Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
14-16 Jesus instructed him, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.” But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Sometimes we each find that our hearts and our souls get crowded out by life.
This way, that way, every way, by someway outside of our sphere of influence, life envelops us, immerses us in tornado force whirlwinds and deep whirlpools.
Surrounded By Souls – A Poem
I’m in touch with the thought, the idea’s in my mind, This fleeting dream, doesn’t leave me behind.
I need to hold on, to these glimpses of pure life, To bypass the confusion, the agony, the strife.
The simple life is there, just there, now gone, Between the bursts of light, I think I’m alone.
But alone in the sense of being comfortable with me, Not lost in a desert of all that I see.
But now I feel that I’m not alone at all, The world’s full of souls, I just need to call.
Why is meeting with God in the “solitary places” so important?
Until we gain an understanding of the immense value and the opportunity of encountering the shekinah Glory, the presence of our Living God, we will never consistently engage in this foundational, vital practice: “Time Alone With God.”
As we prayerfully come together, discover God’s heart to meet with us in order that we might experience the depths of his love, I pray that our lives would be marked by a new grace to consistently and powerfully encounter the living God.
Luke 5:14-16 Amplified Bible
14 Jesus ordered him to tell no one [that he might happen to meet], “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony (witness) to them [that this is a work of Messiah].” 15 But the news about Him was spreading farther, and large crowds kept gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their illnesses. 16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray [in seclusion].
Why is time alone with God so important?
Why can’t just going to church, a community group, or a Bible study be enough?
Those of you who have grown up in church or have been going to church for many years have been told and repeatedly taught that time exclusively spent alone with God is indescribably vital to our connection, relationship with him.
Many of you, including me, however, were never given a reason why.
And in order for us to consistently and effectively engage in this abundantly life giving, life sustaining crucial practice, must understand why it is so important.
Here’s what we learn from Scripture about having time alone with God.
Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Jesus spent time alone with his heavenly Father.
Luke 5:16 states, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Mark 1:35 states, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
Often in Scripture, Jesus withdrew from the crowd to pray.
So the first reason to spend time alone with God is because Jesus did.
If Jesus needed time alone with his heavenly Father, we can all be sure we need it even more.
Jesus walked in God’s presence constantly.
Jesus constantly responded to God’s will for his life.
He is our perfect example.
And even still, He needed time alone with God.
God–seekers welcome lonely places at times.
They will sometimes go miles in any direction just to find a place where open sky, wide spaces, and the starry heavens and winds are their only companions.
Even though God’s presence is clearly to be found among his children (as our Lord promised when two or three gather in his name—Matthew 18:20), God also meets us in those far away places, miles from humanity, in times of solitude.
Jesus often sought solitude.
He began his ministry by spending forty days in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11).
He spent a whole night in the desert hills before calling his twelve disciples (Luke 6:12–15).
After a powerful healing mission, he called his disciples to come with him “to a quiet place” (Mark 6:31).
For his transfiguration, he found a lonely mountain (Matthew 17:1–8).
And to find strength to face his death for us, he sought out the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–46).
Solitude rescues the lonely from loneliness.
As Richard Foster, a teacher and writer on Christian spirituality, points out, “Loneliness is inner emptiness; solitude is inner fulfillment.”
Solitude is the discipline of tuning our hearts to hear nothing but the voice of God, whether it comes to us in a whisper or a roar.
When we “pick ourselves up” to move into solitude, we seek to silence all other voices which clamor for all our attention, just to be attuned to hear God’s voice.
Psalm 19:1-5The Message
19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome for the sun—a superdome! The morning sun’s a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.
We also see from Jesus’ example that time alone with God empowers us and inspires, refreshes, invigorates us, to carry out God’s purpose for our life.
It was after withdrawing into the wilderness in Luke 4 that we read he began performing miracles.
Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane filled with grief and sorrow, asking God for a way other than his own death to achieve salvation for his people.
After spending time alone with God, he came out of the garden empowered to endure the worst atrocity in history.
Spending time alone with God empowers us, quickens us to live a life filled with a knowledge of God’s purposes and the ability to faithfully see them through.
Lastly, Jesus is clear in Matthew 6:5-6 how we are to pray.
Scripture says,
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
God rewards time spent alone with him in prayer.
It’s by praying in secret we clearly and tangibly encounter God’s love for us.
It’s by spending meaningful, quality time alone, in solitude, in quiet, thru engaging in quiet conversation with the Spirit that we learn what his voice sounds like, who it is we are responding with the entirety of our lives to.
It is only by asking God questions we come to discover His solitary, abundant will.
And it’s by spending time alone with him that our lives gradually become laser focused, centered not around our lonely, but around his nearness and goodness.
All of the money in the world cannot buy the rewards God longs to give you.
All the favor of men will not satisfy your insatiable desire to be fully known and fully loved more and greater and best by someone, something other than “self.”
God’s desire to spend time alone with you is not meant to add stress or pressure to your life but to relieve you from it.
He is not a God who is after you religiously checking off a quiet time box, but a good, good Father who longs to fill our lives with his grace, power, and love.
Receive right now, in this exact and exacting the best gift you could be offered, one-on-one communion, one-on-one Koinonia, with your heavenly Father.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Guided Prayer:
1. Wherever you are, find a place to get alone and pray.
Seek out a place that you can find solitude that will be uninterrupted.
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35
2. Read and pray through this Scripture.
May God give you a revelation of his provision and love for you as you pray Jesus’s model prayer.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” – Matthew 6:9-13
3. Engage in conversation with God.
Ask him how he feels about you.
Come before him with anything which is weighing you down and lay your burdens at his feet.
Rest in the peace that comes from his singularly unique, peaceful presence.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Father God, giver of every good and perfect gift, by thy grace and mercy, give me a heart that welcomes solitude and quiet places as openings for your voice to be heard and your glory to shine. Keep me quiet, keep me quietly in tune with you, I pray.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
39 And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him. 40 When He arrived at the place [called Gethsemane], He said to them, “Pray continually that you may not fall into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done.” 43 [a]Now an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony [deeply distressed and anguished; almost to the point of death], He prayed more intently; and His [b]sweat became like drops of blood, falling down on the ground. 45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Jesus’ final hours of suffering and death were the weakest moments of his life.
They were the weakest moments ever experienced by any human being.
Jesus drank the bitterest cup any human ever drank.
His closest friends betrayed him, denied him, fled from him.
Jesus was convicted in a sham trial, mocked and flogged, tortured and stabbed.
While on the cross, it seemed that even his Father in heaven had abandoned him. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Finally he gave up his spirit and died. He knew all this was coming.
How did he prepare?
How could anyone prepare for the ultimate torture?
AS WAS HIS HABIT ….
Jesus turned to the source of his strength: his Father.
Jesus pleaded with God he would not have to face the horror of death on a cross.
But there was only one thing he wanted more than avoiding the cross; it was obedience to God.
At the conclusion of his prayer, Jesus set aside his own desire for safety, comfort, and peace.
“Not my will, but yours be done.”
Can there be any better way to turn weakness to strength?
Jesus himself modeled for us the very kind of habits and rhythms of life we need in any age.
Even as God in human flesh, he prioritized time alone with his Father.
Imagine what “good” he might otherwise have done with all those hours.
But he chose again and again, in perfect wisdom and love, to give his first and best moments to seeking his Father’s face.
If Jesus, even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in his coming anguish carved out such space in the demands of his human life, should not we all the more?
Our own struggles and suffering will never compare to the titanic struggle between good and evil that Jesus willingly chose.
But his prayerful solitary choice to steadfastly obey his Father over any other choice comforts and strengthens me as I fervently pray it strengthens you too.
His victory is mine.
His victory is yours!
We may have but glimpses of Jesus’s habits and personal spiritual practices in the Gospels, but what we do have is by no accident, and it is not scant.
