Clean Closets...and Other Myths

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”  Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”  But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home.  Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.  I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.  I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come.  And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.  Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!  And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.  But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home.  Because you believed, it has happened.”  And the young servant was healed that same hour.  Matthew 8:5-13

I guess it was inevitable; that closet had been crying-out for years to be cleaned.   I could no longer pretend that disorganized heap of stuff would heal itself.  Besides, what else do retired preachers do?  Since Monday the task has begun to include two other rooms in the house; it will be a little while before this project is concluded.  What was I thinking?

The Roman officer may have had the same thought.  That servant of his was sick.  That presents two possibilities (at the least) as to why he went to the Nazarene preacher.  This officer may have been uniquely-compassionate for an important man, and was anxious to help him, or perhaps it was just that the servant couldn’t serve if he was bedridden; the officer’s “compassion” was more self-serving…a healthy servant would make the Roman’s life easier.  Jesus identified the officer’s request as sincere faith, so we must attest to his compassion as no less.

However, if we take into consideration that this Roman soldier’s prayer is lodged in the presence of a largely Jewish audience, we understand they were probably wondering why Jesus bothered healing the servant of a Gentile “dog”.  But Jesus, grasping this teachable moment, holds-up the humble, authentic trust of this Gentile, in contrast to the treachery of the Jewish religious leaders masquerading as faith which he would have to shortly endure.  Jesus’ teaching here was a gut-check for not just the crowd following at that moment, but for all of us…every day.   Sometimes that which we assume is our genuine faith, is just what we’ve hung in our religious closet for so long, we cannot see how crowded our “faith” is with stuff that doesn’t belong…

·       An attitude that won’t budge

·       A secret hate for an arrogant co-worker

·       Claiming a pure life, while hiding impure desires

·       …and so the myths keep rolling.

For You Today 

We all have that closet-cleaning thing to which we must attend.  Life is messy, and it creeps into our thoughts, attitudes, and selfish ways telling us the damning, but enduring myth, that we are put here on this planet to do what makes us happy. 

Like the Roman soldier’s compassion for his servant called-out his duty to do something, and my clothes closet called to me to come clean, so we are compelled to look deep into our faith, and how we’re called to be IN this world for God’s purposes – not part OF this world to serve our own desires.

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. 

Title Image:  Russell Brownworth (own work)  Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Faith Seasoned Wisdom

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom.  He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob.  Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women.  I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’”  After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!”  Jacob was terrified at the news.  He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups.  He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”  Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’  I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant.  When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!  O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau.  I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.  But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”  Genesis 32:3-12

To learn from your mistakes is the essential quality of wisdom.  To apply faith to wisdom is to serve God above all.  Jacob had a rocky, selfish start to life.  It started in his mother’s womb, when he and his twin brother, Esau, had a daily wrestling match.  As they were born, Esau was first out, but Jacob was hot on his heels, actually grabbing his brother’s foot.  It was sibling rivalry with the first breath.

The story of their lives in their father Isaac’s home was contentious, to say the least.  Jacob’s selfish behavior divided his mother and dad, and made an enemy of his twin brother.  Esau was so angry with his brother’s treacherous ways, Jacob had to leave home and go live with their uncle Laban at a safe distance.  Esau swore he’d kill his twin if ever they met again.

Fast forward twenty years…Jacob is much wiser, and is on his way home to reconcile with his family.  He has no clue as to Esau’s mindset…will his brother make good on his vengeance threat?  Will it end in calamity?  Jacob is wise at this point, dividing his wives and children into two camps, hoping to minimize losses of life and property, if Esau is still bent on Jacob’s death.  But a new dimension has foraged its’ way into Jacob’s life and thinking – faith!  The night before he was to face Esau, he met face-to-face with God’s angel, and the outcome was Jacob’s commitment to serve God, and live by faith, even if it meant giving up everything he'd gained, or even his own life. 

What Jacob had learned was what Jesus told Peter hundreds of years later – swords, be they steel or the treachery of human selfishness, may work for awhile, but they have little place in the heart of God.  It is faith that wins.[1] 

Seasoning the wisdom of learned mistakes and rocky roads, with faith God has given, is the mark of a life changed and usable in God’s Kingdom.  It took Jacob decades of hard lessons to shed his clever ways in favor of God’s clear kindness…the deep faith of the unashamed!

For You Today 

This world will afford you many opportunities to follow both Esau and Jacob’s early mistakes and sins…greed, treachery, revenge, and power.  In the end, those things only produce pain and regret, whether you wind up in jail, or residing in a mansion.  It’s all loss in Heaven’s record books.  The other, wiser choice is to season whatever you have learned with faith to do what the prophet Micah wrote:  do what is right, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

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 Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Wikimedia Commons 

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] See John 18:10-11

When the Road to Peace is Stained with Blood

 

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.  Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people.  O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?  How will he increase your punishment?  You will be pierced with sharp arrows and burned with glowing coals.  How I suffer in far-off Meshech.  It pains me to live in distant Kedar.  I am tired of living among people who hate peace.  I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war!  Psalm 120:1-7

Peace is forever sought and elusive.  The writer of today’s Psalm of Ascents for those travelling to Jerusalem’s temple, understood the anguish of one living far from home.  And the distance was not in miles or travel days, but attitude.  “Home” (as the poet has it) is where the heart is.  The heart of this writer longed for kindness and strength of trusted relationships.  You can almost feel his bones creaking for the absence of peace.  He brings forth his words from a tired heart that aches for the renewing of truth, an honest moment of unguarded rest.

