On the Way to Easter

“When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” 

Samaritans had their historic tensions with the Jews and vice versa. Neither approved of the other.  Samaritans’ law, temple location, and part-Jewish, part-Gentile ancestry repulsed the Jews, and Jewish elitism infuriated the Samaritans. Jesus was not welcomed to step foot within Samaritan borders if that prominent Jewish city with its Jewish temple was His final destination. They didn’t want to play any kind of support role in the direction He was going, but they never imagined that His destination would be the source of their redemption. 

The reaction of Jesus’ disciples to Samaritan rejection proves how quickly the simmering hostilities could boil over: 

“And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But He turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.”

If the Samaritans or the disciples could have had their way, they would have stood in Jesus’ way; their stipulations, prejudices, and preconceived ideas had drawn certain boundary lines about what was acceptable for Jesus. 

“Those people, that place, doing such a thing as that? Unacceptable!” Declared both sides about the other.

But a passive “No Trespassing” sign couldn't deter Jesus. An aggressive “Hellfire and Brimstone” judgment call wouldn’t distract Him. He quietly detoured around the Samaritans and verbally rebuked His followers. He was on His way to redeem the world, and He would do it in spite of them all. His face was set toward Easter.

Like the Samaritans, have I passively set up barriers for Jesus, because my role in His plan hinges on certain conditions?

Like the disciples, have I aggressively preferred judgment over redemption in certain cases? 

Will I have a part in Jesus’ redemptive work in someone’s life or will it happen in spite of me on the way to Easter?

For more, see Luke 9:51-56; Luke 10:29-37; John 4:1-30 

Your workday matters

In the beginning, God, the Master Designer, created a physical world that He deemed good. He included humanity in His good creation, but he distinguished us above the rest of the created order by making us in His image. Our responsibility was to steward the abundant potential He’d woven into the earth for the sake of the world’s flourishing and to the glory of the Creator.

But mankind rejected this plan, wanting to define good ourselves, instead of living by how God had defined it. Now, instead of stewarding all that God made, humanity neglects, destroys, or worships God’s creation to the destruction of our own souls. Everything is out of alignment, physically and spiritually.

The promise we cling to for our future is that, through Christ, God will one day completely restore his creation that’s been misaligned by sin. He will turn chaos into order; He will make the broken whole; He will make what’s wasted, useful, what’s ruined, beautiful. Everything lost under the curse is finally reversed entirely. 

Until that day, we participate in God’s restoration process every time we put our hands to work, bringing order, wholeness, or beauty to the world through our jobs. While we're on this earth, we’ve been entrusted to research, discover, and utilize the built-in laws and principles that uphold our world and lead to its beneficial use. We’re entrusted to apply our abilities, giftings, strengths, insights, and responsibilities for the good of those around us and in reflection of our Master until He returns. We take part in:

God’s orderliness if we’re accountants or secretaries

God’s creativity if we’re designers or chefs

God’s justice if we’re in law and government

God’s truth if we’re teachers or researchers

God’s care if we’re in the medical field or parenting a three year old

The list goes on. As we steward our Master’s entrustments, we also anticipate the completion of His work when His kingdom fully comes. Somehow, the way we steward our responsibilities on this earth, affects our future responsibilities in his kingdom.  There is an inheritance awaiting us, where the little we’ve been faithful with, becomes much for our role in God’s kingdom. The little bits of joy we’ve experienced in our role on earth become full joy in the Master’s presence. 

May you experience a glimmer of that joy in your workday, because it matters to Him.

For more, see Genesis 1-3; Matthew 25:14-29; Romans 1:20-23, 8:18-28; Colossians 3:23-24

For the college-bound

Inspired by Proverbs 3:1-6

We’re in the season of making college visits with our oldest son, so when I came to Proverbs 3 in my devotions, all I could think about was when his actual send-off comes next year. I’ll need as much help as I can get on that day, and these six verses prompted me to parallel each one with what I’d say if I wasn’t sobbing my eyes out…so maybe a letter, tucked between layers of clothes in his suitcase, would be better. I’d write it like this:

My son,

Keep this instruction in your heart: 

Those phrases I repeated every time you walked out the door 

and those things I’ve said about the kind of lifestyle that’s best - remember it all! 

You’ll experience a better life and a more peaceful one if you do. 

I’ve tried to follow my own advice, and now it’s your turn. (v.1,2)

Carve these initials on your heart:

L+F. They’re together forever. 

Love + Faithfulness go hand in hand like an aged couple 

with decades of character between them. 

These qualities, straight out of God’s heart, 

form the foundation of all lasting relationships, between God and you 

and between you and others. (v. 3,4)

Trust the Lord with your heart:

You might feel grown up and like you understand everything (at least, I did at your age)

but don’t just live by your instincts or your best guess.

Instead, with every decision ahead of you, talk to God. Ask Him.

