June 15 - How?

Read: John 10:1-12

So they said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" (John 9:10 ESV)

Unfortunately, at least for people like me, not everything can be figured out. The trick is in coming to realize that this is actually a good thing. When Jesus healed a blind man the know-it-alls and elitists felt compelled to gain an intellectual understanding of the situation.

The man was known to have been blind all of his life and all-of-a-sudden there he was with the ability to see. How did it happen? That's what the mob was interested in knowing.

And its not the first question they asked. They had previously asked about the sinful condition of a man in need of healing. Jesus used the situation to teach them the powerful truth that transgression and tragedies are not from God.

Jesus demonstrated how God takes affliction and uses it for glory. The blind man was healed. Ad everyone wanted to know how. Jesus' point was not to be found in the how but rather in the why. It's much more interesting, to understand why God would want to do something amazing for you than how he would do it.

May 25 - No Signs

Read: Mark 8:10-12

And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." (Mark 8:12 ESV)

Why are we always looking for signs? We seem to be a people who crave the security of inside information.  We doggedly go about searching for clues or insights to the near and far future. We even sometimes fall into the trap of worshipping that kind of information, maybe not in ritualistic religious observances, but with our intense desires and passions.

The Gospels record Jesus being approached about his signs on a few different occasions.  People wanted proof of his claim.  They wanted some kind of supernatural ID, but they wanted it on their schedule and on their time.  He had already been demonstrating all kinds of supernatural things. Healings, exorcisms, and other miraculous wonders that superseded the natural world.

I believe God does supernatural things for two reasons.  He does them simply because He loves us and wishes to help us.  And He also does them to bring glory to Himself.  He does not do them to whoa us, wow us, or woo us.  No sign is coming simply to sate our estranged curiosity. God does not work on our time, to please our whims, or to satisfy our selfishness.

I think that leaves us with an important question.  Will be of a generation that freely receives from God simply because He loves us and is longing to demonstrate His love? Or, will we go to Him as the Pharisees did with our list of demands and conditions for belief? One option leaves us disappointed, depraved, and destitute. The other leaves us sitting as His feet, awaiting the Father’s good pleasure.

April 5 - Salty

Read: Matthew 5:13-16

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (Matthew 5:13 ESV)

Salt is a wonderful thing. I probably like it more than I should. Even just a little bit goes a really long way in improving the taste of something. In Jesus day it was a rare luxury. It was highly valued. As long as it was tasty. Because if salt isn't used for food it is used for clearing paths. It's used to walk on.

Jesus warned his audience, with a warning that should ring true for us today as well, we exist for a purpose. We have a flavor. We exist to make where we are better. And if we don't or can't do that, then we are not really fulfilling our primary purpose.

Sometimes it's hard to be the kind of presence in our world that we desire to be. There are so many potential distractions. We are imperfect. Sometimes it feels like we're in perpetual danger of losing our saltiness. I don't believe that this has to be true. What does it mean to be salt in your world? How can you be a difference there? How can you avoid losing your flavor?

April 4 - For Righteousness

Read: Matthew 5:1-12

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 ESV)

The Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5-7, is one of the most widely taught passages of scripture. The first portion is frequently referred to as the Beatitudes. Jesus' purpose in sharing this message was to influence people to forgo their desires for things beyond the Kingdom of God.

You will be blessed by yearning for, and indeed, living off of Christ's righteousness. We possess no righteousness except for Christ's. His goodness, his holiness, his perfection is the root of righteous satisfaction.

We can, and should do good works in this life. However, they will never make us righteous. They will never make us holy. They will never satisfy. Only Jesus can and will. Let us all seek after and for righteousness.

April 3 - Jesus Changes Things

Read: John 5:1-17

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" (John 5:6 ESV)

Can you imagine laying in the same spot everyday and just hoping that someone would help you? It sounds horrible. Yet that was the daily reality of the lame man at the pool. Unfortunately it is also the daily reality for many people today.

Jesus came along and changed everything for the lame man. He did the same for so many others throughout the gospels. And he initiated the change with the question, "Do you want to be healed?"

I firmly believe that many people who face dire situations today, no matter long they have been trapped in that circumstance, can experience a change in their life. Jesus changes things. Not only is he the diving point of human history, but he can also be the diving point of your own personal story.

