February 3 - Anointed Words and Hands

Read today’s texts first: Exodus 35 & 36; Acts 10

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

From preachers to painters and everyone in between, God’s Spirit anoints everyone He appoints.

When reading the Old and New Testament accounts this morning I was first drawn to the familiar story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10.  Here was the man of faith and power speaking such anointed words that the entire audience was filled with the Spirit of God and spoke in tongues spontaneously.

Now compare that exciting story with the details of building the furnishings of the tabernacle – boring stuff, right?  Then it hit me, around 35:31.  I’d never really noticed Bezalel, Oholiab and company, but God included them in His inspired Word.  He says, He has filled them with the Spirit of God, with skills, abilities, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.  That theme is repeated over and over again as each piece of furniture is described in glorious detail.  Apparently this stuff and these people really matter to God.

As I read this, I recalled a time at the college when I was checking in on a student named Teina, who was painting a mural for an upcoming Valentine’s dinner.  I first recognized Teina’s talent from her creative doodling on paper and on her arms (she would tattoo herself) during my classes.  At first I was offended, wondering why her attention wasn’t fully on my captivating lessons.  Then it dawned on me – this is a talent from God.  When I stood back and looked at her spectacular mural, it suddenly made sense why God was impressed with the craftsmen who built the holy furniture of His tabernacle.

The same appreciation settled over me when we moved into the new PLBC Learning Centre.  I’m a purist, and I like to point out that the church is people, not buildings.  However, as I watched the difference this beautiful building made in our school spirit, I began to realize that it’s the Spirit of God.  His Spirit anoints our words and the works of our hands when that work is dedicated for His purpose.

“Lord, continue to expand my appreciation for Your people and the wide array of talents and gifts You express through them.  May I never hold one gift higher than another - they matter equally to You!”

February 2 - Show Me Your Glory

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus 33 & 34; Psalms 16; Acts 9

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY 

If God is not with us, how are we different, and if we are not different, how can we make a difference in others?

Rod Tidwell thought he taught Jerry Maguire well with his mantra, “show me the money!” Saying it loud and saying it often doesn’t make it worthwhile. They both missed it, along with everyone else who has pursued the so-called American dream! Now Moses, he figured it out - where the real value is! It took him 80 years, from Pharaoh’s palace to the backside of the desert, but he finally came to the end of himself and the beginning of God’s power.  I’ve learned so much from his prayers, particularly the one found in Exodus 33: 

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.  The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”   And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”  Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” (33:13-18) 

If God is not with us, then how are we different from anyone else in the world, and if we’re not different, then how can we make a difference in others?  It’s the presence of Jesus that makes the difference, in our lives and through our lives.  God answered the prayer of Moses with a display of His glory that left his face shining for days later.

Something similar happened to Saul in our New Testament reading, but this time it was a result of the prayers of those he was persecuting.  That blinding encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was enough to turn Saul into Paul, two completely different men.  It says that at once he began to preach (9:20) to the astonishment of the disciples who had been harassed by him for doing the same thing!

“Lord, it’s Your glory that makes the difference.  I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything without the radiance of Your presence filling my life.  It’s a good prayer so I’m praying it now: show me Your glory!”

February 1 - Kingdom of Priests

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus 30-32; Acts 8 

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God’s Kingdom is for those who “get up and go,”
not sit back and complain. It’s time to make the
comfortable pew uncomfortable! 

Israel received the same commission as the church (compare Ex. 19:6 with 1 Pet. 2:9).  As God’s chosen people, they were to be both kings and priests (Rev. 1:6), each one directly accountable to the King of Kings and the Great High Priest – Jesus.  No one man, or even one group, was intended to function as sole mediator (priest) or monarch (king).  Israel and the church were theocracies, where God alone would rule.  All of us as God’s people are to be directly accountable to God and, at His leading, bring His presence and His rule to all the other peoples of the earth, as priests and kings.

Israel was not supposed to have one human king, like all the other nations.  God knew that such power would corrupt one man and predicted that if they appointed a king he would amass wealth, power, and wives (Deut. 17:16-17; 1 Sam.8) – can you say “Solomon!”  When one person is king then the rest of the people relegate responsibility to him and they can just sit back and complain.   Some churches try to do that with their pastor while they take a seat with the scornful in the comfortable back pew.

