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Click here to read Acts 8 on BibleGateway.com

Why is it that the right thing is always so painful? Why do you have to work so hard to work out? Why is it better to save than to spend? Why is it better to think of others instead of ourselves? Why is it better to eat asparagus instead of a dozen snickerdoodles? One would think that God would make all the stuff that’s good for us also the easiest, wouldn’t one?

Well, today we get a little insight into God’s perspective on the whole pain thing. Let’s jump back just a bit to set the stage: in Acts 1, Jesus tells his disciples “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Sounds pretty good; a little talking, a little traveling, and it’s all good. But as Acts progresses, the disciples seem to be a little slow-going. We read how “every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts…and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.” The new believers enjoyed their new-found fellowship and joy, but they weren’t really doing what Jesus commanded.

COURSE CORRECTION

So, now we come to Acts 8, and Saul (soon to be Paul) gets his Pharisee Posse together to round up them nasty believers. He goes from house to house and puts anyone he finds into prison. Thus “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Sound familiar? The disciples had been reluctant to leave the comfort of Jerusalem and the home church and carry the Good News to the rest of the world; so God either sent or allowed persecution to come against them, in order to encourage them.  A little divine swat on the tushy, if you will.

Notice how many of the great stories of Acts come after this point. It was the persecution that laid the groundwork for the great things that God did in the future. Though it’s unlikely that the disciples appreciated the persecution at the time, there’s little doubt that the miracles and wonders came as a result of the disciples being “forced” to obey Jesus’ command to spread out. God used the pain of persecution to get the believers back into his will and to show them a fuller glory.

RICE CAKE AND RAISINS

This is not to say that all pain in our lives is sent by God (after all, this world is not how God intended it thanks to Adam and the Evester), but Romans tells us that God works all things together for our good. Whether or not God is actually sending the pain is a matter of debate for the tweed-suit crowd, but we can trust that God is using that pain to advance his kingdom and bring us closer to himself. That means we should not necessarily be asking God to deliver us from pain or ask “Why are you doing this?” but rather we should be asking “How are you using this?” It’s not easy to change our perspective (actually, i’d rather have my toenails pulled out) but it’s important to understand that God’s desire is not necessarily for us to have an easy life, but rather a fulfilled life.

Now I have a choice to make: here sits my yogurt and my Hershey Kisses. Decisions are painful.

Click here to read Matthew 25 on BibleGateway.com

We are obsessed with the idea of “fair” in our culture. Equal opportunities, equal pay, equal education, equal reward, equal everything. And yet you will not find the idea of “fair” in our modern sense in the Bible, unless you count Ecclesiastes, where everything stinks for everybody. I guess that’s kind of fair.

God chooses Jacob over Esau, he chooses Israel over the other nations, Jesus chooses the Twelve disciples over other people, and chooses three of those to be his special friends. Some people suffer more than others, some have a relatively easy life, some are chosen by God to be great, some toil in obscurity.

THE UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD

Look at the parable of talents in Matthew 25. To start, the master has eight talents to give out (fun fact: a talent of gold is worth about $660,000 in today’s money), but he doesn’t spread it out equally among his three servants (or as equally as possible – 3,3,2 or something). Instead, he gives five to the first servant, two to the second, and one to the third. So already we see that God isn’t all that concerned with things being fair.

The master then goes away for a while, comes back, and gets his financial report. The first servant has doubled the investment (which means he made his boss 3.3 million dollars); nice work, Servant One. Servant Two has also doubled the master’s money (1.3 million); pretty decent, Servant Two. Servant three, afraid that he might lose the six hundred grand and get whupped, hides it, and gives it back when the master returns.

Now here’s the thing; that should not have been that big of a deal. The master didn’t lose any money, after all. At most, he lost a little time, perhaps an opportunity here and there. But certainly he was no worse off than before. And yet Jesus refers to this servant as not only lazy (hard to argue with that one), but “wicked.” It was not only a bad decision to hide the money, it was downright sinful. That’s pretty harsh.