We know exactly what God means for us to know, in just the right detail — and we have far more about Jesus’s personal spiritual rhythms than we do about anyone else in Scripture.
And the picture we have of Christ’s habits is not one that is foreign to our world and lives and experience.
We find timeless and trans-cultural postures that can be replicated, and easily applied, by any follower of Jesus, anywhere in the world, at any time in history.
How many of us have the presence of mind, and heart, and soul, and spirit, to discern and prioritize, genuinely actualize, solitary prayer time as Jesus did?
The account of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before being taken away to be crucified is one of the most personal glimpses into the relationship between Jesus and his Father, God.
It shows us the close relationship and trust Jesus had with his Father.
Jesus went to the Father with his deepest troubles, honestly cried out to Him.
Not only did Jesus trust God with his fears, sadness, and requests, he also trusted the perfect plan God had for his future.
Even when it would cost him his life, Jesus trusted the will of his Father and even prayed for it.
Jesus lived on Earth as a man for 33 years.
In the Gospels, we have a record of the three years he spent in ministry.
As he traveled preaching the gospel, healing the sick, and training up disciples, all the while Jesus knew what was coming and how his life would end.
He knew that his purpose on Earth was to become the perfect lamb to be sacrificed for the sins of the world.
He understood to become that perfect sacrifice he would suffer greatly, be put to death, have the relationship between him and the Father broken for a time.
In these verses, we get a glimpse of Jesus as being fully man and fully God.
We see his anguish, fear, and dread.
He was overwhelmed and sorrowful as he is betrayed and abandoned.
Jesus was suffering in his soul as well as in his body.
It was a sorrow that leads to death.
A sorrow that you and I couldn’t survive; soul sorrow; even agony.
Every one of us can identify with deep sorrow on some level.
At some point in our lives, most of us have felt these deep emotions, maybe even to the point of wishing we would die instead of suffering so much.
These feelings are human.
There is nothing sinful about any of them.
Even Jesus felt this way.
It’s what we choose to do with these feelings that matters most.
Just Go Away to A Solitary Place ….
P.U.S.H. – Pray Until Something Happens – against the Gates of Heaven.
Luke 22:45-46Amplified Bible
45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
Take a minute, read and observe what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Notice the actions, and then notice the LACK of actions of the disciples ….
We Need Each Other’s Times of Solitary Prayers ….
The gospel accounts describe Jesus as being in a type of agony.
He was sorrowful and very heavy; signifying a sorrow that makes a man neither fit for company nor desirous of it.
Even so, the first thing we see Jesus do is to gather his closest friends for support.
He doesn’t bring all twelve disciples to Gethsemane, only three; the closest three, Peter, James, and John.
These were the ones who also had witnessed his glory in his transfiguration.
Peter, James, and John have witnessed Jesus’ glory as no one else had.
Because of their witness, they are probably the most prepared of all the disciples to witness his agony.
They know Jesus in a different way than the others.
So Jesus chooses them to share in his emotional agony.
He rallies them for companionship and asks them to pray.
This is a lesson for us. Jesus gathered his friends and expresses his sorrow.
We need friends too; not as a substitute for God, but as an earthly comfort.
There’s a delicate balance between oversharing and putting on a happy face to suffer in silence.
In times of greatest heartbreak, grief, and sadness, we need our closest friends to surround us.
We need to share our feelings with them asking for support, companionship, and prayer.
But, as we read the Gospel account, the disciples fell asleep ….
Friends may fall asleep on us, but God does not!
Jesus returns to the three disciples he has brought with him and finds them sleeping.
He has brought them along so that they would keep their solitary watch and pray with him, and thoroughly fatigued from the day, they have fallen short.
Once again, a lesson for us. Our closest friends and family are important resources for us, especially when we are going through tough times.
However, they can never replace the perfect comfort, reliability, and peace that only God can supply.
As humans, we fall short, we fail each other all the time.
Our intentions are good and honest, but sadly, our own emotions, priorities, schedules, and opinions get in the way of being ‘everything’ for someone else.
ONLY GOD can do that.
God is always awake and aware ….
Psalm 121The Message
121 1-2 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
3-4 He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.
5-6 God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you— Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke.
7-8 God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.
It appears that God didn’t answer Jesus’ prayers.
At the very least, it would seem that Jesus was told, “No. I will not stop this punishment by death.”
It’s true, God’s perfect will was for Jesus to die and become the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world.
He did not stop that from happening.
But he did answer Jesus’ prayer.
He sent an angel to strengthen Jesus to give him the encouragement, the ability to carry through the most daunting task in history which awaited before him.
Also, he rescued Jesus from death.
Although Jesus would suffer greatly and it would be painful for a time, he didn’t allow Jesus to stay dead.
He brought him back to life, took him to heaven to sit a the right hand of the Father.
Thankfully, for our sakes and for all of humanity, Jesus’ solitary prayer was answered in the perfect will of our sovereign God.
Because of Jesus’ solitary, steadfast obedience to the will of His Father we have a singularly unique solitary and prayerful relationship with Jesus Christ today.
As it was HIS Habit, Let it also become OUR Habit
That’s why I love this account of Jesus in the Garden so much.
It shows me the humanity of Jesus, his agony in trusting, obeying the Father.
It shows me that it’s OK to struggle and plead with God.
It shows me that trusting God is hard work and won’t always come easily.
It also shows me that trusting and obeying is between me and God – no one else can do the hard work for me.
I see that even though I may not understand God’s will for me at the moment, God has a single, solitary, uniquely mine plan for all my future circumstances.
Even when he answers my prayers differently, singularly, uniquely, solitarily, than I had hoped, this Gospel Narrative teaches me that His plan is always best.
So, let’s take this example from Jesus.
Let’s worship Him for how he trusted and obeyed the Father so that we could be saved and have a relationship with him forever.
And, let’s continue to work on our own trust issues, as we work on trusting and obeying Him, even when we do not understand the plan – It is our only HOPE.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 42The Message
42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep drafts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, “Will I ever make it— arrive and drink in God’s presence?” I’m on a diet of tears— tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, Pestering, “Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over, emptying out the pockets of my life. I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd, right out in front, Leading them all, eager to arrive and worship, Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving— celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan depths to Hermon heights, including Mount Mizar. Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God, “Why did you let me down? Why am I walking around in tears, harassed by enemies?” They’re out for the kill, these tormentors with their obscenities, Taunting day after day, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
55 1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer; don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking. Come close and whisper your answer. I really need you. I shudder at the mean voice, quail before the evil eye, As they pile on the guilt, stockpile angry slander.
4-8 My insides are turned inside out; specters of death have me down. I shake with fear, I shudder from head to foot. “Who will give me wings,” I ask— “wings like a dove?” Get me out of here on dove wings; I want some peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country, I want a cabin in the woods. I’m desperate for a change from rage and stormy weather.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Our inner storms can be intense when we are immersed in situations which are far beyond our abilities to cope with using our own limited devices and manage.
Personal situations, family situations, work situations, financial situations, health situations, personal safety and security, school situations – all on the warpath, steadily accumulating, building momentum, all at once!
In perfect and not so perfect storms like that, we often cannot think straight.
We are surrounded by people we do not need nor want to be surrounded by.
We are in a place which we would not otherwise choose to be if we had one more choice to make – homeless, or being at risk of being homeless, addictions, the unemployment line – again and again again, the hospital – over and over again.
We question everything.
Stop the cycle ….
Shut the merry go round off …. no more spinning in the ceaseless circles going nowhere as fast as the mind and soul can conceive or better yet, not conceive.
Better still, stop the world – build me a rocket ship to anywhere in the universe!
Where can a solution be found?
The writer of this psalm wanted the same solution we would—to get away.
