Blog Archives

Letting the Past be in the Past

3/16/2015

Isaiah 43:18
“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.

19
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

The prophet Isaiah’s words are spoken to the people of Israel. As it is well known, Israel habitually disobeyed God and ignored their status as God’s children. They chased ephemeral things that were beneath them, but they chased nonetheless.

This disobedience broke Yahweh’s heart. Despite His broken heart, He desired to bring His people back to Himself. In this there were times of difficulty and punishment for the Israelites. No doubt some Israelites began to define themselves not as God’s children, but as punished ones – transgressors of God’s law. No future, only pain.

Isaiah prophesies to Israel that God will not remember their past and that they should not dwell on their past. God is doing a new thing in Israel! He is renewing his people – making a way in the wilderness and creating streams in a place where this once was impossible. A new day is dawning for God’s people.

In the same way, as God’s people today, we are encouraged that God is doing a new thing in our life. We are to not dwell on the past, regardless of how rebellious we have been. Only God can do a new thing – count on Him to do a new thing during this Lenten season!

1 Comment

Finding Meaning in Ecclesiastes

3/16/2015

0 Comments

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

13
Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.

14

For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

Meaning . . . what does it really mean or how do you define it? The dictionary defines it as “the end, purpose, or significance of something.” Life seems empty when there is no meaning. One of the most difficult things to do as a pastor is to help people find meaning in places or spaces in their life where they can’t seem to find any – illness, loss of a job, etc. We yearn for meaning in our lives, for there to be some purpose. The great writer and humanitarian Elie Weisel has spent his life trying to wrestle with questions of meaning and tragedy as a Holocaust survivor. Viktor Frankl also wrote about his experiences as a concentration camp survivor and finding meaning in his suffering in Man’s Search for Meaning.

Our quest for meaning takes us to many places. The better way to say it is that we proactively move and search for meaning throughout the world and our lives. We search for meaning through our vocation, our family, our finances, or in more unhealthy ways – through addiction, etc. The thing that we realize is that the more we search for it, the more elusive it becomes and frustration sets in.

This search for true meaning is addressed throughout Solomon’s book Ecclesiastes. Throughout the book Solomon owns up to his own frustration to find true meaning and purpose for his own life: wisdom, riches, etc provided no meaning for Solomon. The story could have ended in a pretty unhelpful fashion with the reader left scratching their heads. Right before this happens, Solomon wraps up the text with a great where to find true meaning – we find true meaning in fearing God and keeping his commandments. This fear is a holy fear, understanding and accepting that God is holy and we are not. Because we understand this we are driven to keep His commandments. We are not motivated to keep them out of love for the law or fulfilling the law, but out of our love for Christ and what He has done for us. True meaning is found in following Jesus.

0 Comments

Simply Seeking Wisdom

3/9/2015

0 Comments

Proverbs 9

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has set up its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
    from the highest point of the city,
4     “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
5     “Come, eat my food
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
    walk in the way of insight.”

7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
    whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
    rebuke the wise and they will love you.
9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
    teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through wisdom your days will be many,
    and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
    if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

13 Folly is an unruly woman;
    she is simple and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house,
    on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling out to those who pass by,
    who go straight on their way,
16     “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
17     “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

0 Comments

The Length that God Goes . . .

3/3/2015

0 Comments

Matthew 7:9-11

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

This passage deals with the question of how far a father would go to meet the needs of those whom he loves. Whether you have kids or not everyone can relate to this idea. We all know that children are in need constantly and it is the responsibility of the parent to meet those needs.

It is the same this with God and we are His children. God gives to us because He is our parent, our Father. Our creation by God bids God to take care of us; to meet our needs and not just give gifts, but good gifts as we ask Him. The truth is that we often do not ask and God is still generous beyond what we ask for or even deserve.

There is no greater gift to us than God’s son Jesus Christ. God redeemed even when we don’t deserve it and have done nothing to make a move towards Him. As this verse says, we are “evil.” Despite our status as evil God goes to great lengths to save us, heal us, and provide for us – even when we don’t deserve it.

0 Comments

Render Unto God . . .

3/3/2015

0 Comments

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar – Matt. 22:15-22

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

We give all the time – we render to people what is theirs or what they think is theirs – time, energy, money, etc. Some of us would argue that most of our lives are taken up by rendering to others. Then there is the other side of the rendering – the rendering to ourselves. While it is true we render to others, we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can give to ourselves – how we can fulfill our own desires. This pursuit of rendering to ourselves leads us inward – it leads us to depend on our own abilities and to affirm our own desires, whether they are of the Spirit or not.

This career of rendering to others or to ourselves leaves out the most important rendering of all – the rendering to Christ. Rendering to Christ is actually quite different than rendering to others or to ourselves. What Christ wants from us are things that He has already given us – He wants a tithe of what He has given us to come back to Him. When we render back to God we acknowledge Him as both the owner and giver of what we have in our lives.

What is it that God wants to render back to Him – how does this get practical. Let me suggest a few here (there are so many that you may have your own, but for the sake of space let’s only look at a few. We can render unto God our time, our energy, and our gifts. All we have in these areas have been given to us by God. These three elements are what we are so quick to exercise for ourselves or give to others. Since it is God that has given all of these to us, let us render unto Him what is rightfully His.

0 Comments

Lenten Reflection

3/3/2015

0 Comments

Our community, Trinity Lutheran Church, has a weekly fellowship meal that includes a skit and a devotional that is related to the skit in some way. I am in charge of the devotional each week - which is fun, but a little difficult to match up to skit for the way. I'm two weeks in and it's going pretty well.

Each week I'll be posting the "devotional of the week" complete with Scripture reference and my own text. Look for them above each week.

0 Comments

Letting the Past be in the Past

Finding Meaning in Ecclesiastes

Simply Seeking Wisdom

The Length that God Goes . . .

Render Unto God . . .

Lenten Reflection

Authors

Archives

Categories