Friday Faithfuls Two: 1 Chronicles

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

My little skim through the Bible, looking for a verse that resonates for the moment, has brought us to First Chronicles...the test of someone who is 'reading through the Bible', because it is a retelling of previous stuff plus a bunch of lists, lol.  But there is gold there, too.

Today, I landed on the psalm of praise David wrote to commemorate the installation of the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle he'd constructed for it...

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.

Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

Tremble before him, all the earth!

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"

-- 1 Chron. 16: 29-31, NIV 84

That just struck me as I read it as a good instruction for the New Year...

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of which he is worthy

Bring an offering to him

Be humble and recognize his authority

Rejoice before him

Proclaim 'The Lord reigns!'

But this ain't about looking around and telling everyone else what they should do...this is what I need to do.

Today, tomorrow, and every day after.

Here's to fresh starts and renewed vision!

Dec 24th....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

 And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you:  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.

- Luke 2: 8 - 14, KJV

Not a Friday Faithfuls post...but the passage that is the theme of the day.  Most of us can quote this, thanks to Linus....and Charles Shultz, who stood up to the network executives who were reluctant to include scripture in their Christmas special.  Shultz was adamant, the powers that be reluctantly agreed, and now a whole generation...or even two, at this point...recognizes that passage as 'That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.' 

Even though we know that Jesus likely wasn't actually born on Dec 25...but probably in the spring.  And the Wise Men from the east (Persia?)  didn't show up at the manger at all but came to town about two years later.  The important thing...Jesus was born.  Wise men from the east saw the signs...but I think the Holy Spirit gave them the conviction that what they saw was worth investigating so that they did show up, giving another validation to the story later on...maybe when Mary and Joseph were caught up in parenting and...surviving...and the night of Jesus' birth and the wonder of the shepherds felt rather unreal.  Because their lives were upended again with the sudden flight into Egypt.  The wise men were both the reason Herod was a threat and, I believe,  the warning that protected the toddler from his murderous actions. They no doubt told the little family of Herod's interest in them, and their plans to avoid him on the return trip...so Joseph took the warning in the dream seriously and they left before the soldiers came with their swords.

All of that came later.  But on that night...angels sang and shepherds marveled.

God had come to us.

And that's what Christmas is all about.

Wishing all my friends a blessed Christmas full of His Presence.

Friday Faithfuls Two - 2 Kings

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi     

So, our little weekly skim looking for a verse that resonates has brought us to 2 Kings...some amazing stores, some appalling stories, and Israel and Judah going into exile; a very sad ending.

But there is something that caught my eye as I read through...in the story of Naaman.  Naaman was THE commander of the army of the king of Aram....kinda the equivalent of Joab in David's day.  He was a Somebody in the Aramean kingdom...and he contracted leprosy, which was a slow, miserable death sentence.  He had a slave serving girl who told him that the prophet in Israel (Elisha)  would be able to pray to his god and cure him.  So Naaman got permission to go to Elisha, with a letter to the King of Israel.  Naaman went to the king of Israel and gave him the letter...which caused the King of Israel to tear his robes, because he knew HE couldn't cure him and he didn't know what to do.   Elisha heard about it and sent a message to him, saying 'Send him to me...and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel' (2 Kings 15:8)  So Naaman, his expectations undoubtedly high, went down to see Elisha.

Who wouldn't even come out and greet him, but just sent his servant to the door, who simply said, 'My master says for you to go wash yourself in the Jordan seven times and you'll be healed,' then shut the door in his face.  Which leads us to the passage that jumped out at me...

 2 Kings 5:11-15

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?  Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?"  So he turned and went off in a rage.

Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed!"  So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God.  He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.  Please accept now a gift from your servant."

 Here's the thought...we all have preconceived notions of how God is going to work in our lives, and we tend to get angry if he doesn't move when and how we expected.  Often we write it off completely...God didn't act right, we didn't get the recognition we felt we deserved (just the servant delivering the message!  Not even a personal greeting!)  so there must not be anything to this crazy stuff anyway!

Fortunately, Naaman had some good thinkers with him, who reasoned that he might as well  do the stupid thing...it was simple, it would cost him nothing...why not try it?

So he did, rather petulantly, I expect,  and found himself cured.

And what was his conclusion then?  "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel!"

He was now a believer in the true God.

Your attitude doesn't have to be perfect...but your obedience does.  Just do the stupid thing that doesn't make sense...it will do what God has said.

If you let your personal opinions determine your obedience...you'll never know what God could've done for you...

Friday Faithfuls Two: 1 Kings

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Back again after  a crazy weekend; we had a great Christmas production run but that was ALL I DID, lol.

But now I've perused 1 Kings in my little flying skim through the Bible looking for verses that resonate and tonight the one that had me doing a 'Hmm....' pause was 1 Kings 19:18

"Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel -- all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

 Elijah had just had his run in with Jezebel after the slaughter of the priests of Baal at Mount Carmel.  He'd traveled all the way to Mt Horeb (Sinai?) and complained to God that he was the only one left of the prophets, and those in power were after his life, too.

God spoke to Elijah's concerns and gave him instructions about where to go next...and then declared  that there are 7,000 folks in Israel who have not bowed down to Jezebel's god.

Elijah was not alone.Now, maybe if there had been social media back then, he'd've had online groups with likeminded folks and known that there were others out there.  But I'm guessing that Ahab would've found a way to cancel those folks anyway.  It's rough, when you feel like you are alone.  

But you know...we never are.  God knows were all his people are, and he's always ready to deploy them when needed.  He was, in fact, about to send Elisha alongside Elijah.

Elijah was not alone ever again after that moment.  Even when he wanted to be.  Elisha was with him like stink on a dog....and there were 6,999 others who were just as faithful to the command of God.

Some of those would become the school of prophets that Elijah and Elisha taught.

It's never as bad as it looks; God knows where his people are.

Faithful Fridays Two: 2nd Samuel

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Near the end of  David's reign, he did a foolish thing: he counted the fighting men in Israel.  Even Joab, who was not known for his reasoned thinking, tried to dissuade David but David was determined to find out what his military strength actually was.

This doesn't sound like a problem to most of us...it even sounds like wisdom.  But this isn't an ordinary kingdom, this was God's kingdom and God had reminded them not to put their trust in military strength but to trust in God.  Counting  the fighting men for his own benefit was kind of a slap in the face to God.  In fact, God had said in Exodus 30 that whenever there was a census, every person (in this case, every man of fighting age) was to give a half shekel to the LORD as a ransom for his life for having been counted (Ex 30:12-13).  The ransom was to stave off a plague that would come and decimate the counted men. (Ex. 30:12).  God was to be the strength of Israel...not the numbers of men who could fight.

So David send Joab out to count the fighting men and God was displeased.  Seventy thousand people died in the plague before God said, 'Enough!' (the account in 1 Samuel hints that the people had displeased God and this was His way of sending the judgment).

