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You Do That Well

Reading Time: 3 minutes

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

This was the moment.

I was riding my hand-me-down, banana seat, sting-ray bicycle down the sidewalk one day when the chain fell off the sprocket. I got off the bike and just stared at it for a few moments when I heard a voice, “hey do you need some help?” It was Stan, a neighbor a couple of houses down. Stan and Louise were original owners in the house on Harding Street. Stan had retired and now spent his time meticulously keeping the house in perfect condition. The grass on the front lawn was a deep rich green with every blade exactly in its place. It was manicured weekly. The house was painted a bright white with forest green trim – he must have touched it up every year.

Stan walked my bicycle up the driveway, a driveway with the grass growing between the parallel cement strips and into his garage. It was one of those garages that a man would love to claim as his own. The shiny cement floor was flawless, no oil, scuffs or dirt! Everything was in its place. The garage was lined with beautiful cabinets. And Stan had one of those peg boards with shiny tools hanging in order and an outline of each tool carefully drawn around each and every tool. Every tool was hanging perfect and ready for use.

He picked up the bike and skillfully flipped it on its back. He pulled the ½” open ended wrench out of its position on the pegboard and began to loosen the nut that held the back tire in place. He carefully untangled the chain and paused. He was about to transmit the wisdom of a bicycle mechanic into my brain. He smiled and said, “Do you know about the ‘master’ link?” He said it in such a way that I felt like looking both ways over my shoulder before giving him the nod. He continued in a hushed tone, “This is the ‘master’ link, the one link that allows you to take the chain off to work on it.” “Wow!” I said. I was mesmerized by the voice of this mastermind. “He’s got to be the smartest man in the whole world”, I thought to myself. With the speed and skill of a seasoned craftsman he re-assembled the chain around the sprocket and then just before he began to tighten the rear axle nut – he paused a second time. “You want to try it?” He extended the tool towards me, gently nudging me to discover the joy of fixing something. I took the wrench in my hand, it felt good – even natural, like I had held it all my life. I began to turn the nut on the rear axle when Stan cleared his throat indicating that he was going to give me another piece of advice, “clockwise to tighten counter-clockwise to loosen.” Ah, another secret of the trade. And then he added, “Put some muscle into it to synch it down tightly.”

But it was Stan’s next remark that changed my life. It was the moment that transformed Stan, the nice man a couple of houses down, into Stan, my hero. Stan spoke four more words; four words that empowered me and inspired me to greatness; four words that would mark the rest of my life. I cannot overstate the power of these four words spoken at that moment of my life. Stan said, “You do that WELL.” My instincts forced me to look around to see who else had entered the garage. “Did he just say that to me?” I had to ask myself because I had never been told that I had ever done anything well. As an eight year old kid, I didn’t know enough to think that he was just being kind. I mean the fact is I just turned a lug nut on a bicycle axle for goodness sake – it’s not like I just put a man on the moon. But I didn’t care. I grabbed the compliment like a man in the desert grasping for a drink of water. I replayed those words over and over in my mind.

From that moment on I knew “I had the power to fix stuff!” If I could fix a bike, maybe there were other things I could fix as well. It was only a moment, but it was a moment that changed my life.

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Paul’s neighborly prayer.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’ve been thinking and talking about how to be a neighbor, a good neighbor. I believe it’s all about listening and watching for opportunities, being led by the Holy Spirit. Times where we should see moments that appear to be odd or random as providential not accidental. Those moments could be happen at the grocery store, the gas pump, the quick-serve lunch or while walking through our own neighborhood.

I think it’s important to swap names, introducing ourselves like well-mannered people used to do. I think it’s important to write those names down to be able to do the exact thing that Paul is doing with the folks he met in Colossae. To be able to remember people’s name, because it’s very important for them to be seen and known. The other is to speak their name, before God, in prayer. Then using Paul’s prayer as a template, we can begin to pray for them and trust God for future moments of opportunity to love and serve our new friends.

Paul’s prayer is simple and can be easily memorized. We can ask God to give our neighbor and new friend a complete knowledge of his will, spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then we can pray that God will help them to live a life that honor and pleases God, producing every kind of good fruit (think of the 9 fruits of the Spirit). Then, wanting them to keep going and growing, that they would learn to know God better and better.

