1 Samuel 15

I'd rather ask for forgiveness instead of permission. That's a very popular saying in certain circles. That means, I'm going to go right ahead and do whatever I want and later God will forgive me anyway.

Yes, God is merciful and offers all of us forgiveness through grace. But read this story carefully. Saul had everything it takes to be the most amazing king of all time. He was chosen and appointed by God. But he had one fault. And it took him all the way down. He cared more about making Himself look good than making God look good. He was prideful. Even if he had truly repented and received forgiveness (which he never did if you read the rest of his story), he still couldn't stay king.

I don't ever want to be the one caught with my life purpose being ripped away from me because of pride. As popular and powerful as Saul was, I never want to be him. Even though he was called to be the king of Israel, it was torn away from him forever because of his refusal to humble himself to God's instruction. No matter what sacrifices he offered, no matter what penance he paid, it was never as good as just obeying God in the first place. That's a pretty costly mistake.

Obedience is better than sacrifice. Lord, help me humbly submit to you.

Ecclesiastes 1

My LifeGroup decided to go through Ecclesiastes one chapter at a time. So my posts on Thursdays will keep returning there. (Or as James reminded me, I should say, "If it's God's will I will do that.)

Anyway, chapter one is a good opening to this drama-filled book. Not drama in the sense of action and adventure, but drama like high school girl drama. Solomon is having a bit of a crisis. He has come to a place in his life where nothing makes sense.

Are any of you there? I sure relate to some of these verses. Especially the last one. No matter how much wisdom and knowledge I have gained, it sometimes is just a big downer. Ignorance is bliss as they say. Sometimes the more you know, the harder it is to cope.

I think that's why I have come to learn that spiritual growth has nothing to do with learning knowledge. It really about obeying God's plan for your life. Hearing Him for yourself, taking Him at His word, and doing what He says. That is never meaningless. Weird? Probably. Tough? Definitely. But never meaningless.

The other part I like about this chapter is the cyclical stuff. The first time I busted out the word cyclical to a friend, he didn't know what I meant, so it was meaningless to him. Later, when I said cyclical in a meeting, he offered me a quarter. It is kind of a valuable word. Going around in circles and finding yourself back where you started sure can seem meaningless. But for some reason, God built cycles into all kinds of things about this world. I think they must have a meaning. I know what this boomerang effect has looked like in my life, but I wonder what meaning it has to others.

Anyway, LifeGroup friends and any other random blog-reading friends, jump in and let me know what this chapter says to you. Or you can just meet us back here when we cycle right back here next week.

Proverbs 31

This may have to be a two-part post too, because I'm not touching that woman with a ten-foot pole. I've gone to that chapter many times in the past to hear about this virtuous woman, but today, I am struck by the first half.

It starts off talking against using alcohol to numb your awareness and impair your judgement. Like most scripture it applies to us on a broader sense too. As Americans, our wealth and power come with a big responsibility. To whom much is given much is required, right? But often, either intentionally or unintentionally, we insulate ourselves from really feeling the plight of the poor.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

When I was a teacher, I used to always read books to my class that had this theme. A book called Number the Stars told the story of a Danish family who helped their Jewish neighbors escape to security in Sweden during WW2. It's easy to remember that we are not supposed to behave unjustly and threaten the lives of others. But actually, it's not OK for us to sit by and allow it either. That's much harder. That will involve layers of entanglement we'd rather not assume. That's true justice though. We have to get sober and do what this verse demands.

I added a link to my blog to Compassion International. I encourage you to click on it and drink in the sobering images of poverty like hard coffee for a hangover. But then don't just look. Take action. See that one child gets justice.

Philippians 3

No, I didn't forget to change the post. I just can't move off of this chapter. I told you it was a favorite. There's a lot more left to say. Like verse 1 says, "I never get tired of telling you these things."

OK, let's think more about the whole righteousness that comes by grace through faith. In verse 2-4 he clarifies up front that we're not talking about works-based, human effort sort of stuff here. Let me see if this picture helps at all.

