Author: merittmusings

I've been in ministry in the Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ for 20+ years. Finished my doctorate in Biblical Studies in 2015. Serve today as a Hospital Chaplain.

Weary in Doing Good

www.bible.com/1713/gal.6.9.csb

Do you ever get tired? I really don’t think getting tired is an option. If you do work, you get tired. Your body gets tired. Your brain gets tired. But what about your soul? Does your soul ever get tired? Frankly I’ve been frustrated that my soul keeps wanting to do on when everything else says stop.

I think this is the issue that Paul is addressing here. We do tend to spend a lot of time trying to do good, and sometimes it doesn’t seem like we are getting anywhere. It is possible go weary your soul in trying to right wrongs and fix people. But Paul’s encouragement to us is clear. A harvest is coming. It will come when it is time. Don’t give up planting those seeds. Don’t give up investing in people. Some people need more fertilizer than others.

A reminder on this Monday that our work for the Lord will always bear a return. Even if your job seems hopeless and and pointless, God has plans for you where you are, plans to prosper His word and your witness.

Dear Lord, help me to see today Your purposes in the mundanity that is Monday. Help me to see Your purposes in all things, that You may be glorified. Help me Jesus this day, Amen. Thank you Jesus.

Confess Your Sins

www.bible.com/1713/jas.5.16.csb

I too am a sinner. Each day is laod upon me a conviction against some si or other. And each day I must face my conscience and my Lord about it. Each day. I mourn my inability to resist temptation. I yearn for the day when my faith shall be sight and His face I will behold. Because then I won’t have to worry about sin and temptation any more.

And yet our glorious God still forgives and gives grace. Through the shed blood of His own Son. Though we sin, He still loves. Though we fail, He still reaches out His hand to us to pull us back up. What a good God. With what can we compare His eternal majesty?

Lord Jesus, please accept my humble apology for failing you time and again. Please help me to see my faults so that I may draw closer to you. Thank you Jesus for your marvelous gift. Amen.

Trust and Confidence

www.bible.com/1713/jer.17.7.csb

Still warming up to today? That’s okay. It took me a while to get moving today as well. Not an especially warm day today, but I think we’ll warm up to it. It is merely a balmy 18F this morning. What can I say, it’s winter. Spring is coming next month, so we have a little time to wait.

I am encouraged by the word this morning. We often put our trust and confidence in things not worthy, such as government, our employer, other people. While they are trustworthy to an extent, how long would it take to replace you at your job? If you died, would the government send a “we miss you” card? Not likely. And more often that not, the world is out to swindle us of any extra cash we have, rather than trying to help us take advantage of the next great deal.

Rather, we put our trust and confidence where it is most deserving, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot go wrong with Him. Even when it seems He’s not listening, or not close by,  we know He is. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. But as a wise person once said, “the teacher is always silent during the test.” Sometimes He steps away from our immediate perception when out faith is being tested, or when we suffer a little while.

We have got to disassociate ourselves from the notion that we are promised our best life now. That is a lie from Hell. If you think that becoming a Christian entitles you to your best life now, you are mistaken. Our best life is yet to come. This life is the proving ground for the soul that will live in that ethereal best life, when we have our home together with Jesus. This life is the test. This life is the scantron to prepare us for what is to come. Every day, every year, we will learn a bit more, and be tested a bit more severely. God is working in us to perfect us. So we cannot expect (though we are given glimpses of that life) the best life in this life. God often chooses to bless us, and give us a taste of that life, and we are grateful for every bite. But our true best life is yet to come in the world to come in the presence of our Heavenly Father. What God seeks to test in us in this world is our faith, our ability to see that next life (which we have already begun through our salvation) despite our surroundings. It is faith that pleases Him and if He sees us smiling through our hardships and sufferings because we believe in a better resurrection, a better life, and better hope that what this life offers, He sees our faith, hope and love in action. This is what pleases God. It is Paul and Silas singing in the prison. It is Jesus forgiving others from the cross. It is Joseph saying, “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” It is the three young men standing before Nebuchadnezzar saying, “we believe God will save us from this fire, but if He doesn’t, we still still trust Him.” It is every martyr on every beach preparing to die at the hands of wicked men, saying “Father forgive them.” That is trust and confidence in the Lord.

