Mission Faithwalk

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ( 2 Timothy 1:7 )           Today has been a hard day. It’s almost dinner time and I haven’t gotten to work on any of the things I wanted to get done, except choir practice, finding my phone, and mowing the lawn. I should have taken a nap, but I took caffeine (iced tea) instead. I feel like crawling under a rock and hiding for a couple centuries.   I’m not alone. A friend posted that she feels inferior today. I think that the term “timid” might do well for both of us.          Most people would probably laugh at the notion that I feel timid. Others might want to scold me using today’s passage. God hasn’t given us a spirit of timidity. If I’m afraid, I must not be in God’s will.           But there is something in my feeling timid that makes it useful, because my experience of things like timidity make it possible for me to reach out to others who are feeling timid or inferior. My fe

If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say—   if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us,   they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us;   the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.   We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 124)                 Two kinds of trouble are presented here. According to Mr. Peterson, the “they would have swallowed us alive” kind of trouble brings to mind being attacked by a dragon, and dragons are, he says, the embodiment of evil and of all that we fear. No one has ever seen a dragon, but the folks singing this song would have understood that they stood no chance in the face of such hatred. It’s the question “Where was God when th

          I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud. (Psalm 123)           We are not presented with a functional god who will help us out of jams, or an entertainment god who will lighten our tedious hours. We are presented with the God of exodus and Easter, the God of Sinai and Calvary. If we want to see God the way He really is, we must look to the place of authority – to Scripture and to Jesus Christ.           And do we really want it any other way? I don’t think so. We would very soon become contemptuous of a god whom we could figure out like a puzzle, or learn to use as a tool. No, if God is worth our attention

          I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”   Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.   Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up— the tribes of the Lord— to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure.   May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”   For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity (Psalm 122)                 For Eugene Peterson ( Long Obedience In The Same Direction ) Psalm 122 is all about worship, which does three things. It gives us a workable structure for life, it nurtures our need to be in a relationship with God, and it centers our attention on the decisions of G

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13) I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?   My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)           This is another of those passages that we read and respond, “Oh boy! Wealth, power, fame, fortune, good luck!” After all, God plans to prosper me. He wants me to have hope! And then life happens. Two months without a washer, a test result that says “cancer,” the black of depression settles over your mind, all the kids get in trouble at school In different incidents, you know, life. How do we respond? Oh, there might be some prayer involved, but we research new washing machines, read about cancer treatments, find yet another self-help

I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue? He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush. Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war . (Psalm 120)             The first of the songs of ascent is Psalm 120. Eugene begins his discussion of this passage by saying, “A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way.” (p. 25.)             We live in a society that is thoroughly disgusted, and thoroughly disgusting. All around us, there is nothing but lying lips and deceitful tongues. Toxicity and Narcissism abound. Sometimes, I think it abounds especially in those who get wound up about it. They hate toxic

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, (Hebrews 12:1)                 I think I have to blame choir practice. Yesterday, we were talking about the Gospel Concert we give every spring and I think my mind finally connected with the fact that its only a couple weeks away. For me, it seems to mark the end of the season. I may be here a little longer, but that time is the time of closing things down here and preparing to go north. As so often happens, my mind kicks into overdrive, but as I look around, I realize that I can only lift my tires off the ground. I have to get ready, but there’s not much that can be done yet. I am going to need that, and that, and that, and those are staying here, and…. The result is instant stress, instant insanity. I’m caught between “Hurry up!”   and “NO, not yet.”                

