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Aaron’s first official day on the job!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and wash them with water. Dress Aaron with the sacred garments and anoint him, consecrating him to serve me as a priest. Then present his sons and dress them in their tunics. Anoint them as you did their father, so they may also serve me as priests. With their anointing, Aaron’s descendants are set apart for the priesthood forever, from generation to generation.” Exodus‬ ‭40:12-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What a day. The level of attention to detail is astounding. God instructed Moses, talking to him of course, about exactly what he wanted and where he wanted each item to be placed. Then a whole other checklist of details for himself and the priests that would serve as hosts and mediators while in the desert and throughout all generations. This was a serious assignment.

This job came with serious consequences for error. I can almost imagine a sign posted as you approach the tabernacle reading like a safety record, “0 Deaths” while serving God this month.

Each and every detail had purpose behind it. Nothing was random and without design. It all seems to me as I read through the instructions of attending to the tabernacle, which would later transfer to the temple, it is overwhelming. But I’m sure there was slow, methodical checking and routines that made it possible. God wanted anyone that approached the place of covenant to be washed, dressed appropriately and anointed – all to be set apart, to be holy before God. None of this would have been taken lightly. It was very serious to be called to be a priest.

Here Moses mentioned the sacred garments, the uniform while on duty. It was also extremely detailed. The entire 28th chapter of Exodus covers it – “Make sacred garments for Aaron that are glorious and beautiful. Instruct all the skilled craftsmen whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. Have them make garments for Aaron that will distinguish him as a priest set apart for my service.” Exodus‬ ‭28:2-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

I love the idea of a generational anointing, a blessing setting them apart for service to God and to the people. I especially like the idea that this anointing for Aaron and his sons would be forever. Does that mean that even though Jesus fulfilled all the functions and duties as the once-for-all high priest that Aaron’s progeny would still be in service though no longer as mediators? I think so! How interesting. We know from history that this priestly journey for Aaron’s kids were a very bumpy one, yet a promise is a promise – right?

I enjoy thinking about God’s attention to detail when I read through the Old Testament because it reminds me to pay attention to the details that show up in the New Testament. With God there is always a perfect WHY behind ever WHAT – we just don’t know all of them because God is both so far above and beyond us AND He’s awesomely a mysterious God as well!

PRAYER:

Dad,
I don’t know if I would have done well in the Old Testament/Covenant context. There are so many stories of extreme highs of faithfulness and horrible lows of sin and disobedience. Then there are amazing stories of heroism and great feats of faith as well as brutal, even violent behaviors of evil towards you and their own families. I think that hardest part would be keeping your laws and not being drawn way or distracted by the way other nations did things. I am certainly glad to under the law of grace as well as the covering of Jesus for my sins and failures. For that I am eternally grateful.

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Wisdom doesn’t celebrate April fools.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“You simple people, use good judgment. You foolish people, show some understanding.” Proverbs‬ ‭8:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Ok, today’s proverb is too perfect for the calendar! It’s April Fool’s Day. A day that used to be filled with jokes, puns, tricks and stunts you’d play on your teacher, co-worker, boss, family or friend. It should just be called “prank” day but apparently on tiktok or IG that’s everyday.

Proverbs is filled with this word fool. And, basically there are only four different Hebrew words used. In this one verse, two of them are used – kesil & pthiy. These two would be the most used words for fool and they are both the more innocent words, describing folks who are slow or simple.

Don’t misread these as critical for those born with special needs or some kind of diminished mental capacity or delays in learning. That is NOT what proverbs is about.

These fools are fools by behavior, choice, regular consistent lifestyle decisions that leaves them vulnerable by lack of learning. The fact that wisdom is BEGGING them to see, hear and make changes, reinforces the idea that they are this way because of sin, or selfish stubbornness.

The wisdom writers have wisdom personified, calling out to the “kesil” stupid, dullard, fool. And says to use good judgment. This is the word, prudence. It is interesting because this specific Hebrew word is a normally a negative word, but here it is to be used and applied POSITIVELY for the one who ALWAYS seems to be taken advantage of. There are to learn and apply some shrewdness or craftiness. Think about this. Sometimes the simple are always being mistreated unfairly because they’ve never learned the art of reading other people’s motives. They become victims of a continuous cycle because they’ve got this emotional target on their back that says “kick me.” Wisdom says, take off the sign and start paying attention to being ripped off! Quit “believing in others” to the point of sacrificing your own self worth and self respect. Get some shrewdness, LEARN to find your voice and stand up for yourself.

