October 19 - God Loves Me Best

 Read today’s texts first: Job 5; Psalms 108; Acts 10,11

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God may love you best (better than anyone else
loves you), but He does not love you more. 

I’m old enough to remember the Smothers Brothers and Tommy’s famous complaint of his younger brother Dick, “Mom always liked you best!”  I heard the same thing from my five older siblings (one of the hazards of being the baby), but in our family it was true and for good reason!  I was just more loveable and my parents were only human!

But, it is simply not true of God.  He lives up to our God-inspired ideals. He may love me best (better than anyone else loves me), but He does not love me more.  Contrary to the theology of some who follow some reformed thinking, God is not partial.  Yes, He is sovereign and has every right to play favourites, but our readings in Acts today remind us that He is always consistent with His values (10:34,35).

God loves everyone; Jesus died for everyone; no one is excluded from His grace (unmerited favour). Note: The one exceptional passage in Romans 9:11-16 was an illustration to explain to the Jews how God has the right to include the Gentiles.  The rest of the letter defends His impartiality to choose all of us and our free will to choose Him (Romans 10:11-17).

The Jews had misunderstood their role as God’s chosen people and misrepresented God to the rest of the world.  They were chosen, not to the exclusion of others, but to take the impartial love of their God to every nation.  So ingrained was their misunderstanding and mistrust of those outside the Jewish faith, God had to shock Peter into taking the gospel to the Gentiles with a repeated vision of pigs in a blanket!

That new awareness of God’s impartiality, led by Peter and Paul, coupled with persecution from their own people, drove the mission of the church outward. Today we face our own biases and prejudices, sometimes thinking surely God doesn’t want us to reach “those” people.  The answer is always “yes He does!” 

"Lord, show me today who I need to tell, 'God loves you best too!'” 

October 18 - Discomforting Comforters

 Read today’s texts first: Job 3,4; Acts 8,9

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Beware of using the charismatic credit card, saying
“thus saith the Lord,” when it’s really “thus saith me!” 

Have you ever been advised or admonished by someone who claims to have a Word from God for you?  Job did.  After experiencing the tragic loss of his children, employees and possessions, now Job is faced with searing physical pain throughout his whole body.  His three good friends come to comfort him.  And they do, for seven straight days, just sitting with him when words simply aren’t as effective as silent reassurance.

But eventually Eliphaz can restrain himself no longer.  He tries to bolster his credibility by saying this message came to him directly from God in a vision at night (4:12-16).  He then proceeds to blame Job for his troubles, that good people don’t suffer like this, and that he is simply reaping what he has sown.  Thanks buddy!

We know that what he is saying isn’t true generally.  So much of Scripture (including both readings today) teach us that suffering is an important part of following Jesus and forming our faith.  We also know this isn’t true specifically about Job because of God’s recommendation of him earlier (1:8) and His condemnation of Eliphaz later (42:7) for misrepresenting Him.

There are at least two lessons for us from this story.  First, we must be careful that we don’t attribute to God what is essentially our own biased opinion formed through personal experience.  Unfortunately, I have been on both the giving and receiving end of such uncomfortable advice.

The second lesson applies to how we respond to such advice or admonishment.  It can also apply to personal prophesies spoken over us.  I have learned that if I stay close to Jesus, He can tell me what I need to know about my life personally (my sheep know my voice – John 10:4).  The words of well-meaning friends should only confirm what God has said or will say to me directly.

 “Lord, thank You that you do speak to me personally and I can trust You to guide, comfort and challenge me today!”

October 17 - Good People Have Bad Days

 Read today’s texts first: Job 1,2; Acts 6,7

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The faith and peace that persist during really bad days
are miraculous and powerful and convincing.

Today’s readings share another common theme – good, God-fearing people can have really bad days (also weeks, months and years!). Job experienced one blow after another. Four bearers of bad news, talking over each other in their excitement to report Job’s worst day ever – Job’s oxen and donkeys taken by a neighbouring tribe and his servants killed, his sheep and shepherds struck by random lightning, his camels raided by another tribe who also killed those servants, and, oh yeah, a roof collapsed in a bizarre windstorm, killing his seven sons and three daughters!  Job’s response – The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord (1:21). When his own body was ravaged by painful boils, from head to toe, Job encouraged his wife – Shall we indeed accept good things from God and not accept adversity? (2:10).

