Posts Tagged ‘Bible’

I have forgotten God…

Posted on: June 11th, 2013 by johannah 2 Comments

ForgetForgotten God? Yes.

I once planted pumpkins that flowered like crazy. I was excited because I thought that I’d be able to supply my whole neighborhood with pumpkins since I had so many blossoms. But it was as if the plant gave all its energy to the blossom and had none left for the fruit. I didn’t get a single pumpkin. When trying to figure out why that happened, I learned that even though I couldn’t see it, the roots of my plants were so poor that they could sustain the pretty, decorative blossoms, but couldn’t support the hearty pumpkins.

That’s the picture from Isaiah 17:

“…you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings. They may sprout on the day you set them out; yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.”  Isaiah 17:10-11 NLT

Looking at this passage, I’m reminded again of what a great cost there is in forgetting God. Isaiah 17 and 18 give a strong message of judgment to Damascus, Israel, and Ethiopia. And verses 10-11 in chapter 17 sum up the reason why they are being judged. They have turned from the only one who can save them. They’ve forgotten the very one who can hide them and keep them safe. Although it may seem they are prospering, it’s all blossom and no fruit.

So, you may think, I don’t forget God! That was my first thought, too, as I read these verses. But as I’ve pondered them more, I’ve realized that I do forget God. I forget him when I snap at my husband, when I see a need that I totally ignore, when I go for days without reading my Bible, when I spend money on things to try to make myself happy, when I imitate the world instead of Christ. I could go on and on. These thoughts have led me to trying something new. When I wake each morning, I ask God to help me remember him in everything I do and say.  I know I will still forget God at times throughout the day, but at least I will be more aware that he is at hand and waiting to give me victory over my godless self.

Why the judgment of God is good…

Posted on: May 29th, 2013 by johannah No Comments

branchMost people I know avoid the topic of God’s judgment. They just want to talk about how loving he is and avoid the fact that he also judges sin. But I don’t think we can really understand his love without understanding why he judges.

I recently read through the book of Isaiah, which is what made me ponder the topic of God’s judgment. After the gloom and doom of Isaiah 3, it was a relief to get to the fourth chapter in my reading. Judah, the southern half of the divided kingdom of Israel, had forsaken God. And this didn’t happen just a few years before God pronounced his judgment. For centuries, they had ignored God’s warnings as they copied the nations around them, cycling ever downward as they worshiped idols and sacrificed even their children in an attempt to appease these false gods. Finally, God disciplined them—as we discipline our children when they are out of control morally and spiritually—and allowed them to be overrun by Babylon. Isaiah 3 gives a sober and sad description of that discipline as Judah watched all power, control, and especially their land ripped from them.

That’s why Isaiah 4 is such a breath of fresh air. God, the perfect father, is faithful to give them encouragement even as he passes judgment. After all the sorrow of chapter 3, he gives them a beautiful (and glorious) visual image of the “branch of the Lord,” which Israel would have recognized as a reference to their Messiah, or savior. As Christians we know him as Jesus Christ, and find in John 15 that he refers to himself as the vine by which all branches grow. He is truly beautiful and glorious, and gives us hope no matter how difficult our circumstances. He is the source of all life, and because of that, I can find hope for my present circumstances as well as for my future.

And that’s also the reason I think God’s judgment is good. Until we judge our own sin accurately, we will continue to spiral downward into degradation. And we can never know the joy and relief of having a savior – or truly understand what God’s love is in the first place.

Who is Jesus, really?

Posted on: April 30th, 2013 by johannah 2 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s so easy to get caught up in controversy in the Christian life. We often major on things that are wrong in Christianity and forget the basics of what are right and good. And that’s why I have to regularly pull back from thinking about issues and just think about Jesus.

In Mark 8, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

The disciples’ answers were interesting: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” Evidently, most people thought Jesus was a reincarnation of some kind. With answers like those, it sounds as though they were all convinced that God was no longer in the business of doing something new, but was stuck reusing those who were dead.

Jesus, however, was confident that his disciples knew better, so he pressed further: “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter doesn’t miss a beat but makes one of the most important statements in Scripture: “You are the Christ.” But what did that mean to them and what does it mean to us?

If the New Testament had been written in Hebrew rather than in Greek, that statement would have read, “You are the Messiah.” In other words, Peter was declaring that Jesus was the culmination of all those who had come before, including John the Baptist, Elijah, and all the Old Testament prophets. He was so much more than the people thought. He was the one they had all been waiting for—the promised and expected deliverer, the one on whom all of Israel’s history hinged.

Jesus is also the one we have been waiting for. He is our promised one too. With that in mind, I want to embrace him daily as my Christ, my Messiah. That means I follow him, even when it’s difficult. I stand for him, even when no one else does. I love him, even when I don’t understand what he’s doing. And I stick with his Church, even when it’s flawed.

 

Admit You Are Sick

Posted on: April 18th, 2013 by johannah No Comments

“And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’” Mark 2:15–17 ESV

This passage is an example of how Jesus confounded the religious people of the day, and perhaps he confounds us too. Who was Jesus dining with? Why did it cause such a stir with the Pharisees? And what was the point of Jesus’ answer?

