continuing relationship at the right time….and, I hope we can gain insight together. Just submit your question as a comment to this message.

4/24/24 – Timing Time?

Ecclesiastes 3:15 (ESV)

That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

There is one thing about this temporal realm that we cannot escape regardless of our effort – time, and its flow toward the ultimate end….of us, and this realm. Yes, we work with all our might to accomplish things in our time that define us, or that we see as important. We seek to ‘immortalize’ ourselves through accomplishments. Can you name one thing done by man that will transcend the ‘end of time’? I suggest there is actually one thing that does transcend time, but we will get to that in a minute.

As you might remember Ecclesiastes gives us the concept that there is a time for everything under heaven. I think this wording is extremely important – ‘UNDER’ heaven. This explicitly excludes heaven! Did you ever notice that? We tend to think that such a verse is inclusive of heaven, but it is just the opposite. God is telling us that time is unique to the temporal realm, and is ‘beneath’ the spiritual realm. I have posited this line of thought before, but I never had any idea that humankind even subconsciously understood this until today. I was listening to a song by The Tenors, “Angels Calling”. As this woman is accepting her time for life in the temporal realm is at an end there is one very profound line, “Time, time is letting go…” This is an understanding that our temporal existence is indeed ruled by time, but our ‘eternal’ existence is actually outside of this thing we call time. Wow, maybe we do get this.

Now, we surely can’t truly understand something completely outside our experience….and, all we know is bound by the flow of time. We are born, we grow, we learn, we test, we lose, we hurt, we grow old – all because of time. Mortality is a foundation of the flow of time for a temporal being – and you and I are definitely housed in a temporal body. This is the exciting thing, though. We are only ‘housed’ in a temporal shell. Our true nature is that of our Father, and He never ‘knew’ time as a factor in His existence. Oh, sure, DAD invented Time just so we had a place to test our ability to have free will, I believe. And, you know that I believe free will is absolutely necessary for true love to exist.

You have heard me suggest that the perfect Creation God brought into existence was purposefully corrupted with free will because the Father meant it to be so. We tend to think that God created a perfect creation and somehow overlooked that humankind might unbalance it. How can we limit God’s understanding of all that He does in such a way? Why would a loving Father put us through the issue of Him having to ‘exclude’ us from His presence because He couldn’t see that our ability to make decisions would do just that? Really? You think God messed up like that?

I can’t fathom such an ‘oversight’ by an all-knowing Father. No, this had to be intentional, and it had to be so important to this All-knowing Being that He would allow corruption of perfection for His purpose. And, in this corrupted realm, God set Time for a reason. It allows us to exercise our free will without the fear that somehow ‘time’ will be unwound and our decisions will be undone. That is not having free will at all. Time is the component that makes us live with our decisions in free will. We are ‘bound’ by free will decisions….we are caught up in consequences of free will.

This is of paramount importance for a couple reasons. First, as I mentioned earlier, I believe that there is one thing that transcends time, and it is the very reason that DAD gave us free will. It is to exercise this one thing in our temporal existence that goes beyond the temporal – love. God, Scripture says, IS love. It is not said there that God loves, but that He IS love. I have told you that I think that may be an actuality – that God is in existence as love, not having love, but love causes Him to BE. If this is indeed true it is then easily seen why God holds the idea of free will determination to love as so overwhelmingly important that He would create perfection just to be corrupted by free will. God wants us to understand what true love is, and then He wants us to freely love Him as He loves us – not because we are ‘made’ to love him, or made to love him through some programming, but because we want to for love’s sake.

And, that brings us back to Time. Time is letting go. It is slow, and it is unique to each of us, really. As we begin to understand what love is, and what it means to our eternal nature, time loses command of us. We may not step outside the bounds of time while in our temporal existence, but we can begin to feel ‘Time letting go’ of that which we are. We begin to see things more like our father – as components of an all-encompassing realm of nothing but love.

In that song, “Angels Calling”, we -as temporal beings – touch on the Godliness of true existence, that of our spiritual nature as children of a Timeless Father. We can see ‘time is letting go’ of our true nature and we begin to understand what is truly important, and what drives even the most powerful being to ever be – DAD, God the Father. This is why I tear up when I hear the song – not because someone suggests ‘love is all around’ and she will love you forever – although in some ways, that is correct – but that we see her looking beyond time. She finds herself on the doorstep of eternity, and begins to understand our love connections here only are stepping stones to a place that time cannot touch, cannot erode, cannot destroy.

I would suggest that you think about what it means to see ‘time, time is letting go’ of your life. Once we see time as temporary, we can see the infiniteness of where we are meant to be – call it heaven, call it home, but call it yours. DAD is waiting at that timeless doorstep for you to accept admission. And, know that the only ticket in is knowing love is the path and the key. The duality of Jesus’ love and DAD’s love is necessary for you to overcome the sin of ‘unlove’ which is also a part of free will – we want selfishly, and that is the definition of unlove. See to it that ‘time, time is letting go’ in your existence for the better….accept love.

1/29/24 – Losing “Heart”?

Luke 18:1

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought to pray and not lose heart.

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I suppose you know this is about the parable of the persistent widow …. Someone who needed help, and though they frequently petitioned the local judge for relief, was ignored or rebuffed over and over.  Ironically, the point of the parable is to not take ‘no’ for an answer.  This would seem to be rebelling against God if taken literally.  However, as you know, the parable is about not giving up on a JUST request, and let God work in His own time.

Yes, we should be tenacious when our cause is just.  But, what is the real pressure point in this process?  Is it our short attention span?  Is it our desire to control what/when/how God responds to our petitions?  Is it about defying God’s answer of ‘no’?  The real issue might actually be about accepting God’s time in response rather than tenacity.  If I am right about this aspect of the parable, then we need to think more clearly on what we are asking for and if we are righteous in our request first.  And, let me remind you that I believe God never works on one level, or in one layer of meaning…so, tenacity, righteous petition, AND correct God timing can all be lessons of this parable.

I have mentioned my thrice given promise often enough to bore you by bringing it up, but again, this is a perfect time to point out that in all our lives, the persistent widow parable has lessons for us.  It has been 5 and a half years since the promise was made to me by DAD.  It has not only not been fulfilled, but the current situation seems to make it all the more unlikely.  However, how can I balk at the timing of a promise at 5 ½ years when Abraham was destined to wait 15 years further into his old age? And what about the 60 year exile of the Jews to Babylonia?  I need to gain some perspective, and would simply like to remind you of the same.

There are two specific calls to action in this verse today….continuing to pray, and to not lose heart.  I can personally tell you that it is not impossible to lose one and hold onto the other – despite the seemingly tight correlation of pray’s intent to reflect and support hope (saving heart – the opposite of losing heart) in our psyche.  It seems that we can be inspired in such a way as Matthew Parker’s “Never Giving Up on You”.  This song is about never giving up, or in the words of this verse, not losing heart.  However, we can ‘never give up’ and yet be beset by doubt and despair when things don’t seem to be going as we think they should.  

This despair is seen in our own lives when we are brought to ask God why bad things happen to good people.  We may lose heart, but not necessarily lose hope through God.  We just don’t understand the dissociation between a good God and a ‘bad’ world.  Let me remind you that God created Creation as perfect – He said so Himself in Genesis 1:31.  But notice the ‘time’ God says this…”And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”  We were given this perfect world, Creation et al. However, God had a plan, and it involved giving us free will – the ability to choose for ourselves.  As I have told you many times, I believe free will was set loose in a perfect Creation, with God knowing full well it would corrupt the perfect He made.  But, love is only love if given freely. That requires choice.  Thus ‘bad’ things happen because we make decisions.  Yes there are bad things that happen ‘naturally’, such as tornadoes or floods.  But, it is impossible to only partially corrupt a Creation that is intricately connected in so many ways.  So, corruption cannot be contained to just our individual acts once allowed to ‘exist’.

And, this is why we can pray, and yet lose hope – or lose heart, as the verse states.  There is that innate dynamic tension between the possible perfect and the actual imperfect that God has set in motion.  It is the dynamic of free will.  I can be in despair about my thrice given promise, yet see the possibility of it still being real.  It is called hope.  We can tetter on this razor’s edge and be of two minds at once.  I know I have been there so many times.  

But, knowing God wants us in connection with Him, and that Creation is here solely for us to be able to freely choose to be in that loving connection, gives me hope.  And this is why I still find it worth my time to pray and not lose heart.  If we are God’s true focus, then the deck is definitely stacked in our favor, not against us.  Our problem is in understanding the rules of the game, so to speak.  We want to have it ‘right’ when we want it ‘right’.  We anticipate an outcome that is of our own making.  It goes to the very reason our prayers seem to go unanswered in my opinion – we bring OUR solution to God in prayer and demand He bless our genius design.  But, prayer is about bringing our needs and problems to God, and seeking HIS solution…and His timing.

The widow knew what she wanted, and what her needs were.  She wanted resolution in her time and design.  The ‘judge’ was not so inclined.  I have to wonder if the reason the widow ‘succeeded’ was because the timing finally came ‘right’ in God’s eyes, rather than her constant nagging?  Part of perseverance is not constantly demanding our own way, but in seeking the right way.  It is trying and testing the path to the right outcome.  If you note the many prayers of Jesus to His Father, they often were about seeking the Will of God, even as Jesus might be asking for some deliverance from the ‘right path’.  We can’t know exactly how the widow’s petitions were made, or if the form of the petition changed over time.  That is an unknown, isn’t it?  The parable simply tells us to stay in the conversation with God.  As I sit here and finish up this lectio, I find I’m still muddled in despair about my place and path.  I am relieved to find I still have hope – I have not lost heart.  I know that I must continue in this conversation, and search for the right path to achieve the ‘relief’ I feel I desire.  I must accept the timing, and the form of that relief, if I am really a follower of Jesus.  He accepted that format, and so must I.

1/26/24 – Holy “Word”-iness

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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Much has been assumed and theorized over time about what was meant by John as he quoted this statement, and it is clearly meant to tie Jesus to God the Father in some way, as John is laser focused on proving that Jesus is the Messiah, and the real and tangible Son of God.  This has led many to believe John is saying that God, the Word, and Jesus are all one. This is certainly one way of interpreting John’s statement in context and knowing his determination to write in such a way as to prove Jesus is the Son of God, and the awaited Messiah.

You know that over the years, I have argued for the complete and total ‘separation’ of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I have based my belief on a couple of things.  First, in Matthew 3:13-17, we find Jesus being baptized by John where the voice of God the Father, and the Dove representing as the Holy Spirit, and Jesus the Son, are all in one place at the same time – three separate entities.  Then in 2 Peter 1:17-18, we hear God’s voice proclaiming Jesus as His Son, not as a temporal extension of Himself.  I have conceded over those same years that I am not completely sure how God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are connected to this deity we claim as God for us.  But, there is ample proof in Scripture that God intended us to treat these entities as separate to one another from a temporal point of view, or God would not have ‘clouded’ the story with three such entities.

Over the years, I have whined and complained that I was not receiving the guidance I so desperately wanted. There is so much to the Word, and so little we understand.  Scripture seems to tell us that it is clear and directly from, and of, God.  If this was literally true, would we have questions of our path?  Would we actually have free will?  These are questions that come to my mind when I am feeling so disassociated from God, and it seems DAD is silent in my life.  Where is the Word?  Why do I not see the path I am called to tread?  Why is my deepest desire to be called home and away from this uncertainty and darkened path?

Do you ever feel adrift on the sea of life, pushed to and fro on the waves of chaos?  So, let me ask you (and remind myself…) why do you feel the Word has left you stranded?  If the Word is indeed the intent of God, should it not be accessible to us as we need it? All these questions are worthy of thought and discernment.  But, to assume something so complex and Holy and the intent of God that we call the Word would be easily accessible is, I propose, hubris at its highest – a sin I am often guilty of by the mere assumption God ‘owes’ me an explanation or obvious path.  I am quick to point out that acknowledging this sin does not remove it from my portfolio of imperfection.  So, how do we deal with something so powerful as the Word of God?  Are we to take the proclamation of Man as to its form and meaning?

Being a Christian means FOLLOWING the master, and taking up His teachings – which were to reveal God the Father as loving DAD, and to proclaim Himself as the WAY to relationship with God the Father – not asking/demanding to be worshiped AS God.

We should consider that seeing Jesus as the “Word” may actually mean Jesus was ‘used’ by God to tell us of Himself, His love, and His Plan – The Tapestry of Creation.  In this context, Jesus is certainly the “Word” of God, and since God’s plan was formed and finished before it began, the “Word” has indeed been with God ‘in the beginning’.  For us to assume we can easily interpret a concept revealed by God Himself to mean a specific and SINGULAR thing is to assume we have the mind of God.  What I am saying is that nothing God has ever done has been done in anything but many layers and levels from the conceptualization of a mind of humankind.