Electricity is waiting right now in the wall socket to my left. There's enough power just sitting in reserve there to stop my heart. But, I am receiving no benefit from it. In order to tap into all that powerful goodness, I need a cord with a plug at the end. And, once I stick that into the socket, an almost unlimited amount of electricity will power whatever device that I have attached to that cord. I can use it to run a light bulb almost indefinitely. (They usually only burn out because of the flipping on an off, a quality bulb with a perfect vacuum inside can pretty much burn forever. There's today's FFTK&T.)

OK, now think of the electricity itself as God's saving power. His ability to defeat sin. I cannot do that on my own no matter what. I cannot generate electricity on my own.

When Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, He provided the world with their own extension cord. Each of us has that life line sitting there at our disposal. It is up to us to accept it and plug it in.

But that's where a lot of people stop. They accept the free hook-up from God but don't then choose to turn on the light and allow the power to shine through us. Our faith stops short at the whole righteousness thing.

Seriously. How often have you heard people talking about righteousness. Hardly ever? I don't. I don't hear anyone who's super psyched about the burning brilliance that can shine out of each of our lives when we invite God's power to begin to clean us up. When we talk about faith, it's about believing God FOR something. Not just believing God. Not just feeling the electricity flow through us and change us from the inside out.

So today's assignment is just to think about the power we can tap into. The grace that God has extended to us through Christ. The faith it will take to invite God to burn the hell out of us. And the pure bright white righteousness He has called us to.

BTW, FFTK&T=fun fact to know and tell. That's from back when I was in middle school. :)

Philippians 3

This is officially in my top five favorite chapters in the Bible. I could probably say first place, but then someone would remind me of another really awesome one that I left out. But I can safely say it's in the top five. I think part of what I like about it is that I can sometimes relate to Paul's little opening tirade.

Today, a close friend of mine and I talked about how we couldn't really remember a time when we didn't know Jesus. Not that I've lived a life that honored Him every day, that's certainly not the case. But simply that from my youngest memories, He was a factor. I knew His voice. I felt conviction when I sinned. I felt faraway when I was. I felt close when I was. But He was always there.

Paul starts out talking about something like this. Of course even He had the whole Christian-murdering issue on His hands, but basically, he's saying he was raised right. He had always known God... from a technical standpoint that is.

But that's where most Christians are today I'm afraid. We know God intellectually. We know about God. We belong to the right church, we give the right amount, we have the nice family. But Paul threw all that out the window. As a matter of fact, the word he called all of that was "skubula." The Greek s-word. No kidding. This was a slang word for dung. He considered all of it, His whole lovely religious background, not just rubbish like a few translations say, but more like crap. All that he would once proudly put on his resume, he now considers something to flush.

The part that is so inspiring, motivating, challenging to me is placing that kind of "infinite value" on really and truly knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. I look around at my life and just want to get crazy about discarding everything else in my life that dares to compete with that. Flushing the real crap. The TV shows, the trashy radio, the online hobnobbing, movies, sports, overeating, career, just the out and out rubbish that I allow myself to place value in. Value that only belongs with one deserving Person.

Like my friend and Paul, I don't want to rely on the head knowledge I have of God. The things I do to put in the good column to make me be associated with the Christian religion. Instead, I want to become righteous through faith in Christ. Now this is a big issue with me right now. I keep hearing people say that because grace is free, and we can receive righteousness through faith, that once we acknowledge Christ, we magically get our "get out of hell free" card. But a casual nod to what Christ did and then back to life as usual isn't what righteousness looks like. Yes, grace is free, but it's not cheap. It will cost you your life. Righteousness is life free from sin. So if you're waiting around for that sin and selfishness to just melt away without "pressing ahead" into knowing God, then don't be surprised when people don't particularly notice you being any more righteous than before.

