Breathe

April 26, 2024

 This week’s verse is from Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

One way of speaking God’s name is simply by breathing. YHVH are soft consonants in Hebrew; as if you were breathing in and out. In the Bible, the words for “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit” are the same: “ruach” in Hebrew, and “pneuma” in Greek can mean any of those three words, depending on context. So pay attention to your breathing. Slow down. Breathe deeply and deliberately. Inhale YH, exhale VH, taking in the breath of God and breathing out his Holy Spirit’s breath upon all you do, just as God’s Spirit moved upon the waters of Creation and brought forth life. Breath in God’s Spirit; exhale his life-giving breath on all you do today.

Holy

 April 25, 2024 

I’ve been writing a devotional for my grandkids. I’ve been focusing on a single verse for a week or more. At the beginning of March, I started with the 23rd Psalm; I figure that it might be good to look deeply into familiar Scriptures that we might know from memory, and if not, would be able to begin memorizing just through the repetition. After a week on verse 1, I decided to pick up where we left off, and figured it might be helpful for others, so here we are! This week’s verse is from Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

You probably already have this one memorized.  We’re going to look at it perhaps a bit differently than you may have done before. We’ll begin with the first two words, which is actually only one in the original. In the older translations, when “LORD” is all in capital letters, it is God’s proper name, consisting of four Hebrew letters, YHYH or YHVH. The Hebrew alphabet has no vowels, so pronunciation was assumed. But because God’s name was considered holy and they didn’t want to violate the second Commandment, they wouldn’t pronounce it. When speaking, they substituted the word for “lord” in its place, and eventually no one remembered how it was actually pronounced. We add the vowels to come up with Yahweh or Jehovah, but no one really knows. We’ll see more on that tomorrow, but for today, remember God’s name is holy, and if we are called by his name, we should be holy, too.

Take Heart!

April 24, 2024

In John’s gospel, chapter one, we find seven different titles given to Jesus. Not including the Prologue of verses 1-18, where we learn Jesus is “the Word of God” (V. 1 & 14) and “the only begotten of the Father” (v. 18), they are as follows:

1. Lamb of God (v. 29)
2. Son of God (v. 34)
3. Rabbi (v. 38)
4. Messiah (v. 41)
5. Jesus of Nazareth (v. 45)
6. King of Israel (v. 49)
7. Son of Man (v. 51)

Sometimes people will admit Jesus actually lived, taught, and died, but are unwilling to admit he is more than another human who lived 2,000 years ago. He was that, but these titles point to something more. It cannot be said of anyone else that they are the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the Messiah, or even the Son of Man, which is a divine Messianic title taken from Daniel 7:13-14. This last is particularly instructive:

”“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.“ —Daniel 7:13-14 

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed or discouraged with life, are wondering “what it’s all coming to,” take some time to meditate on these words from John and Daniel. No matter how distressing things get in this world, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is everlasting, shall not pass away, will never be destroyed. Take heart!  

A House

 April 23, 2024

In 2 Samuel 7, David looks around him and realizes that he is living in a royal palace, while the Lord has only a tent. He wants to build a temple fitting for the God he worshiped. When he tells his plan to the prophet Nathan, he learns that God doesn’t want him to do this, but because it was in his heart, God planned to give David something greater than a temple: ‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you.’ (2 Samuel 7:11)

It’s impossible to out-give God! We may think we’re doing him a favor, but the return is always greater than we could possibly give. In David’s case, the temple he envisioned his son built, but it is long since gone, a victim of time. David’s house however, is still strong, and growing more so all the time.

I think it was William Carey who said, “Attempt great things for God; believe great things from God.” We play it safe too often, and miss out on the greater blessing God has for those who desire above all else, his glory.

Andrew

 April 22, 2024

It’s deceptively simple. No hard-sell tactics are involved, you don’t have to be smart or talented. All you need to do is follow and invite. 

”The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. —John 1:37, 40-42 

John doesn’t tell us much about Andrew. When we do hear of him, he is doing just one thing: bringing people to Jesus. In chapter 6, it’s a boy who has some fish and a five rolls. In chapter 12, it’s some foreigners who are looking for Jesus. Andrew doesn’t get the attention his loud-mouth brother Peter gets. He’s in the background. But he is always on the lookout for someone he can bring to Jesus. He isn’t flashy; he’s pretty quiet, apparently preferring backstage to the limelight. But the one thing he knows he does well. He connects people with Jesus, then lets Jesus do his thing. 

We don’t necessarily need big-name preachers or famous celebrities. Sometimes they do a better job drawing people to themselves than to Jesus. But they cannot save. We could use a few more people who quietly go about bringing people to Jesus and letting Jesus make the sale. If you could be an Andrew, you would be a great gift to the Church. I think Jesus wouldn’t mind, either.

Manifest

 April 21, 2024

1 John 3 has what to me is an interesting repetition of words that propel John’s narrative towards its conclusion. Most translations miss the point because they translate the same word using different English words. The old American Standard Version comes closest to the original words:

”Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is. And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin. he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.“

—1 John 3:2, 5, 8, 10 ASV

Today we would be more likely to translate the word “manifest” as “reveal.” Read it that way, and you’ll see that these verses are bookended with ourselves being revealed for what we truly are. No masks, no deception, no hidden secrets. If you’ve ever been the recipient of such duplicity, you will welcome these words.

But in between these two statements about our true selves being revealed, we read about how God intends to bring this about: Jesus was revealed to accomplish three things—make us like him, take away our sins, and destroy the works of the devil. Although John doesn’t explicitly say it here, these three goals are accomplished by the work of Christ upon the cross. Read them in reverse order, and you’ll see how it works: (1) On the cross, Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, conquering death by his death. (2) On the cross, Jesus took away our sins, and (3) Through the cross, we shall become like him in righteousness. When this happens, we shall be seen for what we really are in Christ, as distinct from the children of the devil who live unrighteously and don’t love others.

None of this is automatic, but it all happens by revelation. Apart from Christ, we don’t see life as it really is. In Christ, reality is revealed, sins are forgiven, the devil’s works are defeated, and we are being remade in the image of Christ himself. I don’t know about you, but that gives me something to chew on for awhile.

Dangeous Men

 April 19, 2024

2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11 are the roll call of what the Bible calls “David’s Mighty Men.” They were thirty of the best soldiers in the kingdom. As you read through this list, what stands out is how certain ones are singled out as having killed numerous enemy soldiers, especially when outnumbered. 

As I read through this list this morning, I began to wonder when we stopped admiring dangerous men. I suppose much of it stems from the teachings of Jesus; words of peace, patience, and the elevation of the virtue of suffering for Jesus’ sake. I think it’s one of the reasons we have a difficult time attracting men to the Gospel. When armies mustered behind the sign of the cross, men clamored to join up. 

I’m not advocating that we resort to violence and bloodshed in the name of Jesus. Lord knows, there’s plenty of death and destruction done in the name of religion. But neither do I believe that Christian life should be bland, weak, and colorless. One of the old baptism rites included words that “Christ bids us come and die,” which is true. We are to deny ourselves, pick up a cross, and follow Jesus. The cross in this instance, is not a piece of jewelry one wears about the neck. It is an instrument of torture and death. Only the brave need apply.

We need strong men willing to stand up against the tide of our culture. They will need to be brave because those who like David’s man Abishai, who “singlehandedly…fought three hundred men, and killed the lot,” men who the Enemy of our souls considers dangerous. Who knows what could happen in our society with such dangerous men who are sold out to Jesus?