Make straight the path…

Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5 ESV)

Make the path straight is something when I hear it I think of John the Baptist, quoting the prophet to make the path straight because the Messiah is coming. It is something we do. We make the path straight to prepare for the coming of the lord… but that is not the same here…

You notice above I have verse 3 and 8 in red… Verse 3 says O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch or some ancient texts read O LORD, in the morning I direct my prayer to you; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. So does the Lord hear your voice in the morning, or do you direct your prayers to Him? The one action in this psalm that we do is speak aloud to our creator. The psalmist says that every morning they prepare their heart by going before the Lord in prayer. They go to Him in conversation, laying before Him the wants, the trials, the daily grind stuff. They lay it our there, and do you?

The psalm says that only the righteous will stand, and we will enter His house through the abundance of His steadfast love. But in order to remain with Him, we must know the path to follow, so rather than trust on his own judgement the psalmist asks God in His righteousness because of the forces around him that will pull him away, to make His path clear before him. Verse 8 “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.” It is God who makes the way clear, and we are the ones who muck it up, with our broken relationships, our need for power and notoriety, our desire to make ourselves known and more liked… We look for our own uplifting, when God wants us to humble ourselves and rely on Him.

So each morning, carve out the time you need to go to God, in the sunrise and give Him everything and ask Him to help you through the day. He will not let you down, and the path will become clear!

Come to or come too…

And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:18-23 ESV)

Many are going to come. And all people will stream to God, or as it says in this passage, “People will grab hold of the robes of a Jew.” They want to be with God so much that they are finding a way, even making a way to get to Him. People are drawn to Him…

Yet when they drawn to Him do they find Him or do they find us…

Many are coming and going just as fast. It is described as the back door. We are so concerned as followers of the way that people come to know God, but we are pushing them away just as fast as they are coming to us, because we try to make them look and act like us. If they do not conform to the way we all act in this gathering they are shunned and no one notices as the slip out the back door, because we are worried about assimilating the new people that are showing up… The is a place where the Borg got it wrong, resistance is not futile, and resistance is exactly what Jesus gave us, and showed us. Resistance of religious norms and following the rules and looking good in the eyes of others, and being far from where God has called us and wants us to be.

Why do people come to your place of worship? Is it something you did? Something your pastor did? Some program you have? The bible tells us that God is the only one that brings people to Him, and He adds to the numbers of the gathered… We can take no credit for anyone coming to worship. God might have used us or worked through us, but God did it… And when they get to our place of worship are we helping them connect with God, or are we pushing them further away… Maybe the Borg need to teach us in the church that we need to loosen up, and allow the people that God is bringing to be a part of us to be the part that God has brought them there to be. Maybe we aren’t suppose to conform them to our ways, but we are to conform to them…

Everyone will come… Because God caused it to happen. So allow what God has brought to you to help you grow closer to Him, rather than trying to change what was brought into your image. Maybe this new person is here so that you can come to God too…

grieved by various trials

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)

Is your life perfect?

Do you have things in your life you wish you could change?

Do you have circumstances in your life you wish you did not have to go through?

I know of no person who thinks their life is grand and could use no changes. I do know some people who think the littlest thing is going to completely destroy their life. And some peopled who have been nearly to hell and back and have not even batted an eye…

Why do some people seem to handle the stress of the situation of life better than others?

Maybe it it perseverance and a knowledge that things could be worse…

Maybe it is what Peter talks to us about today in the reading…

Maybe it is a little of both…

Peter tells us we have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” We are born anew to a living hope of a world that is to come, being kept pure and holy for us by God. It will be revealed to us.

No where in scripture does it promise once who start following after Jesus that your life will be perfect, in fact I would argue that the Bible tells us we will face trials because of following Jesus. In a few Sundays we will read of James and John asking Jesus to sit at His left and right hands in His glory. Jesus asks if they can drink of the cup and partake in the baptism that He does, and they say they can and Jesus tells them they will, the cup and baptism represent Jesus’ death. We will all face death because of following Jesus, He was beaten and bruised and He told His followers what they do to me they will do to you… Rest assured my brothers and sisters, none of us will make it out of here alive, in order to have resurrection, we must have death…

But Peter tells us after he reminds us of the glorious day that awaits that we will face trials, and some of us are in them now. These are to see how genuine we are in our following, in our trusting in God. Are we really following after God, or do we give Him lip service so we can get an easy fix, turning God into the cosmic vending machine where we show Him a little love and He gets us out of our current situation…

We need to trust that God is walking with and cling to the promises of His book. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil, for you are with me… God is walking with us and holding our hands as we face this life. Do you trust Him with your life, then know that He will see you through. He will never give up on you, do not give Him lip service and follow Him.

