Building the Right Altars
David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
2 Samuel 24:25 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
Have you ever noticed what altars were used for in the Old Testament? They were used for sacrifices and ceremonies mostly. But they were also used as a means of remembrance. In many churches, the Communion meal is served from an Altar of Remembrance. We do that to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jacob remembered the Lord when he saw a vision of a ladder. Altars were built to remember a significant moment in history or in a person’s life. When I look back on my own life, I have not always built altars for the right reasons. No, I didn’t stack a bunch of rocks together and say a prayer. I mean that I built altars of remembrance in my heart. They were built when I chose to remember the wrong things so vehemently. For example, I regularly build altars for my failures. I build them for my sins.
I know of a person that built an altar of remembrance for her deceased husband. Every year for the last 10 years she slips into a depressed state at the anniversary of his death. She has chosen to build the wrong altar, the wrong reverent remembrance in her heart. She should miss her husband, but she has built her life around the moment of separation, instead of happy times like the day they met, or their wedding anniversary, or the birth of their first child. Others I know have built more than an altar, they have built monuments, to their alcoholic parents, to the pedophile stepfather, to illness that they think is their own fault, to the hurtful words they keep replaying in their heads, to the moments they failed others and to the moments others have failed them.
Do you think your life would be different if you tore down those altars of failure and built altars of praise? Maybe we can ask God to swap a praise moment for every failure moment? Then we can choose to build the right altars; the kind of altars that lead to an abundant life.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Failure to Comply
Failure to Comply
The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
Judges 2:1-5 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
I made a deal with God and blew it. You see, I wanted to purchase a house. I made a list of what I wanted. I prayed over the list and asked God to help me choose the right house. “If this is the wrong house” I said, “then cause all the numbers on the contract to be wrong.” At closing, all the numbers were wrong. Like an idiot, I had the proper adjustments made and I bought the house anyway. My home is one hundred years old; it is beautiful with high ceilings, wide moldings, stained glass and lots of character. And, it is the wrong house.
Over the years, since the purchase, there has not been one home repair where I have not thought to myself, this is not what He intended for me. Have I asked for God’s forgiveness? Yes. Have I been blessed in this place? I don’t know. But I do know that I failed to comply with the agreement I made with God, and I am truly remorseful. I am not regretful because of the difficulties (or maybe the punishment) I have suffered. I am remorseful because I broke covenant with my friend, and my God.
Have you broken covenant with God too? How does one deal with that? In the above verse, the Israelites had an easy fix. Do what God said! Dismantle the faux-gods, repent, and stop making deals. But sometimes, the mess is such that one cannot simply dismantle and walk away. For example, what if you married the wrong person, spent all your money on the wrong thing, moved to the wrong area, have a child and realize that parenting did not solve your problems. What now?
I think the answer is so simple that it is easily overlooked. Say you are sorry and mean it. If you do not want to be sorry, ask God to give you a heart that understands your failure to comply. I know this will sound weird, but ask God to show you your sin, and his grace. If we only ask God to show his grace, we will take him and his gifts for granted. But, if we see our sin, we will also see the purpose of grace and no longer expect it because we deserve it. We can begin to expect it because God really is good. Then we can see that He never fails to comply with us.
The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."
When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
Judges 2:1-5 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
I made a deal with God and blew it. You see, I wanted to purchase a house. I made a list of what I wanted. I prayed over the list and asked God to help me choose the right house. “If this is the wrong house” I said, “then cause all the numbers on the contract to be wrong.” At closing, all the numbers were wrong. Like an idiot, I had the proper adjustments made and I bought the house anyway. My home is one hundred years old; it is beautiful with high ceilings, wide moldings, stained glass and lots of character. And, it is the wrong house.
Over the years, since the purchase, there has not been one home repair where I have not thought to myself, this is not what He intended for me. Have I asked for God’s forgiveness? Yes. Have I been blessed in this place? I don’t know. But I do know that I failed to comply with the agreement I made with God, and I am truly remorseful. I am not regretful because of the difficulties (or maybe the punishment) I have suffered. I am remorseful because I broke covenant with my friend, and my God.
Have you broken covenant with God too? How does one deal with that? In the above verse, the Israelites had an easy fix. Do what God said! Dismantle the faux-gods, repent, and stop making deals. But sometimes, the mess is such that one cannot simply dismantle and walk away. For example, what if you married the wrong person, spent all your money on the wrong thing, moved to the wrong area, have a child and realize that parenting did not solve your problems. What now?
I think the answer is so simple that it is easily overlooked. Say you are sorry and mean it. If you do not want to be sorry, ask God to give you a heart that understands your failure to comply. I know this will sound weird, but ask God to show you your sin, and his grace. If we only ask God to show his grace, we will take him and his gifts for granted. But, if we see our sin, we will also see the purpose of grace and no longer expect it because we deserve it. We can begin to expect it because God really is good. Then we can see that He never fails to comply with us.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Attraction for the Unsavory
Attraction for the Unsavory
That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)
Mark 2:15 New Living Translation
We may learn a lot about Jesus based on the types of people he attracted. I find it a strange juxtaposition though, Jesus among sinners. You hardly hear of the saved among sinners in our time. In fact it has been tradition to see a strict separation between the two. In this verse, the distinction has been made that Jesus is dining with the unsavory type, and he has no aversion to them. And likewise, the sinners do not find Jesus to be arrogantly superior. In a way, Jesus seems to be on their side, especially when he faces down the religious leaders of the time. Though Jesus had his close seventy and even closer circles of eleven and three, he still had a larger expanse of diverse contacts that included prostitutes, tax embezzlers, your average run-of-the-mill sinners and religious professionals. Who are your close friends? What sort of people do you attract?
