Day 229: Now I See

John 9:24-41; 2 Chronicles 7; Malachi 4

The story of the blind man who Jesus made see continues. What I love is that this guy isn't really that informed or intelligent. The Pharisees ask him a bunch of questions and he basically answers with "All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see." He may not have answers to who Jesus is how exactly he was healed, he just knows that a miracle was worked and that it must have come from God. Sometimes Christians think that we have to know a lot in order to witness to others. This man is proof that all he (and we) needed to know was how the supernatural healing power of Jesus worked in his (and our) life. Jesus condemns the Pharisees because they claim they can see, and yet they are blind to who Jesus really is. He came to give sight to the blind, but those that say they can already see don't need Jesus, people like the Pharisees. All I know is, I lived blindly for a long time until I started opening the Bible and reading scripture. I still don't get it all and never will, but my eyes have been opened by the healing power and incredible words of The Lord.

God warns Solomon of the people's choice. Humans can choose to obey God and he will be able to bless them. Or they can choose to reject God and he will leave them. It was their choice; it is our choice. God doesn't force himself on us, never did, never will. That why being obedient is tough; our sin nature wants to pull us away. What God tells Solomon is that if the people reject him, other nations will think that all of it was a joke.  Sometimes I look at the Christian church, especially in America and it does seem like a joke. How are we living, risking, and sacrificing for our Lord? The problem is, many are not. We can combat that with reading his word and filling up all the spaces in our hearts and minds with his love rather than sinful things. We can fight this by joining with other believers and keeping each other accountable for living worshipful obedient lives. We can better love God if we surrender all we have to him. That's what God wanted from his people during Solomon's time, and that is what he wants from us today.

From Malachi: "But for you that honor my name, victory will shine like the sun with healing in its rays, and you will jump around like calves at play." There is such hope in the word of The Lord and the name of Jesus. I keep reminding myself: it is so worth it. God's promises, like this one, are things that we can hang on to to help us through times of trial, struggle, or spiritual slump. God does love us and has victory for us. That's something to believe in.

Day 228: Out of the Box

John 9:1-23; 2 Chronicles 6; Malachi 2:17-3:18

The poor guy had been blind his whole life, and it doesn't sound like he was a kid either. This was a grown man. The disciples ask Jesus why he was born that way. What if the reason was so that on this particular day, years into his life, on this road, Jesus could walk by and heal him? What if the decades that he had struggled were for this purpose only? Everyone thought it was because of a sin that the parents or he had committed, but it might actually have been so that God could work a miracle. We still see life this way: "God, why did I lose my job? How come he got sick? How could my house get repossessed? Why did they lose the baby?" Jesus heals. He doesn't enjoy seeing us in distress and pain; he could have left the blind man the way he was if that was how Jesus worked. But what if these difficult things in our life happen so that God can step in and do his work? Some might wonder, "But is that it? Just so God could work?" But does there need to be more? Isn't it enough that The Lord of the Universe paused on that road on that day to heal a man? Isn't it enough that The Lord of the Universe would place his hand in our lives to stir things up?

Over and over again in Solomon's prayer he says "Listen from your home in heaven." Sometimes humans like to build temples or boxes for God to live in. We say this is where God lives in my life and this is where he should stay. We put God in the "Sunday Morning" box. We put him in a "Just my Religion" box. We put God in an "Only When I Need Him" box. We put him in a "Denomination" box. The temple that Solomon built could very easily become one of those boxes. The place could have become the worshipped, rather than God being worshipped in that place. Solomon over and over says "from your home in heaven" maybe reminding himself and the people that God isn't confined to something build by human hands; even heaven cannot contain him (verse 18). I used to have God in a box. It was kind of like an "I'm a Christian" box. The problem was that that is all I was, a Christian. I didn't live my life any differently than someone who wasn't a Christian, except I got up earlier on Sunday mornings and gave some of my money to the church. I realized that I had limited God, put him a box made by my heart and life. God showed me that he cannot be contained, that he should not be contained. Now I'm trying to figure out how to live my life with God outside of the box and pervading my whole life. I still don't have it figured out, but at least I'm not putting God in a box anymore.

In Malachi, God warns the people that he will send his messenger (Jesus ) to purify the people. They had been thinking that God was fine with the evil they were doing. They believed that since the wicked were still happy and successful, that God was ok with it. That's not the case. God simply allows those who want their reward now to have it now, and those who want their reward for eternity, can enjoy it for the rest of time. However, God doesn't say, you've messed up once, and now you're done for. He reminds them "if you return to me, I will return to you." In this chapter, the main things that he talks about is how to stop robbing and disobeying him is with their money and wealth. He wants them to bring their ten percent to him, to sacrifice the first of their paycheck, as well as be faithful in marriage, tell the truth, and care for orphans and widows. The whole point is that "everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong." The way we live our lives, deal with truth, spend our money, demonstrate how faithful we are to our Lord.