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

This is serious stuff. And the cavalier lives I see most Christians living (starting with me) really don't look much like the mental picture the word "pressing" draws. Do we realize we're in a race and not just a jog around the block for exercise? Perfection gets disregarded as something that's not a realistic expectation for most believers. So we should all just take it easy. Really? That's like trying to fix a race. "Let's all just slow down and pace ourselves so no one really has to break a sweat. Take it easy. Nobody's perfect. Let's all just keep it at a brisk walk so that we all win."

You know what I say to that? Skubula. Forget that. I'm running flat out. And I am not pacing myself. I'm not holding anything back for later. And you can think I'm nuts if you want, but Paul addressed that too.

Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.

Go back and read from verse 17 to the end. Does that thought bring tears to your eyes too? People you sit by at church are headed for destruction. They are hanging on to their citizenship of this planet. And I'm not interested in being a pace car for the pack. I want to be out in front. Pressing on.

Haggai 2

So here's part two of Haggai. I hope you were on the edge of your seats waiting breathlessly for the conclusion. Anyway, the whole chapter is kind of interesting, but it's verses 10-14 that a want to hang on for a while.

Evidently, evil is contagious and holiness isn't. This is a concept built into God's laws for His people. But in this case, what God is pointing out is that the one area of disobedience, not rebuilding the temple, was ruining all of the other areas of their lives. And no piousness or gratuitous sacrifices could clean it up. The evil was running rampant like a deadly disease in their land.

I don't have much to say about this. When I've got a dirty spot in my heart somewhere, some hidden sin, something swept under my rug, don't think God can't see it. And don't think it's not affecting every area of my life. Sin is contagious. Not only does sin itself lead to other sin, it also just contaminates everything. The consequences are much farther reaching than we'd like to think. Get rid of it and get clean.

1 Corinthians 13

Well I couldn't exactly do Haggai 2 for Valentine's Day now could I? So everyone take a minute to re-read the famous love chapter. So there's tons to say about it and anyone can comment about your favorites, but the one of the "love is" parts that's hardest for me is the "bears no record of wrongs" one.

If you're married, you may have a mental notebook, kind of like the one Rain Man kept, of all of the things your spouse does that bug you. Now when it's something big, like infidelity or abuse or other big things, we take evasive action. We get counseling, pray through it, read books, and do whatever it takes to get past those things (hopefully). But honestly, the things that I forget that I have to forgive are the little things. Stupid stuff like leaving shoes in the living room or stacking too many dishes in the sink. (Incidentally, those are all things I do that bug Brannon, not the other way around. I thought that was more fair to use examples of my own junk.)

Anyway, if a guest came over and tracked dirt into my house, I would cheerfully clean it up without making a big deal of it. But if my kids did it? I yell. (Just to be clear.) Why? Not because I loveth guest more than my kids, but because I'm bearing a record of wrongs. So really, it's more my problem than theirs from God's view.

But the other part I really want to understand today is that last part. Growing up. Maturing. Seeing clearly. Knowing completely. Those are things I aspire too. Actually, for the kind of stuff I'm working on right now, those things are mandatory. So along with learning to love better, I also want to grow up.

Have a Happy Valentine's if you're into that. If not, you can just have a normal day like we will at our house.

Haggai 1

Bet you didn't guess I'd skip straight to Haggai. Kind of random I know. But it's only two chapters so I'll do them both. Today, read the first of two chapters. Pretty short, but man, Haggai really lowers the bloomers on them. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Amos had already talked and talked about the sad condition of God's Temple. After 20 years back in town, the people had spent all of their time and money on rebuilding their own homes. God's house was still a pile of rubble.

But the best part to me is verses 5-6. Does that sound familiar? I sure know a lot of people who feel like their pockets are full of holes and never seem to have enough. Haggai lays out why this was true back then and I still believe it's the root of today's economic condition for most people. Their priorities were out of whack. So are ours a lot of times. This isn't a call to chip in more for your church's building fund either. This is simply about putting God first. Everything else is number two or lower.