Maybe the type of people Jesus attracted shows us where his passion lived. And for those of us that desire to be like Jesus, this same passion should reside in us. Jesus says he came for those that are ill, not the ones that are well, (spiritually speaking). Maybe we need to develop an attraction for the unsavory? Or in other words, ask God for the same heart condition He has for those that are far from Him.
That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)
Mark 2:15 New Living Translation
We may learn a lot about Jesus based on the types of people he attracted. I find it a strange juxtaposition though, Jesus among sinners. You hardly hear of the saved among sinners in our time. In fact it has been tradition to see a strict separation between the two. In this verse, the distinction has been made that Jesus is dining with the unsavory type, and he has no aversion to them. And likewise, the sinners do not find Jesus to be arrogantly superior. In a way, Jesus seems to be on their side, especially when he faces down the religious leaders of the time. Though Jesus had his close seventy and even closer circles of eleven and three, he still had a larger expanse of diverse contacts that included prostitutes, tax embezzlers, your average run-of-the-mill sinners and religious professionals. Who are your close friends? What sort of people do you attract?
Maybe the type of people Jesus attracted shows us where his passion lived. And for those of us that desire to be like Jesus, this same passion should reside in us. Jesus says he came for those that are ill, not the ones that are well, (spiritually speaking). Maybe we need to develop an attraction for the unsavory? Or in other words, ask God for the same heart condition He has for those that are far from Him.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Scary Feet
Scary Feet
Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!"
Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing."
John 13:8 The Message
I do not know when it started, but I have an aversion to feet. I thank God that I have feet; I just don’t like mine touched or having to touch anyone else’s. I recall my dad had an illness and I had to apply a prescription cream on his feet. I was glad I could do something for him, but I do not recall enjoying it very much. Sometimes my wife asks me to rub her feet and I agree, only on the condition that she has socks on. One of the ladies in my Bible study group occasionally wears sandals for the expressed purpose of showing me her feet . . . wiggling toes and all. Ugh.
My brother, Jerome, lived with an elderly family member for a short time. He told me that she complained of foot pain. So, he asked her if she wanted a foot rub; she agreed. He said that her feet were crusty with dry skin and her toenails were long enough to look like that of a wild animal. He got a pail of water and soaked her feet. After that he clipped her toenails. As he clipped them, they went flying across the room and he could hear them ricochet off of the walls. After that, he put lotion on her feet and gave her a good foot message. Jerome and I laughed so hard while we discussed that story. But I had in the back of my mind that Jesus did the same sort of thing for the people he loved. He assumed the lower position as an example for us to also choose the lower position of servant.
My brother surpassed me that day in that he stooped down and did what no one else would do; he did what she would not or could not do for herself. And to me that is sort of the lesson and example that Jesus leaves behind. How we serve others is what lodges itself in their minds and hearts. If we really love someone, we serve them, and then I think they are changed from the head to the feet. Even if those feet are crusty, long- nailed, scary feet.
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Thoughts on faith from a sinful man
Author: Eric MontgomeryCopyright ©2009
Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!"
Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing."
John 13:8 The Message
I do not know when it started, but I have an aversion to feet. I thank God that I have feet; I just don’t like mine touched or having to touch anyone else’s. I recall my dad had an illness and I had to apply a prescription cream on his feet. I was glad I could do something for him, but I do not recall enjoying it very much. Sometimes my wife asks me to rub her feet and I agree, only on the condition that she has socks on. One of the ladies in my Bible study group occasionally wears sandals for the expressed purpose of showing me her feet . . . wiggling toes and all. Ugh.
My brother, Jerome, lived with an elderly family member for a short time. He told me that she complained of foot pain. So, he asked her if she wanted a foot rub; she agreed. He said that her feet were crusty with dry skin and her toenails were long enough to look like that of a wild animal. He got a pail of water and soaked her feet. After that he clipped her toenails. As he clipped them, they went flying across the room and he could hear them ricochet off of the walls. After that, he put lotion on her feet and gave her a good foot message. Jerome and I laughed so hard while we discussed that story. But I had in the back of my mind that Jesus did the same sort of thing for the people he loved. He assumed the lower position as an example for us to also choose the lower position of servant.
My brother surpassed me that day in that he stooped down and did what no one else would do; he did what she would not or could not do for herself. And to me that is sort of the lesson and example that Jesus leaves behind. How we serve others is what lodges itself in their minds and hearts. If we really love someone, we serve them, and then I think they are changed from the head to the feet. Even if those feet are crusty, long- nailed, scary feet.
*******************************************************************************
Thoughts on faith from a sinful man
Author: Eric MontgomeryCopyright ©2009
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