Faithburgh

This morning I woke up thinking about one thing - cleaning.  We have family coming to town for the long weekend, and we're using the occasion to do some long-overdue deep cleaning.  As I got dressed I began to think through the plan of attack.  Then, as I got my coffee I thought through the details of what needed to be done.  And as I sent the kids off to school I made a checklist of cleaning supplies to buy.  Finally, it was time to get to work.  But right as I was ready to jump in, I got a phone call from a friend needing to talk about a situation in their life.  I settled in for the conversation, keeping one eye on the clock.

About 3 minutes into the conversation I realized I wasn't really paying attention to what was being said.  And that's because I was still stuck thinking about the cleaning that needed to be done before our guests arrived.  It was at that moment that I realized I had been stuck in "tunnel vision" all morning - which was frustrating since what was at the end of my "tunnel" was cleaning.  The truth is, as a Believer, my thoughts really should be centered on something more than the chores of the day. David is a great example of this in Psalm 57:7, where he writes, "My heart is fixed on You, O God - my heart is steadfast and confident."

In this passage, David declares that his heart is set fully on God.  And while I know that he had thoughts of other things throughout the day, underneath everything that he did, there was this steadfast focus on God.  In other words, staying centered on God was his priority.  The Apostle Paul gives us a similar challenge in the book of Philippians, when he says, "Forgetting the things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:13-14)  It's a single-minded focus on God that moves us through the day, giving us purpose, direction, and all that we need to tackle the challenges of life.

We all have that "one thing" in our life that we tend to focus on the most. For some of us it's our work, for others it's our relationships, or our stuff, or our hobbies.  The challenge for those of us who say we're Christians is making sure that our "one thing" is the right thing - that it's God.  We can't let our own desires stand in the way of making God the central focus of our lives.  And we can't let the activity that fills our days keep us from keeping God as our number one priority.  We can't let the urgent things crowd out the most important thing.

So today, let's ask God to help us center our lives on Him - and to make Him the "one thing" in our lives.

Amen?

Daniel

This morning I was reading in James as part of my morning devotions.  It's a book I've read several times before, but this time around I was really struck by the following passage - "So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.  Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:21-22)

What really stood out to me in this passage was the point James makes about how we need to respond to the Word of God.  In the original text, the term James uses here for "Word" is the Greek word "logos", and it means "the sayings of God".  It's used almost 300 times in the New Testament, each time referring to the words of God - His communications to us on how to live this life He's called us to.  So in this passage James isn't talking about just any old message or word or thoughts - he's talking about "THE" word.  A point he drives home later on in verse 25 when he says, "But if you look carefully into the perfect law - the law that sets you free - and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."

There's only one "perfect law that sets you free", God's law - and that's the "Word" or "message" that James is referring to when he tells us to "humbly accept the Word God has planted in our hearts".  But he doesn't just stop there, he goes on and and tells us what to do once we've heard the Word.  He challenges us to live vital, active, and practical Christian lives.  He calls us to not just be "hearers" of the Word, but "doers" as well.

The truth is, we're only fooling ourselves if we hear God's Word week after week but don't apply what we hear to correct the problems in our lives.  Simply accumulating biblical content won't make us spiritually mature.  Instead, what James is telling us is that a sign of spiritual maturity is not how much we KNOW, but how much we PRACTICE what we know.

So today, let's do what James challenges us to do - let's put into practice all we know from the Word of God.  Let's get rid of the filth in our lives, let's humbly accept the Truth of what the Word says, and then let's get out there and live how God's called us to live.  Let's be hearers AND doers of the Word.

Amen?

Daniel

Today my Bible reading took me to Genesis 50:20, where Joseph says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people."  This is an amazing statement for Joseph to make, especially if you consider the context in which Joseph says it.  As many of you know, Joseph was a young man who had everything going for him. He was good-looking. He was smart. He was loved by his father. The only problem he had was that his older brothers were extremely jealous of him.  So much so that one day, they decided to sell Joseph into slavery and tell their father that he had been killed.

One day, Joseph's on top of the world, and then the next, he's a slave in a foreign country.  But what we see from the beginning of Joseph's journey is that God was in control, because Joseph was purchased by a kind man named Potiphar.  He did so well as a servant that eventually, Potiphar put him in charge of his entire estate.  And then, just when it seems like things are good again, Joseph's life gets turned upside down when he rebuffs a pass made at him by Potiphar's wife.  She gets angry - makes false accusations against him - and he finds himself in jail.  

But it wasn't too long before things got good again, as Joseph was able to interpret a dream for the king.  As a result, he became one of the king's most trusted and powerful advisers.  This placed him in a unique position when his brothers came to Egypt in search of food because of a famine. They stood before Joseph, not knowing who he was, and begged for their lives.  And Joseph, who had the power to destroy them, instead responded by saying, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people."

In those two sentences, Joseph shows us that he knew God had been with him through every up and down - and every twist and turn - ultimately bringing him to a place where he could do good. And what is true for Joseph's life, is true for ours as well.  We will each encounter times when our lives will take a turn we don't expect - a turn that seems to be wrong.  But what we learn from Joseph is that, if we stay faithful to God, we can trust Him to ultimately complete the work in our lives to make things good.  It may not happen right away, and it might not look like we think, or even hope, it will - but the truth is, God is at work in our lives for our good, and the good of others around us.

So today, let's trust God with our lives.  Let's commit to letting His will be done, and to not getting discouraged by what can seem like setbacks.  But instead, let's stay faithful in following God with joy and hope, knowing that God is not surprised by the setbacks in our lives, but has a plan to redeem them.

Amen?

Daniel