Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20)
Thoughts: In our day when many sluff off responsibility, the scriptures remind us the importance of family. In our day, we like to think that women and men can equally fend for themselves- and we blatantly ignore that it takes time, money, and energy to raise children. We are called in these passages to think about the needs of our relatives and look for a way to help them. It is easy to isolate our thinking and our help from those who are in need- even if they are our own relatives and kin. I have heard many give flimsy reasons for not giving child support. A guy may want a new truck or a new kitchen while their child is going without the basics. As my grandmother used to say, "If you are responsible for bringing them into this world, you are responsible for taking care of them." Who else should be responsible? When there are so many divorces, parents need to consider caring for their biological and step children, and adult children should care for their biological parents and step parents. God places us with our neighbors and places us in our families (Psalm 68:6).
Families teach us about God's sacrificial love. You cannot keep the family together and not give something up for others. Sibling rivalry can also destroy a family. One sibling wants the stuff or the attention and let the other one go without. Scriptures teach us to be content with whatever our lot may be. Jesus had nothing, yet He teaches us by example to be content and have peace and faith in God.
But these passages also remind us- as Mother's Day comes up that we are to care for our mothers and mothers are to care for their children. We know we are called to "love our neighbor." The follow up question, "Who then is my neighbor" was answered by the parable of the Good Samaritan. The stranger who was a Jew did not deserve the Samaritan's care- but they encountered each other. It seems Jesus was saying the neighbor is the person God puts into our path. Family members are put in our path more than any other. Our neighbor is first of all our family. If we cannot love our family- then we cannot love our neighbor. I John says it even clearer, "How can you say you love God whom you have not seen... when you cannot love your brother or sister whom you have seen."
Of course this involves wisdom and being a good steward, but we are called to love our neighbor "as our self." That means we are called to do to our neighbor as we would have them do to us. We want to love our neighbor but hold something back. But that is not how Jesus loved us. He was all in- and gave Himself totally with nothing held back on the cross for us.
So give yourself more than you might like for your family. Make yourself reach out a bit more, care a bit more, be a little less jaded and more forgiving. You will find there- in the giving- the peace and blessing of God.
Prayer: Lord, help me to have the kind of grace you have to me. Help me to love my family even if they are not deserving of my love. Give me grace to be less selfish and more caring.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Friday, April 19, 2019
Good Friday
17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”b
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
22Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Thoughts: We call this Friday good because it is good for us. While the pain and passion was terrible for Jesus- Paul emphasizes here the great power of the cross. The cross is so powerful and yet it makes no worldly sense. It is more powerful than any miracle. ItTh is of greater help than any human wisdom. There were two ways that the cross seemed foolish to people who do not believe (the perishing in vs. 18).
The Jews were looking for a sign or a miracle from God to give them relief and blessing. They were looking for a Messiah to come rescue them from their oppressors (especially the Romans)- like a Moses who took them away from the Egyptians. But instead they found Jesus who became the suffering servant and the Passover Lamb. The miracle of the cross is that the infinite God came down to be a sacrifice for finite human beings. The miracle is of His love and His compassion for us.
The Greeks were looking for someone who could lead them with worldly wisdom. For them rhetoric and making things sound good and fit together was the key to life. Jesus did not seek worldly wisdom. He went to Jerusalem knowing he would die. A wise man would have avoided the pain and taught for many more years to write more books and gain more followers. Jesus, however, faced his death- willing to die a young man with only three years of ministry. But if he had not gone to the cross, he would have been another forgotten philosopher or rabbi. He allowed the claim to kingship as he entered Jerusalem on the Passover. He did not retreat from confrontation but embraced it. But as our passage reminds us- God's worst wisdom (foolishness) is better than our best wisdom.
The cross is the greatest miracle and the greatest wisdom. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that our sins can be forgiven and we can go to heaven. Because it affects everyone- it is the wisest thing that God could do to reach and save the world.
The Jews were looking for a sign or a miracle from God to give them relief and blessing. They were looking for a Messiah to come rescue them from their oppressors (especially the Romans)- like a Moses who took them away from the Egyptians. But instead they found Jesus who became the suffering servant and the Passover Lamb. The miracle of the cross is that the infinite God came down to be a sacrifice for finite human beings. The miracle is of His love and His compassion for us.