Then it gets even more unfairish. The master takes the money from Servant Three, and gives it to Servant One. Notice: not to Servant Two. Servant One already had six and a half million dollars, while Servant Two had just north of two and a half. It seems to our mind that the “fair” thing to do would be to give that money to Servant Two, and possibly even take some of that ridiculous wealth from Servant One and spread it out a little. But that’s not what the master does. He takes the excess, and gives it to the person who has already shown to be trustworthy with what he had.

YOUR BEST IS SECOND

Here’s the fact: some people are more talented than you. Not “have different talents”; not “special in a different way”; not “more obvious talent.” Plain ole more talented, more gifted than you. They might be stronger, faster, smarter, better looking, more musical, more popular, better family, better singer, better experiences, better everything. They might even have multiples upon multiples of talent more than you.

And you know what Jesus says about that? Nothing. That’s the way it is. Accept it. And do what you can with what you have. Servant Three was not responsible to make 6 million dollars; only to do what he could do with what he had. He was expected to put forth all his effort into developing his six hundred thousand as best as he could. Instead, he hid away in fear. Maybe he was envious of the guy with more, maybe he felt inadequate, maybe he just wanted to do barely enough to get by. Regardless, Jesus says what he did was wrong.

You are not responsible to be the best; you are responsilble to do the best you can with what God has given you. If you are fast enough to take third, and you take fourth because you don’t give your best effort, then that for you is sin. You don’t have to give a million dollars to the church; but if God has given you the ability to give twenty dollars, and you give ten, then that for you is sin. If you have the ability to be the best businessman in the world for God, and you are the second best, for you that is sin. We are responsble for what God has given us, not what he has given others, regardless of how much or how little talent we have.

After all, that’s only fair.

Click here to read Joshua 20-21 on BibleGateway.com

Let’s admit it; sometimes reading the Old Testament is more tedious than uplifting. It’s hard to get too inspired by the various types of mold the Israelites had to clean, the number of tassels each robe should have, and the seemingly endless list of begats throughout the Old Testament. However, sometimes these longs lists can bring something to light that we may miss, so perhaps we can grin and bear it on occasion and try to hear what God is saying.

Joshua 20-21 is one of these passages – just this ridiculously long list of cities (and their pastureland – apparently a huge deal). So let’s look at what’s really going on.

IT’S HIGHWAY TIME

Joshua 20 sets up what are called “cities of refuge.” In most ancient cultures – and frankly, a lot of modern ones – if someone murdered or hurt one of your relatives, you were legally allowed and obligated to seek vengeance. In some ways, the Bible allows this within certain limits (such as the community doles out punishment, not the aggrieved person). However, the cities of refuge were setup as a way to prevent this sort of retaliation for accidental manslaughter. If you killed someone while speeding on your donkey, you could flee to one of these cities and (if the city council accepted your request) you were protected there.

This is an interesting aspect to our view of Israelite society, because it adds a dimension of mercy to the conception of brutality that a lot of people have about the Old Testament. Were punishments severe? Certainly from our modern point of view, but remember this is before prisons; what was to be done to discourage crime? Yet even within this brutality, there was understanding for accidents, and a place for the truly innocent to seek protection.

NATIONWIDE COVERAGE

Chapter 21 deals with towns for the Levites. Unlike the other tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi did not get its own land. Tribes like Judah and Manessah got sizable pieces of land, almost nations unto themselves. Why not Levi? All they got were some cities here and there.

The answer has to do with Levi’s unique place in Israel’s religious life. The Levites were the priests; a hereditary family that was responsible to God for the piety of the entire nation. So rather than concentrating all of that in one place, God chose to spread them out among the people. All the Israelites were relatively close to a religious center at all times; they had someone to remind them what the Law of God said, what sacrifices they needed to perform, and how much God loved them as a people.

