#iGrowchallenge: Judge Not.....

I am reading a few verses ahead of the #igrowchallenge reading guide, so I read tomorrows reading in Matthew just a few minutes ago. I was particularly struck by Matthew 7:1-2: "Do not judge, so you that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged and with the measure you give will be the measure you get."

I just read that passage after praying for someone I have really judged recently.  My prayers went something like ‘change their heart, God' and ‘would you touch them with your spirit?’ ‘Would you make them realize their error and turn them to the right?'  

And then I read this passage and realized that I was judging this person even in my prayers. I was assuming this person wasn't growing in relationship with Christ and that their faith was just empty religion and tradition.  And I discounted everything this person had to say and every opinion they had because I assumed that they just 'didn't get it'.....so everything they said was invalid. 

Do I want to be judged like that by other people? NO. 
Do I want others to hold those opinions of me? NO WAY. 
Do I want God to have that opinion of me? DEFINITELY NOT! 

Yet I still hold those kinds of opinions about others. I think I need to go back and revise my prayers for this person, including a prayer of confession.

In Bible study on Friday we read Hebrews 4:12 and I am feeling an example of this passage right now:  “indeed the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides sou from spirit, joints from marrow; is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

How has the word been 'piercing' your life lately?

#iGrowchallenge: The Self Defeat Of Evil

Reading from Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional on the Psalms: "The Songs of Jesus". This morning the reading is Psalm 7:12-17 about those who commit evil. V14: "whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment."

Tim and Kathy comment: "Because we live in a broken world, much injustice will go unpunished until the final day of judgement. However, most of the time, God's justice works itself out within the fabric of history. Evil carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Not only is it a bore-leading to dissatisfaction and emptiness (v14)-but it recoils on itself. You fall into the it you have dug for others. Haters are hated, deceivers are deceived, gossips are gossiped about. Remember this until you are not intimidated, discouraged, or tempted by the wrongdoing you see around you."

Such a good message, especially for me this morning after reading the news of horror and hatred in the middle east, racism closer to home, and acts of wickedness in our city (just read about 5 teens that raped an 18 year old in a park in Brooklyn). But evil eats itself.  And ultimately evil and wickedness will be defeated. So we can stand up for grace and Gods goodness. We can be a force of good in the world, though there is not guarantee that evil will not touch us as well. Good message for me this morning!

#iGrowchallenge: Beloved

I was reflecting on Wednesdays reading in Matthew about Christ's baptism and the connection with Paul's insistence about how we are "In Christ". 

Throughout the book of Ephesians and throughout Paul's letters Paul insists that if we are redeemed then we are 'In Christ', which means what is true of Christ is true of us. Because we are saved by Jesus Christ and as Paul wrote 'hidden in Christ' then we have all the blessings that Christ has.  So when the Holy Spirit descends and God pronounces on Jesus 'this is my beloved with who I am well pleased" we can also know God speaks those same words to us. 

Because of Christ we are beloved--- greatly loved by God. And in Christ God is even well pleased. We have a hard time thinking God is pleased with us. Usually in our sin we think the opposite. But what a wonder to think that God is well pleased with his creation. He created you and he doesn't make junk. Though tainted masterpieces we are still masterpieces and God is well pleased by his creation. 

And God is well pleased by his redemption. He is well pleased by the work of salvation in Jesus Christ. He is well pleased by grace and agape love. And those are ours through Jesus Christ. So rejoice in the fact that even though you sin and you stray you are beloved! 

#iGrowchallenge: A quote on prayer

A read this in my morning devotional. I am supplementing our readings and our prayer time with a prayer manual called "The Divine Hours, Prayers For Autumn and Wintertime" by Phyllis Tickle.  In the evening "Compline" (Night Prayer) service this quote was shared:

"There is no greater proof in the world of our spiritual danger than the reluctance which most people always have and all people sometimes have to pray; so weary of their length, so glad when they are done, so clever to excuse and neglect their opportunity.

Yet Prayer is nothing but desiring God to give us the greatest and best things we can have and that can make us happy. It is a work so easy, so honorable, and to so great a purpose, that (except in the Incarnation of His Son) God has never given us a greater argument of His willingness to have us saved and our unwillingness to accept it, of His goodness and our gracelessness, of His infinite condescension and our folly, than by rewarding so easy a duty with such great blessings."