This prayer, that Paul prays over Colossae’s community of faith affirms something else I believe. Something simple, but should remind every one of us as believers that we are all responsible for. The word is DISCIPLE. And the thought is BE ONE, MAKE ONE. If we are a disciple, a follower of Jesus, we should be learning about God more and more, just like Paul stated. However, as believers, we should also be doing what Jesus commanded as he left for heaven. We should all be about making disciples. Who are you following, and who is following you? Who are you walking with to strengthen your faith, and, who is walking with you to do the same.

Being a good neighbor has the potential to being a good friend and hopefully that can turn into being a disciple by having someone follow you in your faith. Jesus had a group of 70 following him. Jesus chose to focus on 12 of them. But he specifically mentored 3 of them. This pattern is for all of us who say we are followers of Jesus! Who’s your 70, 12 and 3?

Prayer

Dad,
I am so thankful to not only follow you, but also have several men and women that have poured into my life. Some have discipled me, a few have mentored me. Thank you for Paul’s written pray for the folks in Colossae. It helps me know what to pray for with so many people on my own “neighbor” list as well as those who more closely follow me as I follow Christ. Most of all, thank you for continuing to help me grow and learn in wisdom and understanding, as well as grow in my faith.

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Our pronouns.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Isaiah uses a lot of cooperative personal pronouns when he writes about the desperate state and culture of Israel. He starts most of the sentences in these passages with “we.” “So there is no justice among US, and WE know nothing about right living. WE look for light, for bright skies. WE grope, we stumble, we are like the dead. WE growl like hungry bears; WE moan like mournful doves. WE look for justice, but it never comes. WE look for rescue. For OUR sins are piled up before God and testify against us. WE know what sinners we are. WE know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. WE have turned our backs on our God. WE know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies. OUR courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.”

We, us, our… Isaiah understood THEY were all willful, purposeful participants in the culture of WRONG. There is no waggling finger pointing out of a self-righteous soul declaring – YOU…. you did this! No, it’s us and ours.

After a slew of declarations attributed to the mess WE make of things – almost entirely against each other, Isaiah boldly declares that God will roll-tide in by His mighty breath of judgment and justice to make things right. God will rise like a raging river to “nō·sə·sāh,” drive, make to flee all evil. Who would NOT want God to sweep across their land and clear out the evil that has destroyed life, love, families and friendships?

In other places in the Bible, God tells us exactly who opposes His removal of evil – those who love evil and benefit from it. You start to understand that it’s the selfish, the tyrants, the proud and powerful, those on top that do not want God’s way. The ones who do not want justice are those who better themselves by keeping others down and dependent on their systems of power and control. God brings freedom where all others bring control, or enslavement.

Prayer

Dad,
I’m beginning to understand just how upside down our world and our thinking really is. When you bring justice and righteousness, it is to our advantage, it is for our freedom. It’s not just a freedom from tyrants, it’s the ability to be free from our own selfish, devilish desires! It’s not just my sin that is so destructive within, it is my sin that is devastating to all those around me, those that I love and want the best for. And as I read about the mass of people Isaiah is talking about, I see the effects of our unity in brokenness and darkness rather than wholeness and light. It is just so clear to me now. I pray that in the east and in the west that you rise and breath justice into us and ours.

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Things Christians don’t obey.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

““You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus preached his signature sermon and brought up a whole slew of hearsay of things his audience had heard through the grapevine. Jesus said, “our ancestors were told.” Yep, God told their ancestors (ours by adoption) that #6 on the list of God no-no’s was MURDER. Thou shalt not.

Then Jesus redefines what murder may look like from the hidden, recesses of our heart. Oooo, it looks a lot like anger and hatred! It looks like a caldron of hot, stinky thoughts ruminating around in our head. Maybe under our breath or whispered to a friend we might say, they are an Idiot.

