Past Devotions

“Be holy for I am holy.”  That is the command of our God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. That raises questions.  If we are to be holy, what exactly is holiness? Is our holiness and God’s holiness the same or is it different? And of course, the ageless question, how exactly do we achieve this holiness to which we are called?

We probably should begin with God’s holiness.  “… for I am holy.”  When we speak of God as holy, we are saying he is “wholly other” or “wholly above.” God is unlike any other being, He is absolute perfection. There is not even a microscopic trace of anything other than perfection in Him. He is high above all others, no one compares to Him. Every other attribute is governed by His Holiness, holy mercy, holy grace, holy love, holy wrath. We can’t even grasp that kind of holiness, let alone achieve it.

So what kind of holiness is God indicating for us when he says, “Be holy ….”  We certainly can’t be “wholly other” or “wholly above.” For us, holiness may be defined as “wholly apart.” When God called Israel out of Egypt, he set them apart from other nations. He gave them specific instructions to govern their lives so that the world would know that they belonged to Him. When Peter repeated the command regarding holiness in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:16), he talked specifically to believers and indicated that we needed to be set apart from the world. We are to be governed by God’s standards not the world’s or our own. Holiness calls us to be distinct, “wholly apart,” not perfect.

That leaves the last question. How do we achieve this holiness to which we are called? That can only come from a right relationship with God through the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. We cannot achieve holiness through our own efforts. To try to be holy without first being born-again in Christ Jesus is to descend into legalism, not the freedom found in Christ. Remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians? “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:6 NIV]

Seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly realm is truly “wholly apart” from the world. As we learn to live in that, we can truly “be holy for I am holy.”

This was a difficult week. I had so much on my plate to do this week and as of Thursday, I’d gotten none of it done. The stomach “bug” stepped it, hijacked my plans and took over my life.  I’ve lounged around in my PJ’s, encouraged my stomach to accept the food I offered, and watched daytime television between ubiquitous naps. My step count was almost non-existent. My mind was foggy, I seemed to be either just waking up or just nodding off. Every now and again I’d think I should get up from Bob’s big lounge chair and do something, but those kinds of thoughts faded rapidly. I guess that’s clear warning that if this devotional makes little sense, there is just cause for that.

Somewhere in all this “battle of the bug,” I began to think about holiness. In Leviticus 11 God gave Israel a list of animals, birds, creeping things, bugs, and swimming things. He defined some as “clean,” and others as “unclean.” Then He makes a remarkable command at the end of that odd chapter on what living things Israel was permitted to eat. He says, “For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” [Lev 11:45 NKJV]

In the New Testament, Peter wrote that believers are to prepare (gird up) their minds, be sober or self-controlled. We are to set our hope fully on the grace of Jesus Christ. We are to be obedient children of God, no longer living as we did when evil desires controlled us in our ignorance. Then Peter repeats the command of Leviticus 11 regarding holiness: “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” [1 Peter 1:15-16 NKJV]

“Be holy, for I am holy.” That is a remarkable command. Living in the Old Testament, defilement could be acquired from exterior sources. Living in the New Testament, defilement is acquired from interior sources. Both types of defilement, however, are based in disobedience to God. Israel had the written law to define their obedience. Believers have the eternal Spirit of God dwelling within to lead and guide in all Jesus said and did.

May we always heed His voice. Amen.

Saturday night I came down with a GI “bug.” Not sure if it was a “bug” or food poisoning. Somehow that mattered little since the effects were the same. It got bad fast Saturday night, 102-degree fever, chills and all the GI side-shows. I had to call in backup to handle church on Sunday since it was evident I wasn’t going to be in any condition to show up. Thankfully, I have good people willing to cover for me.

We need each other. No one is an island unto himself/herself. God put us in natural families for a reason, as a wonderful picture of the family of God.  Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “[Jesus Christ] died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” [5:10-11 NKJV]

Look at that wonderful phrase, “we should live together with Him.” That isn’t just for some future heavenly abode, that’s for now. We live together, as brothers and sisters with Him. As such Paul reminds us we should be comforting and edifying each other.

We are to comfort each other. The word is parakaleo (par-ak-al-eh’-o), a form of the word used to describe the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. It means to call near, to invite, implore, exhort encourage. We are to hold our brothers and sisters near, invite them into our lives so that we can encourage each other.

We are to edify each other also. That word edify is oikodomeo (oy-kod-om-eh’-o) and it means to be a house-builder, to build up.  The world is set on tearing down. We tear down our leaders, both religious and secular. We tear down others who don’t think, look, or act like us. That seems to be the atmosphere of current culture. But that can never be the atmosphere in the family of God.

