October 8 - The Widow’s “Might”?

 Read today’s texts first: Ezra 9,10; Psalm 131; Luke 21 

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Only God leaves a “lasting” impression.

Sometimes I listen to the TV on remote headphones when I’m cleaning the house, and recently I caught up on some PVR episodes of The Voice and Bill Gaither (old people have eclectic taste!).  As I listened to the up-and-coming raw talent on The Voice, I have to admit I was impressed with people and their skills in music and production.  But when the Gaithers began singing, my spirit suddenly was filled with awe at how much more impressive God is.

When you meditate on God’s Word throughout the day it comes back to you in those moments. Chapter 21 in Luke talks about how impressive the Temple was (the same temple that Ezra helped rebuild after Israel’s prolonged captivity).  It was a spectacular tribute to human engineering.  But Jesus quickly brings perspective when He prophesies what will happen to this temple in the very near future (it was demolished by Titus some 40 years later).  He then contrasts the temporal state of the world with the permanence of His Word (v.33).

What struck me today was the simple story of the widow’s mite (KJV) that led into this profound teaching moment.  She understood that her strength, her future, was in God’s good hands and not in her ability to provide for herself.  That’s why she traded everything she had in this world for what Jesus promises in the life to come.  The same kind of sacrifice was required of the exiles in the Ezra reading as they were called to give up their heathen wives in obedience to God’s Word.

Christians today, like the Israelites of old, often make compromises, especially in our very comfortable and impressive western world.  I know I have, but “Lord thank You for reminding me today what, or should I say, Who, is really impressive!”

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus 

Let all heaven and earth proclaim

Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away

But there's something about that name.

(Bill and Gloria Gaither)

October 7 - Who Says?

 Read today’s texts first: Ezra 7,8; Luke 20

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The world tells us to lead by refusing to follow
but God says we only have authority
when we are under authority. 

As I was getting my three precocious grandkids ready for church I heard this prototypical conversation:  Kaitlyn: “Zach, brush your teeth.”  Zack: “Who says – you’re not the boss of me!”  Kaitlyn: “Papa says, that’s who!” I laughed to myself, “like that’s going to help!”

We all do it - appealing to a higher power to give ourselves credibility.  Jesus faced that in our reading today.  “By whose authority ...” questioned the chief priests and scribes. Jesus cleverly dodged their trap to charge Him with blasphemy (it wasn’t His time yet), but He made it clear, in the story He told in response to their question, that He was the Son of the “owner of the vineyard” ( aka - God, the Father).  Jesus, King of Kings, modeled real authority, daily submitting to His Father’s will.  We only have authority when we are under authority.

Ezra, our other reading today, lived out the same principle.  His incredible influence with a pagan king and his own people came because Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel (Ezra 7:10). This is the secret to success as a leader: know God’s Word, live it out, and then teach it to others - in that order.  Then you will have real credibility and authority with those whom God leads you to influence.

“Lord, may I give this day to knowing more of Your Word, walking it out, and teaching others who recognize God’s authority in my life.”

“Who says?”  “God says, that’s Who!”

October 6 - Death of a Vision

 Read today’s texts first: Esther 9,10; Luke 19

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

When your limited view of the world leads you right
into a stone wall and your nose gets out of joint,
extend your vision a little further. 

We’ve all experienced it.  We had a dream, a vision of a preferred future, only to have it crushed by an unexpected turn of events.  The story we just read in Esther has more twists and turns than a Hitchcock movie.  And it’s a true story.  But in all of recorded history, no one has ever gone through a bigger crash than the disciples.

Despite the clear description Jesus gave of His impending crucifixion, it simply didn’t register (18:31-34).  So often our minds are made up, so we don’t want to be confused by the facts.  They had a preconception that Jesus would overthrow the Roman occupation and take up literal rulership over Israel.

The triumphal entry got their hopes soaring.  This was the parade of a future king and everyone knew it.  The crowd was clearly behind their hero, which boosted their own status by association.  Maybe the sacrifices they had made to this point were going to pay off after all!  Well that was Sunday, but Friday’s a’coming (to play on that famous Campolo sermon).

Good Friday wasn’t so “good” for the disciples - they experienced the most excruciating “death of a vision” imaginable.  As their king hung on the cross in disgrace, they scattered like cockroaches for cover, now suddenly guilty by association.  That’s Friday, but Sunday’s a’coming!

“Lord, when my limited view of the world leads me right into a stone wall and my nose gets out of joint, raise my eyes a little higher and extend my vision a little further.  New life is just over the horizon!”

October 5 - Listen Up

 Read today’s texts first: Esther 3-8; Luke 18

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Sometimes we blame God for not speaking,
but the problem is we’re not listening. 

How did they miss it?  I knew Jesus had forewarned His disciples about His impending death, but I thought that He intentionally obscured it, so they’d have to dig a little deeper.  But then I read the Luke account once more and it was in-your-face obvious:

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. (18:31-34)

Uhm, why not!?  How dense can they be?  In the next chapter they will be welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, fully expecting Him to take His reign over the Romans.  When that didn’t happen, they were devastated and demoralized.  How did they not know!