April 2 - Believe Jesus

Read: John 4:46-54

Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. (John 4:50 ESV)

Belief is such a powerful thing. It compels people to behave in ways that are all over the place. Some responses to it are rational. Some are strange to say the least. History, even recent history, has shown us that some people react to belief with violence. In the gospels we see that people frequently responded to Jesus by believing in him. Today is no different.

We can believe in him. He stands apart from everyone and everything else in history. And that belief is not misplaced.

Like the father from John's story we will see a remarkable difference in this life by placing our belief in the Lordship of the incarnate Son of God. It will mean spiritual healing. Sometimes it may mean literal physical healing. It will certainly mean an eternal destiny in his Kingdom.

However, belief alone is not enough. Belief is the starting point for the recognition of our need for him. Submission, surrender, is the move that brings us wholly into his holy family.

April 1 - Miracles

Read: Isaiah 35:5-6 & Matthew 11:2-6 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; (Isaiah 35:5, 6 ESV)

Around 700 B.C. the Old Testament prophet Isaiah lived and ministered among the Jews. His written work which bears his name is sometimes called the "Fifth Gospel" because of how frequently he prophesied about Jesus. Isaiah prophesied plainly that the Messiah would be a miracle worker.

I've spent a lot of time hearing about and thinking about miracles in my life. I grew up within a Christian movement that openly accepts not only the possibility, but the likely probability, of miracles. I believe that I have even experienced a couple of miracles during my life.

I don't think that average common Jew was very familiar with the likelihood of the miraculous before Jesus came on the scene. They had all of the stories of Moses and the Judges to cling to, but religious oppressiveness had most likely pushed their expectation for any direct interventional supernatural activity initiated by God out of their minds. Some groups of Jews actually vehemently denied the possibility of the supernatural.

Jesus changed everything.

He was more than an illusionist. He was more than a sorcerer. He was even more than a miracle worker. He was God, come to be with man so that he might save man. While he was here he performed a lot of miracles. He did them everywhere he went. He did them for followers, strangers, neighbors, allies, and sometimes even enemies.

Do you believe in the possibiltiy of miracles? What is a miracle you would like to see? What is a miracle you might be in need of?

March 29 - Fakers

Read: Matthew 11:7-19

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn." (Matthew 11:16, 17 ESV)

The Pharisees were major critics of John and Jesus, neither of whom avoided offending their ridiculous religious pride on a regular basis. Jesus compared to them to children playing wedding and funeral games. They were fake and phony. Less than the real thing, poor replacements. The Pharisees fell short of what God had called them to in a lot of ways. They had traded authentic communion with God for shallow and ridiculous purity rituals.

It would be kind of like if you were supposed to have dinner with your family or close friends, but all you did was stay in the bathroom and wash your hands all night instead of ever taking your place at the table. What's worse is that they kept calling everyone else into the bathroom too. Their message to everyone was something like, "the only way to really worship God is if you stay here and wash your hands."

They were fake. It was tragically sad because I'm sure there were many among their number who legitamately believed they were doing the right things. It kind of makes you want to step back and examine your own life when you think about it like that. Is there any area in my life where I am accepting less than the real thing? Am I trading authenticity and communion for shallow ritual or stubborn tradition? God helps us to find these areas of our loves that we might be blind to if we're serious about coming to terms with them.

March 24 - Who Is My Neighbor?

Read: Luke 10: 29-37

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29 ESV)

As Jesus conversed with the lawyer the inquisitive fellow sought to refine his opinion. Jesus had just offered him gentle correction and the laywer was interested in justifying his position. The issue in question was the notion of loving people, or as Jesus had just told everyone loving your neighbor as yourself.

As thinkers are often prone to do the unnamed questioner got hung up on one word. "Who is my neighbor?" He asked. Jesus response came in the form of the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus told the story in language and terms the common people listening would have well understood. He painted an accurate picture of the times as he explained the way the religious leadership abandoned the felt needs of the ransacked traveller. I imagine that the listeners found the story either scandalously truthful and full of conviction, or mocking and hardened their hearts.

Jesus answer to the question of neighborhood was perfect. A neighbor is not just someone who lives nearby as we are sometimes inclined to believe. A neighbor is anyone. Someone in proximity to us. Someone in need. Someone society has rejected.

Jesus' definition of neighbor is challenging. It calls us to abandon our small-minded love to embrace and pursue a bigger kind of love that ministers to anyone and everyone in need. His words show us that we do not have the right to minister only to those we find acceptable or similar. Loving our neighbor as ourself is so much bigger than we so often want to realize.