Tag: Pride

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How to return home.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! Psalms‬ ‭111‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 111 is a tribute, written by Ezra the high priest and scribe, AFTER returning from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. To be clear, everyone knew why Israel was taken into slavery. The citizens had not only walked away from God, disregarding His laws and warnings, they had given themselves wholly to other gods, foreign gods – FAKE gods! God’s prophets, His spokespersons had been warning both the leaders of Israel and the prominent families to turn their hearts back to God. Israel consistently chose to do their own thing. Now, after 70 years, their city, their temple was decimated. Their kings, dead. Their brothers and sisters in the ten tribes that had split off from the whole, lost forever. The only ones to return were the remnants, the “root of Jesse,” as they were called.

Yet, in all this loss and penitence. In their humility, they found their heart for God. In mass they repented and made the journey back to rebuild what had been destroyed. Even though their hope was a flickering flame, a smoldering wick, just barely showing light, they remembered their God. Ezra writes, “He causes us to remember his wonderful works.” In complete misery of loss they remembered God and their own hearts turned, once again, towards Him!

How does one come back from devastation? How does one return to rebuild their entire life? How does one find hope in their future? Israel recognized their sin and remembered their God! Captivity wasn’t God’s fault, it was His love and discipline, going to extremes to keep His people from complete and utter destruction. The human heart, left to its own desires, will crash and burn and destroy everyone and everything around them. We are desperately wicked and strive against God to have our own way and do our own thing. God intervened, putting the nation in timeout until they came to their senses.

Psalm 111 captures the results of them turning their hearts towards God as they make their final assent back up to the city of Jerusalem. Ezra, returning and reflecting on the years of loss, looked up the road to Jerusalem. Then his eyes continued to look up, high into the heavens and thank God. What do you do to return? You look back and see your own decisions that led to devastation. You look up the road to see the restoration of your own future. And, you look even higher, to see God and thank Him for His righteousness, grace and mercy. This is the lesson of Psalm 111. Don’t quit. Don’t wallow. Don’t wait! Come home.

Prayer

​Dad,
What awaits us when we return home? Is it judgment, shame and humiliation? No! What awaits us is exactly what awaited Ezra and Your people – righteousness, grace and mercy. You want us to win. You want us to be well. You want us to live! Thank you oh Lord, for the means of mercy to see our failures and poor decisions. Thank you for the gift of seeing our past with the ability to turn to you and see our future. Thank you for real and genuine hope in the plans you have for us, if we would just turn and return. Amen.

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Advising God?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭33‬-‭36‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul has laid down the long and intense history of how God chose and used Israel to be his own. The Jews were known as the people of God. He led them, blessed them, disciplined them and loved them. Paul makes the point very clear – God is not finished with them. Paul also segues into another fact, God’s intention all along was to bring salvation to the whole world through the Jewish people. This baffled the Jews and pleasantly surprised the Gentiles (non-Jew).

In this discussion, it becomes clear that God has plans and ways that are not just mysterious to us, they don’t make sense at all. I don’t know if you have ever thought about someone else’s decision processes as bad or wrong, but many times we think, “I would not do it that way!” In a puny, Pauline way, he writes, “who knows God’s thoughts?” Or, “who advices God?” Just the thought that God might OWE US for some plan or brilliant idea is ludicrous!

Paul makes this amazing, declarative statement that may bristle and bruise our own fierce human pride, “EVERYTHING that comes from God and exists from his power is intended for his glory!” It is all about God, it always has been, always will be. Just the fact that God has not only decided to create us and love us, to be in a relationship with him; but also, that he has included us, and wants us to engage in his plans is a mind-blowing, mercy-filled idea!

As humans, we can cry, whine, complain or threaten God, but it won’t change who he is or how he works among us. Contrarily, we can also laugh, celebrate and cooperate with him, which still won’t change God, but it will change us. Of course we make the mistake, thinking it IS about us, that we (or I) am the center of the universe, but that is far from the truth. I can understand that when I think about God’s love towards me, I can misunderstand and believe it is about me – but it’s not. It’s about God.

Here’s the real mystery, God designed humans to be fierce, independent, creative and even domineering! Sin has made us take those characteristics and push them to the extreme, making it all about us and keeping those qualities all to ourselves. However, when we submit to God’s grace and receive his forgiveness, it brings us back to his own character of grit, determination, inventive, interdependence and even powerful under his authority. Instead of consuming those traits unto ourselves, we use them to serve, love and protect those who are weak and struggling, those who don’t see God or know him. We become agents of grace to those who do not feel powerful or valued. Of course it’s a choice, God’s will, God’s way or our will, our way? One leads to life, the other death. For me, I’m just not qualified to advise God and for sure I’m not going to be shaking my little fist at him as I slip into the abyss, permanently separated from him! No, I plan to trust and obey – there just is no other way.