You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)                 If a boy or man kills people at a concert, he’s a monster and we should make guns illegal because somehow not having guns will eliminate his murderous desires. If someone shoves a child in a suitcase and lets her starve, that person is a monster. If a man kills a woman and her unborn child, it’s a double homicide. In fact, if a man hits a woman so that her unborn child dies, but she lives, he is charged with murder. Using animals for experimental purposes is considered barbaric.                 Harming an eagle’s egg, or a sea turtle’s egg is illegal. Throwing newborn puppies off a bridge in a plastic bag is another sign of a monster, even if they aren’t people and it’s not legally considered murder. There is a move being made to make animal abuse a felony so that harsher penalties can be imposed. While I’d rather it not be made into something else overseen by the national government, I think the penalties for abusing an animal

          My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22:1-2)                 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,   that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!   Then I would still have this consolation—  my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.   What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?   Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me? (Job 6:8-13)           But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”         “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” (Jonah 4:9)            Two friends have commented to me recently about being angry with

          N ow to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.   To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.   For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.           But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister

                Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.   The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.   The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. (Corinthians 7:1-7)                        In this same way, husbands ought to love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?   As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”   No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35-37)                 There are times when I feel a zillion light years away from God. Now is one of them. There are other times when I sense that God is right with me. I’m functioning on about three-and-a-half hours of sleep, and what sleep I got was stressed, so God is right here with me? I don’t even want me to be here with me.                 I’m not looking for sympathy. We’ve all been here. Maybe the problem wasn’t a lack of sleep. Maybe it was a lack of time. Maybe it was any of a million other things that can put us in a mood or give us a ‘tude that needs prayer. And God is nowhere to be seen. Grumble, grumble, grumble. My first, less than polit

                “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.   By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.   Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”   But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.            Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, wh

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?   Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?   Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!   Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?   I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?   But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! (I Corinthians 6:1-6)           Yesterday’s passage dealt with what might be considered criminal matters. It was a case of someone doing something morally wrong. The offender was to be put out of the church. Today, we deal with the other side of the court system: civil court, and lawsuits.

                I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—   not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.                What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?   God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:9-13)                 I suspect there are a lot of people who would love to cheer for Paul. How dare Christians impose our morality on the rest of society? Why doesn’t the Church address the sins that are in our midst? And to an extent, I agree. The Church should be dealing more, and more effectively, with our sins,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)           Remember the scene from E.T. where the mom read Peter Pan to her daughter? Clap your hands to bring Tinker back to life? How silly! But that’s how some of us see “believing.”            Some of us rejoice. “You mean all I have to do is believe? I don’t have to change my life? I don’t have to give up things I love, or do things I hate? Just believe?” But what does it mean to believe? Is it merely the folly of claiming something to be true for you have no evidence? I’ve met a few people who believe that. One said, “I don’t believe in evolution. It happened.” He discounts belief in his first statement and makes a statement of belief in the second.           Belief is that which produce an effect. If I believe it is going to rain, I find an umbrella or put off an expedition. If I believe my favorite TV show is coming on in ten m

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.   And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?   For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.   So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,   hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (I Corinthians 5:1-5)           This is one of those passages most of us would prefer to pretend doesn’t exist. In the last chapter, Paul was ranting about not judging, now here he is criticizing the Corinthian church for not kicking a guy out because he’s bee

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.   (I Corinthians 4:3-5)           I wish I were more like Paul in this. There are some people whose judgment doesn’t bother me. There are others whose judgment bothers me a lot, and sometimes (often?) in an unhealthy way. I suspect that a lot of people have this problem. As for judging myself, well… let’s just say that it’s a good thing I’m not in favor of capital punishment for any but the worst offenses. At the same time, there are things about which my conscience is clear, but that doesn’t make me innocent. What makes me innocent is the blood of Christ.           The rea

          “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)           There are two sides to today’s passage. The first is the “How do you spell relief? J.E.S.U.S.” side. Ah, rest! That’s the side we all know and love. The second side I the one we tend to gloss over. Take His yoke? Bear His burden? There’s still a yoke? Surely, that’s a joke. How can I rest if there’s a yoke or burden? Well, maybe if I spend five minutes every morning praying, that won’t be too bad.          The problem is, that’s not taking a yoke. Taking a yoke means going where we’re told. It means obedience to the restraints placed on us. It chafes. It’s not comfortable. And that person who’s pulling the reins! Ugh.            Sometimes, we hear about people being burdened for the poor or burdened for some