How wonderful it would be to fly away like a bird to the furthest reaches of “who cares where – just not here” when we are faced with such an array of circumstances coming at us all at once from every known compass direction.
Such situations are not far fetched in this age of rapid change and technology.
It would be such a relief to be able to go somewhere, anywhere, just to be alone for a little while, leave all our troubles behind, unplug from all the challenges.
Conventional wisdom might suggest losing yourself in the wide array of video games you can find online or with any game system, become someone else for a while, spend hours taking out the host of frustrations upon some fantasy quest.
Get behind the wheel of your car and go for a long drive with the radio blasting or take a long walk in any direction that makes itself available in the moment.
Still others just want to “sprout wings like a dove” and fly into the sunset of life.
Still others will do anything to get away from the whirlwind: drugs and alcohol.
The whole point is this … they know they just want to be, they need to be alone and they need that “alone time” right in this very exact and exacting moment!
Have you felt the sting of the “tempest”?
Perhaps these words have discovered you living in that kind of storm right now.
Perhaps, and please ponder this, I am not the “one” who has just “found you.”
Perhaps, the One who has just “found you” is yourself in need of the Lord God?
Perhaps, its your soul, the anguished part, the languishing part, the all seeking part, silently, not so silently, subtly or nor quite so subtly, starts looking in not so quiet desperation, outward and heavenward, looking far outside your spaces.
Uttering words you cannot hear, words which you would not otherwise conceive saying to yourself, to any other human being, hidden words stuck in “tempest.”
Words uttered, muttered behind your back, spoken without your permission.
Words which would never consider seeking out your authorization to speak of.
Words which when they become known to you – would shock you to the core.
Words which require an extended explanation, direct confrontation with and from your soul – for daring to go outside your own “established parameters!”
Words from your soul, when your soul looks directly into your “eyes” and says straight into what you know is your “you are in no place to argue with me, life:
YOU NEED GOD RIGHT NOW!
Psalm 27:4-6 The Message
4 I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.
5 That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.
6 God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down. I’m headed for his place to offer anthems that will raise the roof! Already I’m singing God-songs; I’m making music to God.
“But, I have my own way of doing things, I need no help!”
“Yes! I know, I have seen how well you don’t handle things.”
“But, who else could possibly know me even better than I do?”
“I’m Asking for Time Alone With God!” Sincerely, Your soul.
I am going to pause this devotional right here to give you, your soul some much needed time outside of yourselves, even more needed space alone.
Has this plea from your soul caught you by surprise?
Has this plea from deep within your “tempest” achieved or attained even 0.01% of your undivided attention?
To ponder for a time the actual relevance and significance, of these words?
I NEED TIME ALONE WITH GOD!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 42 The Message
42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep drafts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, “Will I ever make it— arrive and drink in God’s presence?” I’m on a diet of tears— tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, Pestering, “Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over, emptying out the pockets of my life. I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd, right out in front, Leading them all, eager to arrive and worship, Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving— celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan depths to Hermon heights, including Mount Mizar. Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God, “Why did you let me down? Why am I walking around in tears, harassed by enemies?” They’re out for the kill, these tormentors with their obscenities, Taunting day after day, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
20 There is precious treasure and oil in the house of the wise [who prepare for the future], But a short-sighted and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it. 21 He who earnestly seeks righteousness and loyalty Finds life, righteousness, and honor.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Should Christians Be Pursuing Success?
“It is, of course, always a joyful thing to succeed. But the joy is very deceptive if it comes from the satisfaction of an ambition that is contrary to the will of God. What is success and what is failure? The answer of the Bible is, ‘What is the will of God? Are you obeying Him?’” Paul Tournier, Breakfast for the Soul
Should “Sermon in Shoes” Christians be pursuing success?
The answer is an emphatic “yes” if we understand that a successful life is one that is intent on knowing God as He has revealed Himself, seeks to believe and obey all that the Word of God proclaims, views life through the lens of eternity.
The answer is, however, as should be expected, a tad bit more complicated if we are defining the single minded pursuit of our success only by the world’s terms.
At its core, the word “success” is quite ambiguous, defined rather simply as a favorable or desired outcome.
It means to reach one’s expectations, to accomplish a predefined goal.
Today’s culture sees a successful person as one who is either famous, wealthy, or comfortable, or has a certain level of influence and power.
We succeed when we make good grades, earn high honors, or earn promotions, lifetime achievements, start and successfully build, grow our own businesses, gain material possessions which set us apart from those less-successful peers.
Success is achieved when we we can “retire early,” no longer need to work hard, ride around in private airplanes, and still have all of our desires and wants met.
The world also acknowledges success as accomplishing humanitarian goals – becoming missionaries, disaster relief workers, feeding the hungry, providing for the sick or mentally ill or homeless, or helping people overcome addictions.
None of these would necessarily make a person rich or famous, but they would certainly be considered successful in Christian life for their accomplishments.
However, if our focus is simply on the physical needs of this world without concern for the eternal souls of men, does God interpret this as “success?”
What Does God Say About Success?
If we are ourselves tempted to pursue the kind of success as the world defines it, we should first examine what God says about success.
One of the more familiar passages about success in the Hebrew Testament was given to Joshua.
God’s words to Joshua as he humbles himself, accepts an important assignment are a good place to begin.
Joshua 1:7-8 Amplified Bible
7 Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do [everything] in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be [a]successful.
To the New Testament writers, success is defined by the eternal – the prosperity of the soul.
Health and prosperity in the physical world would be meaningless if one’s soul languished in the pursuit of temporal, earthly things.
Matthew 16:26Amplified Bible
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mark 8:36 Amplified Bible
36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?
Luke 9:25 Amplified Bible
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], and loses or forfeits himself?
Rabbi Jesus made this distinction clear as he addressed both His disciples, the unbelieving Pharisees, and to the crowds pursuing Him for physical provision after He fed five thousand with a small boy’s rather meager lunch.
John 6:27-29 Amplified Bible
27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures [and leads] to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has authorized Him and put His seal on Him.” 28 Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.”
Success Through Obedience and Service
God defines success as living in obedience to His commands and seeing our physical work as ultimately serving Him.
1 Chronicles 22:9-12 Amplified Bible
9 Behold, a son will be born to you, who will be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for My Name (Presence). He shall be My son and I will be his father; and I will establish his royal throne over Israel forever.’ 11 Now, my son, may the Lord be with you so that you may be successful and build the house of the Lord your God, just as He has spoken concerning you. 12 Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.
Proverbs 6:6-8 Amplified Bible
6 Go to the ant, O lazy one; Observe her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no chief, Overseer or ruler, 8 She prepares her food in the summer And brings in her provisions [of food for the winter] in the harvest.
Proverbs 21:20 Amplified Bible
20 There is precious treasure and oil in the house of the wise [who prepare for the future], But a short-sighted and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it.
God often gives physical and spiritual success to His people as they employ their talents and spiritual gifts.
Missionaries would not be on the field without the financial generosity of those who have a talent for business and the gift of giving.
The gospel can be proclaimed with great influence as we live with a kingdom perspective while succeeding in our earthly work.
Humanitarian work can be a great blessing to a hurting world, but is successful when we see past physical needs to the spiritual needs of those we are serving.
The very real danger comes actualized, and too realized when the success of the work of our hands and its benefits distracts us from the higher purpose of God’s glory and the proclamation of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 16:1-3Amplified Bible
Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
16 The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man, But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 2 All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions], But the Lord weighs and examines the motives and intents [of the heart and knows the truth]. 3 [a]Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].
The Word of God: The Rewards of Working Hard
2 Thessalonians 3:7-10Amplified Bible
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined or inappropriate manner when we were with you [we were never idle or lazy, nor did we avoid our duties], 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we worked night and day [to pay our own way] so that we would not be a financial burden on any of you [for our support]; 9 not because we do not have a right to such support, but [we provided our own financial support] to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. 10 For even while we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is [a]not to eat, either.