The angel was ready to destroy Jerusalem and stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the  Jebusite.  David was instructed to build an altar there and make a sacrifice.

David went to buy the land and oxen.  Aruanah protested, offering to give it to David so he could sacrifice.

But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it.  I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."  So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. -- 2 Sam. 24:24

David knew what it was to make a sacrifice.  Owning his error required it.  We tend to want to wiggle out of consequences from our...lack of trust? Our wanting to do things the way it makes sense to us?  But when those schemes backfire...and they always do...repentance involves making restitution when possible. Not because we owe God...but because it's the right thing to do.  Why should Araunah bear the cost of David's error?

Our debt to God has been paid by the cross.  But when we owe a debt to another person...that is something we should take care of.  Yes, it will cost.  But it's the Right Thing to Do.

Faithful Fridays Two: 1 Samuel

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

What is obedience?

Saul had been instructed to completely annihilate the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:3).  Unlike the instruction given to Israel regarding Jericho under Joshua, which was to reserve specified items (gold, silver and bronze) for the Lord's use and destroy the rest, Saul was told to completely destroy the Amalekites. put every living thing (including the livestock) to death.  Saul, however, didn't exactly follow the instructions, which resulted in the following exchange:

[Samuel speaking] "Why did you not obey the LORD?  Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"  

"But I did obey the LORD, " Saul said, "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me.  I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.  The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to devote them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

But Samuel replied, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams."  -- 1 Samuel 15:19 - 22

Self deception is the most insidious thing.  It perverts honesty, blinds eyes, and breaks faith.  Because self deception is what convinces someone that the end justifies the means.

Saul declared that he HAD obeyed God...and then promptly confessed to disobeying him.  And didn't even see it.  God said 'Destroy it all at once'; Saul said, 'I will design my own plan to destroy it over time." That is, of course, assuming he told Samuel the truth, that they brought back the choicest of the livestock for a sacrifice at Gilgal.  Saul thought that was good enough....but it wasn't what he was told to do.  Which means it was not obedience.

As far as Agag goes, there's no explanation at all as to why he was taken captive instead of killed as instructed.  The Amalekites had attacked Israel without provocation during the Exodus (Ex. 17:8); Joshua had defeated them in the day when the sun stood still, but God had pronounced judgment on them (Ex. 17:14)...that they would be blotted out.   Now was the time for that judgment to fall, and Saul was to be the executioner.  But he held back and did not do as he was instructed.

And then had the audacity to declare that his task was done and he had obeyed, when the evidence to the contrary was right in front of everyone.  He said he 'destroyed the Amalekites completely', when he had, in fact, kept their king alive, along with the best animals of their flocks and herds.

Saul wanted to define his obedience himself...which earned him a stinging rebuke from Samuel and cost his family the royal dynasty that went to David.

Did Saul really not know the difference?  Or did he rationalize his choices to himself?  Or...was his story an outright lie:  the animals WEREN'T kept out for sacrifice but had been doled out among the men as plunder, with the sacrifice story being a made-up explanation to get off the hook?

As if God doesn't know the true motives behind everything we say and do...

To obey is better than sacrifice.  Why do we find it so hard to just do what He says?

Faithful Fridays Two - Ruth

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ah, the sweet little book of Ruth...a breath of fresh air after the mire and muck of Judges.

A book about devotion and respect and honor and commitment.  

It is not a romantic love story. Boaz was likely old enough to have been Ruth's father.  The two times he is recorded as speaking to her, he refers to her as 'my daughter'.

This book is about the inheritance.

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of  Elimelech, Killion and Mahlon.  I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records.  Today you are witnesses."  -- Ruth 4:9-10, NIV  84

That was the wedding, right there.

Hardly the stuff of romance novels.

This was so all the property of Elimelech, Killion and Mahlon could be passed to Ruth's son, Obed.

Who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of  David, who became king of all Israel.

That is the wonder of the story to me; Ruth, a foreigner, turned her heart to her Jewish mother in law, to care for her as if she were her own mother, and to live in reverence of Naomi's God.  Was this only out of respect for Naomi, or did she see something that contrasted with the pagan idols she had grown up with?  I am sure that Ruth had a genuine faith; I can't imagine her abandoning her people if she didn't have a heart for the God of her husband's people.  I wonder when it took root..because the fruit of it was amazing.  

Her great grandson was the king of all Israel, a man after God's own heart.

Because of devotion, respect, honor and commitment...on the part of both Ruth and Boaz.

If we learned to value devotion, respect, honor and commitment as much as we value 'romantic love'...we will see a complete turn around in our divorce statistics.

Just sayin'.

Hodge-Podging....a Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

So many moments of reminiscing in the last few weeks; oddball moments have brought up unexpected flashbacks...

For an example, yesterday I opened up a box and found patterns and spread sheets from church sewing projects going all the way back to 2003.

 Then, this week,  Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond takes us back to 2010 and the very first Hodgepodge.

Since I found myself in a rather reminiscent  frame of mind...I thought I'd just flashback along with everyone this week....

1. How did you name your blog and do you now wish you had thought about it maybe another five minutes before hitting publish? Would you change your blog title if it were not a huge pain in the derriere? 

I have two blogs...they were in my heart for a while before I actually started posting.  Because I was waiting for The Perfect Name, lol.   I actually wrote a blog post about it...but, suffice it to say I'm happy with the names for both of them. They fit.

2. What bill do you least like to pay? 

Um, is there ANYone who won't answer 'All of them'? LOL

3. What is your favorite word? Okay okay, calm down. How about one of your favorite words? 

Forgiven.

4. Is the glass half full or half empty? Elaborate. 

Oh, half full.  As in, 'Dang it!  I can't believe I left that half full glass of milk on the counter!'

5. Were you here for that very first Hodgepodge post? If so, were your answers then similar to what they are today? Tell us what was happening in your life in November of 2010? 

I'm pretty sure I read the first one...or at least some of the first ones.  I only manage to play along once in a while. In November 2010  I was heading up the church photo directory project...the one that inspired me to develop the little mantra 'Thank you, Jesus, for this opportunity to crucify my flesh, grow in you, and develop the fruit of the Spirit in my life.' Eventually I learned to mean it when I said it...

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It's good to look back now and then, eh?

 

Faithful Fridays Two - Judges

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It happened again.  

Knowing I would be selecting a passage from Judges, I thought about Judges all through this crazy week.  And one verse from Judges kept repeating itself in my head.

Turns out, it was the verse I selected last go-round on this skim through the Bible looking for a standout verse from each book.

So, time to skim through and see if there is another verse/passage that seems especially relevant to me.

Sigh.  The book of Judges ends so...dismally.  There is a passage which pretty much sums up the whole book, so I'm going to use that  today:

They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.  In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them.  He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.  Whenever Israel went out to fight, the LORD was against them to defeat them; just as he had sworn to them.  They were in great distress.

Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders....Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed them.  But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.  They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Judges 2:12b - 16,18 - 19

It was a cycle; Israel served God when they took the land, but after the death of Joshua it only took a couple of generations for the land to be led by those who didn't listen to the old folks, didn't remember what had happened to bring them into the land, who married whoever they wanted to, and didn't keep their faith pure but took on the worship of the pagan idols of the land.  Eventually, when the people refused to repent, God allowed them to be overrun and subjugated to one of the enemies around them, who oppressed them.  After wearying years of oppression, they would cry out to God for deliverance and he would raise up a leader who rallied them and drove off the oppressors, and they lived in thanksgiving and peace until that generation...and judge...died off. A generation or two later the whole cycle started over again.

In short, they couldn't resist the appeal of the pagan societies around them and chose to do what they did instead of what the Lord required.

And it caused all kinds of problems for them.

God's people are not supposed to behave like those who do not follow him.  Obedience brings blessing; disobedience...removes the blessing.

Disobedience is ultimately what makes Judges so dismal.

Faithful Fridays Two - Joshua

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Joshua is such a good book...if you don't let yourself get bogged down in the allotment of land and cities.  Over and over...when the Israelites followed God's direction, they had astounding success.  When they tried to do things on their own, they made a mess.

But in skimming through, what jumped out at me this time was in chapter 14... good ol' Caleb.

"Now give me this hill country that he LORD promised me that day.  You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."  -- Josh. 14:12

45 years ago, God had promised him that land (see verse 10).  Now it was time to see the promise fulfilled.  But Caleb wasn't expecting it to be handed to him...he was ready to go out and fight for it himself.

Because he KNEW God would give it to him if he did.

Now...I've been in a season where I'd pretty much decided that there are some things I've been hoping for for years just aren't gonna happen. I don't have a verbatim promise, like Caleb, but there have been small things over the years that kept the hope alive.  Just about every time I'd decided no, that's not going to happen...some small little word would come my way that kept the hope light burning.

Thursday was just such a day.  In staff prayer, I thought again of this dream of mine and told myself that it was still born and I just needed to get over it and move on.  But then...a friend spoke up in prayer, specifically praying against stillborn dreams.

You see???  How can I throw it away when stuff like that happens?

I just need to be ready to work it out when the time comes... hopefully that will be before I'm 85, lol.

Faithful Fridays Two: Deuteronomy

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I almost picked the same verse I picked the first time I did a 'faithful Friday' series...(HERE, if you're curious.  It was a good post).  I laughed at myself and then kept looking...and the next words that jumped out at me today were from Deuteronomy 17:18-20:

When [the new king] takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites.  It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left.  Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

 You know, there is absolutely no indication that ANY king of Israel followed that instruction.

Each king was supposed to hand copy out the entire book of Deuteronomy and keep his personal copy with him all his days, reading from it regularly so he would never forget 1) that he is no better than any of the people he ruled and 2) what those commandments were that he was to keep.  

Things like, don't acquire great numbers of horses, and specifically do not send to Egypt for horses; don't marry many wives or accumulate large amounts of silver and gold (from the preceding verses in the same chapter).

Solomon immediately comes to mind...he did all of those things.  If he had actually copied out his own scroll of the law to read and study, he might have chosen differently.  Maybe.

But I also think it's significant that the king was to remember that he was no better than the folks he ruled...that he had to keep the same law.

How much different would history be if all the rulers were held to the same laws and requirements as those they ruled?

It's not just a good idea...it's not just common sense...it's actually God's instruction.

Rule of law.

Faithful Fridays Two: Numbers

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Numbers could also be called 'The Book of Complaining' because, once Israel left Sinai, the complaints just started rolling on.  The biggest complaint, of course, was the complaint that ten of the spies brought back to the people at Kadesh Barnea...that the people of Canaan were too numerous, too strong, too well-fortified and there was no way they were going to be able to conquer them to possess the land, as God had promised.

But two guys didn't see it that way, and their response to the complaining is my pick for this week:

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.  If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.  Only do not rebel against the LORD.  And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up.  Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us.  Do not be afraid of them."   (Numbers 14:6-9, NIV84)

But their fellow countrymen would not hear them, and, in fact, threatened to stone them.

That's a minority opinion.  And they might have been stoned for it, had the glory of God not appeared at that moment at the Tent of Meeting.

But...the challenge to me from this verse is that Joshua and Caleb did not back down from their minority opinion.  They stood up in front of everyone and proclaimed it.

I kind of tuck my minority opinions into a safe place and not make a show of them.  Keeping the peace and all that.

God vindicated Caleb and Joshua...and he made them a promise that they alone out of their entire generation would actually survive and live on their inheritance in the promised land.

I find myself wondering if there were others who secretly agreed with them but went along with the noise of the crowd instead of showing support for the minority opinion.  

IF there were...they died with the rest.  In that case, not speaking up was the same as agreeing with the majority.

Ouch.

Faithful Fridays Two - Leviticus

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Leviticus is a rather tedious book to read through; so many particulars of commandments and how tos and do nots...but on a skim through, one phrase repeatedly jumped out at me.  "I am the LORD" is repeated over and over and over.

But I'm looking for one verse/short passage so I noted that repetition but the verse I'm picking is Lev. 25:18 --

Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.

This is the promise of the covenant; that if the people obeyed God he would protect them and give them everything they needed.  All that was required of them was to follow his instructions.

Sounds like a no-brainer, eh?  But humans are a stubborn lot, who want to have their own say and decide for themselves what's right.  Pride, y'all, that's pride.  And it was the downfall of the Israelites, who didn't understand why they couldn't do the things the people around them did...from their viewpoint, it seemed to work for the others, why not them?

Obedience = protection and provision. Simple.

It grows on ya...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

 

Just got back from a weekend conference at a place I was sure I'd never see again after we discontinued the girls ministry program we were doing back in 2014...but the boys ministry is still active and my hubby is involved.  So we went to the annual conference for the folks who work in that ministry in churches statewide...at the same conference center/ campground where I took the girls in the classes I taught to summer camp back in the day.

It's the 6th year I've gone.  Coming home, I reflected back on 2016 when I knew just a couple of folks who went; this year, I was greeting friends that I don't often get to see.  We laughed, we played games, we traded coffee cups, we prayed for each other, we listened to exhortations.  

And the conference has grown; I don't know if it's twice as big as it was when we went in 2016 but it's not too far short of it.

At first, I went because My Sweet Babboo had gone without me and wanted me to go.  The first two years he went, it was the same weekend as our church's annual women's conference.  But in 2016 it was a month later.  So, I kinda had no excuse.  I went because he wanted me to.

And, you know, it wasn't bad.

We went back the next year...and the next year...and now, I think of it as one of the best weekends of the year.  If we weren't able to go for some reason, I'd miss it.

And it is nice to get to walk around the pretty conference grounds again.