Prayer

Dad,
After reading Paul’s words and understanding his point (your truth), I just feel like I must be the most selfish person in the world. Even for one second to think that I know better about running my own life, someone else’s or (big laugh) the world itself. It is so important to keep the perspective of who you are and what you want to accomplish in this world. I choose to submit! I choose to bow and come under your authority and your grace. I bend my heart and knee before you! Your will, your way Oh God!

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Advice to the arrogant.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.” Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have come across Proverbs that are clear, but I can’t stand them. I didn’t want to face the facts of this radical candor saying.

Confession: I only want to hear or take advice from folks who know MORE than I do or those who have MORE experience than myself, in the advice they are giving.

Proverbs nails my hollow heart issue as I type this – that is soooo arrogant. I understand I shouldn’t be taking advice from proverbial fools. But I have this emotionally triggered response when someone tells me how to do my job or run my life when I don’t think they are doing so well themselves! Doesn’t that just reek with pride? I mean, it causes a full on physical reaction in me. It’s ridiculous.

I believe the wisdom writers are pointing out the fact that pride is the numero uno reason for many conflicts. But in this case, the conflict is INSIDE of me! Why in the world can I NOT listen and look for wisdom from conversations with just about anyone? Why do I get all judgey? The truth of this proverb picks at some origin story wound that I just can’t seem to remember. Why do I get defensive? Why does it ruin my day? And, more importantly, what can I do about it? It’s a recurring theme that I am so tired of struggling with.

Through a process of humility and listening to the Holy Spirit, I want help in deconstructing some childhood defense that is no longer necessary nor helpful. Isn’t this is so apropos that God’s word would get in cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, exposing my innermost thoughts and desires? (Hebrews 4:12). Cut away God, do your work in me!

Prayer

Dad,
This proverb hurts. It hurts because it pinpoints a blindspot, a wound, an irritation that I just can’t seem to see clearly, and allow healing to take place in my heart. Now that your word has pierced me, what do I do now? I’m confessing my arrogance and asking for help here. Show me, lead me and be patient as I take the time to figure why this is a reoccurring issue and time to work it out with your Holy Spirit. Thank you in advance for the upcoming outpatient surgery I am sure to be experiencing soon!

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Deal or no deal.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Gather all the people— the elders, the children, and even the babies. Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room. Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar. Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord! Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery. Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’” ‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s spokesperson, Joel, previously said, “try saying your sorry and changing your ways!” In previous verses, he writes, “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse. Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.” Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬. What a line! Don’t tear your clothes, tear your hearts! You never know, maybe God will listen to a broken, contrite heart instead of an arrogant, angry one?

The book of Joel was written just before the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel had fallen to foreigners. The leaders, priests and people had wandered so far off God’s plan, and so spurned their promises to keep God’s rules that literally- all hell was going to break lose! Enter the plagues and total destruction of the locusts.

However, Joel, gives Israel an out, an escape – try repentance! It’s in the verses that Joel emphasizes not just WHO should join in this national contrition, but also the urgency of which they should do it. First, gather EVERYONE. Call the people; elders to babies. Second, do it immediately. The husband and wife from their intimate honeymoon suite and the priests from their quarters to their post. Third, just pray one prayer in UNITY – spare us! Get with it – NOW! And, quit embarrassing your God and yourselves by your own stubbornness and stupidity! Then…. maybe, just maybe God will forgive and relent from his just judgement and have mercy.

Lesson: when I sin, as an individual, I should recognize it and repent. I should not justify it, excuse it or pretend it will not have consequences. I should be quick to confess and admit my sin and turn from it. However, as a group, a people, a community or a church – it is even more imperative and urgent that we follow Joel’s Spirit inspired advice (warning). Call the group together- everyone of them. Quickly prioritize the gathering. And pray one unified prayer – spare us! In other words, admit, commit and confess TOGETHER.

Chances are really good that God will not only forgive, not only pour out his mercy but also FIX STUFF. Kick out the enemy, establish justice, and send new, fresh supplies of grain (to satisfy our needs), new wine (celebrating a second chance) and oil (fuel for our future) Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬. Our repentance means that God may repair the breech (covenant/contract) and restore the supply lines to our souls! What do we say? Deal or no deal?

