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.
Curious thing. Checking the Greek text underlying our English translation is this word translated “conversation”. The Greek word behind it is the same word we use in John one concerning the Christ. He is the Logos. This conversation is our logos. Now logos literally translated is “word”, and so we refer to Christ in John one as the “Word” of God. But what is the “word” of us?
If we refer back to John one for a moment, we find that the Word was in the beginning with God, was with God, and was God. God and His Word are synonymous. The Word that went out from God and became flesh was His real representative in every way that matters. Jesus, this Word made flesh, represented God’s grace, kindness, holiness, and at times, His necessary judgment. Jesus represented the very nature of God, but in flesh, so that we could see Him and hear Him.
Now consider for a moment what effect your words have on others. Your words go forth and represent who you are. You are your words. And even words that “slip out” represent the heart that uttered them. Hence James says that the tongue has yet to be tamed. Why? Because the heart is deceitful and wicked, and only the Lord can change it. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
So this warning is actually quite timely. Just as Jesus is the Word of God, so to your “word” ought to be gracious, “seasoned with salt”, and full of answers for the hope within you. You might be wondered what “seasoned with salt” might mean. I doubt it means you need to have “salty” language. “Salty” language implies you spread plenty of expletive in your conversation that offers bites and jabs at the conscience, to call attention to your speech, because it just isn’t interesting without it. I believe rather that “seasoned with salt” implies that your conversation is flavorful. People will want to hear what you say because you speak in a way that is inviting and encouraging. And if you are talking about the gospel, how could it ever be boring?
Lord Jesus, help me today to tame my tongue, to make my conversation inviting and interesting, because You are on my lips. May my word go forth from me, representing not my fallen and corrupted heart, but the new heart You gave me at baptism, renewed, recreated in me as a heart of flesh rather than stone. Thank You Jesus for calling me Your own. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
So when I saw this image this morning, I knew this one that Youversion had put together was spot on. This image, of a TV set showing a Bible verse, looks like output from an old Commodore 64. I think it is an apt reminder that what we put into our mind always has an output. If you eat, breathe, and drink violence, harm to others, addictive behaviors and so on, it will be reflected in your actual behavior. You cannot drink poison and believe it won’t affect you.
As I mentioned yesterday, the mind is the battlefield between the flesh and the spirit, and the temptations of the flesh, though redeemed by Christ, still war against the promptings of the Spirit. The one who wins, as the old saying goes, is the one you feed. You feed the temptations of the flesh by giving in to them, and committing sin. You “feed” the spirit by spending time with Him, the Holy Spirit, both in reading the word, in prayer, and other spiritual disciplines.
So the choice is really yours. Don’t waste it.
Heavenly Father, again I come to you, woefully inadequate for the task at hand. I am bring nothing to this particular table, but yet, it’s not about who I am, but about who You are. Though I am inadequate, I am a child of God. Though I fail, in You I have success. Lord I bring all that I am to You to use at Your will. Help me to stand, so that I may offer to others what You’ve freely given to me. Thank You Jesus. Amen.
Star Trek the Motion Picture should have been to “The Doomsday Machine” what Star Trek the Wrath of Khan was to “Space Seed”.
“The Doomsday Machine” in Star Trek: The Original Series was about a destructive spacecraft consuming whole planets in its path. Captain Willard Decker ended up sacrificing his crew and himself to stop the machine. Kirk stopped the machine by sacrificing Decker’s ship, the USS Constellation. Kirk barely made it off the ship alive. Here’s a picture of the Doomsday Machine in case you forgot. You might remember that the crew at that time opined that this device was a relic of a long-forgotten war.
Fast forward to the first Star Trek Movie. There we meet Captain Decker’s son, Matthew Decker, who has been to Starfleet Academy and become a Captain in his own right, now overseeing the refit and future mission of the Enterprise. But now comes another threat, another entity threatening earth with destruction. It turns out to be a very similar cylindrical vessel with a large opening on one end, just like the Doomsday Machine but with extra pieces. What a surprise. This is concept art for V’Ger.
