merittmusings

Thank the Maker!

www.bible.com/1713/psa.121.2.csb

When Star Wars came out in 1977, I was a little young, only five years old. I can’t remember going and seeing the movie in the theater, but I know I was in love with the toys, because I remember getting many of them for Christmas. I know the toys were not available right away, so it may have been Christmas of ’78 or ’79 when I finally got my hands on them. I remember taking my C3PO to the sandbox at school and pretending that we were on the desert planet. I still have that toy, somewhere.

C3PO is also the character in the movie taht reminded us of the “Maker”. When he emerges from his oil bath, he exclaims, “thank the Maker!” Coming from the mouth of a droid, its doesn’t sound all that odd, since droids (robots) are artificial and must have a maker or manufacturer of some kind. But back then, we all thought C3PO was referring to a robot making company or some such. Fast forward to 1999’s The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode 1, and suddenly we discover that the maker was personal, a brilliant little boy named Anakin Skywalker. Suddenly the phrase, “thank the Maker!” means more than coming off of an assembly line, but something that was carefully crafted and molded by the hands of a person. Our perspective of C3PO of maybe ourselves changes.

It is one thing to thing you are product of natural processes over millions of years, that you are nothing special but a happy accident in the course of eons. It is quite another to realize that you were specially and wonderfully made by a person, an Intelligence that intended to make you, especially you, to fulfill His great purpose. For Anakin, that purpose was to be a droid to “help mom.” For us, what might that purpose be? For the very fact we are created means that we were made for a purpose, to help one another, to worship the Maker of heaven and earth, to give, to love, to defend the truth and so on. Because we are made, we have purpose. You were made, and you have a purpose. Thank the Maker!

Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing me into the world, especially and wonderfully made for a reason. I know that today, I am not the result of an eons-long experiment by nature to “see what happens” but a special product, and special person with a special purpose. Help me realize that purpose in my own life, that I may fulfill the purpose given to me by my Maker. Thank You Lord for giving me life. I love and worship You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Good Mourning

www.bible.com/1713/mat.5.4.csb

Mourning is always associated with loss. I learned this morning of the death of someone I had recently seen alive, a stranger to me, but the grief of the family was palpable. They mourned and wept. Grief is rarely good at the time. It feels like a piece being ripped from a garment, with ragged tears on either side, broken, unfinished, and empty. It is both a phsyical loss and a psychic one, and our minds, used to the presence or even the hope of the presence of a person’s life and relationship, now will never be. Some people never “get over it” nor should they. But we learn to live with that pothole on life’s journey. We drive around it. Sometimes we forget that it’s there an we hit again, feeling that loss afresh. But there is no sauve to fill it. That loss remains a part of our lives forever.

But to whom is this blessing? Does “those who mourn” include everyone? Or only those in the Kingdom? I think there are two forms of comfort that may be involved here. First, is the comfort of an ever-loving God who wraps His own arms around you, as 1 Corinthians says, “the God of all comfort”, who offers you peace and grace for the excision from your life. God fills the empty places, making them easier to bear, more livable, because He gives us the strength to persevere.

But second, there is the hope of seeing our loved ones again. Those in the kingdom have a greater hope of seeing those they love, who were also faithful believers, in the heavenly realms, once we too pass through the doors of death. We shall be comforted by God in the present, but receive that ultimate comfort in the arms of our loved ones, gone but not forgotten. That seems to me the best comfort of all. Don’t get me wrong. Being in God’s presence is truly the best, but being able to see my family again? That’s just icing on the cake.

Heavenly Father, today I want to thank You that I have hope, not just for eternity, but hope for my family. My most precious relationships will endure in the Lord. Those I have lost, in their faith they yet live, and one day I will see them again. I pray that you would ease my mourning with Your comfort until that day I can spend eternity in Your presence.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

On Things Above, Not Below

www.bible.com/1713/col.3.2.csb

There is a favored saying among New Age and occult religions, “as above, so below.” That is to say that the patterns of heavens are echoed on earth, and if you can manipulate the patterns here on earth, they can be manipulated in the spiritual realms. New age and occult practices are about power and control, especially of things that “normal” people cannot control, like fate and luck. Sometimes people misapply this standard of reasoning to Christianity, thinking that things like prayer are a means to power, or “if I believe it strongly enough, it will happen.” But that’s not Christianity. That’s heresy. God will not be manipulated. Anything who things they can or have been they can has been taught a false teaching. “That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.”