The Greeks were looking for someone who could lead them with worldly wisdom. For them rhetoric and making things sound good and fit together was the key to life. Jesus did not seek worldly wisdom. He went to Jerusalem knowing he would die. A wise man would have avoided the pain and taught for many more years to write more books and gain more followers. Jesus, however, faced his death- willing to die a young man with only three years of ministry. But if he had not gone to the cross, he would have been another forgotten philosopher or rabbi. He allowed the claim to kingship as he entered Jerusalem on the Passover. He did not retreat from confrontation but embraced it. But as our passage reminds us- God's worst wisdom (foolishness) is better than our best wisdom.
The cross is the greatest miracle and the greatest wisdom. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that our sins can be forgiven and we can go to heaven. Because it affects everyone- it is the wisest thing that God could do to reach and save the world.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your great wisdom and the miracle of the cross.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
The False Elephant
| What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." ... (1 Corinthians 1:12) The Son is the reflection of God's glory and the exact image of his being. (Hebrews 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; John 1:14). Thoughts: A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear. This is a famous parable began in the first millennium BC on the Indian subcontinent- popularized by Buddhism and claimed by Jainism and Hinduism. John Godfrey Saxe popularized it in America by a poem describing religions- pointing out that no one really knows God. But there is a real problem here (that Leslie Newbigin and others have pointed out). The problem is that we think we see the elephant. We easily put ourselves in the position of someone who knows better than all the blind people and we can see they only see a part of the story- while we see the whole thing. Thus, instead of helping, we are only creating another viewpoint. Truth is, we all are blind to God and we need God to reveal Himself to us- to open our eyes. We do not deserve such healing, but God is gracious. Christians believe in Jesus- the Word made flesh. He came to help us see who God really is. He is, as scripture says, "The exact image of the invisible God." He is the Word made flesh. God did not leave us in our blindness, but in love came down so we could see what He is like. He would have us point others to this healing of the eyes of our soul. Jesus shows us that the creator of our eyes is also able to open the eyes of the blind. The Apostle Paul knew this and changed from a persecutor of the church into its biggest advocate. As John Newton put it- "I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." Prayer: Open my eyes, Holy Spirit, to yourself. Help me to humbly and graciously grow in knowledge and love for you.  |
By Illustrator unknown - From Augusta Stevenson, Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, Houghton Mifflin (Boston), From Charles Maurice Stebbins & Mary H. Coolidge, Golden Treasury Readers: Primer, American Book Co. (New York), p. 17., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4581188
Friday, March 22, 2019
Postmodernism and Temptation
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil....
Thoughts; Certainly part of the Lenten discipline is to think about what tempts us and to resist that temptation. This is why fasting or giving up something for Lent comes from. For Christians the reality of evil and thus the possibility of our slipping into it by giving into temptation are very real.
Yet for the secular west, this is seen as not a universal reality but only an individual or group reality. In an effort to tolerate everyone, we have become "value neutral." Value neutrality is basically the idea that you do your thing and I'll do mine- and lets not hurt one another. But value neutrality is a value in and of itself. It elevates neutrality and tolerance above any truth that any religion or value system may have. It closes its ears to listen and sits as an arbiter of fairness. It is not "fair" for one religion to have precedent over another therefore all religions are alike. But this in itself is not fair to reality. It basically means that there are no false religions. So anyone can make up anything- I can say my worship of the great pumpkin is as good as your worship of Jesus Christ. The Machiavellian philosophy of lying to get ahead- is seen as just as good as the Christian virtue of honesty at all costs. But the other thing that value-neutrality (or postmodernism) does is that it says "it really doesn't matter." This is the true problem. For it says there is no ultimate meaning- thus no ultimate purpose- thus no ultimate goal- thus no ultimate hope. To say there is no ultimate God- is to say there is no ultimate truth- (or another version is we cannot know God or know truth- this is the same result- pragmatic atheism). Despite all the comforts of life- low unemployment, being among the highest wage earners in the world- there is a sad hopelessness found in our society.