Prayer

Dad,
I can absolutely understand trying to hold on to our personal, even national autonomy. But when it has gone so bad for so long because of our self-determined will? It just starts sounding ridiculous. To think that I would ride my will/my way off the cliff, to complete and utter destruction is just insanity. Oh, I could see myself doing it. And, sadly, I see our country doing it right now, every single day. Our little arrogant protests and parades. Our cancel culture, boycotts and incivility is ridiculous. I confess. I repent. I ask that you would help us unite in contrition and release our control back to you. Lord, hear our prayer!

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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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Proverbs catches a conundrum.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

How can God be all powerful, all knowing and all present and NOT be arrogant? Is pride the opposite of humility? Pride certainly destroys lots of things: relationships, trust, faith and opportunities. Pride and humility cannot share the same space. One defeats and displaces the other. Pride also has an oder, it stinks. People smell it and it’s repulsive. Don’t mistake confidence for pride either, one is admirable, the other deplorable.

The wisdom writers tell us that humility brings honor. Honor? I think honor only comes from the honorable. To the proud, humility brings jealousy and confrontational complexity.

Robin and I watched the brand new Season 3 of The Chosen the other day. This season is far more intimately gritty. Dallas Jenkins and the writing team have decided to dig deeply into the characters and our unique human dilemmas. Questions are asked that we’ve all wanted to ask, but have never had the guts or the platform to facilitate them.

In episode 3, Jesus returns to his childhood hometown of Nazareth. I don’t know how Dallas pulled it off but Jesus, played by Jonathan Roumie, comes off naturally, if not even awkwardly humble! Jesus is portrayed as an introvert!

And he’s not just quiet, he’s shy! He quietly arrives at night. The next day is a big celebration, a Jewish holiday that honors the day God created the world. Families and friends are all out in a field like a massive community fair. Word had spread about Jesus’ miracles and fame. Thousands had come to hear him speak, the paralyzed cure, possessed were freed from demonic slavery. The news was everywhere! Yet the writers chose to portray Jesus as almost embarrassed by all the attention! Roumie playing Jesus, deflected praise, and avoided direct questions of who he was. While playing a childhood game, they had Jesus LOSE after clumsily dropping the ball several times! When meeting with Jesus’ childhood teacher and master Rabbi. They had Roumie genuinely honoring his own teacher and giving us the feeling that it was strange to have the roles reversing as now the student was becoming the master.

Jesus, who IS God and had stared down power, veiled threats, demons and doubters, was seemingly uneasy with this shift happening in his own hometown. Oh, it’s all true, but we’ve never seen it acted out like this.

There is a scene in the local Nazareth synagogue where Jesus opens the scroll to read out of Isaiah. Roumie rolls it up and gives it back to the attendant. He then sits down and scans the room, his eyes taking in everyone that has known him and his family since he was born. His eyes, his body language are amazing. He stares at his mother, Mary. He stares at his own Rabbi. And as he stares you feel the angst and anticipation of what is about to happen. Dallas, puts you in the synagogue, the room packed with emotion.

Jesus, at this moment seems to struggle. He does not want to tell this group, his childhood friends, his own mother, and his Rabbi what MUST be revealed. It is the most powerful moment of humility that I have ever seen! Jesus, being fully God and fully human, understands the pain and confusion this news will bring to his family, friends and all of Nazareth. But Jesus HAS to tell them! He has to reveal what God has spoken, what God has declared as His will. “Today,” Jesus says, “this scripture has been fulfilled today.” In the show, the crowd that’s gathered gets super aggravated and aggressive and they press Jesus. The Rabbi comes out and asks him, are you saying you are greater than the law of Moses? Ahhhhh, here it is. How will Jesus respond, what will he say? Dallas had Roumie say this, “I AM the law of Moses!” It gave me chills, it made me cry. It wrecked me! And, it must have wrecked them as well, because they took him out on the cliffs in Nazareth to stone him for blasphemy!

Jesus would leave and never come back to his hometown because he said he was God, but didn’t act like they thought God should act!

Prayer

Dad,
When I think about humility and remember the stories Jesus told and lived. When I think about Jesus’ mannerisms and attitudes, his gentleness and kindness, it is then that I begin to understand how Your ways are above and mostly unknown to me! How could any of us be so arrogant, so puffy proud? Am I above God? Do we think we are better than you, know better than you and can finagle our own way without you? That’s just insanely ridiculous! I am sorry for my own arrogance and independence.

