Lenten Bible Reading: Week 3, Thursday

During the season of Lent, I am attempting to follow a Bible reading plan and offer reflection on the Scripture text.  Today's reading is from Thursday in the 3rd week of Lent.  I welcome feedback.  What are these Scriptures saying to you?

 

Colossians 3:1-17 New International Version (NIV)

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

 ¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
 ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
 ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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Paul likes to use a lot of contrasts and comparisons: things above vs. things of earth; death and life; earthly nature vs. divine nature.  Yet at the same time, he eliminates contrasts and comparisons:  Gentile vs. Jew; circumcised vs. uncircumcised; slave or free.

I find this to be quite interesting and somewhat startling!  Those comparisons that Paul eliminates are all the things that humans use to set themselves apart from each other.  Things like skin color, economic status, country of origin, language.  And what Paul emphasizes are the things that God uses to differentiate those who are followers of Jesus, and those who are not.  So in other words, how we define ourselves is MUCH less important than how God defines us!

People today are all about making distinctions on the wrong things and refusing to make distinctions on the things that truly matter.  Many want to squash the differences between religions - claiming that Christianity is one among equals in world religions.  Or that all religions are simply different paths to the same destination.  I don't believe that to be true.  And I think Paul argues against that being true.  He lived in a culture of syncretic religious philosophies.  People living back then made sacrifices to multiple gods, carried charms to ward of evil spirits from multiple religious perspectives.  That's why we've had this saying for a long time:  "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Paul, however, consistently pointed towards the "unknown god" who actually was made known through Jesus Christ.  And because Jesus has made God known, we find commonality in Him.  That commonality is how we live in response to Jesus.  Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience - those are what we should share across every language, skin color, country of origin, or economic class.

But we aren't doing a very good job living that way most of the time.  We tend to like those who are most like us and distrust those who don't seem to be much like us.  Blacks don't like whites; whites discriminate against blacks.  Anyone who looks Hispanic in America is assumed to be in this country illegally.  And statistics show that Sunday mornings are the most segregated times of the week.

So I'm going to start being more intentional about seeking out those who aren't like me.  I want to start using God's standards of differentiation instead of the world's standard.  I'm going to work on intentional forgiveness, forbearance, and patience.  Will you join me?

Lenten Bible Reading: Week 3, Wednesday

During the season of Lent, I am attempting to follow a Bible reading plan and offer reflection on the Scripture text.  Today's reading is from Wednesday in the third week of Lent.  I welcome feedback.  What are these Scriptures saying to you?

Philippians 4:1-9 Common English Bible

Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord.
   Loved ones, I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to come to an agreement in the Lord.  Yes, and I’m also asking you, loyal friend, to help these women who have struggled together with me in the ministry of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the scroll of life.
   Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad!  Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near.  Don’t be anxious about anything; rather bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks.  Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.
  From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.  Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.
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After the day I had, that's a tough scripture to read!  I got into a disagreement with someone and then I read about Paul urging two women to come to an agreement in the Lord!  But I don't believe in coincidences, so I know God had this in store for me because I really needed it!

Sometimes disagreements are "natural."  There's a genuine difference in perspectives that precludes agreement.  Put a Democrat and a Republican together in the same room, and tell them to talk politics.  There's gonna be disagreement!!

But other times, the disagreements are "unnatural" because they're based on misunderstandings, failures of communication, or simple stubbornness and determination not to "give" to the other.

In either case, I think Paul is telling us here that we need to get over the differences - no matter what they are - and get to what's held in common.  And I'll be honest, that's not very easy!  The disagreement that I had is pretty hard to find commonality.  I'm frustrated, angry, and disappointed.  And I can't even really do or say anything about it directly.  That fact frustrates me even more!

So what does Paul say to do with these feelings and experiences?  Give them over to God.  "Be glad in the Lord always. Again, I say, be glad."  The New International Version says "Rejoice in the Lord, always.  Again, I say, rejoice."  Being glad, rejoicing??  When I'm so steamed that I could cook broccoli?  Yes.

I can't do that!!  I can't just "be happy" like switching on the light.  So ... I have to rely on the God of peace to take my anger and use it productively.  For example, in preparing this devotional.  I have to recognize my emotion, but also not let the emotion overwhelm me.  God can use me in this situation.  And God can still use the other person, too.

By giving it to God, I can let go of the emotion and return to the center of living in Christ.  And the situation then becomes one that I can reason with.  Paul even gives me hints on what questions to ask:  is it true? holy? just? admirable?  Then think on these things.  If it isn't true, holy, just or admirable, then let it go and find what is.

Bring it to God - all the hurt, anger, and frustration.  God can handle it.  In that way, I can still be gentle in how I respond.  And so, I'm going to respond to this disagreement with gentleness and rejoicing.  I'm going to take a step in faith that God will work this situation out in some form or fashion that I can rejoice, even when right now I don't feel like I can.  That's the amazing thing about God: where we fail, God prevails.

Lenton Bible Reading: Week 3, Tuesday

During the season of Lent, I am attempting to follow a Bible reading plan and offer reflection on the Scripture text.  Unfortunately, I'm not doing so well at making this a daily practice!  Today's reading is from Tuesday in the 3rd week of Lent.  I welcome feedback.  What are these Scriptures saying to you?

 

Ephesians 5:6-20 New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.  ⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:
   “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

 ¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Notice how many words are being thrown around these days?  Look at how many millions of postings are on Facebook every minute.  How many tweets are broadcast per second.  How many Google searches are done in a millisecond.  And this is only a fraction of online stuff - without even mentioning the stuff that still goes on offline!  (Yes, there is still a real world out there!!)

 

How many of those countless millions or billions of words from all sources that potentially bombard us every moment we're awake are empty?  Deceptive?  I don't think the Apostle Paul had any clue just how relevant his 1st century words would be for us 21st century readers.  But they are!  We live in a world that attempts to obfuscate the truth.  To twist the meaning of words so that what was once thought to be good is now bad, and vice versa.  

 

How many concepts from Scripture are now being challenged as incompatible with modern life?  Live for others?  No way!  Live for yourself!  Get all the pleasure you can - and it doesn't matter what consequences may come upon others for your choices.  Or, in another twist of the truth: Stop taking pleasures in life, don't do anything fun.  You should be miserable because so many other people are miserable.

 

But Paul is saying to be careful how you live - wisely rather than foolishly.  Both extremes above are foolish.  Neither make the most of every opportunity.  What is the opportunity?  To demonstrate to others that what we do as Christians is different because Jesus is making a difference in us!

 

Which begs the question: Can people see a difference in your life because of Jesus?  Does your life reflect the Light of Christ?  Or are you still sleeping - spiritually dead - even though you've claimed the name "Christian" for yourself?

 

Don't be surprised when who you are is exposed.  Eventually, everything we do will come into the light.  Therefore, do the things that won't be shameful when the exposure comes.  One of my favorite quotes (unfortunately, I don't know who originally said it) is this:

 

"Live each day so that you will neither be afraid of tomorrow nor ashamed of yesterday."

We can do that when we do that in the strength of Jesus, relying on Him, and giving thanks to God in all circumstances.  So today, let's do it!