So let's take today to pray and consider our priorities. I don't mean choosing between work or working out, I mean how does my life demonstrate that God is number one?

Also, by the way, for any of you who prayed for me this week, my series of meetings couldn't have gone much better. It actually reminds me of the lyrics to a David Crowder song. We're standing on the brink of something large. Something like the breaking of the dawn. Something like a match being lit or the sinking of a ship...

If you go to church with me, or even if you're just in the capital C Church globally, get excited about some new direction that God is leading us to. It's definitely a God-sized vision because it makes my colon clench just thinking about being a part of it.

James 5

OK so clearly this first passage is rough. If you have heard either Craig Groeschel or Andy Stanley talk about "How to Be Rich" then you know that we are all rich. If you are reading this, you have a computer with internet access so you are most likely in the top 1-2% in the world in wealth. So I have to read this as straight to me, not Donald Trump. Brannon and I were recently convicted by a quote, probably Francis Chan, who said, "I don't want to keep 'saving for emergencies.' There already is an emergency. Almost 30,000 people a day are dying from the effects of poverty and a huge majority of them will end up in hell." That's really sobering. And the Bible tells us to stay sober and alert. we can no longer numb ourselves from caring by insulating ourselves with our comforts.

The second passage isn't much better. Patience is hard enough, but being reminded about grumbling while waiting raises the bar yet again. Although I'm at a place where it seems like many of the things God has forced me to be patient for are starting to come to pass, that only leads to a new place of patience. Nothing happens overnight. James' farmer illustration is a good reminder of that.

The last section is just like a sawed-off shotgun blast of wisdom. So much to take hold of and live out. The one that sticks out to me the most is that he bring up Elijah again, who I just wrote about a while back. Yes, he prayed to stop and start the rains, but if you go back to 1 Kings, there was so much struggle and faith and waiting in the space between.

I want to do what's right in the space between. I want to have faith. I want to have patience. I want to wait without grumbling. I want to slough off the tarnished gold chains of my riches. I want to live in a way that makes this chapter remind people of me. Which would in turn, point them to Jesus.

Isaiah 55

This passage is lovely, almost poetic. Isaiah is like high-brow literature. So much imagery and beauty in the language. Let's look at it in chunks. (Chunks is kind of a weird word to use for Isaiah. Maybe sections? Pieces? Bits? Hmm. Nothing sounds graceful enough.)


Verses 1-5 are so tender and compassionate. I love to be reminded of that side of God. Even though it shows how quick we are to turn to things of this world to satisfy us, it still focuses on God's lovingkindness. Why do we spend our labor and money on that stuff? Why, when we have the Maker of the universe as our friend, do we go looking for what we can only get from Him. I wish I knew so I could stop. I think what I'm quickest to turn to is myself. Trying to make things happen. Things I know God will bring about in His timing but I'm to antsy to wait.

Verses 6-9 is one of the best reminders in the whole Bible about who God is. So much higher. So much greater. So much bigger. So much more than we can comprehend. As someone overly obsessed with thoughts (being a metacognician and all), I tend to think my own thoughts aren't too shabby. But that's not what this says. Whatever mine are, His are not. Or really, it's the other way around. Whatever my thoughts are not, His are. It's that vast perspective that I want to tap into. I don't want to even bother with my own ways or my own thoughts any more. Only His are worth thinking about.

Verses 10-11 are probably my fave. I need to hear this again and again and again and again. The words that He has spoken to me over my life about His purpose for me and His plan for my life have already left His mouth and traveled to my heart. Therefore, they will accomplish what they set out to do. As sure as rain.

The end is quotable, too. You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. That's really good to know. I'm walking out into something pretty intimidating tomorrow and I want to go with joy and peace. So that's it then. It's settled. That's the way I'm playing it. Joy and peace all the way, baby. So, if you run into me, you can remind me if I don't look particularly joyful or peaceful. But expect to be reminded right back.