It might be hard to believe there could be a worse day than Job’s but Stephen’s story in Acts 6 and 7 may top it.  This wise and wonderful man of God was chosen to care for the Gentile widows (6:1-5), performed miracles in his service to God (6:8), and preached a brilliant sermon that traced the legacy of Christ through the Old Testament stories.  For that, he was dragged before the Jewish Council, accused falsely and publicly stoned.  With rocks being hurled at him, he finds enough peace to look up to heaven and respond just like Jesus did at His crucifixion – Lord, do not hold this sin against them (7:60).

A few years ago on this day I recounted a testimony of great miracles that happened through a young woman from our church who God sent on a mission to Belize.  The week before we heard another testimony from a godly man in our church, married with two young boys, who was in the middle of a painful battle with brain cancer, with no miracle of healing to report.  His words were similar to Job’s and Stephen’s and they were as much an encouragement to our congregation as the stories of great miracles.  The faith and peace that persist during really bad days are miraculous and powerful and convincing. 

“Lord, thank you for the many good days and years I’ve enjoyed serving You, but help me to continue praising You when the inevitable bad days really challenge my faith!”

October 16 - Fear and Comfort

 Read today’s texts first: Malachi 3,4; Psalms 148; Acts 5

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The fear of the Lord simply means reverence, respect
and awe – otherwise known as love. 

Another theme emerged from both the OT and NT readings today – the fear of the Lord.  This topic has always stretched me beyond my understanding.  Because God is much bigger than we are, His thoughts and ways are much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8,9).  That’s why we struggle when we try to fit God into our preconceived doctrinal boxes - God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, God’s justice and mercy, the fear of God and the comfort He brings.  Notice that these are not mutually exclusive, either/or; they are both/and!  We will likely always struggle understanding the tension between these complementary attributes of our awesome God!

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31).  Fear and comfort seem like opposites, yet we should find both simultaneously in our relationship with God if we want to be part of a growing church.

The Malachi reading sternly warns of the consequences of disobeying and not serving God, but offers promises to those who fear Him (3:5,16;4:2).  The Acts account tells the scary story of Ananias and Sapphira, who made a generous offering to the church but said they gave all when they held back some for themselves.  The sin was not the gift or the sum that was withheld – the sin was lying to the church, and when you lie to His bride you are essentially lying to God (5:4,9).  When they were struck down by God, “great fear came over the whole church” (5:11).  You think?!

Legalists love this topic – they think we need a revival of fear to fall on the church today.  Those who overemphasize God’s comfort are “uncomfortable” discussing a fear-based relationship with a compassionate God.  Neither group fully understands the breadth of God’s love.  None of us do.

My Dad modeled this tension as well as any human could.  Mom tried to discipline us but as we got older her wooden spoon became more of a joke to the six headstrong Buzza brats.  But her threat, “wait till your father gets home,” put the fear of God back into our hearts.  Sometimes he used a belt (I can remember only one time, but I was the baby of the family, and a good one at that!), but mostly it was just a stern warning quickly followed by unconditional love.  We were never terrified by our dad, but we did respect him and what he believed.

The phrase “fear of the Lord” in both the OT and NT (remember, He’s the same God) means reverence, respect and awe – otherwise known as love.  We don’t obey God because we are terrified of Him or even of the consequences of sin.  We obey Him because He is worthy of our obedience and we love Him (John 15).  “Lord, may I discover today how my reverence for You is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

October 15 - To Boldly Go

 Read today’s texts first: Nehemiah 13; Malachi 1,2; Acts 4

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

It’s a good mission(ary) statement for the church: to boldly go, maybe even where no man has gone before!

Though not an ardent Trekkie, I do like the opening narrative of the original series, “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” We see such bold pioneer leadership in our readings in Nehemiah and Malachi, but we see it even more so in the accounts of the disciples turned apostles in the book of Acts.

That Star Trek motto could easily be a church mission statement!  The emphasis should be on “boldly.” While some emphasize the gift of speaking in tongues as the primary evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit (I would agree that it is most often the initial physical evidence), I would suggest boldness is another clear evidence of the outpouring of the Spirit.

Something other-worldly happened to those discouraged disciples on the Day of Pentecost. At first they were afraid for their lives, hiding themselves away from the authorities who had just crucified their Master.  But now they were taking their power encounter with the Spirit of Jesus to the streets, facing ridicule (2:13) and even arrest (4:1-3).  But their boldness made them unstoppable (4:13) - they could not be dissuaded from openly preaching about Jesus.