The Old Testament Jewish law had clear guidelines to keep the Jewish people pure. There were many prohibitions because God wanted to create something unique with the nation of Israel. The trouble was that the Pharisees added to that law, interpreting it so tightly that it began to be a burden rather than a protection and delight, which is the way David talks about the law in Psalm 119. David loved God’s law and saw it as liberating rather than restricting.

In contrast, the Pharisees took God’s good law and twisted it to exclude and shun those who were “sinners.” In not recognizing that they, too, were sinners, they could only see the more obvious sins of the tax collectors and their ilk, causing them to completely ignore their own sin and lack of love. Jesus challenged their pride by eating with those they saw as sinful and pointing out that was why he came in the first place.

Application: As Christians, we too often act like Pharisees. We focus on those outside the church, pointing our fingers at their sin and exclaiming how they are ruining our society and way of life. Yet, we fail to see our own sin and repent of it. We fail to admit that Jesus has chosen to dine with the sinners—he has chosen to dine with us. 

“Lord, I have been too quick to point my finger at others and too slow to admit my own sin. Help me to recognize that tendency in my day to day interactions and especially as I am quiet before you. Amen.”

Further inspiration: Read Psalm 119 and consider what it means to truly listen to, understand, and love God’s law.

Invitation to leave comments: What sins do you think today’s Christians are blind to in their own hearts?

(I wrote this for the Narrow Way Devotional that was published on www.Trochia.org. Go there to sign up to receive this online daily.)  

 

What the heck did Jesus mean when he said his burden is light?

Posted on: February 28th, 2013 by johannah 2 Comments

Bullock_yokesI guess I have a rebellious spirit. My mother certainly thought I did in my teen years. But then again, she liked to run a tight ship that had the efficiency of the Queen Mary, and I am more of a put-the-canoe-in-the-river-and-see-where-it-takes-me kind of person. Not that I blame my mom. With five kids, I’d probably abandon the ship altogether.

That’s part of what made Jesus so attractive to me. He was always putting down the people who made rules, and rules always make me feel rebellious. At first, I thought Jesus was totally against rules—kind of a prototype for the 1970s hippies. But as I matured, I realized that he was extremely disciplined. After all, he fasted for 40 days and didn’t strike everyone dead at his crucifixion. That takes an enormous amount of discipline.

So I came to Jesus in a rather carefree way, but soon hit the hard road of discipleship and found it a lot bumpier than I thought at first. I was confused about Jesus saying his yoke is light, when it was certainly the heaviest thing I’d shackled myself to in my young life. I’ve learned since that this was a common saying back then. People “yoked” themselves to a rabbi to become their disciple. In other words, they followed him and accepted his teaching. And Jesus’ yoke is light compared to all those other rabbis.

Okay.

I’ve never had a King James Bible, except a New Testament a Gideon gave me when I was five. I treasured that Bible, even though I was too young to read it, because even at my tender age, I understood that it was a holy book—one that was too hard for me to read, but holy nonetheless.

But when I became a Christian many years later, I heard a pastor preach a sermon from the New King James on Acts 9:5, where Jesus appears to Saul (who later becomes Paul) on the Damascus road, “Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” Other versions leave out the second sentence of this verse, but the New King James leaves it in.

I got curious about what it meant “to kick against the goads,” so I looked it up. Merriam-Webster Dictionary says it’s “something that pains as if by pricking, such as a thorn, or something that urges or stimulates into action, like a spur.” Ouch! No wonder it hurt to kick against it.

It’s a good illustration for me. And I like the way Jesus says it. Here is Saul, violently persecuting the flock that Jesus loves, and he gently says, “It is hard for you…” If I were Jesus, I’d be furious! I’d want to strike Saul down for what he was doing. But instead, he says, “It’s hard for you.” That’s why Jesus’ yoke is light.

I heard that sermon probably 30 years ago now, but it stuck with me. Actually, I’ve completely forgotten the sermon, but I remember the kicking-the-goads part because it sounded way too familiar. Every time I feel rebellious toward something God wants me to do, that’s the way I feel—like I’m kicking against thorns. I feel wretched and sore all over—not physically, but spiritually. So, instead of focusing on how hard it is to obey him, I’m learning to focus on how easy it is to love him.

The Difference Between Authority and Authoritarian

Posted on: October 23rd, 2012 by johannah No Comments

This is excerpted from a piece I wrote for The Everyday Matters Bible:

The author of Hebrews 13 wraps up his letter with a potpourri of information, cramming in everything he thinks his readers need. And in that mix, he includes verse 17, “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.”

Any talk of submitting to authority tends to raise our shackles. Most of us mistrust authority because we’ve been burned by someone who is authoritarian. It’s good to note the difference.

Someone who is authoritarian lords their power over you, cowing you into submission. But that’s not what the author of Hebrews is talking about. He’s talking about someone who is concerned for your well-being and is keeping “watch over you,” always aware that he or she must give an account to the Ultimate Authority.