To the “pthiy” fool. The simple, perhaps open-minded, (when used negatively the root word, pathah, means open – like an airhead). Wisdom has some different advice, she says show some understanding – the word “bin”: to discern. For these folks who are silly (i.e. seducible) and may love playing the clown or enjoying the momentary attention that this “act” may bring. Wisdom calls out their nonsense and gives stern warning that this lifestyle is filled with heartache and they will continue to be the beneficiary of bad “luck”. It’s not bad luck, it’s just sad to see them live down to the worst of what others see and never apply themselves to change. This again is someone who constantly leans on an apparent ease of apathy, of no concerns for anything serious or consequences of inaction. Their perception of themselves and the world around them is a perpetual lie! Wisdom’s advice, start filling your head with something of substance, like knowledge or passion, or God’s word. Quit living life with a helium-filled brain!

If these two words describe you in anyway – you CAN CHANGE. Do not believe the lie that life will never get any better or that you can never be anything different. If you know a “fool,” love them, but be straight with them. Call them up to better. See their potential and constantly remind them of a future that is good. Offer help and feedback to get them unstuck and moving forward.

Have fun with the day of pranks, but please don’t play the fool.

PRAYER:

Dad,
I am so thankful for your wisdom. You are an amazing father to the fatherless and you do such a good job training us in wisdom, discernment and discipline.

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How could religion can be so off mission?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.” Luke‬ ‭6:7-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

How could things have gone so far off-mission? We have the teachers of religious law and we have Jesus, completely human and God. And, they don’t agree on the correct interpretation nor the intent of God’s law. So the gospel writers give us these little “show-downs.”

Over the hundreds of years the scribes appointed by Ezra were asked to fulfill an important role on behalf of God. God never asked Ezra to assign this to a specific class of men, but it started out so simple, what could be the harm? The scribes duties were as caretakers: protect the law, the temple and the priesthood. Don’t MAKE laws or create systems to care for the temple or elevate and secure the priests to positions of power and wealth. Just help Israel keep God’s stuff in good working order.

Then over many hundreds of years through captivity and wars, and two complete cultural collapses of Judaism, the scribes took on the role of the Israeli secret police per se. They were the watchdogs of everything sacred and meaningful to the Jewish people. It is both surprising and heroic that they were successful in their pursuits and that the law, the temple system and priesthood were still in tact and operational by the time Christ is born and Israel/Judaism is still alive!

The names changed from simple scribes to Pharisees and Sadducees, but their roles had only increased in power and authority. By the time Jesus was thirty, these guys ran EVERYTHING. These “religious leaders” were now wealthy, powerful and very politically involved (too involved). I’ve written this before, but I’m kind of surprised Jesus didn’t THANK them for doing such a fantastic job protecting God’s stuff for him! They actually did keep things going!

Ah, but I’m also surprised that Jesus never had a conversation like this, “Did you guys forget who you work for?” You look and behave nothing like any of the prescribed attendants that Moses wrote about. I’m shocked that Jesus didn’t just directly tell them, “you’re supposed to work for me!”

These stories of conflict over the law and its practical application are how we know the religious leaders were OFF MISSION. The law was FOR people. God’s law was created for people, not people created for the law! Jesus question struck at the heart of the conflict about the Sabbath, “is this a day to SAVE life or DESTROY it? This question would apply to ALL of God’s laws really. Was the law created to save or destroy humans? That one is tricky. Of course it was created to save humans. However, it was also created to give us a clear standard of perfection that would prove how selfish and self-centered we really are. No one was able to keep all of the big ten. And anyone that could not keep the entire big ten would be judged and sentenced for NOT keeping ALL of them!

But, back to the story. Jesus was furious that these self-elevated scribes had so twisted God’s intention – that HEALING on the holy day would be even considered WORK! How horribly wrong could they be? As religious leaders they should have been FIRED and smoked!