After being released from their arrest on the condition they no longer speak about Jesus, they gathered for prayer.  What did they pray for - tongues, power gifts, miracles?  No, they prayed for greater boldness, and they got what they asked for: house-shaking, world-changing bold unstoppable faith (4:23-31)!

Another journal entry on this day a few years ago included an incredible report from two of our church members who followed the leading of Jesus all the way to Belize.  Many heard the gospel and prayed to receive Jesus in a public high school and university and across the nation through repeated news broadcasts, all because one young lady and her father prayed for boldness.  “Lord, that is my prayer today, that I may boldly go, maybe even where no man has gone before!”

October 14 - Do You Love Me?

 Read today’s texts first: Nehemiah 11,12; Psalms 1; Acts 3

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Because Jesus loves us He has promised to “be with us.”
If we love Him in return, can we promise each day
to “be with Jesus?” 

It may be my state of mind after Thanksgiving weekend, but in everything I read this morning, worship and thanksgiving emerged as the theme.  In Nehemiah, in what may have seemed a mundane list of returned exiles assigned to live in Jerusalem, we see special mention of the singers, musicians, and those who constantly expressed thanks to God (11:17,22,23; 12:8,24,27-43,45-48).  In Psalms 1 we read of how blessed and prosperous we are when we delight and meditate in God’s Word.  In Acts 3 we see Peter and John heading to that same Temple built in Nehemiah’s day for their “sweet hour of prayer.”

But what happens next triggered for me a whole new understanding of what it means to “be with Jesus” (4:10). On the way into the Temple, Peter boldly prays for a lame beggar he must have passed countless times before. The ensuing miracle and bold sermon preached by this same Peter in an impromptu street meeting results in an altar call with thousands more added to the church (4:4).

What caused this massive, almost immediate change in Peter’s personality, from a whimpering, weeping washout to this powerhouse pillar in the first church!  The name change Jesus promised Peter, from a quivering reed to an immovable rock (Matthew 16:15-19), happened in just a few short days.  Most point to Pentecost as the beginning of the change, when He was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached his first sermon.

But I believe we can trace it even further back to that moment he spent with Jesus on the shores of Galilee after the resurrection.  On the night of the crucifixion, this self-proclaimed bodyguard of Jesus had folded like a cheap tent under pressure.  He denied he even knew Jesus when challenged by a little girl.  He was so ashamed of himself for denying and deserting Jesus he cried through the night.

Then, in a moment of tender, grace-filled conversation with Jesus, Peter was restored and recommissioned back into leadership (John 21:15-19).  That’s what happens when we spend time with Jesus and that’s why my daily time with Him in His Word is so sweet.  “Throughout this Thanksgiving week, thank you Jesus for being with me and allowing me to be with You!”

October 13 - Inside Out

 Read today’s texts first: Nehemiah 9,10; Acts 2

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
Teach your children to be influencers, not influencees. 

Israel was intended to be a witness to the other nations (Exodus 19:5,6), but instead of being an influence on them, the surrounding nations too often influenced Israel.  We see the same problem in the church today.  One obvious example is the current popularity of Christian schools, as parents, threatened by the influence of “worldly” kids, choose to separate their children for their own protection.  The problem is – who’s left in the public schools to introduce the other kids to Jesus?

It was fascinating today to read of an Old Testament revival in Nehemiah’s day and compare it with the New Testament revival in the book of Acts.  The people of Israel confessed their compromises with the nations around them and then covenanted with God to completely separate themselves.  For them that was wise - if you can’t be the influencer, don’t become the influencee!

But as the Spirit of God is poured out and into the New Testament (new covenant) church we see them becoming the influencers of the nations who had gathered together for Pentecost, and thousands found faith in Jesus. When we realize that the very Spirit of God now lives in us, we can again take up the offensive and invade every corner of our world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We can teach the same things to our children at a very young age so they can become leaders early on.  We just came through Thanksgiving weekend. As I read through my journal from a past year I remembered how we prepared our three young grandkids, who were staying with us that weekend, for our big family dinner. We focused on being polite, generous and grateful, especially around the dinner table.  Because it was Thanksgiving weekend we had several opportunities to talk about those things, while gathering leaves outside, decorating inside, making name plates, baking cookies, getting ready for the extended family coming the next day.  By the time we tucked the kids into bed we could notice they were already living from the inside out (they have excellent parents so we can’t quite take all the credit!).

The point is, the promise of the Holy Spirit living through us extends to all of us today, and to our children, and to theirs too (2:39)!  “Thank You Lord that we don’t have to be influenced from the outside in but we can become the influencers from the inside out!”