If you remember how good the Wrath Of Khan was, then you might be able to imagine how good The Motion Picture should have been. The Wrath of Khan took one of the villains (and very capable actor, Ricardo Montalban) from the original series and made something of a sequel to the original’s story, bringing back the villain on a revenge story now that Kirk has become an admiral (and a father). Teh revenge plot was what kept the story moving, but as I’ve gotten older, I see more clearly the plot of Kirk dealing with middle age being the primary plot of the film, as in the one line (I may paraphrase a bit), “There’s a man out there that wants to kill that I haven’t seen in 30 years, and now I have a son that would be happy to help him.” If the movie was just about the revenge plot, it would still be action-packed, but it wouldn’t be as good. What makes the movie is the characters, their interactions, their empathy and their humanity. We feel like we’ve known these characters for thirty years. We pay attention when they go through the came life crises that we do, and we empathize with them more.
Not so with Star Trek the Motion Picture (STTMP). And here’s what the movie should have been.
STTMP should have been Decker’s story, but told from Kirk’s perspective. Kirk should have been the wiser, older man mentoring the next generation of Starship Captain. STTTMP should have been Decker’s redemption story, and I think he should have been more like the Kirk of the 2009 reboot. We should first have met Decker as a rebellious teen when Kirk goes to visit his home to deliver the news of the death of his father “in the line of duty.” I feel like Kirk, and we would see him dressed in a TOS dress uniform, would tell Decker’s wife the sad news and the younger Decker would come strolling in, pretending not to care. His father was always gone, always on duty. The younger would have grown up hating Starfleet. But when Kirk talks to him, man to man, Kirk would have reminded him that his father gave his life to save others, maybe even the whole galaxy. And then would come Pike’s iconic line from ST (2009). “I dare you to do better.” Somehow, this would get through to Decker, and the next time we see him is as Captain of the Enterprise. That little character bit would have done a lot to show us what kind of person this younger Decker was, and what Kirk’s relationship was to him. Kirk then moves into the role of mentor, and we might get some minor backstory, like how Kirk chose Decker to be the next Captain, and mentored him through the academy, because Kirk feels somehow responsible for the older Decker’s death.
And with that groundwork, we get a better characterization of both characters. V’Ger then becomes not just some alien probe, but a chance for the younger Decker to deal with the same problem his father had, and how he wrestles with the lives of his crew and how he solves the problem. The dynamic between Decker and Kirk would be more defined. We would understand Decker’s reluctance to hand the keys over the Kirk, because deep down, there may actually be resentment towards Kirk, especially once Decker learns the “true” story of the Doomsday Machine and his father’s grief-induced insanity and sacrifice. Decker may resent Kirk for not trying to do more to stop his father, and dialogue to that effect would have helped us see the dynamic between these two characters. I could see this as a plot twist after Spock takes his suit to do recon, to find a “recording” of the original battle (with updated special effects), and returns to tell Kirk that this ship is from the same culture that built the original machine. Suddenly the story takes on new meaning for both Kirk and Decker.
This story might tell us a bit more about the culture that launched this machine-entity, a common origin for both this one and the last one. And of course, the plot twist at the end is that both the Doomsday Machine and V-Ger are both long-lost probes from Earth, but sent back from wherever they came from. This one is improved and more powerful because the first one was lost. And they realize then that they cannot destroy this one with Starship. It also might illustrate the old saying, “sometimes when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back.” It might also have been a way to back-door introduce the Borg (and I think some actually understand this movie that way).
Then Decker’s sacrifice at the end, the “I want this” moment fits together with the rest of the movie. He knew his own father sacrificed himself to save others. Now he sees himself doing the same, as that becomes the solution. Kirk doesn’t become the hero at the end, but Decker. And Kirk takes time with his friends at the end to mourn both men.
Kirk: “You know I chose him, Matthew Decker, to be my replacement on the Enterprise.”
McCoy: “That kid always hated you. Why on earth did you choose him?”
Kirk: “Bones, you remember his father? I knew that if this boy was anything like his father, he would become a great starship captain, probably better than me.”
Spock: “If I recall correctly, Captain Willard Decker lost his crew and his own life, driven insane with his grief. That’s hardly starship captain material.”
Kirk: “But Spock, don’t you see? The man was passionate for his crew. That’s what drove him insane. They weren’t ‘just crew to him, but family. A good captain always looks after his crew as family. And even though his son didn’t see that, I saw it in Matthew. I saw his passion, even as a young man. I knew this was the kind of man who deserved to sit in the Captain’s chair.”