I didn't think I'd ever get to do that.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Exodus

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Week two on this little fly through the Bible looking for a verse that resonates; today the verse that caught my attention was Ex. 20:18

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain covered with smoke, they trembled with fear.  They stayed at a distance,

We kind of forget that, in the narrative of the Exodus, there was a moment when God descended upon the mountain and spoke to all the people, not just Moses.

And it completely freaked them out.

Because they, individually and corporately, did not have a relationship with this being who was manifesting himself in their very presence.  They didn't know or understand his heart for them.  They begged Moses to speak to God on their behalf... "Do not have God speak to us or we will die." (Ex. 20:19).

They were not comfortable with a personal God.    And they refused to hear him speak to them in person.  

It's a difficult thing to have to face that which you'd rather not believe is true.  This guy Moses did stuff, and he pulled them out of Egypt, but I don't think the people truly believed that it was the Lord of Hosts who was calling the shots.  You can see this in their behavior during the years in the wilderness...they gave Moses all kinds of grief, often accusing him of being the decision maker who brought them out into the wilderness on a wild goose chase (I am extreme paraphrasing here).  But...the thunder and lightning and trumpets and that voice...  that was undeniable.  And they couldn't handle it.

So they deputized Moses to hear and report, rather than stand up and listen for themselves.  And, down the road, it became easy to believe Moses wasn't reporting accurately.  They had someone to blame.

But if God spoke directly to them...they couldn't blame anyone but themselves.

Now, they weren't allowed on the mountain itself, but God's instructions were to keep them from coming into the holy darkness.  They were welcome to come up to the boundary he set, so they could hear him clearly.  But they stayed at a distance; the connotation is that they stayed as far away as they could...instead of coming as close as they could. And it only took them about 6 weeks to forget they'd heard the voice of God at all.

This really resonates today; how many times do God's people forget that they heard his voice?  At a conference, in a church service, even in the prayer closet...we hear God, we see him move and six weeks later we're right back where we were.   We forget.  We hang back, as far away as we dare instead of as close as we can.  

I know I'm guilty; a browse through an old journal reminds me of things I heard that I still haven't walked out because...I forgot.  I didn't press in.  Sometimes I'm even amazed that I heard what I recorded.  That was fantastic...why didn't I grab it and make it part of me?

I was afraid.  I didn't want to be responsible.  I didn't want to give up...whatever it was that I might have to give up to walk in that revelation. 

And that wasn't at all where I thought I'd end up when I picked that verse but here we are.  I think I need to do some pondering.  And probably some repenting.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Genesis

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Several years ago (Ok, I started in 2010), I did a series in which I picked one verse/ passage from each book of the Bible and had a quick little devo/ discussion on it...Faithful Friday Faves

For some strange reason (maybe I feel overwhelmed? LOL) I got the urge to do it again.  But I *will* give myself the condition that I can't choose any verse that I picked the first go-round.  This is not going to be any sort of attempt to find the key verse in the book, or something that is my all-time favorite...just whatever verse stands out to me in the week.

This is  a kind of 'Bible Study Lite', I admit...but it was a fun and rather thought provoking thing ten years ago...I don't think it's a bad idea to do a skim though once in a decade, lol.

Anyway, we'll start with Genesis tonight...

Here's what caught my eye as I skimmed through:

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."  (Gen. 28:16 NIV84).

This has always struck me as a sad verse.  What a great missed opportunity...to have been in the very presence of the Lord, and be so consumed with life's...issues...that there is no awareness at all of the Lord's proximity.

But how often have I been in the presence of God, and been unaware?  How many church services have I been physically in, but mentally elsewhere, while the Word and the Presence moved among others there?    How many days have I gone without taking even a few moments to sit in His Presence because I was so busy?  How many times has God been there to commune, to comfort, to guide...and I wasn't even aware?

More than I care to admit.  Probably more than I even know. 

Ouch.

A Bit of Reading

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Under this year's reading...

I have lamented before about how difficult it seems to be to find time to just READ BOOKS.  I have blogging friends that I follow who read an amazing number of books...several per month...and I am jealous.  I am a fast reader, and I love reading...why do I have such trouble finding time to sit and read?

Because the little tyrant in my brain screams that I should be doing something else.  Something...productive.  As if I didn't have a house to clean and a budget to balance and laundry to do and a Bible to study and a journal to reflect in and people to pray for and fabric to sew and and and and...

All of it good and necessary.  So how can I just sit down and read?

Well, reading is good and necessary and I just finished the second of Chaim Potok's books written from the first-person perspective of a young man named Reuven Walter.  I read the first book in January and thought I had blogged about it...but I can't find it so either I didn't write about it or I wrote about it on Facebook or some such thing.  

So...a flashback as to why I read them at all,  since I can't just link to the post I thought I wrote.  

On our second or third weekend trip to Gorham's Bluff (7 or  8 years ago) I found The Promise amongst the books in our room (there are books EVERYWHERE at GB; one of the reasons I love the place).  I skimmed through it while we were there and found myself wondering about the characters...the story line had a familiar feel to it...and I finally traced it down to a movie I had seen a wee bit of decades ago, with Robby Benson playing the son of a Hasidic Rabbi who did not speak to him and figured out that the book was a sequel to that story.  I didn't really get all the details because I only had like, a day, to read the book amongst the hiking and swimming and eating but one thing really stood out to me...the incredible minds of the characters in the book.  Brilliant scholars.  But, like the doofus that I was, I didn't make note of either the author or the name of the book and I kinda forgot about it.

Fast forward to January of this year; I was searching Amazon for, I think, the soundtrack for The Chosen series and the first book popped up. I read the synopsis and realized that, omigosh, this is the original story about Reuven and his friend the Hasidic Rabbi's son.  So I ordered it, and then sat up until the wee small hours one cold night and read it through.  Highly recommend, and I wish I had written about it back in January because I want to focus on book two today.  

Because, after reading the first book,  I found I wanted to go back and read the second.  I dunno why I didn't just order them both at the same time...I think it was the weight of all the other unread books sitting about that kept me from finding it and adding it to the shopping cart at that time...but I finally did order it last month and re-read it over the past three or four days.

I am going to be forever peeved at the books in the set being in different formats but I took what I could get, lol.

Once again,  I was amazed at the scholarship of the characters....their ability to recall obscure references in multiple sources in order to explain difficult passages in the texts they were studying. I at once felt ignorant and unlearned and rather stupid because I knew I could not converse with anyone on any subject at such a level and also rather jealous of the opportunity to have such discussions.  But in actually reading through the story I found much more in the conflict recorded, which seemed to be paralleled to an unreal degree in today's world.

