February 15 - God’s Perfect Economy

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 25; Psalm 25 & 26; Acts 22

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

We’re not here just to make a living and acquire things; we’re here to manage God’s resources and serve
His purposes. 

I learned a biblical principle from my brother that helped me earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.  It wasn’t my brother the pastor; it was my eldest brother, the businessman.  He discovered while buying rental houses that the economy went through 7-8 year economic cycles, coincident with the Sabbath year.

The principle of the Sabbath is not just to revitalize the land as it lays fallow for a year: the changes in buying and selling that year also revitalize the economy.  Without that intentional correction, the economy will adjust itself – the hard way.  Spiraling inflation ends in a minor or major recession.  If you time it right you can sell one house high and buy the next one low, which both of us did for serious profits.

The Sabbath of Sabbath years, the 50^th year of Jubilee, cancelled all debts, returned all property to its original owners and allowed for the emancipation of all slaves.  Nowhere in biblical history do we hear of Israel actually doing this, but the concept is brilliant.  Chronic poverty, long-term debt, exploitation of workers, and so many other social problems connected to ownership and greed would be eliminated. The principle was a reminder that God owns everything and that we are only stewards of His property.

“Lord, this foundational truth must undergird everything we do on this planet.  We’re not here just to make a living and acquire things; we’re here to manage Your resources and serve Your purposes.  That’s when we’ll experience the jubilee that comes from true rest and complete freedom!”

February 14 - Celebrate Good Times, C’mon!

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 23 & 24; Psalm 24; Acts 21

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

It is Your will that I sleep sweetly, rest regularly,
and party hardy! 

Christians often think of Old Testament law like nonchristians view the church - boring and oppressive.  But the church today, just like the Israelites of old, should be party central!  The emphasis on the Sabbath and the annual feasts remind us of the abundant life we are supposed to be enjoying.  Five of the seven national holidays were to be times of celebration with the family and community of believers.  Sprinkled throughout their description are reminders of the Sabbath, when everyone should cease from “laborious work.”  Rest and recreation are vital in living life to the fullest.

We live in a stress-filled, sleep-deprived world.  Greed and materialism are ripping people off of a good night’s sleep, a good week’s rest, and true holiday celebrations.  TV and the internet are stealing our sleep, Sunday shopping has replaced the Sunday family dinner, and holidays have become exhausting.

Christians are not much better.  It may not be greed that drives us to an early grave, but even our desire to serve God can become an excuse for workaholism.  You may have heard, “it’s better to burn out than to rust out!”  Hey, take it from me, after experiencing the debilitating symptoms of burn-out, there is a better option.  The most effective Christians are those who’ve learned how to enjoy life.  They stand in attractive contrast to the road-weary, bleary-eyed, sad souls looking for a better way to live.

“Lord, help me keep the balance You so clearly established in Your Word.  It is Your will that I sleep sweetly, rest regularly and party hardy!”

February 13 - Aversion to Perversion

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 20-22; Acts 20

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God help us to hate the sin in our world as much
as we love the sinner. 

When God has a sex talk He holds nothing back.  Leviticus is not a bedtime story for children.  It seems like God wants to warn His people about every conceivable sexual sin, from threesomes with a mother and her daughter to orgies in the barnyard, with the livestock!  Where’s the parents’ advisory on these chapters?

The point of these details on immorality is to alert His people to the kind of perversion they will encounter among the pagan Canaanite nations:  you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them …. I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples (20:23, 24).

Satan cannot create – only God has that kind of power.  So the devil takes what God has designed for good and twists it, or “perverts” it, to be used outside of God’s intended purpose.  He has done just that with music, dance, and, most insidiously, sex.  The most sacred expression of loving intimacy between a husband and wife has been debased to animalistic lust.

God’s graphic descriptions should make us as angry as it does Him.  It’s that hatred of sin that will keep us from being sucked into the vortex of perversion that is as prevalent now as it was then. Unfortunately, the twisted thinking of the world has crept into our churches, our Bible colleges, and yes, at times, even my own life.  It’s what Paul warned his new converts about (20:30).  Sometimes we need to be shocked out of our complacency.

“God help us to hate the sin in our world as much as we love the sinner.  We live in an upside-down world, but You came to set things right-side-up.  What can I do to right things in my own life, and in the lives of those I can influence?”

February 12 - Who Are You?

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 18 & 19; Psalms 13; Acts 19

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

It’s not about who I am; it’s about whose I am,
and about who’s “I Am!”

Talk about your identity crisis.  The seven sons of Sceva were so impressed with Paul that they all tried to be like him, attempting to cast out evil spirits in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.  The demons saw the incongruity: we know Jesus, we know Paul, but who are you? (15).  If you know the rest of the story, you can add one more “s” to the usual alliteration - the seven “streaking” sons of Sceva.  When you don’t know who you are, you have good reason to be running scared and naked!

We can only discover who we are when we know the One who created us.  He alone knows us fully - past, present, and future.  He is our Way, our Truth, and the Source of abundant Life.  Sceva’s kids represent those who know about God, but have never taken the time to know Him personally.  They are posers, hitchhikers on the road of life, relying on someone else’s faith to make things happen.

David, a man after God’s own heart, knew how important it was to stay connected to the source of His identity.  When he felt separated from God, his enemies, like the demons of Acts 19, exalted over him (Psalm 13:2).  But when he trusted in God’s lovingkindness, he experienced salvation (5).  God says to His people, in the Leviticus reading, that the only way to truly live is my way – I am the Lord (18:5).  That phrase is repeated over and over again.  The “Great I Am” has no identity problem.  When Jesus declared He was the “I Am,” the power behind that declaration knocked His enemies on their backsides (John 18:6).

