Hope Renewed

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

But now Timothy has just returned, bringing us good news about your faith and love.  He reports that you always remember our visit with joy and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you.  So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith.  It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.  How we thank God for you!  Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence.  Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.  May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon.  And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.  May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people.  Amen.  1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

A friend who, with her husband, is facing a mountain of medical problems recently shared how, even though she and her husband have faith that is strong, there are valleys of fear the enemy throws in their way.  I know how she feels, and so do you.  We can say that without shame or embarrassment, because one of the pillars of the New Testament fathers, apostle Paul, shared the same, being greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering.  That encouragement came as Timothy brought news of the Thessalonian believer’s faith “standing firm” which renewed his hopes for their strong witness.  Paul said that good news was like new life.  Paul’s faith is unquestioned, yet the “wear and tear” of years on the road battling human and spiritual opposition do take their toll. 

The apostle’s reaction, having his hope renewed, led to an outburst of joy that he might soon see those dear friends and be able to contribute (filling in the gaps of their faith). 

In this we stand certain…strong faith in Christ is what renews hope in hard times.  And with hope renewed for the downtrodden, oppressed, and marginalized, the result is greater vision for a future of God’s blessing.  This is what the church stands for, not building bigger sanctuaries, larger attendances, better programs, and slicker organizations; the church stands for the hope of Christ in each of us[1], a testament to the marvelous grace extended to all who, though unworthy, are willing to bend a knee at the cross.  It is the message of forgiveness and love, born in Heaven, fleshed-out on Calvary’s hill, and celebrated with every breath in those who have received Christ.

For You Today 

If you’re facing trouble of any sort, and any size, don’t manage it by yourself.  Just as my friend shared with her community, keep engaged with those of strong faith; it is there you will be in a perfect place to find your hope renewed.  And with that hope renewed and shared to others, you just might start an explosion of faith!

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Colossians 1:27

Hope Anew

Monday, November 13, 2023

So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.  Then they will not be like their ancestors—stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.  Psalm 78:7-8

Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, makes a very compelling point of caution for each new generation in humankind to set its hope anew on God so we don’t forget His great power, what He’s done, and how we must not be stubborn about it. 

If there is one consistent, and nearly inviolate reality about the human family, it’s the tendency towards promising fidelity lightly, and then breaking promises in favor of a supposed better way.  Israel’s history is a microcosmic rule-of-thumb for humanity’s proclivity to agree with God today, and discard their allegiance when the road gets a little bumpy. 

From Asaph, fast-forward to Russell’s generation, raised in the 1950’s/60’s.  Yes, we’re talking about the hippy-era, free love, LSD, marijuana, or alcohol, your drug of choice, but everybody joins the march against Vietnam involvement.  Yes, THAT generation!  We were going to be different than our parent’s generation.  Everything was going to be different, and much better than the old folks.  Music changed from swing to rock.  Clothing was unimportant, and we drove VW vans, not Cadillacs.  But the truth is we were just making Asaph’s point…every new generation has its own style, but the root of Adam’s nature, rebellion against authority, puts us on a collision-course with our Creator’s authority.  Our arrogant stubbornness separates us like night and day from God’s love and care.  As the cartoon character Pogo once said:  We have met the enemy, and he is us!

Opposite the viewpoint of the “new” generation is the head-shaking disapproval of the “old” generation.  My parents didn’t like my music, and frankly I’m not too thrilled with the stuff I hear and see in the current generation’s entertainment.  And this makes Asaph’s point as well.  It isn’t the style of any generation that matters.  I can say that unreservedly because you won’t find style-police in Scripture.  What matters is not a generation’s style, but whether they will set their hope anew in God.

This brings a Scriptural focus to the so-called “worship wars” down through the generations.  There is enough criticism to fill the universe with nausea about how people worship.  The list includes music style, traditional style, contemporary style, blended style, liturgical vs. free style, fogey or edgy style, robes or skinny jeans, somber or giddy, silent or bedlam, pretribulation rapturist, or anti-rapturist.  Most everything that creates an argument is a tempest in a teapot about style.  And there is a verse in John’s Gospel that tells us what God thinks about all of it:

For You Today 

A prayer for those with whom you see wide gaps of difference, is to ask God to let the scales of criticism drop from your own eyes, and help you to ignore the style of that next (or former) generation, and pray for them to see the magnificent opportunity and blessing they have to place their hope anew in God’s love and care.  Much better to pray for someone’s blessing than against their style.

