Category: Published

Hebrews 4:14-16 (MSG). Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (Phillips) Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has entered the inmost Heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to our faith. For we have no superhuman High Priest to whom our weaknesses are unintelligible—he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned.  16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with fullest confidence, that we may receive mercy for our failures and grace to help in the hour of need.

“What could be better than a grace that washes all our shame away?  What could be better than Your great love?  What could be better than a grace that leads us home and makes a way?  What could be better than Your great love?”  From Sing and Shout by Matt Redman, Willie Weeks & Jorge Monders (c) 2013

Observation

We have been reading through Ezekiel.  This book always reminds me of Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles.  I didn’t understand the imagery in those psychedelic songs and I don’t understand the imagery in Ezekiel.  Wheels within wheels, 4-faced flying creatures and an angry vengeful God keep me off balance and feeling dizzy.  God had extended grace and mercy over and over again to this ungrateful, disrespectful and unfaithful people,

• a people who took Him for granted,
• who ignored His commands in order to service their own pleasures,
• who only sought Him when circumstances were dire,
• who thought He could be fooled by insincere repentance, imperfect sacrifices and empty promises,
• who treated Him like a servant at their beck and call. 

Ezekiel was prophesying judgment day for them, the end of grace and mercy, the harvest of what they had sowed.  As it was in the days of Noah, God had reached His limit. 

We live in a culture that struggles with the temptation to create a vanilla god (like the idols of old) whose character is suspect, and standards are shaped by our individual pleasures, selfish desires, and profit-seeing agendas.  This is a hedonistic pursuit of living for the day, seeking after pleasure, thrills, and power, blurring the lines between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and fabrication.  The old covenant (the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28) was made with Abraham, a covenant that could be broken by the human side of the agreement. So, our God, the One True God, whose character is holy and standards are the highest, is ever faithful to keep His promises, so God kept to His side of the agreement and delivered His promised blessings and curses upon the nation.  When I wonder if God will also find an end to grace and mercy for this day and age, I remind myself that those of us who belong to Christ are in a new covenant, one that makes us family.

Impact on Me

Whenever I am reading through the Old Testament prophets, I am so grateful for the Cross, the new covenant in Christ and grace, grace, grace.  People are no different now than they were then; there will always be the faithful and unfaithful, grateful and selfish, greedy and generous (sad to say, I am a human and subject to human inconsistencies, failings and just plain sinning).  However, the old covenant was based on an agreement between God and Abraham with blessings and curses affecting the whole community; violation brought separation, destruction and other undesirable consequences to the nation.  The new covenant is based on a covenant between God and the one man, Jesus Christ, Who will never violate the agreement, Whose performance is perfect, Who will never again be separated from God; in Him, we find an ever-loving merciful advocate, free access to the throne room, a patient, loving, merciful Father and gushing waterfalls of grace, forgiveness, and restoration based on Jesus’ faithfulness. 

This new covenant is for each individual who comes seeking this grace and redemption.  In this there is hope for us!  

• In Him, I have free and forever access to the presence of God;
• in Him, I have an advocate Who will fight for my redemption, restoration, and reputation when the enemy accuses and tries to shame me before the Father;
• in Him, I am adopted as a child of God, not just a subject of the Kingdom. 
• In Him, I am so greatly loved that I am assured of great, gushing waterfalls of grace and mercy, not because of me, but because I am in Him. 
• In Him, I can do all things He asks of me through His presence and power strengthening me. 

Devotion

Lord God, Merciful Father, Redeemer, Constant Companion, Teacher and Lover of my soul, You are worthy of all honor, glory and praise.  I am not sure that I can ever fully comprehend the height, depth and expanse of what Jesus has done for me, what He has provided for me, what He will do in and through me if I allow Him the freedom to do so.  I want to be that living sacrifice that makes my life of maximum impact and effect in bringing others to the knowledge of and surrender to Him.  May I be faithful to follow well, love well, serve well and finish well in His name so that my life gives God joy in His heart.  Make it so in the name of Jesus.

Luke 23:44-49 NIV  It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice,  “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[e] When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Luke 23:44-49 MSG  By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, “Father, I place my life in your hands!” Then he breathed his last.  When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: “This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!” All who had come around as spectators to watch the show, when they saw what actually happened, were overcome with grief and headed home. Those who knew Jesus well, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a respectful distance and kept vigil.