McCoy: “I wonder what kind of Captain he would have been like.”
Kirk: [looking out the window of his cabin] “I think we’ll find out one day, somewhere, out there among the stars. That’s where a captain belongs.”
end scene
Now to be honest, I wouldn’t have minded if throughout the whole movie, it looked like Kirk and his crew were going to be replaced by a new generation, as kind of a send-off to the old crew, only to have to resume their old duties at the end, like being on-hand as instructors or guests at the shakedown cruise of the refurbished vessel, only to be called back to action when the threat of V’Ger dropped. But each of the old crew would have to learn all the new controls, and it would take time for everything to be as efficient as it had been. Can you imagine Uhura perplexed at the new Communications Panel and asking, “Hailing frequencies? I don’t know which button opens them.” And then a helpful subordinate in the heat of the moment pushes it for her. You could have a lot of these little character moments that show you these older characters have a lot to learn about this new Enterprise, but gradually grow into these new roles, both as learners and as mentors. Really, only Scotty would know what he was doing as he was overseeing the refit.
In short, I would play up this movie’s connections with “The Doomsday Machine” as a way to revisit the mysteries of that show and reinforce the relationship between the otherwise unknown Decker and Kirk. I think that would have immensely improved the film and brought more story to bear, to make the impact of the sacrifices and people involved more meaningful.
For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. (2Co 10:3-5)
I love how this starts out as Paul saying we have a war to win, taking up very masculine language to topple strongholds and raise victory over our enemies. But then he subtly changes tack, saying that the strongholds we are overcoming aren’t castles and fortress, but proud thoughts and arguments. Our weapons move from swords and shields to words and logic, offering this divine wisdom in answer to the world’s poor substitutes.
And then Paul changes things again! Instead of fighting “out there” and “them”, we suddenly realize that the battlefield is us. It may also be all of those thoughts “out there” that others have that need to be brought under the submission of Christ, but the first battlefield is in our own mind, the lusts and thoughts of our our heart, the pride we have before God as he haughtily declare that we know the truth. Hmm.
Just to reinforce what he is saying, he says this in the next verse:
And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed. (2Co 10:6)
Ouch. I guess that means I need to take up (spiritual) arms against myself, for my greatest battlefield is in my mind.
Now, I want you to consider for a moment the implications of this. If we consider that the human person is made of of these three components, the flesh, the mind, and the spirit, where exactly is the battle taking place? And why there? Now I consider the mind to be the essential interface between the spirit and the body. and when it comes to spiritual warfare, especially in ourselves, it usually is warfare between the flesh and the spirit. We this confirmed in Galatians 5:
I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. (Gal 5:16-17)
But the mind is caught between the two. The mind is where we make decisions, carry out actions we’ve determined, and experiences the “what if” of temptation. It is that neutral ground between “I need a sandwich” and “I need to pray.” Yet it is upon the mind that the forces of flesh and spirit line up to meet.
Didn’t the flesh get redeemed like the spirit did when we accepted Christ? Yes. However, the flesh still has needs. You still need to breathe, to drink, to eat, to be warm or cool, etc. But even Paul says that self-control is still a necessity:
Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away. Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1Co 9:25-27)
He notes that even as an apostle of Jesus, he needs to discipline his body and bring it under strict control. Consider that. We all have needs that are crying out to be fulfilled. There are easy ways to meet them (stealing) and more difficult (earning a living, being able to honestly purchase the things you need) that calls for some self-control and delayed satisfaction. We pray before we eat. Why? Does it sanctify the food? Depends on the cook. But it also practices self-control. We are not ravenous wolves who descend on a meal in a fervor. We wait each his turn, pass the peas, and say please and thank you.
Though sanctified, the flesh must be kept under careful discipline or else it will overwhelm the rest of you. This is how addictions start. If you’ve every talked with an addict, you find a person who’s flesh is dictating to them how to live, not their spirit.
This is why every thought must be taken captive to Christ. Every thought must be interrogated, “Why are you here?” “Whom do you serve?” ” How will you help me grow in Christ?” There are thoughts that course through your mind that come from your flesh. “The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,and the pride of life.” We need to take every thought captive, or else the mind will serve the flesh, and the not the other way around.
