And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NRSV)
For Good
Requirement of New Life
This is a post that was originally written by myself and shared on Youthworker Movement.
When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshiped. (Exodus 12:25, NRSV)
We like order, control, but essentially we like having things OUR way. We really like things our way, and we resist like the dickens anything else. When the operative word, “change,” is uttered any sense of the word we tend to clam up and resist, and yet we have this quandary of the lesson that we get in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To have new life, something must die.
Ouch.
New life in Christ is amazing, but bad things had to happen for that new life to happen. Jesus had to die for us to live. Really think about what this means for our lives now. For us to live into that new life we have to consider that some parts of our lives do not belong. You can’t give your heart to Christ and the world, you can only serve one master.
So what does that mean for our lives?
It means that there is nothing in our lives that doesn’t connect to our deep faith in Christ. That is what it means to be a disciple to constantly point to our savior, if we are not doing that then why are we following Him. I mean seriously, this is what discipleship is and what it looks like. Things have to go aside and Christ has to reign in our lives. Christ’s love and grace gives understanding of what we truly need and everything Christ passing over us because we don’t need it.
We just need Christ, and Him alone.
Bragging is not healthy
This morning I am reading for my seminary class, “The Bible in Youth Ministry as Spiritual Guide for Adolescents” and I was doing it I was reading the story of Joseph and his brothers. I think we can all acknowledge one thing.
Joseph was kind of a punk.
Joseph the Dreamer has been having very interesting dreams and whenever he has a dream Joseph in all his wisdom and LOADS of humility shares his dreams with his brothers in which this is usually what happens:
Hey brothers! I just had another dream and in the dream I learned that one day I will be your master and you will all serve me.
Kind of a punk.
We all knew this bragging wasn’t going to end well, and in fact it doesn’t. Joseph’ brothers put him in a hole in the ground and at first just want to leave him there, but then they get a better idea. Hey! let’s sell Joseph into slavery. Let this dreamer be someone else’s problem. That is just what they did.
I think we all can relate to all the people in this story. We have all been that annoying 6th grader that lives to push every button that every has to get a rise out of them, and we all have been annoyed by said 6th graders. I think the story of Joseph teaches us a great lesson in humility.
Is it bad that Joseph has dreams and that God has chosen me, absolutely not! It’s amazing that God is using Joseph in the way He is. Let us remember that we are all human and there is nothing that we could ever do to earn God’s love and grace and there is nothing we didn’t do to earn it either. We are all in the same boat and yet God loves each of us just as we are. We must remember always to see the world and our neighbor as God sees them and additionally not raise ourselves above our neighbors but love them as Christ loves each of us.
The only being that ever existed that had great evidence to raise himself above everyone else, Jesus Christ humbled himself and died on the cross. So what does it say that Christ could have raised himself and yet chose humility?
Additionally what does say about ourselves that we do the opposite at times?
Let us always seek to model the example of Christ.
Amen.
Longing For
Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peacethat is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Many of us have heard this verse, many times. When I have a verse that I have heard a lot through my life I tend to go towards the VOICE translation when I read it again and like clockwork it provides results. Today let’s look at the first words about he says to pray about everything.
He longs to hear your requests.
He longs for it.
Think about the last thing that you have longed for.
Do you remember what that was? With us sometimes our longing goes to less worthy of things. Possessions, Food, Human Relationships, etc.
But when was the last time you longed for God?
I mean really longed for Him to depths of who you are that if you didn’t have time with God you don’t think you could go on?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know when that was and that is how God feels for us ALL THE TIME. Ouch. Don’t worry though, don’t be anxious, because no matter what you do and really don’t do He will always long for you and I. This desire is what lead him to the cross. He longed to be connected with his creation again and again and again. So today I share this and I share this prayer with you.
Peace Be With You.
God,
Help us to long for you and your presence and your love as you long to give that presence and love to us. Help us to be ourselves, to see what we have, and to do what matters to you. Help us O Lord we pray. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Day 3: See
Ever want to know where you stand? What people really think about you? Well, you are good company because I believe that Jesus just wanted to know what the disciples thought. I find it very interesting that Peter is the only one that said what he thought, but then again that is the way that Peter usually was. He was the disciple that walked out on the water to Jesus after all.
I think this is why I have always respected Peter.
Peter saw Jesus for who He was and is and maybe He saw that the day that He called those fishermen to come follow him. This is powerful because there are im sure many people who thought them to be completely out of their mind and yet Peter stands strong and says that He is the Christ. The One.
So who do we say that Jesus is?
We already know who Peter says He is, but who do we?
It’s a good question to ask in our lenten journey.
Almighty God,
Help us to know at all times who you are and more importantly where you are, in our hearts. Transform us Lord to understand more and more. Thank you for your love and grace and for helping us to extend that love and grace to the world.
Amen.