"Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there." Ruth 1:1-2
Times were tough during the reign of the judges in Israel's history. In fact, the last verse in the book of Judges (21:25) states, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." An even cursory reading of the text shows that the people were their own biggest enemy. God had given specific instructions to clear the land of its inhabitants because He had given it to them. Instead, they equivocated, failed to follow God's instructions, began to worship the Gods of the land's inhabitants and began to suffer at their hands. Evident from Ruth 1:1, even nature suffered in that the "land of milk and honey" now became challenged to produce.
This is the backdrop for a man named Elimilech making the decision to move his family out of Israel. The implication of this decision is vast. Remember that the children of Israel had been given the land as a promise. It had been given to them as a gift and a legacy by the God who had taken care of all of their needs. Recall also that they had recently completed wandering landless for 40 years. For a Hebrew to leave the land and therefore provision of God was a display of no confidence in God.
Beloved, when we look at our circumstances, be they the congregation we attend, the Christian friends we have or the righteous lives we strive to lead, and find them perhaps wanting, we must truly evaluate our position. Many will depart based on what they perceive to be famine conditions. We must all ask ourselves honestly what our contribution to the famine has been. We must remember how we got to where we are. Did God guide and direct us there? Did we think so when we arrived? Is there a way to be part of the solution for self and others by staying and working? Would God be pleased if you departed?
The reality of the situation regarding Elimelech's decision is that in a relatively short amount of time, both he and his sons died, leaving three widows to fend for themselves. Further, one of the daughters-in-law, a local, also departed. This left wife Naomi and daughter-in-law Ruth (who steadfastly refused to leave her side) to fend for themselves. Naomi decided to return home (to the promised land) and was ultimately fed, redeemed, fulfilled and saved by God through His people in the land.
Let us think long and hard before leaving the place where the Lord has brought us. As the saying goes, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Free Indeed-9/29/2011 (rp)
"Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses." Exodus 14:30-31
This passage is easily recognized as the epilogue of the Red Sea experience. After 430 years of slavery to the Egyptians and an even longer time of residence in a foreign land, the people of God had been delivered in the most miraculous of ways. It is scarecely imaginable what it must have been like to move through a canyon of water while the ground underneath was dry. When the Hebrews came up out of the sea, they were free from that which held them captive for so long.
God has likewise delivered us from slavery, darkness, hopelessness and death. He did it by exercising His great love and power by sending His Son as a necessary and atoning sacrifice. He did it by sending us through the Red Sea of baptism, 1 Cor 10:1-2. He did it by causing us to come up out of that baptism free from the old man of sin, Rom 6:6-7. He did it that we might ever live with Him, clothed in His glory, mercy, grace and love.
We must therefore saints, live as a free people. We should not imitate our ancestors in the faith and dig up the old man desiring to live again in slavery. We must live in a manner befitting our new found blood bought status. We are free to worship. We are free to lead righteous lives. We are free to have hope. We are free from that which can cause the destruction of our souls.
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
This passage is easily recognized as the epilogue of the Red Sea experience. After 430 years of slavery to the Egyptians and an even longer time of residence in a foreign land, the people of God had been delivered in the most miraculous of ways. It is scarecely imaginable what it must have been like to move through a canyon of water while the ground underneath was dry. When the Hebrews came up out of the sea, they were free from that which held them captive for so long.
God has likewise delivered us from slavery, darkness, hopelessness and death. He did it by exercising His great love and power by sending His Son as a necessary and atoning sacrifice. He did it by sending us through the Red Sea of baptism, 1 Cor 10:1-2. He did it by causing us to come up out of that baptism free from the old man of sin, Rom 6:6-7. He did it that we might ever live with Him, clothed in His glory, mercy, grace and love.
We must therefore saints, live as a free people. We should not imitate our ancestors in the faith and dig up the old man desiring to live again in slavery. We must live in a manner befitting our new found blood bought status. We are free to worship. We are free to lead righteous lives. We are free to have hope. We are free from that which can cause the destruction of our souls.
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
What Luck?-9/28/2011
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" Eph 1:3
Have you ever uttered the words, "Good Luck?" Of course you have. We all have. We tend to think of luck as some sort of positive happenstance that will bring fortune our way. We've written books about it, written songs about it, made movies about it and developed all sort of symbols of it. One of example of a good luck symbol is the rabbit's foot; apparently not too lucky for the rabbit.
