Blessed

Monday, February 27, 2023

God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory.  And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.  So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father.  That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.  For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.  I will praise you among your assembled people.”  He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”  Hebrews 2:10-13

There are many internal and external needs we humans must have to survive.  Internally, our organs and blood supply must do their thing, pumping, moving, cooperating with all things bio-physiological.  Externally, we need air, water, and food (some of us would have listed coffee as a necessity…but I digress). 

Those are the basics; then there’s safety from our environment, both in the natural realm (earthquakes, floods, wild animals...), and the most dangerous of all, other human beings.  From Cain’s relationship to his brother, Abel, down to today’s Wild West, East, North, and South, human anger is a killer of extraordinary proportions. 

God, says the writer to the Hebrews, is the creator of everything, and it all was made for Him, as well.  Created beings, like you, like me, were not only made by God, we were made for God.  That does not imply we were like dolls purchased at the store, meant to be played with, then put away for another day.  It strongly informs us that we were made for relationship (fellowship) with God.  Stated categorically:  God desired us!  He wants us.  He would (and did) die for us!

The writer of Hebrews[1] tells us that Jesus, the Son of God, Who died for us, is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters[2].  Paul also tells us that it goes beyond a simple unashamed status…we are loved so greatly God adopted all who trust in Christ, and has deemed us His heirs:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;                 Romans 8:17a

Now, savor that lovely thought, the security of Heaven’s favor for those who believe in Christ, and have entrusted past, present, and future to His care.  But let’s also remember we are now fully-engaged in Lent…40 days of somber preparation for the brutality of Jesus being scourged with a whip made of iron tips and broken glass shards, mocked by crowds and religious leaders, and enduring the sin-taking pain of death on the cross. 

That’s quite a juxtaposition…contemplating familial love and adoptive grace, at the price of unimaginable suffering and blood.  Yet, that is exactly how Jesus asked us to always remember this cherished family relationship…the bread of His body, and the cup of His blood…those grace-filled symbols of the cost of His love, and God’s adoption.  We are truly blessed.

For You Today 

In your Lenten moments it is important to remember Jesus’ suffering and death for us…how else would we treasure so precious a gift?  But keep in mind that suffering is never to be repeated…the adoption has been made final.  So rejoice in it, loved and blessed one…Your adopted Father said so!

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

            Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

When the Candle Dies  and  A Little Lower Than the Angels      

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

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

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[1] Many theologians consider the writer to be Apostle Paul

[2] I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.  I will praise you among your assembled people.  Psalm 22:22

The Brokenness of LENT

 

Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!  Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!  Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us.  It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.  Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears.  Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again….That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.”  Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.  Who knows?  Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.  Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.  Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!  Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting.  Gather all the people—the elders, the children, and even the babies.  Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.  Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.  Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!  Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.  Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”  Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

The prophet calls for Lenten practices serving the purpose of giving our hearts to God.  A physical demonstration of repentance involved tearing one’s outer garment displaying grief over sin.  Joel pleads instead to open the hardened walls of our hearts to show God we mean to have our lives opened to His way.

I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with this Season, and the all-too-common question:  what shall I give up for Lent?  It’s seems so trivial; give up chocolate (if you can actually do that) and God is pleased?  Eat fish, instead of red meat, and you’re a spiritual giant? 

Somehow the superficiality of that crumbles in both spirit and practice.  Why should surface routines suggest the entire soul is undergoing the revolution of a surrendered heart?  In a conversation with an expert specialist of religion, a Pharisee, Jesus told him his way of performing ritual after ritual wasn’t opening hearts, but slamming Heaven’s door in the faces of hurting people.  He went on to say the Pharisee’s way was utter hypocrisy, they were like…

…whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.  Matthew 23:27

By contrast, Joel shows us what it looks like, in work clothes, to be genuine children of God.  He says, turn, fast, weep, mourn (over sins), sound the alarm, spread the news, gather the people, pray…and trust God. 

Looking at the state of church in the 21^st century, it would seem we have our work cut out for us in this season.  There’s hardly enough brokenness of heart, or urgency towards Godly sorrow, to even show up at church more than a few times a year, let alone reach the foot of Heaven’s throne room with a prayer.

For You Today

Lent begins on the calendar hanging on our wall today; whether it will begin in hearts, rent with repentant weeping, and Godly sorrow, remains to be seen.

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^©    

When the Darkness Comes

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Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!  Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!  Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us.  It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.  Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears.  Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again.