So make sure you are submitting to a pastor or teacher who is worthy of your authority and not authoritarian. Then give that person all the honor that is due them, “so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”

Simple Trust

Posted on: October 11th, 2012 by johannah No Comments

This is another piece I wrote for The Everyday Matters Bible. It was good for me to read this again as my husband is once again traveling and working for a non-profit ministry.

Jesus often said the opposite of what common sense tells us. Matthew 6:25 begins, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.”

When I was poorest in physical possessions, I was richest in faith—and saw God do remarkable things. While my husband traveled for his non-profit job, I was stuck at home, car-less, with preschoolers. One day we both felt led to pray for another car that we couldn’t afford. That night a friend said, “An associate wants to give her car away. Do you know anyone who needs it?” That car got us through the next three years of seminary. When our family ran out of funds during seminary and didn’t even have grocery money, we again trusted God. A check came in the mail from a woman I’d met only once.

Those who are more comfortable financially miss seeing God provide in amazing ways. His provision becomes more matter-of-fact than miraculous. But trusting God is of infinitely more value than being comfortable. That’s why Jesus finished Matthew 6:25 with, “Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?”

Without Words

Posted on: September 11th, 2012 by johannah No Comments

The following is another excerpt that I wrote for the Everyday Matters Bible. It’s based on Mark 5 and Luke 8:

Twelve years of bleeding, money gone on doctors who could not help, getting worse by the day, this woman was desperate. She’d already tried everything she could think of.

I’m much the same way. I go through every open door trying to solve my problems, chasing each lead with hope that this one thing will make my life better, more bearable. I’m always looking for another way to fix everything. And like this woman, I most often end up poorer and depleted.

It is usually that place of need that causes me to cease striving. I’m too tired and confused to keep searching for a solution. So, I do what this woman did. I become silent. I quit talking, even to God, and I throw my needs at his feet, too exhausted to form words.

That sounds unspiritual, but it is the most spiritual thing I can do. Jesus has been waiting for me to come to the end of myself, to see that he is the one more thing I’ve been seeking. And like this woman, I find when I am silent in his presence, my true needs are met.

Undone by Majesty and Mystery

Posted on: June 4th, 2012 by johannah 4 Comments

When I was a college freshman, I was a new Christian with almost no Bible knowledge. However, I was soaking things up as fast as I could by being involved in a campus ministry and regularly attending a great church. Because I was learning so much so quickly, I had a feeling of pride that I’d gotten this Christian life down and knew quite a bit about this God I was discovering.

Around this time, I was waiting for a friend in our dorm lobby. Looking for something to do, I picked up a pamphlet someone had left that contained chapters 38–42:6 of the Book of Job. It began with the Lord saying, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation” and ended with Job saying, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” When I finished reading it, I was in tears. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of the awesomeness of God. And it undid me. In a way, I’ve never recovered from first reading those chapters. They profoundly changed the way I viewed God. Since then, I’ve continually been astounded by his majesty and intrigued by his mystery.

Alfred Tennyson called Job, “the greatest poem of ancient or modern times.” British author Thomas Carlyle viewed it as “one of the grandest things ever written with a pen.” All that is true, but most of all it contains the words of an awesome God.

Martha Stewart Is Not Hospitable

Posted on: May 9th, 2012 by johannah 6 Comments

If you ask a group (I’ve tried this, so I know), “What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word hospitality?” most people will say, “Martha Stewart.” And that’s just a shame, because Martha Stewart is not hospitable. What do I mean by that?

I once watched a Today show segment where Martha was illustrating how to decorate a gingerbread house. Meredith Vieira tried to follow Martha’s directions as they decorated it together. When they’d finished Martha turned the house to display the side she had done, rather than Meredith’s. Meredith asked her why she didn’t show her side, and Martha said, “We want it to look pretty.” Meredith looked offended and said, “Martha!” in a tone of surprise and hurt.

Hospitality is not providing the perfect meal in the perfect home by the perfect hostess. We’ve been led to believe that’s what it is by the Martha Stewart perfection that many of us secretly aspire to. I’d love to be able to turn out food and events that look like Martha’s, but I gave up on that long ago because of time and lack of ability (my gingerbread houses look like Meredith’s, not Martha’s).

I’ve sometimes enjoyed watching Martha’s show. I enjoy beautiful things, so it’s fun to see the amazing things she turns out. And I’m not dissing those of you who have similar ability. More power to you. But I still insist that, in itself, is not hospitality. That’s cooking and craft skill. On her television show, I once heard Martha ask a man, “Didn’t your mother teach you anything?” That is not hospitable.

I heard a story when I was a child about a family who invited a man to dinner who had been homeless much of his life. He was uncomfortable at the dinner table because he’d rarely sat at one. The only utensil he could handle well was the spoon, so he grabbed that and used it for the casserole, the peas, everything. The father of the family followed his cue and also used only his spoon. Soon the homeless man was talking comfortably with them. That’s hospitality.

As Christians, especially, we should be aware of what the commands to be hospitable truly mean (Romans 12:13, 1 Timothy 5:10, 1 Peter 4:9, 3 John 1:8). What do you think? What is true hospitality?