I submit to you that for the Christian, there is no such thing as luck. In fact, luck is a pagan and idolatrous concept. The Roman goddess Fortuna, also known as Tyche to the Greeks, was the personification of luck in the religion of Rome. It was said that she could bring fortune or misfortune; good luck or bad luck. In fact, she was at times depicted blindfolded much as our image of Justice is represented in drawings and statues. She came to represent the variability of life, chance and fate.
Beloved we do not serve a God who is in any way capricious in nature. He is a God of certainty and one whose are eyes are never shut. Our great blessing is to be able to go to Him in the name of Jesus and ask for that which we desire. Whether the answer be yes, no or not yet, there is no luck, chance or fate involved. There is the very certain and deliberate nature of the Father's actions as it relates to how He interacts with us.
There is no such thing as luck. There is, however, one God and Father who is above all, through all and in all. So the next time you consider wishing someone the best of luck, pray that it will be in God's will to grant them specific blessings.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Have you ever uttered the words, "Good Luck?" Of course you have. We all have. We tend to think of luck as some sort of positive happenstance that will bring fortune our way. We've written books about it, written songs about it, made movies about it and developed all sort of symbols of it. One of example of a good luck symbol is the rabbit's foot; apparently not too lucky for the rabbit.
I submit to you that for the Christian, there is no such thing as luck. In fact, luck is a pagan and idolatrous concept. The Roman goddess Fortuna, also known as Tyche to the Greeks, was the personification of luck in the religion of Rome. It was said that she could bring fortune or misfortune; good luck or bad luck. In fact, she was at times depicted blindfolded much as our image of Justice is represented in drawings and statues. She came to represent the variability of life, chance and fate.
Beloved we do not serve a God who is in any way capricious in nature. He is a God of certainty and one whose are eyes are never shut. Our great blessing is to be able to go to Him in the name of Jesus and ask for that which we desire. Whether the answer be yes, no or not yet, there is no luck, chance or fate involved. There is the very certain and deliberate nature of the Father's actions as it relates to how He interacts with us.
There is no such thing as luck. There is, however, one God and Father who is above all, through all and in all. So the next time you consider wishing someone the best of luck, pray that it will be in God's will to grant them specific blessings.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Monday, September 26, 2011
Stone Praise-9/26/2011 (rp)
"I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."
Luke 19:38
When Jesus made his triumphant yet ill fated entrance into Jerusalem, the bible records that the people spread their clothes on the ground for his mount to walk upon and that "they began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen." Naturally, not everyone felt that same jubilation. In fact there were those who did not understand what all the fuss was about and were clearly irritated. They asked Jesus to shut them up.
Beloved it is right for the people of God to praise Him. The scriptures are replete with encouragements to "praise ye the Lord!" There are also many scriptural examples of people who stood against the Lord and those that praise Him. Now as then, the sons and daughters of the Almighty should never allow anyone to legislate nor dictate our adoration for the Lord. He is indeed worthy of any and all glory and honor we can muster, for He is the great I AM! The redeemed of the Lord who have seen His mighty hand ought to say so!
If we do not praise our Father for all He has done, is doing and is about to do, the very stones of the earth will cry out. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to let a rock out praise me!
PRAISE THE LORD!
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Luke 19:38
When Jesus made his triumphant yet ill fated entrance into Jerusalem, the bible records that the people spread their clothes on the ground for his mount to walk upon and that "they began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen." Naturally, not everyone felt that same jubilation. In fact there were those who did not understand what all the fuss was about and were clearly irritated. They asked Jesus to shut them up.
Beloved it is right for the people of God to praise Him. The scriptures are replete with encouragements to "praise ye the Lord!" There are also many scriptural examples of people who stood against the Lord and those that praise Him. Now as then, the sons and daughters of the Almighty should never allow anyone to legislate nor dictate our adoration for the Lord. He is indeed worthy of any and all glory and honor we can muster, for He is the great I AM! The redeemed of the Lord who have seen His mighty hand ought to say so!
If we do not praise our Father for all He has done, is doing and is about to do, the very stones of the earth will cry out. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to let a rock out praise me!
PRAISE THE LORD!
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Friday, September 23, 2011
The Slippery Slope of Sin-9/23/2011
"To him therefore that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17
A popular anecdote relates the following:
If you were to toss a frog into boiling water, it would hop out immediately.
If you were to place a frog in temperate water and slowly increase the heat, it would stay there and boil to death.