Warning Against The Love of Money
God also gives us guidance on the purpose of wealth, and the dangers of the love of money and possessions.
Luke 12:13-21 Amplified Bible
Covetousness Denounced
13 Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over [the two of] you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”
Parable of the Wealthy Fool
16 Then He told them a parable, saying, “There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive. 17 And he began thinking to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place [large enough in which] to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own all the things you have prepared?’ 21 So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God.”
I didn’t think I was greedy until I read this passage again.
Jesus warns us to watch out for all kinds of greed.
The kind of greed I usually thought about had to do with very wealthy people always wanting more – but Jesus does not focus on that kind of greed here.
In the context of this passage, a man is arguing with his brother over their inheritance.
The family has enough to hand down, but Rabbi Jesus sees that this man is still worried if he will truly have enough.
He is greedy not for luxury but for security.
In the second Parable, the wealthy man looks to build “bigger storehouses” to 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’
Kind of sounds like “Just in case of the worst possible scenario” or “Just in Case I might actually find one use for it ten or twenty years from now” Hoarding.
It’s in this context that Jesus goes on to teach some familiar lessons.
Be faithful in the little things, so that God can trust you with the big things.
Don’t fall into the trap of serving and living and striving and possessing for money; it will master you and you will be unfaithful to your Master, Jesus.
Ouch! I didn’t even realize the extent of that kind of unfaithfulness existed.
But many of us have it and do not realize how deeply we are entrenched in it.
We want a little bit more so that we don’t have to worry.
Jesus points us away from greed based on worry.
So long as we aim to live God’s way, aligning ourselves with God’s purpose for us in this world (seeking his kingdom), and so long as it is not yet time for our heavenly inheritance, God will give us what we need to live for him each day.
Wanting more than that is a type of greed.
And that will distract us from fully living the life of joy, peace we are created for.
So let’s remember this admonition, learn to let go of our worry-based greed.
Hebrews 13:5-6 Amplified Bible
5 Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” 6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say,
“The Lord is my Helper [in time of need], I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
Summarizing: Should Christians Pursue Success?
By all means.
Work hard where God has put you.
Be a faithful, dependable, honest employee.
Use the influence and position God gives you to boldly proclaim the gospel.
Be generous with your material possessions and financial blessings and use them wisely and prudently for kingdom purposes.
Take care of your spouses, your loved ones and leave your children and your grandchildren an “inheritance” – including a spiritual one – your witness!
Psalm 119:9-16Amplified Bible
Beth.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to Your precepts]. 10 With all my heart I have sought You, [inquiring of You and longing for You]; Do not let me wander from Your commandments [neither through ignorance nor by willful disobedience]. 11 Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart, That I may not sin against You. 12 Blessed and reverently praised are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes. 13 With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Your precepts And [thoughtfully] regard Your ways [the path of life established by Your precepts]. 16 I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
Live your life to glorify God alone, and according to Him, you WILL find success.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 23 The Message
23 1-3 God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Lately, I have been focusing my devotional efforts on success and failure, being in an living out the “balanced” “Sermon in Shoes” God devoted Christian life –
In my search and study of the Scriptures, learning an praying over the idea of flesh vs. spirit, I’ve been reading through Paul’s letter to the Romans recently.
And I am stuck on one passage that I keep coming back to over and over.
I am kind of stuck on it, not because it is particularly difficult to understand.
But because it has just grabbed hold of my heart and my soul and won’t let go.
Am I “a Sermon in Shoes” living according to the Spirit?
Or am I “a Sermon in Shoes” living according to the flesh?
Is there supposed to be some kind of balance between the two mindsets?
Not to be “so heavenly minded to be no earthly good ….”
Not to be “so earthly minded to be no heavenly good ….”
Living in the Flesh or Living in the Spirit?
Romans 8:5-8 New International Version
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
This passage provides a test.
Am I living according to the flesh, or according to the Spirit?
In this passage the flesh refers to my own nature, who I just naturally am.
In our natural state we all live according to the flesh.
And in that state our minds are set on what the flesh desires.
Is this necessarily a bad thing?
Is this necessarily a good thing?
The best answer to either one is probably …. Not in and of itself.
It is just what we are.
For some, the flesh desires things that are hurtful to self and others.
And we condemn the expression of those desires.
For others, the flesh desires things that are helpful to self and others.
Things of beauty, wisdom, knowledge and understanding, peace and love.
We rightfully, righteously hold these in high regard and set them as examples.
But what both of these extremes, and any middle ground, hold in common, is that they are hostile to God.
They are unable to please him, and lead to death.
It is not too challenging to apply this to an icy path on the “broad road leading us to our own inevitable and eternal destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)
We find it altogether different to apply it to a great humanitarian who dedicates his life to helping the helpless.
But Paul is clear that if I am following the desires of my own nature I am in deep trouble – stunningly it makes no difference where those desires might lead us.
Paul contrasts this person with the one whose mind is set, not on what they want, but on what God’s Spirit wants.
That one will experience life and peace in relationship with their Creator.
It is ironic that only in dying to self will I find true life.
Only in giving up will I discover what I was created to be.
Life in the Flesh, Life in the Spirit: Taking the Test
It is so easy to read and study this passage without actually taking the test.
I have done it for several decades.
But it is demanding an answer now.
As I walk through my day, do I do what I want, or what the Spirit wants of me?
Do I take any quantity or quality time to inquire of the Spirit what he wants?
Or do I just take my own quantity, quality time to just act on my own desires?
Am I trying to please God?
Or am I doing what I want and hoping and praying that it is pleasing to him?
According to Paul’s teachings here, if my response is the latter, then I am not pleasing him, but I am actually using my time to be more, more hostile to him.
No matter how good my actions might be, if it is in response to my own desire rather than at the Spirit’s leading, then, guess what folks, I have fallen short.
I am afraid too much of my life is lived without regard for the Spirit’s leading.
But this passage is stuck on a continuous replay cycle in my mind and soul.
It rigorously, vigorously challenges me every single day to change the channel, listen to the Spirit rather than to my own success vs. failure nature and desires.
Will I dare to let go of the tightly held reins of my success vs. failure mindset and lifestyle, which I have continuously, purposely, tightly held for so long?
What Are The Two Lives Referring To?
Paul shifts from preaching (second-person) to teaching (third-person) so that you an I can better understand the message of this passage more clearly.
He elaborates on two types of people — those who live according to the flesh vs. those who live according to the Spirit.
In describing these two groups of “spiritual” people, Paul establishes a key spiritual principle.
In verse 5, we notice 2 verbs laid out — “set” and “live”.
What is the implicit connection between these 2 verbs?
Paul is saying that we live according to what we set our minds on.
What does it mean to set?
It carries with it the idea of choosing to build upon something only after careful inspection.
It is a simple, but very important principle.
Many of us think that we are autonomous, self-sovereign, rational human beings, but this is not true.
We are the sum of our choices, and so much of who we are is a result of what we chose yesterday.
Romans is helping us see that those who live in the Spirit have set their mind on things in the Spirit, and those who do not, have made the choice not to.
We need to set our minds on something.
There’s no way we can choose not to set our minds on anything.
Yet, many of us have neglected this simple truth.
So, what have you set your mind on?
What have you fixed your thoughts on?
What have you chosen to be the site of your daydreaming, imagination and fantasizing?
A simple way of identifying it, would be to think about the things that have succeeded and disappointed and failed you, encouraged you, given you hope.
After all, Romans 8:5 remind us that the way we live reflect where we have set our thoughts and minds.
Let’s press it a bit further.
What is one implication of this verse?
If you are a “Sermon in Shoes” Christian today, it means that there was a time when you lived in the flesh and set your mind on things of the flesh, but there was a turning point to mark the change to the mind, to mark life in the Spirit.
