Unplanted Faith

 

Thursday, July 7, 2022

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions?  Can that kind of faith save anyone?  Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing.  What good does that do?  So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough.  Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.  Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds?  I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”  James 2:14-18

Tertullian, a second-century church leader, is credited with the saying that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.  In that analogy it is simple to squeeze out a corollary, consistent with apostle James’ caution:  unplanted seeds of faith will produce almost nothing.  I say “almost” because there is one result, a false sense of security for those looking for an easier, quieter, less-troublesome brand of faith that requires little.  That unplanted faith seed becomes an empty pot of toxic wishes, instead of a harvest of blessing for untold millions of faith-starved people today.

The apostle was concerned with warning his flock that wishes, dreams, hopes, and plans, are only wisps of smoke if there are no good deeds that come forth in the form of blessing others.  Is it good to pray for the homeless without doing something about a mother and kids sleeping in a storm drain? 

Does it make sense to hope for the gun violence to go away, but never support positive measures for gun safety?  Can any good come from a proud, patriotic feeling you get without willingness to stand against the enemies of freedom? 

A popular song when I was in high school about one girl’s advice to all others about “wishing and hoping” they could get that special guy, echos, somewhat, that which James wrote to his flock about planting genuine faith seeds:

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into his arms
Just wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' his kisses will start
That won't get you into his heart
So if you're lookin' to find love you can share
All you gotta do is
Hold him and kiss him and love him
And show him that you care^©

Care is the fuel James said to pour on the sparks of revival and transformation.  Every generation since the Garden of Eden has craved being cared-for, knowing that they matter, that someone really notices, and is willing to listen.

For You Today

Have you encountered someone that’s a little rough around the edges?  If you’ve prayed for that person – good.  If you’ve asked God to use you to strengthen that person’s relationship with the Lord – great!  You have prepared the ground, and are holding the seed of care in your hand.  You stand on the threshold of actually planting that seed.  Let your faith be alive and growing.

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

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts on Rocky Road Devotions. 

To dig deeper into this topic or Scripture text:  Faith and Works and Picking Up the Trowel

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Of Shows and Service

 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee.  They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.”  Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.  Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.  I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.  But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.  Those who love their life in this world will lose it.  Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.  Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am.  And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.  “Now my soul is deeply troubled.  Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But this is the very reason I came!  Father, bring glory to your name.”  Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”  When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.  John 12:20-29

The Greeks who came for the Passover celebration in Jerusalem wanted to meet Jesus.  No doubt they’d heard the stir over his healing people, feeding people, and teaching that rattled the temple walls.  They were in town for the year’s biggest gathering, and, in true county fair circus mode, they certainly didn’t want to miss the biggest attraction.  For those who wanted to see it all and go back home with an autographed Scripture scroll, Jesus was the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Eiffel Tower, and Presidential inauguration – the sightseer’s musts on the to-do list!

If Jesus had been praying that prayer of holy week, O, Father, save me from drinking this cup, he might have been anxious to see these Greeks who made a special effort to meet him.  You know the way that happens – you’re facing an unpleasant event (putting the cross in a much milder category, mind you).  You’ve stepped-up your praying to “crisis mode”.  Two strangers tell your disciples they want to meet you.  Could this be the answer God is sending? 

The trouble with that scenario is our praying becomes a simple prologue to finding a way out of the discomfort, rather than a key to how God will be served.  That kind of prayer is more a knee-jerk reaction to the heat of the coming situation than a surrender to the will of God.  We wanted the show of a miracle, instead of the service of a disciple.

But Jesus wasn’t praying that way.  He was waiting for the signals of the Father’s movement so he could cooperate with the will of His Lord.  And when the movement winds started blowing, Jesus put the show on hold.  He held up the reality check…a seed comes to be dropped in the ground to bear a crop in the hundred-fold measure; it’s for sew, not show.

For You Today

You’ve faced (perhaps) many crises of faith since that first crisis of giving your heart to follow Christ.  Here, in holy week, we are reminded that whatever crisis we face, health, financial need, relational bumps, or worse, we are seeds-in-training; we’ve come to give our lives in whatever way the Master leads.

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

[1] Title image: Bing Images   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

When a Warrior Weeps

 

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Psalm 126:5-6

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.  They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Those who care passionately about people weep.  In a previous post I wrote: 

The text indicates that the sower goes forth and bears the seed; but he also weeps over it.  Do you weep over insignificant things, or precious?  I see weeping over lost loved ones, straying prodigals, health reversals and lost fortunes.

So, why the weeping?  The sower knows the seed must die before it can produce anything worthwhile.  Jesus said that plainly:

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.  John 12:24

In that passage Jesus was predicting his death on the cross for our benefit.  It was a short time before the cross, and Jesus understood the cost of saving rebellious humankind from eternal death.  And that is why he wept in Gethsemane; Jesus was so moved with compassion for us he sweat great drops of blood.  These were the tears of his soul, longing for our redemption and squeezing every last ounce of caring for self and safety out of his system…and it was for us.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  Luke 22:44

I think of presidents making unpopular decisions, knowing it might cost their political career, or personal reputation…but doing it anyway because it’s the right thing to do.

I think of a father scooping up his three-year-old from the middle of the street; the child howls with anger because she wanted to play there.  She didn’t understand the danger, so she rares back and declares to her father, I HATE YOU!

I think of a child hearing his parents, late at night, arguing in the living room…again.  And, it turns violent…again.  There is pain and blackened eyes…again; the 7-year-old cannot stay in the bed and listen….again.  So, he runs to the living room and steps between mother and father, knowing he cannot make a difference, but his weeping makes him try.

In each instance the motivation is love.  It is love that causes a president to choose the right thing over a popular thing.  It is love that makes a father act when his child puts herself in danger, and doesn’t understand.  It is love that propels even a small child to stand in protection of a battered mother.  And it was love that compelled Christ to the cross.

So, what about those seeds?  Why plant them?  Love!

There are laws of the harvest. 

          ·       You will always reap more than you sow.

          ·       You will always reap later than you sow.

          ·       You will not reap unless you sow. 

And the greatest, least popular, law is:

          ·       The harvest is greater or lesser in direct proportion to the cost to you of sowing.

Parents of prodigals sow seeds of self-sacrifice, nurture, and forbearing the immaturity of youth because of love.  And the greatest cost is loving, doing the best for the prodigal, when the cost will be the prodigal choosing the pigpen over the homeplace.  That is when a parent becomes a warrior in the prayer room, and that is when a warrior weeps.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, we understand doing the so-called right thing is really just living the truth of love, doing the best for our neighbor, which includes the whole world, starting in our own houses with our children, parents, and kin.  Give us grace today to faithfully back up doing the right thing with our warrior’s tears.

For You Today

The joyful end of Jesus’ story of the Prodigal is separated by time in the far country’s pigpen.  It’s easy to want to jump to the last chapter; easy, not right.  Give God time and plenty of warrior’s tears to awaken your prodigal to just how bad that pigpen really smells…and how exceptionally foolish was the choice was to live there.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Psalm 126 see World UPSIDE DOWN and Precious Seeds