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female , for you are all one in Christ Jesus . (Galatians 3:28) Do not be yoked to gether with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (II Corinthians 6:14)           In the editorials this morning, someone wrote to protest that the 120 women who dressed in white for the State of the Union Address were not marching in lockstep under the command of Nancy Pelosi. We were instructed to look at the diversity involved, there were white women, Latinas, African American women…. The author went on to disparage the Republicans as lacking in diversity, being a sea of white men. Did the editorial’s author contacted these individuals to find out how they wanted to be identified? Are we to judge people by the color of their skin? Whites need not apply? Are we to judge people based on our assumptions about their genitalia? Is this

          “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)           “Imagine, all the people, living life in peace” (John Lennon)           If you know me, you know I detest the song I’ve quoted above, but there are people who think that it’s their anthem or at least the recipe for Utopia. I daresay Hitler wanted the world to be at peace, too, possibly every bit as much as Lennon did. His peace involved his dominion of the Germanic people, Germanic dominion over all else, and extermination of those individuals (Jews, Gypsies, the handicapped, etc.) who would stand in the way of Germans evolving into the Nordic gods.           It’s really no different today in our country. We have groups who want peace, but

          But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.   People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.                 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.   Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.   But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. (II Timothy

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. (Proverbs 21:21)           A book I read recently ( Creating Character Arcs , by K. M. Weiland) says that in order to create interesting characters, a writer should identify the lie that the character believes, the thing the character wants, and the thing that the character actually needs. The purpose of the story is to show the character reject the lie he/she believes and turn from the thing he/she wants in order to achieve or attain the thing he/she needs (often, that needed thing is the truth.)            That’s the situation described in today’s passage. The lie is that life, prosperity, and honor are what will make us happy. We buy into this lie so strongly that we think ourselves compassionate if we demand that everyone is provided with a certain quality of life, we shame those who shame anyone (unless we agree,) and we insist that our government provide a “safety net” for those who aren’t prosperous. W

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:4-5)           If the Lord is right and true, and faithful in all He does; if He loves righteousness and justice and the world is full of that unfailing love, why does evil exist. In Mere Christianity , C. S. Lewis provides one answer that is worth considering. He asks us to suppose that a woman desires that her children do what is good by putting their toys away when they’re done with them. One of my issues as one of the children is the question of what it means to be done with one’s toys. If I fully intend to come back to them tomorrow or the next day, am I done with them? (I know – I digress.)           She could go into the room and clean it herself. That would achieve her goal of the good of a clean room. She could go into the room and browbeat the children into cleaning up the mess “Right now!” Or, she could

But when he, the Spirit of truth , comes, he will guide you into all the truth . He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come . (John 16:13)           Centuries ago, a philosopher named David Humes argued convincingly that outside of some mathematical computations, you cannot know anything with certainty. That which feeds you day may poison you tomorrow. I think he’s correct. Consider… Vaccines are good for you.  Vaccines are bad for you. The earth is round. The earth is flat. The square root of forty-nine is seven. “The sum of the squares of the two legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.” Water boils at two-hundred twelve degrees Fahrenheit.           Do you know any of these to be true? How do you know? How do you know there are other planets? Or creatures living at the bottom of the sea? Or that atoms exist? In Mere Christianity , C. S . Lewis submits that at least ninety percent of

But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”   They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.           A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ( Luke 22: 21-25)           Oh, there are so many thoughts going through my mind on this one. First, let’s deal with the circumstances. Sometimes when we read Scripture, we get the impression that things just happen out of the blue. In this passage, Jesus announces that someone is going to betray Him. Then, suddenly – oh my goodness! – the disciples start quarreling about which of them is the greatest. Talk about major disconnections. Except, there is no disconnection. Put yourselves in the disciples’ sandals. You’