To say that Jesus is “the Word” is to limit what God is capable of.  To say that Jesus IS God is to refute the actual words of Jesus Himself, and to fall from His main teaching that God is HIS Father.  Jesus was conceived and born of God in a manner we can only speculate.  We can’t understand this, but to disregard the many times Jesus called God His Father is to ignore the teaching of the one we profess to follow.  I think we are just too smug when we decide we know what a human’s best interpretation of what God told them is the specific and singular interpretation of that Word….yes, I am using the capitalized version here.

Many of you may feel I am hypocritical when I press my feeling that there are three separate and distinct entities in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Maybe I’m just being human in my own hubris, but what I really want us to do is accept that God has provided three entities for us to work with in understanding God’s Word – His holy intent.  I have grown to accept we really don’t know how those three holy entities actually are in connection.  But if God has never revealed to us HE is all three as one, then how can we claim it is so?  It is just too easy to say a Trinity of equality and oneness is the answer.  Oh, it may be!  In fact, if all that is may actually be “of” God may mean that even you and I are a ‘part’ of God.  In point of fact, I have often told you I believe the spark of being within us, the spirit, is actually really a ‘piece’ of God loaned to us for existence.  If that is really literal, then we are a part of God also.

So, where does this leave us?  How does the feeling of being adrift on the raging sea of life and the desire to know the Will of God tie to the Word?  I posit that what we call the Word is possibly just the ‘intent’ of God, the manifestation of His Will.  To understand this in human terms, which are very limited, is to say that God has always had a “plan”, an ‘intent’.  And Scripture and all that is revealed by God is telling us what this Intent actually is.  Now, I freely point out this is only my theorizing of the reality I am trying to understand.  However, if I have even the smallest of correctness in my thoughts, this thing I so often refer to as The Tapestry of Creation, is the actual Word of God – His desire to create relationship to allow love to exist.  And, if that is correct, then the Word is Love, and God is Love for sure.

Moreover, we are not being egocentric to assume we are the focus of God’s very being.  For, Scripture clearly indicates God wants relationship with humankind, and that we are created by God and for God….to love, and to love Him back.  It has always been my contention that Creation is the forming environment to give the created, the ‘made’, a place to allow us to do what God made us for – to love Him – VOLUNTARILY.  The made are allowed to do what they were ‘made’ for to do from free will – which is the only way true love can be had.  Love can not be ‘made’ to happen and be true.  So, as I have stated many times, God created a perfect Creation, and then purposefully corrupted that perfection so that free will could be set free to allow us to love truly.  

Yes, that puts evil in place, but for a good purpose, if you will.  Only by our free choice can a perfect relationship be formed.  It is the Word that we have this chance in my understanding.  It is the Word that is God’s Intent to be in relationship through true love – not contrived, or ‘made’ to happen.  The Word is God’s plan to love.  It has ‘been’ since God has been….always a part of God, no matter what ‘form’ we assume it takes.  Let’s not force the Word into any singular form….because it isn’t a singular thing when you realize love has many ‘forms’ and comes in layers and levels.  It’s time to accept we don’t know what the Word ‘looks like’ – but that we know without question what the Word IS….love.

12/26/23 – FULL Agenda?

Galatians 4:4a

But when the fullness of time had come,

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The very first thing to point out about this partial verse is that it is indeed a partial verse, and I intend to deal with it as a totally separate truth of God – His timing, rather than the reason for the verse, the birth of Christ.

As you know, the concept of God’s timing is a central theme. The Bible teaches us that God has a perfect plan for each of our lives, and His timing is always perfect.  You might recognize this as a central part of my concept of The Tapestry of Creation and that this perfect plan for our lives is the basis for the weaving of that Tapestry.  I often skip right over the dual aspect of this concept by simply stating that the entire Tapestry was/is/will be woven all at once, with the ending known before the beginning.  And, I truly believe this.

However, one must understand that since we are in the temporal realm, Time is the fundamental facet of the construct of the temporal world by definition.  This means that our ‘angle of view’ in the temporal realm is through the lens of the passing of time.  So, it is important to remember our paths must progress not just through time, but ‘in’ time.  The issue of free will is going to impinge upon the timing of the path we take since we are given that ability to choose, and we often find ourselves in trouble because we have ‘sped up the clock’ on getting something we wanted.

Now, I am sure I am the only one of us that has ever attempted to attain something ahead of the proper timing.  Right?  No, that is an innate aspect of our temporal existence that we want things when we want them.  But, if you cook, or even watch someone cook you know what can happen when you attempt to consume that food before the preparation has been completed…you can wind up with anything from bad taste to food poisoning from jumping the gun.  

Our life is much the same way.  Often we want something – like being able to run the marathon, or score the perfect ice hockey goal before we learn how to accomplish the task or practice enough to ‘get it right’.  We want something fully attainable, but before its time in our path.  A neurosurgeon can certainly perform a brain operation, but only after learning about the brain’s structure, its purposes and then the procedure to ‘fix’ the problem.  Despite our desire to ‘know the ending before the beginning’, that is only possible in the spiritual realm with God.  While in the temporal realm, we must ‘progress’ along our path through Time to get to that ‘end’ we desire.

I have repeatedly told you that I have that thrice given promise as yet unfulfilled.  I also have bored you endlessly with my frustration that it IS still unfulfilled.  I want the ending before the beginning …. or at least before the path is fully formed to allow for that ending to be perfect and right for me.  Does this understanding reduce my desire for “NOW”?  No.  But, if I believe in God, and that DAD has my perfect path set in place, then I must at least acknowledge that I don’t know the perfect timing for what I want and have been promised to be fulfilled.

We have many examples of God’s timing that does not ‘agree’ with our concepts of perfect timing – God’s promise of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah comes to mind, as does Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the quintessential ‘God’s Timing’ verses.  There are many reasons why we might agree that God’s timing is more perfect than even our most perfect planning, but two come to mind immediately.  First, God is exponentially more intelligent than we are, and secondly, God Created this place we call home/universe/life.  No one should better understand how ‘things should come together’ than the one that actually created the construct and process, right?  And, let us not forget – we are not the Creator, we are the created.

So, from this perspective we return to our verse for today.  No matter how well we plan, how hard we work, or how much we want whatever it is we are desiring, ‘the fullness of time’ is not ours to decide.  This actually remains a truth whether we believe in God, or that He is in control or not.  This is a fundamental aspect of our not having created the place in which we currently exist and live.  Whether you believe God did create with a plan and purpose or not, you cannot escape the fact YOU did not create this universe, or even the ground on which you walk.  Your life environment is not yours, and the process and plan is not yours.

So, whether we are talking about our next vehicle purchase, our next perfect hockey goal, or our next perfect vacation, the timing is not ours to decide.  You might say that you always are in control of your plans in your life.  But, are you?  Yes, you can plan.  You can even execute those plans ‘flawlessly’. But I am sure you remember the vehicle breakdown, the boss’s last minute interruption of your leave time, or the accident that put you in the hospital hours before your perfect plan was to commence.  Let’s face it, we are not really in control.  We can assert some influence in our own lives, but we don’t have the ultimate control.  And, in aspects of your connection and/or relationships that intersect with God’s perfect plan for you, you do NOT have control.  You may indeed have veto power, but you do not have control.  The outcomes are predetermined by the Creator of the Creation in which you exist.  IF you have a true choice, it is to pick “A” or “B”, but the outcomes of “A” or “B” are hardwired into the Creation.  Those are not yours to control.  This is why we are best served by remembering to allow God’s Plan, and DAD’s best intentions for us to play out ‘in the fullness of HIS Time’.  We are in this place and time not of our own doing, but of the Creator.  And, our lives, our path, our death, or salvation are not fulfilled in any ‘time’ but God’s.

11/13/23 – Future Promises

Psalm 30:5

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

I have told you how DAD often speaks to me in ways I don’t expect. Well, this morning as I hopped in the shower, I set up my morning devotional podcast to play while I showered. It was unusual since I often defer listening until at least breakfast. Yet, for some reason (DAD nudging me), I selected to listen to it right then. That was important because I have been whining a lot lately about my lot in life. How I feel put upon by circumstances, and having a feeling of duty yet addressed. I was having a pretty major pity party. And it was in this environment that the podcaster determined to address today’s verse.

This led me to reflect on the biblical premise that our time on earth is limited and the glorious promise that awaits us beyond this temporal existence. As believers, we are called to fix our eyes on the eternal and find comfort, hope, and purpose in the truth that what awaits us is greater than anything we must face here, so I was made to look at my own somewhat rusty beliefs and how I was missing the point of a life in Christ.

Scripture reminds us that our time on earth is fleeting, like a passing shadow (James 4:14). Our mortal bodies are only vessels, here today and gone tomorrow (2 Corinthians 4:16-18), like the mist on a morning lake, we are destined to fade from the temporal life and move on to the spiritual. Acknowledging the brevity of life helps us prioritize what truly matters and live with a sense of urgency.

Beyond the limitations of this earthly life, a greater promise awaits us. God has prepared an eternal home for those who put their trust in Him (John 14:2-3). The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, assures us that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).

The pinnacle of our faith lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through His victory over death, we are assured of our own resurrection and eternal life with Him (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). This hope sustains us during times of trials and tribulations, knowing that our present sufferings are temporary and will give way to everlasting joy.

When we fix our eyes on the eternal, our perspective shifts. The worries, struggles, and challenges of this world fade in comparison to the glory that awaits us. As we set our minds on things above, we find strength, peace, and a renewed purpose (Colossians 3:1-2).

Understanding the limited time we have on earth motivates us to live with intentionality. We are called to make the most of every opportunity to love, serve, and share the hope we have in Christ (Ephesians 5:15-16). Our actions, guided by the eternal perspective, can impact eternity.

As we journey through this temporary life, let us be reminded that our time on earth is limited, but what awaits us is greater than anything we must face here. Let us fix our eyes on the eternal promises of God, finding hope, purpose, and joy in the knowledge that our present sufferings are preparing us for an everlasting glory. May we live with a heavenly perspective, investing our time, talents, and treasures in what truly matters, and eagerly await the day when we will dwell in the presence of our loving Creator for all eternity.

9/30/23 – Promise Perfect

2 Samuel 22:31a

God’s way is perfect.  All the Lord’s promises prove true…

——-

By now, you know that 2 Samuel covers the time of David’s reign, and we know that David was often beset by enemies that he could not best by himself.  This verse is one of those quotes in Scripture that prove David’s trust in God even when he himself is unsure or feeling unworthy of God’s help.  

If there is one thing I have learned in my 69 years in the temporal realm, it is that I am not in control.  If there is a second thing I have learned, it is that God is!  

Over the years of writing this lectio journal, I have mentioned to you many times that I have been given a thrice repeated promise from DAD that has yet to be fulfilled in my understanding.  That promise came to mind yesterday when I was sitting and contemplating my place in life.  There are very few things I have felt so deeply and so long as the feeling DAD gave me a relationship that demanded I mentor and support one in need.  That person showed up in my life in the most unusual way….at a time and place I would never associate with God.  The connection morphed into a calling that to this day I cannot let go.  It may even be stronger in the silence of connection right now than it ever was when the relationship was active.  

As I sat still and felt the emptiness of that silence between us, an overwhelming emotional wave hit me.  Every fiber of my being moaned and groaned against my doubt in that thrice given promise five years and three months ago….yes, I distinctly remember the very day it was first given.  But, the actual date is not the important part. What is important is that after almost three full years of complete silence in that relationship connection, no matter how I try to rationalize who, what, when, or where things went awry in the task I was given, it still sits squarely in my heart that I have that duty.  

How can that be when I can’t connect?  How can the responsibility weigh so heavily on me after I feel abandoned in the task for three plus years?  Well, let me tell you that, in this, I believe I am no different than David when it comes to a connection with God.  I have told you many times that God never leaves us, we leave God.  Well, every time I think God has let me down, DAD shows up and kicks me in the pants … actually, as you know through my BTC belief, it isn’t a kick, but me being dragged kicking and screaming back on the path DAD has for me to follow.  All the Lord’s promises come true…..

And, DAD is not about to let me forget it.  Just when I think there is no hope to my life, or light to my path, DAD shows up to set me straight.  Does this mean that I’m getting what I perceived to be the promise thrice given?  Nope.  It means that God set my path at the weaving of The Tapestry of Creation, and DAD reminds me that my thread in that ‘big picture’ is important to Him.  What I need to do is stop trying to interpret God’s message, and allow Him to fulfill that promise as He meant it to be fulfilled.  This is, once again, about DAD’s Delights, not my desires.

