Blind and Deaf? (Matthew 13:14)

Today’s Readings: Job 1-2; Matthew 13:1-23

I used to be bothered by verse 14, both from Isaiah and as Jesus recited it here. Why would God talk about us seeing but not seeing and hearing but not hearing? Is this some trick to keep us away from Him? Are there some of us not worthy of the knowledge of salvation? Are we just too stupid to understand?

The real problem goes back to what we discussed a few days ago. We let the noise of the world become so loud in our heads that we fail to listen to God’s voice. He speaks, but the clamor we allow to invade our thoughts crowds out God until we just don’t hear Him anymore. His still small voice with which He pleads with us and with which He longs to guide us gets overwhelmed by the noise of the world and because we choose not to listen, we can’t hear Him.

The same is true with our seeing Him. He is there, but we allow the false glamour of Hollywood or the glitz of material things or the glitter of gold to lure us away from His real beauty. We fail to look for Him and allow other things to distract us. He wants us to find Him, but we fail to seek Him. He’s told us that if we will just seek Him, we will find Him. Instead, we substitute the false glamour for His glory. We look for cheap glitter instead of His grace.

Ever since Adam and Eve’s deception in the Garden of Eden, men and women continue to look for the wrong things and listen to the wrong things instead of seeking God and listening for His voice. He still wants to meet with us and commune with us as He did with Adam and Eve. He wants a relationship with His children. One in which we openly and honestly share with Him our deepest feelings, our highest hopes and dreams, our hurts, and our joys. He wants more than anything else to draw us to Him and enjoy our company.

We will never understand all about God. Our finite minds will never wrap around who God is. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look, listen, and learn. God will teach us about Himself as we are able to absorb it. Just like in any relationship, the longer we are with someone, the more we learn about them. Our relationship with God is no different, but it also means we must communicate with Him to learn more about Him. We must see and hear what He has to show us and tell us.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Live Generously and Graciously (Matthew 5:48)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 109-110; Matthew 5:21-48

The second half of Matthew 5 is summed up in Eugene Peterson’s translation of verse 48. “Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Jesus hits hard in the opening lessons of His Sermon on the Mount. He turns the rules upside down as He tells us anger is as bad as murder, lust is as bad as adultery, we should love our enemies, turn the other cheek instead of fighting back, and the list goes on.

These seem like impossible rules…and they are if you try to keep rules. What we’re talking about here is a transformed life. It’s a new way of thinking. A new way of living. Jesus taught something few dared even dream about. How did He expect anyone to live up to the standards He talked about in these verses?

Go back to the Beatitudes from yesterday. Jesus laid out the characteristics clearly. When you live those characteristics, these things begin to fall into place. You see, the acts of sin, the “thou shalt not” commands God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, never start with the acts. They start with a seed planted in the mind. They start with an angry thought that leads to plotting to do harm to the target of that thought. Then the plot turns into action and is carried out and becomes sin. James explains the process in his letter to the early churches.

So Jesus in His sermon tells us to watch our thoughts. Control our thinking and stop the pattern. He said in His opening statements the pure in heart will see God. The pure in heart control their thinking. They change their thought patterns. They don’t let their baser thoughts take control of their lives. They push anger, jealousy, rage, lust, envy, greed, hatred, and other unholy thoughts out of their minds and as Paul recommends, they meditate on the beautiful and lovely things God puts before us.

As we transform our minds through the power of God’s Spirit in us and keep our hearts and minds pure, we see more and more of God around us. Then we can live the life Christ has in store for us. We can live the more abundant life He talks about. We can live in the world but of the world. We can stand apart and live the change God makes in us.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

An Unlikely Witness

Today’s Readings: Psalms 103-104; Matthew 3

Sometimes we can learn about God in unlikely places. Matthew 3 introduces a most unlikely witness for the Messiah’s herald. John the baptizer was not part of the inner circle of religious leaders of his day. He didn’t look the part of the herald. He didn’t say the right things. He didn’t dress well. He probably had a pretty distinct odor about him – not on the good side of distinct. Yet he presented a message that caused masses of people to come to listen to him.

So what can we learn from examining verse 4? John dressed in camel skins, ate locusts and honey, lived in the wilderness, and probably looked pretty unkempt from that lifestyle. In our society, he’d probably look like a homeless person living under a bridge, needing a bath, carrying everything he owned in a beat-up backpack with a dirty bedroll fasten on top. Not much to look at. Weathered by his life on the road, aged beyond his years.