Lord, help me develop this transcendent trust. Father I have failed you time and again. Please forgive my unbelief and create in me a clean heart O God! Thank you Lord for Your indescribable gift! In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Love Is . . .

www.bible.com/1713/1co.13.4.csb

Not what I thought it was. When you are growing up as a young man, you think when you finally find that woman of your dreams and marry her, it will be love all the time. We will be all over each other. I will never have to wonder about sex ever again. Well, not so much.

This year my wife and I will have been married 25 years. There have been days like I imagined, and there have been days from Hell. Not gonna lie here. There are days where we have hated each other and couldn’t imagine going another day, and days where we thought our love couldn’t get any better. Thankfully, we were wrong on both counts. Over the years, you learn a few things, and you mature. And that’s where I learned that love isn’t about the roses and the candy and sex. Love is about bonding, staying rooted in each other, being present for each other. Love is caring, sharing, enjoying each other’s company. Love is all that the Scripture promised it would be. Mature love, real love is patience and kindness and joy and peace. But love is also sharing suffering and pain, hurt and loss. Love is being fully invested in another person, in their wins and losses, in their joys and sorrows. Love is being there when no one else will. Love is selfless giving, not taking. Love is offering, not seizing. Love is expressed in sexual intimacy, to be sure, but it is also expressed in weeping, in prayer, in working alongside, in listening. And this kind of love never gets old, stale or hollow. In fact, this kind of love continues to grow. This love grows deeper with each day. This love wakes up in anticipation of seeing your wife every morning, no matter what she looks like, because this love is from the soul.

Love is amazing, and love is taught to us by our Loving Heavenly Father. May you enjoy and experience this deep transcendant love for your spouse today and everyday. Don’t wait for once a year.

Dear God! Thank you for showing up this kind of love! Thank you for loving us so much that You sent Your own Son to love us, to give His most precious Life for us, to show us just how much we mean to You. Dear God each and every day teach us how to love, especially in loving our spouse, but also to extend this love to the unlovable. Show us your vision of people who need the gospel, who need good news. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your indescribable gift! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Attitude

www.bible.com/1713/php.2.5.csb

Have you ever had an ”attitude”? I’ve been told I need to straighten up my attitude. I need to get a new attitude. Even to fix my attitude problem. I feel they are all related.

I wonder what attitude helped Jesus through puberty and young adulthood? How did he simultaneously know everything yet still remain humble? Did he have good friendships growing up? What kind if a kid was he?

The Scripture is silent on these topics. But this letter does tell us that Jesus’ attitude, as One who is God, still humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. That’s the kind attitude we are to have. Wow.

Lord help me to have the attitude of Jesus. Help me to be humble as you were, so that I may grow in faith and wisdom. To you be the glory Lord Jesus. Amen.

Tell

www.bible.com/1713/psa.105.1-2.csb

Nothing in the Bible tells us we ought to keep our faith private. It doesn’t exist. The only thing that comes close is the ”messianic secret” that Jesus counseled while He was still walking this earth. But even that was over when He rose from the dead.

Your faith ought to be something everyone knows about. There is no point to keeping praise for the Almighty in our heart. God demands and our lips declare the praise and glory of the Great King!

Don’t keep it to yourself.

God Prepared

www.bible.com/1713/eph.2.10.csb

God always sees ahead of us. He always knows what’s coming. So He is always preparing the way ahead for us. It’s like the little girl on the train who worried about all the valleys they would cross in their journey until she realized that someone had built bridges for them all along the way. God has seen our individual journeys from eternity past and prepared situations and circumstances ahead of us so that we will be able to cross the valleys.

But again, God does these things with a purpose. He intends for you to do good works. These are not just for your benefit, but for His. God’s will is to see as many as possible make the decision to follow Jesus and be saved by His grace. Sometimes that means people will watch you struggle, only to overcome that struggle through faith in Christ. But through each trial, God is also crafting and molding you into a better example of His disciple. This life is merely a proving ground for the next. He intends for us to learn about life and love and faith in this world so that we will be thoroughly vetted for the world to come, to live with Him for eternity. God does not intend for you to accumulate wealth and live lavishly. He intends for you to invite and persuade many so that they too will choose life in Christ over the despair and brokenness of the world.