These lists of cities may seem kind of pointless to us today, but they actually show an aspect of God that might otherwise be missing from our experience. God demands justice, but also provides for mercy. God provides for his people, and yet He wants to be close to them. In a few short chapters, we see a more complete picture of who God is.

That’s probably worth a little tediousness, don’t you think?

Click here to read Matthew 21 on BibleGateway.com

Habits are hard to break. For example, at one point, a certain individual (who shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent and chubby) was polishing off a six-pack of Mt Dew every day of the week that ended in Y. That’s not the kind of thing you just walk away from. The soothing caress of a caffeine withdrawal migraine is not even the worst part; the longing for that sweet sugar rush, the cool metallic feel of the can in your hand, the satisfying crushing of the can after the last drop of nectar is gone. It’s like saying goodbye to a little piece of heaven. I mean, that’s what I’ve heard.

But, even with that level of soda-love, you can still walk away. You can stop buying that deliciousness; you can choose to go to the sink for water instead of the fridge. You can start your day with the calcium fortified goodness of bovine udder discharge. Except in rare circumstances, no one is holding a firearm to your head, demanding that you consume 72 fluid ounces of awesomeness every day. You can make a change. You just have to want to, and do it.

TALE OF TWO

Changing behavior may be hard, but as it turns out, the Bible actually says that on occasion it can be a good thing. There are many people who start out life a little behind ye ole 8-ball. Maybe your parents never gave you the support and care you needed. Maybe your first real dating relationship was abusive. Maybe you lost loved ones at an early-age (or late-age) despite all your prayers. And now you find yourself miles away from God.

The good news is that distance means almost nothing to God. You can change your mind right now, and start serving God, and be closer to Him immediately. In our passage today, we have two sons. One says he will obey his pop, and then changes his mind. One says he won’t obey, then changes his mind. Which one is pleasing the dad? Even if you have purposely walked away from God in the past (or just drifted), you can change this very moment. And you will be pleasing you father.

Here’s the rub; it works the other way too. Maybe you started as the captain of your bible quiz team. Maybe you were the kid at Bible camp giving testimonies that brought every one to tears. Maybe you had the whole New Testament memorized by the age of 9. If you are not serving God today, that all means very little. And you are certainly not pleasing to our Father.

CHOOSE YE THIS MOMENT

You may feel like you are farther from God than at any point in your life. You can make the decision right now to start serving God again. It will take effort, for sure. Spiritual inertia is a difficult thing to overcome, but you can do it; just start now. The next step will be easier, the one after that easier still, and so on. Telling that guy you can’t date him anymore, telling that friend you can’t go out partying tonite, confessing those “little” thefts to your boss and making amend; it can be very difficult. But once you start getting closer to God, you can keep getting closer and closer.

You can make that choice right now.

Click here to read Joshua 11 on BibleGateway.com

Peace. We talk about it all the time in church; sometimes we even sing about it attending our souls. We love the idea of it; sitting around in our jammie pants drinking chai tea (or coffee, should you be one of “those” people) and watching the sunset over the ranch.

Is that really what the Bible means by peace? A quiet evening with nothing going on?  When nobody is punching us in the face, and no dogs barking in our ear?  When everything is just going smooth as the top of the pudding? Or perhaps peace has nothing to do with lack of struggle, and everything to do with how we live with it.

PAUSE…OK, RESUME

In Joshua 11, we read about some of the, to be blunt, slaughter of various tribes that lived in Canaan before the Israelites got there. The Bible says that Joshua destroyed just about anyone he came into contact with, and destroyed a few cities to boot. And then the chapter ends with this little postscript: “then the land had rest from war.”

