Day 204: Eager to Give & Build

2 Corinthians 9; 2 Kings 22:1-23:34; Nehemiah 3

"You believed the message about Christ, and you obeyed it by sharing generously with God's people and with everyone else." This chapter in Corinthians is all about giving. God blesses us and gives us stuff in this life so that we can bless and give to others. We are not forced to give but we should be eager to. When we give, we can trust that God will provide for our needs and so we don't have to have stingy about the amount. If we truly love Christ and want to follow his example, we will give as much as we can to the church and people in need. Christ gave it all, we can at least give something back.

Yay, Josiah! The first king to really do things exactly as God intended! What is so fascinating is that no one had apparently been reading God's Law. The priest is cleaning out the temple and finds it, shares it with Josiah, and he is shocked and terrified. He and the people had no idea what God expected of them because they had never read his word. I think the same is true even today. Many "Christians" claim to love The Lord but they never open scripture to see what he actually says. Since I have started studying the word every day, my life is totally different. Like Josiah, I've been shocked at what I've read and see that so much of my life was not lining up with God's word. Since then, I've been able to make changes in an attempt to be more like Jesus. God's word is powerful and every person should read and investigate it, not just take their pastor's word for what is in it.

The rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall took a lot of different people. Each person had their section and did what they could. Some came from a ways away and built the wall, others built the section right outside their house. Each of us have been given a responsibility in the kingdom of God, whether we have to go afar and serve people, or whether we go right outside our door and give.

Day 203: Act of Faith

2 Corinthians 8; 2 Kings 20-21; Nehemiah 2

"It doesn't matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have." It should be an honor to give to The Lord in some way, whether it be our time, talents, or money. God doesn't give us what we have, our salary, house, car, etc., so that we can keep it and accumulate more. He gives us stuff so that we can give it away to those in need. The question society tends to ask is "how much can I get?" but what followers of Christ need to be asking is "how much can I give?" Paul is reminding the Corinthians of how excited they were to give when they were first starting out. Now he is telling them to recall that excitement and actually follow through and do it. Consider what we personally have. How much of it is really, truly necessary? How much of it is extra? Are we blessing people with it? If so, then keep it, but if not, then consider giving it away. I think of some believers with big houses. They may not need 4000 square feet for them and their two kids. If they don't then maybe they should consider living more simply so they can give that money to those in need. However, if they house foster kids, or provide shelter for the needy, hold Bible studies/church gatherings, or give up space for missionaries when they are back from their trips, then by all means, they are using their 4000 square foot home the way God intended!

Hezekiah was about to die. He had even been told through the prophet Isaiah that he would not survive. Enter the power of prayer. Hezekiah didn't want to die (shocker!). He prays to The Lord with all of his heart and pours out his soul to God. Almost immediately, God hears his prayer and tells him he will live. The two things that are obvious from this story: first, prayer works; second, God heals. What is interesting though is that in order for Hezekiah to get better, some servants had to put mushed up figs on his wound. They couldn't just sit back and do nothing. I think this is something God likes to do a lot. Yeah, he could have fed the 5000, making spaghetti or fish tacos appear out of thin air, but instead, he sent the disciples to collect what they had. He could have parted the Red Sea with just the snap of his mighty fingers, but he wanted Moses to put his staff in the water. He could have made Noah's house float instead of making him build a giant boat, but Noah built the ark. And here, Hezekiah didn't just magically get better, his servants had to put something on his injury. God can do miracles. That is for sure. But so often those miracles require an act of faith. We humans have to step out and make a connection or get our hands dirty and then God works through us. God likes to use us humans in his divine works.

Nehemiah was doing a great thing to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. No sooner had he started preparations to build, did he receive insults from people about his plans. We are going to face ridicule. We are going to have opposition. Nehemiah trusted in God to help their plans succeed. We, too, can trust in God to help us succeed, no matter what kind of persecution or insults we face.

Day 202: Humble Hearts

2 Corinthians 6;14-7:16; 2 Kings 19; Nehemiah 1

In 2 Corinthians, Paul makes some really wonderful points. The first is, followers of Christ should have nothing to do with, or anything in common with those who are not followers of Christ. He isn't saying that we shouldn't share the gospel with them, but that our lifestyle and hearts and minds should be completely different. Someone should look at a believer's life and know they are a Christian. They should not look at a Christian and see that they are similar to a non-Christian. We are God's children, set apart, made holy, redeemed, and that should change us completely. The things we do, focus on, and say should be completely different from what the world does, focuses on, and says.
Secondly, he talks about hurt feelings and how God uses them to make change. God uses broken hearts to show his love and offer his salvation. A proud heart will not accept grace, it doesn't need grace. But a humble heart, a soul who is weak or hurting, they recognize their need for God and God can transform them. This is why some people who know about God have never developed a relationship with him. They've had rough times but their hearts have never been completely humbled and broken; they have not hit rock bottom to where they have nothing left and so they reach out to The Lord. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't come to know Christ until he is all they have left. But, God knows this, and so he uses our brokenness to connect to us.

So in the previous chapter, Hezekiah had gotten terrible news from an enemy. He was worried about his people, about his enemies insulting God, and the outcome of all of this. Hezekiah knew that they weren't invincible if The Lord had not decided that. He was still afraid, but the first thing he did was head to the temple. He knew that if survival was possible, it would be possible only because of The Lord. Hezekiah offers up a prayer and God answers him. The Lord promises that he will protect them. He even tells them that they will eat crops that grow on their own for two years. This could be literal, but it could also be a metaphor for the success and prosperity they will have. Their life and victory will not be something that Hezekiah has any control over (hence the crop that they don't plant) and that they will be able to rely on The Lord for survival.

Many of the greats of the Bible have prayers recorded. What I love about them is that the first thing out of their mouth is often praise to God. They give God glory, tell of his greatness, worship him, before they ever lift up their request or plea. So often we start our prayers with "God, please..." rather than with "Lord, you..." It's important to understand that we were made for God, he wasn't made for us. Our faith will be completely different depending on which of those are the core of our beliefs. I've tried really hard over the past couple of years to start my prayers, not with requests, but with praise. God deserves it, and it does good things to my heart.

Day 201: Ruled by Christ

2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13; 2 Kings 18; Micah 7

So what makes Paul so awesome? He is "ruled by Christ's love." He is "careful not to judge people by what they seem to be." He shows that he is truly God's servant. In all sorts of difficulty and suffering, he has been patient, pure, understanding, and kind, and said and done only what is right by God. He told the truth about himself and of God. So many times we (including myself) focus on what we shouldn't do: don't do this, don't do that, stay away from there, etc. But as believers, what should we do? We should live as God's servants, being joyful in affliction, and truthful in our message.

Finally, Hezekiah shows up and rules Judah the right way! He not only obeys The Lord, like the rest of the kings had, but he refuses to compromise, and tears down all the shrines and idols of other gods. He wants pure devotion to The Lord because he knows that is what will save the people. And not too long after he has done the right thing, do people come and attack him. Assyria scoffs at his decision, as if one God isn't enough to protect them. But we must believe that our God is enough, just as Hezekiah did in this moment. The Assyrians planted doubts about the leadership of Judah as well as the God that they had chosen to worship. Same thing happens today. Following The Lord completely is not going to be easy, if it was, everyone would do it. However, Hezekiah knew it was right. I can't wait to read how Hezekiah responds !