That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.”  Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.  Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.  Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.  Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!  Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting.  Gather all the people—the elders, the children, and even the babies.  Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.  Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.  Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!  Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.  Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”  Joel 2:1-2, 12:17^(NLT)

Ash Wednesday, along with Good Friday, are among my least favorite days of the year.  Let’s face it, this is an invitation to go to church with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  On the whole, I’d rather be in the dentist’s chair when he says, root canal!

Now, putting my personal preferences aside (which is certainly a big part of becoming a Christian in the first place…you remember, denying self and taking up the cross daily). Well, laying to the side my preference for the celebration days of Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, and all the other happy times, it is this day I NEED more than any celebration.

Ash Wednesday is:

·       the day of my personal mourning and repentance for my own sins

·       a time for clearing-out the cobwebs of conveniently-forgotten promises to God

·       a moment to confront those failed attempts to get back on track with living the faith life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, this Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine’s Day, and, consistent with all the other sentimentality which creates the Hallmark syndrome throughout the year, too many of us will opt for chocolate over confession; we want a celebration, not a solemn meeting.  After all, wouldn’t we rather be happy  instead of going to a somber service, singing Just As I Am, and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross? 

Actually, I may have just stumbled across the point…how can you actually BE happy WITHOUT this day of confession?  How can you survive eternity without that wondrous blood-stained cross and the marvelous grace that says you can come to Christ just as you are, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me?

Which would you rather have?

·       Celebrating “love” in a sentimental gush of emotions, fueled by flowers, chocolate, four-star dinner, and maybe a few diamonds, making the owners of that every Kiss begins with K™ slogan deleriously happy (not to mention rich), knowing you’ll have to top that next year…or…

·       Connecting with the author and finisher of all faith in a way that experiences the cleansing power of mercy and grace…and sensing a renewal of that child within, cleansed, forgiven, re-purposed and strong?

This isn’t a harangue against St. Valentine, Hallmark, or even celebrating the day by thinking of your loved ones; it’s just a reminder that there is a better target that is being held in a whole different place.  Don’t miss that target…go for the ashes!

For You Today

Celebrate the cross…that’s the REAL DEAL when it comes to love!

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

When Life Gets Broken

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Thursday, December 28, 2017

This is what the Lord says:  “A cry is heard in Ramah—deep anguish and bitter weeping.  Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted—for her children are gone.”  But now this is what the Lord says:  “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the Lord.  “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.  There is hope for your future,” says the Lord.  “Your children will come again to their own land.  Jeremiah 31:15-17^(NLT)

Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him.  He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.  Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:  “A cry was heard in Ramah—weeping and great mourning.  Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”  Matthew 2:16-18^(NLT)

Through Jeremiah God foretold the wickedness of King Herod trying to eliminate the threat of a child who might grow up to replace him.  In one monstrous, terrifying night of genocide he had all the male children less than two years old killed.  A night of weeping is bad; a generation of sadness of that magnitude is life broken beyond measure.

I have been (too often) with a group of people gripped by sadness over one of life’s twists – a child’s death, or a loved spouse taken too soon...news of tragedy from a distance where no hug is possible.  And we have heard these words offered as a sincere, well-meaning attempt to make sense of the darkness:  God won’t put any more on you than you can bear.

I have an idea that if you offered that to the mothers of Ramah that night it would have brought little comfort.  Their pain was too deep; a clichéd you can do this is just too hollow and shallow…just not enough.  Somehow philosophical or theological whistling in the dark just cannot blunt the pain of loss beyond imagination. 

Telling someone she is strong enough to bear the unbearable, because God has given her faith, is not comforting – it merely lays another burden on an already broken life.  And it is that life, grappling with the loss over the following weeks, months, perhaps decades, which will learn to receive the comfort we long-for, but can’t imagine, exists.  As with cooking a meal, stirring a pot faster doesn’t get supper on the table any sooner.  Pain takes time to simmer.

A word to the wise:  If you would be a caregiver, let it simmer; just be there to hold whatever needs holding.

For You Today

Today I’d like for Dr. Mitch Chase to have the last word:

Trials come in all shapes and sizes, but they don’t come to show how much we can take or how we have it all together.  Overwhelming suffering will come our way because we live in a broken world with broken people.  And when it comes, let’s be clear ahead of time that we don’t have what it takes.  God will give us more than we can handle—but not more than he can.[2]

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Mitch Chase in God Will Give You More Than You Can Handle