I know it’s a word that’s been cancelled as a demeaning, derogatory term, but believe me Jesus word, rhaka, is so much worse. The word “fool” used here means an empty-headed, numbskull, good for nothing, who acts presumptuously and thoughtlessly. It’s more than the Proverbs word, “keciyl,” which is a slow, silly, careless fool. It’s more like “pethiy,” a person incapable of learning, thus continuing to fail themselves and others. Jesus says that kind of name calling can get you hauled into the court of the Sanhedrim (Hebrew elder board). But actually cursing someone out of anger can cause you to start wearing the cologne of hell, smelling like putrid smoke!

Jesus pulls back the dark curtain of our thoughts, intentions and attitudes to reveal the nasty stuff inside us when our anger is not righteous, but petty and self serving. Then Jesus makes a stunning conclusion. When our anger rages to the point of unbridled hatred towards someone, we’ve murdered them in our heart. Don’t tell me you haven’t wished someone dead! Jesus told them, and us, when that happens you’ve got to take drastic measures to be reconciled to the person your aiming your heart-hatred at.

It’s so important, so critical, Jesus says, that you have to LEAVE your gift, your praise, your sacrifice, your sweet one on one with God to take care of business! Then with a clear, non-murderous heart we can come back to God and give our gift.

Do we do this? No. Do we practice this? No. Do we believe this to be true? No. We don’t disrupt our time with God to make things right between each other. Why? Because it’s hard. It’s painful. It’s humiliating. To reconcile is an admittance of our guilt, our humanness. Our justifications sound like toddlers fighting on the playground, “well he started it!” Can you even imagine all our murderous thoughts and attitudes of all the people who have offended us, wronged us or embarrassed us? And we bring all that trash before a holy God while we pull out our little gift of praise or sacrifice?

Jesus said, LEAVE God’s presence and make things right with our fellow humans that have hurt us! And don’t even think about whining, complaining or tattling on someone before God. He won’t listen. Go make it right. Do the hard job as Jesus commanded. Quit messing around with years of stacked and stuffed anger, frustration and death threats towards others. Make amends.

“But there are so many,” you say. “What should I do then?” Ask the Holy Spirit to bring up the worst and most egregious, the one that darkens your soul and consumes a massive amount of your time just thinking about how MUCH you hate that person. This is such a powerful, yet IGNORED practice. I am convicted just reading this and have to deal with one of those reconciliations today!

Prayer

Dad,
Help me be brave and obey your word! Help me to humble myself and make things right with the person you have brought to mind as I write this. Forgive me for the delay. Amen.

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Benefits of unity in community.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

““But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around. So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas. Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes! Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever. But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭81‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Asaph pens this Psalm at the time of the second temple dedication. Israel had been through 70 years of captivity with little or no national coherence or cohesion. And worse, some Israelites somehow stayed in the Jerusalem area and intermarried with the locals which caused a major racial and cultural rift within their humiliated country.

We know Babylon was discipline and correction from God, but what is much more difficult to sort out is these psalmic promises from God. If… big if, Israel had stayed true to God, it is likely that none of their national conflicts would have happened. There are many writings in Psalms and the Prophetic books like Isaiah and Jeremiah where God BEGS His chosen people to stay on track and quit chasing after other loves! Crystal clear message, follow God and He will fight the big fights for you.

My question and dilemma is… is that still true today. Is there a possibility that following God, staying on the straight and definitely narrow yields a certain amount of protection, even blessing? Before you answer, “of course it does,” remember Jesus and the leaders of the first century church outright told us, in this world we would have tribulation, and to be of good cheer. Jesus straight told us that believers would be hated for the message He brought, specifically because of Him. Yet, it still makes me think about this whole idea of sticking close to God and letting Him fight the big battles.

Are these promises for us as individuals or are they for us as communities of believers? Because if the promises of subduing enemies and God’s hands being on our foes is for the community of faith MORE than just on us as individuals, I would think we would be far more attentive to sticking together! If, for one moment, we behaved with a sense of unity and care for one another, I wonder if we would have a greater sense of God’s presence and protection? You realize that God disrupted the ancient city of Babel specifically because they were completely unified? Of course they were unified in godless pursuits, but Genesis 11 tells us it that unity in and of itself is powerful! ““Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.””

I imagine that unity in and for Godly pursuits would not only be unstoppable, it would also be far easier to see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done! I absolutely believe that God would bless our unity in the Church. And as long as we are fractured, divided and continue to treat one another with horrible religious contempt, we will not accomplish what God has for the Church. Yet, even in our flawed self-serving, divisive zealousness, God will have His way. I trust Him. I just wish believers would all get along and quit thrashing each other, especially in the cultural courts of social media. I am sick of it!