Luke writes about the audacity of their complete and utter misunderstanding of their mission. They were NOT protecting they were perpetrating! And they were angry, wild with rage AT God for allowing such a flagrant disregard for all the work they done to perfect themselves. How dare God question our laws! Well now you see now what the fight was all about and who wins. Humans will always create their own laws and their own pitiful paths to perfection. Sad huh? So don’t be like that. And, don’t try to hold others to some ridiculous alternative plan to salvation. It will never work and you’ll end up working against God not for him.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow! I do not want my pretentious, religiosity to ever create some false system of salvation for me or anyone else. I get why the Apostles were so frustrated and angry at the regular and ongoing attempts to create these alternative doctrines trying to circumvent the mission of Jesus being the only way to salvation. No additions, no subtractions!

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Oh, we are quite contrarian aren’t we?

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!” Psalms‬ ‭53:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is one of those psalms I do not like waking up to first thing in the morning.

I love David’s opening line, “only fools.” but then he goes in to describe such a miserable outlook on humans – himself and me included. This is not how I want to face my day and go out to try to do some good, make some right decisions and add to the value of God’s Kingdom somehow.

I do think about the audacity of folks who feel so smart, so sophisticated and self-aware when they declare their disbelief in God. Look around, I think to myself. Who made all this? I ask. Oh, nothing, no one, they say. So when has something come from nothing ever before, I ask. Oh, it’s only happened once and it will never happen again, they say. Is that so? Effect without cause, design without a designer? Wow. That does sound foolish. Their beginning is without purpose and their end is meaningless. Where’d they get these outlandish ideas? From a liar.

From David’s perspective God did look and find no one good. But from God’s perspective and his perfect plan, he looked and saw our humanity through one particular man, the Son of Man, and saw not only good, but righteousness, perfection. Yes, it’s quite the spectacular mystery of grace. And, yes, it’s quite frustrating to live in a world of sin and corruption while waiting for God’s endgame and total completion of his plan.

But while we wait, we get to see the unique beauty of our existence through our fractured and frosted glass of sin – like broken sea-glass that washes on the shore. We get to see the world we’ve made because of our choices – our wars, hatred, jealousy, division and incessant selfishness and self will.

Prayer:

Dad,
What a dark and dim look at ourselves without seeing us through the filter of redemption. Oh, how patient you are. How how long suffering you are with us. You see our end as well as our beginning. I am so thankful you see us, you see me through the perfection of Jesus. I am eternally grateful for your mercy and grace extended through all our human history. Our thoughts and ways are not like yours – yet. But there will come a day where all things will be made right. I look forward to that day.

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The wedding reception invites have gone out!

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” Revelation‬ ‭19:7-9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​John writes about an ongoing object lesson that concludes with a grand banquet. Now, admittedly, this illustration is only fitting and even understood by those who believe in Jesus and have become comfortable comparing the body of Christ, the Church to a beautiful bride on her wedding day.

I’m not exactly sure where the beginnings of this picture show up in scripture, but I do know that John the baptist hints are just before his famous quote, “He must increase and I decrease.” John the baptist speaks as a best man at a wedding. “It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.” John was speaking of this marriage event that had started and that he, as the best man is to simply witness the vows and union. John clearly understood this was about Jesus as the groom and the church as the bride. Jesus also told of a wedding party that took place but the groom was delayed. And in that story, some of the attendants (bridesmaids) were not prepared for the extended waiting and missed the party. I’m guessing that ceremony itself was the death and resurrection of a Jesus vowing to commit, save and make the bride perfect by God’s sacrificial act.

Here in Revelation, an angel talks about the gigantic party that will be thrown after the ceremony. The final feast, the wedding feast of the Lamb. And even though these events span across several millennium, the banquet itself and its attendants are very real. The global invitations have all gone out and now it is time to see who responds by knowing when and where the event takes place. I have officiated a number of weddings. There is always a nervous anticipation and palpable energy that comes from a certain elegance, even perfection leading up to the ceremony itself. And, even in our post-wedding celebrations today there is still this “presentation of the bride and groom.”