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I love it when a wicked plan fails!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter. Then the king asked her, “What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!” Esther‬ ‭5:2-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If one was to say, “this story reads like the script from an Oscar worthy movie.” I would agree. Except, this story is not a fairy tale or even a classic ancient novel. This is a real story captured and written to provide insight to God’s faithfulness and His justice. Maybe all the greatest stories come from real life occurrences written long ago.

This scene is dripping with tension and anticipation. It’s a plan put together from Esther and her uncle Mordecai. But, will it work? Esther is very aware of the consequences in this recorded moment. If she was not summoned, she should never just APPEAR before the king! It wasn’t just a plan, it was her life. Before Esther goes through with it, she says, “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” Esther‬ ‭4:16‬. Notice, it was “against the law,” and she was prepared to die. Whew. So, King Xerxes, seeing her in his inner court, welcomed her and held out the scepter! Wow. The King spoke those famous words, “what do you want, Queen Esther?” Up to half his kingdom if she were to ask. Esther could have just told the King her tragic story, and the future genocidal act of killing off her race, but she didn’t. The plot, the story thickens.

She wants to not only catch Haman off guard, but she wants his own pride and hubris behavior to be his greatest downfall. Esther invites the King to a great banquet and she makes sure that Haman is invited. I think the King knows there was something much deeper going on and asks Esther about it, but she sticks with the plan and tells him, just come to the banquet and you’ll find out. I don’t think Kings like surprises, but he agrees.

Haman, obviously believes it is all about him and that a great honor is coming his way. After leaving the first banquet, his arrogance, his hatred for Mordecai only grows. And his bravado only amplifies as he throws a party for himself, his family and friends all while telling them how rich and important he is. The night before the second banquet something extraordinary happens. The King had trouble sleeping. And, strangely, he asks for the royal book of records that tell of all that he and other Kings before him had accomplished. And, what do you know, King Xerxes finds this brief mention of a man that saved his life from an attempted assassination from his own trusted men. And, as he searches further, he finds no record of honoring that man for saving the king’s life. That man was Mordecai.

And as providence would have it, the King looks for the first high ranking official in his court that he can find. And who is waiting in the outer court? Yep, Haman. And why is Haman waiting to see the King? To ask the King to impale his own hated enemy – Mordecai. The King speaks first. And says, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?” Haman has no idea how off he really is. He has selfishly and wickedly thought only of himself and he wanted MORE. Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” Oh my goodness! Who could make this stuff up?

This story is a picture of what our own wickedness and bent perspective does to human beings. But it is also a picture of how God’s justice works. There were multiple times Mordecai could have turned, repented, changed his ways and humbled his heart to God to do what was right. But he would not turn. He would not yield. He would not change. You’ll have to read the rest of the story for yourself, but remember God knows how to take care of those who do right and knows how to being justice to those who continually do wrong.

Prayer

Dad,
I am always amazed at the ease that you direct our affairs to bring about our best (for those who love you) and justice to those who work wickedness to hurt others and bolster their own egos.

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The whore and the holy

Reading Time: 5 minutes

​Oh boy! I just love these real life examples of Jesus’ interactions with both the highest and lowest people on the social ladder at that time. I have so many questions as I read this story.

“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.” Luke‬ ‭7:36-38‬ ‭NLT‬‬

At first, there are no names mentioned, “one” of the Pharisees and a “certain” immoral woman from the city. Where exactly do Pharisee’s live? Since they are relatively separatists, my guess is that they lived uptown somewhere, away from the chaos of the town. And, I imagine that this Pharisee was surrounded by fellow religious leaders that made up his neighborhood. A place where privilege provided privacy. Where it was safe, egos were fed and status was earned by seemingly clean, holy living. There were no sinners there, only saints.

Where did the city-girl live? With her kind, her people. She lived and worked where the greatest concentration of traffic and opportunity would be. Where she could eek out a living, be herself, not be judged and have a certain kind of freedom of invisibility. Her neighborhood may have carried a label like Red-district, Bourbon Street or Crack Alley. Her neighborhood was where people go to purposely get lost, or lose themselves in addictions and pleasures. A place where people were quite comfortable making transactions for a moment of position, pleasure, or pain – searching, aching for peace and anything to escape their mundane lives. I doubt neither the religious leader nor the immoral woman spent much time in each other’s neighborhood.

