Lent 2020 Day 11

Scripture Reading

John 8:51-58

For a few days we have looked at how the blessing of Abraham was the coming of Christ to all people for salvation. We are called to have faith like Abraham, to believe that God had a redemptive plan for us since the fall of Adam and Eve. God's plan for our salvation is woven through scripture from the very beginning. John recounts a conversation between Christ and the people who were following him and listening to his teaching. Like many times before, many of the Jews did not believe Christ. They accused him of being demon-possessed, crazy, and a liar. They could not see that the man who stood before them was the fulfillment of the promises made to their father, Abraham. They were unwilling to hear Jesus says, "Before Abraham was born, I AM." You can imagine the horror on their faces as they remembered God's words to Moses when he called him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt or the words he used when he gave the Ten Commandments, "Tell the people, I AM." This man that stood before them claimed to be God. They rejected him and began to throw stones at him. These people did not accept Christ for who he was--God in the flesh. 

Have we rejected Christ? Have we been unable to make him Lord or our life? The season of Lent allows us to remember that Christ was fully human, one who can feel our pain, understand our sorrow and empathize with all the good and bad of the daily grind of life. The incredible thing is that he was also fully God, the great I AM. Are we throwing stones at Christ or are we claiming him as our savior and allowing him to be the master of our life? 

Prayer: God, help me to fully comprehend the mystery of the Incarnation, that you took on human flesh in order to redeem me. You and you alone are I AM. Give me strength to boldly proclaim his truth in a world that denies the possibility of absolute truth. May I be found as faithful as Moses, your humble servant. Amen. 

Lent 2020 Day 10

Scripture Reading

Galatians 3:6-9

During the Christmas season it has become popular to display the word believe. You can find decorative and trendy pillows that say it, wooden letters that grace the top of your mantle, and even doormats that greet you as you enter the home-BELIEVE. For some it is believing in Santa, for some the spirit of the holiday season, for those who follow Christ, it means the coming of a Messiah. To believe means that your mind and heart have made a decision on what the truth is and your actions enforce this attitude. 

Paul in this passage is asking the Galatians, "What do you believe?" Do you believe God the way Abraham did? Do you believe that your good works and your own effort are earning your righteousness or do you believe that your eternal salvation and inheritance is because of Christ's blood shed for you. The Galatians were foolish in believing that by observing the law, they were attaining righteousness (being made right before God). Paul looks at the life of Abraham as an example of a person who was righteous before God. He was promised that through him, God would bless his people and through this blessing all people-Jews and Gentiles would receive salvation. 

Was Abraham righteous because of what he did, NO! His faith and belief in God made him righteous in God's sight. If we believe in God and his Son then we are children of Abraham. We inherited the blessing of God's love and redemption through Christ not by works, but by believing in God's plan. 

In response to Paul's admonition to the Galatians to believe in God, to have faith in him, rather than our own merit, my heart is moved to shout I Believe! I am eternally grateful that I can stand before God and know that my sins and failures are not seen because he only sees the blood of Christ covering me. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your free gift of salvation that is based on Christ's work and not my own. You are a faithful God, fulfilling all of your promises to Abraham and his descendants. Thank you that through Christ I am able to call myself a descendant of Abraham. Most of all, I thank you that you have called me by name as your child. Amen. 

Lent 2020 Day 9

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 11:8-10

I am convinced that the best way to understand our relationship with God is the image of a journey. This journey begins at different places and times for each of us but ends at the throne of God in heaven. 

Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter in which the writer of Hebrews begins with a definition of faith and gives countless Old Testament examples of true faith in action. Today's scripture reminds us agin of the faith of Abraham to begin his journey with God. Abraham was obedient to God's call on his life even though Abraham did not know how things were going to turn out. Abraham had faith. He knew that regardless of the Promised Land or God making a great nation out of his descendants that he was called to something bigger and better...a journey with God!

Is God calling you to do something for him today? It may be simply being an example to someone or God may be calling you to encourage someone you know who is having a difficult time. God could be calling some of you into full-time Christian service fo some kind. The challenge for each one of us is to be obedient to God's calling, whatever it may be and wherever it is. Answer his call and join him on your faith journey. Your journey will take many twists and turns but if we keep our eyes set on the celestial city ahead of us we will one day arrive safely. 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are the God of Faith because without faith it is impossible to please you. Give me the boldness to step out on my journey with you even if I don't know where that journey will take me. Amen.

Lent 2020 Day 8

Scripture Reading

Genesis 12:1-4

The call of Abraham is an important and interesting passage in the Bible. It is interesting because it is the beginning of the Jewish people, a people that God called into a special covenant relationship with himself. Abraham is the father of faith for the Hebrew people of the Bible and the Jewish people of today. A particular man, that for no real apparent reason God chose to show favor to and bless. The blessing of Abraham has often wrongly been interpreted as a material or wealth based blessing. In fact, some popular preachers today teach this false doctrine. 

The true blessing of Abraham is not a great nation in terms of a geo-political structure, it is not great wealth and material gain but it is the realization of a people that God has said to "You will be my people and I will be your God." This began of course with Abraham and his descendants, but it saw its ultimate fulfillment through the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. It is through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection that many were blessed with the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Abraham never lived to see the fulfillment of God's eternal covenant, but God's promise to Abraham laid the foundation for Jews, Gentiles, black, white, rich, poor, male, female, educated, and uneducated to have an eternal relationship with God. God called Abraham to follow him, much like Jesus called the disciples to follow him on an exciting journey of the unknown. Aren't you thankful that Abraham was obedient to God? Today think about how you can be a blessing to people because God has blessed you with his love. Maybe today you need to finally speak to someone you know about the grace of God and how they can know God as Lord and Savior. 