Here, the angel makes a specific note about the bride’s dress. Isn’t that interesting that even in eternity there is a fashion statement of who’s wearing what and who designed it! This bride is wearing an absolute gorgeous material made from the good deeds of God’s holy people. The fashion statement of all times is the good, pure, holy actions of the saints of God! I get chills thinking about it. The angel declares blessed are those who are invited! And I’m sure blessed are those who make it and attend.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow! Some powerful and emotional events are still ahead of us to experience in your grand story of redemption. I am one that plans on attending that great feast, that grand ball to beat all banquets. I have received and accepted the invitation and I will wait with preparation and patience as you have instructed. I can’t wait to be there!

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Moses bargains with his life

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.” Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” Exodus‬ ‭33:17-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​I can’t even imagine the intimacy and the amount of years it took for Moses to eventually have this kind of conversation with God! Moses was super straightforward with God without being disrespectful in any way. Just reading “one day Moses said to the Lord…” and “The Lord replied to Moses,” blows my mind! Of course, WE have always been able to tell God anything and everything. We’ve always been able to have that part down. But have I, have you – talked to the Lord? I know people who are really casual in the conversations with God of all creation. And even though I honestly do approach God with the word, “Dad,” I’m never crass or flippant in my conversations.

Here’s the thing with Moses though, God spoke back! I believe the folks around later heard a storm-like thunder, but Moses heard God’s voice.

And in true and beautiful Jewish style, Moses tries to bargain with God constantly – it’s in his DNA to do so. Abraham did it. Jacob did it. Jesus even did it in Gethsemane on his last night before the cross. It gives me chills when God says to Moses, “oh I know you, I know your name.” He knows all about us intimately.

Moses makes this crazy request, “show me your presence.” Now Moses had clearly seen the kinds of things that happen when God’s presence shows up. Bushes burn without being consumed. Terrifying plagues come and go that frightened people and ruined the local economy for days. Huge rivers stopped and made walking trails. Storm clouds hovered and pillars of fire roamed around at night like a nightlight for giants. Moses! Really? His angle was brilliant “If you’re presence isn’t known and seen, then these hard-headed people you asked me to lead won’t believe a word I say. They only listen to me because they’re afraid of you.” What kind of crazy curiosity did this guy have? And, shocker, God didn’t say NO.

God momentarily concealed his holiness to accommodate a personal request. God: “I can’t show you my face or you will turn back into dust, but I’ll hide you behind the rock, pass in front of you call out MY NAME, covering you with my hand.”

God: “then I will remove my hand so you can see my backside as I pass by.” What a moment! Can you even imagine being in the presence of God and having a face to face conversation with him?

One day we will not only talk with God will have a chance to go on a walk with him just like Adam and Eve did back in the beginning. I can’t wait. As for now, we have the Holy Spirit, who is the presence of God with us, beside us and for us. So ask away! Talk with God and tell him what’s on your heart. You could even try making some cool deals with God and see how it goes!

PRAYER:

​Dad,
Wow, what a moment to peek into the life of Moses and see how much you loved him – even with all his faults. I’m pretty sure he had issues with anger and a short temper. Funny enough, he didn’t even feel qualified or had any desire to be a leader. He’s where I get the whole “reluctant leader” model from.

And yet, he and you had some amazing conversations. I am truly looking forward to some long walks and talks in eternity, which is really hard to imagine right now.

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Real men are not fools.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain, I saw some naive young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.” Proverbs‬ ‭7:6-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Wisdom, personified as someone looking out of the window of their house, sees young men. I don’t know what kind of neighborhood wisdom lived in but wow, she could look out and see some solicitation happening right across the street!

She sees young men and specifically the one who lacked common sense. What she saw was one of the four words the wisdom writers use for “fool.” Did you know there were four Hebrew words for fool? 1. Keciyl- stupid or silly, 2. Pethiy- seducible or simple, 3. Eviyl- perverse, and 4. Nabal- wicked (for more – bit.ly/biblefool).

Here the word “naive” in other translations is “simple” and yep, you guessed it, the seducible kind. I totally believe that wisdom looks out and sees this in some young men.

However, I’ve seen a lot of “simple” men (not just young) in my life. I used to think these were men who had horrible-to-none father figures, but some had/have great Dads and they just want to be knuckleheads.