Rest. Not an end. If you continue reading the Old Testament, you’ll see that it wasn’t long before war came again (and again, and again) to the Israelites. We may need to face facts: there will be no peace in our lifetime; or anyone’s lifetime.  Not “peace in the Middle East,” or pretty much anywhere else for that matter. Sometimes you’ll hear people say “when the Prince of Peace comes, then there will be peace on earth.” Apparently some of those people haven’t read the back of the Bible yet; when Jesus comes, one of the first things that happens is war. And not just any war; the biggest war the world has ever seen. That’s not too peacey if you ask me.

What about the Fruits of the Spirit, you say? Isn’t one of those peace? Without a doubt, but this is our attitude of peace with others, not a ceasing of struggle in the world. There are many Christians who are serving the Lord and serving in the Armed Forces.  Some may see that as a contradiction, but it seems the Bible draws a distinction between “peace” that Jesus brings, and “no war” in the sense that we view peace today.

Should we pray for peace? Absolutely.  We should pray for peace in our lives, and in the lives of all those fighting actual wars at the moment. We are even told specifically  to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  There is much suffering and sometimes very little good that comes from war.    The point in Joshua is not that war is good or bad; it just is.

LO ALWAYS

Here’s the point: if you are fighting a battle – spiritual, physical, emotional – right now and you are praying for peace, keep it up. You should keep praying, you should keep seeking God more. But if and when the battle ends and the peace comes, understand that it is simply a rest. There will be another battle coming.

Until the day when we were are actually in God’s presence forever, the fight is not going to end. Jesus is clear: you will have trouble in this world. The point is not to avoid trouble; the point is to cling tightly to Jesus when the trouble comes. Enjoy your rest when it comes, catch your breath, and buckle up. The peace that Jesus promises isn’t an exemption from the fight, but a calm assurance that He has a plan and purpose for each and every battle.

You may even get time to catch a chai now and then.

Click here to read Joshua 10 on BibleGateway.com

Sometimes it strikes me as odd that we (as christians) will believe, or at least say we believe, the whole Bible. Do you really? Do you really believe that a grown man was swallowed by a gigantic guppy? Do you believe that a living guy actually walked into a chariot, made of fire no less, and floated off into the sky? Do you really believe that one guy, with a few family members, put every species of animal into a big boat and lived there for a year? When you think about it, it really does sound nuts.

But we say we believe. We say the Bible is infallible. We say that every word that comes from God’s mouth through Moses’ pen is true. If that’s the case, if we one hundred percent believe God and believe the Bible is his Word and believe that it is true, we really should never worry. If God can do all that, any problems we have should look tiny in comparison, right?  Look at today’s reading in Joshua 10.

JANE! STOP THIS CRAZY THING

Joshua is fighting another one of the something-ites (admit it, you can’t keep them straight either), and he finds himself running out of time to complete the battle. This is actually not all that uncommon in the ancient world. Without electric lights or those cool green glasses that let you see in the dark, there really was no way to fight once the sun went down. Most communication was by flag on the battlefield, so once it got dark, that was pretty much it. In this case, Joshua had them on the run, and wanted to finish the job.

So he asks God to stop the sun and moon. Think about that. Stop the sun and moon. Just to put it in perspective, using our modern concept of astronomy, that means that God had to stop the world from spinning. The whole planet. All 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds, spinning at 1100 miles an hour, of planet Earth’s hugeness; and God stops it because Joshua forgot his flashlight.

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

Do you believe it? That God can actually just stop the Earth whenever he wants? If you do, then why in the world would you worry about God providing for you and your family? If God can do that, finding a few bucks to buy hamburger should be laughingly simple for him. Finding a new job should be a snap of the fingers. Even healing the sick, or raising the dead, would be no problem for a God of that power. The world spins or stops on His whim; just because Joshua asked.

And what does God ask in return? Our trust. That’s it. Accepting that He loves us, that He wants what’s best for us. That when He doesn’t give us what we ask, that He knows a better way. Believing that a God that can stop the earth for one man’s benefit, might just know a thing or two about the consequences of our actions. And having the humility to follow his directions about our lives, instead of just trying to do it our own way.

