Molded By God

Children can be molded by their environment, teaching, and discipline. If we teach them good life skills at a young age, we set them up for success later in life. Yet, if they turn away from the good life skills they were taught, calamity can befall them. They are much more open to learn when they are young.

How pliable are you? Are you open to learn something new? Are you open to changing your ways for the good? Will you learn good life skills to be successful? Unfortunately, far too many of us are not. We are comfortable where we are at, even if it is lying in a ditch.

God compares Israel to clay in a potter’s hands and God is the potter. He says that he can do what he wants with Israel. If Israel obeys God, he will bless them and make them successful. If they disobey, he will bring calamity on them, just as the potter flattens the clay if the mold he was making isn’t going as planned.

What we need to remember is that God can do the same to us. Not that he is holding a hammer over our heads. Quite the contrary. God is extremely patient. Yet, if we continually discard his guidance, he will eventually discard us. It is not something God wants to do any more than we want it. Knowing that God could discard us, why would we continue to tempt him? The simple answer? We’re human and have our own fleshly desires.

What can we do to follow God? We need to go back to those principles for being taught good life skills ­­­— seek a good environment, seek a good teacher (Jesus), and discipline ourselves. If we are willing to change and put in the effort, God is willing to invest in us and bless us.

I pray we all are willing to change for the good. I pray we seek to learn from Jesus. I pray each one of us will commit to discipline ourselves and allow God to mold into the person he wants us to be. Be willing to change. Learn from Jesus. Commit yourself to God. Allow him to mold you.

Jeremiah 18:5-6 Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Share Your Blessings

What are your dinners like? Is it only your family who is invited to join you? Do you occasionally invite friends over? What about parties? Do you invite anyone other than friends and family? Have you ever considered inviting someone else? Why not? Will you in the future?

Family dinners can be a wonderful time of laughing, remembrance, and enjoying a good meal. Inviting friends to dinner can be much the same. There is the familiarity and common stories to be shared. The collective memory of the group fills in the details of those stories.

Most of us will not invite people we do not know to dinner. Yet, Jesus tells us to do so. Let’s not go overboard here. What Jesus is saying is that we are to care for those on the margins as much as we care for our family. When we host a meal for the homeless, we are doing good for those who can never repay us. Jesus says that is when we are repaid by God.

However, we should not invite those on the margins with the intent of being rewarded by God. Yes, our motivation and intent are important. We are to do things for others, especially those who are less fortunate, not to gain a reward, but with the love of God in our hearts. Our motivation is to be us returning God’s love for us by sharing his love for others.

On multiple occasions Jesus demonstrates His care for people, especially those who are in need, less fortunate, rejected, or outcast. He set the example for us. When He says we are to care for the widow, the hungry, and the orphans, He is telling us to follow His example. If we are going to follow His example, we must overcome stereotypes and prejudices. May we all do so.

I pray we all choose to follow Jesus’ example. I pray we choose to care for people on the margins. I pray each one of us will choose to share our blessings from God with others. Follow Jesus’ example. Care for others. Care for people on the margins. Share your blessings with others.

Luke 14:13-14 “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The Humble are Exalted

We see many people today who toot their own horn. They seek everyone’s applause. They claim to be the greatest in whatever they do. By definition, there is only one greatest, for it means that there is one who is greater than all others. Of course, it is used as slang to mean far less than its original meaning.

Yet there are some people who seem to get it. For example, I believe Taylor Swift gets it. Though she is a highly accomplished singer/songwriter, she remains humble. Sure, she puts on a show for the crowds, but immediately comes back down to earth when she walks off the stage. She knows that she has not accomplished all she possibly can and continues to work toward it. She remains humble, knowing there are things she is not good at.

We can argue the points I made about Taylor Swift. After all, they are just one person’s opinions. Personally, her music is not my type of music, even though her early country songs were catchy. What is not debatable is that people who humble themselves and give their all toward a goal will often find themselves lifted up by others.