If you have called upon the name of Jesus to tie you to an eternal love relationship with DAD, then you know that there is nothing you need do but believe and it will be so.  The key is that we must believe in DAD’s plan, His path for us.  It is not about designing our own path and asking God to pave it for smooth travels for us.  In fact, I would tell you that because we are human, and imperfect, we will find that the path DAD has ‘paved’ for us is full of potholes we have dug ourselves.  The rough ride we experience on that God given path is of our own making.

Have you thought you knew what God wanted you to do, and upon attempting it, found yourself in a hole up to your ears…or stuck in the mud of life?  Did you wonder why God gave you such a hard path?  I think we need to step back and ask ourselves if we are digging potholes in the path DAD set before us, or are we building our own rough road and asking God to pave it for us?  I can’t tell you which of those possibilities are before you.  I can’t even be sure of my own predicament right now.  

But, I do know one thing for sure.  God is in the business of love.  He is in the business of making a place for us in His ‘universe’.  The weird thing about this God is that even in His all-powerful control of everything, He has given up one thing – control over our decisions.  That isn’t to say it’s not His way or the highway, because it actually is.  The point is we get to make that decision!  We can choose.  We have been given free will.  What we do with the ability to choose is our decision.  BUT, there are consequences to our choice – and some of those will be potholes for sure.

Just like the double, super brilliant, rainbow I saw on our recent trip, God’s promise to us is a brilliant path that leads us to Him IF we will allow that in our choices.  A word of further hope for you – remember my oft repeated point that our path has some width to it?  God knows we are imperfect, and DAD sees to it that we are given (and forgiven for the missteps) many chances to fulfill the promises He has given us in this life.  We need to remember every promise given, and every chance to try again, is for us to wind up in that eternal love relationship with God, and DAD is there to be sure we keep having opportunities to find our way.  So, I leave you to chew on this….you have a path.  It was given to you before the beginning of Time, and will be there beyond the end of Time.  I know this because God’s way is perfect.  All the Lord’s promises prove true…  even if I (or you) misinterpret them … but only if we ALLOW God in our lives, and listen to DAD when He speaks.  Love.  Live. Be in relationship right now.

8/3/23 – Faith “Happenings”

Matthew 9:29

…Because of your faith, it will happen.

——–

Maybe you know the ninth chapter of Matthew is filled with miracles of healing by Jesus.  Maybe you know that Matthew was an accurate record keeper and keen observer of people. He captured the smallest details regarding people and their actions. He was a tax collector, and that gave him a unique window into people and their personalities and traits.  Maybe you can see that this meant that Matthew was among the best equipped disciples to author a Gospel, and that his attention to details helped flesh out his telling of the story of Jesus.

 This chapter was undoubtedly not just a chronological recital of a certain point in Jesus’ ministry, but purposefully fleshed out to make a point – that Jesus had the power of God the Father behind Him.  But, I would like to point out that this verse for today cuts to two layers of truth.  The first is that Jesus had the faith in His Father to perform miracles.  Jesus expected the second layer of faith to be that of the ones He helped, or taught.  Both the student and the needy were required to not just mouth the idea of faith, but to exhibit it in their lives before God would enter and miracles or enlightenment take place.

Matthew was using this very explicit statement from Jesus to two blind men that followed Him asking for the miracle of sight.  Jesus directly asked them if they believed He could do what they asked of Him.  Both affirmed their belief.  Now, we cannot know if both blind men truly believed in their hearts, or were just riding the wave of talk about Jesus and His miracle making ability.  You know that we hear things we hope are true, and therefore say are true in ‘hope’ it is so.  

The question I might bring to your attention is, “What is the difference between hope and faith?”  I could get into the definitions of both words, but that is not really where I hope to focus in this instance.  It is very easy to use either word to define the other, so we might spend a lot of time running in circles trying to delineate between the two.  However, I would like to just ask you to think about how YOU separate hope and faith in your own life.

Let me say that for me hope is positive wishing for a certain future outcome.  Faith is what I have that gives me the environment to hope.  Faith is the belief that something is possible in my life.  I can hope all day long for a positive outcome.  But, without faith that it CAN happen, hope has no ‘hope’ of life, now does it?

Did the blind men hope Jesus could heal them?  Did they KNOW He could, which is faith in my book?  Looking to how Jesus spoke to them in this verse, we must assume that Jesus was aware they knew He could do what He said.  They did not hope, they had faith.

Now, let’s not forget that one of the definitions of faith is based on ‘hope of the unknown’.  This means, in my mind, that it is not faith if we KNOW something for sure.  So, the blind men’s ‘knowing’ was not based on personal knowledge of Jesus’ power, but on the ‘faith’ of the reports of others.  In that sense, the blind men did not know of Jesus’ power, but they had faith in the reports of others.  I am not sure I am making my point clear, but what I am trying to say is that faith is not really based in factual knowledge at all.  Faith is trusting in the belief of something.

I think Jesus was acknowledging the blind men’s trust that Jesus could heal them.  They believed in something that they did not know, or have a way to know of.  In this sense, you might say that the blind men believed in the ‘promise’ of healing that they had heard of from others.  Others knew, but the blind men had trust in the others’ reports.  Do you see the difference?

You have heard me speak of a thrice given promise from DAD many times.  I do not know if you believe in that promise, or if you trust my interpretation of that answer to a petition for relationship.  It has been over five years since that petition was answered three times, and nothing has come of it.  In fact, there is now a three year silence in the relationship connection that you surely know by now has been driving me to distraction.  In fact, you might wonder if I have a shred of faith left in that promise.  Well, since I still cling to that promise, even if I do not always act like I believe, I would say that faith remains.  

One of the strengths of true faith is that the thread that connects you to that ‘hoped for’ outcome never snaps.  The trust in the promise does not die.  We all wonder. We all waver at times.  But true faith never dies.  I believe in the thrice given promise.  I simply will not let that faith in DAD and His answer die.  I can’t.  IF DAD did issue that promise, He cannot lie.  Abraham had to wait 15 years for the promise of fatherhood to happen at the age of 90.  I am only in my fifth year, and there is no manual that tells us how long we must wait for the promise to be fulfilled.  We are not given a future view of our path, our thread in The Tapestry of Creation.  We must wait to see that thread in hindsight.

The blind men had faith and immediately were healed.  Abraham allowed faith to waver and his own intervention in answering the promise of God caused reverberations that the world still feels today.  I am not Abraham, nor was I promised a nation as my progeny.  But I was given the exact same sign in answer to my petition three times.  Sadly for me, no timeline was given.  However, I have chosen to be like the blind men, and have the faith that makes ‘it happen.’  So, I wait.  I do not know, but I believe.  That means I am exhibiting faith.  Love requires trust, and trust is the foundation of faith.  I love DAD.  Because of faith, ‘it will happen.’  Jesus says so.

6/17/23 – Love “Pressure”

Psalm 16:5
You, Lord, are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands.
———-
Have you ever been ‘stuck’ wondering what your future is?  If you have followed me in these lectios, you know I am constantly fighting this focus.  I continue to have a very strong feeling that DAD has some task for me to perform.  I have talked to several people about this unshakable urge to “Do something” that won’t quite come into focus, and that leaves me feeling completely unsettled.  I am embarking on another mini-pilgrimage to Cape Breton, NS, in a continuing effort to find that focus and ‘know’ what DAD has planned for me.

Yes, I know that God only gives us the information of His Plan that we absolutely must have, and only at the time we must have it.  Does that change my lost feeling?  No.  But I get it.  I must keep looking, seeking, and when that time comes, hopefully I will be ready and able to see that path.  As I sit here contemplating this journey, I am reminded of the song by Hawk Nelson, “Diamonds”. It absolutely tells the story – the journey, if you will – that I feel I am on, and the ‘pressure’ I feel I am under.  I can only pray this pressure makes a diamond and not powdered coal.

More to the point, maybe this song being brought to memory right now, is more than coincidental.  You might think I spend too much time trying to link moments in my life to God’s connection to me.  It might be true.  But, if I believe that God cares about me as an individual, and I am #1 in relationship with Him (just as you and everyone else that has ever existed is…remember, we are all #1 in relationship with this awesome God), then how can I not think DAD is constantly connecting with me?  Further, wouldn’t I be eschewing my relationship with God if I pooh-poohed the idea He touches my life whenever He wants it to be better than it is?

I think “Diamonds” captures the essence of my search in that finding this meaning of life for me IS treasure for sure.   The thing I would point out to you (and again to me…) is that a treasure hunt is often grueling and, at times, unpleasant.  Most of us have heard the platitude that nothing good comes easy.  It is a platitude for a reason – it describes a truth.  I know that finding my reason to be here in the temporal realm has been anything but pleasant at times.  I know that I am drawn to it just as a pirate is to treasure.  And I will witness to you that it is just as hard on me at times as life was for that peg-legged, one-eyed pirate of story.

Since I believe Creation is here solely as a place for each of us to find our connection with God, and to give us the freedom to either accept or reject God, I have to believe this verse tells it correctly – God is all I have.  He made where I am, why I am, what I am, and who I am.  That is definitely ‘everything’, don’t you think?  It is all I need; it is all I have.  And ‘it’ is God.  So, yes, ‘you, Lord, are all that I have.’

Now, the hard part is being satisfied with what I have right now.  This is my dilemma.  I know something is ‘out there’ for me to accomplish.  I know that that oft mentioned “Ten Seconds” that God has for me in The Tapestry of Creation is set in God’s Plan.  I know you know I fear (yes, I fear this…) I will miss my ‘cue’ and not fulfill my destiny in the temporal realm.  I know this is irrational if I believe DAD has this.  I know I might accomplish that task and never know it!  This is where I have fear – or maybe it is that dreaded need to be in control?  I want to know I ‘did it’…or am doing it… or will see it when it is time to do it.

Will I become a diamond for DAD, or just dust in the history of Creation?  I must say this is where faith should guide our lives.  I would like to be the rock expected on this issue, but I would be lying if I didn’t confide in you that I am human, and I question my ability to be such a rock, and get this right.  But, I will end by suggesting that the love that created us will also guide us – if we will but let it.  God is love, and I call upon my ‘ticket’ for the journey – Christ’s love sacrifice that ties me to this wonderful relationship with God Almighty.  Let’s live in love, and be in relationship. That is the ‘pressure’ that makes us diamonds.

6/9/23 – Blindly Existing?

Isaiah 42:16

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

——–

This verse is a part of a topic on being a servant for God.  It talks about what we are supposed to be doing as a child of God and a follower of Jesus.  Of course, in Isaiah’s time, Jesus was a future aspect of our connection with God.  However, Isaiah is one of the strongest prophetic voices for the future appearance of Jesus in The Tapestry of Creation.

Do you ever wonder what it is that DAD wants of you?  Do you care that you have a path that has been woven into The Tapestry of Creation?  I do not ask these questions lightly, but rather want you to look inward and question your reason for existing.  We get caught up in just existing.  All too often, we get caught up in increasing our portion or our pleasure in the temporal realm we find ourselves in right now. We think all life revolves around us – we are the center of Creation.  

I suggest that if we were to look at ourselves as we look at everything else in Creation – from the ‘outside’ – we would have to ask not just how we got here, but what purpose we have in being here.  I can’t speak for you, but I know that I often look at life from the position of how it should serve me.  I have an innate feeling that Creation is here to satisfy me.  Do you know that God thinks that way also?  Does it surprise you that Creation is here just for you in God’s plan?  Well, I believe it is just that way, actually.

God is so focused on each of us as a potential relationship partner that there can be no other reason for Creation to exist except to set the stage for us to be in relationship with God, to be a child of God, to know God as DAD.  So, how does this verse today relate to what I am suggesting?  The first obvious connection is that we are ‘blind’ to God’s purpose for us in this Tapestry.  We might feel like we have a ‘reason for being’ – I certainly do.  I also know how conceited that sounds, but I believe it with all my heart.  I see The Tapestry of Creation as a weaving of each person’s path – their threat in the weaving – as necessary for the fulfilling of that picture.  That means I am important in the reason for Creation to exist.  It means I have been given a purpose in God’s mind for what He intends to accomplish.

The reason we are ‘blind’ to this purpose is that we have been given free will.  We get to choose our path.  We get to reject God’s path for us in His holy weaving of Creation.  Yes, we are given that power by the One who has all power.  To ‘know’ that path would mean we have no choice in our path.  Why? Because to ‘know’ the purpose is to know who God is and how all-powerful He really is in our existence.  But, in His mercy, God has given us the latitude of free will.  That notwithstanding, DAD will lead us on the path He has for us IF we will let Him.  This goes to being self-aware enough to ask the questions of why we exist, and what our purpose is.  If we ask these questions, and truly want answers, we would have to come to a conclusion that there is a Master Weaver in this Tapestry of Creation, and we are definitely NOT that weaver.  DAD will lead the blind if the blind realize they are blind.