Postmodernism is a reaction to our differences- but it has itself divided us- because it does not value love. Christians are to hold the truth in love and hold it humbly. We are to remember that all people are by their creation worthy of our respect as a life- made in the image of God. We are to remember that all people- even the worst of us- has the opportunity to be redeemed by what Christ did for us on the cross (none of us deserve that). So Christians are to respect post-modernists, and people of all different kind of faiths- and work with them for the good of where we mutually live.
Lead us not into temptation takes on new meaning if we think there is no such thing as ultimate evil or even real temptation. Jesus did not flinch at pointing out the reality of evil in this life. Believers believe in our hope and our goal of honoring and enjoying God.
Postmodernists main temptation is to give up because there is no hope. It is easy to say the goal is unachievable or unknowable therefore we should give up pretending to be good and live by our own feelings. This reflects in the number of people in the secular west who give up on life (suicide) or duck out of life (drug abuse). Or the other temptation is to pretend to have the answer- when even such pretension is just a play. To believe you have the answer- when you do not is a kind of false hope and false pride.
Christians admit there is a way to be lost and hopeless- but we have been rescued from it by God's grace.
Thoughts; Certainly part of the Lenten discipline is to think about what tempts us and to resist that temptation. This is why fasting or giving up something for Lent comes from. For Christians the reality of evil and thus the possibility of our slipping into it by giving into temptation are very real.
Yet for the secular west, this is seen as not a universal reality but only an individual or group reality. In an effort to tolerate everyone, we have become "value neutral." Value neutrality is basically the idea that you do your thing and I'll do mine- and lets not hurt one another. But value neutrality is a value in and of itself. It elevates neutrality and tolerance above any truth that any religion or value system may have. It closes its ears to listen and sits as an arbiter of fairness. It is not "fair" for one religion to have precedent over another therefore all religions are alike. But this in itself is not fair to reality. It basically means that there are no false religions. So anyone can make up anything- I can say my worship of the great pumpkin is as good as your worship of Jesus Christ. The Machiavellian philosophy of lying to get ahead- is seen as just as good as the Christian virtue of honesty at all costs. But the other thing that value-neutrality (or postmodernism) does is that it says "it really doesn't matter." This is the true problem. For it says there is no ultimate meaning- thus no ultimate purpose- thus no ultimate goal- thus no ultimate hope. To say there is no ultimate God- is to say there is no ultimate truth- (or another version is we cannot know God or know truth- this is the same result- pragmatic atheism). Despite all the comforts of life- low unemployment, being among the highest wage earners in the world- there is a sad hopelessness found in our society.
Postmodernism is a reaction to our differences- but it has itself divided us- because it does not value love. Christians are to hold the truth in love and hold it humbly. We are to remember that all people are by their creation worthy of our respect as a life- made in the image of God. We are to remember that all people- even the worst of us- has the opportunity to be redeemed by what Christ did for us on the cross (none of us deserve that). So Christians are to respect post-modernists, and people of all different kind of faiths- and work with them for the good of where we mutually live.
Lead us not into temptation takes on new meaning if we think there is no such thing as ultimate evil or even real temptation. Jesus did not flinch at pointing out the reality of evil in this life. Believers believe in our hope and our goal of honoring and enjoying God.
Postmodernists main temptation is to give up because there is no hope. It is easy to say the goal is unachievable or unknowable therefore we should give up pretending to be good and live by our own feelings. This reflects in the number of people in the secular west who give up on life (suicide) or duck out of life (drug abuse). Or the other temptation is to pretend to have the answer- when even such pretension is just a play. To believe you have the answer- when you do not is a kind of false hope and false pride.
Christians admit there is a way to be lost and hopeless- but we have been rescued from it by God's grace.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
A Lesson from Patrick
I arise today through
God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to see before me,
God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me, God's host to secure me –
against snares of devils,
against temptations and vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who shall wish me
ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd...