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Devouring the Sheep

Thursday, June 8, 2023

These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind.  They are doomed to blackest darkness.  They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting.  With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.  They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption.  For you are a slave to whatever controls you.  And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.  It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.  They prove the truth of this proverb:  “A dog returns to its vomit.”  And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” 

2 Peter 2:17-22

The backstory on this part of Peter’s letter is the Apostle’s warning about leading people away from God, and into a twisted lifestyle of sin.  It is proclaiming sin as holy, and is the upside-down version of what God desires for each of us.  Peter calls this kind of leader useless – slaves to their own sin; they lead others astray.  The metaphors, dog and pig, are always surrounded by filth.  Dogs cannot ignore what has come up from inside them, and pigs are hopelessly drawn to the mire.

A troublesome reality of the church’s marching orders is Jesus’ command to love.  I don’t disagree with the Lord, just saying:  we mess up what He’s saying.  Loving is not simply embracing everything and everybody.  If a person is a serial killer, we can love them; embracing their lifestyle is altogether a different matter.

Preacher, where did you come up with that notion?  Well, the seeming dichotomy of loving people, but rejecting their lifestyle is the example of God, Himself.  In many passages of Scripture we learn that God is the very essence of love.  Jesus proved that God so-loved everyone, he gave his life on Calvary’s cross.  On the flip-side of that are the many passages pointing to how this loving God will bring judgment for lifestyles that reject Him.  Listen to how another apostle, Paul describes God’s judgment for those who say they love God, but choose to prove just the opposite with their actions, their lifestyle of perversion:

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God?  Don’t fool yourselves.  Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.  1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Leadership (bishops, and a predominance of clergy) of the tribe in which I have served the past 18 years (United Methodist) have moved closer and closer to accepting homosexuality as a valid lifestyle.  It is proclaimed as loving.  In practice, however, it is elevating perverted sexual desire over self-discipline, and honoring God’s command.  Those who do so are “loving” neither the churches they are leading into disaster, nor the ones who practice their sinful ways.  They are merely heaping up judgment on their own heads.

For You Today 

Question for those second-guessing a church, now in full-blown division/schism:

Is it a right decision to stay “united” and, without words, affirm a sinful lifestyle in rebellion to God’s way…or is it better to stand with God’s Word and separate?

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Living in Sodom  and  Legacy of Lies and Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire and                                     He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

God is Good

 

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord.  Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds:  “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction.  Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.  But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them.  I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number.  Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again.  Not a single one will be lost or missing.  I, the Lord, have spoken!  “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line.  He will be a King who rules with wisdom.  He will do what is just and right throughout the land.  And this will be his name:  ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’  In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.  Jeremiah 23:1-6

For the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.  Psalm 100:5

From a human perspective it seems a reckless thing to say God is good.  Amid the terror and tragedy with which we live every day, murder, mayhem, darkness, and loss, how can one possibly think a benevolent God would allow such?  Another log on that fire is something I hear from time to time:  If God is good, why would He even think about crucifying His own son?

The goodness of God is seen in both of those questions, the one about God allowing harmful stuff, and the other one about God causing harmful stuff.  The questions are more about us…individually…we know ourselves to be so much lower than God, and the evil of which we are all capable.  Reframe (more accurately) the questions and they become:  Why do WE do such awful stuff, and How can WE do all that to ourselves?  The answer to both questions is found in nailing Christ to the cross.  It isn’t God who crucified Jesus, it was each of us who was pounding those nails.

Jeremiah recounted what God said about man’s sinful misleading of others.  Instead of walking with God, humankind has always walked in selfishness, and we lead others to do so as well.  That’s what led to the cross.  And as for why God would “participate” in the evil of the cross…how else would God identify with us, love us enough to take our place on that cross, but to willingly give Himself, a sacrifice for our sins?

The bottom line to those age-old questions is that God IS indeed good!  He displayed that for all to see just how much He loved us in all that goodness.  Such are the words penned by Isaac Watts:

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?[1]

For You Today 

It’s easy to blame God for what happens to us, or the darkness and pain of this world’s evil.  It’s easy, but not right.  Nail scars and a thorn-pierced brow make that point…always, and eternally.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Flat Tire Worship  and  Regaining Perspective   

Title Image:  via Wikimedia Commons   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Isaac Watts, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, 1707

The Sheep of His Pasture

Monday, May 1, 2023

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!  Worship the Lord with gladness.  Come before him, singing with joy.  Acknowledge that the Lord is God!  He made us, and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.  Give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.  

Psalm 100:1-5

Sheep are not warring creatures, they’ve been domesticated for thousands of years, and are by nature gentle.  They communicate with sounds and body language, much like any species, locating food, alerting the flock to predators, and singling-out their family position.

Perhaps one explanation of why God’s Word characterizes the people of God as sheep, and tells us to shout loud praises to our Lord, is because sheep will bleat loudly and continuously when near their food source.  Domesticated sheep tend to view their shepherd as their food source.[1]  That has some strong implications for the relationship between God and the sheep of His pasture.