Sunday morning other members of the family of God stepped in and ministered last minute in my place. I am so thankful to be among people who comfort and edify.  Amen!

Last Friday, I received an offer to go back to work for the state at a temporary (4 ½ month) position. It’s the same department I worked in last year in Boise. It will mean extra money to cover the added expenses we’ve had this year, which is a big bonus. Plus, it is working with the same people as last year, people I grew to like very much. The only negatives are the commute (60-mile round trip) and that I will be spending every spare moment outside of work keeping up with my studying and writing.

I must have made a good enough impression in this department that I’m being asked to return. Wherever I have worked, I’ve tried very hard to do just that. I am open about my belief in Christ and I don’t hide the fact that I am a pastor. I understand that people will often evaluate Jesus by my words and actions.

When I was a new Christian 45 years ago, I read a verse in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  It became what is often called a “life verse.”  “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” [Col 3:17 NKJV]

I want my life to be a living testimony of Christ Jesus, my Lord, so everything I do, whether inside church or outside church, whether word or deed, needs to be “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That means, it needs to reflect Him as the Resurrection, Life, Truth, Living Water, Daily Bread, Great I Am, Provider, Healer, Sustainer, Savior, Lord, Master, Teacher, Lover of Souls, Friend of Sinners.  And my life must also be one of continual gratefulness and expressed thanksgiving.

That is what I aspire to, I haven’t always lived up to it. One thing I have learned is that to live a good testimony means a constant dependence upon His Spirit to empower my witness.

Twenty years ago this month, my life did an about-face. I hadn’t been feeling well for a long time and I was extremely fatigued. My doctor ran a battery of different tests and all came back negative. Finally, she ran a test for Diabetes and that came back with an A1C of 14.6. (At the time the normal range was 4-6.)

When she gave me the diagnosis, she said I should start on medications immediately. I asked for a month before we started meds and she gave it to me. In that month I researched everything about Diabetes 2 that I could find. I visited the websites of Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic and the American Diabetes Association, to name a few. I read up on medications and their side effects (some were ugly). I found out what Diabetes 2 does to a body (blindness, amputations, kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes). And I learned what I needed to do (change my diet, exercise, and lose weight).

So, I embarked on a new path. I was diligent, almost militant, on what I consumed. I began to walk, initially managing only one block out and back, but before long I was doing three miles on my lunch break. Over the next 12 months I dropped 110 pounds. My A1C dropped the first month to 10.3 (that’s 33 points!), then to 7.6 a month later, and finally settled in around 5.0.

When I look back on that time now, I know my reaction to the diagnosis could have been much different. Many go into denial, some refuse to even try to manage, some head straight to meds. I can actually say that I am thankful for that “bad news” as it gave me a new and much improved life.

Forty years ago this month, I received another kind of “bad news.” I learned that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That “bad news” that I was a sinner drove me to the foot of the cross, to the “Good News” found in the loving arms of a Savior who was waiting for me there with an armload of grace and a heart full of love. That “bad news” prompted me to find a new and eternal life in God’s Good News.  [Romans 3:21-26]

I have been trying to get my steps back up to where they were prior to my surgeries. It’s a slower process than I expected. For the last week, I’ve been hitting about four miles. I was at five miles before July 17. Part of that five miles was a morning two-mile worship walk after breakfast.

Lately, however, the Treasure Valley has been blanketed with smoke from the fires across the west, and it’s been hot (no other way to say it!). That has driven me indoors at a local mall for my morning walk.  Unfortunately, walking inside this mall isn’t very pleasant.

Decades ago this local mall used to be “the place to go.” Over the years it has deteriorated. The big box stores have all moved out and now the mid-sized ones are also gone. The mall needs lots of renovation, and a new air filtering system. Each time I walk there I am aware of the stench of that old building. This mall is dying.

As I walk, I hear James’ words … “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” [James 1:14-15 NKJV]

Whenever we fail to deal with sin, it causes something in us to die and death always produces a stench.  It produces a stench in a building left to decay, and it produces a stench in a life. Sin initially may be regarded as “grand fun” but if left unrepented it produces darkness, addictions, sorrow, isolation and finally, death.

Thankfully, as John the Beloved promises, there is a cure for sin and an antidote to death.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9 NIV]

Psalm 19 is one of my favorite psalms. David takes us to creation and shows how God speaks to everyone every day across this world. Then David turns his attention to the way God speaks to us in Scripture. Finally, he turns his attention to our hearts and applies the revelation of God to them.  It is the final verse of this song that always makes me think.