Reuven struggles...really struggles...with his theology, finding himself lodged squarely between ultra-conservatives who  look at any new approach as heretical and threatening to people of faith, and the ultra-liberal folks who had abandoned all belief in God but felt the traditions and practices were important.  Although Reuven doesn't particularly talk about his own faith, he clearly states that he doesn't like the conclusions and cannot agree  that God is a nice archaic idea...even though he personally likes and admires the people who are promoting those conclusions.  He has a harder time reconciling the faith of the ultra-orthodox folks with their rigid and even angry behavior; there are people in that camp he honestly doesn't like much.  There are also others in the ultra conservative camp he likes very much, even though he can't understand their legalistic traditions and behaviors.

Sound familiar?  Timely?  The book was written in 1969.

I found myself identifying strongly with Reuven's struggles, for all that I am nowhere near his brilliance.  How does one influence people to love God and his Word...when there are folks who decry the very existence of God on one hand, and people who perceive any questioning and honest seeking for answers as heresy on the other?  If the second group is all too willing to condemn, cut off and reject people in the first group...and maybe even those in between...how can there ever be any bridge crossing that gap?

Potock writes, in the form of an 'aha' moment that Reuven has:

...the months of seesawing between the two worlds had finally ended for me this night with nothing but an awareness of how deep the separating chasm really was and how impossible it seemed to bridge it -- unless you were...rooted deeply enough in one world to enable you to be concerned only with the people of the other and not about their ideas.

That paragraph actually jerked me out of the story and I re-read it over two or three times as an abstract thought, apart from Reuven's dilemma.  Am I rooted deeply enough in my faith to be concerned only with people who disagree, without being hung up about their ideas or beliefs?  Because ultimately it is the PEOPLE who matter.  

There was another thought that I found in the text...and I wondered if I were just seeing it there because of my particular viewpoint or if it was something the author intended all along...but another character has a struggle that parallels Reuven's, but from the opposite viewpoint.  He was raised with tradition but no god.  The traditions of religion but no faith or substance to it.  His parents didn't understand his conflict...they were "enlightened" enough to reject the medieval fairy tales so of course their son would not struggle with them.  And...he didn't.  But he could find no real meaning to his life and he couldn't understand why his parents would subject themselves...and him... to the rejection of the people who felt attacked by the promotion of religion with no god. I saw in that the pointlessness of religion without God.  Morality and tradition by themselves cannot carry anyone through the difficulties that will come at some point in every life.  It takes a surety that God exists and that he actually does care for every person...a flat rebuttal to the troubled young man's mother's viewpoint.  

And, of course, that's the answer to bridging the gap.  Intellectual answers won't do it.  

It needs Holy Spirit.  Which was, understandably, missing from the narrative.

But it only needs a nudge to take that revelation a bit further...be concerned with the people, and let Holy Spirit take care of their ideas.

The Tail of Summer

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Summer doesn't feel 'done' unless we've taken a trip up north to see our family.  Last year, that didn't happen (thanks very much covid.  Not.).  But the reunions and such that we usually went home for didn't happen anyway.

This year we managed to make one of them.  Since everyone has been vaccinated, we felt fairly safe going up to see the fam.  

And did we ever.  Kids, spouses, baby, girlfriends...we all went.

It wasn't a visit...it was an invasion, lol.

But we visited the Indiana State Fair and ate WAY too much fair food...and the best there is  is in the agricultural association facilities: the Pork Producers, the Cattleman's Association, and the Dairy Producers (a 12 oz chocolate milk for fifty cents.  Best. Deal. Ever.).  If real fairs are a thing where you are, be sure to look for those folks.

NOT the best deal...a ridiculously expensive ride in the Giant Wheel...

But, what the heck, it's vacation, right?  It was also the only ride we did, lol.  And the cars were air conditioned...which was NICE.   The rain in the distance dodged us until just as we left.  We hit a deluge as we were driving out of the fairgrounds.  Perfect timing.

Family picnic,  a drive to Elkhart and church with family...and the next day, a visit to the Hall of Heroes...a comic book/ superhero museum located on Cassopolis Street.  'The only one' of its' kind.  It has some pretty crazy stuff...like the screen-used Captain America shield (visible over The Actor's shoulder...I gotta come up with some more up to date monikers for the kids), signed by the MCU actors, Adam West's personal Batman costume, and a BUNCH of Hanna- Barbera memorabilia that reminded me of the Saturdays of my childhood.  The kids enjoyed it.

Back to central Indiana, and a day at Turkey Run State Park.  One of my favorite places on the planet.  Where Middle Earth meets the Midwest...

We even managed to get to Thorntown for dinner and the World's Best Onion Rings.

Seriously.  They are SO GOOD.

We headed home a week ago today, which is hard to wrap my brain around that it was a WEEK AGO already.

I miss the quiet and the green already.

But...life goes on.  We came home and the Florida Son headed back south, dropping his girlfriend off in the Birmingham area on his way down.  We headed into the small group sign up season and I suddenly wondered what I have gotten myself into for this fall...

We are, God willing and the virus don't rise, doing a Christmas production this year.  I auditioned before we left, really not thinking there would be a part for me but, what the heck, it's fun to perform, even if it's just for a table of adjudicators.  I had fun.  And I made call-backs, which are Sunday.  So I may end up with a speaking part after all.  But regardless, I'll at least be an extra/ background singer.  And there will be costumes to sew.  Lots of costumes (I will be discussing that over on the sewing blog, Sew Random). 

But, having completed the ministry school, it's time to put it to work, right?  So I signed up to teach my Bible Study for Beginners class on Wednesday nights, in which I go over the three Bible study methods I taught to teenagers over the years...and cover Ephesians MOST thoroughly in the process.  AND...My Sweet Babboo and I decided to do a home group to watch the first season of The Chosen. Just for fun.

I didn't think about how much commitment that all adds up to.  Yikes.

It's gonna be a busy fall, y'all. 

So I'm not sure I'm going to do a formal study until I get through it.  But I will try to drop in on Fridays with at least an update on things...and maybe a Nugget of the Week thought or two, lol.

How's your fall looking?

Hello August!

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

A pretty much unrelated pic of Miss Friss lounging about; kinda my feelings for the last few drops of summer...

School has started in these parts, but, since all the young 'uns are long past school days, we don't have to finish summer just yet...and we have summer-ish things left yet on the calendar.  So I'm not going to try and start a new study just yet; I've still got stuff left from the wedding to take care of and some other things on the burner that are just going to need some attention, so posting will likely be rather sporadic for the next two to three weeks.

I will talk just a bit about a book I read whilst I was on the blogging break.  I finished about three books that had been sitting on the nightstand for forever; unfortunately I let too much time go by between starting and finishing the books that I really don't feel like I could do them justice in a discussion (although I do want to go back and re-read at least one of them).   But I read Jeremy' Riddle's The ReSet in about a week and want to go back and look again at a couple of chapters that really resonated with me, just to get the insights in deep.

Our worship pastor recommended it and it sounded especially timely, so I snagged one from The Big Bookstore That Now Sells Everything.  It is aimed at worship leaders, but honestly it also applies to anyone who is creative or who leads others and struggles with walking it out for God's glory....not letting the whole thing go to one's head, so to speak.