Observation

I wonder what it was like to be there watching all of this without the hindsight of the Resurrection. Was the Centurion questioning the decisions of his superiors?  How many cruel and unjust acts had he seen done or been ordered to do?  Was this a last straw?  What about those who had mocked and spit on Him as He carried the Cross, those who had allowed their religious leaders to whip them up into a frenzy demanding Jesus’ crucifixion?  Had the deep darkness at midday caused them to reconsider, to wonder if this Man on the Cross really was  innocent, a true prophet or even Who He said He was – the Son of God?  Were these questioners some who subsequently became followers of Christ because they were so moved by the crucifixion? 

And “those who knew Jesus well,” what were their thoughts as they watched Him humiliated, cruelly tortured and dying on the Cross?  Were they thoughts of despair or anger or hope?  I can imagine some of them.  “I really believed He was our long-awaited Messiah, but, seeing Him crucified with criminals in such humiliation, how can that be?”  “Any moment now, He will miraculously step down off that Cross.”  “He raises the dead; He can’t die like this!”  “I hate the Romans and the Sanhedrin!  How can they treat this good and innocent man like this?”  “I don’t understand any of this, but I know He is Messiah!”

Impact on Me

I don’t know what I would have been thinking at that moment, but I often find myself thinking the last one. There are so many times that the circumstances seem overwhelming, unbearable, unfathomable or just too bad for a good God to allow. Often, I don’t understand why I am where I am, why bad things happen, why my prayers seem ineffective, why God doesn’t intervene in the way I think He should, BUT I always want to remember that He is God (not me!) and, in faith, continue to “keep vigil” and trust in His plan.  

My father was paranoid schizophrenic. He abandoned our family when I was twelve because his voices said it was dangerous for us if he stayed. I felt as though I was one of those looking at the Cross and crying out with tears and heartbreak, “God, I don’t understand why this is happening, but I am left with only my faith that You are not willing for any to perish, so You have a plan for his life and future.  I trust that Holy Spirit is working to draw him into Your freedom.  I trust that, regardless of how heartbreaking this is and has been, You can turn all of this around for good because I am Your beloved and this is Your promise to those who love You. I know that You know the number of his days, that You will give us grace and strength to endure, that You are a good God.”  Lord, I believe; Help my unbelief. 

We go through fire (dire circumstances and tragic events) in our lives and are given choices.  We can become bitter, defeated, angry and abandon our faith or choose to be molded, shaped, refined and strengthened by faith for God’s purposes and to fulfill His plan.  So, I try to remember that, no matter where life takes me, I never go alone. My Redeemer, Friend, Counselor, Comforter, Advocate is with me and for me – just as He is for all who call on and rely on Jesus as Savior. He understands my suffering, but He also modeled for me how to trust God to use our sufferings to change us and impact the world around us.

Devotion

Lord God, I praise You for Who You are!  You are Eternal Father, Redeemer, Holy Spirit – the only Wise God.  I submit my expectations based on my limited understanding to Your eternal perspective.  Just as the Cross was completely confusing to those who were there to see it, the journey I traveled seemed to twist and turn between the good times and the bad.  Nonetheless, I have come to know that I do not require understanding of the moment to hear and obey Your clear instructions without question.  I pray that my perspective, my thinking, my actions will always be grounded in faith in You, Your plan, Your goodness, Your heart to see none perish, Your love for me.  I pray that I will not so much need to understand and approve Your plans but, rather, hear and obey regardless of the cost to me. I pray this all in the name of Jesus. Make it so. 

Psalm 24 NIV – A psalm of David.

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to Him.  ² For He laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.

³ Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in His holy place?  ⁴ Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.  ⁵ They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their Savior.  ⁶ Such people may seek You and worship in Your presence, O God of Jacob. Interlude

⁷ Open up, ancient gates!  Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.  ⁸ Who is the King of glory?  The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle.  ⁹ Open up, ancient gates!  Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.  ¹⁰ Who is the King of glory?  The Lord of Heaven’s Armies— He is the King of glory. Interlude

Observation

To most of us, this psalm has no relationship to ones before it.  However, at the time of Jesus, this psalm was the third in a well-known set – Psalms 22, 23 & 24.  When Jesus on the Cross cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”, every Jewish man there knew what followed in these three psalms, from 22:1 all the way to 24:10, “Who is the King of glory?  The Lord of Heaven’s Armies – He is the King of glory.”  Psalm 22 was about the sacrifice.  Psalm 23 was about the Shepherd’s promise to protect and care for His sheep (His people).  Psalm 24 is about the King coming in final victory.   Each of these three psalms gives insight into Messiah – the sacrificial lamb, the comforter and protector, the victorious King returning from battle. 