Lord Jesus, I need Your overwhelming power to help me overcome myself. My flesh wars against my spirit, and on this battlefield of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, I need a strong Ally at my side. Would you so equip me in this battle that I may stand, fully armored by Your armor, to withstand even this flesh that wars against me? Lord Jesus, I know that if we can win this battle, all the others will be easy. Thank You Jesus for Your grace and mercy, in Your Name I pray, Amen.
I’m wondering what Jesus is questioning here. Youversion only had the last verse in their “verse of the day” so I went back and included the preceding two verses to give you come context. From this context, the phrase “If you can” precedes “do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus’ response “Everything is possible for the one who believes” seems to answer “if you can do anything.” “If you can” sounds like an expression of positive doubt, meaning that the mean is hopeful, but not certain that Jesus will actually be able to do anything to help his son. But bringing his son to Jesus is an expression of faith. Why bring your son if you don’t think Jesus can help?
Jesus’ response seems one of surprise, as if surprised at one who would come such a long way with his demon-possessed son would suddenly doubt the healing power in Jesus.
I wonder then if the man, rather than doubting Jesus’ healing power, instead doubted Jesus compassion. If you have ever had a child with a prolonged illness, sure people are compassionate, at first. If your child acts out or make strange noises in public, then people start to avoid you, or complain to the manager about you because your child is disrupting their meal. People give you strange looks, like, “I can’t believe you brought that thing here. What kind of parent are you?” I can imagine this wearied father had tried to bring his child to a synagogue or to healers before, only to be rebuffed and told to take that “thing” home. They were not welcome. I have no doubt many times this father chastised himself, asking God why He would burden him with such a child? Maybe even sometimes wishing the child had died, and then feeling guilt, profound guilt at such thoughts. The man brings the child to Jesus, halfway hoping that the stories he had heard were true, that this Jesus is compassionate, helpful, and able to rid his son.
I see these same parents the Emergency Room, sitting by their children who’ve had another overdose. I see the agony in their faces, wondering if this time, THIS TIME, their child will discover the error of their ways. The know people talk about them. They know some medical staff even despise them. “Why do you keep caring? They deserve that they get!” Yet they keep praying, “Dear God, please let this time be the last time. Let me have my child back!” If you’ve ever had a child caught in the destructive pattern of sin and addiction, you know all about this.
And can you imagine the man’s joy when his son is freed?
Dear Father, I know sometimes I question why certain things happen to me. I question Your Divine Wisdom, but my sense of what ought to be is always bested by Yours. You know what is best. You knew that this father would have to go through all kinds of ignominy before he met Jesus, and I know that after his son was freed, he experienced profound joy. Father my prayer is for all the fathers and mothers whose children are in bondage, who have tried everything to free them (from addictions, sinful behaviors, all those things that tear families apart). I know that this agony is for a time, and You have better things planned. Please Father free these children from their bondage, help them open their eyes and see their parents again, just like that boy before Jesus. I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen!
It doesn’t seem possible to actually fulfill this command, does it? How can anyone “taste” or even “see” God to know that He is good? Fortunately, “taste” can also be translated figuratively as “perceive” which should help, but “see”? Sometimes I wonder if David was just hungry, so he used his hunger as inspiration for his writing.
David is definitely arguing for an active perception of the goodness of the Lord, and that is often through seeing His handiwork, sometimes by viewing the heavens, or seeing nature as it surrounds us and fills us with awe. And when you do, it doesn’t take long to see after all.
Lord God, help me to see what I’ve been missing gazing at my cell phone or my computer screen all day. Show me the wonder that only You possess, that unmistakable wonder that the Lord God has revealed through His handiwork. May I be close enough to taste it, so that I may rejoice again. Thank You for all of Your marvelous work. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
How fortunate are we that we serve a God who sits on a throne of grace? If you remember the movie ELF, you might remember Will Farrell’s title character getting very angry at the department store Santa where he worked, telling him he is not the “real” Santa, and that the chair made up for him to visit with eager holiday shopping children is a “throne of lies!” What a sad commentary on our religious system. Something many people are waking up to these days is that the system in which they’ve been employed, raised their families, gone to church and given their blood, sweat and treasure, is built on “lies”. The throne of Santa in many ways epitomizes that system.