It could be that moment when you realized the greatness of God and His love became real and evident when told to you.
It could also be that heart warming moment when before, church, Bible study, sermons and prayer were all boring and did not make sense, but then they did.
What marks the Christian and what changes in the mind of a Christian?
The Christian sees truths about his or her true state, and has a fundamental awareness of his or her inability to do what God requires.
Or, as Reverend Dr. Timothy Keller aptly describes it, we suddenly realize that
“we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we would have ever dared ourselves to hope before.”
The good news of what our Savior Jesus Christ did became the very wisest of good news indeed, and the truths of the gospel becomes ever more clear and truly results in transformative actions such as gratitude, forgiveness, love, etc.
Dear “Sermon in Shoes” Christian, does this begin to describe your journey?
Whether our life has been abundantly blessed with life’s successes …
Whether our life has been abundantly weighed down with life’s failures …
Do you know, Oh Christian, you’re a sermon in shoes? Do you know, Oh Christian, you’re a sermon in shoes? Jesus calls upon you, to spread the gospel news, (1) So walk it, and talk it, a sermon in shoes. (2) Live it, and give it, a sermon in shoes. (3) Teach it, and preach it, a sermon in shoes. (4) Know it, and show it, a sermon shoes. (Ruth Harms Calkin)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 16 The Message
16 1-2 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without you, nothing makes sense.
3 And these God-chosen lives all around— what splendid friends they make!
4 Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names.
5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I’m your choice! You set me up with a house and yard. And then you made me your heir!
7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.
9-10 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell— that’s not my destination!
11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
5-9 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.
We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
We all make mistakes. We all have failures in our lives.
Do you define yourself by your failures? For your sake I fervently PRAY not.
Our failures don’t define us, it’s how we rise after we fall that defines us.
Failing is not bad.
When we try something new there is a very good chance it won’t go as planned.
Those with the courage to try, should definitely expect, will occasionally meet, with disappointment or even apparent failure.
When things don’t go as planned, we must take the time to pray, evaluate what went wrong with God and together, try to figure out what we need to do better.
With God, If we are willing to learn from our failures, they aren’t failures at all.
Isaiah 40:27-29Amplified Bible
27 Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become tired or grow weary; There is no searching of His understanding. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who has no might He increases power.
The essential message from this passage from Isaiah is this:
The only difference between a failure and a lesson is the way we choose to look at it, the way we acknowledge the Presence and Sovereignty of God in our life.
Am I afraid of failure? Absolutely!
Are you afraid of failure? Probably – Absolutely!
Or do you an I always try to not make any mistakes? Probably – Absolutely!
Well, probably, absolutely, both mistakes and failures are a big part of our lives.
However, neither can or should be allowed or given permission to define us.
Why mistakes and failures cannot define us
1. Mistakes and Failures Should Not Be Personalized.
Both mistakes and failures are just events that naturally happen during our journey in life. Trust yourself, take risks, and make mistakes. Step out of your comfort zone and translate your failures as “God steps” leading unto success.
The way you choose to translate failure either moves you forward or holds you back. See everything as a God lesson from which you can gain something new.
2. Sometimes We All Suck in Life and That is OK.
Accept that it is inevitable, at some point, we all mess things up. We will make awful mistakes and appear less than what we wanted to. Truth is that we are all humans and nobody is perfect – we are all allowed to make mistakes and fail.
To fail and to make mistakes means you are trying to do something new and as long as you are alive, you always try to do your best.
Just pray to God because sometimes our best is not good enough, and that is OK.
3. If we Make Mistakes and we Fail it is Most Possible, With God, and through Christ, We will Eventually Make it Right or Succeed.
I used to have an Elementary School teacher who every time I would make a mistake (frequently) would tell me it is ok and that the only person who makes no mistakes is the only one who will never make an effort to do something.
Yes, making mistakes and failing means that there is room available for you to grow into something better and bigger.
It is most possible at some point, with God you will make it right and succeed.
4.You are Much More Than Your Mistakes or Your Failures.
Sometimes you have this tendency to call mistakes the things that happened that did not turn out the way you had planned them and wanted them to be.
Even if they were mistakes, accept them and do not let them define you and your value as an individual.
Sometimes those mistakes or failures exist to show you the way to something different, the way of life of our Savior Jesus, which would be a better fit for you.
5. Mistakes and Failure Can Teach You about God’s Forgiveness
Maybe the most valuable lesson we can take from our failures and mistakes is how to be gentle with ourselves, accept God’s mercy and to forgive ourselves.
We usually find it easier to forgive others than we find it to forgive ourselves.
Pray to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ….
Fervently …. and Without Ceasing ….
Psalm 25:5-7 The Message
5 Take me by the hand; Lead me down the path of truth. You are my Savior, aren’t you?
6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God; Rebuild the ancient landmarks!
7 Forget that I sowed wild oats; Mark me with your sign of love. Plan only the best for me, God!
6. Through Mistakes We Can Overcome Your Fears
People are usually afraid of making mistakes or trying to do new things.
How could we ever come to understand whether something is a good fit for us or not without ever trying, without trial and error, without success or failure?
And how could we ever become good at something without being the total, inconceivably inept and clumsy amateur – that is, really bad at it at first?
We are all afraid, but through daring choices, running headlong into mistakes, and into full throttle failures, we push our lives forward and grow as persons.
Pray to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ….
Fervently …. and Without Ceasing ….
Psalm 27:12-14The Message
11-12 Point me down your highway, God; direct me along a well-lighted street; show my enemies whose side you’re on. Don’t throw me to the dogs, those liars who are out to get me, filling the air with their threats.
13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with God.
7. If We Make Mistakes We Have No Regrets
Most people, as they mature, as they grow older and presumably wiser, think back on their lives, remember things they regret and wish they were not that coward and attempted to do this crazy thing they kept on thinking about.
If they had attempted it even though it might have succeeded in some measure, not turned out as well, at least they would have taken it out of their systems.
This choice that they never made would not return to their minds as regret.
Psalm 16:7-11The Message
7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.
9-10 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell— that’s not my destination!
11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
Failures and mistakes are all part of our journey in life.
We all make mistakes and we will all fail some time during our lives.
None of them should be taken personally.
When we meet them, treat them as stepping stones onto our narrow road to something, someone significantly bigger – Road to Salvation in Christ Jesus.
Identify them as what they are, events that occur in order to teach us a lesson.
Often, we can become stuck in the present by our past mistakes and failures.
How can we move forward effectively, learning and growing from our mistakes, and letting them go at the same time?
Learning how to forgive ourselves starts with accepting the grace which states quite clearly that God has already forgiven you through Christ’s atoning love.
We each need to better understand a few things when it comes to seeing failure through God’s eyes:
We are human and will make mistakes; we all have weaknesses. Therefore, we must learn to live with our failures. Strong character is developed in accordance with how we deal with our mistakes and move on from them.
Remember that failure is actually important for our spiritual development. Mistakes can teach us vital lessons about what to do differently in the future, which helps us avoid repeating them!
It is from within our greatest weaknesses that Jesus is best able to teach and strengthen you: (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) Realize God’s Grace and Work is never limited by any of our failures. He does not reject us in our weakness but rather embraces us so that we can each receive strength to be all He intended us to be.
God doesn’t hold our failures and mistakes over us; he gives us limitless grace and mercy. His love totally outweighs any mistake we have made, so we can begin to forgive yourself in this knowledge. And He designed you and me to have a loving relationship with him. Thus, “failure” in God’s sight is our living outside of the way He intended us live. Our biggest mistakes would be to reject our loving Creator and Savior. As such, this kind of failure is genuinely hard to achieve for those who genuinely strive every day to keep both their eyes on Him.
Our histories and our mistakes do not even minimally define who we are.
Our maximum identity is in Christ, not in any event or words said in the past.
