Discipline.

Think about the one who endured such opposition from sinners so that you won’t be discouraged and you won’t give up. In your struggle against sin, you haven’t resisted yet to the point of shedding blood, and you have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons and daughters: My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by him, because the Lord disciplines whomever he loves, and he punishes every son or daughter whom he accepts. Bear hardship for the sake of discipline. God is treating you like sons and daughters! What child isn’t disciplined by his or her father? But if you don’t experience discipline, which happens to all children, then you are illegitimate and not real sons and daughters. What’s more, we had human parents who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live? Our human parents disciplined us for a little while, as it seemed best to them, but God does it for our benefit so that we can share his holiness. No discipline is fun while it lasts, but it seems painful at the time. Later, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees! Make straight paths for your feet so that if any part is lame, it will be healed rather than injured more seriously. Pursue the goal of peace along with everyone—and holiness as well, because no one will see the Lord without it. Make sure that no one misses out on God’s grace. Make sure that no root of bitterness grows up that might cause trouble and pollute many people. Make sure that no one becomes sexually immoral or ungodly like Esau. He sold his inheritance as the oldest son for one meal. You know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he couldn’t find a way to change his heart and life, though he looked for it with tears. (Hebrews 12:3-17, CEB)

God disciplines us for our betterment. Discipline does not sound like fun to me. I never liked disciplining my children. They even tell a story about us sending them to their rooms for something they had done, and then calling them out one by one to get tickets for Chuck E. Cheese, and then taking them to eat and play games. Maybe we were not the best disciplinarians.

But that is how I see or think about God’s discipline. Not what we think of as discipline, but something that helps us grow and love God more.

So do not think of God’s discipline as harsh, but loving care that helps you understand Their love for you all the more.

house

When Jesus entered the temple, he threw out those who were selling things there. He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a hideout for crooks.” Jesus was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests, the legal experts, and the foremost leaders among the people were seeking to kill him. However, they couldn’t find a way to do it because all the people were enthralled with what they heard. (Luke 19:45-48, CEB)

My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a hideout for crooks who were exchanging Roman money for Temple money and charging a huge exchange rate. Robbing those who could not afford a sacrifice of what little they had.

Who do we cheat to worship God?

How do we make His house a hideout for thieves?

What can we do to help society actually live in love and show mercy to all?

How can you make His house better?

history

“The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen. In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua’s leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David. God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God. However, the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. ‘What kind of house will you build for me,’ says the Lord, ‘or where is my resting place? Didn’t I make all these things with my own hand?’ “You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.” (Acts 7:44-53, CEB)

This is part of the history Stephen gave as his testimony.

This is all stuff that those who asked for it should have known, but maybe forgot or did not want to remember.

What do we want to not remember about our past? Even the bad things led us to where we are. Not that we want to do them over, but they had a hand in making us who we are today.

We should focus on being who God made us to be and not what we can do to make God happy or a place to dwell. We should focus on our relationship and know that our history is merely part of His story, and that will make the mercy and love known in the world.

Live in love and share with the world.

confess Jesus

Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come as a human is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have defeated these people because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view and the world listens to them. We are from God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6, CEB)

If a person confesses Jesus has come, they are from God. If a person denies Jesus has come, they are not of God.

So if I say Jesus has come, and someone with a theology I do not get says Jesus has come, we are both from God, and we both have a valid understanding of God? So who determines whose theology is correct?

Well, maybe both of them are in one way or another. Remember that truth is true from your point of view, as Ob1 said. We need to focus on God and our growth and helping everyone see and understand they are loved as they are. This is our calling.

To deepen our faith and understanding and love others so that they might know they are loved by God.

Confess Jesus. Deepen your faith. Love all.

peace?

“I came to cast fire upon the earth. How I wish that it was already ablaze! I have a baptism I must experience. How I am distressed until it’s completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I have come instead to bring division. From now on, a household of five will be divided—three against two and two against three. Father will square off against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud forming in the west, you immediately say, ‘It’s going to rain.’ And indeed it does. And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘A heat wave is coming.’ And it does. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret conditions on earth and in the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:49-56, CEB)

Jesus, according to what He says here, did not come to bring peace, but fire and division.

He came to put family member against family member. I take this to mean that people who follow Jesus will be at odds with those who think following God means something different and do not see their family member as actually following Jesus.

I had a conversation with a friend who wanted to talk about my understanding of LGBTQIA+2S people in the bible, because their family still thought that was a sin and needed to be dealt with. This is what Jesus means, to me, family member against family member. And here there is no peace, as my friend is part of the LGBTQIA+2S community. They are loved by their family, but there is still tension.

Oh, for Jesus to reign fire and bring the kingdom, but we do not all see face to face yet. We do not all get it.

Be prepared

“When you see the disgusting and destructive thing that Daniel talked about standing in the holy place (the reader should understand this), then those in Judea must escape to the mountains. Those on the roof shouldn’t come down to grab things from their houses. Those in the field shouldn’t come back to grab their clothes. How terrible it will be at that time for women who are pregnant and for women who are nursing their children. Pray that it doesn’t happen in winter or on the Sabbath day. There will be great suffering such as the world has never before seen and will never again see. If that time weren’t shortened, nobody would be rescued. But for the sake of the ones whom God chose, that time will be cut short. “Then if somebody says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Christ,’ or ‘He’s over here,’ don’t believe it. False christs and false prophets will appear, and they will offer great signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, even those whom God has chosen. Look, I’ve told you ahead of time. So if they say to you, ‘Look, he’s in the desert,’ don’t go out. And if they say, ‘Look, he’s in the rooms deep inside the house,’ don’t believe it. Just as the lightning flashes from the east to the west, so it will be with the coming of the Human One. (Matthew 24:15-27, CEB)

We need to not worry about our stuff or anything other than being ready for the coming of the kingdom. Also, do not say here is the Christ when obviously it is not. Do not say signs that are happening are the ones that point to the coming of Christ, because only God knows that timing.

