devotional

TGIF September 23, 2022

Thank God it’s Friday. TGIF will be a series of devotionals on Friday morning that I am going through as I read through the Bible. I started the M’Cheyne One Year Reading Plan today. There are four texts that go with that particular plan. Two of the readings are readings for private devotionals. The other two are for family devotionals. I’ll pick one of the readings to reflect on every Friday.

Genesis 1

Genesis 1 is famous because it is the origin story of everything we can sense with our five senses. More than anything it’s the story of the Originator, the Creator, of everything we can sense with our five senses and how He orders it all.

I won’t go through each day here but some notes off the cuff:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This simple statement is loaded with big truths. God was there at the beginning in pre-existence because He is the fount of all existence (John 1). It was God who created it all. Not us. Not anyone else. And like anything that we create, God’s signature is on it saying that he has rights over it. It’s all His to do with what He wills and orders it in whatever way He wills.
“Then God said…” God creates through His Word. He speaks and nothingness obeys. Out of formlessness and emptiness came form and fullness because God said so.
“And God saw that it was good.” God’s creation is good. It’s not coincidence or chance that creates beauty and goodness. There’s intention and meaning, though some of those intentions and meanings may be out of our reach and rationality, certainly. Some art is just there to enjoy as some of my artist friends would enjoy. It’s part of the goodness of Creation. But some of the goodness of Creation is also that God’s goodness created it. He put life everywhere. From the crawling things on the ground to huge whales swimming through the endless expanse of the sea, God created it all to have life and display His goodness.
“And God crated man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” Humankind is unique. Everything else is created “…according to their kinds” (v. 25) but humankind is created according to God’s likeness (v. 26). I get uncomfortable thinking how people these days keep saying that we are just animals. Theologically speaking, that’s not true at all. The Bible tells us we are created uniquely in God’s image while the rest of Creation is created according to their kinds. And this doesn’t lessen their value or justify mistreatment of animals. Remember, God created animals and said that they are good. We should steward Creation well because of that. But to says humans are simply animals denigrates the image of God.
“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.” God gives humankind purpose. There’s a mission to be fruitful and multiply the images of God in the world, thereby, spreading the glory of God and His goodness. He has provided everything we need to do this and given us authority to justly rule and reign over it.

There is plenty more to go into but to put Genesis 1 simply: the good intentions of our Creator are still in effect. The mission is still the same. Despite brokenness that we encounter, sparks of beauty remain. We are uniquely created and empowered by God to love and rule justly and spread the glories of God to the end of the earth. His Word is powerful and gives us the authority, provision, and grace to meet that end.

TGIF August 12, 2022

Thank God it’s Friday. TGIF will be a series of devotionals on Friday morning that I am going through as I read through the Bible. I am not following any particular reading plan at the moment. I decided to start reading one Old Testament book and one New Testament book that I don’t feel very familiar with and read one chapter from each. These are just a few thoughts and questions I had from my readings.

1 Samuel 5

The ark of the covenant had been captured by the Philistines, the enemy of the Israelites at the time. Ancient Near Eastern traditions of war said that if you take the god of your enemy, then you have definitively conquered their people.

Dagon was the principal god of the Philistines. They placed the ark of the covenant into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. Apparently, the next day, Dagon was found face down on the ground before the ark of the covenant. Perhaps it was a coincidence or perhaps it just happened to have fallen over. They set Dagon back up again.

The next day, they found him fallen again but this time with his head and hands cut off. This is the reason why Dagon’s priests no longer enter into the threshold of Dagon. He has been utterly defeated by Israel’s God.

The Lord brought chaos to wherever he was sent amongst his enemies. The Philistines didn’t want him because of the tumors that were breaking out amongst the people. They brought the ark to Gath. More tumors. They sent it to Ekron and the Ekronites already knew that only death awaited them if they housed the god of their enemies in their city.

Chaos went wherever the presence of God went amongst his enemies.

It’d be naive to say that just because there’s chaos in your life, that you’re an enemy of God. Unfortunately, many people believe this. Some people call it karma. You do bad, the “universe” is bad to you.

Sometimes there’s chaos because of sin. Sometimes there’s chaos because there are elements out of our control in the wise hand of God. Sometimes we cause the chaos ourselves. But every time, we must trust that God is doing good to us as followers of Christ.

Even when we think we are conquered, He is not. When we fall prey to sin and temptation, remember that the Lord has not been defeated. His power and strength and wisdom is not dependent on our ability to win in battles that we aren’t meant to fight on our own. He is strong and He will save. He will be the one who cuts the head off of our enemy. Let us not forget this.

As we continue to fight the good fight of faith, we must remember to topple the idols in our hearts and bow, face down, to the ground before the Lord, our Maker. God is superior and greater to any other gods we create ourselves in an effort to be god.

TGIF July 29, 2022

1 Samuel 3

I always find it refreshing to read a famous story in the Bible that I knew well when I was a kid and to read it as an adult. Back then, it almost seemed like fairy tales that I learned lessons from. These days, as someone who has a theological degree, I am more driven to think about it in terms of what it says about God and it’s effect on me and how I apply it to my life.

The story of Samuel’s call is fascinating to say the least. Samuel is now serving in the temple under the priest Eli as his mother had promised the Lord. And the story begins with a context clue that helps us remember why this story is a big deal: “In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.”

