​31 August 2021
A Stew of Consequences
Hebrews 11:21
It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.

For most of Jacob’s story, he lives the consequences of his mother’s plotting. We say all the time: Who knows what God would have done without human interference? Maybe he would’ve not had to flee from home, maybe he’d never get ripped off by his uncle (they could have sent for a wife like his father’s parents had done), and maybe he would’ve ended up with just one wife. AND still, all God’s promises would have happened in his life because they happened anyway. He did, in fact, become the father of a whole new nation, but God’s promises without human consequences is way better.

Proverbs 10:22 says it this way:
The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

The sorrows we live with are not a result of God’s blessings. 

We learn from Hebrews 11 that in Jacob’s old age he worships leaning on his staff, a staff he probably earned after a literal wrestling match with God.

How many of us look back and wish we could’ve gotten a message to our younger selves before we make really bad decisions? We see Jacob’s mistakes over the years, but he most certainly died a godly man. How so? Because God doesn’t hold our sins against us like he could. God is kind. God knows we are weak. He deals with us like a Father not a mean boss.  (See Psalm 103)

Knowing these truths about God’s character and the default setting of my own character should impact the way I live today. Just because I am like Rebekah and Jacob, doesn’t mean I have to do what they did.

Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. (Hebrews 13:7) Leaders are human and make mistakes too, but scripture doesn’t say to copy those.

I hope whatever shape I’m in when I’m Jacob’s age, that I am found worshiping God and acknowledging his goodness, even if it’s while leaning on a staff, lying in a bed, or rolling around in a wheelchair–and not wallowing in my own stew of consequences.

Dear God,
Look what you do! In spite of our best efforts to thwart your plans, you still blessed this man and his whole family for generations. They mess things up just like I do, but you never tell us to sleep in the bed we’ve made. You get us out of the bed and help us make it. You are indeed kind and good, and I love you with all my heart, and thank you, and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​30 August 2021
Libation
2 Timothy 4:6
As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 

The Drink Offering is the one that is poured out. All the other sacrifices in the Old Testament had some sort of shared consumption aspect, but the Drink Offering was poured out and not used by anyone–seemingly “wasted.” My African Studies professor in college talked about “libation” and similar tribal practices where drinks are ceremoniously poured out on the ground for the people being remembered. Recently, the internet had a viral picture last week of a restaurant with 13 chairs with 13 beers at an empty table commemorating the 13 servicemen who just died tragically in Afghanistan. Those beers eventually got poured down a drain; no one ever drank them. But every American understands that it was most certainly not a waste of beer. 

When Paul talks about his life being a Drink Offering, it means he gives everything of himself to the One he serves. Some would look at his life and see it being a total waste looking at all he had accomplished in the past and all he gave up. But the same man who described his life a Drink Offering also wrote this: So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58) If everything I do for the Lord is never useless, then giving him my life as a drink offering is no waste of time, talent, or resources at all.

Paul also wrote: Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Colossians 3:23) Regular people might not understand why Believers do what we do; it looks like a waste to them. Serving at church every Sunday seems like a waste of a perfectly good day off. Not getting even with people who are mean seems like we let people “walk all over us.” And seeking God’s will in all we do is constantly misunderstood as backwards and irrelevant for modern times. But it is not. For those who follow Jesus, we choose to give our lives back to the One who gave his life or us.

So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Dear God,
Help me remember that I willingly give my life as an offering to YOU. My goals are not to get you to do things for me but for me to be shown by you how to serve you today. Help me go places and have conversations that are lead by you and not of a personal or worldly agenda. I love you and thank you for all you have done for me, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​11 August 2021
Changing the Way I Think
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

I have learned that the one thing is that is the worst thing for my heart is to compare myself to someone else. Whether it is what they are doing or what they have, comparing it to myself & my stuff is not good. The reason that it’s dangerous is that what I’m seeing is often largely inaccurate.

Moms are the worst. When they talk to each other they can often get carried away with their ideal over reality. When our kids were young, I met a fellow homeschooling mom who shared about making costumes and authentic food from the classic literature they were reading. I felt really inadequate as my homeschooling day never looked liked that. A successful day for me would be one day in a row without someone crying over math. I quickly solved my problem by not hanging out with that mom anymore. She actually had one kid who was into it, but the costumes and food was torture for the other one who wanted to just play outside. That’s just it: We do not even get an accurate picture of what we are comparing ourselves to! So, to think, Aw, I wish I was like her... is actually impossible because not even her is like her!

Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think...
Our feelings lie to us; everyone knows that. What I must also remember is that my perception can lie to me too. What I covet about someone else’s life probably isn’t accurate in the first place. Don’t keep up with the Joneses; don’t look over the fence; the grass is not greener. All these are secular sayings that don’t actually change the way I think. Only God helps me change the way I think. It is a power from him that I need that I do not have on my own.

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 

Only God can make such a fittingly bold claim: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. That’s where I get the ability and confidence to not compare myself or my life to anyone else’s. If God were absent, I would totally be relying on inaccurate humans to navigate life & copy their behavior so hopefully things turn out well for me. But God is not absent; he is ever present! God is dealing personally with me, providing for me personally, instructing me personally – not in a group. So I don’t need to compare myself to the group of people that is not me.

Dear God,
Thank you for rescuing me from being discontent by changing the way I think. Thank you that I don’t need to copy anyone else but simply trust you to equip me for my day not someone else’s. Thank you for what I have and for the heart to be glad for others to have what they have. You are kind and generous to all not just some, and I love you, and I just can’t thank you enough, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​9 August 2021
The Waiting Room
Psalm 27:14
Wait patiently for the Lord.
    Be brave and courageous.
    Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Yesterday at church, we were talking about waiting on the Lord. This verse from Psalm 27 gives some neglected insight to what waiting actually looks like. Waiting involves courage.

