greed

lent devotional 40

“be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”

…

“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

-luke 12:15, 34

greed is a deceptive ailment and temptation.  while me might find ourselves generous with giving of our money or resources, we might be more possessive of our time or of ourselves in general.  Christ warns us to be on guard against all kinds of greed.

this convicted me because i realized that there are many things i don’t readily share, or struggle to give up to God and others.  this verse reveals to me that i fall into storing up my ‘treasures’ in things that are temporary, Earthy, and not of the All Mighty.

as followers of Christ, we want our heart to be fixated on the Above and the Eternal, and to not be cluttered with treasures that are fleeting, idols if given devotion and admiration will grow and fester, blocking out the Light of a Godly and Heavenly perspective.

so, this is a reminder to myself that when i feel myself clinging to tightly to something i have come to love and treasure, to take a step back and ask myself if greed is blinding me from serving God more fully.

hypocrite

lent devotional 39

be on your guard against the yeast of the pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  what you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

-luke 12:1-3

i’ve heard it said that when a random individual is asked to describe Christians in five words, one of the first or most common words that is given is “hypocrite.”

that is sobering and worthy of mourning and lament.  as Christians we are to be followers of Christ and reflections of His character.  at all times, when we are watched and when we are alone. we are to practice what we preach, we are held to a high set of standards.

now, Christ does not expect perfection, we do not need to be flawless to be in relationship with Him or to receive eternal life.  but, as followers of Christ, we want to lead authentic lives that are intent on doing our best to live by the Word.

so, Christ cautions us against hypocrisy. not that we will always successfully avoid it, but we are called to try and to have it on our mind to be on the look out for it.

furthermore, it is important to endeavor to follow after Christ both when others can see us and in our private moments, because Christ is omnipresent, and the messages we nurture in our hearts and minds whether in a crowd or by our lonesome, shape the way we represent Christ to the world. 

if the perception of Christians is that we are hypocrites above all other things, then let us do our individual effort to be intent on representing Christ rightly, be open about failing to do what we know is right although we try, and reflecting above all else grace and love to those around us.

persistence

lent devotional 38

for everyone who asks, receives. everyone who seeks, finds. and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

-luke 11:10

there are times when we all, and perhaps this is almost all the time, feel that our prayers go unanswered. we come to think of God as deaf to us or uncaring of the things we long for, beseech Him for.

i guess i've never really thought of my perception of unanswered prayer as an issue of persistence, but perhaps it is in many occasions  i mean, how often do a truly come to God about something weighing heavily on my mind and with what degree of zealousness do i seek His aid and guidance?  too often, i think i offer it up once, and when i don't hear back in the time frame i expected or in the manner i had outlined in my mind, i become disappointed and i feel somewhere deep inside myself that an additional prayer is a wasted effort, or an annoyance to God somehow

but Christ coaches us to be persistent, to keep knocking, asking, and seeking, even when we feel there is no answer. even when we feel that God isn't listening. because, He is listening.  and maybe it is because unless we devote ourselves to seeking an answer, unless we feel a deep longing for a solution to the thing we speak to God about, we won't recognize the answer, won't be able to share with other's God's provision and omnipresence in our own life.  we won't appreciate an answered prayer unless we were persistent to find it.

doors can't be opened if you don't knock on them, so we should come to God with unashamed persistence in our prayer life, to seek His answers to the things that lay heavy on our minds and hearts.

activity

lent devotional 37

her sister, mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He taught.  but martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing...

the Lord said to her, "my dear martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! there is only one thing worth being concerned about. mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.

-luke 10:39-42

 we, at least in america, are a culture of business.  i am of the most severe breed of this cultural characteristic: i'll complain about my longing to have free time, but give me free time, and i'll fill it up with activity and commitments that makes me busy once again. we're addicted to 'doing.'

anytime i happen upon the mary & martha story i am reminded anew of the importance Christ places on stillness and silence, and how very much we (myself included) have lost sight of that.

there is only one thing worth being concerned over, and that is Christ, and we need to only worry about being present in His presence, concerned about making time to sit at His feet and listen to what He is teaching us in our daily lives.  

all the rest is just detail.

life

lent devotional 36

...take up your cross daily, and follow Me.  if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. but if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.

-luke 9:23-24

when Jesus calls us to take up a cross and follow Him, to give up our life for His service, it seems like a burden. and it certainly is not easy, and it means a life of two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back in offering up our life to do work for the Lord.

however, in the brief and few moments that i have somehow managed to give of myself and of my time to serving Christ, i have found a unexpected sort of ease and lightness to life.  suddenly, the problems that plague my mind, the anxieties and insecurities, don't seem as heavy, they dissolve a bit, my perspective on my circumstances clears up.  i once heard it said that the best way to forget your own troubles is to focus on aiding others in their own, and by offering our life up to Christ, to serving Him, we are able to see the service of others as more important the service to ourselves.

it seems contradictory that to give up our life means to save our life, but the tighter we cling to anything but Jesus, the further we get from walking in step with Him in our daily life.  this bit of scripture reminds us that the here-and-now, including our mortal life, is temporary and fleeting, and if we cling to it as our everything, our salvation, then we lose out on living our days on earth with the freedom that comes with knowing that we have eternal life to look forward to, as a free gift.

storm

lent devotional 35

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.

-luke 8:24

i have always thought this story a great cinematic testament to the power of Christ. i often underestimate or just forget, that Christ is all powerful as God the Father is all powerful.

if Christ can calm a storm with a simple rebuke, then what storm in your life can he not quell?

peace

lent devotional 34

then He said to the woman, "your faith has healed you. go in peace."

-luke 7:50

our personal missteps, temptations, and sins can make us feel filthy and so very flawed that we feel we could never approach Christ.  we feel unworthy of salvation, because we are. but that is not the point.  we are not healed from our sins, from the thorns in our side, from our personal efforts.  we find healing on earth from such thing, but more importantly, eternal healing in Heaven by faith.

as Christ says above to the weeping prostitute that has just washed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair and a bottle of perfume, she is healed and saved from the punishment of her wrong acts not because she tried really hard to balance herself out with a collection of good acts. she was healed because she had faith in who Christ was and sought the gift of salvation (the ultimate healing) that He offered her, offers all of us.

and by knowing that, we ought to walk in peace every day.  the enemy wants us to feel badly when we stumble, fall into temptation, and commit a sin. but Christ wants us to know that it is not a perfect record that will heal us, that will give us salvation, it is having faith in who He is and what He did to save us all.  what freedom that provides, we can go in peace even when we mess up and are not perfect, because our Savior provides undeserved healing by faith alone.