Can you trust him to run your world today?

Click here to read Psalm 132-134 on BibleGateway.com

Feeling a little rebellious today? I hope so. We’re gonna break the Golden Devotional Rule. Instead of looking at just one chapter, the way God intended, we’re actually going to look at two. That’s right. It’s getting crazy up in here. I just wanted to warn you, in case that’s too much wackiness for you; don’t want to be responsible for any heart attacks, you know.

Psalm 133 and 134 are part of a group of Psalm called “songs of ascent.” While not many would bet their lives on it, the consensus among scholars is that these were songs that people sang as they traveled up to Jerusalem for various religious festivals. They are very brief, repeatable, and are generally positive in content (as opposed to some of the less-postive psalms that talk about God smashing people’s heads).

HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE

Psalm 133 refers to how awesome it is when God’s people (church folk, to you and me) get along with each other. This is both true, and unfortunately, rare. The Church is more often associated with people fighting amongst themselves, with outsiders, with their pastors and leaders, with other denominations, and just about anyone else we can think of. But if you ever been a part of a church where everyone is genuinely looking out for each other, you’ve seen how incredibly amazing that can be.

Psalm 134 gives us what may be the key. Verse 1 say “Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who minister by night in the house of the Lord.” Originally, this referred to the priests who worked 24/7/365 to keep certain sacrifices and fires running in the temple in Jerusalem.  That means that some of them were working when everyone else was sleeping.  Some of them served God in the dark, when no one else would ever know. But let’s update this to our time. What is the house of the Lord now? The New Testament says that God now dwells in us, not in houses made by men. Who are the servants? Hopefully all us; anyone who is striving to serve Jesus.

BETTER CHURCH, FROM THE INSIDE OUT

If you research revivals or large church growth movements, there’s one common denominator (if you look for it) that sometimes is hidden behind all the flashy-ness. Almost all revivals start with a small group of believers (sometimes just one or two) that agree to meet together on a regular basis, care for each other, and for all of them to take the responsibility to individually seek God’s will. Often, these people go unnamed in the larger movement. They are not typically the super-pastors or evangelists that you may hear about; they are the force that sustains those in front of the cameras. They are the ones that pray when no one else is looking; that give what they have to others, that care more about being holy than than being known for being holy.

Do you want revival to come to your church? Do you want God to move in your city? Get alone with God and seek him with all your heart. Take care of fellow believers; put their needs ahead of yours. Be more concerned with supporting your pastor instead of “correcting” his mistakes. And be prepared to get absolutely no recognition for it. The ones who minister by night, who seek God when no one else is around, who support and encourage instead of looking to be fulfilled – these are the real heart of God’s work on earth.

Are you strong enough to be unknown?

Click here to read Isaiah 64 on BibleGateway.com

Why is sin so bad? Have you ever thought about that? In a technical sense, all “sinning” really means is “missing the mark.” Ok. So you missed the mark. We all do. We punch a puppy, we ask forgiveness, we move on. What’s the biggie? Why is God so obsessed with sin? Why not just let us do what we want, and then forgive us all in the end?

Perhaps we view God’s attitude toward sin the wrong way. It seems that more often we think “ok, here’s the stuff I can’t do or God will be mad at me. I know I should please Him, so I’m gonna work real hard not to do these things, even though it sure would be nice to try it once in a while.”  And so we sit and squirm under God’s almighty thumb, and look longingly at all the lucky sinners out there whooping it up.

I’LL HUFF AND I’LL PUFF

But God didn’t set up a “sin test” for us to see if we can measure up. Sin is not something that God created; it’s something we created.  Sin is us saying “I’m going to do it my way, not yours.” God didn’t invent sin, he simply describes it and tells us what the consequences will be.  The reason God talks about sin so much is because we, quite frankly, sin so much.  And God knows what will happen if that sin is allowed to run its course.

