good war

Timothy, my child, I’m giving you these instructions based on the prophecies that were once made about you. So if you follow them, you can wage a good war because you have faith and a good conscience. Some people have ruined their faith because they refused to listen to their conscience, such as Hymenaeus and Alexander. I’ve handed them over to Satan so that they can be taught not to speak against God. (1 Timothy 1:18-20, CEB)

I honestly sometimes have issues with the things we have in scripture.

If you follow the instructions you were given, you can wage a good war because of faith and a good conscience. What is a good war? How is war ever good? Maybe if you win, but does anyone really win a war? I mean, someone gets a victory, but lives are lost, resources are lost. No one really completely wins. And what is good war?

I would conjecture the only good war is the one we wage against ourselves to follow Christ or our own desires.

This reminds me of the song by Todd Agnew War Inside

Do you feel the tension, do you?
Do you feel the grind?
Do you see the battle ‘tween this
Flesh and soul of mine?

‘Cause there’s a war inside of me
Between who I want to be
And who I am

I do what I don’t want to do
And don’t do what I mean
I end up chasing all my nightmares
And abandoning my dreams

‘Cause there’s a war inside of me
Between who I want to be
And who I am

Is not who I want to be
Shackled like a slave when I know that I’m free
Wrong and right, truth and lie, death versus life
Everything in me is choosing sides
And the showdown begins

Do you feel the tension?

There’s a war inside of me
Between who I want to be
There’s a war inside of me
Between who I want to be
And who I am, who I am

Lost things…

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” (Luke 15:1-10, CEB)

These two snippets belong with the whole chapter here from Luke 15. Here we see the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, or Prodigal Son.

But if these stories are really about lost things, and those things repenting, as we get so often in the story of the Prodigal Son, which is not really the best name for that story, how does a sheep repent? How does a coin repent?

The sheep repents by saying, “Sorry, I was baaaaaad.” A coin repents by saying, “I promise I’ll change.”

But the stories above are not about a sheep or a coin, just as the rest of the chapter is not a story about the son.

The stories above start with “All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him, and he welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus welcomed and often sought out those whom others would shun or move out of the way.

The story of the lost sheep starts, suppose one of you had a hundred sheep. So one of those listening is who is the subject of the story. The story of the lost coin begins or what woman who has 10 coins and loses one of them. These stories are about the shepherd, the keeper of the sheep, and the woman. Just as the story of the prodigal son does not begin, there was a young man who had a brother and a father. It begins there was a man who had two sons. The stories are not about the things, but the people looking for the things and the great lengths they will go to find the things.

It is about leaving sheep in the wilderness to find the one that has wandered off, it is about turning the house upside down to find half a penny, or wandering the edges of your property looking for the wayward child to come home. It is about the love of the thing that makes you look everywhere for it, and when you find it, you celebrate with everyone.

This is not about lost things, but the love of a God that seeks us out when we go wandering off. The love of a father that allows disgrace to give grace, mercy, and love.

Know you are loved and never really lost. Even when you wander, God wanders after you.

His Voice

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd. “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.” There was another division among the Jews because of Jesus’ words. Many of them said, “He has a demon and has lost his mind. Why listen to him?” Others said, “These aren’t the words of someone who has a demon. Can a demon heal the eyes of people who are blind?” (John 10:11-21, CEB)

When the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd, they are calmed and know they will be cared for.

Jesus says here that we, as the sheep, should hear His voice and know that we will be cared for.

Do you know Jesus’ voice?

Jesus says there are other sheep that are not a part of our fold, or community, and when they hear His voice, they will also know they are cared for. Who are those sheep?

If we do not hear or know the voice of Jesus, are we part of any fold that will be kept safe by God?

