Tag: Lord

Starting with Nothing

Re: Verse reading–Deuteronomy 8:10-18; Matthew 25:14-30 (day five)

14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.”  In this parable what can the slaves call their own?  What do they actually begin with?  Nothing.  They are slaves.  They depend on the master for food, clothing, shelter, and provisions.  Then he gives them “talents”.  It’s a humble place to start, but I believe that it leads to an insightful perspective.  Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”.

I read this week in an article “the more you own, the less freedom you have.”  It made me pause and think.  I wonder however, if these passages might change our perspective of the Lord and ourselves.  What about this:  The more we “steward” the more freedom (and joy) we gain.  Something to think and pray about.

Making the most

Re: Verse reading–Deuteronomy 8:10-18; Matthew 25:14-30 (day two)
Recently I read an article of a former classmate of mine who has just been named to a highly esteemed position in the early music world in New York City. I was delighted to hear of his success, but then the inner voices began; you know the ones. He’s younger than you…this will bring him fame, and fortune…look at all his success. It is so easy to covet and lose sight of what God has done for each of us. As I reread the Parable of the Talents, I was quickly reminded to make the most of what God had given to me. God’s measure of success is vastly different from mine, and it would be folly to think that I know how to better use my gifts than the Lord. God has uniquely blessed each of us, and we are to find a way to cultivate it, so there will be a great return on His investment.

Footwashing followers

RE Verse reading–Mark 10:35-45; John 13:12-17; James 2:14-17 (day six)  “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”  (John 13:14)  Washing feet was stinky business.  Unpleasant and thankless.  The work of slaves.  A symbol for all ego-insulting and necessary tasks.  When the King of Glory knelt to do this work, He created a crisis in the heart of every follower.  Do I deny MYSELF ( my protests and desires for recognition and pleasure) or do I deny MY MASTER?  Both in example and instruction Jesus commanded the path of humility and service–make the apology, accept the assignment, deny yourself,  meet the need even at the cost of great discomfort.  Jesus warned us not to attempt a life of higher privilege and ego-safety than He allowed Himself.  He even promised a blessing to those who follow Him example.  What prevents our obedience?  What hard thing will you do today because you are a follower of Jesus?

Wally

Re: Verse reading–Mark 10:35-45; John 13:12-17; James 2:14-17 (day two)
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

My first HS job in Texas was at O’Connor High School here in San Antonio. The head band director and Fine Arts Chairman was Wally Dierolf. Most of you know that 5A band directors rank almost equal to 5A football coaches; it is a lofty position at the school. Even though he had 400+ students and the largest program in the district, every day at lunch he would take brown paper bag and sit on the floor at the front of the “M” building to make sure no one entered the building during those lunch periods that wasn’t supposed to be there. He could have easily requested another duty, and frankly could have requested to not have one at all. He did this lunch duty so that the rest of the fine arts teachers could have a break. He worked so we could rest. He sacrificed so that we could do our jobs better.

He was a tremendous band director, but I will never forget the lessons of servant leadership that he learned from Jesus and taught to me.

The cup of Christ

Re: Verse reading–Mark 10:35-45; John 13:12-17; James 2:14-17 (day one)
“You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?. . .The cup that I drink you shall drink. . .but to sit at my right hand is not mine to give.” (Mark 10:38-40) When Jesus spoke of suffering, He often used the metaphor of a cup.  Contemplating the cross, He said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this CUP from me.” (Luke 22:42)  Same picture when James and John come asking for places of honor and fame.  True greatness is not found in avoidance of pain,  a privileged life above the ordinary stresses of the common man.  The true measure of a great person is to bear suffering for the good of others.  Those who follow Christ must expect difficult assignments, hard-to-drink cups.   Good to know that the Lord drank His cup before asking the same courage of us.  It was (is) the door to greatness.

Repentance and Forgiveness

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 24:1-6; Ephesians 5:1-16 (day seven)
Preparing for worship today, I came across Luke 24:46-47.  “Thus it written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead. . .and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.”  The words of the Lord speak to my heart, remind me of His unchanging message.  Forgiveness is predicated on repentance!  For sexual sin or any other kind, repentance is the condition of God’s offered mercy.  “What strange kind of salvation do they desire who care not for holiness. . .They would be saved by Christ and yet be out of Christ in a fleshly state. . .They would have their sins forgiven, not that they may walk with God in love, in time to come, but they may practice their enmity against Him without any fear of punishment”–Walter Marshall.  I am praying for the Spirit of God to help us this morning as we seek Him together.

Protecting the Brand

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 24:1-6; Ephesians 5:1-16 (day six)
“Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed be NAMED among you.” (Ephesians 5:3)  Does Paul seem concerned with the reputation of the Ephesian church?  Do Christians have some responsibility to manage  how we are perceived?  When the subject is sin, the answer is yes.  Immorality and impurity and greed (three words describing the same subject) in the lives of individual believers it is a bad thing.  The hurtful rumor in the community that the church is tolerant of it or afraid to confront it is worse.  All of us have been baptized “in the NAME of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  When His Name is at stake, we must act with intelligence and courage. “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who . . .leads people astray, so that they commit acts of immorality.”  (Revelation 2:20)  Lord, make us tender with sinners but fierce defenders of your Name.

Waking

Re: Verse reading – Psalm 24:1-6; Ephesians 5:1-16 (day three)
“Wake up, sleeper.”  As a sleeping person knows life only in a dream instead of as it actually is, so a person untaught by Jesus Christ knows only fleeting images of good and love and beauty, and not those things as they actually are.  Consider the words of C.S. Lewis: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Asking the Right Question

Re: Verse reading – Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8 (Day Five)  Luke 11:1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

Of all the questions the disciples could have asked, they chose prayer as the topic of this request.  Why not miracles?  Why not wisdom?  Why not prophesy or the future?  The disciples made the connection between the life of Jesus (power, peace, wisdom, hope, and joy) and the discipline of prayer that He faithfully demonstrated.  They saw in the Savior, a life they wanted to imitate.  They believed that this kind of approach to prayer was both possible and beneficial.  Do we?

Richard Foster says, “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of spiritual life.  Of all the Spiritual Disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.”

Pray

Re: Verse reading – Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8 (Day Three)
“Lord, teach us to pray.”  It’s not uncommon for evangelicals to think that the best kind of prayer consists of spontaneous, off-the-cuff, stream-of-consciousness language.  While speaking to God in a moment of unstructured outpouring is often a good and necessary practice for a Christian, this passage helps us to see that a studied, carefully planned approach to prayer can also help.  A person would do well to contemplate and to pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, the composed prayers of devout disciples of Jesus Christ through the centuries of Christianity.  As for the concern about reciting “rote prayers”, two observations: First, rote learning is actually a good way to become accustomed to ways of speaking (including prayer); and second, any prayer—spontaneous or not—will be as sincere or as distracted as the person praying it.