Sin can be a lot like that.
Faced with things that offend our Christian sensibilities and that we might find egregious in nature, we typically avoid quite easily. We know the difference between right and wrong and for the most part avoid the wrong, particularly if it is blatantly and obviously so. We will give that type of sin a wide berth and go a long way to avoid it. In fact, we may even speak out against it warning others of its harmful nature, just like we would boiling water.
The challenge comes when we allow the "little things" to creep in. You know those things by some of the following names:
Lee
A popular anecdote relates the following:
If you were to toss a frog into boiling water, it would hop out immediately.
If you were to place a frog in temperate water and slowly increase the heat, it would stay there and boil to death.
Sin can be a lot like that.
Faced with things that offend our Christian sensibilities and that we might find egregious in nature, we typically avoid quite easily. We know the difference between right and wrong and for the most part avoid the wrong, particularly if it is blatantly and obviously so. We will give that type of sin a wide berth and go a long way to avoid it. In fact, we may even speak out against it warning others of its harmful nature, just like we would boiling water.
The challenge comes when we allow the "little things" to creep in. You know those things by some of the following names:
- little white lies
- minor indiscretions
- no big deal
- just a little
- slight exaggeration
- everyone else does it
- at least it's not _______
- it was just once
It is these things that begin to drive up the temperature of the waters of our Christian lives. When you participate in whatever your particular variety of sin might be, you may find that you experience all types of remorse, anguish and depression over your transgression. But when the opportunity comes around again, you find that it's just a little bit easier the next time and the pain of godly sorrow is a little less. It is in fact, a slippery slope that will speed your descent into a pattern of regular and premeditated sin.
Brothers and sisters, this will ultimately introduce you to temperatures I am confident you will not find comfortable.
"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren." James 1:14-16
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sin is Sin-9/22/2011
"Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor 6:11
This scripture is found right in the middle of a passage in which Paul is both encouraging Christians to behave righteously and admonishing them for failing to do so. An area of specific focus is a representative list of "wrongdoings" (NIV)that will prevent the inheritance of the kingdom. It so happens that found within this list is homosexuality.
Over the past decade or so, homosexuality has come into greater and greater prominence in our society. Whereas public opinion for most of our country's history was decidedly against, the pendulum has swung to a point where legislatures are legalizing same sex marriage and those who are critical of the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) lifestyle are themselves criticized and at times, publicly castigated.
Beloved, the point of all of this is not a campaign against homosexuality. It is a campaign against sin. Homosexuality is highlighted because it is so polarizing and affects people at a core level. It is, in fact, the issue of the moment. Older Christians will remember Rock and Roll and the fornication it lead to as the scourge of society. What we need to realize is that in Paul's list of wrongdoings, homosexuality comes after sexual immorality, idolatry and adultery. Also included on the list is theft, greed, slander and swindling. This in no way is meant to be a ranking of sin. The purpose here is to say that we should not be unduly focused on homosexuality, but sin itself. James 2:11 says that if a person is guilty of one aspect of the law, they are guilty of the whole. He provides the example, "If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."
As Christians, we need to guard ourselves because as Paul states, it is we who were formerly guilty of the things he lists. We also need to view those who are still struggling in these areas as the mission field. If we spend all of our time judging and distancing ourselves from wrongdoers, what hope is there that they can ever be saved? Let us pursue righteousness, avoid wrongdoing and help those who are struggling.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
This scripture is found right in the middle of a passage in which Paul is both encouraging Christians to behave righteously and admonishing them for failing to do so. An area of specific focus is a representative list of "wrongdoings" (NIV)that will prevent the inheritance of the kingdom. It so happens that found within this list is homosexuality.
Over the past decade or so, homosexuality has come into greater and greater prominence in our society. Whereas public opinion for most of our country's history was decidedly against, the pendulum has swung to a point where legislatures are legalizing same sex marriage and those who are critical of the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) lifestyle are themselves criticized and at times, publicly castigated.
Beloved, the point of all of this is not a campaign against homosexuality. It is a campaign against sin. Homosexuality is highlighted because it is so polarizing and affects people at a core level. It is, in fact, the issue of the moment. Older Christians will remember Rock and Roll and the fornication it lead to as the scourge of society. What we need to realize is that in Paul's list of wrongdoings, homosexuality comes after sexual immorality, idolatry and adultery. Also included on the list is theft, greed, slander and swindling. This in no way is meant to be a ranking of sin. The purpose here is to say that we should not be unduly focused on homosexuality, but sin itself. James 2:11 says that if a person is guilty of one aspect of the law, they are guilty of the whole. He provides the example, "If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."