However, as we look forward to His next coming, we embrace Who He is and always has been – “Who is the King of glory?  The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle.”  Those who knew the Scriptures and stood at the Cross that day would have known what Jesus was saying – “I am the Messiah for Whom you wait.”  How they must have struggled to accept this Messiah dying on a Cross.  This certainly did not live up to their expectations, but Jesus was living and dying up to His Father’s expectations as part of the eternal plan to redeem humankind.  I wonder where we set unrealistic expectations for God according to our limited understanding of His eternal plan?

Impact on Me

I can see Jesus and how God works in my life in all three of these psalms.  I have felt like God lost sight of me when the circumstances seemed to hard to bear, and yet put myself in His hands, turning to Him in praise and worship because there was nowhere else to go.  I have heard the voice and sensed the presence of Him comforting and protecting me when fear began to arise.  And, too, I have known the joy of experiencing His power, presence and anointing in miracles that made the Enemy tremble and flee. 

Over the years I have learned that God is sovereign (“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to Him.”).  He is not – and should not be – subject to perform to my expectations developed on my limited understanding, but, rather, continue to hold me to His (“Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in His holy place?  Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.”).   So, I need to let the Holy Spirit have free access to conform my expectations to His, trusting that whatever the circumstances, I will praise, worship and be subject to Him and His will and purpose, letting Him count the cost to me.  I want to be in that company that enters with the King of Glory on that day! 

Devotion

You are the Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the King of glory, Immanuel, the Promised of Ages.  There is none like You.  Lord, I don’t always understand why I struggle with what I see in the world – the pain and suffering, the cruel and heartless acts, the injustice.  It is then that I am reminded by You that those who watched Jesus on the Cross also did not understand why this had to be, why this event was the pivot point of all history.  I want to live by Your expectations for me.  I want to embrace that Your heart aches over the evil (the emptiness without Your light and goodness).  Instead of being discouraged by the prevalence of evil, may I be an instrument in bringing Your light and presence of the King of Glory into the dark places of this world.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

Romans 9:30-33 MSG  How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
    a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
    you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

Observation

Romans is a book about righteousness and how it only comes in and through Jesus Christ.  Jesus was “in the way” for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time because they lost focus – “instead of trusting God, they took over” – and heaped on rules (their “God projects) over and above the Law of Moses as a means to obtain righteousness.   For heaven’s sake, they created pages of rules about how and when to wash your hands AND different rabbis had different interpretations of the buckets and buckets of rules.  Have we done the same with many denominations and varying traditions that we hold sacred instead of bonding together as the Body of Christ around Jesus despite our differences?

In Jesus’ time, the religious leaders devalued those who broke their rules, labeling them as irredeemable sinners – unholy and unworthy.  Here, Paul is telling those same religious leaders they are missing God’s point by trading religious duty, works and rules for redemptive mercy, grace and love.  Jesus once accused the religious leaders of straining out a mosquito and swallowing a camel because they were so focused on the minutiae.  Jesus even accused them of locking the door of Heaven to keep the unworthy out but forgetting to go in themselves.  Oops!  There they go, sprawling over the Rock in the road. Jesus died to open up the doors of Heaven to “whosoever will come.”  God placed Jesus prominently as the Rock in the middle of the road to redemption so we would have to make a choice to embrace Him or ignore Him at our peril. 

Impact on Me

As I think about the differences that separate denomination from denomination today, I wonder if we are stumbling on the same Rock?  Are we more concerned with our differences than the Jesus we have in common?  Are we judging others as unworthy because they don’t live up to our expectations, our rules, or have lifestyles with which we do not agree?  I wonder who we consider unredeemable?  Jesus drew much criticism for eating with those considered unclean and unworthy.