Letting go and moving on from failure can be achieved through the love of God, which leads to our acceptance and pursuit of the person He intended us to be.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 23 The Message
23 1-3 God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
When given the chance, I will argue to no end that much of life’s success boils down to one simple maxim: do the real thing and stop doing fake alternatives.
DOING THE “REAL THINGS” NOT THE “FAKE ALTERNATIVES”
Knowing the “differences” always begins by our daring to ask ourselves:
“How would I do this, if doing it well and good were all that mattered?”
“How would I do this, if convenience made all the difference in doing it well?”
“How would I do this, if I had all the time in the world to draft the best plan?”
“How would I do this, if I had a matter of a few hours to draft the best plan?”
“How would I do this, if this situation was life or death and I need a plan now?”
Do I still do the absolute best that I can or do I start looking for “shortcuts”?
Do I throw all caution into the tornadic whirlwinds of inconceivable change?
The Easy Way or The Hard Way?
The High Road or the Low Road?
The Paved Road over the Mountains or the Rained out, Rutted out Dirt Path?
Which will get me to the place I want to be? I need to be? – with the least risk?
How desirous, am I to going all out to get there, risking life, limb and liberty?
Which will get me to the one single place which Jehovah God requires me to be?
My asking each of us these poignant questions this soon in the New Year ….
Now, in answering them, you might object: “You don’t have enough time. You have two jobs, kids and responsibilities – Doing it well sounds too daunting.”
This is okay.
The point of this thought experiment is not to deny that obstacles to living into the Christian life under the all watchful eyes and presence of God do fully exist.
Rather it is an effort to open your eyes, in this moment, to begin thinking about how connected to God or distracted from God, to stop and consider the road you are on, the road you need to be on, the road which Jehovah God requires of you.
Rather, it’s to start with the best plan and make accommodations as needed.
The “Christian life” never remains an easy one.
The “Christian life” is never going to stop happening.
Sometimes, our “Christian life” is absolutely going to spiral out of our control.
Apathy and Complacency become a threat, what results is usually much closer to not the ideal than if you simply start with something that feels easy enough.
The Good News is this:
JEHOVAH GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL!
As we seek out our God, as we meditate daily (do we meditate daily?) about our immersing ourselves in our life journey with Jesus, the Way, I so fervently pray that we find that Rabbi Jesus offers to each of us lots of helpful guidelines for us.
Our Scripture for today from Matthew 7:13-14, comes at the end of his “Sermon on the Mount,” which is like a guidebook for everyday living in God’s kingdom.
Sometimes this style of living is called “the Christian counter-culture.”
That’s because the God-honoring lifestyle of following Jesus often goes against popular opinion – In other words, reality check – we take the road less traveled.
Taking the narrow road doesn’t mean we are narrow-minded or we just prefer to go against what “everyone else is doing.”
It means, simply, we do what we do because God calls us to do what is right.
Jesus indicates that many people want to follow an “anything goes” lifestyle.
But in that kind of world people tend to be selfish, uninhibited, putting their own desires ahead of everything else, and lots of other people will get hurt.
Eventually that kind of life leads to self-destruction, so, in the end, it hurts the selfish individual too.
How many lives, marriages, families, communities, and societies have been harmed, even destroyed because people have insisted on going their own way?
Rabbi Jesus calls us to choose which way we will walk
…..“the seldom taken high risk, straight and narrow gate … that leads to life.”
….”the easiest path with least amount of risk and the least level of resistance” which will inevitably lead us down the pathway to our inevitable destruction.
In John 10:7 he calls himself “the gate.”
He alone opens the way to life—now and for eternity!
“Outside” the Presence of Jehovah God ….
FIRST:
Ask yourself the easy, easier and the easiest questions.
Ask yourself the hard, harder and hardest questions.
THEN ULTIMATELY – IN THE PRESENCE OF JEHOVAH GOD ….
Ask yourself the “easy, easier and the easiest” questions.
Ask yourself the hard, harder and hardest” questions.
Now contemplate ….
Choose this day where your heart and soul genuinely rest ….
Self …. Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
Jehovah God …. Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
WALK ON THE PATH THAT SERVES YOU BEST!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Most Merciful God, You are invisible to us, Your salvation is opaque to us, and Your grace is an enduring mystery. Who is it who can actually plumb the depths of Your wonders? Who has seen Your face and yet lived? Lord, let me comprehend You. Help me to understand the astonishing depths of Your love and grace. Forgive us, Lord, for wanting to go our own “easy, easier, an easiest” way. Have your way with us; mold us and remake us, guiding us to do what is right in all we do. Help me to continue to grow up into this infinite affection, that I may walk upon Your pathway to life, that I may serve you and your neighbors more, and become “more” pleasing to You. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Every child of God walks by “faith,” each and every step that we take reveals to God’s neighborhood, to all God’s neighbors, the visible measure of our “faith.”
Our Christianity is our most visible part and we must have the willingness to hear, a doubtless heart to believe, godly sorrow to repent, be unashamed to confess, the obedience to be baptized, the moral strength to endure till the end.
When we are willing to take up our cross and follow after Christ, we are taking the right steps on the straight and narrow path that leads to life everlasting.
At one time or another, I can practically guarantee that every Christian has heard another person tell them – (truth be told – this was my favorite line.)
“I do not need God, I do not need Jesus, I do not need church, I don’t really need anyone’s religion; I just try to be that good person and live by the Golden Rule.”
It’s not uncommon to hear people talk like this, usually they are trying to say “not interested” “go away” minimize God’s demand for how we should “live.”
As long as our visible “lifestyle” communicates to everyone around us, that we innately treat others as we want to be treated, God should accept us—right?
And usually this is enough to dissuade us from furthering the conversation.
We may never even start that conversation because we have assured ourselves beforehand that that is exactly the “automatic” response we will each receive.
The Question then becomes, If our Rabbi Jesus were to turn around in the exact moment we had that thought, looked us straight and narrowly into our eyes,
What would those soul piercing eyes immediately, not so subtly communicate?
Do you know, Oh Christian, you’re a sermon in shoes? Do you know, Oh Christian, you’re a sermon in shoes? Jesus calls upon you, to spread the gospel news, (1) So walk it, and talk it, a sermon in shoes. (2) Live it, and give it, a sermon in shoes. (3) Teach it, and preach it, a sermon in shoes. (4) Know it, and show it, a sermon in shoes. (Ruth Harms Calkin)
Rabbi Jesus most likely wore very simple sandals ….
So, without Rabbi Jesus ever using any words, can we hear his eyes tell us ….
“Do you know, Oh Christian, I am a sermon in very simple sandals ….?”
“Do you know, Oh Christian, I am a sermon in very simple sandals ….?”
“I am calling upon you, to spread the gospel news ….“
“(1) So I walk it, and talk it, a sermon in very simple sandals ….”
“(2) So I live it an give it, a sermon in very simple sandals ….”
“(3) So I teach it, and preach it, a sermon in very simple sandals ….”
“(4) Because I know it, therefore I show it, a sermon in very simple sandals ….”
Matthew 7:13-14 The Message
Being and Doing
13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.
Have we ever stopped to consider how demanding Jesus’ words truly are?
How challenging is it to meet the needs of others with the same creativity, the same energy, the spontaneity, the same devotion that we want from others?
No wonder the man Rabbi Jesus describes this way of life as narrow and small.
The man Rabbi Jesus poignantly points out only a few are walking on this road.
When we are walking down any paved or gravel or well trod path through the middle of a forest – we will probably see signs everywhere along the way which sternly tell us to “stay on the path, protect our forests and protect our wildlife.”
We definitely want to see the forest through the trees so we walk the pathway which is before us, prepared by somebody before us that we might enjoy it all.
We want to keep the rest of the forest pristine for those who are coming after us, that they too may enjoy the enormous beauty God has placed before them.