This is very powerful from the book of Micah:
"But I trust The Lord God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer. My enemies, don't be glad because of my troubles! I may have fallen, but I will get up; I may be sitting in the dark, but The Lord is my light. I have sinned against The Lord. And so I must endure his anger, until he comes to my defense. But I know that I will see him making things right for me and leading me to the light."

Day 200: Mercy & Obedience

2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10; 2 Kings 17; Micah 6

Paul reminds believers of the incredible hope that we have in Jesus. Despite the struggles here on earth, the physical pain and limitations, the yearning to be with Jesus, all of that is designed to teach us to rely on Christ. The things that we yearn for are unseen and so hope is so valuable. We trust God to do what he says and that is to take us to heaven one day and give us life and a living that will be so wonderful, it is beyond words. But until that time, we need to do our very best to please Jesus, despite the suffering and struggles and difficulties that we face. Those things will make heaven that much more amazing.

"The Lord had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them." God's people are meant to be different, live by different principles, set apart. Our lives should look drastically different from those who do not worship The Lord because we are guided by things such as love, grace, purity, and compassion. The Israelites disregarded the Lord's plan for their lives and traded it for the gods of other nations. There was no longer any holiness about the people and they infuriated God because of their disobedience and disrespect. If our lives look just like our neighbor's, who isn't a Christian, then we are doing something wrong. People should know because of our lifestyle, how we spend our money, the way we talk and what we talk about, that we are people of The Lord. And because of Israel's complete disregard for their status as God's chosen people, God decided to turn his back and let them get sucked into slavery by foreign nations. He was like, "Ok, you don't want me in your life? Then see what it is like as slaves to those gods you worshipped and people you emulated."

"They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves." Whatever we value and whatever we worship will shape our lives. If we worship money, all the decisions we make will be based on obtaining more and keeping as much as we can for ourselves. If we value our reputation, everything we do will be to seek to elevate it, regardless of what it takes. If we worship our family or relationships, we will sacrifice our own goals and well being for that of another person. But, if we worship The Lord, the one we were created to worship, he gives us such great value. We become what we worship. God is the only thing that can truly give us worth because money, reputation, family, relationships, those are all temporary. They are earthly things. God is eternal, he is unseen, and he is what will last forever.

One thing that I find interesting about this particular passage in 2 Kings is that the people of Israel DID worship The Lord. They didn't completely forget him. But it isn't enough to worship God sometimes and worship other stuff the rest of the time. That isn't true devotion and love and God won't work with that. He wants our whole heart.

Wow, this chapter in Micah is powerful. He asks, will sacrificing a thousand calves or rivers of oil be enough to make God pleased with me? Essentially, can I do or give enough to make God accept me? And he concludes: "See that mercy is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God." Wow, when you put it like that, it seems pretty simple. Show mercy to others and obey God.

Day 199: Reflect Glory

2 Corinthians 2:5-3:18; 2 Kings 15-16; Micah 5:2-15

Paul gives a message of great hope in these chapters! He says that when someone sins, we should forgive them and make sure they know we love them. No where does it say to ridicule or condemn them. Our job is not to judge but to love and forgive. Great words to live by.

Have you every felt inadequate? Yep, Paul says that's fine. He says that "no one really has what it takes to do this work," but "by the power of Christ we speak our message with God as our witness." He goes on to say that "God gives us what it takes to do all that we do." Thank goodness that I don't have to rely on my own abilities and qualities to get Christ's message out there. God will take me and fill in all the gaps with his Holy Spirit to make it happen. I have to take the step but God will make it fruitful.

He also tells us that the Lord's Spirit sets us free. Free from what? From sin, from death, from the power of the Law. We aren't bound to the old way of life of having to make atonement for our own sins, for being burdened with earning our own salvation. Now, with Jesus, we are free and "our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of The Lord as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord." How awesome, that my face could (does) reflect the glory of my Savior! What if we lived our life for Christ in a way that people don't see Amanda, or Austin, or Bryan, but they see the glory and love of Christ? That is why those 12 disciples and the early church spread the message of The Lord so quickly. They reflected the glory of Christ and God was able to do great works and blessings through them.

The Old Testament is story after story of people failing to follow the Lord's commands completely. They may do a decent job here and there, but there is always compromise. Most of them obeyed God, but wouldn't destroy the shrines to other gods. They still allowed people to worship other deities. This makes for a divided and misled nation. They didn't stand up for The Lord when they should have. Ahaz in chapter 16 of 2 Kings sees an altar that he thinks is cool and has it built. He moves aside the altar that was built from the Lord's instructions and puts his in its place. He made God's house of worship a place of his own. He didn't honor God, but instead honored himself and his own desires. As Christians, let's honor God in the ways that please him, not in some made up ways that mean nothing to our Lord and actually destroy our witness.

I LOVE that there are prophesies of Jesus in the Old Testament! Check this out: "Bethlehem Ephrath, you are one of the smallest towns in the nation of Judah. But The Lord will choose one of your people to rule the nation--someone whose family goes back to ancient times...Like a shepherd taking care of his sheep, this ruler will lead and care for his people by the power and glorious name of The Lord his God. His people will live securely, and the whole earth will know his true greatness, because he will bring peace." Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his family line went back to Abraham, Jesus cared for his people, we have hope, and Jesus' name is known all over the earth. So cool!

Day 198: Suffering Happens. Period.

2 Corinthians 1:1-2:4; 2 Kings 14; Micah 4:1-5:1

Paul recognizes that there will be suffering and he had experienced a lot of it. He said that we suffer with hope because God will comfort us. We don't suffer just because God is mean or we've done something wrong. This is Earth. Suffering happens. But, when we recognize that and believe in Jesus Christ, we can endure suffering because we know that this is not it. Paul goes so far to say that they were suffering so bad they thought they were going to die. They were at the end of their rope, the end of the line, they had nothing left. Maybe you've felt that way before. What did that suffering accomplish? Paul says that it made them rely no longer on themselves but trust completely in The Lord. The response we should have when we struggle is not to give up or sink deep into despair, but to turn to God and place all our pain and fears and worries in his hands.

Amaziah did a good job following The Lord and trying to do what was right. However, he fell victim to two things: compromise and power. He didn't destroy the shrines for the other gods, something his ancestors or he should have done right away. Secondly, he wins some battles and then decides to pick a fight with Israel, thinking he can win. He wanted control, wanted power, and he was prideful in thinking he needed more victories. The result was terrible for Judah; not only was Amaziah himself captured and later killed, but the entire army destroyed and half of the Jerusalem wall torn down. He power-hungry pride caused so much destruction.

God promises rest and peace. In Micah it is a beautiful picture that the swords and spears will be remade into rakes and shovels. That there will be no more need for fighting or defense. People will work the earth like humble farmers and rest. God continues by saying that he will bring the lame and the outcasts into his family. The Lord has a special place in his heart and his kingdom for the crippled and the left out. I don't know exactly who the "outcasts" or "left-out" are, but we have to believe that God cares so much for those that the world often leaves behind. What an amazing God we serve, that he would love, so deeply, those that the rest of us forget to love.

Day 197: The Point?