The sheep of God’s pasture have a gentle posture.  In teaching the crowds of would-be followers he offered rest and strength to weary sheep:

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:29

John’s Gospel changes the metaphor from Shepherd and Sheep to Vine and Branches, but the relationship is clearly the same:

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing.  Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers.  Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.  But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!  When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.  This brings great glory to my Father.  “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.  When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!  

John 15:5-11

For You Today 

Sheep with a Shepherd, and Branches with the Vine…earthy examples of the way God loves and provides.  This is an open invitation to join the flock, stay close to the Good Shepherd, and have eternally-overflowing joy.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Flat Tire Worship  and  Of Sheep and the Shepherds Song    

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] North American Nature

Child Of the King

 

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Your glory is higher than the heavens.  You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.  When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.  O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Psalm 8:1-9

My bride, Elizabeth and I were having a conversation the other day, reviewing the blessings of our life.  I happened to let a personalized version of Psalm 8 leak out of my brain, which tumbled out of my mouth.  I said:  I often think it just doesn’t make sense…what’s so special about me that God has showered so many blessings on my life? 

As soon as I heard what I was saying, the floodgate of thoughts burst through the control panels at the dam; it really isn’t that I’m that special, but there is a God Who IS special, indescribable, loving, and willing to lavish life and strength on those He claims as His own.  It’s nothing I have done (or refrained from doing), it just goes along with the territory of being his kid. 

The song I heard many years ago by Bill Gaither’s group remains married (in my brain) to this thought of Psalm 8:

Once I was clothed in the rags of my sin

Wretched and poor, lost and lonely within

But with wondrous compassion, the King of all kings

In pity and love, took me under His wings

Oh, yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King

His royal blood now flows in my veins

And I who was wretched and poor now can sing

Praise God, praise God, I'm a child of the King[1]

So the answer to that age-old question of the Psalmist about why God would even think about humankind, let-alone bathe us in showers of blessing, is simple, as well as amazing and humbling:  What king wouldn’t love and bless His child?

For You Today 

If you cannot sing along with Gaither that His royal blood now flows in my veins, because you’ve never invited His Son, Jesus, to be your brother, you can do that this very moment.  It is the best, and only thing God has ever been waiting for you to do…He loves you that much!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Wondering About the Big Stuff - Part 1  and Wondering About the Big Stuff - Part 2 

Title Image: Pietro da Cortona, via Wikimedia Commons    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Child of the King, Songwriter Cindy Walker, performed by Gaither Vocal Band – Listen HERE

His Hands

Friday, March 10, 2023

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.         Psalm 95:4

I watched an engaging video of a sculpture in progress.  An artist dipped her hands in a bucket of gooey stuff.  

When she drew her hands back out all you could see was two holes where the hands went in.  Then she poured some more gooey stuff into the holes.  Some time passed, and she dumped the hardened 3 gallons of formerly-gooey stuff on the table.  She then carefully cut-away everything that surrounded the holes she’d made before in the (now) hardened gooey stuff, which was about the consistency of fried Tofu (yeah…you’re right…I wouldn’t eat it either).  When she had gotten most of the excess away from the hand holes, she used her own hands to peel-away the rest.  What she unveiled was a perfect sculpture of her hands, joined together, as if tenderly holding a small bird.  It was almost breath-taking.

The depth of feeling that followed started the juices flowing in my brain.  I began to muse on God’s eternal hands in creation.  He, who is unseen by human eyes, created everything we see and experience.  We have never seen those hands which sculpted Adam’s bones, muscles, tendons, and flesh from the muddy clay.  But there (and here) we are.  And the unseen hands are still holding us firmly.

At times I think:  If only we could peel-away the veil that blinds our eyes and see Him in all the beauty that loved us so deeply…all the madness of this world’s crime and hatred would melt-away like that artist’s gooey stuff…and we would see clearly how firm His foundation stands.

And then, reality kicks-in; I already know how the world can see Him and those loving hands, which he used to sculpt a perfect image of His care for us.  Like the hand-artist and her gooey stuff, I must allow what God chooses to pour into that place in my heart whatever God wants everyone who sees me to see.  He made, in each of us, a perfect impression for what He wants the world to see and experience. 

Now, that leaves a lot to the imagination…what does a person pour-in that will come-out as a perfect representation of God’s love?  How do you do that?  Answer:  It isn’t what you pour in; its what His Hands will fill in you…IF you open that little door in your heart, and give Him free reign to do what He wants. 

For You Today 

Opening your heart to what God wants to give you is a simple prayer, surrendering your will to His: 

Lord, I am in the hands of the one who knows me best, and loves me most.   Have thine own way, Lord…Have thine own way.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Reason to Worship  or  The Rock of Our Salvation       

Title Image: via Pixabay.com    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©