Jesus tells a parable about a wedding banquet. He says not to sit in a place of honor but sit in a lowly place. When the host sees you, he will then move you to a more honorable seat. Of course, this parable is not about a literal wedding banquet but making a point for how we are to conduct ourselves before God. Rather than assuming we are righteous of our own accord and assume a seat at the front of God’s throne, instead be humble as a servant and allow God to determine where your seat is.

The most exalted servants of God’s were humble. Moses claimed he was not a good speaker. Jeremiah stated he was too young and inexperienced. Elijah fled for his life and cried out to God. David was a man after God’s own heart, but knew he was a sinner and asked God for forgiveness. Jesus was the humble Servant who obeyed God’s will to the point of going to the cross to save each one of us.

Thoughts to ponder: what will God do with you if you humble yourself before him? How will God exalt you if you are willing to do what he asks? What is your motivation? Is it to seek honor for yourself? Or are you seeking to honor God? Answers to these questions speak loudly about us. Why we do things is as important as how we do them.

Rather than seeking to be the one on stage with thousands cheering for you, seek to be the one who does God’s will and have him cheering for you. For when God is the one cheering, he is also the one who lifts us up. Great is the reward for the one who is humble and obedient to God.

Luke 14:11 “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Sacrifice of Love

Are you willing to sacrifice? Will you sacrifice for the good of others? Will you sacrifice for your children? Will you sacrifice for your parents? Do you consider sacrificing as doing good? Do you believe it is pleasing? Have you thought of what you say as a sacrifice?

Our human nature is to take care of ourselves. We won’t naturally sacrifice. There must be a reason for us to give up something of ourselves for someone else. We often call that something: love. Loving our spouse and children will cause us to sacrifice for them.

It is also love that will cause us to sacrifice for God. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to praise God continually. He calls it our sacrifice to him. Why would praise be a sacrifice. Praising God puts him above us. It is lifting God up and humbling ourselves. It is a demonstration of our love for him.

In addition to praising God, we are to do good and share what we have. This is both a sacrifice and a blessing. As God has blessed us, we are to share those blessings with others. While sharing those blessings we are blessed again. All of this is done because of the love God has for us and our loving him in return.

Love and sacrifice go hand-in-hand. God loves us. We love God. We demonstrate our love through sacrifice. We praise God for his blessings. We share his blessings. We bless others. It is a loving cycle we all desire to be a part of. When we are, we are joyful.

I pray we all are willing to sacrifice. I pray we know God loves us and experience his blessings. I pray each one of us praise God for his blessings and share those blessings others, being doubly blessed. Sacrifice to God. Sacrifice for others. God loves you. Show your love for him. Praise God. Share with others.

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Contentment

Are you content? Do you experience contentment? Or are you continued discontented? What is it that you are discontented about when you are not content? Are you seeking to be contented? Do you know how to achieve it?

Being contented can be allusive. We can chase after it in many ways for a very long time and never achieve it. We attempt to achieve it with possessions, making more money, finding the right partner, raising a family, or you name it. Yet, we may never be fully content.

The writer of Hebrews says we are to live free from the love of money. He doesn’t say we should not work to be paid. But we are not to make it a priority to make more money. We are not to make climbing the corporate ladder our priority. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t do the best we can in our job for we are told to work as though we are working for God (Colossians 3:23).

We find contentment when we live for God. It is when we come to the full realization that God is always with and always working things for our good that we find the peace that is beyond understanding, resulting in a contentment we cannot explain. When we trust God in all situations, we live without worry, anxiety, and fear.

Being content may appear to some as being indifferent, yet it isn’t. Others will be amazed at the calmness we have when things go wrong. The Apostle Paul said he had learned to be content in with whatever he had (Philippians 4:11). So, it is something we can learn. Therefore, we should seek to learn to trust God is in control and he is always with us.