Day 227: Eternal Perspective

John 8:48-59; 2 Chronicles 5:2-14; Malachi 2:10-16

Jesus' message is certainly an unusual one. He tells the people that if they believe in him, they will never die, and that Abraham was happy to see him. The people are so confused: first, how is it that a person will never die? And secondly, Jesus is only 30 something, how could he have met Abraham who lived hundreds of years before? Jesus is revealing God's eternal perspective. Of course our bodies will die, but what if that isn't the important part? What if the more significant death is the death of our souls because of a lack of faith in Jesus? Something that I heard a while back is that our eternity doesn't start when we die, it starts the moment we trust in Jesus. Our eternity has already started, and Jesus was revealing what that kind of perspective looks like. I've been trying to figure out how to live my life in that way over the last several weeks. It's hard because everything around me screams temporal gain and earthly pleasure. Jesus is revealing that real life actually starts when we accept him for who he says he is and our earthly death doesn't matter much in the scheme of eternity.

Solomon and the priests were having an intense worship service, singing and playing their hearts out, and offering tons of sacrifices to The Lord. In the midst of their worship, God's presence shows up and is so powerful they can't even be present because it is so awesome. What if when we worshiped, we praised God like his glory was filling the room, as if he was actually there? How would our worship be different? If we sit back and watch people in church it is amazing--God's presence really could be there and they act like they are looking at a menu deciding between mashed potatoes or beans. God's glory was so bright that the priests couldn't stay there to do their work, it was so overwhelming that their very presence in the room was difficult. I know I'm definitely going to try and think of this verse the next time I'm in worship. Maybe the words that I sing and the attitude of my heart will be different.

In Malachi, there are some tough words: God is angry because the people have broken their agreement and isn't pleased when they come crying to the altar. Why not? The example given is that the men have not been faithful to their wives, but I see that as being an example of living a life for self or being duplicitous. These people were coming to the altar, weeping, but their lives were not changed. They still worshiped other gods and were not living faithfully, probably in more ways than one. God doesn't want us to just come before him feeling bad, he wants us to come before him willing to be changed, different, transformed, faithful.

Day 226: What God Says

John 8:21-47; 2 Chronicles 2:17-5:1; Malachi 1:1-2:9

In this passage where Jesus is addressing the people, there are a lot of very significant passages that explain the way of God. First, Jesus says "If you don't have faith in me for who I am, you will die and your sins will not be forgiven." We have to believe that Jesus is who he says he is, not some watered-down, made up, more agreeable version. Why do we need forgiveness of our sins? Jesus states that "anyone who sins is a slave of sin." So how to we become free from sin? It's not by trying hard enough, but only "if the Son gives you freedom, you are free!" And finally, the people are claiming that God is their Father, that they really are his children and Jesus says: "if God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and only from him." I've heard people say they believe in God but not in Jesus. Jesus is saying that that is not possible. How can a person believe in something, but believe that part of what they say is false. Essentially that's what these people are saying: I believe in a God who is partially a liar, because while he may be the Creator of the universe, he's lying about Jesus. Interesting stuff.

These first few verses of Malachi are pretty tough. Basically God is angry at the priests for offering less than the best to God. They were offering sick or injured animals for sacrifices, probably keeping the best for themselves. That's like me offering God my half-hearted praise, what's leftover of my money rather than the first, or serving in the easiest way possible rather than what God has called me to do. People that do not offer God their best or give their best to him and lead others to do so, God considers them basically false prophets. These people are leading others to do the same, and so God makes them despicable to everyone who does obey God. We need to make sure that we are following what The Lord truly says. How do we do that? Well, we have to know what he actually says by reading his word. I hope and pray that you and I will recognize just how deserving The Lord is of the best of our time, money, and talents.

Day 225: One on One

John 8:1-20; 2 Chronicles 1:1-2:16; Zechariah 14

Wow, what a story of compassion and forgiveness. But something different in this story of the adulteress stands out. The Pharisees, the church leaders brought this woman and "made her stand in the middle of the crowd," revealing her sin to the multitude. They cared nothing for her pain, her dignity, her soul. They were only concerned about their pride and condemning Jesus. Jesus doesn't even address her until EVERYONE IS GONE. He doesn't call her out, embarrass her, harass her, condemn her. With Jesus, it's personal, quiet. The point of our faith, the point of the church is to love like Jesus. He doesn't tell her that her sin is ok, that she needs to go to church more, that she should give more money. He tells her the truth: that he won't condemn her but she should stop living in sin. But again, it's personal, one-on-one. As the church we need to be cautious about gossip or making people's sins public when they need to be just between them and Jesus.

Solomon asks for wisdom, and God is so proud. Why is God proud? Because Solomon was seeking something that was eternal, unseen, not of this earth. Solomon recognized what he needed most was not some earthly substance or power, but something supernatural.

In Zechariah, God promises that there will be a terrible time of war: people will be killed, women raped, homes robbed. It is going to be a devastating time before God comes back to rule. But, despite all that, if we have an eternal perspective, we have hope to look forward to. God will come back, rescue his people, and establish himself as the just and loving King. We don't need to be afraid, because the worst that can happen is that we die. No matter what, if we know and love and follow Jesus, we will get to be with him for eternity, and that is a way bigger deal.