“Lord, I long to know You more, and to discover more about my own identity in the process.  It’s not about who I am; it’s about whose I am, and about who’s ‘I Am’!”

February 11 - A Reasonable Faith - Part 2

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 15-17; Acts 18

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

When we give a “reason for the hope within us, “
let’s make sure it is reasonable and irrefutable. 

The reasoning continues in Acts 18, this time passing from Paul to Aquila and Priscilla, and then to Apollos (4,19,25,26,28).

The tedious task of stitching tent canvas allowed Paul many hours of training with fellow tent-makers, Aquila and Priscilla.  On a side note, notice how they were introduced to us with the husband’s name first (2), in typical Jewish fashion, but then later on by the wife’s name first (18; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19) – very atypical!  Priscilla apparently developed a prominent teaching gift and became more active in ministry than her husband.  So much for the view that believes Paul discriminated against women in ministry.  The strength of Priscilla and Aquila, like Paul, was sound, reasonable teaching.

Naturally they were drawn to Apollos, who was known for teaching about Jesus “accurately” (25), though he was limited to John’s mentorship.  After P & A finished enlightening him, he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ (28).  How does one prove Jesus is the Christ?  Frank Morrison, an agnostic lawyer, set out to disprove the resurrection of Jesus.  He was so changed by the overwhelming evidence for it that he became a Christian.  The book he finally wrote, entitled Who Moved the Stone, presents compelling arguments that prove the historical accuracy of Christ’s death and resurrection.

In sharp contrast to that kind of reasonable thinking is the way the Jehovah Witness community has misinterpreted today’s Leviticus reading on eating blood.  I remember when our B.C. government had to step in to save some of the sextuplets born to JW parents who refused their much-needed blood transfusions.  The command in Leviticus clearly concerns “eating blood” and the reasons are physical (health concerns) and spiritual (this was a ritual from the pagan idolatry of Israel’s enemies).  To allow innocent children to die unnecessarily over faulty exegesis is not only unreasonable, it’s criminal.  And it unfortunately brands every other Bible believer with the inaccurate notion that we are mindless and superstitious.

“Lord, may I follow the pattern set by Paul, Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos in presenting a reason for the hope I have within me.  It is a hope based on truth that is both reasonable and irrefutable.”

February 10 - A Reasonable Faith

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 13 &14; Acts 17

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Faith, if it’s based on truth, should be reasonable. 

Christians often appear as mindless fanatics to our sophisticated world: “I live by faith – don’t confuse me with the facts.”  While I’d be the first to admit there are times when God’s mind exceeds the capacity of my own mind to understand it, I also think that faith, if it’s based on truth, should be reasonable.  That’s why I taught a class on science and the Bible at PLBC.  I want future church leaders to be able to give a reason for the hope they have (1 Peter 3:15).

Paul felt the same way.  He reasoned with these very intellectual Jews and Greeks (2,17), proving to them Christ died and rose again (3).  So convincing was he that many of them were “persuaded” to come to Christ.  Of course people come to faith through a spiritual decision, not an intellectual one. But for the message to penetrate the spirit, it has to get past the defenses people build into their thinking.  This is particularly true with Westerners, Europeans, and others from intellectual and sophisticated societies.

Fortunately, the Bible is truth, and bears up under scrutiny.  I saw a reader-board sign outside a United church that said “The Bible: Infallible – no; Inspirational – yes.”  That doesn’t work for me.  If something is not fully true, then how can it transform my life?  Jesus said to all the Genesis skeptics and evolutionists out there, I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  (John 3:12).  The Bible must be true in its history and science if we are to believe its spiritual principles.

Even the details of the health and spiritual limitations on diet and cleanliness in our Leviticus readings are reasonable.  That’s why the Israelites were so far ahead of the pagan nations around them.  “Lord, thank You that Your Word is true, on all levels.  It has withstood the scrutiny of skeptics for thousands of years and becomes more recognizably reliable with each scientific discovery. Trusting You and Your Word is the reasonable thing to do!”

February 9 - Invincibility

 Read today’s texts first: Leviticus 10-12; Acts 16

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Every Christian has the super power of eternal life. 

I’ve always wanted to be superman.  As a kid, I thought flying would be cool; as a teenager, x-ray vision intrigued me; but now that I’m a senior citizen, invincibility seems to be the ultimate superpower.  Who wouldn’t want to see bullets bouncing off your chest.  It’s even more dramatic than Neo freezing them midair (I like the Matrix movies too).  As we keep reading the adventures of Paul, it seems like he believed he had superman’s capacity to defy death.

Acts 16 is a classic narrative on how to follow the leading of the Spirit.  Sometimes circumstances block our way (6,7); sometimes it’s a vision that calls us in a different direction (9,10).  Sometimes things you can’t control take you out of commission for awhile (22-24).  But Paul and Silas knew enough about following God that they didn’t seem the least perturbed about being stripped, beaten, and chained up in the deepest, darkest and dankest part of a Philippian jail.  Paul had already survived a stoning at Lystra – he was invincible!  That he was still alive was reason enough to sing God’s praises (25).

After the earthquake shook the doors open and rattled the chains off their feet (a perfect illustration of the power of praise), Paul and Silas stayed right where they were.  If it had been me, I would have used my “get-out-of-jail-free” card as fast as I could, but they had this sense that nothing outside of God’s will could hurt them.  Because they stayed, the Philippian jailer and his household were saved and the church of Philippi was born.  Paul’s letter to that church is filled with the same joy they felt that night in that rat-infested prison.

The reading in Leviticus illustrates that the only Kryptonite we need to fear is disobedience to the Source of our superpowers.  Aaron’s sons thought they knew better than God and found out quickly how mortal they were without Him.  “Lord, thank you that I am truly invincible when I’m walking in your will.  Even death for the believer is just a doorway to eternal life – now that’s true invincibility!”