I pray we give up our love of money. I pray we learn to trust God is in control and working things for our good. I pray each one of us find the peace of God and the contentment only he can give us. Give up your love of money. Trust God. Know he is always with you. Find contentment.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Show Hospitality

How is your hospitality? Do you think of hospitality as being a host of a big party? Are you only hospitable to people you know? Are you only willing to be hospitable who can repay you at some point later? Have you ever invited a stranger into your home?

Hospitality is taken to a high level by some. They throw large parties. They pull out all the stops. They provide the best meals and desserts. They invite all the popular people. To be on their guest list is to be part of the whose who in town. Yet, that isn’t what we are encouraged to do.

The writer of Hebrews says to show mutual affection to one another. He tells us to show hospitality. But it’s not hospitality to the popular people or the people we know. We are to show hospitality to strangers. He says by doing so, some have entertained angels. Wow!

This is an encouragement to take care of those in need. Why? In the first century, travelers often relied on people hosting them. Not every town had a hotel. Often, people would allow travelers to stay in a stable (think Mary and Joseph). The host would also provide a meal or two for the stranger.

Today, we don’t rely on people to allow us to stay in their home when we travel. We either arrange to stay with family, book a hotel room, or we may even rent a house. So, how do we apply this to our time? We can still show hospitality to those in need. We can welcome them into our churches. We can provide them with clothing, food, housing, or whatever it is they need. If we do, we are fulfilling the directive to show hospitality.

I pray we all show affection to one another. I pray we care for one another. I pray each one of us will determine to show hospitality and care for people in need. Show mutual affection. Care for one another. Show hospitality to people in need. Know you will be blessed for doing so.

Hebrews 13:1-2 Let mutual affection continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Walk God’s Path

Have you ever felt like everything, and everyone is against you? Have you struggled through a time when everything you did seemed to be wrong? Are you struggling through such a time now? How do you get yourself out of the struggle? Have you considered turning to God?

We all go through struggles. Yet, there are some struggles we bring on ourselves. Often, those struggles are due to going our own way rather than following God’s way. This not only applies to us as individuals but applies to families, cities, and nations as well.

God had led the Israelites out of captivity. He had provided them with a country of their own. He had even destroyed their enemies for them. Yet, they still turned to their own desires. They didn’t turn away from God overnight. It took several years of living in comfort and peace. During those years, they began to think it was their doing that brought them peace rather than God.

God was patient. He kept yearning for them to turn back to him. Eventually, he allowed their bad decisions to catch up with them. He allowed them to be defeated. He allowed them to be taken captive again. Even as he allowed it, he continued to yearn for them to turn back to him. If only they would turn back, he would bless them and rescue them again.

Have we learned the lesson the Israelites had learn the hard way? Or have we turned away from God to follow our own counsel? Perhaps we should take a hard look at our lives. Perhaps we should determine if we are following God’s way. The sooner we make the decision to follow God’s way, the sooner we will see our lives get better with the blessings from God. But even has it took time to slowly turn away, it will take time to experience the good. God is patient and he ensures our hearts have truly turned to him.

I pray we all take time to evaluate our lives. I pray we evaluate our families, cities, and nation. I pray each one of us will submit to God’s ways and ask God to keep us on his path. Evaluate your life. Evaluate your family life. Evaluate your community. Submit to God. Walk God’s path.

Psalm 81:10-12

I am the Lord your God, 

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

“But my people did not listen to my voice; 

Israel would not submit to me. 

So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, 

to follow their own counsels.”

Sarcasm and Truth

Do you ever speak facetiously? Do you use sarcasm? Do you use them to make a point, to show there is an obvious answer? Have you heard others do so? Did you wake you up? Did you have an ah-ha moment when you heard it? Have you considered that God does so?

We sometimes say things with sarcasm or facetiously when we know the answer is obvious and we want the other person to know that we know. We want to drive home a point. We want them to realize they cannot pull the wool over our eyes, and they should not take us for a fool.