What we have made of Christmas is the throne of lies. If Christmas is the best holiday of the year, then we have truly turned it into a cash cow, when everything is Christmas-ified. Even things that have nothing to do with Christmas, like outdoor power equipment, liquor beer and wine sales, palm trees, you name it, everything gets the Christmas treatment. All to make an extra dollar. The character of Santa, and his god-like persona is the kind of god who rewards kindness, just for the asking, but looks askance at evil, just this once, so that you can have a good holiday. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake, but he doesn’t punish evil, but to grant a stocking full of coal. He is the kind of god people want when grace without cost. That’s what we call “cheap grace” and the feelings of forgiveness and gratitude last just as long at the packaging it comes in. The kindness of “good feelings” of Christmas wear off by December 26th, and all the “good will toward men” seems to fade with the last of the Christmas carols. This isn’t a throne of grace, but a throne of lies. Actually, it reveals the human heart as much as anything, since it demonstrates that we can all get along with each other when we expect something, but when it is unmet, or even satisfied, we go back to the business of looking out for ourselves as usual.
There has got to be a better way. If we can all respect the ideals of Christmas, the joy and the feeling of peace and well-being, then perhaps we need to seek a different throne. Instead of one built on presents and anticipation, perhaps we need to seek one built on Presence and realization. We can no longer rely on cheap forgiveness and “cheap grace”. What we hope for in Christmas is fulfilled in Christ. The “peace on earth and good will toward men” isn’t something found in a box under a tree, but in a man who died on a cross 2000 years ago. Peace of earth doesn’t come from a store, but from the atoning death of the One who came from heaven, lived among us, tempted in all ways that we are, and yet without sin. This One died in our place. He took the punishment and the wrath intended for you, and suffered it in Himself. So instead of wrath, as we deserve, we can receive peace and grace from the Father.
Don’t dare reduce the sacrifice that Jesus made for you. Don’t dare reduce the penalty for sin. God doesn’t wink at sin and say, “maybe just this once”. God hates sin. And He hates the one who sins. Be glad. Because if God was apathetic towards sinners, He wouldn’t care if you lived or died. But because God hates the sinner, he very much cares about what happens to them. This is why He sent His own Son to suffer and die in Your place, not because He had to. God is under no obligation to suffer for you. You are obligated under His justice to suffer and die for your own sins, and you will if you ignore His great salvation. But God in Christ chose the suffer the indignity of human flesh so that each of us could choose life in Him and through Him. This throne of Justice is awesome, and will strike you with intense fear, because even as a Christian, you know you are not holy enough to be in His presence. But for us, it is a throne of grace. Though we are terrified, He loves us. And that is a strange feeling.
Dear Father, as I come before you today, let me pray for my brothers and sisters today who still cling to the lies of this world. For a whom a veil has been pulled over their eyes, and they cannot see the truth for the lies, who have clung to cheap grace without consequence. Father, rather let us open our eyes to the reality of grace. It comes at great cost, at the dearest most treasured price, and shame on us if we do not keep this before our eyes, that we were bought at extreme cost, precious beyond anything this world can offer. This is the grace extended to us because our sins, our vile, filthy, worthless sins, spare us from that grief and everlasting punishment for which our sins deserve. Lord we do not deserve what You offer us, and I know that is the point of grace. Thank You Jesus for bearing that sins upon Your shoulders, so that we could live. In Your holy Name I pray, Amen.
Have you ever let your flesh get the best of you? Sometimes I get really hungry, and when I get hungry, I get irritable. I can feel it happening, and I just stop caring. I mean, I can feel myself, see myself getting irritable and angry, and there’s a piece of me that recognizes what’s happening, but it’s like I am seeing it through a tunnel, and my flesh, which is hungry, tired, and doesn’t care anymore gets in control of my mouth, and things come out, hurtful things that I regret when I am sated. Some call it “hangry” but it happens whenever I’ve been out of my comfort zone and don’t know what dinner plans are. I try to avoid it, but it still happens. It’s hard to be a Christian and hungry. Lord help me when I fast.