Prayer

Dad,
Our present state of unity in the Church just makes me sick to my stomach! I see the promises in the Psalms and I long for the protection you would provide, but I long for a unified community far more than just a lack of attacks on our faith. Maybe that’s why you pour out your Spirit at specific times, just to bring about our sense of being together. Together in praise and worship. Together in mission of making disciples. Together in the flow of your will, your desires. Help us Oh Lord.

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All of them.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I actually get giddy with delight when I read about anyone interpreting and giving cultural and historical context to an Old Testament passage. Jesus did this a lot. And, the Apostle Paul is also an expert on this. These lessons are golden for not just a perspective on multiple, multicultural experiences thousands of years earlier. They are platinum for application today! Paul brings the O.T. stories into a conversation with a mixed bag of Jewish, Greek and Roman readers and whiteboards the moral, spiritual point that is critical to understand even today.

Paul reminds the churches, “remember…” and repeats the phrase, “all of them.” In Greek, καὶ πάντες, “and all” experienced something. Guided by a cloud, walked through the sea on dry ground, baptized into Moses, the cloud and the sea! All ate and drank the same same spiritual food and drink. All of them, exactly the same experiences, circumstances, fears, victories. And likely the same sorrows and joys. ALL OF THEM. Yet… something terrible happened.

Yet, most… Paul uses the word, pleión, the “comparative” numerical majority did not make God happy. Paul says, God did not have a “good opinion” of the majority. And because of that, God scattered (strewn about) them in the desert. ALMOST all of them did not end up making it to the promised land and inheritance God intended.

I would guess that most people think it’s hard to make God happy, especially when it comes to themselves. How can I make God happy? Is it perfection? Is is a strong and consistent moral aptitude or behavior? These are critical questions in the life of a believer. Paul delivers the truth to the churches – quit satisfying yourself, quit choosing shortcuts to get what you want in a way that is deadly, poisonous and not of God! Paul writes, “These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.””

We have the stories, and now we get the application as to why the stories were captured and written down. The stories are for us. They (the Israelites) CRAVED evil, lusted after evil and worshipped Satan masked as fake forms and cheap substitutes of God. They is ME! I have to ask myself, am I “ALL OF THEM.”

When I have seen the miracles of God and experienced His majesty, His glory, His presence and I am still not satisfied? Am I all of them? When I’ve seen supernatural provision and blessings beyond normal and I still crave, still lust for evil and my own way, am I all of them?

How do I make God happy? It is simple, yet profoundly difficult at the same time. It is faith. Even while seeing provision, miracles and God’s presence and still in my moments of humanness and weakness, I must CHOOSE to believe that God will give me my true heart’s desires and fulfill longings that are deep within my soul? I must have faith and choose to crave God MORE than I lust after momentary and fast-fleeting experiences that fulfill my own flesh and disordered desires.

Choose your lover well, for that love determines the fulfillment of a promise or a desolate destination of eternal wanderings!

Prayer

Dad,
You have brought me to this dance, this amazing experience of new life and hope for eternal life. So my intention is to not only dance with you, it is to stay with you and not change dance partners only to end up going home with someone else! Thank you for Your Word. Thank you keeping the most challenging and difficult stories in the Bible to remind me of what is true. Thank you for your spokespersons and gifted writers who have left me with these powerful applications of how to live and how to choose faith. Thank you for your mercy and grace as I determine to please you through faith.

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Sinful hotspots

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul’s whole discussion about sin, mastery and slavery is fairly creepy. It’s all true, but there is a kind of a horror genre running through the theme. I’ve been reading/listening to John Mark Comer’s “Live No Lies,” and this idea of a wicked battle of good and evil in and over every human soul is so heady and deep.

Paul uses two concepts that help me understand how sin works against me. One word is control. Don’t let sin control me, he writes. Being a believer and feeling the conviction of the Spirit of God, I shiver to think how often I DO let sin control me. Of course I don’t WANT it to, but anger, lust, fear and envy have a way of hijacking my emotions and taking over. Paul continues to remind me that the power of Christ has given me a supernatural capability to say no!