So, I have to examine my response to the world around me.  Who do I consider untouchable because of lifestyle, behavior, or differing beliefs?   Would Jesus reach out to those same people with love, grace and truth regardless of what others think?  I was not so pretty and acceptable when Jesus allowed me to embrace His grace and become a child of God.  How can I then execute judgement on anyone else because they don’t appear pretty and acceptable to me?  If I want to be like Jesus, I need to do as He did and look past the outward evidence to see a tortured soul who needs redemption.

Devotion

Lord God, my Redeemer, full of mercy and grace, give me the fortitude to become more like You.  Give me Your eyes to see past the circumstances of another’s life to the soul You created in Your image.  Give me the compassion of Your heart to help me allow You to reach out to that soul through me.  Build in me the resilience to never give up because Your word, Your grace, Your presence, is mighty to save.  Make it so in Jesus’ name.

Isaiah 6:5-7 ESV  ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Romans 12:17-21 Phillips     ¹⁷ Don’t pay back a bad turn by a bad turn, to anyone. Don’t say “it doesn’t matter what people think”, but see that your public behaviour is above criticism.  ¹⁸ As far as your responsibility goes, live at peace with everyone.  ¹⁹ Never take vengeance into your own hands, my dear friends: stand back and let God punish if he will. For it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine. I will repay’.  ^20-21 … these are God’s words: ‘Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head’. Don’t allow yourself to be overpowered with evil. Take the offensive—overpower evil by good!

Observation

Romans 12 should make us uncomfortable as we examine ourselves.  Starting with the challenge to become a living sacrifice, continuing with the charge to set aside our desires to be recognized to meekly and humbly take our place in the Body and ending with practical guidance on how to represent our Lord every day, in every way by making sure our love is sincere (not for show or for duty).  So, what does Paul mean by heaping burning coals on someone’s head?  As we see in the Isaiah passage, burning coals from the altar are associated with humble repentance and purification in God’s presence.  Heaping burning coals means our response with active kindness toward those who have wronged us will, first get their attention, and then move them toward remorse, repentance, and possibly reconciliation.  This is so Romans Chapter 12!    

“Don’t allow yourself to be overpowered with evil. Take the offensive—overpower evil by good!” are the last words, the crown of this chapter.   This concept of repaying evil with good is threaded through the entire Bible.  I think of how Joseph received and forgave his brothers, just one example of mercy triumphing over judgment.  When we return evil for good, mercy for judgment, love for hate, it is surprising, arresting, even shocking and unbelievable, for those who do not understand why.  If it brings conviction and repentance, we successfully heaped those burning coals on their heads.  Romans 2:4 tells us that kindness brings repentance, which is the result of God’s patience and kindness of toward us.  If it works for Him, it will work for us.  This chapter summarizes many of the ways our God turns our thinking upside down to bring our perspective right side up.

Impact on Me

Do not misunderstand me here.  It is one of the most difficult sacrifices to love your enemy, pray for those who spitefully use you, or forgive evil done against you.  I hear the testimonies of those who have forgiven the murderer of their husband, child or other loved one and admire the depth and strength of faith it must take to do so.  God asks us to make this kind of sacrifice because He created and loves every tortured soul who exercises evil on others.  His heart aches to see those deceived by the Most Evil One exit his darkness and torment to come out into the freedom provided in Christ.  Nonetheless, my human emotions strongly wrestle against the desire to obey and forgive when it hurts so much.

When I first embraced a personal relationship with Jesus, I came with burning coals on my head – full of humble repentance, conviction of my sins, a desire to be made clean and whole in God’s sight whatever the cost and so grateful for His patience and kindness to coax me into His presence.  If I want to be like Him, I need to practice the same patience, reserving my judgment of others along their journeys, because at one time I was just as they are – a sinner living and serving in the wrong kingdom. Romans 12 always reminds me that to be a disciple of Jesus may require sacrifice.  I must love God and others while letting Him take care of loving me.    

Devotion

God of Mercy and Grace, Almighty, Everlasting Father, You are worthy of all our praise.  I would look funny to others if I went around with a hat full of burning coals, but I repent often so that must be the way you see me come.  Help me to be kinder to the unkind, more humble before the arrogant, silent before my accuser, and always ready to repent to You when I fail to meet the holiness challenge You set before me. Because I know You are a loving Father, I have confidence that You will continue to pick me up when I fall and lead me forward in pathways of righteousness because You love me.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.