Why was this? Well, from the chapter before, you could get the idea that Eli, the priest, wasn’t really doing his job. Well, mainly, it was his sons who were practicing wickedness that included treating the Lord’s offering with contempt (2:17). Eli was being held responsible for the wickedness of his house. It’s possible that prophetic visions were rare because the Lord was withholding it from them due to their cursing of God.

This is a reminder for us that we don’t sin in silos. Sin tears the fabric of our lives and what might feel like a minor thread being pulled, we often don’t see the unraveling effect it has on the rest of the fabric. It affects us deeply but it affects those around us as well. It’s clear that our families are probably the closest to us that suffer due to our sin, directly or indirectly. May we be vigilant in our fight against sin and temptation.

At the end of chapter 2, the Lord promises that he will raise up a faithful priest (2:35). It seems that chapter 3 is a partial fulfillment of that promise.

The Lord calls Samuel to convey a message to Eli the priest. Another interesting note in verse 7: “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” Though Samuel was serving the Lord under the priest in the temple, the passage says that he did not yet know the Lord because the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

This is a profound statement in our culture because so many of us who grew up in America, particularly here in Texas, grew up going to church “serving the Lord” but our Bibles remain on our shelves collecting dust. How can any of us know the Lord if we never hear him and listen to him? If we never read his word, then how are we ever to know him?

I heard John Piper say once in a sermon that you may not find the love of God reading the Bible, since many read the Bible and come away without knowing the Lord, but you will not find it clearer anywhere else. If we want to know the Lord and His love for His people, we must feast on God’s Word.

Eli discerns that the calling in the middle of the night that Samuel was hearing was the Lord and so Eli rightly instructs Samuel to receive the Word of the Lord. The Lord confirms the judgment that is coming on Eli and his family for their cursing of the Lord.

Samuel is afraid to deliver this news to Eli but Eli draws it out of him by threatening the Lord’s punishment. And so Samuel delivers the message of impending judgment to Eli. Eli rightly receives this message.

And the passage ends with Samuel growing with the Lord’s presence and being well known as a prophet of the Lord, in a time where the word of the Lord and prophetic visions were rare and not widespread.

Samuel’s attitude of fear to deliver the message is a reminder that we ought to take the Lord’s Word with fear and trembling, especially when it is one of judgment. And Eli’s response is wise as well when confronted with the reality of God’s judgment: “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is good.” Both exemplify faith that the word of the Lord is true. It is a simple childlike faith that receives God’s Word with fear and trembling. May we have this sort of faith as we approach God’s Word as it reveals to us who the Lord is.

My Worth is Not in What I Own

I have a lot of stuff.

When my wife and I moved into our house, we thought we’d be able to reduce some of the clutter that was beginning to fill up our 2-bedroom campus family dorm. What ended up happening was our house gave us more room for more clutter.

We aren’t really hoarders or anything like that though some things have sentimental value that are hard to let go of. A lot of the stuff we have is baby stuff which, of course, we know we can’t really do much about now having two babies and all. But outside of furniture, we just have a lot of stuff that sometimes, when I find, I think to myself, “When and why did I buy this?“

Furthermore, we might get an Amazon delivery to our house every week. I know for a fact right now that I am waiting on at least 3 packages from different places.

All this to say, yet again: I have a lot of stuff.

Part of why we keep a lot of stuff is because of the value. A lot of the time we keep it because it has sentimental value. But some of our stuff we keep because of monetary value. I’ll check the price on some of my basketball shoes that I am trying to sell to see if it’s up to date or if I could sell it for more. I’ll get an email now and again letting me know that the value of my house property has risen. One of my greater fears right now is that the value of my house will have dropped because we made a DIY gravel patio in our backyard. You would think it would add value to the home but I’m afraid it’s not super pretty so it may have done the opposite.

It’s very easy to get caught up in this concept of value and make the mistake that my value changes because of stuff. And not necessary the things that I own, but the stuff that makes me me.

An easy example: I am a pastor at a small church. Is my value as a pastor not as high as a pastor of a larger church? If my sermons are not as good, does that lessen my value to my members? How is that value measured? My pay? The offering basket? Baptisms? Confessions of faith?

A song that has been on my heart recently is a hymn written by Graham Kendrick and Keith and Kristyn Getty called ‘My Worth is Not in What I Own’:

It’s a beautiful song that I’ve heard plenty of times before. However, this season in my life has made this song suddenly resonate a little more strongly than it has before. Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1
My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love at the cross

Verse 2
My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross

Chorus
I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest treasure Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him no other
My soul is satisfied in Him alone

Verse 3
As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us at the cross

Verse 4
I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom’s fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ at the cross

Verse 5
Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed my ransom paid at the cross

These words have been a shelter for my soul as I have been up and down with different circumstances that make me question my value in the eyes of friends, family, co-workers, and church members.

The truth that this hymn reminds me of is that my value and worth is not in my gifts, my skills, my weaknesses, my vocation, my looks, my success, my failures, or anything else other than the very precious worth Jesus Christ. He died for me in my place. His life is worth infinitely more than mine and yet it was sacrificed for my sake. That is my value. Not anything or anyone else.

I hope this encourages any of you who might be going through a season of life that is making you question your value and your worth. Have faith in Jesus who has redeemed you and loves you even now as you are because of His work on the cross.