We do not want to be the one person who ruins someone else’s experience.
We make every effort we can to stay on the pathway someone else prepared.
As tempting as it is to wander through forest glades, through flowing streams.
Christianity is like that …. staying on the moral and ethical path Jesus gave us by his giving up quite literally everything of “value” to him (Philippians 2:5-11).
Romans 5:6-8The Message
6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
Despite all of the opposition he would receive, despite all the plots against his life, all the violence, humiliations he had to endure from both friend and foe, to walking out the straight and narrow pathway leading to a place called Golgotha.
To Communicate, for our “attentive(?)” listening ears the Immortal Words …
“Father, forgive them – for they know not what they do ….” Luke 23:33-35
“It is Finished….” John 19:28-30
After His resurrection … to receive the motivation of all motivations ….
John 21:15-17Amplified Bible
The Love Motivation
15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
Are you and I willing to receive, to immerse ourselves into such a motivation, prepared to love, say, your overbearing employer with kindness and courtesy?
Are you and I willing to sacrificially meet the needs of your spouse, children, and neighbors even if your needs aren’t the ones which not about to be met?
Will you and I care for the least lovely persons around us without expecting anything in return?
Psalm 23:4-6Amplified Bible
4 Even though I walk through the [sunless] [a]valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed and refreshed my head with [b]oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.
How about those who are truly difficult to love – like your own “enemies?”
Preparing a table before them ….
with the prospect of “anointing and refreshing their heads with oil ….
extending the invitation to God’s “goodness and mercy and unfailing love” which will absolutely follow them for all of the remaining days of their lives ….”
to dwell forever, throughout all their remaining days, in the house and in the presence of the Lord – who could, on confession, be their everlasting salvation.
When we are being transformed by the enormity of the love of Jesus, who is our Savior, we can definitely, but with difficulty, walk on this narrowed way of life.
Rabbi Jesus alone lived and loved this way….
Rabbi Jesus alone live and loved and died for us this way ….
Jesus walked the narrow way out his sealed tomb,
Peter, John and Mary Magdalene walked the narrow way down and through the narrow opening of the tomb – witnessed and testified to its eternal emptiness.
Jesus is Resurrected, Jesus is ALIVE!
He calls us to follow, the narrow path, serving not in our own strength but in his.
How will his love empower you to walk, love others with his kindness today?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son to us that we may come to know Your greater and ever more wiser and eternal ways, that through His teachings we may experience the only meaningful pathway to everlasting life, that in Christ Jesus, my Savior, I have been saved by grace and have an eternal inheritance kept for me in heaven. I pray that I may be disciplined enough to die daily to all that is of self and live every day of my life for Christ. Help me to choose to enter the narrow gate of disciplined, dedicated discipleship, which leads to an abundant life here on earth.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of [a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, 2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [b]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
3 Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
My parents did what they could to provide a “religious experience” for me.
The thing that they didn’t really do was provide a spiritual experience.
The religious experience that I had was a mixed one where I participated in some of the traditions of the Catholic Church, the Sunday School of the Church of the Brethren and finally Saturdays in the Synagogue and Hebrew School.
Most of the time, being as child like as I was I didn’t know why I did what I did; I just did it because a whole bunch of adults in authority over me had told me to.
The bulk of the participation was confined to Saturday mornings, and twice a week Hebrew School for which it was forbidden of me to speak about to friends.
It didn’t really matter what happened during the other other days.
There was my Bar Mitzvah in 1974 which mattered very deeply to me.
We celebrated The High Holidays of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Passover and growing up celebrating the eight days of Chanukah over the one day of Xmas.
However, being that I was not “born” of the Jewish Faith, I was never really taught how to take the teachings of the “faith” and develop a set of spiritual principles that should have become my life’s value system as I grew older.
20/20 hindsight, I can say that I never really believed I matured spiritually.
It was mostly a collection of “disjointed” “disconnected” teachings from some a whole series very well educated, very well intentioned people – My Rabbi is someone who I remember with the utmost fondness for his great compassion.
But there was never really anything anybody taught me, book wise, experience wise, which gave me the necessary foundation to “seek God first and foremost.”
For most of my teenage years and well into my adulthood, God was virtually nothing to me, as my Father, as my Creator, my help in my troubles, my friend or my redeemer, prayer partner, sustainer, maintainer, or even my Savior.
I had little experience or knowledge of Jesus whose name was not mentioned in our household because a whole lot of people told me Jews did not believe in him.
No one ever “invited me” – Isaiah 55:1-3 – to turn to God and freedom in Him. So consequently, I learned overmuch how to turn to me and my survival skills.
Turning unto God for anything was simply the furthest thought from my mind.
I simply did not know how and there were precious few people I would listen to.
I always sensed that there was something inside me which kept me on a path of sound morals and ethics – knowing right from wrong, my personal convictions.
Something inside me which told me to weigh out the pro and con of my choices.
Though I would never dare to assign them to God or His Son or the Holy Spirit.
I guess that God was always somewhere in the very deepest recesses of my soul.
Just never allowed to get close enough to the forefront to be even minimally acknowledged or permitted any measure of relevance to my day to day living.
Hebrews 12:1-3Easy-to-Read Version
We Also Should Follow Jesus’ Example
12 We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 2 We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3 Think about Jesus. He patiently endured the angry insults that sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get discouraged and stop trying.
There were no “great people” around me to show me the ways of the faithful.
There were no “great clouds of witnesses” lingering anywhere nearby or even in the heavens above – just rain clouds and thunder storms flooding my cellar.
I never knew to look for Jesus, at Jesus, towards Jesus – never heard his name.
Consequently, I never spent any measure of time thinking or believing on Jesus.
Over time, things changed …. I literally had to almost die to call out unto God.
I can say now people will usually turn to God for help when their foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God, through Christ, who is shaking them.
Sometimes God needs to do things to us to get our attention.
The spiritually mature person does not have to turn to God when things get tough, because they believe God is standing right next to them.
They do not scream Oh God, when they are fearful of suddenly losing their life, they only have to “whisper” and they have the faith that He hears their words.
Why do some people have this ability to be at peace even in the face of greatest adversity, and tragedy?
By experience, I don’t believe spiritual maturity is something that just happens.
A person does not wake up one morning and find themselves with a renewed outlook on life.
It is definitely something that has to be cultivated from the bottom up.
The roots have to be developed and then a person will begin to see the flowers.
In my case I did not start this process until I was 40 years old.
From the time I was 14 years old I never could figure out what I believed in.
I believed there was a “God,” but I didn’t have a value system or a commitment to any one source helping me to connect, inspire, or uplift me on a regular basis.
Whenever a wave of life hit me I would reach into the chambers of my soul and discover there wasn’t anything I could use to help me deal with life’s problems.
I never made the connection between spiritual maturity and overall maturity as a person of faith.
A spiritually mature person knows how to take the spiritual dimension and apply the principles of their belief system to their life on a daily basis.
I have always enjoyed The Serenity Prayer.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
In order for me to accept things I could not change and to develop wisdom I needed to plug into a daily source to draw from and to gain daily inspiration.
With a discipline born from years, I found the daily reading of the scriptures helped me gain insights into the battles of life and offered answers to questions that I otherwise never would have been able to come up with on my own device.
Working to establish a discipline of reading, I would discover verses in scripture that I would meditate on and make them part of my prayer and thought life.
From such a discipline, God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, has born much spiritual fruit with in me – as I daily read, study, pray and write these devotions.
The evangelist Martin Luther once said, “I have so much to do today, that I will have to spend two hours praying instead of one.”
Scripture reading and prayer and writing these devotions have become for me a necessary source of Jehovah God for me to draw energy from, to attain wisdom from, to get the daily emotional strength I need to prayerfully manage my day.
Many people gain energy and insights from other areas.