The chapter on dreams is one that I am going to go back and re-read; he wrote sentences almost identical to some of my journal entries, which was kinda chill-inducing, if you know what I mean.  

Ultimately, everything has to die to the whole idea of personal ambition so that it can be reborn as response to the love and mercy of God...including the dreams that originate with heart desires.  Jeremy expresses concern over the performance mentality that has pervaded church ministry...that we perform on a stage (ok, 'platform' is the accepted term) for the approval of folks in the audience (erm....congregation).  How do we stay on the side of true worship without wandering over into concert performance?

He pointed out that some of the purest forms of worship recorded in the Bible (e.g., David dancing before the Ark; Mary of Bethany pouring her bottle of nard on Jesus) were met with disdain or even disgust from others who were present.  He's right, of course, but I had not thought of it in exactly those terms.

He wrote that worship that is pure in heart but imperfectly executed will be far more pleasing to God than that which is marvelously performed from wrong motives...so, who is the true audience of all worship?  If it doesn't please God, is it even really worship?

When you take into account that worship is how we live, not what we do on a platform with a microphone, that gets real for everyone...not just folks who are 'leading worship'.

I found the book easy to read and personally challenging; if you're looking for food for thought on the subject...highly recommended.

A Wee bit of a Break

 Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

Back in the day...like, before I returned to the Work Force, when I somehow was managing to post most every day...or at least a couple of times a week...I used to take a Blogging Break for a week and stay off the internet.  But, work messed with my schedule and when the posting dropped it didn't seam to be so helpful.

But when I've tried to figure out what to do next...what I hear is 'Take a break'.  Not just a blogging break, but a break from social media altogether...or at least as much as is possible, given the fact that social media is also a prime communication channel for several groups/ people.  

I drug my feet because, well, my birthday was last weekend and I didn't want to be off of the 'net and miss all the good wishes that always come through.  But I think I've put it off as long as I can, so I'm going to go dark for the rest of the month..which is, incredibly, just a fuzz over 2 weeks. 

The first part of August is really busy; maybe by the last half of the month or so I'll have a plan for the next study. I do have a tentative list of things to do if I'm off of social media...including, but not limited to, sewing, reading, and reorganizing the house, lol.  And probably petting the kitty.

Meantime, if you haven't already, download the Chosen app and watch the two seasons that are out.  Seriously.  So I don't drop spoilers when I come back. :-D

Blogging Bible Study: Colossians - Final Greetings and Instructions (Col. 4:2 - 18)

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The last post in a study about Paul's epistles is always the most difficult; he bounces around so much, trying to get in the last few important things, send personal greetings, introduce the folks who are bringing the letter, etc.  Colossians is no different.

Devote yourselves to prayer  he says in 4:2.  I had to stop there.  I don't think I could say with any honesty that I devote myself to prayer.  I do pray...mostly conversational prayers as I go about my day.  But a shut-myself-in-the-war-room-and-pour-myself-on-the-throne-of-God? Um...not so much. But, to be honest, I'm not so sure that's really what Paul means.  Neither am I sure that's not what he means.  But he does continue, being watchful and thankful.  So...maybe the prayer is 1) a response to the things going on around us, both in our personal lives and in the society/ culture/ world in which we live and 2) being mindful of the blessings we have and the work God is doing in and around us and giving thanks continually. Devote yourselves to a prayerful, thankful response to all that happens around you.  Maybe?  Even that is a challenge, to be honest.  My very first response to a situation usually doesn't involve prayer.  And that's a rather sad confession.  If it were prayer...if my reflex action was to pray immediately...perhaps I wouldn't have so many bone-headed boo boos in my history.

While Paul is on the subject of prayer, he asks that the believers pray for him, also.  Not that he would be released from prison, not that he would have his needs met, not that influential people would move on his behalf...but that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which i am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  (Col. 4:3 - 4).  Paul was asking prayer for the Gospel to spread through him.  Period.  

That's a challenge right there.

And I think Paul recognized that, because he then exhorts his readers to do the same thing:

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.  (Col 4:5-6)

My friend, what if WE, as in the members of the body of Christ, considered every interaction with someone who, for whatever reason, is not part of the fellowship, as an opportunity to be an influence for the kingdom?  Whether it's the grumpy clerk at Wal-Mart or the kid's inept volunteer soccer coach or the neighbor with the barking dog or the co-worker who delights in putting other people down or that Facebook friend who is so very vocal about their political leanings or...[fill in the blank from your own experience].  I don't necessarily think this means aggressive evangelism but it certainly means treating people as Jesus would treat people. After all, we are his representatives, right?  

'Speech seasoned with grace'  would never gossip or speak judgmentally or denigrate or curse or spread unfounded rumors or complain or patronize or...you get the picture.  I've got a long way to grow there, too...

 Then Paul introduces the guys who will be bringing his letter to the Colossians...Tychius (who is mentioned in Acts 20:4 as being one of the  men who sometimes traveled with Paul; he is also mentioned in 2 Tim. 4:12 as being sent to Ephesus; Ephesians 6:21 is Paul's introduction of Tychius to the Ephesians; and Titus 3:12 mentions that Paul will possibly send him to fetch Titus) and Onesimus, a runaway slave who was returning to his master (read Paul's letter to Philemon for Onesimus' story). Paul describes Tychius as "a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord"; Onesimus is described as "our faithful and dear brother; who is one of you."  These gentlemen will share further about what is happening with Paul in Rome (Col. 4:9).

The bulk of the rest of the chapter is Paul greeting the Colossians on behalf of the folks who are with him in Rome: Aristarchus (a 'fellow prisoner',whom we first meet in Acts 19:29 and 20:4 as one of Paul's companions; he may have been one of the other 'prisoners handed over to a centurion named Julius' for the voyage to Rome as he is also mentioned in Acts 27:2), Mark the cousin of Barnabas (the young man whose desire to accompany Paul and Barnabas on their second missionary journey caused such a sharp contention between them that they split up...see Acts 15:37 - 41; obviously, he and Paul had reconciled) and Jesus, who was called Justus.  Those were the Jewish men with Paul; along with them were non-Jews Epaphras, who 'is always wrestling in prayer' for the Colossians (likely all the churches in Asia); Paul says that 'he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis'; Luke the doctor and Demas...all send their greetings to the church at Colosse.

Paul then instructs the church to read the letter, then send it on to Laodicea, so the church there may read it, and the Colossians are also to read the letter to the Laodiceans (which we do not have preserved, but it likely was very similar to what was written in Colossians and Ephesians, as those letters were written at the same time, along with the letter to Philemon, as evidenced by the names of the folks involved in delivering the letters and sending greetings).