Christ, be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit,
Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. (Patrick's Breastplate Prayer- summary)
The Lord will watch over your going in and your coming out from this time and forevermore. (Ps. 121)
Thoughts: Patrick's story was amazing. He had been kidnapped by pirates, taken as a slave for six years, then escaped back home. That should have been the end of his adventures. But he had a vision of the Irish speaking to him asking him to "come and walk amongst us." This is similar to Paul's vision to come to Europe for the first time with the Gospel. He went back to those who enslaved him as a missionary. At the end someone said, "When Patrick came there were no Christians, when he left there were no pagans." He was a missionary to the people in the neighboring country. We should care about people in the next area from ours - that they too will have to gospel. Patrick risked everything to go back, and he faced fierce opposition. But he had such a heart that these people living in darkness would see the light of Christ. He baptized thousands, spoke boldly, built monasteries all ove.
Prayer: Lord, protect me so that i might make a difference in my life for eternity in the lives of others.
God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to see before me,
God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me, God's host to secure me –
against snares of devils,
against temptations and vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who shall wish me
ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd...
Christ, be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit,
Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. (Patrick's Breastplate Prayer- summary)
The Lord will watch over your going in and your coming out from this time and forevermore. (Ps. 121)
6After the Holy Spirit prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. 7And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)
Thoughts: Patrick's story was amazing. He had been kidnapped by pirates, taken as a slave for six years, then escaped back home. That should have been the end of his adventures. But he had a vision of the Irish speaking to him asking him to "come and walk amongst us." This is similar to Paul's vision to come to Europe for the first time with the Gospel. He went back to those who enslaved him as a missionary. At the end someone said, "When Patrick came there were no Christians, when he left there were no pagans." He was a missionary to the people in the neighboring country. We should care about people in the next area from ours - that they too will have to gospel. Patrick risked everything to go back, and he faced fierce opposition. But he had such a heart that these people living in darkness would see the light of Christ. He baptized thousands, spoke boldly, built monasteries all ove.
Prayer: Lord, protect me so that i might make a difference in my life for eternity in the lives of others.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Lenten Devotional through Easter
LMPC has designed a Lenten Devotional book called, "Hope in Lent"
Click here to go to a PDF version that brings you a devotion through Easter.
Click here to go to a PDF version that brings you a devotion through Easter.
Saturday, March 2, 2019
The Transfiguration
1After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus. 4Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.
7Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. (Matthew 17:1-8)
Thoughts: The Transfiguration is one of the great Christian holy days. It remembers Jesus is both human and divine. It notes that Jesus is greater than both Moses and Elijah who were also told to "listen to him" by the voice of the Father. On Jesus the shekinah glory of God shown. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son of God (Jesus) is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. John, who witnessed this would later write (Jn. 1:3), "We have seen his glory- the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father.
But it was from this point that Jesus set his face like flint toward Jerusalem, knowing He must go there to fulfill His purpose to die as the Great Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). At His baptism Jesus also heard the same voice saying, "This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased" (Mt. 3:17). The voice at the Transfiguration adds, "Listen to Him" as a reminder that even Moses and Elijah representing the Law and the Prophets were to listen to the Word of God incarnate. Both Moses and Elijah went on a mountain to experience the face (presence) of God. Moses came down with his face glowing in reflection- so that they had to put a veil over him. One day in heaven there will be no sun or moon light nor light of a lamp or bulb but God's shekinah glory will be lighting the way (Rev. 21:5).
But it was from this point that Jesus set his face like flint toward Jerusalem, knowing He must go there to fulfill His purpose to die as the Great Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). At His baptism Jesus also heard the same voice saying, "This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased" (Mt. 3:17). The voice at the Transfiguration adds, "Listen to Him" as a reminder that even Moses and Elijah representing the Law and the Prophets were to listen to the Word of God incarnate. Both Moses and Elijah went on a mountain to experience the face (presence) of God. Moses came down with his face glowing in reflection- so that they had to put a veil over him. One day in heaven there will be no sun or moon light nor light of a lamp or bulb but God's shekinah glory will be lighting the way (Rev. 21:5).
Prayer: Lord, transfigure me after your image. Change me and make me a new creation.
Raphael's Transfiguration
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