1 Corinthians 16; 2 Kings 12-13; Micah 3

Paul's final instructions in 1 Corinthians are "keep alert. Be firm in your faith. Stay brave and strong. Show love in everything you do." These are a wonderful, encouraging words! Very simple instructions for how to live life from a man who knew how to live for The Lord.          
          
The Old Testament seems so bleak sometimes. It is simply ruler after ruler failing to follow The Lord, either completely or just a little. Every once in a while there is a leader that does good, but not good enough. It is easy for this to to depress me--when are they going to get their act together?! Or, I can look at those who do please The Lord and try to follow their example. The point of all this, I suppose, is that despite the failures of the homo-sapiens, God still loves, still has a plan of redemption for his people.

Also in Kings, there is a ruler who disobeys The Lord. But when he is under great duress and pressure, he prays to God for relief. He remembered The Lord in the difficult times, but not when times were good. What is amazing is that despite how this man had treated The Lord, God still answered his prayer and brought relief! How great is the love of God! Let's get in the habit of lifting up prayers both in the good times and the bad.

But, today we also read from Micah that "someday you will beg The Lord to help you, but he will turn away because of your sins." If we don't try to serve The Lord with all our hearts and turn from our sins and stop praying only when we need something, it says that God will eventually stop listening. The Lord wants our every day, he wants our hearts, our devotion. We were made for him. He wasn't made for us, to just take out of our pockets when we need them. Let's start devoting our lives to him; he deserves it!

Day 196: Child As King

1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 2 Kings 11; Micah 2

Paul spends a good chunk of this chapter talking about our earthly bodies verses our heavenly bodies. He says that currently, we live in weak and decaying forms. But, when it's all over, we will live in heavenly bodies that are strong and won't decay. Do we know what those look like? No. I don't know if we will be 8 feet tall with wings or our skin will turn gold or what. But what I do know, what shape we take when God sets up eternity on earth as it is in heaven doesn't matter. We won't care what we look like because we will be too busy basking in the radiance of The Lord. The point is, it is eternity, and we will be there forever with God without hurt or pain or sadness.

He closes with a few lines about the focus that the followers of Christ should have: "My dear friends, stand firm and don't be shaken. Always keep busy working for The Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile." If we kept as busy working for The Lord as we do everything else, imagine all the lives that would be changed! What we do for God is not in vain, it won't be wasted, God won't ignore it. Everything we can do to serve God, give him glory, and further the kingdom of heaven, God will use and turn it into miracles that we couldn't create on our own.

Joash was only 7 years old when he is crowned king. The Lord would rather have a child sit on the throne of Judah than have a grown up who is evil. I like that this detail is kept to the very end of the chapter, the last sentence, almost as if it is unimportant compared to the anointing of this king, the destruction of the temple of Baal, and the eliminating of the evil queen Athaliah. God likes to choose and use the unexpected to do wonderful things, whether that be children to rule a nation, or the timid to work miracles, or the weak to lead the strong. We don't need to have all the wisdom and strength to accomplish what God asks of us. He will fill in where there are weaknesses, and the more weaknesses we have, the more miracles he gets to work.

Despite those who abuse their power, God is going to restore and provide hope and protection for those who love him. He will take those prisoners, those sheep without a shepherd, and he will rescue them. We have to remember in times of persecution or instability or hatred, that our Lord is bigger than those things. We have to remember that those difficulties are temporary. God's hope of eternity and his protection are promises and the more tightly we hold to those things, the less this world can have a hold on us.

Day 195: What Are We Doing?

1 Corinthians 15:1-34; 2 Kings 10 Micah 1

Paul, a man who persecuted believers, becomes one himself. And of his conversion, he says, "But God was kind! He made me what I am and his wonderful kindness wasn't wasted." God took someone who was on the completely opposite side and through his love, transformed him into a man of faith. Paul doesn't want that love from the Father and the sacrifice of the Son to go wasted, so he lives each day for The Lord. The same kindness and sacrifice are offered to us. How are we going to live our lives? As changed people who won't waste those gifts? Or just like everyone in the world who lives for themselves and ignores God?

Paul also tells the Corinthians that they should be "embarrassed that some people still don't know about God." How much more should we, with our Internet, Facebook, Skype, Bible translations, churches, money, be ashamed that there are still people out there that don't know about God!? They were just a few people walking from place to place sharing about Jesus. These people were sold out for The Lord, he meant everything to them, and they were devoted to letting people know. There are enough Christians on this planet that if everyone told a couple of people about Jesus, no one would be left out from hearing about him. But instead, we live our lives in our box, going to work, church on the weekends, and that's it. What are we doing to spread the kingdom, and carry out the Great Commission?

The Lord had promised that because Ahab was so wicked, his entire family would be wiped out. And a few chapters later, that becomes a reality. Not only does Ahab die, but so do all of his descendants. God takes rebellion against him very seriously. Thankfully, he had a servant who was willing to carry out this bloody deed. I don't think God works in the same way today. We don't have Christian armies that go out an slaughter people. But I do think that the consequences for sin do that for God. As his followers, we need to try our hardest to not compromise with sin in our lives and tell people about Jesus so that such destruction as seen in 2 Kings won't happen to people at the end times.

In Micah, there is a powerful picture of The Lord: "And he will come down to crush underfoot every pagan altar. Mountains will melt beneath his feet like wax beside a fire. Valleys will vanish like water rushing down a ravine." God has great power and someday he will use it. What's God waiting for? I'm not sure, but his timing is perfect. There will come a day when he has had enough and wants to rescue his children from sin and persecution and so Christ will come to destroy the pagan religions and set up his kingdom on earth. I praise God because he has the power to do that!

Day 194: Who Deserves God's Message

1 Corinthians 14:26-40; 2 Kings 9; Jonah 4

Paul says that church should be done for the good of everyone there, peacefully and orderly. Whether there are new people or returning people, young or old, the church is designed to function for its people. And since the church is not just a building, but a group of people (us), we need to do things for others.

Now as far as the women on speaking in church paragraph, I honestly don't know how to take that. Maybe it was just a cultural thing, that women of that time period should have remained quiet during church. Perhaps if they spoke out people in that community would have wanted to stone them or something for stepping out of place, so Paul was just protecting them. Maybe women really aren't supposed to speak in church, but I have a hard time believing that that would be what Jesus wanted, considering that Jesus hung out with all sorts of people and there are many people throughout the New Testament that are praised for their service to the church. I pray that God will help me to understand this passage better.

Gory stuff. If people think that the Bible is tame and boring, they've never read it. In these verses in 2 Kings, it is gruesome murder and death that takes place. God calls people to destroy the wicked, wipe them out, so that the sin and rebellion that they lead people into will stop with them. God had no patience for the wicked, especially the chosen leaders of his nations.

Jonah gets mad about God's mercy, patience, and love. He's angry that God loves people! He has some sort of ill will for the people of Ninevah and feels that they didn't deserve grace. Man, when we don't like someone, don't we sort of feel the same way? That they don't deserve the message of Jesus so I'm not going to share it with them. God teaches Jonah that the people were not created by or for Jonah, but by and for God. They are his creation, his children, and whether or not they deserve to be saved is up to God. Who are we to decide someone' eternal fate? We need to be humble servants of The Lord and take his message to whomever he calls us.