This whole idea of fighting or the second concept of “giving in,” is starkly wild to what culture says I should be doing. Basically, our current modus operandi is to participate in a lot of sin to whatever capacity I feel like experiencing. There are no suggested restraints anymore. So living and giving into my sins would be celebrated today, that is of course, unless is offensive to a canceled woke culture – the gods of morality now.

I love Paul’s specificity about our body having instruments of sin. This is a funny comparison to mouth, eyes, ears, hand and possibly even feet in a very proverbs kind of way (running to sin). As I have aged, I’ve also realized that I will spend my entire life figuring this all out. I guess I’m a slow learner.

Prayer

Dad,
I will fight on. I will work hard not to let my sin control me and not to give in. Sometimes it feels like a circular battle. There are a ton of good days and quite a few bad ones on this. Yet, I am forever grateful for your grace and abundant patience and mercy. Just to know I am loved as your son and that noting can separate me from that is enough. Thank You.

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I’ll give you something to complain about!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭21‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’m not sure my mother said this to me directly, or I heard her tell my little sister. Either way, my mom was famous for asking THE parental, rhetorical question. “What are you crying about?” Before I could answer, because honestly I didn’t know why myself or my sister was crying – we just had the feels! My mother would then say what she really wanted to say. “I’ll give you something to cry about.” Which totally confused me as a child. There were already tears. Why would anyone want more of whatever caused the tears to begin with. Not me!

At first glance, one might read the Old Testament stories, especially this freedom trek from slavery to independence and say, “boy those Israelites were sure negative. They’re a bunch of complainers and whiners.” Is negativity genetic? Can whining be passed down through our DNA? Come on. You know you have family or friends that are negative about most things. The constant grind of questions and an Eeyore approach to life can get any parent, any leader irritated. Especially when one is trying to get them from point A to point B and, for goodness sake, does not need the extra headache necessary to drag people into faith and freedom the entire way.

I have learned that it’s not just an Jewish exile issue. It’s a human trait, a bent character flaw in all of us. The whiners took it way too far. This wasn’t just honest prayers of angst like we find in Psalms. This was BLAME. This was toxic negativity that would eventually infect every person, every family. They spoke AGAINST God and Moses. Moses own sister had played this game once, and caught an awful case of skin disease because of it! I mean yeah, her name, Miriam, means bitter, but really? She started trash talking Moses wife because she was a Cushite. God turned her skin ashen and sent her off for a seven day timeout.

Here, the the complainers cried, “you brought us out here to die!” When freedom starts looking like slavery you know you’re messed up! God brought in a snake infestation and it killed a bunch of them. Come on Pastor out there, you know you’ve at least thought about this story when you got served complaining and misery while trying to lead the flock.

When the whiners started watching their friends die, they wised up pretty quick. To stop them from dying, to stop them from complaining, God had Moses make a bronze snake and hang it on a pole. Was it an idol, I don’t think so. They weren’t told to worship it. They were required to stare at it hoping the odd remedy would work. And it did. God even used the whole object lesson to help us understand that the one hanged on a tree (or pole) was cursed but would bring healing through faith as one gazed on him. We gaze at Jesus who became sin and was hung up on the pole for our own cure. Not just for whining but for living a life of sin.

Two points to be made from this story. One, the complainers and doubters ended up dying in the desert after all. They never made it to the promised land. Two, I should be very careful not to accuse God of leading me to freedom and live a whiner’s life believing that He’s going to just let me die in the desert.

Prayer

Dad,
It used to be so easy to read the Old Testament and get so judgey about your Israelites. Then after growing up a little and looking into the pure mirror of your word, I realized that I struggle with an Eeyore attitude and dip into negativity far too often. I want to live a life of faith, not fear. And, certainly not go down as a whiner and complainer. Thank you for your grace as a self awareness of my faults. Help me in my faith and please, no snakes for me!

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God hates?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I think everyone hates these qualities and behaviors in humans. In a world that celebrates what is wrong and aggressively, verbally shames what is right, there are still a few things we all agree are bad: Arrogance, lies, murder, scheming, serial crimes, betrayal, and chaos. These things, Proverbs says, God hates.