So how does it work? We might persuade God to act in our best interests. God has been known to change His mind on things. But the change is illusory, as God is watching us to see how much prayer and effort we pour into prayer. God does not change, but He sees your effort before you start. He knows your passion. But He will also wait until you have it to Him. God sees your prayer. He always has your best interest in mind. Just because God doesn’t give you what you wanted, doesn’t mean it wasn’t the best for you. God takes the long view. He sees the hundred little things that affect you as a person. He sees every twist and bend of your life’s decisions before you make them. And yet God waits for your impassioned prayer, proof that you carry out on your internal faith into your life and actions, before He acts.

But this verse shows us our guiding principle. Things above and below are very different. And instead of trying to make our life below as good as it can be, let us try to focus on things above. Such focus will inevitably lead to blessing below because God loves us and loves to bless us. Just be reminded those blessings aren’t about a fat bank a account of a big house. They are salvation and peace in Him in the name of Jesus. Everything else is gravy. No amount of money on earth can give you peace.

Lord please help me focus on things above today. Remind me that my mind and heart are better spent on heavenly truths, than earthly pleasures. Thank You Lord for my salvation in Jesus Christ. It is truly the best blessing of all. Show me those today that I can encourage with this same blessing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Worship and Singing

www.bible.com/1713/psa.100.2.csb

What does worship look like? Does it look like singing? I think it can look like singing. It I also believe that singing can often masquerade as worship. Singing can also satisfy the ego and contribute to worship of self.

I remember years ago thinking this when I was hearing a performance of “special music” at church when I was a teenager. As I listened to the performer song her song, it felt too professional, to much like a concert celebrating her skill and talent than worship. Being a kid, what do I know, it I am certain this is a danger many musicians face in making “worship” music.

It seems to be that singing, done with lips and mind seems to rarely come from the heart anymore. For it to truly come from the heart, it needs to be sung, learned, and felt. There are songs we learn, new songs, and many of those too often, always being inundated with new music because the industry is always trying to make new music to make more money. I don’t blame them for trying to make money, and some music will affect some more than others. But at my church, it seems it new music week every week. I can’t learn it fast enough and thus is doesn’t touch me because I’m still trying to decide as I learn it, it is theologically sound? It is something I can sing truthfully? Or is this someone else’s experience I’m trying to ape for the sake of singing a worship song? A lot of worship music is someone else’s experience of worship, not necessarily mine.

On the flip side, I’ve been in churches where the music is too familiar. We’ve sung it every week so that my mind and lips and song without accessing the heart. Those songs near little resemblance to my modern context. They are often filled with words that I don’t use in my everyday, so that “raise my ebenezer” doesn’t mean anything to me. Granted there are many good old songs, but hearing them played by discount musicians or whoever “we could get to play this morning” often leaves me wanting.

I guess I am particular about my worship, or maybe it’s worship fatigue. Church tried very hard to pass music off as worship that we don’t know what else is worship, like silent meditation in God’s word, prayer, reading aloud the psalms, or seeing God’s glorious handiwork. We have become so accustomed to music as worship that we haven’t given room to much else. Is singing worship? It can be. But singing a Christian song doesn’t make it worship. Worship comes from the heart.

Help me dear Lord offer worship today that comes from my spirit, not just my lips and my mind. Help me to worship, even to use words when necessary. You alone are worthy of my praise and honor. Help me Lord to give glory to You in all things. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Kingdom of Heaven

www.bible.com/1713/mat.5.3.csb

What exactly is the Kingdom of Heaven? Scholars have pondered this for centuries and they are still trying to work it out, so don’t fear if you don’t have an answer right away. The top contenders are the Church, Heaven itself, and the Universe. I’m sure there are others. And it would take more study than we have here to come close to a definitive answer. But let’s take a look at those who will inherit it.

Jesus says “blessed are the poor (and/or in spirit)” depending on whether you are reading Luke or Matthew. Luke says the poor are blessed. Matthew says the poor in spirit are. The poor refers to the economically deprived, while Matthew refers to the spiritually deprived. So who is more blessed? Who is meant to receive the blessing here? I don’t think it’s any great mystery, as the poorest are those without spiritual wealth. Those who don’t know God are the poorest of all. And those are the ones who would benefit the most from God’s kingdom.

It’s a simplistic answer, but if you are poor in spirit, it is a welcome one. Does this help us understand the Kingdom of Heaven? A little bit, since it tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven enriches those with spiritual lack. It is akin to Jesus’ words to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus rule and reign was never intended to be a physical throne over a physical realm. His kingdom was of the spiritual, which surpasses physical borders and cannot be resisted with physical weapons. It is both intangible and formidable.