Day 193: Emotional vs. Mental

1 Corinthians 14:1-25; 2 Kings 8; Jonah 3 

The whole point of spiritual gifts is not to make ourselves more awesome. That's what the world does. Paul reminds us here that spiritual gifts are meant to serve and help and edify the church. Whatever it is that we are capable of, whether we are great at it or not, whether we are comfortable with it or not, we need to do things that build up fellow believers. And all of it comes back to living a life of love: "Love should be your guide" (verse 1).

Paul goes on to say that sometimes we should pray and sing with our spirits and other times with our mind. I think the difference is that sometimes, it will be a soulful, emotional, passionate experience where our hearts are full and we weep or cry out or can't control our response. Other times, we need to think about our prayers and songs, listen to the words, process what we are communicating with God and it can be very powerful, but not emotional. Both are good and there is a time for both. I think people get into trouble when they think worship has to be a soulful, emotional experience all the time. That's not how life works. We aren't going to feel crazy, passionate, in love with God every moment of every day. Sometimes, we will have to mentally power through the tough days when God seems distant. Having the ability for both passionate worship, and mental resolve is exactly what we need to thrive spiritually in this world.

Paul also makes the point that we need to be aware of how "outsiders" or "strangers" to the church would feel when we are worshipping. We need to make sure that what we are doing in our services is friendly to new people. That doesn't mean watering stuff down or not being passionate in worship or prayer, it simply means that the point of church is not just to make ourselves feel better but to bring more of God to this world and be open and welcoming to newcomers.

The woman in 2 Kings 8 is the same one whose son had died and Elisha (ultimately God) had brought back to life. Because she had been through terrible times, when Elisha told her she needed to move because there would be famine in her town, she left without question. Those hard times, the worst times, helped her to have a faith to follow God in whatever he said. She would not question him and because of that, her family was able to survive.

Elisha cries because God told him of the terrible things Hazael was going to do. Hazael didn't think he was capable of such things, but I'm sure we will read later of just how destructive of a leader he was. Elisha wept over these things, things like murder, destruction of cities, killing babies, and tearing open pregnant women. Christians, these things are still going on in our world and in our country. Am I weeping for them? Often, I don't even think about this stuff, let alone pray for it or take a stand to stop it. I pray that God would make us sensitive to the hurts and needs of other humans.

Jonah didn't want to go to Ninevah, probably for a lot of reasons. One, it may have made him uncomfortable, it was out of his comfort zone. Maybe he didn't like the Ninevites and didn't want to preach about God to them. But after his near death experience in the sea, Jonah was ready to obey God. I bet he thought to himself later in life, why didn't I just obey God the first time? Why did I force him to take me through a really tumultuous time? God was probably asking the same question about us: Why won't they just obey me the first time instead of running and forcing my hand? God wants to save people and when we run from our calling, we are not allowing God to work through us. The people of Ninevah were sincerely sorry and changed their sinful ways because of Jonah's obedience and preaching.

Day 192: From the Belly of a Fish

1 Corinthians 13; 2 Kings 7:3-20; Jonah 2   

The Love Chapter. Lots of people talk about this a lot so I'll keep this commentary short. The two main points that I see are what love is and how important it is. Based on the descriptions, love is an action, not a feeling. So people don't necessarily fall in and out of love, as in, the feeling of love don't just appear or disappear. People make a conscious choice to show love or not. And secondly, all that service and worship that I can do for God and others doesn't matter if I do not love God and love others.

The second part of this chapter talks about seeing and knowing God fully. That will be heaven: seeing God face to face and being able to walk and talk with him closely.

Four lepers walk up to the Syrian camp, expecting to be taken prisoner or killed, but God has a different plan. He terrifies the Syrians and gives the camp to the four lepers. What's amazing is that these men, these outcasts from society who no one wants to be around, actually think to share the good news with the community who has ostracized them! Sometimes those who are unacceptable to society often have caring and gentle hearts. It is those that society idolizes or worships that can become hard-hearted. But, God didn't send the best warriors to the Syrian camp, he sent four humble, sick men to, in a sense, capture it.

What is amazing about Jonah's prayer, is that he is offering up thanksgiving. From the inside of a fish. At the bottom of the ocean. From the inside of a fish. It strikes me as kind of funny, because here Jonah was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, feeling certain he would die. He remembers The Lord, and in answer to his prayer, The Lord saves him. But God doesn't make the ocean go away or Jonah magically appear on dry land. No, Jonah is still in the ocean, but now he's tucked away in the fish's stomach. Ew. And yet, Jonah is thanking God for this second chance. As nasty as that would have been, God rescues Jonah in an unexpected way, and Jonah has learned his lesson. I imagine that when we are at low points in life and we offer up a prayer, God does rescue us. But I bet that sometimes it doesn't always look the way we want it to. But still, we must give thanks to a God who gives us breath each day and cares enough to listen to our prayers and send Jesus to save us.

Day 191: Different Gifts, Same God

1 Corinthians 12; 2 Kings 6:1-7:2; Jonah 1

Paul makes sure that the Corinthians understand that it is the same God and same Spirit that gives the different gifts. No matter how different Christ's followers are, we all serve the same Lord. He goes on to say that with all of our spiritual gifts, we were meant to serve others. We aren't given the gift of wisdom or teaching or prophesying to help ourselves or make our lives easier; those gifts are to help others. I think sometimes we forget why we do what we do; it is all to serve The Lord. The whole body of believers is meant for that, but each is different. Denominations sometimes frustrate me. I think it is silly that followers of The Lord would argue over stuff that sometimes isn't even in the Bible. But, not everyone is going to love going to a Baptist church; the same way that not everyone is going to love going to an Assembly of God church. Each serves different purposes in this world for different people, but we all should be serving the same Lord.

Elisha (but ultimately God) made an ax head float to the top of the river. God made the laws of nature, so he really don't have to abide by them. Cool.

Then there is this disturbing story about the people being so hungry they ate their own children. That just makes me feel sick to my stomach. Obviously, not a good idea. But because of their struggles they fell into sin. Then the king blames Elisha rather than going to God. In our struggles we need to make sure we don't sin but instead, go to God for strength and wisdom.

God gave Jonah a calling. Jonah was to go and help and serve a group of people he wasn't fond of. instead of obedience Jonah avoided God's call for his life. He thought that God would forget him, not continue his expectations. But that isn't the way God works. He made Jonah with a purpose and he was the only one who God wanted to carry it out. God does the same with us. He gives us different spiritual gifts and places of influence (Spiritual gifts, see above) and we are the ones meant to serve those people with those gifts. God didn't expect Jonah to change the world, just preach to one city; the same way he doesn't expect us to change the world, just carry out our God-given job.

Day 190: One Day A Week

1 Corinthians 11:17-34; 2 Kings 5; Obadiah

Paul tells the Corinthians that they are doing more harm than good with their worship, particularly in the area of the Lord's supper. He is frustrated with them because they can't agree and they are selfish. They weren't truly examining their hearts and so they were condemning themselves. They needed to be honest and let God look into their hearts to find the sin that needed to be removed. I think the church is in the same position today. People go to church once a week and then spend the other 6 days for themselves. People go and "worship" The Lord for an hour and spend the other hours of the week thinking about themselves. We need a serious examination of our hearts by The Lord to reveal how far off from following Christ we sometimes are. The 12 disciples were so sold out to The Lord that they spread the message of Jesus all over the world. There are millions of "Christians" today and still people in our own neighborhoods who have no idea who Jesus is. We need God's keen eye to help us see so that he can help us grow.

