...and EVERYTHING in it!

 

Thursday, July 8, 2021

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to him.  For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.  Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in his holy place?  Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.  They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior.  Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.  Psalm 24:1-6

According to King David’s Psalm, there are only two possibilities when it comes to a right relationship with God;  You’re either blessed and IN a right relationship with God, or you’re not.  According to David, the dividing line is bowing to the first two sentences; hear them again:  The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to him.  

In an increasingly pluralistic world it may sound strange to hear such dogmatic utterance…and that may explain the reason why church attendance is waning like the last embers of a fire before it goes out.  Church doctrine and preachers who leave little wiggle-room on letting people choose other than the check-boxes of saved or lost, are written off as antiquated, obtuse, or just not ‘woke’.  Popular opinion demands choices, but God isn’t into popular opinion.  Poet/Rock Star Bob Dylan sang the famous lines in his ‘70’s hit Gotta Serve Somebody:

The bottom line is God is Creator, and that means the keys to everything He created are hanging on His key chain – the earth, and everything in it!

The soul, or core of David’s Psalm is an invitation to enter-into that right relationship with God.  That tells us the most important thing we can dwell on today:   Having a right relationship with God is more than saving the planet He created, or being woke, or rituals, or your bank account.  It’s knowing that a right relationship is possible with God, and God wants it with you as passionately as you want your next breath of life.  Even more!

And while many are willing to bow in the direction of God as some benevolent force who created stuff; more of humankind than not prefer to leave it at that.  It is something of an ok…you gave us a start…we’ll take over now approach.  They want the benefit of 70 or 80, maybe 95 years of life, grabbing for the brass ring, and a little fame, along with their pleasures, but the idea of a relationship which includes all that other stuff of which King David wrote, notably clean hands and heart, telling truth and living truth…well, that’s not for me, so I’ll see you later.  Bob Dylan was never a favorite of mine, but he definitely got that one thought right…everyone who draws breath belongs to the Lord…He is Creator AND Judge.

So, what does it take to be IN a right relationship with He who created us?  If you pick apart the finer points of David’s Psalm (and, by the way, all the rest of Holy Scripture), you’ll find only two things, wanting that relationship, and willing to let go of everything you’ve decided you want more than having that relationship. 

To boil the pot down a little more, it’s a matter of wanting God more than your next breath.  It is bowing-down in humility to the fact that God is indeed Creator, and owns everything, even you.  No wiggle-room; no exceptions!

For You Today

The soul, or core of David’s Psalm is an invitation to enter-into that right relationship with God.  That tells us the most important thing we can dwell on today:   Having a right relationship with God is more than saving the planet He created, or being woke, or rituals, or your bank account.  It’s knowing that a right relationship is possible with God, and God wants it with you as passionately as you want your next breath of life.  Even more!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    Other images by Pixabay.com

 

His Way

[i][ii]

Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father.  He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.  It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,  and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean.  And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”  For Jesus knew who would betray him.  That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”  After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am.  And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.  I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master.  Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.  Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.  John 13:1-17

If you count the disciples in the picture you’ll see there are twelve.  The question is:  If Jesus is washing his beloved disciples’ feet, why in the world is Judas there?  In the normal course of the world’s power structure, CEO’s do not serve janitors, and powerful people do not do the getting your hands dirty stuff!  And even if the leader of the band would tune the violin for his first chair, you don’t coddle and include the one who is trying to sabotage the concert.  Judas is the enemy.  Nobody likes Judas; have you ever heard of a new Mom or Dad joyfully naming their child Judas?  And on top of it all, Jesus said to those disciples that he was doing this to teach them (and us) to follow in his footsteps, wash the feet of friends and enemies alike; when you get clobbered on one cheek, offer the other. 