If you are poor in spirit, you are invited to become a part of the most powerful kingdom in earth. This kingdom is ruled by a benevolent ruler who gave His own life so that you could be a part of it. You are invited because you matter to Him. The price of citizenship in this kingdom is your faith and loyalty, your fealty to its King. Submit to baptism as a sign of your faith, and you will be given its keys, the Holy Spirit. The choice lies with you.

Dear Father, Holy Son and King of Heaven, may you hear my humble request to be. Part of Your kingdom. I don’t have much but myself, but I will give You all I have to live with You eternally. I both honor You and Love You Lord Jesus, because You have Your all to Me. Thank You Jesus for my life. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Peace and Safety

www.bible.com/1713/psa.4.8.csb

Something that has been a subject of my prayers lately is peace and safety. There is something unique about the Lord’s peace. You can’t get it from anywhere else. It that feeling that only comes from a healed relationship from the Father, a lack of dread about judgment. It is a wholeness that you and God are doing ok. You can’t buy it or find it in a store. It comes from knowing that God has saved you by His grace, that He holds you fast in His presence. That nothing in earth or heaven will change it.

From this comes a sense of safety. When you have this peace in God there really is no substitute for its security. You know that as long as God is present, you are secure in Him. Physical circumstances notwithstanding, nothing can budge you from this place of safety.

How is your peace and safety today? I might encourage you to seek it in the Lord. His presence is the only place you can find either. God bless you in your journey today.

The Overflow of the Heart

www.bible.com/1713/luk.6.45.csb

Words hurt. Not like sticks and stone, clubs or bullets, but they do hurt all the same. Words matter. Words mean things. Never let anyone insult you only to follow it with, “I was only joking!” Even jokes in bad taste come from somewhere. A person’s speech and use of language can tell you a lot about a person.

But this text is as much a warning about others as it is to ourselves. Something we all need to pay closer attention to is our use of language, how we speak to others, and the secret loathing that we sometimes nurse. Is there darkness in your heart when you think of certain people? It will find its way out. It will sneak out and betray you when you are unguarded. Don’t like your boss? It is will find its way into your speech. Have a secret crush on that person in your life (yes, even us married folks fall into this one), it will find its way out. Nothing hidden will stay that way if you continue to nurse it in your heart. Rather, drive out that secret evil. Be true, honest and of integrity in your heart and in your speech.

Dear God, please help me be a person of integrity. May the words of my mouth reflect truly the feelings and thoughts of my heart. May my heart be pure. I know Lord that only You can make my heart pure because I know within me my heart is wicked and deceitful. Only You have the power to cleanse my heart and help me be a whole person. Lord may I lay my heart before You as the sacrifice of my life that You may give me a clean heart. Lord may my words and actions be an encouragement to others. Lord help me to forgive those people in my life who I feel have wronged me. Help me to see others from Your perspective, because my own is so limited. Lord I earnestly desire Yoru cleansing power by the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ, that I may be pure and whole again. Only You Lord can do this. I know that my feeble human ability is no match for it. You Lord alone are worthy of praise. In You Lord I find wholeness and healing. Thank You Lord for bringing me life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

No Gaps

www.bible.com/1713/rom.8.39.csb

If you are familiar with public transit you might have heard the phrase, “mind the gap” being the gap between for example the train car and the boarding platform. It’s good advice because you don’t want to get your foot caught in there, or drop something important like your glasses or your cell phone. So as a word to the wise, you “mind the gap.”

But what this text tells us this morning is that God there is no gap. Nothing in all of creation, nor even circumstances of life and death change God’s relationship of love towards us. This is important information because to be honest, it feels like there is a gap sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if He is listening, or paying attention to my circumstances. I remind myself that I am an infinitesimal part of His creation, that He has better things to worry about than my life and problems. Surely the God of the universe has better things to than to “mind the gap” between Him and me.

Not so. For God, nothing is impossible. Not even caring for my needs, the uncontrollable in my life, the million different circumstances that affect my life from day to day that I cannot possibly keep in my head, let alone have any effect upon. I can’t control the weather. I can’t keep a small blood clot from forming in my leg and going to my lungs. I can’t control other people’s driving habits. There’s actually very little in my life that I can say I can control with certainty. So yes, I depend on the Lord to handle those million different details. With Him, there is no gap.

Lord I am often humbled by Your care of me. I cannot consider all the things You do for me, and I only hope that at the end of the day, I may glorify your Name as at all times, for the care and consideration in Your infinite wisdom you see fit to carry out in me. Thank You Lord. Amen.