Naaman expected a specific sign from God to heal him of his leprosy. He thought that Elisha would do some amazing prayer to heal him. Instead, he told Naaman to take a dip in the nearby river. Naaman was angry because he didn't get the show that he wanted. His servants actually had some sense. They suggested that since what Elisha told him to do was so easy, he might as well. Naaman had wanted something grand, something big, to help heal him, so when God instructed him to do something simple (but unusual), he was frustrated. Sometimes we expect God to do certain things, to give us huge signs and amazing miracles. But it seems that God doesn't always work like that. Sometimes he just asks us to do simple things to help us, but sometimes we can be too stubborn to do the little stuff because we are too busy looking out for the big stuff.

I can't help but read Obadiah and think of America. It says that the Edomites think they live in an impenetrable mountain fortress, that we fly like an eagle, and cannot be destroyed. An eagle? A world superpower? Sounds like America in some ways to me. But, the truth is even though this isn't about America, I think that we need to look at this as a warning. Just like a few days ago when Paul said that what is written in the Old Testament was a warning for us. So God tells the Edomites that they will be tricked by their allies and best friends; that because they stood by in inaction and allowed injustices to happen, that they will be handed over to their enemies; that they will burn like straw. People need to put their trust in God, not seek material security or high positions. We need to stand up for justice and act to protect the needy, not stand by and watch it happen. To not do those things infuriates The Lord and isn't doing what Christ has called us to do.

Day 189: Women and Our Hair

1 Corinthians 11:1-16; 2 Kings 4; Amos 9

Paul says "You must follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Each of us, if we claim to follow Jesus, are being an example. Non-believers and believers look to us, whether we like it or not, to see who we are and how we act. Many of us are in major leadership roles, and while others may not be leading or pastoring, you are still setting and example. We need to make sure that we follow the example of Jesus so that we live our lives like him. We don't want to misguide anyone to live like something other than The Lord, so we need to study and obey The Lord.

Then there is this whole passage about authority and hair. He says that men have the greater authority and women shouldn't cut their hair. I think what this is really getting at is that there needs to be a level of respect for men, so that they are encouraged to lead and do the right thing. So many men in our country aren't being the father-figure they need to be, and it is perhaps because they were never raised with any respect. Women not cutting their hair was probably a cultural thing, respect thing, worship thing. The women might have been trying to become the center of attention rather than allowing God to be their focus. Perhaps it was a pagan sign of worship for a woman to chop off all her hair. Whatever the case was, I'm pretty sure God is not going to restrict you and me from going to heaven because we got our bangs trimmed. God is concerned about our hearts; if we don't recognize that by now in scripture, we need to start over! The hair thing must have been some outward manifestation of an inward sin.

Elisha helps a poor widow and the very next story is that he helps a rich woman. To me, this just shows that God cares about everyone, not matter how much or how little they have. For the widow, God provided for her needs and then some. For the rich woman, he gave her a son, took him away, and then gave him life again. God tested both of their faiths. How is one expected to fill tons of empty jars with oil from a small bottle? How is this woman supposed to trust God when he gives a son and then shortly after takes his life? God always provides for our needs, we just have to have enough faith to obey his directions.

Amidst the warning of destruction in Amos, the message ends with hope and rebuilding. God won't be angry forever. He doesn't want his children to suffer for eternity. He wants them to live right and love him so that he can give them wonderful blessings.

Day 188: A River AND Success

1 Corinthians 10; 2 Kings 3; Amos 8

So how is a believer supposed to live? First, don't worship anything else besides The Lord. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt and how they did terrible things and died. The reason that is in scripture, he says, is to be a warning for us. The Bible is recorded to be a message from God to his followers. It records who God is and what he expects. And this is not to be a burden. God doesn't expect us to do ridiculous things. Everything he asks of us is beneficial to us. So why would we ignore him?

I also love the verse that talks about temptation. It says that even if we think we are strong enough to stand up to temptation, be careful that we don't fall. No matter how strong of a Christian we think we are, or even how tough of a human we believe ourselves to be, we are still susceptible to temptation and sin. But if we are tempted, does that mean that we just give up and give in? Paul says that God will show us a way to escape. If we really look deeply into our past at times we sinned, very often we can see a moment (or several) where God gave us an opportunity to turn around and run the other way (sometimes literally, other times spiritually). Whether it is a prompting of your heart or an angel in disguise, God warns us of sin before it happens. It may be subtle, especially if God is used to being ignored by someone, but he loves us too much to let us just fail and leave us there. He wants us to win the battle over sin, but we can't do that by ourselves. It takes the Father, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit living in our hearts.

The reason that sin is such a big deal is because (as Paul says) you cannot have both demons and God. We cannot live a life of filth and still expect to be clean. We cannot live a life of depravity and expect to also be pure. Either we are living for God or we are living for evil. We need to decide who we will follow, and following Jesus Christ is a deliberate choice. Those who say they haven't made a choice, ARE making that choice NOT to follow Christ. I pray with all my heart that we as believers would completely destroy the sin, evil, and depravity in our lives so that we can be wholly and fully Jesus'.

So this group of kings and soldiers heads out across the desert to attack another kingdom. Good plan? Maybe heading across the desert was the short cut, I don't know for sure, but maybe they could have followed a longer route but not run out of drinking water. But, nevertheless, they run completely out of water and are afraid of what is going to happen to them. In their desperation, they cry out to God. Did they ask God first which way they should have gone? Nope, they use God as a crutch when times are really tough. God doesn't want to simply be our crutch when life stinks. He wants us to call on him at all times, to worship and praise him always. But, the kings and soldiers hear from God that he is not only going to solve their water shortage, but also help them defeat their enemy. God didn't have to do that. He didn't have to provide such life and success in the midst of their desolation. He could have simply said, yep, I'll give you a little water, but turn around and go home. Instead he gives them an entire river of flowing water AND tells them they will defeat their enemies. How can we say that God is not generous?

This passage in Amos is so like what our society does today: "You will crush those in need and wipe out the poor. You say to yourselves...when will the Sabbath be over? Our wheat is ready and we want to sell it now. We can't wait to cheat and charge high prices for the grain we sell. We will use dishonest scales and mix dust in the grain." There are tons of stories out there about the poor getting poorer because society continues to allow programs that steal from them. All those pay-day loan places or cheap car dealerships are there to prey on the poor and steal from them. We've also heard of price gouging, people stealing from their company, the food we eat isn't pure because they've mixed stuff in it to save money...the list goes on and on. Humans are greedy. The people of Israel were too. And God was really mad. Sometimes we focus so much on our God of love, that we forget that he is a God of righteousness and justice. He doesn't mess around when it comes to honesty and caring for the needy. He loves them too much to ignore them.

Day 187: Being a Servant

1 Corinthians 9; 2 Kings 1-2; Amos 7

Chapter 9 is full of awesome stuff! I'll try not to spent too much of your time here.

First, Paul says "we each have the right to marry one of the Lord's followers and take her along with us." Lots of people marry for love. But I would challenge that and say that the purpose of marriage is to find a partner to do ministry with. Now, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't love them. But, what this does mean is that the purpose of the marriage is to give glory to God, share his kingdom, and then love each other. If that is yours and your spouse's mission, the marriage will be so much stronger because it is more than just the two of you. With God, it can be so much more meaningful (and permanent).