In the words of great theological thinkers like Pogo or Snoopy – what’s up with this?  It doesn’t make sense.  And while that is true on so many levels, when it comes to this world’s view of the way things ought to be, and the way Jesus says they must be, you have a case of oil and water; sooner or later those ingredients will separate.  You cannot mix darkness and light for long.  You cannot have short and tall, skinny and portly…and when it comes to pleasing God, you’re not going to please worldly-minded people at all.  To turn another phrase in this cacophony of mixed metaphors, it’s either His way, or Hell’s way.  And, for good measure, we throw in a little Bob Dylan: 

Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord,

but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.[iii]

Sooner or later it dawns on most people who want to follow Jesus that the focus of Jesus’ way is counter-clockwise, or counter to this world’s cultural expectations and preferences.  Bob Dylan had a brush with Christianity, and he got it, that everyone is hard-wired to serve somebody.  Even the person who sits in the oval office answers to someone higher…sooner or later.  And, when you lay your head down on the pillow for the last time in this world, it makes sense that it will have been a wise choice to surrender your life to His way, much as it will make the world uncomfortable.

For You Today

Jesus loved Judas enough to wash his dusty feet; how are you doing with that annoying neighbor of yours?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody

Idols of the Nations

[1]

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.  They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.  They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe.  And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.  Psalm 135:15-18^(NLT)

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father, but are from this world.  And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.  1 John 2:15-17^(NLT)

Forty years ago rock singer Bob Dylan wrote:

You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody[2]

What Bob Dylan understood is how we humans are hard-wired to worship.  And, despite all the choices we have of what to do with our time and energy, the choices are amazingly simple and clear cut; we either worship God or we worship ourselves as god.

What?  Explain that a little, please.

Whether your choice of idol is money, sex, power, personal accomplishments, being a groupee for the next American Idol, or carving-up a tree into a totem pole, the whole idea of a crafted, carved, accumulated, experiential, historically-meaningful idol is still an idolatry.  And an idol does not see, hear, or speak; an idol is lesser than its creator/carver.  So, anytime you encounter an idol in your life, understand that you have created it, and therefore, you are its god.

Simpler translation:  when anything other than God is given greater significance than God in your life you have become an idolater! 

Or, as the apostle John put it, you do not love God, you love this world.

The sad thing about that is this world is passing away; you miss the eternal for something that will fade, fizzle, and disappear.  And that’s a really poor choice.

For You Today

Giving up the world’s stuff in order to serve Jesus is a matter of discarding the idols that cannot see, hear, speak or have the life to breathe…in favor the life offered by He who sees all, hears all, knows all, and will live forever.

Not much of a contest there!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Gotta Serve Somebody, Words and Music by Bob Dylan © 1979 by Special Rider Music

Why We Worship

Friday, September 12, 2014

People worship!

Bob Dylan wrote the song Gotta Serve Somebody[1] 35 years ago.  Dylan’s brand of poetry was never my favorite, but he nailed some things better than most.  In this particular song he included just about everyone on planet earth…business tycoons, politicians, poor, rich, blind, lame, those in witness protection, barbers, preachers; the list goes on.  Then he applied this pronouncement:

You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

Dylan’s point isn’t subtle – we are created beings, and we have the need to worship in our DNA. 

Some have called the President of the United States the most powerful person on earth.  That may be true, but even with that lofty accolade, a President is still a created being, and will worship…somebody, something, or some being. 

Everybody has a boss; everybody worships!

So Whom (or what) do YOU worship?

We all make our decision about worship – even if we SAY we won’t.

Even a decision to NOT worship is itself a choice.  It’s simply a decision to place one’s choice above allegiance to any other “god”. 

We worship our autonomous self – our independence from anyone else’s control.

But, for the follower of Jesus Christ, we have no business (and should have no desire) to worship self.  The words of The Revelation sum up why we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; He is worthy – He’s the Creator, giver of life.

And WE are accountable to HIM.

Sometimes we miss that in our busy schedules; sometimes we throw in a little meeting with the Lord, failing to see how we’ve worshipped our busyness and our choices.

Sometimes we miss our accountability to Christ because of the tyranny of the urgent thing, which must be done.  You have a job that requires your attention 24/7, and so you have learned to respond to the tug on that short-leash, rather than the impulse of the Spirit’s leading.

Sometimes you’re just tired and can’t hear anything but the drone of Facebook and the ding of the next text message.

A good question here is, what are you serving?

Is it a life of worship, adoration and praise for the God who is your Creator?

For You, Today…

We’ve reached another weekend. 

Will this coming Sunday find you in fellowship with other believers, gratefully praising and worshipping God?

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[1] © 1979 by Special Rider Music