Author: Bryan Richardson

Bryan Richardson is the Associate Pastor for Counseling and Pastoral Ministries at FBCSA.

Remember

Re: Verse reading—Matthew 18:21-35 (day three)

“Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” The ability to forgive does not come from mustering up the fortitude to forgive, or from trying really hard to forgive, or from reminding yourself that you need to forgive. The ability to forgive, Jesus reveals through the story he tells to Peter, comes from remembering how much you’ve been forgiven. Until you do that, forgiveness lies out of reach. Never forget how much you’ve been forgiven. If you will remember, you can forgive.

Sight

Re: Verse reading–Matthew 13:1-23 (day three)

“Blessed are your eyes because they see.” Some eyes see revelation, others see barriers. So it was when men looked at Christ. Some looked at him and saw a Savior. Others looked at him and saw a hindrance. Some saw him as the Son of God, others as useful revolutionary. Such observation continues in our day. Some see him as the Lord who will make us holy and acceptable to God, others see him as an inspirational teacher who will coach us to become our best selves. But what kind of sight did Jesus call blessed? He called blessed the sight that perceives Jesus as the one who will lead us into life under the reign of God. That means we forsake our plans, our ambitions, and our “best selves” for life as his apprentice. Do you see this?

Look

Re: Verse reading–Matthew 7:1-27 (day three)

“Knock and the door will be opened to you.” We are not anonymous blips of static echoing in an indifferent, unresponsive expanse. To the contrary, the Bible teaches us that the universe will yield to our questions. The scriptures invite us to ask, seek, knock, question, inquire, wrestle, cry out, call, pursue, search. God will be found. How serious are you about looking?

See

Re: Verse reading–Matthew 6:19-34 (day three)

“The eye is the lamp of the body.” We think we know what we’re looking at. But do we? Jesus says maybe not. Do you know how to tell the difference between something that will last into the age to come and something that won’t? Jesus tells us clearly that there are such things that will last and such things that will crumble. Are you learning which is which? The words Jesus speaks in this passage–and his words and actions from other passages–will teach us how to see what lasts and what doesn’t. If we will believe it, the Bible will help us learn to see the world like Jesus sees the world.

Now

Re:Verse reading–Matthew 5:17-48 (day three)

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” It’s common to think of “kingdom of heaven” as a synonym for the afterlife. But Jesus is talking about life under the reign of God, whether that life takes place now or after we die. Jesus lived in the kingdom of heaven even as he walked the earth. Therefore, to live in the kingdom of heaven is to live–right now, not merely later–the kind of life that Jesus lives. That is the only kind of life that will last forever, and only Jesus–no other “righteousness expert”–can teach us that life. Part of what it means to “accept Jesus” is to become his apprentices so that he can teach us how to live under God’s reign.

Kingdom

Re:Verse reading–Romans 14:1-21 (day three)

“The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking.” Just what, then, is the kingdom of God a matter of? If it isn’t a distinct way of living, a particular method of conducting our affairs, a penchant for upending expectations, then why are we learning all this stuff? Paul refocuses our thinking. It is possible for us to get into the habit of calling our behavior “counter-cultural”, when it’s actually a version of “I thank thee that I am not like this tax collector.”   Paul instead grounds the kingdom in God’s sovereign intent for humanity: righteousness, peace, and joy. Don’t look for “better behavior”; look for righteousness. Don’t look for agreement among like-minded people; look for peace. Don’t look for satisfaction; look for joy. Where you find those three, you will find God’s kingdom.

Defer

Re:Verse reading–Romans 13 (day three)

“Let everyone be subject…” Apparently there is no such thing as everlasting life without submission to others. Whether in biological submission–“honor thy father and thy mother”–or in spiritual submission–“the one in authority is God’s servant”–life that lasts places itself in the presence of others in order to obey or serve or listen or grow. Even the Godhead lives in eternal deference to each of the persons of the Trinity: “[The Son] can  only do what he sees his Father doing”; “[The Spirit] will speak only what he hears”; “This is my Son; listen to him.” Any life that is eternal will always lay itself down for others. There is no life outside of such a fellowship. Let us obey whom we must obey, and serve whom we must serve. Therein lies life.

 

Strategy

Re: Verse reading — Romans 12 (day three)

“Overcome evil with good.” In our world of “culture wars” and “love wins” and “right and wrong side of history”, we can come to believe that we fulfill our calling by striving to keep the forces of the devil from advancing. But the question is not, “Will evil conquer the world?” Rather, the question is, “Will we become good?” Paul tells us to become transformed by the renewing of our minds, and to set our minds on things above instead of earthly things–on the good that must take root in our lives rather than the bad that threatens us in this world. Self-inventory in the presence of our Lord is always the harder task. But unless we submit to his transforming discipline, we will never think like Christ when it comes time to act against evil.

Imagine

Re:Verse reading–Romans 9:1-8, Romans 10:1-21 (day three)

“It is not as though God’s word had failed.” We think we know how events must happen if they’re going to happen; otherwise, they aren’t happening. We’ve thought that way for a long time: Moses striking the rock instead of speaking to it; Saul offering the sacrifice instead of Samuel; Nicodemus asking how these things can be. When the particular anticipated moment they had imagined never came, often the people became afraid that God had failed or bitter that he had failed to act. So when we feel the same way, we join a long line of small thinkers. God is much greater than we can imagine, though, Paul says elsewhere. What if God does something in a different way than you thought it needed to happen? Has God failed–or are you about to learn something?

Liberate

Re:Verse reading–Romans 8:18-39 (day three)

“The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay.” God has placed creation at the mercy of man (“subjected it to futility” is how Paul puts it). We are to steward this creation. We have the power to do so, and that power is indeed great. We begin to see how great when we read that all of creation–all of it–is in the throes of decay. That’s our doing. In our sinfulness, we corrupt everything we touch. The sheer scale of the ruin we have visited on this universe–ruin of spirit, body, society, nature–is staggering. But God has given a hope-filled promise concerning all of creation–that he will liberate it as he makes all things new. Do you treat spirit, body, society, and nature as if you are now part of God’s liberation?