In this verse, we find God giving us notice that He will lead us in light – should we desire to walk in that light.  Again, we have the free will to be led, to be taken into the light of understanding of our reason for being.  We are also given the choice to remain blind!  This is the free will aspect of God’s plan.  He wants what is best for us, and has planned for that.  BUT, God being DAD, our Father wants us to come to Him and fulfill His purpose for us because WE want to.  This is grace beyond understanding.  It is love in action.

God will level the uneven path we have been walking on our own.  He will give us light in which to walk a path clearly illuminated – IF we will just ask.  No, I take that back…we have to do more than ask.  We must seek.  We must search.  It is our portion to seek earnestly the God that is DAD to us.  This is the practical outcome of free will.  We must be active participants in this forging of a relationship.  God is full of mercy, but He requires us to participate in the process. God wants us to work toward the connection that is love in relationship.  This shows commitment of connection.  We should know that relationship can’t work without open effort from both sides in the relationship.  Love desires love, and connection must be a two-way street.

However, we should take solace in the last part of this verse from Isaiah…He will not forsake us.  No matter how hard it is for us to accept the path, to work toward the connection, or the number of times we detour or outright reject this path, DAD will stand with us if we will just return to the relationship.  God knows we are imperfect, and DAD takes that into account.  DAD is ready to provide light unto our perfect path.  The blind must want to see.  They must seek sight.  This is the hard part for a lot of us.  We either don’t really want that light – wanting our own path even if it keeps us in the dark, or we don’t realize we are blind to begin with.  

Notice how this verse starts….”I will lead the blind…”  This means we can be blind without knowing it and DAD will begin the process of leading us even so.  God nudges, DAD will not forsake us.  This means the only way we can wind up outside relationship with God is if we reject the offer.  God will lead us while blind – that means He initiates the connection that begins the relationship. He always has, and always will.  God’s whole purpose is to bring EACH ONE of us into relationship with Him.  All of Creation is here for just that reason.  You have a real purpose for being (just as I do…), and it is to be in relationship with God!  How we get into that relationship, and what our duty in that relationship is is unique to you and to me.  Each thread in The Tapestry of Creation is different, just as any other weaving.  You have a purpose. Don’t remain blind to it.  Allow DAD to bring you into the light of purpose.  Exist in love.

5/14/23 – Just “the God you are…”

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

———–

Today’s special verse is inspired by the song, “God You Are” by We Are Messengers

Just the kind of God you are.  These are words that give us the true understanding of DAD, the “Abba” side of God.  One of the things we must realize about God is that His Plan, The Tapestry of Creation, is about the only thing that matters – love.  I have spoken about love being the only true law of God.  It is, in my estimation, the power of all Creation, and the essence of God Himself.

The verse I’ve picked is about this ‘one-sided’ aspect of God.  Yes, I know that I have often stated that love is a circular power that calls upon itself to manifest itself – meaning that love desires love.  I believe this to be true.  I think that is why God pursues us, His creations, in the manner that He does.  Surely, you know that, as Creator, God could have simply formed us to ‘love’ Him, to care for Him and crave the connection with Him.  But, that would not be true love.  It would be compelled rote response.

If I have learned anything about God as “DAD”, it is that He cares more about love than anything.  Further, love cannot be compelled.  It cannot be forced, and it cannot be demanded.  Love is freely given.  It is only true love when given without reserve.  Christianity is based on this sole fact – love given without reserve.  God gave His Son without reserve – even unto Jesus’ temporal death for us in love.  Jesus accepted that destiny in love without reserve.  You know I have always said that Jesus had the right of refusal to die for us in our stead.  I believe that only love without reserve has the power to overcome our sin and bring us back home to DAD.

Creation was made perfect by God, but it was corrupted with purpose to give us choice by DAD.  Free will is what allows us the option to love God because WE want to, not because we are ‘made’ to or because we are made for that love.  It is true we were created in concept to love God.  But, the only way that can work as real love is if we love because we want to love.  Thus, Creation was corrupted by free will so that we can choose.  I dare you to find a truer reason for the imperfect world we live in than the idea that we have free will.  It is our free will that causes the pain and suffering we endure.  You might want to object and bring as proof the natural disasters or random chance of pain and death from a fallen tree.  But, you would be missing the point that our free will is what corrupted a pure and perfect Creation – that which is envisioned by the concept of the Garden of Eden, and plunged us into the world we find ourselves in.  Yes, even “Mother Nature” has become corrupted by the necessity of free will if my thinking is correct.

It is this everlasting love of God mentioned in today’s verse that conceived the environment in which we can have the ‘space’ to decide to love.  It is the unfailing kindness of DAD that nurtures us and supports us once we care to notice Him and seek Him.  It is our free association that ‘hides’ God from us.  We are the ones who blind us to God, not God who blinds us to Him.  It is that free will, that ability to choose, that throws up blinders or blindfolds to God, and the connection of love that makes God DAD for us.

You suggest that a God that allows such a chaotic environment of chance, pain, and suffering could never be loving or kind?  I suggest that you fail to understand the love that would allow us choice as the created.  An omnipotent and omniscient deity chooses to give His created choice.  It is the ultimate act of love, in my opinion.  God could be the puppetmaster pulling the strings of our lives to be, and do, just what He wants.  And, in a way, He has done just that – because He wants us to choose!  But, that means God gives up the power to chart our course, to assign our connection to Him.  

There is no greater love than that of free will choice, freely given.  As temporal beings, we spend our lives seeking power over our lives and our environment.  It is our attempt to be ‘god’ in our lives.  Even as we seek to be ‘god’, we have been given that ultimate power by THE God in the attribute of free will.  Yet, we blindly seek what we already have.  We have the one power that is power – choice.

Do you feel powerful?  Do you feel in control?  Do you know the power you have?  I suggest you and I blind ourselves to that power simply because we do not know what true power is.  True power is love.  And, in that power, God has given and shown love.  He does this because He wants us to love.  To love Him, surely.  But to love as He loves – loving all.  We fail at this, you and I.  We love ourselves (mostly, even as we might suggest we are damaged goods, or unworthy), but we find plenty of reasons to not love others.  I could name hundreds of reasons not to love someone, and that would not come near completing the list we can compile to withhold our love of others. 

If you want to be ‘god’ in your life, might I suggest you become ‘just the kind of God you are’ we hear in the associated song from We Are Messengers?  Might we follow the path that Jesus exampled in His life, mission and death for us?  Maybe we can use the free will given to love as we should.  How hard could that be? 

4/9/23 – WHO is Risen?

1 Peter 1:3

 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

——–

I believe you know that there are many Biblical references to the concept and the foundational belief of Christianity – the resurrection of Jesus as the atonement for our sins, and the true path to that everlasting eternal love relationship with DAD, the abba side of God the Father.  This is one that I think is most relevant today….why?  Because it is one of those verses that I believe DAD has set to have many levels of meaning, and to reach us on many levels of understanding in our own lives.

You might think that I am speaking a conventional truth of Christianity here.  You would forget my propensity to find a tangent truth in a conventional Christian verse!  No, I am not speaking of the resurrection of Jesus on this blessed day.  I am asking you if you have incorporated this theological truth into YOUR own life.  Are you spiritually resurrected this day?  Have you taken the truth of God into WHO you are?

It might seem a simple question to ask if you have incorporated salvation into your present life.  But, I would beg to differ!  We talk a good game all the time.  We force our path to be that of the ‘perfect Christian’ so that all around us believe we believe.  We ‘look’ saved, and we ‘act’ saved.  But, what I am asking you is do you BELIEVE this and LIVE it?  No, not ‘act’ it, but believe what your Christian ‘face’ tells everyone around you?  

Do you actually incorporate Romans 8:34: “Who then is the one who condemns? No one.” into your soul?  Is it true in your existence that you believe NO ONE condemns you?  Or, are you secretly wondering if your ‘damaged goods’ view of your life could ever be ‘resurrected’ into the pure and acceptable YOU that DAD has promised, and that Jesus died for?  

This is the question that I ask you think about on this Easter Day.  It is not that you believe that Christ arose, but that YOU arose in His death?  Do you understand that DAD has wanted you to be loved from the inception of the Holy concept of The Tapestry of Creation?  God wanted you in His life from the beginning, and only YOU can keep you from this eternal love relationship.  This is not some magic change through blood – no matter what your religion has taught you.  It has nothing to do with a ‘substitution’ for your death to sin.  Is this blasphemy?  You probably think so if you maintain the mainstream Christian concept of salvation.  But, I would beg you to think like God the Father in His Holy guise of DAD.

This DAD I speak of all the time is not interested in some sin substitution for you.  No, He is interested in you taking on the persona that He made you to be.  This is about you being the you God made you to be.  I have told you many times that DAD set the perfect path into The Tapestry of Creation for you at the inception of the weaving of this perfect picture of LIFE that DAD, the Master Weaver, has created.  This perfect path is the real you.  But, the secret here is that all you have to do is be the REAL YOU!!

We want to run our own lives.  We know nothing of real life – the spiritual existence we are destined for.  We are temporally incorporated into the world and its ‘truth’ in life because DAD wants us to come to the realization of our true life, the perfect path that DAD has woven into The Tapestry of Creation.  Jesus has brought us from the darkness of the shadow of our real life we are living as temporal beings, and has given us the transformative power to enter the true light of living as God the Father has always meant us to have.

This is the real ‘resurrection’ that we see as we gaze upon that cross on Easter Morning.  It is not that Jesus arose, but that He has shown us the way to arise ourselves.  It is truly about the idea that DAD gave us a path home, and all we have to do is accept that the power of life is DAD’s.  It is not ours.  We cannot earn eternal life.  We can’t simply rely on the concept that Jesus died for us, even if that is the truth our Scriptures tells us.  We must understand that Jesus is showing us the path home.  It is by emulating Christ in dying to sin that we become the REAL ‘us’ that DAD set before us.  

It is this realization that to accept who God made us to be makes us true to God’s desire for our individual and unique ‘you’ and ‘me.’  Do not succumb to the ritual teaching that we are to be a ‘cookie cutter’ part of the ‘perfect Christian.’  DAD did not envision this, and Christ did not die for that silly ‘everyone looks like this’ as a Christian concept!  No, DAD made each of us an individual, and we are unique because He made us the way we are.

Now, that does not mean we can be whoever we want to be.  That is us trying to run our own lives – being our own ‘god’ in our lives.  What I am telling you is that God made you who you are.  On this Easter Day of resurrection, resurrect the image of God within you!  Bring out who you are.  IF it does not match the accepted “Christian” view of a sinless soul that your religion has ingrained in you, remember that religion is the box humankind puts God in so that He can be ‘controlled’ by us.  It is the search through theology, the act of understanding God, that we learn what the true “ME” is in the eyes of DAD.  If it is ‘damaged goods’ from a human standpoint, I’d ask you to search out the connection you have with DAD and consider what this idea of ‘damaged goods’ means in the construction of that unique individual that DAD means you to be.   I ask you sincerely, “Have you arisen” to be the you DAD intends?  Don’t be what others say you should be.  Be who DAD wants you to be, and who Christ arose to make possible.  Honor Christ’s rising by rising yourself!  Take your turn to rise from your self-imposed grave. Jump down from your own cross today…Honor Christ by being the true YOU. You can do this, I know you can.  So, on this Easter Day, I say, “Arise!  Just as He arose, ARISE as the YOU DAD meant you to be!”

2/24/23 – A Random Thought….

Ask the Source

Matthew 27:51

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

———

As you probably know, this is the final hour of the crucifixion, and the time in which Jesus gives up His spirit for us as the love sacrifice that is powerful enough to neutralize sins committed, being committed and that will be committed.  In other words, ALL sin.

There are some remarkable points made in Matthew’s retelling of this time that are not seen in other versions of the Gospel telling of these moments.  In Mark 15:38 and in Luke 23:45, it is only mentioned that the curtain was torn in two, but in Matthew, the ground shook and tombs of the saints were opened up and they came out and appeared to many.  While this addition certainly adds to the dramatic time that Christ gave up His spirit, the fact that all three of these Gospels find it significant to report the Curtain between the Holy of Holies (the part of the Temple that God was said to actually be present in, and so sacred that only the High Priest could come before the presence of God only once a year on the great Day of Atonement. He could only enter if he carried with him blood from the bronze altar to present as an offering to God.) and the Holy Place, the section of the Tabernacle where only priests could go, and only after proper preparation and sacrifice.  