Then Paul references the Law of Moses (Old Testament) and asks, is "God concerned only about an ox?" when he was talking about the laws. No, the point was to teach about what humans should do. We share in the harvest (the blessings and glory) that God helps us to do. Yes, it is good to treat our pets well, but the point is bigger than that--it's about us serving him.

And finally, Paul talks about becoming everyone's slave in order to win them for the kingdom. The point of this is to show a servant's humble heart. Paul isn't concerned about his own comfort. It is all about God's kingdom, so he doesn't force people to do what he wants, he meets them where they are to teach them about Jesus. I think sometimes the church gets so caught up in our own ways that we forget to embrace others to win them for Christ. This doesn't mean that you accept or agree with their wrong practices, but you see life as they see it so that relationships and bridges can be built.

In the first two chapters of 2 Kings, there is a lot of power revealed! Fire comes from heaven twice, the Jordan river is parted twice, a chariot of fire takes Elijah to heaven, salt turns water pure, and bears attack 42 unruly boys. That stuff is kind of crazy.

I feel like God can put up with a lot, but at some point all of the disobedience, idol worship, and abuse just makes him so angry he wants to be done with us. Two times in Amos 7, God sends a vision to Amos that he is going to destroy something major that would be detrimental to the people. He's had it, he's fed up. He's God and yet the people were treating him like junk. Thankfully, both times, Amos begs God not to annihilate all the crops and people, and God feels sorry for us and so he doesn't. First, I think, man, people can really tick him off. Secondly, God is totally capable of wiping all of us out. And third, God LISTENED to Amos, little Amos who isn't even a prophet, but just a shepherd. Wow. God is a personal God and is willing to love, listen, and forgive.

Day 186: CAN do vs. SHOULD do

1 Corinthians 8; 1 Kings 22; Amos 6

If we apply what Paul says to any area of our walk of faith, then I believe it has really significant implications. He says not to cause problems for others with weak conscience or faith just because we have the right to do something. Really, the root of this is that we need to love and serve others. And so, just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we SHOULD. We need to help build each other up in the faith, not cause one another to struggle. If we apply that to anything we do in the ministry, it might make us rethink what we do and how we do it.

Paul also says that those people who think they know a lot, really know nothing. He also says that God has no question about who really loves him. So sometimes believers "worry" about who else is getting into heaven, but really, determining who is and isn't saved in our churches is not our concern. God knows people's hearts and he is both a God of love and of justice.

In Kings, there is an interesting story about listening to The Lord and not. Jehosaphat, when curious if they should go to battle, said "first, let's ask The Lord." He knew that God would provide an answer and that he should follow it. They go into battle, but the text doesn't really say if they won or not. Jehosaphat lives, so that's a bonus. He was a man who tried to obey The Lord, even if he didn't do a perfect job at it. He wanted to listen to God. Then there's Ahab. He hates one of his prophets because he always brings him "bad" news. Really, this prophet brings the truth, and Ahab doesn't want to hear the truth, he wants to hear what is easy or benefits him most. So often people don't want to really serve and honor and follow The Lord because they are worried about what God will ask them to do. And it's true. God asks us to do things for the kingdom that may be hard or out of our comfort zone. And when we are only half-heartedly following God, we don't want to hear those things. It's when we are completely sold out to our Lord, that asking him what he wants becomes less of a burden and more of a privilege. A very interesting story about the opposing sides of listening.

Amos warns that the rich people who live in luxury and don't care about their nation will be the first who are dragged off as captives. He goes on later to say that they have turned justice and fairness into bitter poison--two things that were meant for good, they use to destroy. God isn't saying that it is bad to be rich, but what he is saying is that it is detrimental to not care about our country, to not care about real justice and fairness, to not care about those in need. That is what God doesn't like. And so instead, if we have a caring and compassionate heart, like Jesus, we please The Lord.

Day 185: Marriage, or Not to Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:25-40; 1 Kings 21; Amos 5

These verses in Corinthians about getting married are interesting. Basically, Paul is saying that staying single is best because you can focus on The Lord more easily. Unmarried people don't have to concern themselves with a secondary important relationship. Married people however, have more issues and problems to deal with. This includes trying to please their spouse in marriage, trying to keep themselves or their spouse faithful, trying to provide for a larger family, etc. The point is that marriage is not bad, but it can be a distraction from serving and focusing on The Lord. And I've talked to people who said that they worshiped their family more than God. There are a lot of people out there who feel like marriage is the ultimate goal in life. It's not.   Giving glory to The Lord is. A spouse cannot fill a person's soul like Jesus Christ can. And so Paul tells people not to pursue marriage if they are unmarried, but pursue The Lord. And if we are married, then that is fine too, we just have to be prepared for the struggle to shift our focus from our Lord to our spouse.

Man, 1 Kings is a bit depressing this morning. Jezebel goes behind Ahab's back and gets a guy killed just so her husband can have a vegetable garden. People do the cruelest things, just for something minor. I think the same is true today. People sell out their friends and family just so that their own skin will be saved. Others abuse their families with violence just to feel a sense of control. Leaders are corrupted just so they can gain some sort of political advantage. People are sleeping around, sacrificing their purity, and stealing from their future spouse, just for a little bit of pleasure. Students get in the habit of cheating, just so they can barely pass a small assignment. So many people are trading such valuable things like relationships, loyalty, purity, and honesty, for stuff that is barely worth anything. And God has set up consequences. So when the consequences of those actions rain down (like Ahab and his whole family dying), people feel bad, but not because of what they did, simply because they didn't think about the consequences. We need to live a life of purity and honesty because those things are so valuable in and of themselves, as well as to please The Lord and help other people.

Both in the time of Amos and today, God is calling people to turn back to him. He says in these scriptures that they "have built expensive homes, but [they] won't enjoy them. [They] have planted vineyards, but [they] will get no wine." What these scriptures make me see are all the hard work that Americans go to in order to work and produce stuff on earth but how many people are still unhappy, even if they are rich? He goes on to say that the "times are so evil that anyone with good sense will keep quiet." I know that I often feel very hesitant to speak up about anything of value, like Christ, faith, and justice, because the culture that we live in is so against the words of scripture and I would be setting myself up for ridicule. Obviously, that shouldn't matter, but I would be lying to say that it isn't still is a hindrance. And yet, people need to hear the warnings, the hope, the message of the Word. People are running from lions in their lives, only to be met by a bear. Then when they finally think they have it figured out and are safe and happy, they get bit by a snake (verse 19). People are pursuing the wrong things, and because of that, they continue to get deeper and deeper into sin, just like the Israelites. However, there is a way out; there is hope. It is found in believing and following Jesus.

Day 184: God in a Box

1 Corinthians 7:1-24; 1 Kings 20; Amos 4:4-13

There sort of an interesting statement that Paul makes in this letter. He is talking about people trying to change once they become followers of The Lord. He says that people don't need to try to change who or what they are once God calls them. This doesn't mean to keep living in their sinful ways, but to continue on being who they are and do what they are doing--keep living. What Paul goes on to say is that God sets slaves free, and the free become slaves of Christ. What I take from this is that we don't need to try and force our way to greater holiness or purpose, God will do it. He will transform our hearts and our lives in his own time and in his own way. Yes, we need to follow Jesus' example, but continue living, and in that God will do the transforming in us.