Ps 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

If there is a prayer that should be on the lips of every believer every day, it is this one. As we pray it, it reminds us that it is the meditations we allow in our hearts that will affect all the words that flow from our mouths (or our keyboards!)  It urges us to affirm that those meditations are pleasing to our LORD, our Rock/Strength, our Redeemer.

Jesus echoed David’s thoughts in Luke 6:45: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” [NKJV]

One other thought on this daily prayer. The word “meditate” carries the image of a musician plucking the strings of a harp.  In other words, meditation is the music of the soul.

What song is your soul singing this morning?

I had a long talk with a teacher the other day. Up front I need to say, I love teachers. I know three things about teachers.  First, teachers have the second most important and difficult job in society. (The first? Parenting).

Second, teachers don’t get paid what they are worth. Many begin teaching in debt with student loans from the years of college required and their beginning salary is a mere pittance. They usually must set up their classrooms out of their own pockets and often supply what students need from their own resources.

The third thing I know about teachers … they love to teach. They must, otherwise they’d take their education and find much better paying jobs. Yes, I love teachers. I think they should get the big bucks.

Jesus was a great teacher. He, the Son of God, came for a specific purpose, to bridge the gap caused when mankind sinned and rebelled against its Creator. He died and rose to save us. But, Jesus also loved to teach. Read the Gospels and notice how often it says, “He opened His mouth and taught them.” [Matt 5:1-2 NKJV]

Not only did Jesus teach, he passed the job of teaching on to His disciples, to us, “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” [Matt 28:18-20 NKJV]

Father, give us the heart of a teacher so that we might teach others of the love You have for us, the salvation that is available, and the duty of a grateful heart.

Tuesday was a busy day. I started with the library, then to a store to pick up a birthday card and gift card for our grandson who turns 23 next week. I then headed to the mall to walk a mile. Mid-afternoon brought an eye doctor appointment, a stop at a grocery store to pick up a reward gift card, then a quick bite to eat before heading to church for “Pursuing His Presence Prayer.”

I like getting to church an hour or so before prayer formally begins. It’s my time to get my mind quieted and my spirit and soul in the right place to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Yet last Tuesday, all that evaded me. I simply could not focus.  After fussing for a while, I picked up my Kindle and began to re-read Mark Buchanan’s “The Holy Wild, Trusting in the Character of God.”  [Published by Multnomah Books, 2003]

In Chapter Four “Visitor in the Camp,” Buchanan retells a story about a young Vietnamese boy and his mother. The story ends with the comment, “Love that does not suffer with the suffering of the beloved is not love at all.”  While that comment shook me, it was a question Buchanan asks later in the chapter that really hit me hard. “What if God only loved as I did—proportionally, moderately, prudently, frugally, as it suited Him?”

“What if God only loves as I do?” What if? In that moment, I could feel an overwhelming sorrow welling up from deep inside. I felt the weight of a culture where the youngest bully in the school and the most powerful man on the planet scream insults and taunts. I felt the weight of a culture that would rather put hate on display than love, wickedness rather than goodness. I felt the weight of my own often cold and uncaring heart. And I wept. “What if God only loves as I do?

Thankfully, He loves so much more. [John 3:16]

I was driving to church the other morning when I saw an old man on one of the side streets behind the church. He was barefoot, shirtless, wearing only a pair of pants that stopped mid-calf.  He was leaning on a cane. What made me curious about him was that he was carrying a frisbee. You don’t often see old men leaning on canes carrying a frisbee.

Then I noticed there was someone else in the picture … a black and white furball that came running around the corner, bouncing up and down urging the old man to throw the frisbee. Leaning on his cane, the old man reared back and threw the frisbee down the side street. With great joy, the dog sped after it. It seemed this was a familiar routine for both.  Watching them made me smile. I thought of the joy that can be found in the most simple of pleasures.

“Lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing, you hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places: indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance …. You reveal the path of life to me, in your presence is abundant joy, at your right hand are eternal pleasures.” [Psalm 16:5, 11 Christian Standard Bible]

Across my 71 years, I have experienced trials, just like most of us. Yet, despite trials, my life has been resplendent with pleasures. The greatest of these have been the simple ones, and perhaps none so great as simply experiencing the presence of the LORD amid the trials. There were times when I felt as if God had pulled me onto His great lap and hugged me, wiping away my tears and softly whispering that He was with me and always would be.

And to know that the “lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” that God has given me salvation and a promised inheritance is the best of all.