You’ll be surprised at how He makes the unclear, clear 

and the crooked, straightened out. (v.5,6)

Of course, there’s more I could say, but if you’re intentional about what you do in, on, and with your heart, you’ll be off to a good start.

With love, 

Mom

A Backstage Pass

Reflecting on All My Knotted Up Life, by Beth Moore

After learning Portuguese to church-plant in Brazil, one of the unexpected privileges that came my way was facilitating English-speaking women’s Bible studies. Our group was a diverse convergence of women from nations such as Germany, Israel, Mexico, and the US, but we were united by the English language and by our identity as foreigners, trying to adjust and humoring ourselves with stories of how far we had to go in that process. We were all at different places in our faith: some of us were committed to Jesus, and others, just curious about Him. 

Since English Bible study content was unavailable in our context, anyone from our circle who would be traveling to the US and back, volunteered to sacrifice a hefty portion of their baggage weight allowance to return with study materials. Alongside books by a favorite author, Beth Moore, came DVD’s of pre-recorded teaching sessions that transported us to a women’s conference in another hemisphere, and, even more importantly, transported us into the pages of the Bible. If you participated in her studies, you loved her like a sister, or a friend, or a mentor. 

I probably considered her to be all of those in my life.  You never knew if her insights would draw out laughter or tears, but what you could count on was conviction in your heart to love Jesus more, consume His Word more passionately, and respond to His Spirit more fully. Studying the Bible under her leadership anchored me to Christ during those years of feeling tossed in unfamiliar waters, far from home. 

Her memoir, All My Knotted Up Life, pulls back the curtain to her world off-stage. In the self-deprecating but profound style we’d expect from her, Beth addresses the chaotic childhood she endured, the call to ministry she followed against all odds, the marriage she was committed to, the devastating misuse of power behind the scenes, and the life she’s pursued more recently. Where praise is deserved, she honors individuals by name, and where critique is given, she writes in generalities. 

If your family life or your church life is turning out to be more like a tangled knot and less like a perfect bow tie, you’ll find camaraderie in Beth’s memoir.

Lines of Communication

“...take the sword of the SPIRIT, which is the Word of God, 

praying at all times in the SPIRIT…”

Communication wasn’t always as easy as it is today. Words in the past didn’t travel quite as quickly as they do now, and especially if you grew up with a “Party line” phone system. I can only imagine the AT&T brainstorming session when “Party line” became the official name for the situation when multiple neighbors shared a telephone line:

“Hmm. What can we call it so we don’t have to use Shared line, Gossip line, or Wait in line?”  

“Well, when would a bunch of people want to talk all at once and there’s potential to overhear something you’re not supposed to?”

“Oh! I know! At a party!”

Party sounded fun. “Party line” it was.

And so any time we wanted to make a phone call in the late 1900’s, we’d silence the room, quietly lift the handset and put it to our ear to hear whether a neighbor was already talking. If they were in the middle of conversation, we’d have to make a decision: carefully put the handset back down so we wouldn’t interrupt, then wait 10 minutes and try again, OR cover the part that could betray the sound of our breathing and listen in until they were finished. Party for kids; hassle for adults.

A party line among neighborly residents might provoke frustration, but think about jammed lines of communication in a hostile military scenario. From the General to his soldiers, between comrades on the field, and back to the General again, split second decisions about strategy and relaying conditions at a battle site are of primary importance for victory. If lines of communication are blocked or cut, soldiers will be stranded. 

Communication is the final theme in Paul’s description of what God supplies for our spiritual battle. God hasn’t just armored us and wished us well; He gave us His Word through the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, the Word cuts like a sword in two ways: first, exposing our own hearts, and second, destroying our invisible enemy. But we block the lines of communication when we wield the Word apart from the Spirit’s intention, or when we don’t pick up the sword at all. 

The Holy Spirit is the shared line among us as we exchange words, but we jam the lines of communication when we weaponize our own words like swords, soldier against soldier. 

The Holy Spirit is the direct line to our Commander in Chief as we send word back to Him, but we cut the lifeline of communication when we neglect prayer.

If you’re a soldier feeling stranded, check your lines of communication. Your victory in battle today depends on it.

For more from Ephesians on the Word & the Spirit:

The Word guarantees a future through the sealing of the Spirit. 1:13, 14

God’s Word can be understood through insight given by His Spirit. 1:17,18

The Word became flesh, giving access to the Father through the presence of His Spirit. 2:11-18

God’s Word to His people is revealed by the authority of the Spirit. 3:4-6

His Word transforms us through the power of the Spirit. 3:14-20

The Word calls for love, made possible because of the unity of the Spirit. 4:1-6

God’s Word is a sword empowered by the Spirit against our spiritual enemies. 6:17 

For more from Ephesians on our words in the Spirit:

Our words to each other can grieve the Spirit. 4:29-30

Our words to each other are best when under the influence of the Spirit. 5:18-21

Our words in conversation with God can be prompted by the Spirit. 6:18

Our words, as we share the gospel, can be emboldened by the Spirit. 6:19,20