I look out my own window and see plenty! I see young men race through neighborhoods, not caring about young children darting out in the street. I hear young men “sharing” their over-driven, expensive, testosterone fueled stereos leaving car alarms blaring and windows shaking. I see really expensive cars, all customized and tricked out with all the bling that could have gone into a ring for their girl. I see prison tats and angry death-glares as they swagger down our street scoping out a score or peeing spray paint to tag a neighbors wall. I hear f-bombs dropped as they talk to their woman and illegitimate children in tow. Oh, I see and hear a lot of vibrato, but I do not see men or maturity. I see fools.

I drive though my city and see young boys, preschoolers walking with their moms. They are as cute and as innocent as can be. I pray they don’t grow up to be fools, but I also know about the vicious cycles of a macho culture that will leave them with few choices to follow wisdom.

My heart breaks. I, like wisdom herself, want to call out and beg them not to be seduced by all the evils of this world, all the easy opportunities to just grow up mirroring what they saw in their own estranged father.

These stories of the simple do not turn out well. The wisdom writers, speaking of the temptress, say, “Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.” Honestly, sex isn’t the only seduction – power is just as tempting. And young men who figure out “to be feared, is to be powerful,” mistake the real purpose of power. Real men, wise, mature men, know that real power is to protect the weak, not intimidate them. And real men know that sex is not love. Sex is given, received and experienced in a lifetime bond of commitment and sacrifice to one woman; and to make kids that grow up secure, protected, and wise to love God & others.

PRAYER:

Dad,
I would never have figured out how to be a man if you had not found me and rescued me from a cycle of chaos. You pulled me out of generations of some good-hearted but weak, simple men trying to be fathers in my life. Of course, Ben, dad #3, wasn’t kind at all he was a Nabal kind of fool – wicked and conniving to his core. Thank you for wisdom. Thank you for discipline of character. Thank you for being a great Dad!

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Healing a soul is far more difficult

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,” Luke‬ ‭5:17-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Any day the experts and critics show up for you to speak is a good day to really focus on your mission. Luke tells us that all these people just “show up” and hangout nearby. THEY’RE thinking, “keep your enemies closer.” Thankfully God’s power was there for healing. And funny enough, the word Luke uses for healing, iaomai, is generally used for physical healing, but it is also used for spiritual healing. Interesting, right?

All the planning by these men was to get a friend to Jesus because he was paralyzed. All the clamor to climb up and crash through the roof was these friends wanting this man to experience a full life on two legs that worked. All that work, all that commotion for what?

Luke says that Jesus took one look at the paralyzed man as well as the generous amount of faith from the man’s friends. But then, Jesus must have caught the look in the religious’ folks eyes. And in that moment Jesus decided to direct God’s power into healing this man’s soul – he forgave him of his sins!

I am positive that Jesus had to hold back his joyous reaction to the shocked look on EVERYONE’S face!

The man who was healed must have heaved in relief from whatever he had been secretly carrying. The friends must have experienced a flood of feelings. Maybe they knew the man’s past. For sure they didn’t see anything like that coming. And oh, the looks on the faces of the Pharisees – PRICELESS.

The experts quickly ask the perfect question, “who does he think he is?” Then they answer their own question without realizing it. “Only God can forgive sin.” Yep, Jesus doesn’t think he’s God, he knows he’s God.

What a Jesus thing to do! He wanted to deal with the man’s soul first (which is much harder than healing a couple of legs). It is so EASY for God to physically heal a body, because he created our bodies from dirt! But getting us to cough up our sin, to turn from our selfish, arrogant independence and run to truth and into the Father’s arms – that is incredibly difficult.

Jesus woo’d a soul out of darkness and gave him a glimpse of the freedom as his sin was lifted, taken from him. Young man you are forgiven.

The religious grumbled at the invisible, but palpable power of authority Jesus commanded in that room. Jesus spoke their thoughts out loud. Then in the next moment answered everyone’s prayer. Stand up, you are healed. The paralyzed man was happy, his friends happy, the crowd watching were pumped. And the religious, well they also were happy because they got the proof they needed to put Jesus to death – Jesus claimed to be God.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow. What a day that was. What a moment of beauty. What an amazing story of clarity of mission. Jesus came to save the sinner, to heal the sick and broken, to show us who you are and your great love and mercy towards us. What will life be like without sin? What will this renewed, recreated Earth be like without the curse upon it? What will heaven be like with no adversary, no lies, no deceit? I can only imagine.

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Is comparison a bad mental game to play?