You were created to communicate the gospel. To go forth and share the blessings you’ve received with others. Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, I don’t know what to say. I’ve lived under the delusion that I need to struggle to get ahead, to make something of myself, as if all depended on this. And yet I read that you have greater plans than this for me. My goal isn’t to be all I can be, but to be all you’ve called me to be. I am alive today because You will it. You call me to a particular purpose and direction. Help me Father to listen to Your voice, Your calling, that I may follow in Your footsteps and be Yours. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Every Good Work

www.bible.com/1713/2co.9.8.csb

Ever feel like you can’t get enough? While there is such things as too much food, or too much sleep, even too much air, there are some things you can’t get enough of. For example: too much money. How much is that?

I was reading an entry on Quora the other day about drug dealers and money laundering. Apparently, there is a way to get too much money. Drug dealers have to work primarily in cash, they have difficulty spending it, of making it into money they can use without suspicion. There is a monetary limit on deposits above which money is reported to the federal government. If you have too many of these deposits too frequently, the government comes in to investigate. Thus, many of these drug dealer types have to resort to money laundering, i.e., funneling money through legitimate business hoping that bo one will notice a few extra hundred dollars in the deposits. For them, there is such a thing as too much money. Apparently, money that comes from “nowhere” is a problem.

What is something you wish you had more of? Time? Money? Health? Joy? What about grace? Grace brings eternal life, both time and health. Grace brings joy, fulfilling joy. Grace also brings money, for wealth is reserved for you beyond your imagination as the child of the King. It may not be the wealth you want, but what you need. All the things that we wish we had more of, God supplies in abundance through His grace. But here’s the catch, and you knew it was coming. That grace is in accordance with His good work. He will supply you with abundance all that you need to fulfill His work in your world. God will grant you grace in abundance. But He grants this grace to equip you to do His work. He is looking for ROI, that is, a return on investment. When God invests His grace in you, He is expecting a return on that investment, like the three tenants who received talents.

So the lesson for today is to observe yourself to see how you are investing God’s grace. Are you hoarding it for yourself, or are you investing in others, passing on what you have received? We have this unique and awesome privilege of sharing what we have received, the grace of the gospel, to others. Let’s go do that today!

Heavenly Father, today is another great opportunity. Show me today where I can share Your grace, freely given, to others who need it. Help me to help others. Let the good investment of Your grace not be wasted on me today. May I in all things be the conduit and the endpoint of your love, mercy, and power. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Be Golden

www.bible.com/1713/mat.7.12.csb

The Golden Rule has been preached since the days of the early church. It jas echoes in several other world religions. Why? Because it is wisdom. It is a foundation for human society and civilization. You can’t build a society on ”survival of the fittest” or ”every man for himself.” Just ask Communist countries.

When everyone seeks another’s good, seeking to treat others as they themselves would be treated, you have a society not focused on self but community. How others are treated are the chief concern. Because if others are treated in a certain way, you know you will be too.

Does this rule encapsulate all at the Law and the Prophets teach? In one sense, I find it hard to see this. The Law and Prophets point to how and who we worship. But in another sense, it anticipates how God treats us. How does God treat us? He made us, created for us this amazing world with abundance and pleasures we have yet to fathom. It is an awesome thing to consider all the manifold works of His creation. And then consider the others He’s placed in our lives. Family, friends, special people we have come to admire and adore. God has done all of this for us. He has treated us as He expects to be treated. He expects lavish and unbounded praise. He expects love and worship. He has goven us the most profound gift in His own Son, payment for our sin and shame. What should we give in return? Devotion and discipleship.

If you want to be golden this morning, give as you have received. Give as you wish to receive.

Heavenly Father, you have given me so much and have set the example for the kind of person I need to be. Help me today to be better. Help me to see the blessings I’ve received and appreciate the gifts I have. Help me to be content so that I may be content in you. I oray for joy and for opportunities to show You my gratitude. Please watch over me today, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.