Prayer: Thank you for establishing your covenant with Abraham. Thank you for calling him to journey with you. Thank you that he was obedient to you. Help me to be obedient when you call me to follow you. Help me to be a blessing to someone today so that they might experience your love through me. Amen. 

Lent 2020 Day 7

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 2:14-18; Matthew 4:1-11

What a wonderful thought to know that God loved us so much that he did not leave us in our sin. He made it possible for us to enter into a relationship with him. How you ask? By Jesus taking on human flesh so that "He might destroy him who holds the power of death." What does it mean for Jesus to share in our humanity? This truth separates Christianity from every other religion because only in Christianity does one find the story of God becoming flesh and blood for the sake of his children. This is the extent of the Father's love that he would sacrifice his own son for you and for me. 

The writer of Hebrews spends a lot of time emphasizing the Old Testament sacrificial system and how it has been fulfilled and reinterpreted by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Therefore in Hebrews 2:17 he points out the role of Jesus as the great high priest of our faith. The high priest is the one who made the sacrifice and entered the Holy of Holies once a year to sprinkle the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, and the mercy seat with blood as an atonement for the sins of the Hebrew people. The high priest would then exit the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the people with blood as a symbolic act of the cleansing of their sin through the blood of the spotless lamb that had been slain. The good news for us is that Jesus was the high priest and the sacrifice. He offered a sacrifice that did not have to be repeated every year but was done once and for all. 

The word atonement was a word created by a translator of the Bible during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century to describe the process of making peace and restitution between us and God. If we take the word apart like this, it helps us to see how Jesus' death makes us one with God (at / one / ment). Because Jesus took away our sin and punishment we have become one with God because our sin no longer separates us from him. 

Reflect on what it means to know that when we face temptation that we do not have to give in to that temptation because we gather strength from knowing that Jesus faced the same temptation but did not give in to sin. Just because we are tempted does not mean we have to submit to temptation. Allow the words of the song, "She Must and Shall Go Free" by Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken to serve as your prayer today. 

Prayer: "Mercy speaks by Jesus' blood/Hear and sing, ye sons of God/ justice satisfied indeed/ Christ has full atonement made/ All her debts are cast on me, And she must and shall go free/ Peace of conscience, peace with God/ We obtain through Jesus' blood/ Jesus' blood speaks solid rest/ We believe and we are blessed." Amen. 

Lent 2020 Day 6

Scripture Reading

John 1:1-15

The Gospel of John starts out differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Instead of beginning with the genealogy of Jesus, John begins with pronouncement of the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. The importance of this passage can be realized when we remember what Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It is essential to our Christian faith that we understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is a doctrine that is complex. It is difficult to understand all the details of it nevertheless, it must be boldly confessed by members of the body of Christ. When we think about the creation of the world, it is necessary that we realize that the Jesus who died to save us was the Son of God who was present at the beginning of all creation. 

A key verse in this passage is John 1:14. I like the way some of the modern translations and paraphrases render this verse. This is how J.B. Phillips translates this verse, "So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. We saw his splendor (the splendor as of a fathers's only son) full of grace and truth." The Word, Jesus, became one of us. God did not send Jesus to be similar to us or kind of like us, but to be exactly like us so that through his perfect, sinless humanity he might lay down his life for us so that we might become children of God. John is careful to point out that even though Jesus was human his sonship was different than ours. He says that Jesus had the splendor or privilege of being the Father's unique, one and only, special son because he was not just fully human but also fully God. (Deep breath, because that's mind-blowing!) Scripture also calls us the sons and daughters of God but our identity as God's children is as adopted children. 

In the 1990s there was a pop song that asked the question What if God were one of us? Would you and I recognize him? Would we join him on his journey to radically change the world or would we be crying out "Crucify him! Crucify him!"? 

Prayer: Almighty God, You who made the heavens and the earth are worthy of my praise not just because you are the creator or all but because you became like me, human, so that I might have a relationship with you. "Thanks," hardly seems enough, so I give you my life, totally and completely. Amen.

Lent 2020 Day 5

Scripture Reading

Philippians 2:1-11

SERVANT--What image does this word bring to your mind? Does it make you think of a butler or a maid, as depicted on some of our favorite television shows? Is it a person that is a doormat or one that waits on others only because they are incapable of helping themselves? The world view around us leads us to believe that being a servant is a sign of weakness, a failure. The media pronounces loudly, "It is all about you! What do you want?" In contrast, the Biblical view is just the opposite, it says that being a servant is the highest honor one can have. It says to be a servant is to be like Christ. And what is a Christian? A person who wants to be more like Christ each day. Biblical servant-hood is demonstrating qualities such as selflessness, humility, and the ability to think of others first. Remember the childhood acronym JOY...Jesus, Others, and You! To be like Christ we must be willing to be self-sacrificing and to love others more than ourselves. God gives us the mind to choose. We can choose to serve ourselves and our own gluttonous desires or we can choose to have the attitude of Christ and serve God and others. 

The only example we have of a perfect servant is in Christ. His attitude (the heart of his actions) was driven by God's desires and not his own. A perfect and holy God humbled himself in such a way that he left His rightful place in heaven, took on the form of a sinful man and died on a cross bearing the world's sin. He is the model we are to follow. Although, the task seems daunting, God has given us the grace and mercy to be servants as well. We are carried by Christ, the servant redeemer and king promised from the dawn of time. 

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). 

Prayer: Lord, I pray that I would be a servant to others and that my heart and actions would reflect the attitude of Christ. May my knees bow and my tongue confess that you are Lord. Amen.