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” But as I stood there in silence— not even speaking of good things— the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:” Psalms‬ ‭39:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David decides to play this game of comparing his life to the life of the unjust, the ungodly. From time to time, in his rise to power and running for his life, he looks around at the wicked and says out loud, “why do they get all the breaks?” “Why do the wicked always win?” In this humorous song, he decides “I’ll just keep my mouth shut and quit complaining and quit comparing my life to theirs.” Ah, but capping or stuffing the thoughts in his head only seemed to boil over and out into a hot mess of fiery words! Geez, the games we play in our head are bound to come leaking out in our words. David thinks, and we think, we can just stop, or steer those words into something useful. But the game of comparison is NOT played out in our words, it’s played in our hearts! And, if we’re going to stop the game from consuming our minds, we have to do so where it starts.

Comparison is a horrible game to play! It’s a devil’s dark game of seeing ourselves better or often worse than someone by guessing at their outcomes. We see someone’s promotion or hear someone’s accolades and seethe. We read of someone’s downfall or failure and we gloat.

When we play this game we always lose. Why? We are only seeing a completely disconnected, parenthetical moment of time. We don’t see the beginning, nor the end. We don’t even see the middle. We just see a glimpse of fame, fortune or promotion on the pedestal and think that represents a whole life. And in that fraction of feelings, we are jealous or proud.

Oh, and if we know or think they are wicked or evil it’s worse in our head because our brains just start firing justice triggers like crazy. We start screaming the same fiery words David did – “evil never deserves a reward!” I appreciate David’s honesty, but I think he should have and we should quit playing the game altogether.

Stop it before it starts. As a believer we should only be looking at our life, our walk, our splinters and gold stars in comparison to Christ and his purpose for our life. When we see others succeed we should be happy for them. When they fall or hurt, we should grieve with them. And when evil seems to triumph through a truly wicked person, we should bring them to God to judge wisely.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Far too often I’ve played this game and I always lose. Someone succeeds, does better than me, or rewarded for my idea – it happens and I have hard time with it. And, for those that are struggling, I find myself thinking, “I’m glad that’s not me…” Ouch. I am so sorry that I get sucked into these. Help me keep my eyes on you and be thankful for everything you’ve done in my life and everything you’ve given me as well. Help me not to compare to others!

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Thank God for the Apostle Paul

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.” Romans‬ ‭2:13-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

He was raised and trained in all things Jewish. And he mitigates the complex understanding of how God brought the story of salvation to and through the Jewish people. Yet, God does not hold Gentiles (us) to the complicated, but necessary, adherence to the details of the Law, he’s given us a new and better way.

We were not given God’s written law, nor his blood covenant he made with Abraham. We were given a new law, written on/in our hearts and a blood covenant made and paid for by Jesus. I can’t speak to the effectiveness of God’s law written and remembered by the Jews, but I can speak to the law written on the Gentile’s heart.

God has made himself abundantly clear to every Jew and non-Jew on the planet. He has and is doing so through his creation itself, life’s circumstances (across ALL cultures) and even in the still quiet places of dreams and visions.

I have been talking to a wonderful Vietnamese woman who cuts my hair about God. She went through a lot of struggles with her shop because of the pandemic and our Governor’s attempt to crush small businesses. I told her I prayed that God would do a miracle and get her out of a large lease space that the owner would not release her from and move her into the much smaller space next door. God did the miracle for her and she was thankful. Yesterday when I got another hair cut, I noticed that she was having a conversation with a woman who is also a believer and the gal was so sweet and kind to the shop owner. I remembered, God is ALWAYS working in people and whispering in someone’s ear about how much he loves them! I know she will come to faith in Jesus because of this verse Paul is writing to the Romans. And, we get to be a part of that. On any given day at any given time, our joy is to say yes to God about using us to love, tell our story and just be the light of Christ in someone’s dark place in their life.

PRAYER:

Dad,
I’m glad to see these things explained by Paul in your word. Because, that’s how it happened in my own life. And yes, you used a number of situations and people to get me to a quiet but frustrating place in my life. A place where I recognized just how chaotic and dark my life was and how you were offering a new future. I am so thankful that all the WORK is done by you and we just get the chance to participate with you in seeing people come from death to life! May it be so more often in me and my friends.