The God of Israel was well known at this time. The Syrians said he was a "mountain god" or a "god of the hills." These pagan people did not understand the magnificence of the Israelite God. They could do nothing but associate him with stories of the past and then put him in a box. Believers and non-believers do that: we put God in a box so that we can better understand, control, and fit him in our lives. But, if we do that, we miss who God really is. He isn't just Lord of the hills and mountains, but of everything. By putting God in a box we don't get to experience his fullness and we limit what we will allow him to do in this life. I challenge us to seek to open wide the doors for God to work in every area in our lives in every way he is capable. Then we will get to experience the fullness of God in our lives.

God is angry at Israel in Amos because the people have rejected him. They love to sin and then get up the next morning and bring sacrifices to make up for it. That is the cycle. There is no obedience or repentance. God goes on to say that he tried to get their attention by taking away their prosperity and sustenance, but they still rejected him. It's like they put him in a box and only took him out when they felt bad. That's not what God is meant to be in our lives. We need to stop acting like he's just our religion; he needs to be our whole focus and our whole life. That doesn't mean that we stop living and sit in a church pew 24/7. But it does mean that we seek to be more like Jesus everday and that everything we do we do for The Lord.

Day 183: Thoughts on Sexual Sin

1 Corinthians 6; 1 Kings 19; Amos 3:3-4:3

Paul lists off several sinful things that will keep people from entering the kingdom. At first, I was thinking, wow, that kicks out a lot of people. But he goes on to say that many of the Corinthians used to be like that and do those things, but because of The Lord Jesus, they have been washed clean--completely. All that stuff that they used to do does not matter anymore. All the stuff in our past doesn't dictate our eternity. Our choice about Jesus and following him does.

Paul then goes on to talk about how we are to use our bodies. Because God and Christ paid such a high price for us, we should use our bodies to honor them, not dishonor them with immoral things. It says not to be immoral in matters of sex--pornography, prostitution, masterbation, premarital, rape--because those things are a sin against ourselves "in a way no other sin is." What does that mean? There is a reason that child molestation and rape are such heinous crimes: I believe it is because they leave lasting emotional and psychological scars. There is something about sex that is not just physical, it affects people's body and soul. People can get drunk and feel bad the next day, but there isn't an emotional pain that comes with it. They may be greedy and steal or cheat, and feel guilty, but should they choose to return what they took, the psychological pain isn't there. But people's souls are connected to their bodies and so when they are violated sexually, it is an emotional, mental, spiritual, psychological disturbance. This is also the reason God tells us to wait until we are married to have sex. Because, within the safe, secure, loving boundaries of marriage, it is wonderful. Outside of marriage, there is not that security and so it can be damaging. Our sexualized culture makes it no big deal, followers of Christ need to remember to honor God with our bodies and protect ourselves and each other from the spiritual pain of abusing sex.

God was not in the earthquake or the fire, he was in the gentle breeze. Part of me thinks that what God is trying to show Elijah is that he is not a God of theatrics. He is definitely a God of power, but also a God of gentleness and peace. And he is a God of the unexpected. God, throughout scripture, does things in unexpected ways. That's just how he works. The people of scripture often expected God to do one thing (people still expect something out of him) but he likes to show up and do the opposite. I think one reason he does this is to make sure glory goes to himself and so humans cannot take the glory.

In Amos, God says he is going to tear down winter and summer homes and fancily decorated houses. God is not a fan of materialism--never has been, never will be. That's why we need to live this life with eternity in mind and not worry about what we can accumulate in this life. God's going to destroy all the riches of the world anyway.

Day 182: What God Doesn't Want

1 Corinthians 5; 1 Kings 18; Amos 2:1-3:2

Paul reminds the Corinthians that a little compromise, a little sin allowed here and there, can easily and quick spread and ruin many. He tells them to stop being proud--they need to realize they are susceptible to temptation and sin, just like everyone else. As a church body, we need to stand for righteousness, holiness, and purity. We need to stick to scriptural truths, fight for them, and try to live to the standard of Jesus. When we overlook the sin in ourselves or fellow believers, we are not helping anyone, in fact, we are actually condoning such sin. We need to fight against all kinds of sins: anger, greed, jealousy, drunkenness, etc. Whatever is not of The Lord is a sin and Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) that we need to remove those things from the church. If the church looks just like the world, what's the point of Jesus' example?

Wow, talk about the ultimate throw down! Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to see whose God is real. The more they pray and dance and cut themselves, the more obvious it is that there will be no answer. They try all day long to get a response from their god--and nothing. All they have accomplished is to embarrass themselves, wear themselves out, and harm themselves with cutting. All the gods we worship here on earth--money, success, substances, people--this is all that will happen. We can cry out to them day and night, give everything that we have hoping for some help, and they will leave us bleeding and empty. Elijah lifts up a short prayer and God responds in a powerful way. Only The Lord of the Universe will answer and give us what we need. When the people realize how fake the other prophets are, they take them and kill them. They realize just how worthless, tricky, and harmful those leaders had been and so they destroy them and their influence. We need to to destroy the influence of worthless gods in our own lives. Do we idolize money? Start giving it away. Do we idolize success? Change your job. Do we idolize another human or a relationship? If it isn't a marriage, end that relationship and focus on The Lord instead. Just like what Paul was saying in Corinthians, we need to chase away sin, chase away false idols, stop worshipping things that don't matter and can't satisfy.

The other little thing that is so cool about what God does in this moment, is he is able to create fire that was able to burn and dry up even water-soaked wood. God didn't just set fire to dry wood, he set fire to soaked wood. God likes to do what is beyond the normal to work a miracle. Yeah, it still would have been cool if God had lit the bull and altar on fire if it was perfectly dry. But how can God show even more power? Light wet stuff on fire. Yeah, that's my God.

Amos is a pretty bleak book to begin with. God is going to destroy all these different groups because of what they have done. Some were "led astray by the same false gods their ancestors worshiped." Others will be destroyed because they "sell honest people for money" and "smear the poor in the dirt and push aside those who are helpless." When God sends a message about destroying a whole group of people, we need to listen to the reasons. In the first few chapters of Amos, we see that God hates it when people sell others as slaves (sex slavery? labor trafficking?). He hates when people kill their relatives and don't show mercy (murder? divorce? domestic abuse?). He will destroy those who rip open pregnant women (abortion?). He despises when people dishonor the dead. He hates it when people are led astray by false gods (money, sex, substances, fame, other religions?). And he definitely hates it when people do not care for the poor and needy. So if we take all this and switch it around, what DOES God want us to do? To treat others as valuable, whether poor, downcast, outcast, pregnant, it doesn't matter. God values human life, and not just being alive, but living.

Day 181: Judged

1 Corinthians 4; 1 Kings 17; Amos 1

Wow, what powerful words from Paul: "And since our first duty is to be faithful to the one we work for, it doesn't matter to me if I am judged by you or even by a court of law...So don't judge anyone until The Lord returns. He will show what is hidden in the dark and what is in everyone's heart. Then God will be the one who praises each of us." This shows a lot about what our purpose is, how we should see others, and why we live for The Lord. It shouldn't matter what kind of commentary gets said about us, how we feel about what others are doing, and we definitely should not be seeking approval from anywhere else except our Lord. I know that I spend way more time than I ought, worrying about what others think of me and my faith, as well as concerning myself with their own spiritual walk and beliefs. That's not my job. My job is to give God glory in everything I do by making my life devoted to the message of Jesus Christ. The rest of it, my God, The Lord of the Universe will take care of in his time.