Then I think about my own life.  There have been countless times when God told me something and I quickly blocked it out.  It’s like half my conversations with my wife.  I have my preconceptions of what she should say which becomes the filter through which I hear what she actually does say.  It’s not till afterwards that I finally get it – when the doorbell rings with 30 people at my door and it dawns on me, “oh the party is tonight!”

“Lord, give me ears to not only hear but to actually listen to what You’re saying to me today.”

October 4 - Thy Kingdom Come

 Read today’s texts first: Esther 1,2; Psalm 150; Luke 17

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God’s Kingdom brings personal freedom, not political.

The Pharisees didn’t get the concept of a spiritual kingdom.  They were only concerned with how things looked on the outside.  They wore the Word of God on their foreheads and shoulders (phylacteries), but it never quite made it to their hearts.  They cared deeply about rituals, rules and regulations, but lacked a real relationship with God.  That’s why they couldn’t grasp change that worked from the inside out.

As Jesus talked about a new kingdom they expected Him to begin an overthrow of Roman rulership.  When they asked where this new kingdom was, Jesus told them not to expect outward signs (17:20).  And yet the evidence was all around them.  Ten lepers had just been dramatically healed and had showed their healing to possibly these same Pharisees.  Lepers were easy to spot.  Their bodies were horribly disfigured and often their noses, ears, fingers and toes were completely eaten away.  That’s why and how they could be ostracized and labeled “unclean.”  For a leper to be healed they must have gone through a radical transformation.

How did they miss it?  Jesus reminded them that His Kingdom was already right here, right now.  It brought personal freedom and healing, not political.  The Kingdom of God is more powerful than any temporal political uprising – it brings transformational change from the inside out.  When the disciples finally figured it out they radically revolutionized their world, including the Roman Empire.

“Lord, Your Kingdom has come – it’s here, now, in me.  I choose to rule with You today, living from the inside out!”

October 3 - Unrighteous Mammon

 Read today’s texts first: Ezra 5,6; Psalm 138; Luke 16

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The money that makes the world go ‘round
isn’t really an asset in God’s economy. 

It seems whenever I struggle the most with a Bible reading I can expect the biggest insight.  Luke is usually quite logical and chronological in His gospel account but chapter 16 made no sense to me, at first. Then I remembered a conversation I had with a colleague about a business opportunity he wanted me to consider, and then I got it.  Jesus talks a lot about money, not because He values it but because we do.  Sorry ‘bout this all you prosperity teachers out there, but Jesus seems to have utter disdain for unrighteous mammon.

After the parable of the unrighteous steward, the teaching on two masters and the story of the rich man in Hades, you get the idea that money just isn’t an asset in God’s economy.  Jesus grew up as the son of a lowly carpenter in a backwoods town to become an unemployed homeless man wandering around picking up scraps He scrounged from other people’s fields.  He even had to pay His taxes with money He happened to find in a fish’s mouth.  I know that the hyper faith teachers say that He became poor so we could be rich, but that just doesn’t fit with the rest of Scripture.  Jesus is not just our Saviour - He modeled for us how to think and act.

I use to spend way too much time thinking about how to raise enough money to do God’s will.  I think I finally learned through a major capital project at PLBC just to do what He says and the money will be there!  God had no problem convincing a heathen king to underwrite the rebuilding of His Temple (from the Ezra reading).  I can’t serve God and mammon, which became the reason I answered “no” to this business venture.  It was fine for my friend, but I was sure it wasn’t what God wanted me to do at that time.  “Thanks Lord for Your promise to accomplish what concerns me (Ps. 138).”

October 2 - The Prodigal’s Father

 Read today’s texts first: Zechariah 13-14; Psalm 147; Luke 15

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The loving “God with us” in the New Testament
is the same “God out there” in the Old.

As we read through the Old Testament we learn about our Father God.  Sometimes when we read about the “God out there” we get the impression He is distant and judgmental.  But when Jesus, our Immanuel, arrives on the scene, the God out there is suddenly “God with us!”  That’s why we need to read the Old Covenant from a New Covenant perspective.

Jesus showed us the heart of the Father by loving everyone, especially those who others considered less worthy, like little children, prostitutes, lepers, and worse yet, tax collectors!  Jesus said that to see Him in action is to see the Father because everything He did was at the impulse of Father God.

This story of the prodigal is a perfect illustration of God’s heart for the lost.  We usually focus on the wayward kid, calling it the story of the prodigal son.  Reading it this time though, I noticed the heart of the father.  He is not judgmental or distant, at least not in his heart.  Any distance between them was his son’s choice.  But when his son decided to return, while he was still a long way off, the father ran to him, hugged him and kissed him (20).  That’s the lavish love of Father God, the same God of the Old Testament.  The stories we connect to His judgment can also be seen as redemptive, with God providing every opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.

“You are the Good Shepherd who will leave the 99 to search for the one lost sheep.  And when You find him, You lift him up on your shoulders and carry him back to safety (4-7).  Thank You Lord for going out of Your way to rescue me and for carrying me until I was strong enough to follow You on my own.  I need to show that same compassion to others so that when they see me in action they see the heart of the Father.”