-Jeremy Taylor

#iGrowchallenge: Bear Fruit That Leads to Repentance and What is the Fire Jesus is Speaking of?

Thoughts about John the Baptizer....John the Baptizer tells the crowd in Matthew 3 to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” The fruit that comes from repentance is humility, and true forgiveness, burdens lifted, and a sense of grace in your life.  

John prepared the way of Jesus by calling people to ‘repent’ or to change their minds about Jesus, to believe in the Son of God, and to change their actions, to turn from their sin, and idolatry, and their fruitless pursuit of other things to bring true peace, and hope, and value and security.   Seems that as we draw near to God this is also a good message daily for us so that we might receive again the Lord Jesus Christ and the Grace that he so freely gives us. 

Also a question from Matthew 3: John the Baptizer warns the crowds in 11-12: "I baptize you with the water of repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, who sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the water of repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals that I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather in his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 

What does the word 'fire' mean here?  It most certainly refers to judgement. Fire was often the way farmers cleared their land for the upcoming harvest.... they would 'slash and burn' the old to prepare for the new. And that is how John is describing Jesus. He is the farmer and he is the judge. So ultimately all that is not ordained by him or under him will be consumed.  This is a foreshadowing of the last judgement but also a statement about who Jesus is in our world as well. There is no middle ground with Jesus. As an all consuming fire he either burns or he heals. 

John the Baptist also says that Jesus will baptize with Spirit and fire.....so when Christ comes into our lives he burns away the old and brings the new. He saves us and redeems us through his blood.  Though we still have sin in our lives and live under the reality of evil, death, and the devil, God in Jesus Christ has cleansed us and healed us even still.   Thanks be to God! 

#iGrowchallenge: Thoughts from Scripture Readings

Matthew 2:1-23

What strikes me as I read:

WISEMEN

-The wise men came to worship.  They were not Jews but through their own faith and understanding God led them to Jesus.

- They didn’t really know WHO they were worshipping. This was a huge leap of faith for them. They didn’t know what kind of king this might be or what kind of ruler. But they came anyway. May that be our faith as well….not knowing where God may lead or even how exactly God is working, we can still come in trust.  And even risk in trust.

-  The wise men “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (v10) when they saw the star that lead to Jesus. Their long journey was over and their risk rewarded. I am sure that there were many in their lives that saw them as crazy or saw their journey as ruinous to their careers or their social standing. But they felt compelled by the TRUTH of what they saw.  They were convinced by their calculations that a star was leading them to a new king in Jerusalem so they went to see him. And they were rewarded by a king that is much better and more expansive than they thought.

They took a huge leap of faith and that is the same kind of faith that we are called to have.  We are basing our faith and our lives on a book…..the Bible. On the testimony of people long passed who testified of this king who will take away the sins of the world. That is our star.  May we follow it to Jesus and have great joy!!

MASSACRE

As a father of a two year old this massacre just really hit me. How terrible! Just thinking of that happening to my son is something beyond horrifying, but families around the world deal with exactly that kind of thing today. They deal with those in power sacrificing their children to protect their interests, whether from ISIL, or Boko Haram, or other groups around the world that will sacrifice innocents for their cause.  Children are often the ones sacrificed and they are often the main casualties of humanities sin, greed, fear, avarice, etc…. Whether it is children drowning while fleeing war in Syria, or street kids living on scraps, to child soldiers and children sold into slavery, to children killed on our streets by police, and gang violence,  in our homes by neglect  and domestic abuse.  Children that are forgotten by our parents, and school systems, and forgotten in foster homes and in the system.  Lost children that we give up hope on.

And Christ was such a child.  Christ was born into this kind of environment.

Christ’s parents were refugees, fleeing violence in their homeland. Christ spend the first five years of his life a refugee and even after Herod’s death could not return home.  This gives us hope that when Jesus says “come to me all the little children and do not hinder them” he knows first hand what that means. And he also will judge those who harm children and deal with them like Herod.

JOSEPH

So often Joseph just fades into the background of the Biblical story but here we see that Joseph is the leader in protecting his family. He is the one receiving the angelic visions and he is the one actively responding and doing what was needed to protect his family. There are many reasons I am sure why Matthew shows that all the angelic visions were given to joseph and not Mary,…. And there were many. From the narrative it looks like Joseph was visited often by an Angel and that he responded quickly and decisively each time. No doubt. No questioning. No second guessing. He heard and responded.  So no matter why Matthew emphasized that Joesph received the visions I appreciate how this elevates Josephs role in the story. We get this picture of a man of faith who is convinced of his sons mission and committed to his family and his Lord.  He is really just as crucial a character as Mary, especially at this point in the story.