We just need to be ready. Doing the Lord’s work until the kingdom is fulfilled.

Be prepared and love all.

do God’s will

But remember the earlier days, after you saw the light. You stood your ground while you were suffering from an enormous amount of pressure. Sometimes you were exposed to insults and abuse in public. Other times you became partners with those who were treated that way. You even showed sympathy toward people in prison and accepted the confiscation of your possessions with joy, since you knew that you had better and lasting possessions. So don’t throw away your confidence—it brings a great reward. You need to endure so that you can receive the promises after you do God’s will. In a little while longer, the one who is coming will come and won’t delay; but my righteous one will live by faith, and my whole being won’t be pleased with anyone who shrinks back. But we aren’t the sort of people who timidly draw back and end up being destroyed. We’re the sort of people who have faith so that our whole beings are preserved. (Hebrews 10:32-39, CEB)

Remember when you first came to faith, and standing your ground was fun and invigorating?

When the light first came to you, showing it off was something you enjoyed doing. And then trials came, and the push back got harder, and it was not so joyful to explain yourself over and over when people just did not see things the same way you did, and it was difficult to have a conversation without fighting.

Stand strong and stand your ground. God is calling on you to be a voice for the voiceless, to stand with those who are beaten down by the system and society.

God is always with you. Helping you to live love, doing God’s will.

fear

If we make the decision to sin after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there isn’t a sacrifice for sins left any longer. There’s only a scary expectation of judgment and of a burning fire that’s going to devour God’s opponents. When someone rejected the Law from Moses, they were put to death without mercy on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think is deserved by the person who walks all over God’s Son, who acts as if the blood of the covenant that made us holy is just ordinary blood, and who insults the Spirit of grace? We know the one who said, Judgment is mine; I will pay people back. And he also said, The Lord will judge his people. It’s scary to fall into the hands of the living God! (Hebrews 10:26-31, CEB)

Who has sinned after they knew they were a part of the body of Christ? Haven’t all of us? So, according to this reading, we will all be damned for all time. We walk all over the Son of God when we sin after we know we are accepted.

We can not not sin. We are sinful by nature, and try as we will we will fail. But God is a god of Love and mercy, and that is what we need to focus on. The love and acceptance, not the fear of damnation. Fear is a motivator that works only so long.

Love. Mercy. These are what help us focus on God and follow Their ways.

entrusted

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?” The Lord replied, “Who are the faithful and wise managers whom the master will put in charge of his household servants, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy are the servants whom the master finds fulfilling their responsibilities when he comes. I assure you that the master will put them in charge of all his possessions. “But suppose that these servants should say to themselves, My master is taking his time about coming. And suppose they began to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat, drink, and get drunk. The master of those servants would come on a day when they weren’t expecting him, at a time they couldn’t predict. The master will cut them into pieces and assign them a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but didn’t prepare for it or act on it will be beaten severely. The one who didn’t know the master’s will but who did things deserving punishment will be beaten only a little. Much will be demanded from everyone who has been given much, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked. (Luke 12:41-48, CEB)

We are entrusted servants of Jesus. We are supposed to treat others as Jesus treats us, with love and compassion.

Will this be what Jesus finds when Jesus returns?

Suppose those entrusted servants start to beat or mistreat the others? What if they tell them they can not belong because their lifestyle is incorrect to be a part of the body of Christ?

What if they say that you can not be a leader because you are not the correct type of person?

What if they use fear to manipulate people into doing things that are not necessary to be a part of the body of Christ?

These are all things happening in today’s churches. LGBTQIA+ folks are being shamed for being who God created them to be and told that they do not belong because they are sinful. Women are told they can not be preachers or teachers or hold leadership positions because they have the wrong genitalia. And congregations use fear of hell and damnation to make people stay in line and follow the rules they set out. This is mistreatment of other servants.

We need to live and love like Jesus. Everyone, without exception and stop mistreating children of God.

You are entrusted.

By faith…

By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested. The one who received the promises was offering his only son. He had been told concerning him, Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac. He figured that God could even raise him from the dead. So in a way he did receive him back from the dead.
By faith Isaac also blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.
By faith Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons as he was dying and bowed in worship over the head of his staff.
By faith Joseph recalled the exodus of the Israelites at the end of his life, and gave instructions about burying his bones.
By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months when he was born, because they saw that the child was beautiful and they weren’t afraid of the king’s orders.
By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he was grown up. He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the temporary pleasures of sin. He thought that the abuses he suffered for Christ were more valuable than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking forward to the reward.
By faith he left Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. He kept on going as if he could see what is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the destroyer could not touch their firstborn children. (Hebrews 11:17-28, CEB)

Abraham offered his only offspring as a sacrifice, trusting God would not let this happen. How many of us would take our only child to the mountain top and bind them to sacrifice them to God when we waited so long for the promise of them to be born? Abraham trusted God to wait for Isaac, even though he questioned God as he waited, and then he trusted God to bind him and prepare to hand him back.

All of those listed here faced terrible things, but trusted God.

Do you trust God with your life?

How are you living by faith?