I think what we learn is sometimes we can find incredible wisdom apart from the four walls of the “church.” I think we find that God can use unusual people and unusual circumstances to fulfill his will in the world. I think we need to take care that we don’t immediately put everyone into a box because of their social status or the particular place and time we find them. John chose to live the way he did for a reason. We don’t know all the reason he chose to live the solitary life he chose, but he did it. I can imagine he wanted to avoid the temptations and the corruption he saw around him in the hierarchy of the “religions of the day.” He chose the life he led to remain true to what he believed and so he left all behind without being burdened by the toils and snares everyday life can bring. He sacrificed the pleasures that life can bring as well so his mission could be completed, but felt sure he would someday give an account and wanted his life to be completely pure and committed to the task appointed to him.

Not everyone can do what John did. I’m not sure I could. But as we see others who can give up all to follow Christ in such an all-out committed way, we certainly need to stop and listen to what they have to say, regardless the way they dress, look, smell, or any other attribute that might initially turn us off. It may be they have an incredible message to share just as John did.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Dreams (Matthew 2:12,13,19,22)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 98-102; Matthew 2

Does God still talk to people through dreams? The Bible records dozens of instances where He spoke to the patriarchs, prophets, kings, apostles, and in these verse, Joseph and the wise men through dreams. The messages were clearly from Him. They understood the message to come from no other than God Himself. No question in their minds as to the source. The message came from God. So how did they know? What was it about the dream that made the message so clear and the source so unmistakable?

I’m convinced God does provide messages through dreams. The reason is because of personal experience. My book, The Dream, chronicles my experience during Desert Storm. Without that dream, I’m not sure I could have produced a viable medical support plan for XVIII Corps. I give God the credit for that dream. How do I know it came from Him? Because I specifically asked for His help three hours before I awoke from the dream that laid the solution in front of me.

Some people will tell me it was just coincidence and the subconscious convergence of all the information and history I’d read over several months and years. I choose to believe it had something to do with my prayer the night of October 11th, 1990. I’m not sure the convergence of history would give the minute detail in my dream. You see, the Army never embarked on anything medical support mission like we attempted in Desert Storm. This new endeavor required something history couldn’t provide. A heavy corps had never moved 635 miles in four days, much less the logistics tail to support it.

I needed expert help that didn’t exist in 1990. Except God knew what needed to be done. He knew just how to provide the medical support to take care of the problem at hand. And He provided the solution…in a dream. He laid out a map that gave all the detail in a way I would understand. In 45 minutes the plan was on paper. In another couple of hours, my commander was convinced. By the end of the war, medical doctrine on the battlefield changed. Today, survival rates in warfare are 20% higher than in Viet Nam, an almost unbelievable accomplishment. Why? Because of a dream I’m sure came from God.

Does God still speak to men and women through dreams?

You’ll have a very hard time convincing me otherwise!

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Pedigree (Matthew 1:1-17)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 94-96; Matthew 1

“It’s my upbringing. That’s why I’m like I am!” “I’m a criminal because of my parents!” “I don’t know any better, that’s why I’m in prison.” “It’s not my fault I’m bad, look at my family. How could I be anything else?”

Those are excuses we hear too often. In the army, we used to retort excuses with the following: “The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero.” The same is true for individuals. Take a look at Jesus’ pedigree. His family tree is filled with some men and women of pretty dubious character. Take a good look. Read some of their stories. You’ll find liars, thieves, prostitutes, murderers, cheats, shady politicians (oops, didn’t mean to include those), all kinds of people who just don’t add up to the kind of pedigree we would expect for the emissaries to parent God’s Son.

The problem with our excuses today is they are just that, excuses. Yes, our parents influence us and teach us right or wrong. Yes, we may have a difficult time growing  up. Yes, we might have poor role models. All of those end up falling flat on the floor when all is said and done, because we are each able to make individual choice about our lives. No one sticks a gun to our heads and says you must be a gang member. Will it be tough to be outside the gang. Yep, but not impossible.

No one demands that we avoid the idiots who decide school is not a place for learning and instead buckle down and do the best we can to further our education. No one forces us to stick a needle in our arm or take that first snort or down that first pill. We do that to ourselves…by choice. We choose each day to live our life under the guidance and direction of God’s word or directed by the dictates of a fallen and corrupted world. Which has our best interests in mind?

We have a choice! The one area from which God withdraws His mighty power is our free will. We have a choice. How will you choose today? It doesn’t take much intelligence to figure out what side is the right side in the long-term. What is amazing is how many people seem to choose the other way.

What will you choose today?

Richard