Inspirational literature, walks in the park, or even melodious music can inspire some.
A fundamental belief system that gives a person a path to follow and that can make them almost unflappable and have inner peace is very private and very different for each person – each of us needs to resolve to find God in Scripture.
There are core principles spiritually immature people need to work on to make them their own, which spiritually mature people have adopted as a part of life.
These essential principles are already resting deep inside the silent chambers of a person’s heart, placed by God, and I believe they are universal to everyone.
When the ground starts to quake a person who has a strong core understands the reason for the earth quake and has the confidence that there is a way out.
The Christian life is not a series of a few special performances; it is steady persistence for a lifetime.
Many of us can produce a burst of enthusiasm now and then.
That’s not particularly difficult.
The real challenge is to stay the course over the long haul—not a flash in the pan but steady, stable, and persevering in the essentials of maturing faith.
I believe that Reading, Studying, Praying, through the second half of Hebrews 12 presents us all with a “beginning” to-do list of sorts for the Christian life.
It’s not by any means any quick-fix, three-easy-steps-to-success kind of list, but it does offer us six important ways to walk in enduring Christian maturity.
Hebrews 12:12-13 Easy-to-Read Version
Be Careful How You Live
12 You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13 Live in the right way so that you will be saved and your weakness will not cause you to be lost.
Keep Strong and Straight
Despondency is one of the great avenues of attack from the Evil One.
Our disconnections, our discouragements are his delight, and he can uses them to great effect, for Christians in daily living, even for those involved in ministry.
To serve Christ is not to walk around in blissful unawareness of life’s realities.
The Christian life involves serious struggle.
Therefore,
this call to step forward—in “the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11), as it were—must not only ring in our ears but quake and reverberate in our hearts.
Those who seek to follow Christ must be prepared to declare, I absolutely refuse to gratify the devil by staying downhearted.
He would love nothing more than to see our arms enfeebled, our quaking knees buckling under his devices, and our paths veering off the course of obedience.
Pursue Harmony and Holiness
Hebrews 12:14Easy-to-Read Version
14 Try to live in peace with everyone. And try to keep your lives free from sin. Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord.
“Strive” is probably a more appropriate translation for the imperative here.
It communicates concentrated, vigorous effort.
The author is saying,
I want you to pursue this with the passion of a hound pursuing a fox.
And the fox we are to pursue is the twofold goal of harmony and holiness.
Maintaining peace requires serious striving.
Christ purchased peace, and “he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
Discord is inevitable in our fractured age, even in the church—but this is no reason to ever consider giving up!
We strive to grow in harmony and to shed the burdens and sins that hold us back from it.
Jesus Himself told us, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
We won’t have perfect harmony before Christ returns, but in reliance on the Holy Spirit, we can each strive to be a small taste of heavenly community.
And how do we foster such harmony?
Well, holiness provides the steady framework, the fertile soil, for the harmony that we enjoy.
As we grow in holiness together from the shared wellspring of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts, we will also grow in harmony with one another, with God.
Neither harmony nor holiness is an optional extra – they come from the work of Christ’s Spirit in us and within us thus are evidence we all really belong to Him.
Grow in God’s Grace Not in Humanity’s Bitterness
Hebrews 12:15Easy-to-Read Version
15 Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group.
How can we miss the grace of God?
We may be surprised how easy it is to do so!
When the Scriptures are taught, when the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism are practiced, when the church fellowships together, it is still possible for us to sit around, wipe the dust off our bibles, sit with our fingers in our ears.
The phrases “bitter weed” “root of bitterness” in this verse draws its language from Deuteronomy 29, in which Moses warns Israel about their hearts:
“Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit” (verse 18).
This is someone “who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart’” (v. 19, emphasis added).
James echoes this warning with the command to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22, emphasis added).
When we hear without really listening, then we end up having all the trappings of Christianity while worldliness is still rooted in our hearts.
Envy, bitterness, anger, rage, and despondency begin to make our souls numb, impervious to what God really wants for us.
We must pull these destructive weeds up by the root and instead let the grace of God fill our hearts so that we can be disciplined hearers and doers of His Word.
Reject Immorality and Godlessness
Hebrews 12:15-17Easy-to-Read Version
15 Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group. 16 Be careful that no one commits sexual sin. And be careful that no one is like Esau and never thinks about God. As the oldest son, Esau would have inherited everything from his father. But he sold all that for a single meal. 17 You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing. He wanted that blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing, because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.
The original hearers of the Epistle to the Hebrews lived in an overwhelmingly pagan society—perhaps an not unlike our own, in which promiscuity outpaces modesty nearly everywhere they walked and talked and we, today, now look.
In such a sexually charged setting, it is imperative God’s people demonstrate how we are both set apart to God and set apart from sin.
As the apostle Paul commends, we must “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
How does Esau fit in?
His story serves as a parable of an outsized physical appetite.
In the heat of the moment, he exchanged his heritage and home for something quick and easy and potentially appealing and probably appetizing and cheap.
Like him, you can build your life for decades, throw it away in five minutes in a fit of unchecked lust—or rage, pride, or greed, or cheapened, for that matter.
We must not sell out to sin.
The tradeoff is simply never worth it, never going to be worth it, no matter what we self actualize, rationalize or temptation promises in the moment.
Discipline Yourselves to Listen Only to God
Hebrews 12:25-26Easy-to-Read Version
25 Be careful and don’t refuse to listen when God speaks. Those people refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth. And they did not escape. Now God is speaking from heaven. So now it will be worse for those who refuse to listen to him. 26 When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised, “Once again I will shake the earth, but I will also shake heaven.”[a]
By reading, studying and praying through the OT, time and again, God sent prophets to warn His people—and all too often, the people refused to listen.
Their willful ignorance eventually resulted in 70 years of exile.
If God did that to people who refused His earthly prophets, then we surely should think twice before we refuse the word of His very Son from heaven.
Luke 16:19-31New Living Translation
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet.[a] The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and he went to the place of the dead.[b] There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
From this Parable in Luke, we certainly can learn to point to specific steps of obedience for clarity’s sake, but generally speaking, we always return to this foundation of the faith: hearing what GOD says and putting it into practice.
It’s profoundly simple, and simply profound: do not dismiss God who speaks.
Worship God and God alone with Reverence and Awe
Hebrews 12:28-29Easy-to-Read Version
28 So we should be thankful because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And because we are thankful, we should worship God in a way that will please him. We should do this with respect and fear, 29 because our God is like a fire that can destroy us.
The final essential of Hebrews 12 is to worship God acceptably and properly, “with reverence and awe.”
We ought to set aside superficial and trivial controversies about worship style to experience and declare the glory of God with His people.
And beyond our corporate gatherings, our very lives should be becoming a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).
Our God, a great and “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24), is absolutely worthy to have our entire lives devoted to Him.
To give our whole selves to God and practice these six essentials isn’t a responsibility to be carried out grudgingly.
It is our privilege and pleasure to live as God intends us to.
He has written the whole of His story, of His glory across time and space, and—wonder upon wonder!—all who confess Christ Jesus as Lord and will Savior find themselves an abundant, essential, critically important part of His master plan.
When we live and act in accord with what He sets forth and pursue obedience over a lifetime, He will use us to His Abundance to keep writing His story and to keep inviting and to keep drawing others into His kingdom on Earth.
Are these essentials our duty?
Sure they are.
They are also our delight as we “Coram Deo” live to display Christ’s greatness.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord of Power, Lord of my Life, sometimes I feel weak and crushed. I feel like I am trying to run a race with sprained or broken ankles. I do not know how I can go on like this. Please, make haste to bring strength to my legs so that despite the pain of this life, I can keep moving forward. Give me hope, wisdom and faith, keeping my eyes on the prize and looking forward to eternal life in Your heavenly kingdom.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 