The same applies to the priesthood.  Every one of us, as citizens in God’s holy nation, is to be in direct relationship with God, mediating between Him and those who don’t yet know Him.  But Israel, like us sometimes, didn’t like that personal accountability.  That’s why they kept their distance from the thunder and smoke of Mt. Sinai and said to Moses, you go meet with God and tell us what He wants (Ex. 20:18-21).   It was that distance from God that led to their “dance with the devil” – dancing, drunkenness, and debauchery (Ex. 32).  It was then that the Levites, the only Israelites willing to be accountable to God and Moses, stepped forward.  They became priests by default.

In our New Testament reading of Acts 7 yesterday and 8 today, we see Stephen and Philip, both lowly deacons appointed to care for the widows, assuming their responsibilities, along with the apostles, to serve as kings and priests.  Stephen’s sermon to the Sanhedrin “coincidentally” retells the story of Moses and compares them to the rebellious golden calf worshippers.  The theme of his message seems to be what the Jews first said to Moses: who made you ruler and judge? (7:27,35).  Stephen provides the answer – it’s Jesus, the same person they refused to obey and he has chosen to obey until his dying breath.

“Lord, I pray that Stephen and Philip’s willingness to serve as Your representatives as kings and priests, no matter what the consequences, would be my conviction too!” 

February Devo - The Greatest Love Story

As Papa to three grandkids, I’ve read and watched a lot of nursery rhymes and fairy tales with them. I often finish these story times by explaining the real meaning behind them. Many of these wonderful parables feature a princess who has fallen short of her royal identity and destiny, usually because of some evil deceiver. But before the story is over, the dashing prince rescues her and brings her back to his palace. There they will live happily ever after, ruling the Kingdom together forever.

The obvious comparisons to the gospel message are usually intentional, as many of the original story tellers were Christians looking for creative ways to pass on their faith to their children. The sequel “Frozen 2” continued the theme of altruistic love and self-sacrifice, illustrated so beautifully in the first “Frozen” movie.  Mark Henn, the lead animator for Frozen, said this in an interview about the first film: “Christian families can use the movie to talk to their kids ultimately about honest, sacrificial love. We all understand that. The love of Christ is sacrificing His life because He loved us so much.”

Fifty-two years ago, a week before Valentine’s Day (I couldn’t wait), I proposed to the love of my life. Since then I’ve only scratched the surface of what it means to love her with all my heart, “just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). No one loves us as purely, as completely, as selflessly, or as unconditionally as Jesus does!

Because of Jesus, our Prince of Peace, we can have the same hope as Snow White, who sang:

Some day my prince will come
Some day we'll meet again
And away to his castle we'll go
To be happy forever I know!

It sounds too good to be true, but this story, the greatest love  story ever told, is no fairy tale. Just as surely as Jesus came to earth the first time, He will come again to claim His Bride – “some day when my dreams come true!”

Ps. Happy Valentine’s Day on February 14!

 

January 31 - “Wisdom” of the Egyptians

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus 28 & 29; Acts 7

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The “wisdom” of the Egyptians was the same “foolishness” we hear today: “life comes from nothing.”
There’s nothing to it!

Of all the amazing stories and principles I read this morning, I’m not sure why this verse stood out to me:  Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22).  It may have something to do with the class I taught for years called Science and the Bible.  I would have my students discuss the consequences of a society growing up indoctrinated in the concept of evolution.  There is a deliberate strategy of our enemy to try to remove God from our thinking.  He does that by using schools and universities to brainwash each new generation with the idea that we are the product of random chance, a freak accident, people without purpose in this life and with no hope of a life beyond this one.  While this may sound overstated, that is the underlying message of the theory of macro-evolution, in its pure and godless form.

So what does this have to do with Moses?  The ancient Egyptians were likely the first to believe in evolution, before Darwin named the theory.  When the banks of the Mother Nile would overflow and then recede, little marine creatures would be left behind.  The Egyptians believed that these simple organisms were spontaneously generated and that all life arose through that process.  Moses, who grew up in Pharaoh’s household, was no doubt trained to believe the same.  Yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses was the one who penned the creation account in Genesis, describing God’s purposeful handiwork over seven literal days.