Listen closely and hear His voice.

corrupt cravings

But false prophets also arose among the people. In the same way, false teachers will come among you. They will introduce destructive opinions and deny the master who bought them, bringing quick destruction on themselves. Many will follow them in their unrestrained immorality, and because of these false teachers the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will take advantage of you with lies. The judgment pronounced against them long ago hasn’t fallen idle, nor is their destruction sleeping. God didn’t spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into the lowest level of the underworld and committed them to chains of darkness, keeping them there until the judgment. And he didn’t spare the ancient world when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people, even though he protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to total destruction, reducing them to ashes as a warning to ungodly people. And he rescued righteous Lot, who was made miserable by the unrestrained immorality of unruly people. (While that righteous man lived among them he felt deep distress every day on account of the immoral actions he saw and heard.) These things show that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and how to keep the unrighteous for punishment on the Judgment Day. This is especially true for those who follow after the corrupt cravings of the sinful nature and defy the Lord’s authority. (2 Peter 2:1-10a, CEB)

When we use God and scripture for manipulation, we are giving in to corrupt cravings. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of power and control. That is the corrupt cravings we need to flee.

False prophets rise and use the name of God to keep power, to make people fall in line, and to not seek justice or equality for all of God’s children. In their greed, they lie and manipulate the situations to their benefit.

See others first and do not give in to the corrupt cravings of power and control.

Power hungry

From Paul, who is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord. When I left for Macedonia, I asked you to stay behind in Ephesus so that you could instruct certain individuals not to spread wrong teaching. They shouldn’t pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. Their teaching only causes useless guessing games instead of faithfulness to God’s way of doing things. The goal of instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Because they missed this goal, some people have been distracted by talk that doesn’t mean anything. They want to be teachers of Law without understanding either what they are saying or what they are talking about with such confidence. Now we know that the Law is good if used appropriately. We understand this: the Law isn’t established for a righteous person but for people who live without laws and without obeying any authority. They are the ungodly and the sinners. They are people who are not spiritual, and nothing is sacred to them. They kill their fathers and mothers, and murder others. They are people who are sexually unfaithful, and people who have intercourse with the same sex. They are kidnappers, liars, individuals who give false testimonies in court, and those who do anything else that is opposed to sound teaching. Sound teaching agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that has been trusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:1-11, CEB)

The law was established to curb power. Those who do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and use whoever they want to get what they want and where they want to go.

The kill, lie, steal, cheat, rape, plunder, anything and anyone.

When one tells the truth and stands for what is right, they are a morally upstanding person. Those who seek power usually are not these people.

Who are you?

impossible

A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God. You know the commandments: Don’t commit adultery. Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Don’t give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.” Then the ruler said, “I’ve kept all of these things since I was a boy.” When Jesus heard this, he said, “There’s one more thing. Sell everything you own and distribute the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” When he heard these words, the man became sad because he was extremely rich. When Jesus saw this, he said, “It’s very hard for the wealthy to enter God’s kingdom! It’s easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.” Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible for humans is possible for God.” Peter said, “Look, we left everything we own and followed you.” Jesus said to them, “I assure you that anyone who has left house, husband, wife, brothers, sisters, parents, or children because of God’s kingdom will receive many times more in this age and eternal life in the coming age.” (Luke 18:18-30, CEB)

Who can be saved? No one on their own. You can never do enough to be in the place you need to be to be worthy of God. But you also never have to worry about doing enough because with God, what is impossible for us is a walk in the park.

God can do whatever God chooses to do. God sent Jesus here to show us how to live and how to love, and the religious authority saw it as a grab for their power, so they removed the issue, and God made a way.

We need to do the good things Jesus called us to, not because they will get us something, but because we already got what we think we can get.

God saved us to love the world.

So go. Love the World!

Focus!

If you point these things out to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus who has been trained by the words of faith and the good teaching that you’ve carefully followed. But stay away from the godless myths that are passed down from the older women. Train yourself for a holy life! While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come. This saying is reliable and deserves complete acceptance. We work and struggle for this: “Our hope is set on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially those who believe.” Command these things. Teach them. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. Instead, set an example for the believers through your speech, behavior, love, faith, and by being sexually pure. Until I arrive, pay attention to public reading, preaching, and teaching. Don’t neglect the spiritual gift in you that was given through prophecy when the elders laid hands on you. Practice these things, and live by them so that your progress will be visible to all. Focus on working on your own development and on what you teach. If you do this, you will save yourself and those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:6-16, CEB)

If you point out these things… This means we need to know what comes before this, and that was yesterday’s devotion; you can see that text here. And this is all about the teaching of demons and leading people away from faith. But if you help people see the real faith, they will have life.

