Mission Faithwalk

                  Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but  rather  appeal to  him  as a father,  and to  the younger men as brothers,   to the older women as mothers,  and  to the younger women as sisters, in all purity. (I Timothy 5:1-2)                  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.   Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. (Romans 12:14-16)                  We’ve been looking at fear in ourselves for a good part of the week. Now it’s time to take a moment to turn the focus outward. Many years ago, I admitted my fear of spiders to a group of older women, who proceeded to rebuke me for fearing spiders – or anything else. I don’t remember whether they actually questioned my Christianity, but their disapproval and rejection was clear. More recently, after I had mentioned my struggles in the same are

                            Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  I fear no evil, for You are with me; (Psalm 23:4)                          And they came to  Him  and woke Him, saying, “Save  us , Lord; we are perishing!” (Matthew 8:25)                          I’ve spent the past couple days taking a scalpel to Prof. Willard’s contention that we can live a fear-free life. It seemed important to discuss what it seemed to me that he did not mean, since he says that he doesn’t have time to explain what he does not mean. Today, I think it important to return to what he may have meant.                          Today’s passages don’t seem to have much in common except the subject of fear. In the first, David says that he doesn’t fear. In the second, the disciples express their fear and their doubt. There are other psalms in which David is more like the disciples, asking God why He has abandoned him. What all the verses have in common is God. David would fear

  Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Romans 12:1)   Another favorite verse provided this morning by Biblegateway.com. It provides a good process for dealing with fear. There is fear that obstructs our way, and there is fear that entangles. The response to both is to rid ourselves of them. One can go over or around an obstacle or move it out of the way. Doing so may not be graceful. It may not show us to be sublime athletes, but we can act against them or in spite of them. “Sin which so easily entangles” is a different matter. A customer once brought a handful of necklaces to the counter where I worked. She had put them in a plastic bag to travel, and they were thoroughly entangled. Could we fix it? I don’t recall how long it took us, but my coworker and I managed it. I’ve also watched videos of pe

                 Now faith is  the  certainty of  things  hoped for, a proof of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)                            This was recently the verse of the day at Biblegateway.com. It’s a favorite verse for many, and I’ve written about it more than once, but writing about it after yesterday’s discussion of fear seems to me to be supremely appropriate. In yesterday’s post, I noted that having a fear involves being afraid even when one does not see anything of which to be afraid. One’s life is at least influenced, if not dominated, by the possibility that the thing feared will appear or occur. And by definition, the thing feared is negative. One does not generally fear something one wants to happen. In other words, now fear is the certainty of things hoped against, a proof of things not seen and not desired.                          Fear and faith are two sides of the same coin. Like the archetypical pessimist, the one who fears sees the glass as half-empty (which i

                 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love . (I John 4:18)                  I fear no evil, for You are with me ; (Psalm 23:4b)                  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and  courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the  Lord  your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)                  The topic in my Sunday School class next week is fear. In Live Without Lack , Dallas Willard suggests that we can live without fear. Because God is who and what God is, there is no reason to fear. I’m struggling with this one.                Yes, if God is God and He is with me, then I need fear nothing except God – and I need not fear Him if I am His child. But, I’m reminded of a quote from Sea Wolf . It certainly isn’t Scripture, but it points out something worth considering. I can’t find the quote now, but the gist is that while the young man speaki

                                                  How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping  it  according to Your word.   With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. I have treasured Your word in my heart, So that I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:9-11)                  I believe it is in the book The Practice of the Presence of God in which Brother Lawrence writes about times in which his finding himself imperfect and incapable of being otherwise. As I consider today’s passage, so like the passages from the past few days, and the question of really believing what we claim to believe, it seems that we return to the same challenge. Indeed, it is the same challenge that Paul wrote about in Romans 7.           We want to be perfect. We want to keep our way pure. We get up in the morning with every intention of seeking God with all our hearts, and treasuring His  Word and His Spirit in our hearts, and three seconds later we’re

             You have ordained Your precepts, that we are to keep them diligently.  Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!  Then I will not be ashamed when I look at all Your commandments. You have ordained Your precepts, that we are to keep them diligently.  Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes! Then I will not be ashamed when I look at all Your commandments. (Psalm 119:4-6)             I’ve been working at the garden center for 4 months. Because of the pandemic, they have plexiglass shields along one side of each cashier’s station. They are fastened high enough that lots of plants can move back and forth without difficulty, but every once now and again, I discover that remarkable law of physics that says that while plants may pass under plexiglass, they cannot pass through plexiglass. It’s nearly as inconvenient as gravity working consistently and not only when I want it to. Equally irksome is the fact that if one eats more than one ne

                                          Blessed are those who comply with His testimonies, And  seek Him with all  their  heart. They also do no injustice; They walk in His ways. (Psalm 119:2-3)             According to the study note for this passage, “testimonies” may also be translated “provisions.” This irks me, because I like my definitions to be concise and precise, and to me, testimonies and provisions don’t mean the same thing. At the same time, we must not forget that we are talking about God, for whom saying and doing are one in the same. That doesn’t mean that when He says, He also does, so that they happen at the same time as a matter of course, but that what He says, He carries out at some point and according to His love and wisdom. His saying may also be the doing, as “’Let there be light,’ and there was light.”           There is also the idea of the will, in which the concept of a will or a legal agreement as a testimony (a formal or written statement, especi