It is important to note that humanity had taken an original issue of wanting to be separated from God because of the glory of Moses’ face shining from communion with an all powerful God by asking him to wear a veil to shield them from the glory of that God, and embellished that into a three curtain process to separate God from the people.  The first curtain separated the people from the outer court of the tabernacle. They could only enter when they brought a sacrifice as an offering for God upon the bronze altar.  The second curtain guarded the door to the Holy Place. This veil separated the people in the outer court of the tabernacle from the Holy Place.  And the final curtain separated the Holy Place from the Ark of the Covenant placement in the Holy of Holies.  

As you can see, God never indicated that He intended to separate Himself from the people in general, although He did not speak to individuals in general.  Humanity did what they always did – they took control of God and set the rules for interaction themselves.  

Originally, it might have been reasonable because the people were afraid of the presence of God.  However, if you understand anything of the power of God, you know we can’t separate ourselves from God.  God has separated Himself from us specifically so that we can have and exercise free will, but we are not in charge of that process, He is.  Any attempt of humanity to control interaction with God is illusionary and to be found only in the minds of humanity.  So, we have the Jews tripling up on this separation issue with three veils between them and God.

The importance of the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was that God was not to be contained and it represented the truth that God would not be contained by humankind.  I have repeatedly said it opened the symbolic door that God was now available to each of us.  I believe this to be true, and the other two curtains were not important in this symbolic gesture because originally there was only the one veil over Moses’ face – so only the veil closest to God’s presence had true historic meaning or consequence.  Of course, this is my interpretation, not a theological fact found in Scripture.  

What I want to point out is that we constantly erect barriers between ourselves and God that have nothing to do with God’s rules or commandments.  Yes, there is this issue of sin, and it separates us from God by its very definition.  However, God is constantly providing means to get around this separation – and they are all basically gifts of mercy and grace.  Our problem seems to be that WE want this separation for whatever reason – fear, wanting to control our own lives, or because distance breeds a sense of unimporatance.  Whatever the reason, it boils down to the fact we do not want God in our lives!  

I am sure you want to dispute that notion, maybe even violently.  I wish I was wrong in my analysis, but from the moment Moses returned from the presence of that All Powerful God, we were afraid.  We wanted separation.  You and I do too.  One clear way to prove it is to ask if you want to go to Heaven, and then immediately ask you if NOW is fine.  You will say no, even if you provide the contingent that you are ready, but you have things to do yet.  

We are all hesitant to enter the presence of God. It might be that we don’t think we are worthy.  We might think if we do then God is in control of us.  Well, He is anyway – we just don’t know this just yet in our temporal form.  Don’t forget – God provided this temporal form, and the environment in which we operate.  We didn’t get to decide that, or even to be born.  God is in control.

But, even in our attempt to control access to God, we are shown we do not get that option.  God tells us that salvation, and its possibility, gives us personal access to Him.  We get that for a reason.  The reason is to ask the source what is necessary to attain membership in the family of God.  To find out how to be fearless in our membership, and in His presence.  I would suggest you take advantage of this gift.  You WILL be accountable to Him when you enter judgment.  Remember, I believe that judgment is YOU saying no, not God excluding you.  The curtain is torn, take advantage of this personal connection and access.  Ask the source.

2/14/23 – Willing Will

>>> A point of privilege. I began these lectio writings when a friend told me I had become his ‘pastor’. To me, he was better grounded as a Christian than I was, and that made me wonder how he could make such a statement. It made me want to be better in my own faith, and when he introduced me to Lectio Divina as a means to increase my understanding of Scripture and ultimately, theology – the study of God, I started using a hybrid form of the process in a daily writing which I shared with him for comments. He seldom made a comment, but he often reiterated his feeling that I was ministering to him. So, the writing continued for over four and a half years to today – 1722 straight days without a miss.

However, I am feeling the call to step back, at least for a while, to determine what my next endeavor will be. As you have also become a part of my life and attempt to better understand my call by DAD (the Abba side of God the Father), I would love to hear if you have an idea of what I might next take up to continue the journey. Feel free to leave a comment to this blog post if you feel led to make a suggestion. I will take those suggestions into account as I look to my next writing project. I will periodically post here, but it won’t be daily…at least for a while.

Thank you for reading along with my friend, and I pray you found something to fuel your own journey to better understand who you are, who God is, and how those two things best fit together! My prayer is that we all find our perfect path and eternal bliss in that forever love relationship with DAD.

Stay tuned!
Dr. Hideplank <<<

Now, back to today’s lectio……

John 6:38

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

——–

You know this is a quote from Jesus, but did you know it was spoken during the feeding of the 5,000 as Jesus explained what His mission really is?  One thing that I have found from all these writings is that Jesus never made it hard for anyone that would listen to know not only who He was, but what He was doing, and who He represented.  Sadly, this only speaks to humanity’s desire to only hear what they want to hear that so many never understood. 

It is in Jesus’ talk about the bread of heaven, and the manna that sustained the Hebrews during the time in the wilderness that He takes the idea of the food of life coming from God regardless of how it gets into one’s hands and transitions to the point that He is the bread of life from the Father.  This is the clearest statement of the fact that Jesus is well aware that He is the fuel that gets us from the temporal life to the spiritual life you will find anywhere in Scripture. 

Jesus was never confused as to what He was here to do, and He tried over and over to tell all the people who He was, what His mission was, and WHO’s Plan He was carrying out.  You may notice that He simply notes that He left heaven to fulfill a plan that was not of His making.  I see this statement as a confirmation that Jesus had the option to accept the task or not.  I have told you before that I believe the sacrifice of His life without it being HIS voluntary gift in love could never absolve us of our sins.  It is the power of unreserved love that has such power as to cause God to not ‘see’ our sins.  I firmly believe all Scripture points to the truth that only love can hold the power of life, and that is why unreserved love can cleanse us in that sacrifice – an unreserved giving in love.

That Jesus would agree to leave heaven and live among us ‘as’ us is another showing of love without reserve.  It is in this verse that Jesus confirms His true home, and the origin of that journey of sacrifice was not of a temporal nature.  This was an endeavor that came from God the Father, the Master Weaver of The Tapestry of Creation – that ‘big picture’ woven with threads that are actually the paths in life of each and every human to have ever existed or will exist until the end.  

We find that Jesus wants us to be clear on the originator of our salvation.  In point of fact, Jesus cannot save us for that eternal love relationship with DAD if God the Father did not have it as a part of His Plan, if it was not the Father’s Will.  While this verse in no way indicates Jesus has no will of His own, it does clearly indicate that Jesus is subordinating Himself to God the Father in taking on the task of salvation.  This salvation is a gift of God the Father, but is facilitated voluntarily by Jesus the Son.

This is not a situation where a ‘boss’ dictates a course of action and requires a specific effort from a subordinate.  I think this is one of the most compelling reasons to see the clear separation of God the Father as an entity from the Son as an entity in His own right.  This shows that there is a compounding of love in such an endeavor.  The one who gives up a Son to pain and tribulation is showing love without reserve.  And a Son who voluntarily accepts the Will of the One who grants such salvation through the endeavor is showing dual love – that to the Father by complying with the request, and to those for whom He will take on the task of salvation.  This is an exponential compounding of the power found in love.  The fact that love is the power of all Creation, which makes it the most powerful thing in existence, is only reinforced by the concept that it is compounded in such a way in this dual act of love for you and me.

Jesus is making it crystal clear that The Father sent Him, but I believe that is a ‘sending’ that was consensual on Jesus’ part.  Now, if Jesus had been with God since ‘the beginning’, it would seem that their values, goals and intents would be in sync, don’t you think?  Of course, as beings that were existing outside of Time, what does ‘the beginning’ actually mean?  Whatever the idea of always together might mean in the spiritual realm where Time does not exist, Jesus is saying that He submits to the Will of the Father.  That Jesus calls God ‘the Father’ indicates that Jesus sees God the Father as His progenitor, although without time, ‘ancestor or the one before’ has no real meaning there.  But, it does indicate clearly the concept that the Son is created by the Father.  

The one who sent Me…. This also shows us that God wants us in this love relationship from the ‘start.’  It was the Plan all along.  You (and I) should feel the privilege and love in such a desire.  We need to get past the idea that a God of love would want to exclude us from the very relationship He desires us in.  It is not logical in a temporal mind, and I believe it is unthinkable in a spiritual mind.  This means God wants us in this eternal love relationship.  Yes, there are requirements to be in it.  Why?  There are responsibilities with love.  The structure of love is such that certain thoughts, actions, and values are simply not compatible.  It is these incompatible things that we call sin, and it is these things that keep us from relationship with God, or truly with anyone at all. Jesus obviously believed in this Plan so strongly that He would voluntarily accept the Will of Him who sent Me.

If Jesus is willing to sacrifice in such a manner for you, is it too much to expect you to accept this gift of love and life?  It can’t be earned, it can’ be bought.  But, it can be ACCEPTED without cost…so long as you agree to the parameters of love to begin with.  Can you accept love?  Can you live in relationship?  Are you learning love here in the temporal realm?  Are you practicing relationship here as well?  If not, why not?  Do you understand what your path here is all about?  Let me make it clear – your perfect path is to learn love and practice relationship so that you are ready and able to accept the gift of love and entry into that eternal love relationship with DAD. Amen.

2/13/23 – Words Matter

Deuteronomy 32:1

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

——–

It is believed that Moses wrote Deuteronomy, so we have Moses talking about teaching the people about God.  This makes plenty of sense when you realize that Moses probably only wrote the entirety of His works near the end of His life, as he realized he needed to leave instructions for others to follow.  

You might think Moses egocentric in this thinking, but I think it was more from an understanding that he had more interaction with God than any other human up until his time.  Maybe Moses felt that God would not speak to anyone else as in depth or in length as He did to him.  That is probably a correct point of view, as no one else other than Abraham seemed to have a lifetime of interaction with God as their mentor and teacher through Moses’ time.  Now we know that God later spent a similar amount of time with Samuel, David and Solomon to name a few more. But, Moses surely was in a very small population of those who were graced by frequent contact with God throughout their lives.

Moses is asking heaven to hear his words, not because he intended to teach them things heaven did not know, but I think so that heaven would know that he was fulfilling a duty.  The fact he is asking heaven to hear him and allow the earth to hear the words of his mouth seem to indicate he was asking heaven’s blessing on his mentorship role with the people.  It is even possible that he was aware that the entire world would come to know his words over time. If there is one thing Moses seems to understand it is that his words matter.

What is it that Moses most wants to speak about?  I am sure it does not surprise you that Moses wants to explain God and His majesty to anyone that will listen.  He speaks of who God is, what God does, and where God fits in.  It would be silly to say that Moses didn’t have a very deep awe and respect for God.  We often give little thought to just how Moses and the other central Scriptural characters that had such a close relationship with God actually felt about God.  Oh, yes, we hear of all this praise and worship of God.  But that doesn’t actually speak to the personal relationship these humans  had with God.  I am not sure we can ever know their real personal feelings for God but I tend to believe they also felt of God as DAD, just as I do – and you should.

Don’t think for a moment that I put myself in the same class as Moses with God, but I must say that over the last four and a half years of writing these lectios, I have often felt the weight of messenger/herald/teacher in God’s service.  The importance of ‘putting to paper’ (even if only in electronic form) the thoughts and understanding I seem to be given to share has kept me focused on doing my best to not color the thoughts I feel come from DAD, writing them just as I think I heard them.  Might they still be ‘colored’ by my own bias, culture, and experiences?  You bet they are.  I have no choice but to admit it.  Sometimes I have come into a daily writing with not just an intent, but a message waiting for the verse.  But, most often, even if after reading the random verse I have an idea of what I want to write, I launch into the task writing freehand and as the thoughts pop into my head, they appear here. The truly exciting thing is when that is happening and suddenly a turn in direction will simply find its way to the page, or I will read back the sentence and find I don’t remember thinking of it beforehand.  It is at these times that I believe DAD is expressing a thought through me because it doesn’t seem like mine at all.  

Did Moses ever feel this way writing the many parts of the Torah, or in beginning the Mosaic Law?  I bet he did.  I also am just as sure that his personal biases and experiences are woven into everything he wrote.  They have to be – unless God makes us puppets He manipulates by writing directly through us.  Understand I do not believe God does it that way.  Even my explanation of how some things seem to be not my thoughts do not translate into my becoming a puppet with God using my hand to communicate.  Remember, I reread those thoughts.  I could delete them, or even denounce them.  But, my free will choice is to keep them and learn from them myself.  I hope that was more often the way with Moses also.

