Monthly Archives: April 2010

Cravings

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As I was praying the Daily Office this morning, the New Testament reading for today really caught my attention.  Today, 1 Peter 1: 1-5 says:

1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Two things stuck out to me today, and made me really look within myself today.

First, we are told to crave (or long) pure spiritual milk.  We are supposed to crave that time with God. We are supposed to crave being with God.  Do you?  Do I?  Do we crave time with God like we would crave our favorite treat?

And, if you can’t get what you crave, you will go to any length to get it.  If we can’t get that chocolate, or whatever, we’ll sneak off, we’ll hoard, we’ll do whatever we can to get it.

Do we do whatever we can to spend time with God?  Do we crave it?

Do we crave spending time with God? Do we desire it?

Or, do we see it as a hassle at worst, or something we have to do at best?

Just a baby craves it’s bottle, so we should crave being with God. Do we?

But notice why we are to crave.  To grow.  Just a milk causes a child to grow, this spiritual milk we receive from God will cause our faith to grow. Just like we are made living stones, like the true living stone, we are made such to be build into something greater.

You are not made to stay as you are.  You are called to be more. You are called to be something more than you are right now.  God has something great for you. God has something awesome for you.  God has amazing plans for you.

He wants to transform  you into something awesome.

But, His work with us is often driven by our craving for Him. The more time with spend with Him, the more He can transform us.  The less time, the less He can transform.

Do you crave Him this morning? Do you desire Him?  Today, may we realize that life is found in Him, and no where else.  May we crave Him, and the life that He gives.

Forgetful

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Today in my morning prayers, what spoke to me the most wasn’t a verse of scripture, it was one of the prayers I prayed out of the Book of Common Prayer.  It was the collect for guidance and it reads as follows:

O heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray thee so to guide and govern us by thy Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget thee, but may remember that we are ever walking in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The reason this spoke to me is that it forced me to address and think about what can be one of the greatest hindrances to my walk with God. I can forget.  

Not forget about God, mind you.  But, forget to pray throughout the day. Forget to turn my thoughts to Him. Forget to keep Him my primary focus. Turn my attention, my heart, my passion, my desire, my everything to something other than God.

And, in doing that, I get myself in trouble.  I can just get so busy in my day that I forget.  I forget about God.

And I’m going to guess I’m not the only one.  This prayer today made me look at myself and realize that I need to make God my primary focus all day long.  And I know that.

But, I forget.

Lord, help us to remember to keep you in the front of our thoughts and minds today.  Let us not forget you.

The Long View

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I had a professor of mine that used to always talk to us about the notion that the Christian faith is not just a future thing, it is a now thing.  It is a present thing. I’ve always liked that.

We’d don’t follow Jesus to simply get into heaven.  We don’t follow Jesus to avoid hell.  Now, both ofthose things are good things and things I’d like to do!  But the great thing about the life found in Jesus Christ is that it is life that is found today.

Right now.

In this moment.

As Christians, we aren’t just living for the future. We are living for today.  We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience the power and joy and grace of God. We can experience that right now.  As Jesus taught us in John 10:10 – we can have that abundant life. Today.  Right now.

And that’s kind of my default position.  I know heaven will be great and awesome and all that. But, I don’t worry too much about it at this point in my life.  I feel like this life, lived to God, is pretty awesome too.

But, Paul gives us (and especially me) a very healthy reminder today in 1 Corinthians 15

30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31 I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you-a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
33 Do not be deceived:
“Bad company ruins good morals.”

If there is no life beyond this life, than this make this life all that matters.  If there is no life beyond this life, then where is the need for bravery?  For courage?  For doing what is right, no matter what?

In this life, we need the courage to do what God calls us to. Sometimes it’s scary. Sometimes its terrifying. Sometimes we don’t want to do it, we are afraid of the results, we are afraid of the response people will give us.

We are just scared.

That’s when we need to take the long view.  This life is not the end. There is something greater and better for us. There is a true life, beyond this life, we are a peace with God completely and know the life He has truly intended for us.

And to me, that gives me even more courage and desire to fully live here on the earth!  For I know that God is with me, and I have nothing to worry about!

And this moment, whatever it is that is just killing you. That is worrying you.  That is taking your joy, you sleep, you life, you hope.  It will pass.  It is not the end of your life.  Don’t take the short view. The view of only today.