Isaiah 64 says “like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Sin is like a hurricane; it destroys anything in its path. You can stand outside on the edges of a hurricane, and it might even be a little a exciting for a while. But once it reaches its full strength, it will sweep you away, and not all your effort and good intentions will stop it. The only chance you have at that point is to find shelter; to get somewhere with a firm foundation and solid walls. Those walls keep you constrained, for sure, but that constraint is your safety.

GUARDIAN, NOT GUARD

All that God does is because He loves us. The reason God hates sin so much isn’t because of what it does to Him (making Him angry), but because of what it does to us (destroys our life). The reason sin is such a big deal to God is the same reason that a bonfire is such a big deal to a mother of a toddler. He knows that the pretty flames will attract His children; we don’t understand the danger, all we see is the excitement. Our viewpoint should be to see God as our protector and guardian, rather than as a prison guard that’s just checking to make sure we follow all the rules.

So He warns us. Repeatedly, over and over throughout the Bible. He put Himself in front of the fire, so that it will burn Him instead of us. And if we push around Him and jump in the fire anyway, He reaches in and pulls us out and gives us a way to be healed. That’s how God deals with sin.  That’s the kind of love God is.

How do you view sin?

Click here to read Matthew 11 on BibleGateway.com

You can’t please everyone.

We all know it, yet it seems that we can’t help but try. No less an authority than Bill Cosby stated that the key to failure was to try to please everyone, and this from the man who had one of the most pleasing shows in the history of television. Especially the one when he makes Theo pay for his rent with monopoly money. Classic. In any case, if ole Bill admits that even he had his detractors, there’s probably little chance for the rest of us to have smooth sailing.

You would think that getting along with other Christians should be somewhat easy; we all have the same overall goal, we all read from the same playbook, and we all have the same boss. Yet almost every Christian – particularly if one is a pastor or evangelist – can probably attest to the numerous times that people have challenged not only their interpretation and teaching, but even their salvation. We have little patience with people who answer to God instead of to us, especially if they follow Jesus differently than we think they should.

“YOU EAT UNKOSHER DOGS? SINNER.”

Jesus points out our dilemma. John the Baptist lived the life of the hermit, out in the desert, eating bugs: his fellow believers claimed he had a demon. Jesus comes along, lives in the cities (primarily), with and around people, eating this that and the other: the crowds called him a drunk and glutton. It seems a prophet just can’t win. No matter what you do, it always ends in a public execution.

The truth is, you will always have people who disagree with how you serve God. You don’t pray enough, you don’t study enough, you don’t help the poor enough, you don’t preach on forgiveness enough, you don’t preach on hell enough, you don’t evangelize enough, you don’t get to know people enough before evangelizing… it goes on and on and on. If you are in a position to talk to a pastor, ask them. I can guarantee one of the first lessons they learned in ministry is that you will always have people that dislike you and are trying to get rid of you. It’s the joy of spiritual leadership.

WHOM WILL YOU SERVE?

So what are we to do? The answer is simple, and difficult. Don’t worry about what others say. Easy to say, no doubt, and nearly impossible to do. Unfortunately, that’s about the only solution there is. (Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to anybody; God sometimes works through others to guide us or bring things to our attention. But that’s different than trying to please others.  See Peter and Paul’s fisticuffs in Acts.) If you want to be a spiritual leader, that’s just part of the gig.

We all have to make a choice; and it’s usually not a one-time choice. It’s a choice you have to make every morning when you wake up to the shrill voice of your alarm clock or the soothing serenade of a shrieking infant. What will you do today? Will you follow God wholeheartedly? Some people won’t like it. And I’m not just talking about those pesky non-believers who dislike you simply because of Jesus. I’m talking about your fellow servants of Christ; most often, they will be the ones to kick your spiritual loins the hardest. You must decide if you will change what you are doing to please them, or serve God to the best of you ability. To please the only One who matters in the end.

Who will you try to please today?