Maybe it is possible that the asking heaven to give ear to his words is asking for clarity and validation of what he is saying.  Maybe he is asking for some editorial oversight.  Maybe he was asking for his overtly biased opinions to be censored out.  We will never know, but I pray Moses understood himself as human well enough for it to be all three possibilities.  I do not believe that was always the case, as he was human.  I know I occasionally forged ahead with a specific moral or instructional intent regardless of any other viable writing on the verse in question.  So, I claim to be human also.

What I know for sure is that as I wind down the daily posting of these lectios that started because a friend suggested I had become his pastor (and I am NOT a minister by degree for sure!), I have prayed frequently that I never mangle DAD’s message or the interpretation of God’s Plan so badly as to lead anyone astray.  My fervent prayer has always been to give food for thought, and insight to allow one to push the boundaries of their beliefs (whatever they are), and take the effort to expand their horizons as they journey along their path (that unique individual thread in The Tapestry of Creation that we are each gifted with and have the opportunity to follow or not).  I pray you find DAD as your destiny, and that some of these thoughts here helped pave your path home.  Never forget – we are here to learn love, practice relationship and ready ourselves for that eternal love relationship with DAD.

2/13/23 a – NOTICE

I have decided to take a break from daily posts to determine what would be my most productive form of theological mentoring. 2/14/23 will be the last daily post in the current format.

Should you have an idea, or know something that would benefit you, I’d love to hear it. Just post a comment to this blog post, and I’ll review any that are sent.

I will definitely be taking the month of March off for some family time, but will consider my next project during that time, and after reviewing any suggestions in the comment section here.

I hope that DAD continues to walk by your side, Jesus lights your path home, and God is your destiny.

Dr. Hideplank

2/12/23 – Pleasing Approval

Galatians 1:10

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

——–

I think you have heard that Paul was very worried about the church in Galatia, as they were turning from the gospel as it had been brought to them.  The members of the Judaizing faction taught that Christian converts were obliged to observe circumcision and other prescriptions of the Mosaic Law.  In other words, a convert must become a Jew in order to be saved through Christ.  Now we know that Paul was diametrically opposed to that viewpoint, and was the preeminent preacher of total inclusion of all humanity, every race and nation, into the family of God.

You know that Paul understood that salvation extended outside Judaism specifically in that it transcended Mosaic Law altogether.  Let’s not knock the Judaizing faction too badly, as old habits/tenets/rules are hard to discard or amend. Remember, there were literally thousands of years of following Moses’ Law in the blood of Jews.  It defined them, and it is hard to go from being kept apart to being inclusive.  In many ways, that is no different today than it was in Paul’s time.  There are so many denominations of Christianity that truly believe only their interpretation garners you salvation.  Sadly, that directly contradicts Jesus’ teachings as well as Paul’s. Salvation is due ANYONE that calls upon the name of Jesus (Romans 10:13).  This is about receiving a GIFT, not earning a place through your own actions.  

All too often we are ‘born’ into a Christian life through a denomination of one religion or another.  If you were raised Anglican, you see church and its rules in one way.  If you were born a Catholic, you see God, the Church, and the rules of religion in a specific way.  If you were raised a Methodist, Presbyterian or Baptist, then you see religion and church in a specific way.  Sadly, in most instances, you are trained that ONLY your denomination or Church knows the way to salvation, and you can gain it only through your Church’s specific understanding, rules and tenets. This is so prevalent that there are dozens of jokes about whole sections of heaven cordoned off for a specific religion or denomination because they think they are the only ones up there, and God doesn’t want to upset them by finding out otherwise.

The bad news (or good news, depending on how you feel about it) is that we are ALL going to find out just how off base we were to believe in a specific slant, translation, or interpretation of Scripture was right or wrong.  Yes, there are basic truths in Scripture for sure.  But, never forget that the crucifixion opened up direct connection between you (and me) and God when the curtain between the General sanctuary and the Holy of Holies was torn in two.  We have the ability to ask God directly what He is saying, and what Scripture meant and means.  While I admit to being a life-long Methodist, that does not preclude the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: (1) Scripture, (2) tradition, (3) reason, and (4) experience as a good and valid means of measuring the truth of belief, tenet or church dogma.  John Wesley suggested that you should test by reading Scripture, studying tradition, using your reasoning skills, and comparing against your own experiences as you attempted to validate something as theologically correct or right.   

The last thing we should do is blindly accept ANY human translation, interpretation or rule as theologically correct, or righteous.  Even if there was no such thing as manipulation or control for control’s sake, humanity makes mistakes or is blinded by its own societal or cultural norms from the true meaning of what God says, or is purported to say.  In short, we should not be attempting to placate humanity in lieu of pleasing God. 

It is fine to use the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, or some other exacting means of measuring a truth or endeavor to please God or follow Christ.  But, never forget Christ opened a much more direct way to test if something is placating humanity or pleasing God – ask Him directly.  Now, be assured that because God will not violate free will, the answer very likely will be vague or quietly given.  It is for YOU to work out because God wants YOU to understand it.  This is about a direct relationship with DAD, and the only way to know if you are appeasing humanity or pleasing God is to work it out in connection.  Pleasing God means working in love.  It really is that simple.  

The problem comes when we misunderstand who we are trying to please, just as Paul is asking here.  Maybe you are hiding that object of your attempt to please from yourself.   Maybe you think if you please your fellow church member or pastor, you are pleasing God.  Maybe you are.  But, maybe you are appeasing humankind at the expense of displeasing God. 

We place a lot of faith in other humans for our answers about God.  I know I have as well.  I have often started one of these lectios with a direction or thought process in mind once I read the Scripture. But, very often, I find I am traveling in another direction altogether because DAD draws me to a different truth than the one I thought I knew as right. I think He will do the same for you if you will just ask Him, and then learn to listen.  I am asking you to seek truth from the source of truth – God.  DAD is there to help guide you home.  Don’t mistake the brakeman for the conductor on your ride homeward.

2/11/23 – Infinite Resource

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

——-

I was surprised to find I have never written on this verse, as it is the epitome of what Jesus came to point us toward.  In other words, this is the reason Jesus came – to fine tune God’s Will and Word in the world.  This section of John 13 is about the events during the Last Supper, starting with the washing of the disciples’ feet and the discussion of what is about to happen.  

A lot of what Jesus was saying and doing at this meal He knew (and even told them outright) they would not grasp and had no idea about the true intent.  It wasn’t because Jesus was being vague here. It was because the Jews (disciples included) had a much different scenario for the Messiah, which the disciples clearly thought He was.  Historically, Jews believed the Messiah was coming to liberate them from their temporal oppressors.  I am fairly sure that it was a temporally based bias that took what God must have meant – salvation would come through them – and put their cultural and societal bias, or ‘coloring’, on it to make it fit the Chosen People narrative that they had also taken in the wrong way.  We know God did choose them, but not as ‘teacher’s pet’, but as Master’s workhorse.

So, we find Jesus laying out was about to happen, and giving the disciples some last minute instructions for the future without Him.  It is apparent from the clear blunt statements Jesus made (John 13:7) that Jesus knew the disciples did not know ‘in the moment’ what He was talking about.  It seems that while they were confused on the turn of tone and direction of speaking, they did not grasp the cataclysmic impact of what was about to happen.  Jesus was about to fully fulfill the role of Messiah as God the Father had ordained, and that was miles apart from what the Jews were expecting of their knight on a white horse, sword in hand.

This was clearly Jesus providing a ‘cram session’ just before the life exam the disciples were about to undertake.  It is also just as important to note that while the disciples didn’t get His true meaning, even after His crucifixion, they would come to understand it and eventually act upon it.  In some ways, this is free will in action working within the Will of God.  It clearly shows that DAD knew what would happen here, and the disciples’ immediate reactions would not keep His Plan from culminating as He willed it.  

Nothing worries me more than humanity’s propensity to classify all incoming information under a ‘flag’ of humanity first.  We may not have the experience or knowledge to fully understand spiritual talk, but we could do a better job of recognizing our built-in biases for interpretation.  I have told you that I believe God has the intellectual capacity to have woven The Tapestry of Creation with every permutation of every free will decision of every person born or to be born taken into consideration.  In some ways, in our temporal minds, that would mean The Tapestry is dynamic.  But, since God and the weaving were and are ‘out of Time’, it isn’t dynamic so much as totally accounted for.

This brings us to the issue of today’s verse, which is Jesus closing the teaching session with the really important takeaway.  You can’t, after four and a half years of these lectios, not know what I believe this most important takeaway of Jesus’ mission is.  It is to reveal the truth about who God is to humanity in a way that we can understand.  Now, do not get me wrong here.  We ‘can’ understand it.  The Jews could have understood what Chosen meant.  The disciples could have come to understand what the truth about the Messiah was as they walked, ate and slept in His presence. But, we want what we want, and that ‘colors’ our understanding of what we hear, or refuse to hear.  It is amazing to me that God allows us free will and to stumble into understanding. Yet, free will requires that stumbling for free will to be real.

Jesus finishes His instruction here with the meat of the reason for Creation to begin with – love.   Not only did He tell that in words, but He exemplified it in His life and values.  This could not be mistaken – yet, at times it was.  Remember the disciples attempting to shoo children away as unimportant (Mark 10:13-14)?  Even those who worked with Jesus day in and day out often overlooked the universality of Jesus’ love for people.  Jesus ate with tax collectors, forgave prostitutes, paid attention to women, and took pity on lepers and the possessed.  There were people ostracized from society by society or stuck in limited roles, but Jesus was not about to limit something that was limitless (infinite) – love.   

You have to look no further than Jesus’ daily routine to see love dished out whenever, and wherever, Jesus was or went.  We tend to use love as a ‘leverage device’ to enhance our own possibilities.  We see it as finite and valuable by it’s being withheld or given.  Jesus teaches a very different process – infinite giving of an infinite resource WITHOUT expectation of reward or personal enhancement by doing so.  In fact, what Jesus teaches is that love is the one thing we should never withhold – not even from our enemies.

You will notice Jesus is not ‘suggesting’ we love one another.  He is not providing the parameters by which we apply love.  He is commanding it be done.  It is a ‘new’ commandment, yet it is not.  It is what caused Creation, fuels it throughout, and will last beyond Creation.  Love is the ultimate eternal power.  It is so closely associated with God as to be defined as what God IS.  And, as you can see from today’s verse, it is THE commandment that Jesus leaves the disciples with to take forward in their messaging.  Jesus has held the true message from God as His ‘meat of the mission’, and is leaving it as the true reflection of the God He came to define for us.  And, He makes God’s ONLY Law, His One Commandment, the final real instruction for us to take and make real in our lives and the lives of all we interact with.  Funny this…. Jesus’ last commandment is just what I’ve been preaching to you these many years – it’s all about love and relationship, the only way to reach that eternal love relationship with DAD is to practice it here.

2/10/23 – Loving Greatness

Luke 9:48 

and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

——–

Maybe you realize this quote from Jesus was in response to Jesus overhearing the disciples arguing who among them was the greatest.  It was a discussion by the disciples shortly after Jesus had twice foretold His death.  In other words, the disciples seemed to be cognitively blind to arguably the greatest event in human history and only understood the importance of Jesus in a temporal manner.  That led to the inevitable human desire for status and recognition, and a squabble over which of the twelve would be first among them.

Jesus talks about many things just prior to this exchange, and it isn’t all that long after the feeding of the 5,000.  So, they are in the deepest part of the mission of Jesus, and it is at the height of interest.  This definitely fuels the stature of not just Jesus, but those who are closest to Him.  It wouldn’t be wrong to see the query on who is greatest among them (the disciples) was actually a jostling among them to find out who the group was closest to Jesus.  Which of them was the most beloved disciple may have actually been the real question.  

However, the response that Jesus gave them and His intimate knowledge of each of the disciples, seem to point to the issue of status rather than who was closest in Jesus’ mind to Him. The disciples were not, apparently, above the need to find fame and status from the proximity of the truly famous.  Jesus was definitely well known by this time, even if some of the notoriety was negative, and that easily stoked the fire of fame.  We know this is not a new reaction of humanity to the magnetic pull of notoriety and fame.  Those who have fame draw to them others who would ride their coattails to fame themselves…even if in a diminished capacity in regard to the truly famous one.  We crave recognition – it is a human trait, this desire to be known by many.  Did you know that it is a subset of the desire to be loved?  It is a way to gain the facade of relationship in a wide, if not intimate, way.

I think you know I believe the basis for all of Creation is love.  You also know that I believe relationship is the ‘vehicle’ that transfers love from one to another.  Love is the foundation of all things, and definitely all sentient interaction.  You could argue against this with the invocation of evil and Satan.  But, evil is fueled by self love, and Satan is actually anti-love, not the absence of love.  So, you can see that love is still the base for all things. Which brings us back to the underlying motivation that fed into the discussion on who among them was the greatest.

