Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Are we on a 40 year journey that should only take weeks?

Apparently the distance from Egypt to Canaan - which took the Israelites 40 years to cross - was a mere couple week journey if you'd just travel in a straight line.

So, why 40 years? Numbers 14 tells us that it was punishment for the Israelites' lack of faith. Israel had two occasions to move into Canaan. The first time came after relatively straight line travel - not 40 years. But when the Lord told them to enter into Canaan on that occasion they became afraid, began to grumble and complain, then refused to go in. In the space of a few weeks they completely forgot how the Lord delivered them from Pharaoh's powerful grip. Only a few like Joshua and Caleb trusted God the first time Israel stood at Canaan's door. Except for these few - who God later allowed to go through that door, everyone else died during the 40 years of desert wandering.

The wandering was a way of letting the doubters die out ... the punishment seems harsh ... doesn't it? Then again, God did give them what they wanted - safety, food and mediocrity. He took care of them for all 40 years. No one died for lack of food, water or shelter in the harsh desert. He remained faithful to them.

At the same time, He trained up a new generation - a group poised to trust Him more than their mothers and fathers. These young people, along with Joshua and Caleb, entered Canaan 40 years later - and saw God do amazing things on their behalf...

What about us? Do we hear God saying "go" but we hold back because of fear and our lack of faith?

Are we travelling on a 40-year journey that should only take a few weeks and being in danger of missing out on God's big adventure?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Can any good come out of falling to temptation?

After all, Romans 8:28 says:  "...in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

King David failed to withstand temptation - committing adultery with Bathsheba, then murdering her husband to avoid a scandal when it became obvious she was bearing an illegitimate child - David's child.  Yet here is the curious fact: in spite of this enormous failure, God later blessed David and Bathsheba with more children including the wisest son a man could ever have.

Doesn't it look wrong that God would bless a union like this?  One borne of sin upon sin?

Apparently God really does forgive people - more completely than we can even imagine.

On a different note, failure with temptation is a great antidote against self-righteousness.  There's nothing like a significant moral failure to pop the bubble that formed in our heads - that we're quality Christians with big spiritual muscles.  All our effort, high morals and strong will power go out the window.  And then when God continues to love and cherish us as we lick the wound of our failure, we become the most surprised sinners; God shows us what grace really means.

The best outcome from falling to temptation is being picked up again by our gracious God.   Our hearts get softer when we really understand that we don't deserve His love.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

What does a life of faith look like?

In Hebrews 11 we find this definition of faith: "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It sounds like an internal thing - believing in something or hoping that event will pass. Faith seems to just be a cerebral activity.

However, the rest of the chapter relates past heros of faith in the Bible who all DID something. They usually pursued something that did not initially make a lot of sense: like Noah, who built a boat while living on a desert, like Abraham, who left the familiar and went to an unknown place for his inheritance, like Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt instead of enjoying the life of a prince etc. These people took extraordinary action because what they believed moved them to act.

Their faith was not merely internal; it manifested itself in big decisions and behaviours, often resulting in significant consequences to their lives.

What does our faith propel us to do today? What is the task at hand calling us out of the ordinary and commonplace and into the unknown place where God will be pleased with our faith?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one

We often think of temptation as being enticed to do something we should NOT DO.  As a result, most Christians that live morally upright lives--avoiding certain forbidden activities--mistake themselves for being righteous.

Sure, everybody has 'sinned'; I've lied, thought bad thoughts and lost my temper now and then, but that's not like murder or infidelity or theft which are the sins that require deliverance.  Because our sins are not all that bad, we don't get why we need God's forgiveness, but we'll take it anyway.

What we often neglect is the temptation to not do what we should DO.  An indication of how serious this is to God is revealed in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28).  Here the servant who didn't do anything with his talent was harshly rebuked as being wicked.

No, it's not enough to just avoid the obvious DON'Ts of the Bible, we have to pay attention to the DOs.  Doing good is tougher than not doing bad.  A lot tougher.

Temptations of all kinds have an all consuming quality that distract us from setting our minds on God's business.  We need deliverance from these distractions so that God gains glory from the good that is accomplished.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.

What is this petition really saying?  That God's forgiveness is conditional upon our forgiving others?  It sure sounds like it, but that goes against the theme of grace present throughout the Bible.

God's forgiveness is completely free and unconditional, it doesn't depend on my forgiving others.

Jesus is teaching people that he presumes want to become godly, that is, gracious.  If God's forgiveness is free and unconditional, it would be the natural thing for His followers to want to forgive in the same way.  And so Jesus provokes us to ask, with all of our being, to become gracious like God.  Praying this prayer exactly the way Jesus taught enables us to desire costly grace not just toward us, but through us.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Give us this day our daily bread

Why not weekly, monthly or yearly?

Daily is very short-term planning. And yet, contrary to conventional wisdom, it seems God wants his children to resist planning their futures.

He taught his people to have a daily mentality in Exodus 16:4, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions," which Jesus reiterated when he taught his disciples to pray "give us today our daily bread"...

How often are we preoccupied with future needs that we miss God's voice. Instead of trusting Him, we take matters into our own hands and miss out on things that matter to God and ultimately ourselves.