The sentence that stands alone in this Psalm is I searched for peace, but they wanted war!  As the exhaustive climb to the apex of life’s mountain of experiences comes to a close, this aging prophet looks back at life and the vanity of all else but peace; his stand-out takeaway-line is anger.  He craved a soft, refreshing water of calm truth to restore his dusty soul; what he got was a mirage of an amusement park’s diversion…success offered on the backs of the poor and lonely.  So-called peace was bought with bloodstains on every road.

The Psalm begins with assertion that God heard and answered his cry for rescue from the peace-barren, angry foreign place!  So, how is the prayer of the writer’s troubles answered?  This is a good question, and one which the eons of humanity find sparse answer.  That is – there is sparse answer without the leap of faith. 

There is a tendency toward thinking too much in the here and now, as opposed to the eternal.  Peace (in this life…at the address you call “home”) is measured in fleeting moments of satisfaction with circumstances.  The key word is fleeting.  That word is key, because the heart longs deeply for peace that is eternal.  Considering the track record of humankind, from the moment Eve took the first unsatisfactory bite of the fruit that separated her from God’s loving embrace, to the sharing of it with Adam, and then passing it along to Cain, and the rest of every breathing being, staining with curse every part of our existence right down to this present moment, we can have little hope in the maneuverings of human cleverness to somehow produce anything close to peace.  

Much more likely is the scenario of Russia invading Ukraine, and then America retaliating, followed by some sort of “peace-response” of the United Nations, followed by decades of tension-filled negotiations, incidents, and exposed treachery on all sides.  Man longs for peace, but it’s an illusion, because the blood-stained road of war is more “profitable.”

For You Today

It is a short-leap from the history books to despair.  The one antidote for such misery is embracing it the way God did.  He sent his only begotten, beloved son, Jesus to deal with our problem.  In true fashion, we nailed the Prince of Peace to a tree on the town garbage dump.  And that’s when the olive branch of peace appeared…in the wonder of an empty tomb!

So…go on in…look around that empty tomb; see the folded death shroud…feel the empty space death was supposed to inhabit…and know that peace lives forever in the beating, resurrected life of our Savior.  And he wants you to have it.  You only need drink…deeply!

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

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

Of State Dinners and Spies

[1]   

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One!  But my heart is heavy with grief.  Weep for me, for I wither away.  Deceit still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.   Isaiah 24:16 (NLT)

State dinners served at the White House are more than just political form – they are meant to be a high honor for visiting dignitaries from other nations. 

These dinners started in the late 1800’s and have been a tradition for all that time.  In the 1960’s President Lyndon Johnson hosted 54 of those festive nights – the most in presidential history.  Coming in second was Ronald Regan in the 80’s with 35 in 8 years.

President Obama has only had seven of the $500,000 nights, although it was supposed to be eight; it seems two years ago Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was to be honored, but it never happened.  She canceled after learning that the [U.S.] National Security Agency spied on her.[2]

Hmmmm….sitting down to a half-million dollar banquet given by people who want to honor you and your service to mankind, while they peek into your private life to keep tabs on you? 

I believe I would have also cancelled.  (That is, assuming I’d ever been invited….which I haven’t; yet!) 

(And…by the way, I’m neither holding my breath nor checking the mail for invitations!)

The picture of a pat on your back before the crowd, while the “patter” is using his other hand to plunge a knife in that same back, is a well-known and well-understood cause for apprehension.  Treachery, as Isaiah put it, is everywhere.

Pastors are not exempt – neither from being treacherous, nor being targeted by people who deal treacherously.

A very long time ago, and almost in another galaxy (as Star Wars has it), I was trapped by a pair of sharp operators.  They were church members and leaders; they laid a trap for the naïve preacher, and in front of a congregational meeting praised my leadership and preaching and even the way I parted my hair.

Then the hammer fell!

They proposed something to the congregation in a way that seemed to have my full backing, even though they had privately suggested to me it wouldn’t work.  I was in agreement with them, and assumed that was the end of it, and wouldn’t be brought up.  One leader brought it up; the other quickly seconded it and called for a vote.

After all their public praise, had I contradicted this dynamic duo, it would have made me the bad guy; unfortunately, allowing it to be adopted by the congregation, only to certainly fail later made me a bad leader.

I would like to say I stood up and spoke truth to power – but it’s hard to do that when you’re sitting there in absolute disbelief and shock.  I froze.  I think my mouth was dropped open so wide I got splinters from the floor on my chin. 

And then…the look.  The proposer of the dastardly motion looked at me and grinned a little.  To the gathered church brethren it looked like he was saying, we agree with your leadership here, you fine fellow of a pastor; but I knew it meant, preacher you’re gonna be one BIG fool when this flops and you get the credit for it!

Now, that’s not the only failed leadership event on my resume’, but it stands as one of the most painful events I ever experienced as a pastor.  And although it was personally humbling and painful, it taught me one of the most meaningful lessons I’ve ever put on my personal tee shirt:  when it comes to praise, be careful when someone wants to give a state dinner in your honor!

For You Today

There’s not a treacherous demon behind every bush just waiting to stick a knife in your back.  But there are some and you need to trust God’s hand to guide you through the maze. 

So, do what you can to keep loving people, and keep trusting the Lord; and avoid state dinners if you can.

Think about that out on your rocky road today; and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  The Truman White House China, photo by The White House Museum

[2] NY Times morning briefing April 28, 2015