What stood out to you in your reading?

Sex, Relationships, Dating, and Marriage..... Resources

Seems like one of the main topics of conversation over the past couple weeks has been sex, marriage, and relationships (Valentines on the mind possibly?) so I thought I would compile a list of some of my favorite resources (many of which I mentioned in those conversations).   If you have any other good recommendations add them to the list! All of the books should be available on Amazon.

SEX
1. Real Sex by Lauren F. Winner- I appreciate her candid style and her excellent argument for chastity in singleness in the midst of a very unchaste world.

2.  SEXGOD by Rob Bell- I know Rob Bell might be anathema to some of you because of his later works, yet I feel this book does a great job of understanding the connection between sexuality and spirituality. And it is very readable/accessible.

3. CrazyGoodSex by Dr. Les Parrot- Especially for men(though could be enlightening for women to read), this book  uncovers some of the myths men have about sex, that we even carry through marriage.  I also just noticed that they published A Guide to CrazyGoodSex, which sounds interesting as well.

4. The Gift Of Sex by Cliff and Joyce Penner. This subtitle is: "A guide to sexual fulfillment" and that is very much what this book is. This book is for married couples who desire to gain a greater understanding of sex from a Christian perspective, deal with issues in their sex lives, and gain greater enjoyment from intimacy with each other in the bonds of marriage. I worked for Cliff and Joyce for a year after seminary and it was definitely an experience (and education!) to work for Christian psychologists and nurses who primarily work in sex therapy!

DATING
1. Date Or Soul Mate? by Neil Clark Warren. The subtitle again describes the book: "finding the love of your life in two dates or less." I mentioned this book to a group of single men the other night. The purpose is to know yourself and what you are looking for and need, so that you can date intentionally and be aware, in two dates or less, if the person you are dating is a possible life partner. I read this book when I was dating Kathryn and it was very helpful to me.

2. Neil Clark Warren has many other books on the same theme: Falling In Love For All The Right Reasons: How To Find Your Soul Mate, Finding The Love of Your Life, etc.... that are worthy reads, though I would just pick one since they cover the same subject matter.

3.  When God Writes Your Love Story: The Ultimate Approach To Guy/Girl Relationships by Eric and Leslie Judy. Written from both a male and female perspective, this is a classic relationship book.

4. When The Not Yet Married Meet: Dating To Display Jesus: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/when-the-not-yet-married-meet-dating-to-display-jesus
Interesting article about dating with an eye towards marriage.

ENGAGEMENT/MARRIAGE
1. Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts: Seven Questions To Ask Before-And After- You Marry
by Les and Leslie Parrott. I recommend this book to every couple I talk to or counsel.  Both Les and Leslie are psychologists and professors at Seattle Pacific University, and this book is funny, insightful, and represents 7 essentials for a healthy marriage. Kathryn and I read this before we married and found it very helpful. Also comes with workbooks for both husbands and wives to work on together as they are reading. They have many other helpful books on relationships, sex, and marriage that are worthy to check out. You can find them on Amazon or their website: http://www.lesandleslie.com. On their website they also have relationship assessments and other good resources.

2. The Meaning Of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller. Written with the usual Keller insight. this is a thoughtful and comprehensive guide to understanding marriage from a Christian perspective.

3. Getting Your Sex Life Off To A Great Start by Cliff and Joyce Penner. This is the 'introductory guide' to sex. Helpful for engaged couples to read either a few months before marriage or after they are married.

4. 52 Ways To Have Fun, Fantastic Sex by Cliff and Joyce Penner.  I know, I have a lot of books on sex. I did work for a Christian sex therapist! But I also gained from my time at their office how the sex life of a couple (or lack of one) is a key sign how the relationship is doing. Sex is about intimacy and emotional connection, so if sex is not a regular part of a marriage then intimacy is also probably lacking. Hence.....52 ideas to have fun, fantastic sex. Some of these ideas are kind of funny and unrealistic, but also some might be worth trying for you married couples out there.

Hope this helps! And please add other books/resources that you might recommend in the comments.