Again, what is the real faith? People have told me that I do not follow God or really have ever read the bible because I say that all people are welcome and everyone is a beloved child of God, even though some who read the bible would say are damned to hell because of their sinful lives.

The thing that really sticks out to me about this passage is “But stay away from the godless myths that are passed down from the older women.” As if all older women only spread myths and lead people astray. We all have the ability to do this, so what was going on in the community where Timothy was?

Focus on God and following after Their love and give that away. That is what will lead to life.

turn away…

I hope to come to you quickly. But I’m writing these things to you so that if I’m delayed, you’ll know how you should behave in God’s household. It is the church of the living God and the backbone and support of the truth. Without question, the mystery of godliness is great: he was revealed as a human, declared righteous by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached throughout the nations, believed in around the world, and taken up in glory. The Spirit clearly says that in latter times some people will turn away from the faith. They will pay attention to spirits that deceive and to the teaching of demons. They will be controlled by the pretense of lying, and their own consciences will be seared. They will prohibit marriage and eating foods that God created—and he intended them to be accepted with thanksgiving by those who are faithful and have come to know the truth. Everything that has been created by God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected. These things are made holy by God’s word and prayer. (1 Timothy 3:14 — 4:5, CEB)

I always read these passages and wonder, are they talking about me? Have I turned away from the faith, and am I leading people away with a spirit that deceives and the teaching of demons? Or am I leading to faith and away from this?

I look at the next sentence and know in my heart that I am truthful to the understanding that I have, and I do not willfully lie to get someone to do something. Nor do I seek to control others, but only myself.

Today, we are seeing the workings of the US government in trying to stop marriage. They and state-level governments are working to take away the rights of people to be legally married, or to even exist as God created them. “Everything that has been created by God is good.” Everyone created by God is good and to deny anyone of their created being as a child of God is a spirit of evil and the teaching of demons.

So, who has turned away from God?

give up all

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Turning to them, he said, “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’ Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. In the same way, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33, CEB)

“None of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple.” What are you willing to give up for Jesus?

These passages always get me asking, did Jesus really mean we have to hate? Everywhere else, we are told to love. Love your enemies, love everyone, but then we hear if you do not hate father, mother, everyone else, you are not worthy to be called my disciple. Is not love the thing that shows we are disciples of Jesus?

The Matthew version of this text says, if you love them more than me, you are not worthy of me. So is it more than Jesus, or do we have to hate?

The question still stands: what are you willing to give up for Jesus?

give up your life…

“Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace but a sword. I’ve come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. People’s enemies are members of their own households. “Those who love father or mother more than me aren’t worthy of me. Those who love son or daughter more than me aren’t worthy of me. Those who don’t pick up their crosses and follow me aren’t worthy of me. Those who find their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives because of me will find them. “Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.” (Matthew 10:34-42, CEB)

When we encounter these statements, we wonder what Jesus was saying or meant. Did Jesus really mean he came to turn family members against each other? That we can not love our mother, or father, or siblings?

Well, actually, Jesus said if you love anyone more than Jesus, you are not worthy of Jesus. If we love our life more than doing what Jesus called us to do, then we are not worthy.

Actually, I think that is worse. I honestly have to say that sometimes I love the comfort of not being in the line of fire or risking my life to stand up for the last, lost, least, and little. I love comfort and safety. Jesus says if we do not risk losing everything, yes even our life, we are not worthy of Him.

We need to love Jesus so dearly that we are willing to give up everything, because that is what He did.

Take up your cross, the instrument of death, and know that what is to come and following Jesus is better than this life ever could be. Comfort and safety left in the hands of God.

Follow, and love Jesus more than anything else.