                                                         Blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the Law of the  Lord .   (Psalm 119:1)             Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about God’s Word. This means it’s all about His law. Different words are used but they all refer back to the things that God has proclaimed about how things are and should be. I’ll return (no doubt) to the issue of my individual practice of walking in the Law of the Lord, but for today, I’d like to take a broader look at the issue, and the fact of the more general of God’s revelations: nature.           If we, as Christians, are going to walk in the Law of the Lord, and if we are going to be blessed because our way is blameless, then it is incumbent on us to become far more active in understanding that Law and in applying that law in our lives. To do this, we must become much more aware of, and much more cooperative with nature and science. However, I need to make it

  Behold, the eye of the  Lord  is on those who fear Him, On those who wait for His faithfulness, To rescue their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the  Lord ; He is our help and our shield.   For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. Let Your favor,  Lord , be upon us, Just as we have waited for You. (Psalm 34:18-22)   Yesterday was a difficult day. In the middle of it, I took some time out to pray and meditate about one of God’s many names. Which one? That was the problem of the moment. There are a lot of names that might be useful. The problem is that God is God. I may ask that He be Jehovah-Rophi (The Lord, the Physician) and He might come to me as Jehovah-Shalom (The Lord, Our Peace.) So, my prayer became, “Who are you, Lord? Who do You wish to be in my life right now?” And the answer that came back? I suppose you might say it was a sort of smile. I love words, and I love definitions, but one of the things

               And He said, “ Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11)                  And God said to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (Exodus 3:14 capitalization in the original)                  Having spent the better part of the day fussing over the passage for the day, I find myself struggling and working my way into a crisis. I keep coming back to how miserably I have failed. Successful people have made something of their lives by this point. They’re retiring from having been Somebody .                I remember, thirty years ago, wanting desperately to be a Somebody. And it seems as if ever step I’ve taken since has been away from that same goal. Sometimes, it was because I realized I didn’t want anything to do with the associated person or people. I didn’t, for instance, want to be part of corporate America or

  Blessed are You,  Lord ; teach me Your statutes. (Psalm 119: 12) Non sequitur (2 ):   a statement (such as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said           Today’s passage may be described by the definition that follows it. What does God’s being blessed have to do with our learning His statutes? There are some who would say that what causes the Lord’s happiness is making statutes that make life miserable and watching people try (and fail) to jump through all the hoops He has dictated that we must. If not that, how does our learning His statutes relate to God’s being blessed? It makes one want to say, “Huh?” It doesn’t seem to follow.           I was invited to a high school graduation party a couple years ago. When I got to the bar where it was being held, I found the hostess in tears and drinking herself to oblivion. She and her daughter had argued, and the daughter was not attending the party. The friend waxed

  You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. (James 5:8) On the way home from the grocery store, I found myself singing an old chorus. “Guide me, Lord. I don’t know what to do…” The words aren’t always the same, but the meaning is. At that moment, my mind was not focused on something. It doesn’t matter that I have enough to do on my To-Do list to keep me busy for at least the whole day. At that moment, I was doing nothing more than driving. I wasn’t even listening to a story to keep my mind occupied – in fact, that might have been the biggest problem. I waited at the traffic light, and turned right, into the left-hand lane and behind a vehicle waiting to turn left (as I planned to do a block later.) And what came to mind was that I didn’t seem to mind waiting the few seconds while the car in front of me got the chance to turn, but that I was frustrated if I had to wait a few seconds for God to reveal what He wants me to do – even if it is to c

  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10)   This weekend, a friend is doing a “Christmas in July” thing, online, just for fun. She mentioned the idea of listening to Christmas music and making Christmas treats. Of course, one has to twist my arm and threaten my life to get me to make something to eat (and if you believe that, I have a great bridge to sell you.) Last night, I found a recipe for gingerbread muffins with cinnamon-cream cheese icing. [1] Sounds unhealthy and yummy, and the picture shows the icing piled as high on the muffin as the muffin is tall. So, if I were to mix the sugar, the butter, the egg, the molasses, the flour, the baking soda, the cinnamon, the cloves, and the ginger together and bake them as directed, would they be muffins? Would they be complete? The obvious answer is “Of course.”  They are perfectly good muffi

              You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me. (Psalm 119:4-8) This bit of song describes my daily life. I could have also shared part of Romans 7. I want to get up in the morning and live life according to God’s laws – natural and moral. I’d feel so much better if I didn’t shoot myself in the foot repeatedly every day. I would love to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (especially self-control!) with every breath. But as I go to bed most nights, there’s that sense that I failed. As I walked today, this passage was my thought. But then comes the second part of the passage. “I will praise you…as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey...” Fu