Take the long view.  There is life beyond this that you made for.  Live fully!  Live boldly!  God is with you!  You have nothing to fear!  You were made for more than this moment.  You were made for eternity.  May that knowledge  help us to live for God with all that we are, in this moment.

Why am I so Stupid?

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Today I was praying and thinking about the inability to stop doing stupid things.  You know how it is, you know what I mean. We, as humans, don’t learn our lessons well sometimes. We keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. We keep falling in the same holes, we keep getting tripped up by the same things.

As I asked God this morning when I was praying, “God why am I so stupid?”  That’s how I feel sometimes.  I think we each feel that way sometimes too.

Then, I was reading the assigned Psalm for today’s morning office, Psalm 103.  Here’s the part that most spoke to me:

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and forget not all his benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins *
and heals all your infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave *
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things, *
and your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
6 The LORD executes righteousness *
and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses *
and his works to the children of Israel.
8 The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 He will not always accuse us, *
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, *
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, *
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, *
so far has he removed our sins from us.
13 As a father cares for his children, *
so does the LORD care for those who fear him.
14 For he himself knows whereof we are made; *
he remembers that we are but dust.
15 Our days are like the grass; *
we flourish like a flower of the field;
16 When the wind goes over it, it is gone, *
and its place shall know it no more.
17 But the merciful goodness of the LORD endures for ever on those who fear him, *and his righteousness on children’s children;

There seems to be two refrains. We are weak and frail.  Our lives are but a whisper. We are the grass of the field. We are temporary. We will not be here for long. We are weak.  We are clumsy.  We fall down.

God is eternal.  God is love. God longs to show mercy to His children.  Why we are here for just a moment, God was here before we got here and will be here after we leave.  He is before and after us.  He is God.

And, He knows we are frail and weak.  He knows we are clumsy.  He knows we fall.  He knows we get tripped up.  He knows we are from the dust.

And He loves us anyway.  He loves us in spite of our weakness.  He loves us.

His love is greater than our mistakes. His strength is stronger than our weakness.  His mercy is deeper than our sins.  No matter what we’ve done.  He loves us.  He loves you today, no matter if you’ve done the same dumb thing yesterday that you’ve done for years.

He might not like what you’ve done.  He might not delight in your sin.

But He loves you.  He delights in you.  You are loved, no matter what.

I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear this Psalm today. It’s a good thing to know that I’m loved, no matter what.  So are you today.  You are love, in spite of it all.

Live in that knowledge.

Remember Your Chains

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Today, a few words from 1 Corinthians 15 that stood out to me:

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them-though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul today says that he understands because of some of the stuff he did before his conversion (persecution of the church, the stoning of Stephen) that he has worked harder than the rest.  He knows that because of all that he has done, he has a debt, something that he feels like he needs to make clean for his own good.

Paul remembers where he has come from.  I think that’s a good thing.  One of my favorite songs by Steven Curtis Chapman is entitled “Remember your Chains” and this song shares with Paul this notion that we should remember where we come from.  We should remember that we were not always who we are now.  We should remember that it was God’s grace that saved us.

We need to remember that we are not perfect and have never been perfect. God has brought us a long way.

And, we need to remember to be merciful and grace that have not yet excepted the grace of God. For we were once there ourselves.  We are no better than them, or anyone.  It’s all about God’s grace.

God has shown us mercy.  We need to remember what God has done for us.  I know for me, that helps me to show mercy and grace to others. God has forgive me SO much.  How can I not show mercy and grace?

Even when I don’t want to. Even when they don’t deserve it.  Because I didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness of me. And He gave it anyway.

Remember where you have been.  Remember where God has brought you. Remember to forgive each other. As God has forgiven you.

Yes, it’s Friday. But Sunday’s Coming

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Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.

All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;

my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;

I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;

they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise theLord. May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,

and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

This was the Psalm that Jesus quoted upon the cross. This Psalm shows His pain, His hurt, His fear.

We forget that Jesus was not just fully God.  He was fully human.  He felt pain.  He felt hurt.  He felt loss. He felt abandonment.  He felt all this.

Let us never forget all He endured.  Let us never forget the depth of His love.  Let us never forget all He gave.  Let us never forget.

And, let us remember how this Psalm ends. With rejoicing. For while the Psalm begins with abandonment, it ends with God’s victory and redemption.

So does today.  Yes, it’s Friday.  But Sunday’s Coming.

Acolyte and/or preacher in Training

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Sarah wanted to help me light the candles before church tonight