Well, Jesus was having none of it.  He did what He had often done when dealing with the childish actions of adults – He invoked the image of a child.  You might think that, at least eventually, the disciples might pick up on the subtle hit they were being childish themselves.  I don’t think they ever did. 

You may notice that Jesus is once again showing the hierarchy between the Son and the Father, saying that accepting the Son accepts God the Father also.  You might think that this is yet another place in Scripture where Jesus is saying He is God.  It is definitely an effort in semantics, but at least in this translation it smacks heavily in the ‘progression’ format – one leads to another.  Whether you want to take up that discussion or not, the point is that Jesus leads to God.  And, in the context of the quote, it is a tying of action and motivation to family and relationship.

What Jesus is really trying to get across here is the different definitions of greatness between a temporal environment and a spiritual environment.  In our temporal minds, greatness is all about the awe inspired among the population.  It might be said it was about power, but power is useless in vacuum….what would you use it for?  Power is simply to enhance your position in relationship, if you think about it.  It might be said that greatness is about fame, as we even have an acronym word for famous sports figures – GOAT, Greatest Of All Time.  That ‘name’ has now spilled over into other endeavors, but what it says is that Greatness is about fame.  So, what we know about temporal greatness is about the conceited need of recognition.

However, in the spiritual realm, greatness means something altogether different, and it is exemplified in Scripture (Matthew 20:16), turning fame and power as the meaning of greatness on its head – saying the first will be last, and the last will be first.  Then Jesus goes on to say the exact same thing.  What He  is saying is that greatness is found in servanthood and caring for others.  This is easily seen when you understand that greatness in the spiritual realm is measured by the very thing that powers everything – love.

So, what Jesus is saying to the disciples, and to all of us, is that the only true measure of greatness is in how you care about others.  More specifically, it is about doing for others – it is about giving.  Jesus shows us the greatest version of giving … giving without reserve in His crucifixion sacrifice for each of us, done in love for love.  So Jesus is using the temporal concept of great and transforming into the spiritual concept in one sentence.  We need to understand that the only way to be great is to be the greatest servant to others.  It is something we can’t always wrap our head around in the temporal realm, and it is vital that we do.  Our lives depend on this – not being great, but being loving without reserve.  It’s great to be great, but holy to be loving.

2/9/23 – Arrogance Envy

Psalm 73:3

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

——–

This psalm is a song of Asaph, David’s choirmaster.  It is firstly a confession, and then a reinforcement on why he knows better than to envy the wicked.  Asaph tells us of the good fortune that the wicked have as opposed to those who are righteous.  He sees them gain wealth, status, and apparent good health.  To top it off, they seem to have no temporal troubles that seem to plague the righteous.  He lists at length the benefits in this temporal life that the arrogant and wicked accumulate.

One of the things that Asaph seems to overlook is that it is these arrogant and godless people that wind up causing the righteous most of their temporal pain and tribulations.  As a part of Asaph’s repentance journey, he goes to God in question, and realizes the tenuous nature of the benefits of temporal prosperity.  He talks about the slippery slope that one puts oneself on when ignoring God and nurtures a selfish and loveless life. It is a matter of ‘angle of view’ when it comes to determining what is important.

Prosperity as defined by a temporal mind is actually just being materialistic.  As temporal minds, we don’t see that these are temporary things that will not go with us when we move from one realm to the other.  Now, this might be a perfect mindset for those who do not believe in an afterlife or overtly reject God and His Creation. (That is a somewhat clouded line of thinking with all the evidence God gives us of His hand in creating where we are.)  The proof notwithstanding, arrogance is its own reward when it comes to solidifying a mindset that precludes anyone but yourself having control of your life or environment.  The arrogant are unable to grasp the concept that they actually have no control at all.  Oh, yes there are illusions of control, and we might bend some of the temporal world to our will for the short run.  But, a billionaire or dictator might be as susceptible to a tornado or falling tree as a beggar.  They cannot actually control either their lives or their ability to continue living.  And if we cannot secure our life, what good is wealth, comfort and status?  Talk about short-sighted…

Now, we have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask if we are not just another version of Asaph.  Do we envy those with a huge bank account?  Do we envy the famous?  Do we wish we were the one with perfect health?  Oh, don’t give yourself a pat on the back just because all you envied was someone’s car or their ripped abs.  Envy is envy, and just like sin, there are no bonus points for you for ‘going low’ in your envious desires.

Do you envy someone’s knowledge of religion, or their assumed connection to God?  It does no good to be envious of righteousness.  The point is looking to those who have what you do not – it is not just about temporal rewards. The deadly sin of envy is as big an obstacle to your ability to ascertain what is really important as is arrogance.  But Asaph obviously is content to wrestle down his temporal envy first.  And, that is probably a good place to start.  We exist primarily in the temporal realm while in our physical body (temporal vessel), and therefore our focus remains on the temporal if not diverted with knowledge of God and something more.  We feel with our temporal senses.  We think with a temporal mind.  We are buffeted by the winds of temporal hormones and emotion.  So, it is no wonder we get caught up in the ‘here and now’ so often.  I started this section asking if you envy, whether it be temporal or spiritual benefits.  It is important to understand your own motivations (I include myself in all this, by the way) in order to understand what is driving you to select things that may, or may not, have real value to you as an existent entity.

The underlying issue for anyone that attempts to be in the family of God is that the membership seems to actually interfere with so many of the temporal benefits we desire.  We talk about not being of this world, and that is a noble statement – should it actually manifest correctly in your life.  But, just saying you know you are not of this world is easily fact checked if you then spend your life attempting to accumulate temporal benefits, or envying those who have them.  I think Asaph was as upset with himself about this issue of not truly connecting with the spiritual family as he was in envying temporal wealth and other such benefits.   Yes, maybe envy is simply a symptom of the illness of not truly believing or understanding what it means to seek the spiritual life with God.

We should not leave this verse for today without thinking a bit more about the arrogant aspect of the process, I think.  On the one hand temporal envy might be about the wrong focus, but it might also be about your illusion of being your own god – controlling your own life and environment.  This is a major problem in submitting to God, and some call this the original sin, wanting to be God.  Adam and Eve succumbed to the desire to know what God knew, and were swayed by the serpent saying breaking God’s one commandment would provide them with the greatest of spiritual benefits, being equal to God.  We might not think we actively desire to usurp God in our lives, but arrogance is definitely one of the foundation stones on the way to building yourself into your own god.

If you can do that, and assure yourself eternal life and the omnipotence of God, I’d say go for it.  But, it seems more than evident that we can’t control Creation, or even our own lives with any degree of accuracy.  I suggest envy of arrogance is a really bad road to any long-term destiny.  It defies the law of love, and it is a sledge hammer to the structure of relationship.  If you want true security and comfort for the long-term, then love and relationship should be at the top of your temporal benefits desires.  This type of wealth is the only temporally available assets that transfer to the next realm, the spiritual realm – eternal life. So give up envy, and focus on a true and valuable set of benefits.  Asaph caught himself and repented.  Do you need to?  Can you?  All it takes is love and relationship.

2/8/23 – Shiny Examples

Titus 1:15

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

———

This is Paul speaking to Titus about the need to discern who should be tapped as elders for the new church.  Paul talks about the contrast between those who are false in their beliefs, specifically those who believe you must be circumcised in order for God to recognize you as clean and acceptable.  Paul talks about all the bad traits or characteristics that a church elder must not have.  If you check that list out, you will see that all the “don’ts” are anti-love issues.  We can never over emphasize the importance of love as it relates to DAD and the relationship He wants with us.

Paul also takes their general character to task, and the list of bad habits and behaviors is long and appalling.  You would be hard pressed to be interested in anyone with just a third of the character flaws that Paul lays out here.  Of course, he is not suggesting that every impure individual has all those traits in evidence.  But, it is also evident that Paul is giving Titus a laundry list to check against for elevating new church leaders.  

You might wonder why Paul feels the need to give such a long listing of ‘no-go’ attributes for church leaders.  I think it is because Paul has come up against each and every one of these issues as he starts a new church, and then nurtures it.  I would also suggest that because he is talking about potential church elders, these malcontents are actually within the church family already.  That’s right, people with all these despicable behaviors are church members.  Just think what those who don’t claim Christ might be capable of.  

But, the point here is that leaders need to be good examples of what it is they are representing.  We know this in management, no matter the venue.  If you are a chef, you need to have good kitchen habits and be able to measure correctly.  If you are a school teacher, you need to have cat corralling skills and the ability to intellectually link to the level of understanding of your audience in real time.  If you are a house builder, you need excellent coordination skills and a better than base understanding of how components go together and what needs to be done when in order to have a smooth progression of construction.  And, if you are leading an organization that espouses good virtue, you need to be virtuous yourself.  Simple as that.  Well, almost – you need to be held to a higher standard in all that you do than those you lead or teach.

So, we need to understand that in building a church, the whole issue of virtue is tied directly to your theological beliefs that caused you to become a member of that group or congregation.  We know that for Christians, that means leading a life such as Christ exampled and taught.  It is not easy to be perfect.  Actually it is impossible for you and me, so the point is more in our desire to strive toward perfect in our following of Christ. If we think we can be perfect examples of what we preach, we are deluding ourselves and setting ourselves up as failures in the eyes of those we lead.

If you think that today’s verse indicates church leaders must be truly pure, you are definitely missing the point Paul is making here.  You should know that neither God nor Christ expects us to actually be perfectly pure.  If that was the case, Christ could have stayed ‘home’ and never put Himself through a life in temporal form.  No, our holy side of the family understands our limitations.  And, we are not expected to be literally pure.  But, we are expected to be striving toward those goals.  

That brings us to the point of Paul’s exhortation to Titus – the church elders should be shining examples of what we are doing, which is striving at all times to be pure.  That is why there is such a long list of “don’ts” on Paul’s list.  Paul is outlining the characteristics and behaviors that Titus should be looking for as he installs new church leaders.  And, I am betting it wasn’t all that subtle a hint to be reminding Titus of his own need for purity in example.  

What Paul is pointing out is that once someone is ‘pure’ through their faith and belief, then all that they do is painted with that same brush, making all that they do pure in God’s eyes after the crucifixion.  And, that is true.  Once you settle love into your heart, all you think and do is couched in the flavor of love, and that is what makes you pure in God’s eyes.  It is taking on the mantle of Christ – we ‘look’ like Christ, and that is good enough for God.

Likewise, those who do not have love as the basis for their life have a non-love flavor to all they do.  They are selfish, conniving, manipulative, and power focused.  You see how such traits or characteristics would work to elevate someone to a position of authority and power initially.  But, such tactics are not something one can hide forever, and once found out, there is natural and strong pushback to make the environment ‘pure’ again.  We do not like being snookered or made a fool of.  At some time, we all realize when the power dynamic is such that we are being taken advantage of, and with our own desire to be in control, or at least not be abused, we push back.

Paul knows that an organization can be torn apart with such power dynamics in play, and that not walking the walk while talking the talk will keep the church from spreading the Word effectively, and thus discrediting the church as a representative of Christ.  Paul leaves Titus with the truth that bad traits taint the entire person if left unchecked. And, by extension, a person with good traits has that value system permeate their whole being.  For Paul, it means you are either ‘all in’ or not in at all.  So, with that perspective in mind, which are you?  In?  Or not in at all?  I pray you exhibit truly the characteristics that prove you a true follower of Jesus.

2/7/23 – Duly “Elect”ed

Mark 13:27

And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

———

I think you know this section of Mark is where Jesus is foretelling the end of Time, and of the destruction of the Temple.  This is Jesus telling the disciples what is to come, and of the many signs of the end times.  There is warning about false Christs and prophets, and of the many natural disasters that will befall the world, which Jesus calls the birth pains.  I think it is indicative of how God sees this event that it is called birth pains and not death throes.  

We seldom understand the spiritual intent of verses such as these.  You know Revelation has such a symbolic statement about the angels of the four winds as well.  In this verse, we have Jesus speaking about the markers for His return, but we sometimes misunderstand the imprecise pronoun.  I have noticed in several sections of Scripture that the term “he” in the same sentence may reference God and Jesus as the sentence or story progresses.  “He” is used in a complex sentence where more than one action is being taken, and it makes more sense as you think about it that there are two different “he”s being referenced.  

