Bird With a Death Wish

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Revelation 22:18-19

And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book:  If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

Our daughter, Jen, has a lovely home, and the yard is a peaceful oasis.  Except for one thing…a mockingbird that shows up sometimes, courting death.  It is a goofy bird with a death wish…meowing!  That’s right…bird – calling – (of all things) – a feline with an appetite for bird!  Every time we pull up in the driveway for a visit, I check the back porch for feathers.

Now, if that sounds strange (and, it certainly impressed me as such), there are stranger things.  I won’t bore you with the full tour of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, but the world is full of people and critters that do dumb things.  For today, (and eternity) the strangest thing I’ve ever encountered are those who insist on changing what God has said to suit what they want to hear with their itchy ears[1], rather than obey the Almighty Creator who has said, don’t mess with my Word.

At present we are dealing with a moderately lethal pandemic that has a death rate holding at about 4% of those who are confirmed to have the virus[2].  This is “mild” by comparison with the 1918 flu pandemic that had an infection to death ratio of approximately 20%.[3]  That being said, coronavirus is more than a blip on the screen, infecting roughly 1% of this country’s population.

Now, if one of the worst plagues (in modern times) killed 20% of those who contracted it, and the current plague is around 4%, what are we to make of a plague that holds stable at 100%?  And what, pray tell, could we possibly say about human mockingbirds meowing at a plague like that?

Of course I’m talking about the plague of plagues, the pandemic sin-demic.  It infects 100% of humanity, and the death rate is 1 out of every 1.  The source for this statistic comes from Scripture:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Now, that’s the bad news, and the good news.  The pandemic is real, and it kills us all, eternally.  But, for those willing to trust God at His Word, the cure, or recovery rate is just as comprehensive; everyone who entrusts his or her life and will to God, because of God’s great gift of forgiveness, will live forever.

But, for those who want to change God’s Word, make it say what it doesn’t, and silence it where it speaks plainly, the last sentences of Scripture hold an ominous threat – God will add to that person the plagues of all time. 

·       There were 10 plagues visited on Egypt for unbelief

·       There is coming a series of plagues, both diseases, natural disasters, and dictators who will enslave millions (read Revelation’s prophecy).

All of it will fall on the heads of those who not only ignore God’s Word, but try to make it say what it doesn’t.

·       For those whose God is wealth and power…the plague of getting what they want in the here and now, and Hell in the future

·       For those whose God is sexual perversion and promiscuity, a sexually-transmitted character virus that will rot the soul for eternity

·       For those whose God is their own image, an eternity alone, abandoned, and unbothered by any other voice, smile, or warmth of human contact; just a mirror to see how wonderfully amired they are…by no one!

This is the picture of my daughter’s suicidal mockingbird, looking into the face of death, and calling it closer!

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, our ways are strange and fickle, driven by a plague of coldness and hardness of the heart.  Let your Word rest on those frozen hearts, warming us with the fire of Heaven’s Hound.

For You Today

For every word of condemnation the Scriptures use to warn us, there is a corresponding, and loving offer of redemption…for those who will change their song from death wish, to life in the hands of Jesus.

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 another post on this text:  Words That Destroy and The Power of a Curse and A Life of Sacrifice

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[1] 2 Timothy 4:3

[2] According to 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic Latest updates (update as of 7/14/20)

[3] The Greatest Pandemic in History – Written by Richard Gunderman for The Conversation — Updated on August 7, 2019

Fading to Light

 

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Ephesians 4:30 - 5:2

And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live.  Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

The whole idea of “fading to dark” leaves me empty…as it should.  Fading to dark is descriptive of what happens in a movie or stage play, when a scene is ends.  Fading is light going out of the theatre; you are left on your own with your thoughts. 

My thoughts this morning are on fading to light, where the cloudiness on your perspective clears, and you’re now able to see more vividly, make more reasoned decisions.  And the only thing better than being able to see clearly, is to be part of the kind of fading to light so others can also see more clearly. 

The picture I’ve chosen to accompany today’s devotion is an owl in his tree habitat.  He is designed to fade into that background so predators who want owl for dinner, as well as prey the owl would like to be dinner, can’t see him.  His fading is a weapon, designed to deceive, and give him enough advantage to keep his belly full.  A follower of Jesus Christ is also designed to fade into the light, but for a different purpose altogether; the invisibility achieves visibility.   As a believer grows in his or her likeness of Christ, the believer is less of a standout, and Christ is more the image the world can see.  When I become less, Christ in me becomes everything.

There is a stark, shudder-causing difference between darkness and light, as evidenced by Jesus’ use of this metaphor for those who prefer evil or good.  The apostle, Paul, picked this up and said it plainly as to which side we’re called:

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.  1 Thessalonians 5:5

There’s a bit of confusion about this metaphor if we don’t remind ourselves often about the true nature of darkness (representing evil), and the true nature of light (representing Godliness); these two, in character, are well known enemies, but they do not show up on the battlefield and fight to the death.  In their nature they are representations of the absence of each other; they don’t co-exist as enemies, nor (especially) as friends.  Their nature is to be mutually-exclusive; the presence of one announces the absence of the other.  This is seen in the way Paul describes how to live as children of light.  He tells us to get rid of (banish) the behavior of darkness (bitterness, anger, rage, harsh words, etc.).  And, when that happens, in place of such evil you find the behavior (or presence) of light, tender-hearted kindness and forgiving of one another. 