Then Paul calls out one individual...Archippus...with instructions to "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."  Archippus is only mentioned in one other verse...Philemon, verse 2, as a friend and co-worshiper of Philemon and 'our fellow soldier.'  So we have no other information about what that work might be...but, for Paul to have singled him out, there must've been something significant that he had been given. 

And, clearly, while Paul had never been to Colosse and did not know the majority of the folks who worshiped Jesus in that city, there were a few folks that he did know; the commonalities between Colossians and Philemon seem to indicate that Philemon lived in or near Colosse.  

Finally, Paul himself takes the quill from whoever he was dictating to, which was probably Timothy, and writes a greeting in his own hand, to authenticate the letter.  He did request them to 'remember my chains'...ie, pray for him while he is imprisoned.

Grace be with you.

And with you. 

It Was a Beautiful Day For a Wedding

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I purposely left my phone in the dressing room so that I would not be tempted to be a recorder instead of a participant.  Besides, the phone was too heavy for the pocket in my dress anyway.  So I have no pictures of the wedding myself...only what other folks have taken. 

My Sweet Babboo did get a selfie.  I will say, cell phones have uncanny resolution these days.  I think you can see the individual beads of sweat, lol.

I will finish the Colossians series this Friday.  Despite my best intentions, the to-do list got overwhelming and I got behind.  But I figured you'd all understand.

Blogging Bible Study: Colossians -- Living Rightly Relating to Others (Col. 3:18 - 4:1)

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I suppose I ought to start this out with a 'Trigger Warning'...there are words in this passage that are fraught with emotional overtones in our current society.  I hope I can navigate around them to get at the message Paul was trying to convey but if those words cause such an emotional response that  it's impossible to go past them...well, I'll catch you next week with the wrap-up...

We start with the 'S' word...used in the context of marriage relationships...

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Col. 3:18).

Most folks stop there.  I mean, it's a hard stop.  Either they want to wave a flag stating how sexist Christianity is to suggest that women should submit to men (and, may I respectfully point out...that is NOT what the verse says), or they want to hop up on a soapbox and say that women have no business in the workplace and should Stay Home. (Also...that is not what the verse says).  It is talking about a relationship between ONE woman and ONE man...and it needs the next verse for the balance of context.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. (Col. 3:19).

This verse gets virtually NO press.  Promise Keepers talked about it back in the day...but the anti-Christian crowd didn't even recognize that, jumping on the stereotypical assumption that godly men  suppress women. The fact that the PK movement was to encourage men to love their wives was completely overlooked.

Just for grins, let's look up the Greek words used in these verses.  'Submit yourselves' is the Greek word hupotasso, and, according to the Blue Letter Bible site, was a Greek word pertaining to the military;  meaning 'to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader.'   In a non-military context, it was used as 'a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility and carrying a burden.'    'Love your wives', well, my friends, 'love' here is agapao... 'To be full of good-will and exhibit the same; have a preference for, wish well, regard the welfare of; take pleasure in, prize above all, be unwilling to abandon...' This is the Greek word for 'love' that especially implies caring for the well-being of the one that is loved; it is the word used in John 3:16 describing the love God had for us. It is a love that sacrifices ones' self for another  (John 15:13).  Husbands are instructed to love their wives in THAT manner; wives are instructed to cooperate...take responsibility...basically, be a supportive partner. This is teamwork that Paul is describing.  Oh, and worth noting...romantic love had very little to do with marriage in that day.  Marriages were arranged for a number of reasons...to financially or socially assist a family, to cement friendships between families, to maintain an inheritance, etc etc.  So Paul is writing this to people who did not choose their spouses.  How much easier should those instructions be for folks who have the freedom to choose?  And...given that romantic love isn't a requirement for marriage to begin with...should 'I just don't feel in love anymore' be a reason for dissolving a marriage?  The love that is described is not an emotion...it is a behavior pattern. Cherish, care for, nurture, prefer...those are actions, not emotions.  Cooperate, support, take responsibility...those are actions, not emotions.  We have, in our society, romanticized marriage to the point of nullifying it if the emotions aren't right.  It's a shame...because families are shattered and people are damaged, all for the sake of some kind of ethereal emotion that cannot stand up under the pressures of life.  

Children are instructed to obey their parents, and fathers are instructed not to embitter their children (KJV...'provoke to anger')...lest they be discouraged (Greek: athymeo...to be disheartened, dispirited, broken in spirit).  Notice...instruction for those under authority and those in authority.

Which brings us to the next trigger word, which also starts with 'S'...

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything ... (Col 3:23a).

What??? Is Paul endorsing slave holding?  Cancel him!

Sigh.  Slavery was...and is...a horrible practice.  But the fact is that it was the foundation of the economy for millennia, in some form or fashion.  There were very few folks that we would consider 'employees' in that day...folks who lived at their own house, got up and went to work for another person, got paid in money, and could leave their job whenever they wished.  It just wasn't part of the culture.  We could, likely, substitute 'employees' for 'slaves' without a great loss of meaning here.  Paul is talking about working with a good heart for your employer...just, in that day, 'employer' generally meant 'master'.  But look at this, his real instruction:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.  (Col. 3:23).    This is almost a direct quote from 2:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus...

And, look, we also have the balance of instruction to those both under and in authority:

Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.  (Col. 4:1)  Likewise...you could substitute 'Employers/ employees' here for the modern application...

Do you see the pattern?  Whether you are in authority or under it, whether in a family or out of it, treat each other correctly and fulfill your responsibilities with honor...just as if you were doing it for Jesus himself.  Because...you are.

Blogging Bible Study: Colossians - Living as a Follower of Jesus (Col. 3: 1- 17)

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Set your hearts and minds on things above, Paul says.

And 'above' is 'where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.'...not the next step up, or the top floor office,  or the top rating in [whatever]...or anything else that might be confused with 'above'.    Not earthly things.

He's talking about priorities...and he's talking about lifestyle.

You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:3)

That makes...or should make... a difference in how one conducts one's daily life.

That kinda messes with the popular message that God wants everyone to be happy.

Paul goes on to talk about death.  Things that should die because, you know, we died.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. -- (Col 3:5a)

What belongs to the earthly nature, you ask?

 Well...here's  a list of things that are to be put to death/ gotten rid of (v. 5 -9):

Sexual immorality (setting such a high value on sexual satisfaction that one goes outside of the boundaries God set in an attempt to procure it)

Impurity (mixing sacred and profane)

Lust (fixating upon and consumed with obtaining a forbidden thing)

Evil desires (revenge? selfish ambition? I'd say those are two...)

Greed (that's idolatry, Paul says in verse 5)

Anger

Rage

Malice (that probably includes schadenfreude...happiness at the misfortune of another)

Slander (spreading stuff that makes others look bad just for the sake of making them look bad; yeah, that would include unfounded Facebook posts about those people on the other side of the political fence)

Filthy language (really...it ain't cool to cuss.)

