40 Days In The Word: Day 2

"Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."

Philippians 1:27a (NIV)

40 Days In The Word: Day 1

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Audacious Faith

Father, as I read in Genesis, am I struck by the "audacious faith" of first Abraham and then Isaac. Abraham expresses this faith when he first followed You and left the land of his ancestors, then when he pleaded for Lot and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, then when he believed You would provide another sacrifice in the place of his son Isaac and continued to obey right up to the point of death. Next we see this same faith in Isaac, when he said (Gen 28:20), "if God will watch over me . . . then the Lord will be my God . . . and all you give me I will give you a tenth."

In Abraham's case, his faith is expressed in absolute certainty that You exist, that You invite him to dialogue with You, to walk with You, to follow Your ways, and he chooses to do just that. His faith propels him to "bargain or wrestle or plead with You," because he knows he can because: a) Abraham acknowledges You exist; and b) believes You invite such seemingly audacious behavior. In Isaac's case he steps out in faith, essentially inviting You, Father, to show up for him, and expresses in advance his commitment to put "his money where his mouth is" when You do "show up."

I am far too reticent with You, Father. I ask that You grow me into audacious faith. Ann


"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6 (New American Standard Bible, used by permission.)

Now that’s going to far . . .

Jesus predicts his death again, and not only his death, but that one of the 12 would betray him. I imagine that at least one of the disciples was thinking something like this, "He has really got to stop this death ideation, thinking all the time he is going to die. You know what they say about self fulfilled prophecy; he is going to bring this on himself." Or another might have thought, "What kind of political leader – King is this? Some Messiah he turns out to be. What a defeatist." One disciple does act on his internal "thinking." Judas sells Jesus out for a bag of money.

So, here's what I find so remarkable about this story. In the middle of one the most wrenching experiences we face as human beings, being betrayed by a friend, Jesus knelt in complete and utter vulnerability, and served everyone, including his betrayer by washing their feet. Amazing! Everything cries out in my flesh, "Lord, you've got to be kidding, that is going to far!" Jesus' act of vulnerable servant hood in the face of betrayal completely "slays" me. He models and instructs us who follow him, to die to self in a similar fashion. I know that God has much work to do in me because what Jesus did is the last thing I would ever think of doing when I am in the middle of being betrayed by a friend.

Lord, thank You for washing my feet when I have betrayed you by thought or action.  Teach me, change me, and grow me to the place where living vulnerable servant hood like you becomes the first thing I think or do, and not the last. Ann

Confused but Focused

Today's reading includes Jesus' teaching regarding the end times. Eschatology, or the study of the end times, has always been for me, (since becoming a follower of Jesus 39 years ago) a difficult area to grasp. I've never been a big Sci-Fi reader and much of the descriptive language of eschatology reminds me of Sci-Fi literature which confuses me. Sometimes when I get confused by the imagery or the order of events I start on a downward cycle that ends in despair and faithlessness. It starts out with me feeling like I should throw my hands up in the air and scream, "I give up. This is too hard for me. I will never get this stuff. I am a bad follower of Christ. I should understand this better. Why do you make this so difficult to understand Jesus? Why don't you make this clearer? Why do you intentionally speak in obscurities? Jesus, you are not a very good teacher . . ." Do you hear and see my downward cycle? I end up "judging" myself and God. Often, folks tell me that they have similar experiences with the Scripture in other areas, like the parables or the long lists of laws in Leviticus. So, here is what Jesus has been teaching me to do so I don't end up in a place of despair and faithlessness. As I am reading, whenever I come across something I don't understand, I tell Jesus about it and ask that He would lead me into a complete understanding in His timing. I choose at that moment to place my trust in Jesus and not my abilities. As I have time, I read commentaries and talk to others who love eschatology and have spent oodles of time studying it, to glean from their wisdom so I might grow in my understanding of God and his ways. Bottom line, I get my eyes of off me and my "inadequacies" and "fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith," trusting Him to lead me into all truth. I choose to wait on
God to "complete his work in me," and consciously opt for praise and thanksgiving for the spiritual life and growth He has given me thus far. I find that being faith focused is a better way to really live life than staying down in the pit of despair and hopelessness.

My Worth to God in Public Is What I Am With Him in Private

The title of this blog is actually a quote from Oswald Chambers. I keep it on my desk. It sums up nicely the essence of Jesus teaching in today's reading. Jesus with force and directness calls out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy of teaching one thing but living another. He warns his followers to obey God's law when the leaders teach it, but not to live or desire to be as the Pharisees and other religious leaders actually lived. On the outside they had the appearance of "righteousness" and living a "good life," when in reality they held their own opinions higher than God's and they weighed the people down with these false teachings. On the inside, they were filled with greed, hate, unfaithfulness. Since this was the true condition of their life, they were stingy toward God when it came to worshipping Him through tithes and offerings and they regularly manipulated the people for their own selfish purposes. Jesus warns that these supposed righteous leaders will incur a stricter judgment. It is a good reminder to me: What we are on the inside, our heart attitudes and thoughts, will direct what we do on the outside, therefore, I desire God to show me daily the true state of my heart. I desire for Him to clean the inside of me first. When I invite Him to do that then the "outside" or my public life will reflect true righteousness. My "worth," to God will be seen as He is glorified by the actions of my life because my actions will match my words. Lord, always show me where I am living, "Do as I say and not as I do," and lead me to the place where I live and can say to others, "Do as I do."

No Room to Wiggle

I love that in today's reading, Jesus leaves "no room to wiggle" when it comes to his authority. The smartest, most well read leaders of the day, could not "trap" Jesus into saying something that would get him in trouble with the government of the day. Not only that, his wisdom was so spot on, everyone was amazed and those whose hearts were soft and repentant, praised him and believed in him. Those who did not want to bow to him and relinquish their temporary places of authority made plans to kill him. Love him or kill him. I choose the first, how bout you?