Darkness fades to light…more accurately, it fades to Jesus; the Light of the world.  This is what John the Baptist meant when he said

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.  John 3:30

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, we cannot see clearly sometimes for all the darkness in this world.  Yet, still, you call us to be children of light, and walk in Your light.  Let Your light so shine in us that we fade into the light.

For You Today

At times, when you’re wondering why you have difficulty concentrating on God’s light, and wondering where the light went, it will be beneficial to fast and pray on what darkness to which you’ve become attached.  Remember, the presence of darkness announces the absence of light.  And, it is also true the other way around!

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 another post on this text:  Words That Destroy and The Power of a Curse and A Life of Sacrifice

When the Tank is Empty

 

Monday, July 13, 2020

Psalm 142:1-7

I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.  When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.  Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.  I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!  No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.  Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say, “You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.  Hear my cry, for I am very low.  Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.  Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.  The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.”

King David was looking back on the time before he was king, and the reigning king, Saul (who was bordering on psychotic at the time) was chasing him all over Israel to stamp out the decree that God had made through the prophet Samuel, that David would be the one to replace Saul on the throne.  It was a king and his army, the most powerful army on earth, against one young man, who had taken to hiding in caves and pretending to be a lunatic to avoid being captured and executed.  In the words of the Verizon guy, David is praying and cries out to God:  I’m LOW…can you hear me now?  Considering the circumsances, to say that David was low, or severly depressed, and that he was out of options with an empty tank, just seems a little understated.  The situation was as critical as it gets. 

J.D. Walt writes a devotional I’ve been reading for awhile now, and in a recent post he shares about stumbling points in faith; in his concluding prayer he states it clearly that, when it comes to his faith, there are gaps…

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. I confess it with joy—Jesus is Lord! I want to mean it with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. There are gaps. Come Holy Spirit and fill in the gaps in my own character and maturity. Thank you for grace in the meantime. Train me to be so gracious with others. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.[1] 

I don’t know many people who won’t admit to the dry times, when gaps in our faith bring us low.  Let’s face it, the tank, if not attended to, gets empty, and we get sidelined, unable to move forward; we feel depletetd, deleted, and halted in our spiritual and emotional life.  Sometimes it may be because the world really is at odds with us and we’re up against it; at other times (perhaps most times) it’s just that we haven’t taken sufficient self-care to keep the tank refueled.  Either way, being down and out is not fun.  Waiting by the side of the road, empty gas can in hand, on the chance some kind Samaritan will give you a ride to the gas station, is not my idea of a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

When your tank is empty the tendency is to hide how foolish you were in running out of gas.  When a Christian’s spiritual tank runs low, because of self-inflicted sins, or just a lack of attention to keeping the worship tank full, sometimes the game plan gets tossed.  Worship, prayer, ministry, fellowship with other believers, and being in the place where (as David put it) …the godly will crowd around me, is put aside in favor of staying in our four walls to sulk, lick wounds, and generally wallow in our misery.

Do you recall that feeling you had one time (or a thousand) when it was Sunday, and you just weren’t feeling it…just didn’t want to go to church…but the “habit” took over, and you went anyway?  Do you recall how you felt so much better that afternoon?  That’s what happens when you make a decision that the momentary gap in your faith is not going to rule the day.  And God’s Spirit gathers the godly around you, and focus returns; and your heart is glad.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, our gaps are too real, and too strong sometimes.  Come, fill those gaps with the balm of Gilead; heal our stripes, and make us whole, so we can serve and honor your name.

For You Today

Nobody schedules a gap time; that stuff is manufactured as a surprise attack in the pit of Hell and shows up when you least expect it.  The preventative is to keep the tank full of worship, praise, service, sacrifice, and discipleship.

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 another post on Psalm 142 see Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

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[1] J.D. Walt’s The Seedbed Daily Text

Weaning - Maturity 101

 

Friday, July 10, 2020

Psalm 131:1-3

Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty.  I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp.  Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.  Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—now and always.

The simplicity of calmness is something less practiced than wished for.  And we are our own worst enemy in this more than not.  Today’s culture teaches us to be action junkies, with TV cameras unable to stay focused on a single view longer than 1 or 2 seconds, jumping here and there.  There is more Adult Attention Deficit Disorder than calmness, because excitement is, well, more exciting than calmness.  From roller coasters to sky diving, we want the next biggest rush, an app that promises a better game, a more shiny bauble, or most fun relationship.  When it comes to the entertainment industry, action movies, or anything fast-paced is much more likely to be a box office hit, than a documentary on the mating habits of snails.  Is it any wonder our heroes are more apt to be professional athletes, movie stars, or those who produce the glitter? 