Lying 

But verse nine reads 'All such things as these'...so this is not an exhaustive list, it's a set of examples of  the kinds of things that belong to the earthly nature.  Pretty much anything that focuses on what I want,  how I want to be seen,  keeping my position above those inferior to me, satisfying physical appetites without regard to the parameters God gave regarding such things, etc.  I, Me, My, Mine over anyone else.

And we can't excuse the pet little naughties by saying, 'Well, at least I don't do ...XYZ on that list'.

Nope.  It's ALL supposed to be put to death, gotten rid of, or...maybe...overcome.

...since you have taken off your old self with its practices (Col. 2:9b)

All of that is stuff the natural human practices.  But we are to be supernatural humans.

...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col.3:10)

And guess what?  That 'new self' has no race, or even ethnicity...

Here there is no Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.  (Col. 3:11)

If this is the truth, then why do we (and by 'we' I mean those who claim to follow Christ) divide over race, ethnicity, social standing?  Are we retaining somewhat of the earthly nature, that pays attention to such things?  Because in the kingdom...those things simply don't matter. 

We are ALL God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved  (Col. 3:12)

So...how ought we to live?

We are to live clothed with:

Compassion

Kindness 

Humility

Gentleness

Patience

We are to:

Bear with one another

Forgive one another  (Just as the Lord forgave each one of us)

Put on love over all  (the binding agent of all virtues)

Let the peace of Christ rule in us

Let the word of Christ dwell in us

Be thankful

All of this is to be characteristic of any admonition given in wisdom, of any psalm, hymn or song we sing.

But here is the summation of behaving as a follower of Jesus:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  -- Col. 3:17.

Now, 'in the name of the Lord Jesus' means 'as one under the authority of Jesus'...like an ambassador in a foreign country does everything in the name of his government back home.  A legal representative.  

If I find myself in a situation in which I'm tempted to do something...be it legal or illegal or whatever...a big thing or a little thing (and remember...big things almost always start with little things)...if I can't honestly do it as a representative of the heart and nature of Jesus, then it should not be done.  Even if it secures my rights or saves my reputation or something else that just seems logical.  

Because that old self is dead...and the new self has a different set of priorities...above... 

Blogging Bible Study: Colossians - Warning against False Teaching: Col. 2: 6 - 23

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

 

Now, Paul gets to one of his main objectives in writing to the believers at Colosse...recognizing and rejecting false teaching.

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. -- Col. 2::4  (from last week).

From the very beginning of the church, there were those who were going around with their own version of the gospel.  Some were genuinely mistaken (like Apollos, who was corrected by Aquilla and Priscilla -- Acts 1:24- 26); some came with a law-based gospel that required Gentile believers to observe the Jewish law; it was a pride issue with them (Gal. 6:12-13).  Some were teaching that Messiah wasn't an actual person...rebuked by John's eyewitness testimony (1 John 1:1-2) and, as Paul later discusses, some were basing their teaching on visions and special revelations they claimed to have had...but the significant thing about Paul's introductory statement is that, even then, there were 'fine-sounding arguments' against the gospel that the apostles were teaching.

Paul gives them instruction on resisting the fine-sounding arguments... step one...

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (2: 6- 7).

The first defense against false teaching is to put down roots into the truth.  This is kinda obvious, but it is so overlooked.  The best example I've heard is about folks who are trained to detect counterfeit currency.  They don't spend hours learning all the details of making fake money, or the variations it could have...no, they study actual currency so they know, down to the tiniest details, what real money looks, feels, and smells like.   Then when something bogus crosses their path, they recognize it immediately...not because it has XYZ characteristics of bad money, but just because it is noticeably NOT the same as the real thing; and it doesn't matter how much it has in common with the actual currency.  If it's bogus in any detail...it's bogus, period.  If believers drill down into the Scriptures...and not someone's idea of what the scripture says but what the Bible actually says...it will be obvious to them when they encounter someone who's half a bubble off plumb....either teaching something out of context, or adding some kind of additional requirements or doctrine to what is consistently taught throughout the Scripture.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.   (v.8)

Holey Moley, there is a lot of depth in that verse.  It covers both 'human tradition' and 'principles of this world'.  Stop and think of all the skewed theology you can remember.  I'm thinking of all the oddball stuff I've heard and it easily falls under one of those two categories..."Human Tradition"  or "Principles of the World".  It ranges from the stuff that doesn't matter much (...the Human Tradition of celebrating Jesus' birthday on Dec. 25, for instance...with three Wise Men...who came to the stable...) to "Principles of the World" that say God is ok with whatever makes you happy....which can really mess someone up.

Hollow.  Deceptive.  Captive-making. Might I even say...reasonable, alluring, popular? Principles of the world would be, well, approved-of by worldly folks.  Human traditions have years of acceptance backing them.  Paul says...it's no good.  

Wow.  I've made it through all of three out of eighteen verses.  Gonna need to step it up or this is going to be a book...

Well, anyway, Paul next addresses the more common errors of his day... the idea that Jesus wasn't really God...or, rather, the 'Messiah' wasn't actually Jesus but just a spirit that came upon him or some such thing,  the idea that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised Law-followers to be true followers of Christ; and folks who were apparently basing their teachings not on scripture but on some kind of mystical personal experience.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (v.9).  This is the THIRD time Paul has mentioned this concept.  Just in case anyone had any questions about the actual existence  and humanity of Jesus, the Christ.

He also describes the 'circumcision' that  marks Gentile believers...

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but  with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.  (2:11-13a) .  Not a process done in the body by people, but an action done in the heart by God.  And that written code?  Paul says Jesus took it to the cross with him and nailed it there (vs. 14-15), so no one should judge the Gentile believers according to their observation of the written Law.

He then warns them against teachers who talk about mystical experiences that they have had, who go into great details about those things and are full of idle notions (v. 18).   This person, Paul says, has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body grows.  I don't think this is meant to say people don't have visions or mystical experiences...Paul himself had a few.  I think he's warning them against folks who put more emphasis on their unique experience than on the Gospel.  Paul didn't make a big deal out of his experiences...in fact, folks think he may have downplayed at least one with the inference that it happened to someone he knew.  But if there's someone who's going around with a book tour and speaking engagements talking about their big incredible visitation with just a side mention of God and Jesus, then...be wary.

Finally, Paul returns to the biggest issue he was having with false teachers, Gentiles who were guilted into keeping the Jewish law....'If you have died to the world in Jesus, why submit to rule-based religion, which is what makes sense to worldly folks?' (My paraphrase of the last bit of verse 20).

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.  (v. 23).

As if, by a sheer act of will, we could keep all those rules...especially when Jesus said that even thinking about indulging in such things was as bad for the body as actually doing them (Matt. 5:27-28).  We can't.  We can't stop ourselves and we can't atone for ourselves.  Only Jesus, through the Spirit, can give us the power to overcome whatEVER sensual indulgence might be a tripping point.

Be rooted.  Be grounded. Be strengthened in the faith...and be thankful.