It is my opinion that in this section of Mark, verse 26 has a ‘he’ that is clearly Jesus being referenced as The Son of Man, but immediately in our verse, ‘he’ could make as much sense if it references God the Father.  I think it may reference Jesus as He was given dominion over the temporal realm by God the Father.  However, reading the Scripture in this translation makes ‘He’ being Jesus only if Jesus is speaking in the second person, as He is the one talking, and ordinarily the pronoun would be “I” in most cases.  I know this is a grammar red herring for the most part, but it does show how we might misunderstand Scripture simply because of the way it was recorded.  

It doesn’t really matter who is sending out the angels.  The important point is that angels will become the ‘shepherds’ for Christ and bring from ‘the four winds’, which is metaphorical for all corners of the world.  That means no matter where these elect are, they will be found and brought to Christ.  That tends to give a visual that however you interpret this Scriptural reference, that the elect will be spread out over all the earth.  Just as a point of reference, over time the Jews have been scattered to ‘the four winds’ of the earth since Jesus’ time.

Not to cloud the issue with facts, as a friend of mine used to say, but this background gives us some context for the real issue I want to discuss from today’s verse.  That issue is the topic of ‘elect’.  We know that Scripture references the elect as 12,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, or 144,000.  Some think that means that is the extent of the tribes that will have accepted Christ as savior.  Still others ignore the twelve tribes inference and say that only 144,000 of all existing mankind at the end time will gain access to heaven.

As you can see, no matter the theological topic, we can twist and bend what we know about it into different meanings depending on who is looking at the information, and what cultural or societal biases are in play.  It is this very point that makes me continually remind you that you have a direct line to DAD.  You should always use that to get a ‘clean copy’ of the information and allow God to interpret it with you.  

And, that brings us to this idea of ‘the elect’.  It sounds as if God predestined who gets into heaven and who is turned away as a goat.  I simply do not believe this.  That would mean that free will has no impact on our destiny, and thus does not exist.  Yet, God set Creation into motion and allowed it to become corrupt simply so that we can have choice, and the free will to make decisions ourselves.  God did not make us puppets, and it would be anthropomorphizing God to the greatest extent to attribute the desire to control our every move after going to the trouble to make us each a unique individual.  To what purpose would that be done if we are simply puppets in a grand play?

I do not believe ‘elect’ means certain individuals have been selected to be with God in heaven.  What I believe is that ‘’elect’ means certain individuals will have made the free will decision to believe and thus are ‘electing’ to be in relationship with God.  They are the ‘elect’ because they voluntarily met the prerequisites to gain access to heaven.  This means, in effect, that you ‘elect’ yourself.  To my way of thinking, unless we get to have ‘input’ into our destiny, we have no free will and have no reason to be that unique individual God made us to be.  In fact, if everything is predetermined, why ‘play the game’ at all?  There isn’t any reason.  And God doesn’t need to exert all this creation energy for a ‘closed input’ process.

It is important to note that Jesus says these elect are drawn from the four winds of both earth and heaven.  If that be the case, then there are billions of ‘superfluous’ human units of life that passed through time for nothing.  I can’t see a God of love doing that.  It makes no sense to expend the energy to such effort for such a small turnout.  In fact, wouldn’t it just make sense for God to just create the 144,000 perfect units of humanity and be done with it?

This brings me back to the point that I think it is definitely within our power to become one of the ‘elect’, and effectively elect ourselves to a place in heaven.  No, we can’t control that by our sheer will, or our efforts.  In point of fact, the only way we can ‘control’ our entry is to accept the power to allow that is not ours at all.  It is a gift freely given.  We just need to ‘elect’ to accept it.

2/6/23 – Justifying Disobedience

1 Samuel 15:22

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

———

Maybe you know that this is a rebuke of Saul by God through Samuel.  God told Saul to do something, and instead of following God’s explicit instructions, He couched the plunder of a vanquished enemy in the desire to provide sacrifice to God.  God was having ‘buyer’s remorse’ with Saul as King according to this Scripture.  I do not think God really expected anything other than what happened, but may have regretted Saul’s choices rather than having made Saul King.  Remember, God did not want the Israelites to work under the structure of a king, but under the structure of Judges.  

But the Israelites wanted to be like other nations and have a king.  Now, think about this for a minute.  The Israelites whole national personality was based on being the chosen people.  Yet, they expected to be just like all the other peoples of the world even so.  Is this schizophrenic thinking or not?  I want to be different, but yet the same.  That doesn’t seem logical, or even a sane response.  Yet, that is what God and Samuel are working with here as Saul determines to submit to God, but yet do as he wants at the same time.  Maybe it’s not schizophrenia, but multiple personalities at work?  No, sadly it is just humanity in real time.

In todays’ verse we find two parallel issues that I’d like to discuss. The first is the idea of following the letter of the law, but not the intent of the law.  Saul understood the commandment of God in what was told to him to do.  He didn’t want to do it, so he focused on justifying his actions instead.  According to the Scripture, Saul did lay waste to the Amalekites, but rather than destroy everything, Saul took the best of the animal plunder for the Israelites.  When he was caught at it (and, who would think God wouldn’t notice?), he bent the facts and suggested that the plunder was actually for sacrifices to God for the victory.  

Now, I am sure you have never decided on your own course of action, even knowing that it was not what DAD expected of you,and, then when inevitably caught, suggested to DAD that you were following His precepts in some form or the other that just happened to make your actions ‘seem’ to conform to God’s Will or to be doing whatever it was for God.  Now, I think you know that the only person being fooled with that line of thinking is you.  DAD knew your subterfuge before you were born.  He knows your ending before your beginning.  Nothing escapes DAD’s notice.  And, no bending of the facts will change the truth underlying them.  

Samuel is attempting to remind Saul of this issue of God’s omniscience, but Saul thinks only in temporal terms, and his justifications are doomed to fail before they are uttered.  Even Samuel can clearly see through Saul’s fudging of the facts.  While sacrifices to God for the victory at hand would be perfectly viable, that would only be the case if the motivation for that act was pure.  We know from the reading that Saul’s justification was anything but pure.  Saul wanted something, and he got it despite God giving him specific instructions that were in conflict with what Saul wanted and did.

You will note that Samuel correctly notes that sacrifices are something pleasing to God and required for relationship with God at that time.  But the whole idea of sacrifices was not to simply ‘fill a quota or requirement of quantity’.  No, they were to make things right with the relationship with God because we couldn’t maintain the relationship ourselves in a manner pleasing to God.  So, it only makes sense that to subvert the mitigating action for inability to be in pure relationship with God by having impure reasoning for that act would not be pleasing to God. 

You know we do that all the time – yes, you and I as well.  We lie to ourselves so that we can lie to God and think we are doing right when we are just following our own path and desires. I know I do this.  I am probably doing something akin to that this very day.  I know what I am supposed to be doing, and I think if I couch it in terms that approximate God’s Will or commandments to me, then I can justify doing what I want.  So much of our temporal daily lives are in conflict with our eternal spiritual life that we often fail to even grasp that we lie about one to achieve the other.  But, God knows which one He prefers, and in our heart, so do we.

The second is the more important issue of listening to the voice of the Lord when it is spoken directly to you. You have heard me talk about the rending of the curtain between the Public Temple area and the Holy of Holies area where the priest entered into the presence of God once a year as symbolic proof that Jesus’ sacrifice forever opened a direct line to God for ALL the people.  Yes, you and I have a direct contact option with God.  I have also told you that while I truly believe Scripture is there for the purpose of telling us about God, and His Will for us, I also believe the writers of Scripture are incapable of not allowing temporal personal biases and experiences ‘color’ their interpretation of what God tells them.  We are the same, by the way – we hear God through our own filters and of experience and cultural bias.  

That notwithstanding, God does speak to us directly, and just as Samuel admonished Saul, we should listen to what God is telling us, and make every effort to hear the spiritual truth from God, and not the temporally ‘colored’ version we want to hear, or will hear because of the experiences of our lives that filter meaning for us.  We need to first listen for God.  Then we need to hear Him clearly.  Next we need to keep our own desires and biases in check and out of the interpretation of what God is telling us.  We can’t have a fantasy that we intend to have God validate by purposefully interpreting what He says to fit our narrative.  When we do that, we will get the same response from God that Saul did – “I’m not happy with you.  Maybe I should not have chosen you to be in relationship with me.”  That is the LAST thing we should want to hear from DAD.  So, listen up!  And listen well.  Then do what you are told – exactly that.

2/5/23 – Changing Faith?

Romans 14:3

The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

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This section of the letter to the Romans is about the weak and strong in faith. The writer sets the understanding of the strong in faith on its head.  You might think the idea that the one who upholds the law on what to eat is the one strong in faith.  But, that is not the case at all. The writer suggests that the one that eats all foods is the one that relies on faith the most, and thus is the strongest in faith.  He says that the one the relies on the law is the one that is weak in faith.

This certainly sets religious understanding of faith on its head.  For eons, the idea of faith relied on obeying the Law of Moses.  Yet, we do not know exactly how God’s Ten Commandments morphed into 613 Laws, but Moses is attributed as the Lawgiver status.  We know that Moses did have a very close connection with God. But, if you recall, Jesus tells us that Moses allowed divorce in the Law, but that was against God’s Will (Matthew 19:8).  Think on this.  Moses encoded in his Law something that God was against from the beginning.  So, we know that all that was written was not directly from God, but in some respect was humanity making room for humanity.  While God might tolerate such acknowledgement of temporal weakness, that does not mean that everything attributed to God is what God wants in a perfect existence.

We know that today’s verse comes from the teachings in Leviticus (Leviticus 11:1-47) regarding clean and unclean food.  In today’s enhanced scientifically astute climate, we know that many of the foods listed as unclean harbored either parasitic microorganisms or disease causing agents without the proper hygienic preparation – something that was seldom possible in Moses’ time.  Now, that may or may not have been the origin of God’s speaking to Moses, or it might have been something else altogether that Moses failed to translate from spiritual speak to temporal speak.  The point is that while we expect Scripture to be written for all time, it was most probably also transmitted specifically for the time in which it was given.  This might be a true speaking of God, but not to be a permanent ‘Law’.  We just do not know.  

What we do know is that Peter had a vision that contradicted the entirety of Leviticus’ food law by declaring all food clean (Acts 10:9-16).  This seems to indicate that while God is unchanging, His instruction can change.  We do not know what God’s motivation is when He speaks to someone, but we can see in Scripture that situations change, and as our faith journey as humankind progresses, how God couches the parameters that keep us in love relationship with Him ‘mature’ or change to meet the place we are in at the time.  This is not to say that God’s Commandments are ‘flexible’, or can be assumed to be without purpose beyond the time in which they were given.  What it is to say is that when God changes the parameters under which our relationship to Him are determined, we must accept that and not be ‘stuck’ with the un-updated version.  This is the holy version of IT software updates.  When it is time for the new version to be ‘installed’, God notifies us. It is up to us to verify the provider and accept the updates as necessary for a safe and secure love relationship to continue.

Here we find the young church being instructed to allow for the variations of understanding in what constitutes faith.  This is a bit different from accepting the ‘version update’ in that it is saying that both the old version and the new continue to operate during the transition period for the user – to continue the software analogy.  We find that if we are strong in our faith and believe in the ‘new version’ of the holy operating software, we should not jeopardize the person stuck on the old operating system by forcing a software change, or by alienating them so they fail to ever update their software.

We are told that those weak in faith (afraid to accept the New Covenant as introduced by Christ) should not be thought poorly of as it will inhibit their openness to eventually accept that new way to stay in covenant.  In point of fact, the mature Christian knows that there is only one foundational requirement to be in covenant with God – that being to live life with love as the foundation of all that is life.

We are told in today’s verse that we cannot treat someone weak in the new faith with contempt.  I am not sure you have ever had this kind of ‘introduction’ to faith, but when I was in college I was in a fraternity.  Some of the brothers became enamored with a local pastor that was more of a cult leader than a proactive pastor.  They became fanatic in their discipleship under him, and fervently believed his interpretation of Scripture – verse by verse – was the only true way…the only correct covenant parameters.  In a group of two or three they would literally back a person (me, for instance) into a corner, wave a Bible in the person’s face and insist if you were to be saved, you must agree with this one specific interpretation of that verse.  They would be close to physically abusive to make you accept their belief as your own.  This was contempt in action.  It was degrading any faith you had because it wasn’t their faith.  I can tell you that I saw too many young men’s hearts hardened against Christianity altogether from that assault.  That was showing contempt of another’s understanding of God.

God may have accepted another understanding – at least in the moment – of Scripture, but these zealots, which came to be known as the God Squad, turned many away from God in the two years they roamed campus.  God knows who we are, and where we are in understanding.  It is today’s verse’s point that we should allow God to bring others to the correct faith.  Ours is to tell the story and introduce God and Christ.  It is Christ’s and God’s business to cement the relationship and set faith on the correct path.