Do Not Love

www.bible.com/1713/1jn.2.15.csb

Of all the people in the world, we ought to be the most loving, most caring people on the planet, right? But here comes 1 John, who instead of encouraging us to love everyone and everything, actually cautions us against it. There are some things we ought not to love, namely the world and everything in it. That sounds like it excludes a lot, doesn’t it?

The world here is shorthand for the worldly system. Something that is worldly is typically not from God but from man and his sinful desires. So to love not the world is to not love sin and its effects. That’s a good thing. But that excludes an awful lot from our purview. We are not to love murder, sexual deviance, sinful pleasures, a whole host of things that derive their nature from the Enemy and his minions. We are to resist carnal lusts. We are to resist the pleasures of the flesh if they are delivered through sin. Sex outside of marriage, any sexual act or appearance of sex is to be avoided. We are not to love that.

You see as Christians we have been led into a trap by the world. We have been told since we are all about love, then we should be accepting of two people who love each other. We should be encouraging love of self. And we certainly can’t tell anyone what true love is, because love is love, no matter who experiences it. But it is. Lie, because that is ”love” without truth. We are not afforded the luxury of defining love for ourselves. We are not love. God is love. God sets the standard and definition. We do not have that authority. This when it comes to love, God is the authority on what it means. God set this standard by sending His own Son to be crucified for our sins. True, selfless, self-sacrifice is God’s standard of love. He tells us what relationships have His approval: heterosexual monogamy in marriage, friendship, family, and worship. All are experiences of love. He did not approve others.

God has the right to tell what to love and what not to love. As His creation, we have the right to obey or disobey. But there are always consequences. I hope you make fbe right choices.

Help me God to make good choices today in how and to whom I express love. Help me to enjoy your Creation without loving the world, because I know that sometimes it’s hard to know the difference. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

More Important

www.bible.com/1713/php.2.3.csb

Who is most important in your life? Of all the people in your life, who is has the most significant impact over your daily affairs? Some might say my employer really has the most to say about how I live and work. He governs my time, tells me when I am scheduled for work, and how I ought to dress and act while I am there. Granted, that person does have a lot of power over your life. But that person cannot tell you how to think, or what to think about.

Well, what about your spouse? Doesn’t she have a lot of say about who you are and what you’re about? Certainly. I share my life with her. She and I are very close, and she has much to say about how I live my life and what I occupy my time with, as she should.

What about your God? Doesn’t God have a lot to say about how to live your life and what to think about? Absolutely. And of all who have something to say about me, it is God’s opinion I value the most. So with certainty, God is the most important person in my life. So why doesn’t God say that here?

Here, it is others who are the most important. Others? What others? Just anybody? It reminds me of something Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you,” and “however you treat the least of these, you have done it unto Me.” The least of all humanity is just as important as the greatest. All are made in the image of God. All.

So how we treat others reflects on our treatment of God. For how can we say we love God and yet hate our brother? Is not our brother made in the image of God? For all of this talk about welcoming our neighbors (as a feint for accepting illegal aliens) are we really addressing the underlying Christian principle? Inviting the world to our doorstep sounds like a good idea, even a Christian one, but do we also couple that with our Christian missionary work? We may well want to accept the illegal in the name of Jesus, but don’t we also proselytize him? The name of Jesus demands it! If they are to come under our roof, they must also give respect to our God. If they accept our hospitality, then they must also be respectful of our religion. If we are going to bring the world to our doorstep in the name of Christian hospitality, then we must also demand that the world give respect to our Christian faith. You would never allow a houseguest to disrespect your family’s faith, would you? That’s not how hospitality works.

Sorry, that got off into rant territory. Many in our community are fond of posting signs that welcome “neighbors” regardless of where they are from, without realizing how the underlying Christian principles they pretend to espouse actually work. Hospitality does not also mean tolerance of all and every idea. It means we welcome you as a child of God made in His image. When you come under my protection, there are certain rules while under my roof you must follow. You don’t pee on the floor. You don’t have sex in front of my children. You eat with your mouth closed. You don’t curse my God or threaten my life. Just some basic rules of hospitality in my opinion.

Lord Jesus, help me continue to see others as You do. Sometimes, I get all jumbled up with my worldview and how I see others, especially when I see the worst in others on a daily basis. Father, you didn’t call me to judge other people. You called me loved and spread Your love to them in the gospel message. Remind me today to bless these souls with your loving Presence. Help me to remember my role as an ambassador for Your Kingdom, not mine. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.