Ah, but Jesus felt at home in both neighborhoods. He probably hated the stench of one and grieved the sight of the other, but his love compelled him to look beyond the facades of stereotypes and labels to find his mark, his mission – the human heart.

The city-girl, out of some bold desperation could not wait for Jesus to come back through her part of town, that day she decided to make her move towards life itself. She must have heard, she must have seen the kinds of things this rabbi had done. She must have felt that she could risk everything to not just get out of the hood, but out of a lifestyle that was killing her – eating away and stealing every small morsel of moral fiber she had left. This desire drove her to go uptown, to walk the cold quiet streets of glaring eyes and the invisible cloud of judgment and shame to get to the rabbi-Jesus. And with her she clutched her most prized and protected possession. She brought with her escape plan, her nest egg, her only lifeline to a possible retirement from the hell-hole from which she was either born into or chose to make a living. Bringing her alabaster jar appears to be her statement saying, “I’m never going back.” Maybe she didn’t know what she would do with her expensive retirement plan when she, if she, actually met Jesus. Maybe she was planning to pay her way into his group. Maybe she was going to give it to Jesus thus paying for her sin and hopefully the transaction would free her from a life of pain or guilt. But when she arrived at Simon’s complex and saw Jesus reclining, relaxed, possibly smiling, literally being the LIFE of the party, something overwhelmed her.

She looked at Jesus dirty feet and knew what she had to do. She decided she would go all in and use her life savings to clean the master’s feet. She didn’t care who saw her. She didn’t care what anyone in the room thought. She served the rabbi with the only things she owned, her tears, her hair as a towel and her ointment as a way to seal and heal Jesus, now clean but rough feet. And Jesus let her do it! We forget, there was so much tension in that room. It must have vacated the air, time must have slowed to a crawl and everyone one else’s brain went into shock. I’m am positive that eyes were wide, dialated and mouths were gaping open. No one could move. No words could come out of their mouths because their vocal cords were also frozen.

But Simon’s and the others thoughts were written all over their faces. It was the only thought their tiny, tightly-wound, religious minds could think – IF JESUS KNEW… Bah ha ha. If Jesus knew? Are you kidding me. IF Jesus knew? EVERYONE knew who this woman was. Her clothing, her mannerisms, her gender – oh my goodness. If Jesus knew! That is hilarious. Then Jesus speaks. What is he going to say? Jesus had 100% attention in the room. EVERYONE was absolutely captivated by this dramatic, cliff-hanging curiosity of what would happen next. It wasn’t WWJD, what would Jesus do it was WWJS, what would Jesus say?

Jesus tells Simon he has something to say. Remember Luke tells us that Jesus answered Simon’s thoughts, but Simon did not know he’d been read like a cartoon strip! I always wondered, was this Jesus’ human, gifted ability to read the room or was this a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit giving Jesus the unspoken thoughts of humans? I like to think maybe it was both! Either way, it’s important to remember Jesus did not do anything that he didn’t fully expect his followers to do as well. We can’t keep using the, “yeah, but he’s God” excuse to dodge both the gift and the responsibility of all those who believe and follow Jesus.

Then Jesus tells a story that lowers Simon’s pride and elevates God’s grace. Who has greater love? The one with the greater debt! Powerful. Especially because Simon and all the other religious leaders in the room had a wrong perspective in their heads. They believed they had zero debt to God, they were perfect because they kept most of the law. I’m fact, they believed that God owed them! What about the woman? I love the fact that Jesus never winked at, minimized or excused the woman’s own sin. That would have been dishonest and insulting to her.

Jesus said, her sins “and they are many…” have been forgiven. Done. Complete. In the past. Why? Because she cried? Because she served? Because she spent her future to care for Jesus calloused feet? No, because in her act of service she gave Jesus everything! Her repentance was in her tears, her love was in her hair, now becoming a dirty towel, and her salve/lotion gift of generosity was proof of her changed heart. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

If anyone wants to see how God looks at our human sin coming to him in brokenness, this is the picture. If anyone wants to see what makes God sick to his stomach just look at the human pride assuming that God won’t come near to those who are broken. The paradox of Simon’s sin to look down on another compared to this woman’s salvation to look up to God in repentance is stunningly clear!

PRAYER:

Dad,

Oh let me never ever forget from where I have come and from who I have come from. Help me to never look down with judgment and arrogance on a life that is not only different than mine, but much more complicated than mine. Help me to be an broker of hope, generous in grace and approachable because of your joy and peace.

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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!