This gives hope to us as Christian parents.  Sometimes we doubt whether the faith we try to instill in their hearts will survive the ridicule of godless teachers or friends.  Imagine my joy when my son, who at times has challenged his Christian upbringing, came to me to learn scientific proof for creation so he could pass it on to his college classmates.  Imagine the anguish the natural mother of Moses must have felt when she had to give him up to the godless Egyptians just to spare his life.  Now imagine her relief to know that God can still answer her prayers, even when she has no influence, to turn a heart around.

“Oh Lord, help me to have that same faith in the effect of my prayers and the conviction of Your Holy Spirit.  It’s difficult to turn our children over to the influence of the so-called “wisdom” of this world, but you can preserve them just as you did Moses.”

January 30 - Attention to Details

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus 25-27; Acts 6

MAXIMize YOUR DAY 

• The New Testament helps us understand the Old.

• Serving God is in the details.

I love this Bible reading plan.  My mind naturally looks for congruity so I tend to find themes that fit both the Old and New Testament readings.  I once heard Jerry Cook explain that the New Testament provides the perspective we need to understand the Old.  In the Old Testament, God is outside human existence so He appears more distant, less intimate.  But Jesus our Immanuel, “God with us,” came to reveal the true heart of the Father.  Knowing what He taught and demonstrated through His actions helps us better understand the God of the Old Testament.  Of course, after Calvary, the “God out there” and the “God with us” became the “God in us.”  Now with the in-dwelling Holy Spirit we have a resident teacher who further illuminates our understanding of the Bible.

So then why are there five chapters of meticulous details on the tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priest’s garments?  The God out there is about to dwell among His people.  His heart is to be with His people.  He made us in His image as the ultimate focus of His creation.  The God of love finds His fulfillment in loving us and we find ours in loving Him.  That’s the way it was in Paradise before sin drove a wedge in our relationship.  He could no longer live in His people and so He would have to connect to them through an Ark, His covenant, in the Holy of Holies in a sacred Tabernacle.  The pains-taking details remind us of how holy our God is and how far we have fallen from Him.

In Acts 6 we see the same attention to details - the care of the widows in the church.  Now the emphasis is on the integrity of the individual and the community of believers.  This was always God’s plan, to live in us.  Now that Jesus has made that possible, we begin to see the need for meticulous care for our own purity and the purity of our relationships within the body of Christ.  Suddenly we see that making sure the widows are fed and cared for is as important as constructing the Ark of the Covenant – perhaps more-so.

“Lord, sometimes I focus so much on the big picture that I miss the details.  So often You prompt me in prayer or while I’m working to do something small and seemingly insignificant, like to call or write someone who needs encouragement.  I often dismiss or forget those impulses because I’m too busy fulfilling Your call on my life in my own way and in my own strength.  No wonder I get so tired and the big picture looks so distorted.  It’s missing a few pieces.  Lord, instill in me Your attention to the details that matter.”

January 29 - My Enemies’ Enemy

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus23 & 24; Psalms 14; Acts 5

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God opposes those who oppose us -
He is our enemies’ enemy!

Growing up as a skinny kid, I was street smart enough to know that it pays to make the biggest guy in school your close buddy.  I avoided a lot of fights in junior high because Bob Best (that was really his name) had my back.  Moses and the rest of Israel had the promise of a protector too.  God sent His angel, bearing His name, ahead of them into the Promised Land.  If they stayed with him, God promised he “will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you” (23:22).  While Israel often suffered from an inferiority complex before going into battle, their enemies were far more intimidated because of Israel’s growing reputation for divine intervention.  Who’s going to stand up to God and win?

David, the Psalmist agrees: Will evil doers never learn… there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous (14:4-5).  I love it when I see a theme emerge from all three passages, because Acts 5 illustrates the promise given to both Moses and David.  The Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court, at least 70 men in total, could not seem to keep these disciples down.  After just locking them up in the slammer, they were shocked to hear some guy interrupt their meeting with the news that the men they put in jail were back at the temple again preaching.  The disciples could have had their own series of Prison Break episodes (if Fox television had been around then).  Keeping these disciples from preaching is like bopping gophers at Chuck E Cheese – they just keep popping up somewhere else!  Gamaliel said it best:  if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find your selves fighting against God (5:39).

“Lord, may we stand strong in the face of opposition, knowing that if God is for us, who can be against us.  Sometimes, because of my fear of persecution, I keep quiet when I should be bold.  I ask that You would work into my life the same conviction that gripped Your disciples: we must obey God rather than men (5:29).”