Thankfully God gives courage (see 2Timothy 1:7). But why does waiting require it?

When we are not making things happen, things don’t happen. The unknown makes us worry. Fear creeps in when we don’t know what’s going to happen next, so people often make protective decisions. The problem is, most of our self-preserving mechanisms have undesired consequences. It takes bravery to step into the unknown, the uncomfortable and unplanned. 

But God sees everything. Nothing to him is unknown. When I remind myself I’m the toddler in the child/Father relationship we have, it helps with my perspective. He sees what I won’t. He knows what I don’t. He does what I can’t. So if I live in a season of waiting on HIM to act, then that’s exactly what I should do.

Dear God,
I am sure you prefer me to have all my decisions, actions and conversations include the power of your Holy Spirit whom you generously give to all who believe in your Son. Help me to resist the trap of branching out on my own, doing what seems fine with me, without waiting on your leading, door opening and will. Help me remember today that you see everything, and I can confidently wait on you. I love you and that you for courage and comfort, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​5 August 2021
Really Super Stubborn Faith
Revelation 16:9
Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.

No one finds a study in End Times a delightful way to start the day, but it certainly is interesting. Revelation 16 describes the 7 judgments to come & number 4 caught my attention today...

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.  (Revelation 16:8-9)

These people obviously still have time to repent because it clearly states still they did not repent or turn to God at all. This typically astonishes Believers similar to the history of Pharaoh still not letting the Israelites go after plague after plague. The reason is simple. The ungodly practice ungodliness. Training oneself in wickedness is a religious practice.

I am just as stubborn about my faith. No bad news, bad luck, bad circumstances or actual acts of Satan will ever talk me out of trusting and believing in the One, True, Living, Almighty God. So the reverse must also be true. The ungodly are just as stubborn about who they worship as I am. Not even horrible sores, blood water, or deadly scorching heat will change their minds. 

And when the going will get really hard for me, my plan is to still be stubbornly faithful to the One I follow – and that’s the plan of the wicked too – faithfully follow the one they’ve always endorsed and worshiped to the very end.

Dear God,
You are great and greatly to be praised. Help me make a practice of trusting in you and obeying you and being brave so I will never be swayed. Give me beautiful, rigorous, stubborn faith. You are good in all your ways; may I never forget. I love you and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​4 August 2021
I am not Stuck!
Galatians 5:16
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

We do what we know, y’know? My doctor’s dad is a retired doctor. My friend’s son took over his the family business. My parents were both teachers and so are 2 out of their 3 kids. My husband is a pastor and so was his dad. His dad was a business major in college and so was his daughter. Do you see where I’m going with this? We are either drawn to the same things through DNA or we simply just do what we know. It’s great. The downside is that we can also, intentionally or unintentionally, pick up familiar ungodly habits.

On Sunday, Rob was reminding us from Hebrews 11 how Abraham & Isaac both tell their wives at some point to tell people they’re siblings which had horrible repercussions for the unsuspecting potentially dangerous strangers. Isaac & Jacob both resorted to extreme favoritism among their children and it brought horrible consequences. We’ll never know how God would have executed HIS plans because of the human interference by these fathers and sons. Perhaps these parents focused too much on what THEY did over how God graciously bailed them out.

A parent who accidentally or purposefully doesn’t paint God with grace and mercy won’t parent with any either. And even though no one pays for someone else’s sin (see Ezekiel 18), clearly we do naturally follow our examples.

Thankfully, no one is STUCK! No one has to live what has been passed on to them (anger, adultery, impatience, manipulation, etc). No one. God has graciously given everyone who believes in his Son his Holy Spirit who will absolutely intervene with all our choices and conversations just like God would’ve done for Abraham, Isaac & Jacob had they LET him.

Galatians 5:16
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

Dear God,
Please interfere in my plans today. Please help me accurately portray you to my family so they aren’t tricked into assigning broken human attributes to you. You are great and amazing and full of grace and mercy and do not treat us harshly or punish as we deserve. (Psalm 103) Help me be like you and pass that on. I love you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

​2 August 2021
Flawed and Faithful
Hebrews 11:8-9
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.

By faith... In God’s economy, those who live by believing him are remembered for their faith and not for their mistakes. The reason is simple: Everyone makes mistakes, sins, and is horribly flawed, BUT NOT EVERYONE IS FAITHFUL. 

Rob used a great illustration in his message yesterday about this. He pointed out that we have been married for thirty years. And in those years we have exhibited mistakes, sins & flaws. But we are still married, and we never stopped pursuing marriage the whole time. We are flawed and faithful.

The Heroes of Faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 are sinners just like me. The pursuit of believing and trusting God at the same time puts all Believers in a separate category than the group of people who only have their human nature going for them. Living by faith means that God knows what we meant to do or wish we’d done even though we didn’t do it. 

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  (Colossians 3:2-3)

I’m not always a good wife, but I sure meant to be, and we are still married.
I don’t often react to situations and people like Jesus, but I want to and I mean to, and Jesus still lets me follow him.

I’d rather be flawed with faith than just plain flawed.

Hebrews 11 goes on to explain people like Abraham, But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (v.16)

The people flawed with faith look forward to living with God forever and live there how we always meant to live!

Dear God,
Thank you for knowing who I am and who I mean to be today even though we both know I am still full of my human nature. Thank you for helping me, giving me the option to follow you, and preparing a heavenly home for me to be with your Son, Jesus, for forever, in whose name I pray, amen.