But the flesh takes advantage of spiritual weakness. It’s not that the flesh is evil, for it has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, just as your mind and your soul has. But the flesh is more reactionary. You flinch at the prospect of pain. For some, anger is an easy ally. The flesh wants what it wants, whether it be food, water, rest, or justice. When you are hot, you want to be cool. When you are cold, you want to be warm. And the flesh let’s you know when something is wrong by delivering messages of pain. But the flesh can easily be tempted. Satan’s first temptation of Jesus was to attempt to manipulate Him through His human flesh by asking Him to use His power to turns stones into bread, as Jesus had not eaten for 40 days.
There are opportunities to serve the flesh, and there are opportunities to serve the needs of others, and unfortunately, they often occur at the same time. What would you think of a mother who fed and took care of herself first before she met the needs of her children? Or a father that spent his paycheck on beer and women before paying the bills and needs of his family? We would rightly despise both of them.
Rather, we look at those who sacrifice themselves as noble. Those who give up their own wants and needs and more honorable that those that only serve themselves. This is ideal of altruism. This is the ideal of Christian service, giving sacrificially. And for us, this is freedom. We are no longer subject or slaves to our own desires. That may seem counter-intuitive, since many see freedom as the freedom to do what we want to do. But our wants and needs are different after Christ than before. We do not see our freedom as an excuse to indulge ourselves, but to be free from ourselves, our vices and self-imposed hobbles. We are free from the sin that so easily besets us, so that we may run the race of the Kingdom, for all who finish gain the victory.
Lord help me gain today gain the victory over my life. Every day my flesh with great help from temptation seeks to undermine my spirit and my freedom to serve You. May my food be the will of Him who called me. May my sustenance be the grace he offered me at great cost. May I seek to do Your will today and every day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What would you consider to be the most important commandment? In light of recent events, I might put forth “do not bear false witness” as so much of what we do are are motivated to do comes from truth. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been blatantly lied to. It makes me sick. Just tell the truth and get it over with.
However, you may have a different experience than mine, and see “do not murder” as the most important, or maybe, “do not steal”. I think our experiences tend to color our perception of God’s laws a bit more when we’ve been the victim of a particular sin. If you’ve suffered loss of life because of someone else’s wrongdoing, or you’ve suffered loss of property or promotion because someone else stole it from you.
This passage is Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees’ question, “What is the most important commandment in the Law?” It was probably a test, and whatever answer He chose, they likely assumed it would be one of the Ten Commandments, and their relative importance was hotly debated. Knowing which of those He chose would give them grounds to argue His authority.
But like always, Jesus outwits them, choosing not one of the Ten Commandments, but from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), which was the capstone for reiterating the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5. Jesus makes it very clear that He knows the commandments better than they do. He was there when they were written. He is the Word of God, so He is the living embodiment of the words of God. In short, He knows the Law.
But the second Law, doesn’t come from Deuteronomy, but from Leviticus 19:18. “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” It’s not likely one the Pharisees would have picked for their list of most important commandments, as it seems is some ways tacked on, an afterthought, and applicable in this particular incidence. But Jesus plucks out of relative obscurity, as if to say, “If you really knew the Law, you would realize how foundational this is to the whole.” And in their attempt to trick Him, they were violating both the first and second greatest commandments. They didn’t ask Him the question to see His succeed, but to fail. That is not love, either for God, or for their neighbor.
Dear God, I know every day I try Your patience. Every day I do things that make you shake your head and occasionally do a facepalm. Thank You for being so patient with me. Thank You for still loving me when I’ve lost that loving feeling, and turn inward to my own selfish lusts. I pray for Your forgiveness and grace each and every day, and pray that today I will do better. Thank You for everything Lord. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
It is my place of peace. My sacred space is the church house, and every time I am there, no matter what church or denomination it is, I feel peace there.
And this despite some of the bad experiences I’ve had at church, with church people being cruel. I still find my Father’s house a place of refuge and hope. Which is why I miss being at church. I really miss going to church and participating in worship. Which is why I’ve attended a handful of churches recently, whoever is open, just to be there. I need it for my own sense of wholeness.
Since I’ve been working at the hospital as a Chaplain, I also have access to the hospital Chapel, which in some ways helps. I go there sometimes just to sit and pray.
In short, I am looking forward to the day when we will all be in the Lord’s presence forever, of which we’ve had merely a taste of.
I hope today has been a great Sunday for you. God bless you and I hope to have something of substance tomorrow.
Meritt Musings 