Paul says "God's kingdom isn't just a lot of words. It is power." I think sometimes people, even believers, act like victims. When people say mean things to us and about us, we whine about feeling hurt; when people face persecution, they want to give up; and when life gets hard, we start to complain. We are not saved so that we can have an easy life. We are saved so that God's Holy Spirit, the power of The Lord, can live in our hearts and we can share the message of Jesus with hope and without fear. We don't become followers of Christ because the story sounds good. People follow Jesus because of the power that is displayed in his love, his death, and his resurrection.

The more I read scripture, the more I realize that The Lord loves to provide for his people. Elijah was told to go across this river and hide there. God would provide food through ravens that he commanded. Then the widow has absolutely nothing left and believes that she will starve, and God takes the little she has and multiplies it for as long as she needs it. Then her son keeps getting sicker and sicker until he dies, but God brings him back to life. God wants to work miracles in our lives. He wanted Elijah's trust so that he could do this miraculous thing with the crow-food-service. He had Elijah show up on this widow's doorstep when she had nothing left, so that when she didn't run out, it could be attributed to God's miracle. The boy died, so that when he was raised to life, it would be clear that God worked a miracle. When Elijah and the widow had nothing, God provided. Sometimes when it feels like we have nothing left, that means we are ripe to have to rely on God to work a miracle, and I truly believe he wants to.

In Amos, he gives some terrible news to several nations. God is going to destroy them for the terrible things they've done. People have been hurt, sold as slaves, and pregnant women and their babies destroyed by these nations and God won't stand for it. We have to believe that the same God who judged these groups of people so long ago will also judge the people today who hurt and take advantage of others for their own gain. God is a just God. We have to believe that as much as we want to believe he is loving.

Day 180: Buildings

1 Corinthians 3; 1 Kings 15:33-16:34; Joel 3

How do we become spiritual people? Paul tells us that it doesn't include jealousy or arguing, or following anyone besides God. The Corinthians must have been struggling with jealousy and disagreements, and many of them had split into groups of Paul-followers or Apollos-followers. Paul says that they are simply servants and that the people need to mature and realize that it is God at the center of it all.

He goes on to give an illustration of what we are building in this life. We are all building something. Christ is the only foundation that will really last. Our lives built on anything else will crumble and fail, if not now, then on the day we stand before The Lord and give account for our lives. Paul uses gold vs. wood to illustrate a point about building a life of value or worthlessness; things that will last or not. What's crazy is that the things that Paul would say are the "gold" are actually nothing that the world considers valuable. The things that would be of "gold" would be our personal ministry and who and how we share the love of Jesus; serving people who are in need in order to making a lasting difference in their lives; developing the fruits of the spirit like peace, patience, kindness, etc. But what the world sees as valuable but Paul would call wood, hay, or straw, are wealth, reputation, success, recognition. Those things will not last because when we get to heaven, it won't matter how much money we made in this life, because you can't take it with you. It won't matter what your reputation was because God will see who you really are. And success is not something that matters either because whether you were a CEO or janitor, God loves us all the same. The things that we will be able to see are those that we shared God's message with who will be with us in heaven and the spiritual qualities that we developed because those too we will have in heaven.

Leader after leader of Israel disobeys The Lord by worshiping idols. The leaders of communities set the tone and do so much to help or hinder the people. That is why it is so important that our leaders (from the heads of families to the heads of state and country) need to be chosen carefully.

In Joel there is a beautiful picture of what God will create after he has judged and defeated all the guilty and those that hate him. He says that he will "punish the guilty and defend the innocent." God loves his people and one day he will set up a beautiful kingdom for his people and make right all the wrongs that have happened to the innocent.

Day 179: Worthless Spiritual Words

1 Corinthians 2; 1 Kings 15:1-32; Joel 2:12-23

When Paul when to preach to the Corinthians, he was shaking in his sandals! The great Paul himself, nervous and weak about bringing Jesus to a group of people. That makes me feel better about my fears about taking the gospel to people and places. Then Paul talks about his strategy: Just simply talk about Jesus. That was his big master plan. He said that he didn't want to use fancy words or lofty wisdom, because that would make people believe in human wisdom, not the power of God. So he said he simply talked about who Jesus was and let God do the rest. I'm very thankful that Paul would set this kind of example; now I know that I don't have to have to know everything in order to tell people about Jesus. I don't have to come up with some fancy prayer or story, use eloquent or especially spiritual sounding language; the power of God speaks for itself.

Asa in 1 Kings almost completely obeys The Lord. He gets rid of the temple prostitutes and destroys the idols. That is awesome and fabulous, good for Asa. Except, he allows some local shrines to remain. He takes care of part of the problem, but leaves quite a bit of the problem untouched. When we are trying to follow Jesus, we don't need to just mask or supress our sin, or even remove most of it; we need to completely destroy it. Asa is a good example of how we can be doing the right thing, but not quite finish the job or compromise for one reason or another. God's people need to stand up for what is right, defend that, and not accept anything that is not pleasing to God.

In Joel, it is talking about the people turning back to God. God says: "It isn't too late. You can still return to me with all your heart. Start crying and mourning! Go without eating. Don't rip your clothes to show your sorrow. Instead, turn back to me with broken hearts." Even after all these people had done to reject and destroy what God had given them, God says that there is still time to repent. As long as someone has breath in their lungs, they can turn to The Lord. Then he goes on to tell them not to tear their clothes, as was the custom of this time to show sorrow. He tells them not to do this because God doesn't want a show, he wants real, broken, and contrite hearts. Anyone can fall to their knees and tear their clothes, looking very repentant, but what really determines a person's devotion to fixing their life is the surrender of their heart.

Day 178: Contrary

1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 1 Kings 14; Joel 2:1-11

What God does and values is so opposite to what our culture does and values. Why in the world would God send his son to Earth? Why would he die for humans? Why are the first last, and the last first? Why should I love my enemies or turn the other cheek? What Paul is saying in these passages is that God knew (and knows) what people expect, and so in order to give himself the glory, God does the unexpected. He uses the weak and the foolish to change the world. God doesn't do what we expect: he is capable of using the most insignificant thing and making it significant. That is another reason to praise him! He knows how to make something of nothing so that all the glory can only go to him.

Rehoboam fails at leading Jerusalem down the right path. They start worshipping idols, get attacked, and all of Solomon's gold is stolen. Rehoboam's decision following this shows who he is: he has the gold shields replaced with bronze ones and tells the guards to keep them safe. He replaces what is so valuable with something cheaper, and expects humans to be enough to protect it. He trades the glory and goodness of The Lord for worthless idols and thinks that someone besides God can do the work of God. This demonstrates to me that only God can do what God does: protect, serve, forgive, create.

Joel is focused on the coming judgment. Imagine being judged by The Lord God. Joel says it will be terrible and I imagine that it will be. For believers and followers of Christ, we have been covered by the blood of Jesus and so while our sins are laid bare before God, we are also saved and made righteous by Christ.