God used the same method to drive home a point to the Israelites through the prophet Jeremiah. Read today’s passage. See how it drips with sarcasm. The God of all creation who can do no wrong and speak only truth asks a sarcastic question. He knows the answer. He knows the Israelites know the answer. He is driving home the point that they had been foolish, that they had mistakenly walked away from him.

I wonder, if God were to speak to us today, would he use the same sarcasm? Would he ask what he had ever done to cause us to turn away from him? Do we even realize we have turned away? We pursue many things in our lives. We seek to climb the corporate ladder. We seek to make more money.

We don’t think to make God our priority. We don’t think to make a budget to live within our means and stick to it. We have not realized that we can live much better lives by putting God first. Yet, God still loves us. He still wants us to turn to him. He waits patiently. It is our decision to make. When we do fully turn to him, we will realize the freedom we have in him.

Jeremiah 2:4-5 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: 

What wrong did your ancestors find in me 

that they went far from me 

and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?

The Suffering Servant

Do you like to suffer? How is your pain tolerance? Can you tolerate large quantities of physical pain? Can you tolerate mental anguish? What allows you to withstand the pain you experience? Do you pull from a bigger and deeper source?

Being able to endure physical pain and mental anguish is very difficult to do. There are some professions that train regularly to be able to do so. They may seem to be superhuman. But for most of us, we struggle with enduring the physical pain and mental anguish.

Isaiah speaks of a suffering servant who suffers from both. He is beaten and afflicted. He is wounded for our transgressions. But the physical pain is not the worst of it. It is His mental anguish over our transgressions that causes Him the greatest pain.

When we look at the meaning of the original language, His mental anguish is so horrific that He becomes unrecognizable. So much so that He doesn’t even resemble a human being. His face is contorted, distorted, and transformed. This is not how Jesus is portrayed in the movies.

We must recall an image of extreme pain from mental anguish when we remember Jesus going to the cross. It is this picture, a view of our Savior who is virtually overcome with despair, that changes us. If is by viewing Him being totally distraught because of our sin that He bore for us that will cause us to pause the next time we go to commit our favorite sin.

I pray we all gain a new perspective of our Savior. I pray we see His mental anguish written on His face. I pray each one of us will change our ways because of the pain He felt for us. Jesus faced physical pain. Jesus faced mental anguish. He bore your sins. He loves you.

Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected by others; 

a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, 

and as one from whom others hide their faces 

he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Hypocrites

Yesterday, we discussed whether certain activities, places, or artifacts were sacred or holy. I didn’t give answers but intended to cause people to consider what they think is sacred. Why? Well, let’s take a look at how Jesus answered the synagogue leader’s reaction to yesterday’s passage.

Remember that yesterday Jesus healed a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was sacred or holy, and the Jews were not to work on the Sabbath. There were significant restrictions on what they could do on the Sabbath.

Jesus’ answer to synagogue leader’s outburst against people coming to be healed on the Sabbath is immediate and harsh. Why? He spoke the truth. He wanted to grab their attention. They were being hypocrites, holding a double standard. Though the Jews could only walk a specific number of steps on the Sabbath without it being considered work, they would lead their work animals to water. Typically, wells or streams were outside the towns of Galilee requiring them to walk further than allowed on the Sabbath.

What are the double standards we see today? How are we being hypocritical? Are we being hypocritical? As I observe the behavior of people, I see hypocritical behavior regularly. It’s alright if I commit my favorite sin but it’s not alright for someone else to commit theirs. I’m struggling with mine and praying about it but I don’t consider they are doing the same.

If we are going to call out someone else, we need to do so with love. We might consider confessing our own sin before we mention their sin, then agree with them to help one another overcome them. Rather than thinking we should impose rules on others, we might consider partnering with them for accountability. It will amaze us how well it works.

I pray we all recognize our own sin. I pray we approach others with love to discuss their sin. I pray each one of us with give up our hypocritical behavior and seek loving accountability instead. Recognize your sin. Do not be hypocritical. Seek an accountability partner.

Luke 13:15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water?”