It may not be an easy ride, but the fringe benefits are completely out of this world!

no cement shoes a millstone will have to do…

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:42-50 ESV)

Is that not an image and a verse to keep you on your toes…

I remember having many discussions on this verse or its companions in the synoptic gospels. It is better for a person to tie a millstone around their neck and throw themselves into the sea than to lead one of these little ones away…

I always thought of the millstone as a good size rock, but this picture gives a different view to me. A large rock indeed, and maybe this was the way early mobsters took care of their hits. They couldn’t do cement shoes, so a millstone will have to do…

But is this not a little harsh? We read here about all the ways we should be maiming ourselves to keep ourselves able to get into the kingdom. But does it really have anything to do with us? And who is taking this literally? I know I have joked about this section of scripture, if the males of the human race took this literally and seriously, we would all have no hands or eyes… We are always sinning it is in our nature.

Now do not get me wrong, I am in no way condoning sinful behavior. My pastor this morning told us that God gives us rules to follow so that we will be safe. Our parents don’t give us rules and make us eat healthy because they are mean, but because they love us. God gave us rules to follow because He loves us. He is trying to help protect us. There is a reason our parents told us to look both ways before we cross the road…

But really we can not keep ourselves from sinning, and we can not get into heaven by trying. Jesus did it for us! And the thing we miss in the above verse is this little gem stuck right there in the middle: “For everyone will be salted with fire” Everyone will be salted with fire… You see you will not miss the fire, for we all will see it, and it will be something that is unavoidable. We must go into the fire, but how? This morning I was told it was with the knowledge that our sin has been dealt with by Jesus, and we do not need it to weigh us down, we can give it up to Him. That is cutting off the hand, and plucking out the eye, we are giving up the sin, confessing it and letting it go. We are then able to go into the fire with the ever fireproof Jesus wrapped around us. You see it is not up to us alone to face the temptation, Jesus is there to do it with us and help us through the fire that is coming, for all of us.

So give it up to Jesus and let Him walk with you in the fire!

Assalted

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)

Did you know that the Salt Institute has discovered 14,000 known uses for salt!

That is a lot more than I knew! I use it to add a little flavor, but there is a lot more. Here is an excerpt from a blog I received earlier this week called Faith Lens:

Our bodies do not naturally make sodium chloride so we need to consume it in order to make blood, sweat, digestive juices, and tears.

Salt also has historical significance. Salt was used as one of the earliest forms of money and trade; at one time the value of an ounce of salt was an ounce of gold.  Roman soldiers were partly paid in salt.  It has been used as a preservative to help food stay good for longer.  Salt has been used as a flavoring agent.  Have you ever put a tablespoon of salt in a glass of chocolate milk?  It helps change the flavor of the veggie’s you might not want to eat or makes your popcorn delicious.

Salt can be used as a cleaner.  You can use salt to clean your bathroom or polish tarnished brass or copper.  Salt has healing properties.  You can use it as a mouthwash to clear up canker sores or as an antiseptic.  Salt keeps us safe.  Salt is spread on icy roads and highways to keep our feet and cars from slipping.  It is used to soften our water, removing chemicals that we don’t want in our water.  Salt can also put out grease fires, drive away ants, kill poison ivy, and deodorize your shoes.  The Bible mentions salt a number of times, but what exactly does that mean?  It has so many different uses.

Wow! Did you know Jesus was telling you to be all of these things when He said to be salt for the earth!

And do your realize that your life shines in the darkness, but what exactly is it revealing? As those who are to be cleaners and healers of the world, I think we do a lot to dirty and hurt the world in the process. We think our place is to reveal what everyone else is doing that will keep them from being with Jesus and we forget about all of the wrong we are showing forth to the world that needs to know who Jesus is. Mark Lowry said it best in the quote from this image. We are to shine in the world so that they are drawn to Jesus, not to show forth everyone else’s problems, when we are selves have enough problems to worry about.

So let your life shine and show others to Jesus  and heal and clean and add flavor, wonderful flavor to the world that needs to be reunited with it’s creator! Live your life that others see not you, but your great Daddy in Heaven and will seek out the relationship they can have with them.