As Christians, we need to guard ourselves because as Paul states, it is we who were formerly guilty of the things he lists. We also need to view those who are still struggling in these areas as the mission field. If we spend all of our time judging and distancing ourselves from wrongdoers, what hope is there that they can ever be saved? Let us pursue righteousness, avoid wrongdoing and help those who are struggling.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Appreciating the Gift-9/21/2011
"But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another." 1 Thess 5:12-13
God has given us great earthly gifts to help us and guide us on our journey toward heaven. "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints..." Eph 4:11-12. He has placed these men among us and before us to lead us in our spiritual walk. They are worthy of our respect and appreciation, if not for their own sake then for the fact that they are chosen of the Lord.
Beloved, in every aspect of our lives, there are authority figures. We have them on our jobs, in our schools, in our government, in our neighborhood associations and even in our families. In every case, we respond to leadership through abiding by laws, statues, ordinances or directions for the greater good of society and ourselves. Much more should we then respond to those whom God has sent to guide us in areas that supercede the temporal. Whether you refer to them as elders, bishops, presbyters, shepherds, overseers or pastors, their responsibility is to first be men of God. In so doing, they are to be examples of Christian virtues. They are to teach us in order that we may better know God and His will for our lives. They are to minister to those who are in need through whatever means God has gifted them individually. They are to protect the flock from all threats, particularly those that are spiritual. They are to serve God through serving the church.
It is a tragedy that some find it as easy to disrespect and disregard these men as they do the far more distant and much less personally impactful President of the United States(whoever that may be at any given point in our lives). Because it is perceived by some that our elders are not tied directly to our ability to sustain ourselves and our families, some find it easy to discount and, by extension, disrespect them.
Consider these two situations. In Numbers 12:1-16, we are shown the consequences of Aaron and Miriam in particular, speaking against God's annointed, Moses. It did not go well for Miriam, but it was Moses who prayed for her restoration. Secondly, it is well known that Saul constantly sought the life of innocent David. In 1 Sam 24:1-10, David has the opportunity to take Saul's life but said, "I will not put forth my hand against my lord for he is the Lord's anoninted."
Let us be sure to thank God for his amazing gift of earthly leadership. Let us thank Him for equipping us through those whom He has placed among us. Let us honor God by honoring our elders. They are indeed worthy.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
God has given us great earthly gifts to help us and guide us on our journey toward heaven. "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints..." Eph 4:11-12. He has placed these men among us and before us to lead us in our spiritual walk. They are worthy of our respect and appreciation, if not for their own sake then for the fact that they are chosen of the Lord.
Beloved, in every aspect of our lives, there are authority figures. We have them on our jobs, in our schools, in our government, in our neighborhood associations and even in our families. In every case, we respond to leadership through abiding by laws, statues, ordinances or directions for the greater good of society and ourselves. Much more should we then respond to those whom God has sent to guide us in areas that supercede the temporal. Whether you refer to them as elders, bishops, presbyters, shepherds, overseers or pastors, their responsibility is to first be men of God. In so doing, they are to be examples of Christian virtues. They are to teach us in order that we may better know God and His will for our lives. They are to minister to those who are in need through whatever means God has gifted them individually. They are to protect the flock from all threats, particularly those that are spiritual. They are to serve God through serving the church.
It is a tragedy that some find it as easy to disrespect and disregard these men as they do the far more distant and much less personally impactful President of the United States(whoever that may be at any given point in our lives). Because it is perceived by some that our elders are not tied directly to our ability to sustain ourselves and our families, some find it easy to discount and, by extension, disrespect them.
Consider these two situations. In Numbers 12:1-16, we are shown the consequences of Aaron and Miriam in particular, speaking against God's annointed, Moses. It did not go well for Miriam, but it was Moses who prayed for her restoration. Secondly, it is well known that Saul constantly sought the life of innocent David. In 1 Sam 24:1-10, David has the opportunity to take Saul's life but said, "I will not put forth my hand against my lord for he is the Lord's anoninted."
Let us be sure to thank God for his amazing gift of earthly leadership. Let us thank Him for equipping us through those whom He has placed among us. Let us honor God by honoring our elders. They are indeed worthy.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)