In an odd fascination, many are entertained by these behaviors making the twisted plots of podcasts the most popular genre. The Idaho murders, the Murdock trial are just examples of America’s lust for gruesome reality. But we all still think it’s wrong.

I know God thinks they are wrong, but why would our progressive, “enlightened” culture think they are wrong? Aren’t these people just expressing their true self, living their best life? Shouldn’t the proud be paid handsomely and worshipped for their confidence? Shouldn’t liars, murderers and betrayers just be given the freedom to do their thing, even if it’s authentically evil? Seems kind of progressively judgey and hypocritical doesn’t it? If it’s a right to murder infants, why isn’t it a right to murder adults? (oh, but it is under certain circumstances. And I don’t mean the death penalty).

First of all, I believe God sets the rules because he created us. But also, this list of things God hates and thankfully, culture still frowns upon, is absolutely catastrophic in our relationships! Every one of these behaviors destroys the binds of trust necessary to have a thriving relationship. The arrogant cares only about themselves – not you. The liar, the swindler/schemer only wants your money, love or alibi. That disruptive family member is living off the emotional rush of negative environments like anger, friction and discord. These behaviors are hated because you can’t build a life, relationship or community on them!

You think you feel lonely now. Wait until this list of wrongs aren’t just seen as entertainment, they are expected to be the new rules for living! Can’t you see where this is all heading? Can’t you see that we can’t be trusted to determine our own destiny, setting our own rules? The New Testament writers warned of this kind of environment towards the end, when this world winds down and God brings it to an end. The end of this world means that we will be begging God for justice and the creation of a new heaven and new earth.

Prayer

Dad,
I do not like the intensity of living in an upside down world, where wrong it right and right is wrong. It’s not just confusing and frustrating, it’s divisive and dangerous. I long for both your mercy and your justice, even judgement, to make all things right. I also hate the things you hate. I also hate seeing any those qualities bouncing around in my mind even if I never plan on acting on them. I agree with you when you tell us the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? Only you know and judge perfectly, rightfully. For that I am thankful.

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Tasty light.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

““You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I love these two examples that Jesus uses as the crowd came and he gathered his disciples.

There has been much discussion about what being “salt of the earth” means over the years. Was it a preservative or a seasoning? In years past it just became an phrase describing a hard working person or family.

Either way, it’s still crystal clear – it’s for the benefit of others. A disciple, a follower of Jesus should be “experienced” as a benefit to the world in which they live. Should the follower lose that effectiveness, their mission, their influence, then that characteristic of Jesus in them becomes worthless. They don’t personally become worthless. Nor does Jesus’ mission become worthless. Their witness of God’s work in them and their ability to let God use them in the world of tasters, eyeballs and ears becomes just unnoticed.

Similar with light. Light is a pure and mysterious element. Right after heaven and earth were created, God spoke light into existence. Science calls light, “electromagnetic radiation,” or “electromagnetic waves”. We see it, but it also carries energy. And it’s fast – super fast. Without going down the deep hole of scientific wonder, we know this and experience this. We know the difference between light and darkness. When there’s light, we see. When light is absent, we can’t see because removing light makes it dark.

Followers of Jesus bring light into darkness and freely gives it out so that everyone benefits. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! The transformation of Christ, through his followers, can and should be seen and experienced by those around them.

As a believer, a follower of the ways of Jesus, am I a tasty light? Do I, just as a quiet presence or influence in the room of humanity, change the environment and atmosphere of that space? Do I bring the flavor and warmth of God into every interaction I have with those who are seeking, hurting or broken? Maybe Jesus was just bringing an object lesson to that beautiful verse out of Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Prayer

Dad,
Oh I have tasted and I’ve seen that you are GOOD! I guess the question is, can I bring it! Can I be the Costco sample to those who are weary, weak and worried? Can I be tasty and bright in a dull and dim world around me? I can if I am filled with your presence! If I am so grateful that I leak graciousness! If I am filled with joy even when I am overwhelmed or suffering. Only you can be that in my life. That kind of flavor, that kind of bright, warm illumination can’t be faked, it must be authentic. Fill me so that I can be a tasty light.