It even invades the church.  A friend, who was pastor of a large church in Florida once confided that his main goal as this prominent church’s leader was to put a roof over their 19 acres.  If bigger was better, it was go large, fast, higher and wider, or go home.  It almost cost him his family and his health by the time he realized that his push for the top was digging the health of his body and soul into a pit.

A day hardly passes where I am free from the thought of how those involved in the push for higher, more, faster, riskier, or stronger, are rarely satisfied with anything.  And the end of it is, as Solomon found out, empty!

Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.  Ecclesiastes 1:8

When is it that we ever learn how to be quiet and calm…weaned off hype, mature?

The answer to that question is what the Psalmist found out; we are able to be content when our trust is in God, and we have agreed to be weaned, just like a child finally comes to peace with starting to eat on his own, rather than nurse.  It is the opposite direction from the Peter Pan syndrome, I won’t grow up, not me, no sir!

So, can you really do it…live in 2020, unplugged, unhurried, uncharged, and not unhinged by the hype?  I believe that is possible; it is possible only with an intentional step of faith, similar to the teamwork exercise, where one person stands in front of another, arms crossed, and then falls backward, trusting the other person to catch him.  

Truth be told, that feels like suicide, jumping off a cliff.  But it is one way to develop trust between peers (that is, IF the person behind does his job…otherwise, back to trusting only self).  In the calmess of soul we seek, no other human can provide that…it is only when we fall into the arms of God that real calmness of soul happens.

It’s called weaning off the hype of activity, by choosing to fall into the health of God’s loving embrace.  It really is a leap of faith.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, if there is one thing every soul craves, it isn’t a higher high, or more dizzying ride, glitz, glamor, or gold…that is all the stuff our carnal nature craves.  As spiritual children, we need to be weaned from that.  What mature believers really crave is calmness within.  Help us to fall into Your arms, away from the drive for more stuff that is fading and empty.

For You Today

Sometimes…no….always, people who are reaching for that next brass ring, must fall flat on their face in their push for more.  It is part of the weaning process. 

If you, or someone you love, is being weaned, go on and hurt for them, pray for them, and trust for them, that God has this…maturity doesn’t come with time, it comes when we learn to fall into God’s arms when there’s nowhere else to fall.

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 another post on Psalm 131 see Peter Pan Was Not a Christian

Repeat

 

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.  I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again:  I will obey your righteous regulations.  I have suffered much, O Lord; restore my life again as you promised.  Lord, accept my offering of praise, and teach me your regulations.  My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.  The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments.  Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.  I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end.

There is an expression most of us have used when we recognize a truth we have learned and relearned, and want to share:  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again!  The Psalmist’s companion to that is I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again….

One of the chief slams against “church” is the repetitive nature of worship.  Songs, prayers, and all sorts of rituals are repeated.  Even sermons (oh my!) are repeated.  But, as always, when you examine the reason behind the practice, you once again must conclude differently than first glance…the repetition works!  Consider the athelete who gets up early every morning to hit the track, the gym, the road, the punching bag, the batting cage, the tee box.  In every sport, business, human habit, or relationship, what we have done before helps memory help us do it again…and better (hopefully).

Now, I’ve said this before, so I have the memory bytes to say it again, what is true in the physical realm, is often reality in the spiritual realm.  That is certainly not a stretch when comparing creating the memory of a good golf swing, so you can repeat it the next time.  The goal in golf is to have the same swing, so you achieve a dependable, desired result.  The boxer slamming his fists into the workout dummy is teaching his body how to use maximum force to damage his opponent.  If it’s true that practice makes perfect, we understand the reason why school is important, and many hours in a flight simulator is important, and why the discipline of a strong devotional life is important…even listening to sermons.

Check that out in the Psalmist’s life:

          ·       He Promised:  I will obey your righteous regulations.  

          ·       He Prayed:  I have suffered much, O Lord; restore my life again as you promised.  

          ·       He Praised:  Lord, accept my offering of praise,

          ·       He Prepared:  teach me your regulations.  

          ·       He Prospered:  Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.  

And here’s the bottom line – in all the repetition of the Scriptures, even in the monotony of the begets, where you learn the unpronouncable names of obscure, ancient families, there is deep wisdom to be had.  But, as James says, if you just glance at it, and never do the reps of committing it to memory, as well as putting it in practice in your life by obeying the Word, it will pass through your mind, and slip away like a fading mist.

But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  James 1:22-24

God’s Word is like shampoo in that sense; if you want it to do any good at all you’ve got to grab the bottle, pour it out, lather it in good, rinse off anything leftover, and, (do I need to say it?)…repeat!

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, when we get a little too bored with worship, help us to remember this image that our worship, study, and obedience, even in the small things, are like shampooing regularly; it may be tedious, but our lives will shine.

For You Today

I’m still in love with what I heard the African American preacher tell us preachers at a conference about how he goes about helping the repeat/learning skills of his congregation:

When I preach a sermon, I preach it three times:

·       I tell ‘em what I’m gonna tell ‘em…then…

·       I tell ‘em…then…

·       I tell ‘em what I tol’ ‘em!

Got it? …. or should I repeat?

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 119 see God's Word; Light for My Path - Lamp for My Feet and                              The Light On My Path