January 8

 ‘And Abraham built an altar…and bound Isaac his son.’ – Genesis 22:9

                I‘ve always felt that the lesson of Abraham’s near Sacrifice of Isaac was a bit ambiguous. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, let him build an altar, strap Isaac on it, and then at the critical moment say, ‘Gotcha!’? The whole episode seems rather elaborate for a simple test of faith.

                It is true that God was testing Abraham’s faith (and arguably Isaac’s). I think though that a greater lesson in the story is just exactly what Oswald Chamber’s points out in today’s devotion. God wants us to be living sacrifices. He does not intend that we live our lives simply to die for Him. Our death has nothing to offer Him. Rather, His death has everything to offer us.

                I think that God took Abraham and Isaac all the way to the point of sacrifice to illustrate the futility of our death as sacrifice. God does not need martyrs. While Christians are occasionally called to martyrdom, this is more for the sake of those whom are doing the murdering than for those whom are being martyred. God needs living, breathing, and obedient tools which He can use for the advancement of His design.

                So what does it mean to be a living sacrifice? The living sacrifice is the sacrifice who has allowed his former self to be martyred. He has chosen to sacrifice the selfish inclinations of his own will and replaced these with submission to the will of God. The living sacrifice has let the old self pass away so that he can be reborn in Christ Jesus.

                The living sacrifice is a daily sacrifice. He is constantly sacrificing his will, as the world and his latent selfishness tempt him to rescind the sacrifice. Sound difficult? It is. Though, only if the sacrifice is made without reliance on Christ. To live in Christ is to draw strength and worth from His sacrifice in order to sustain our daily living sacrifice.

January 7

‘Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?’ John 14:9

                Jesus spoke these words to Philip in leading him in questioning. He did not ask the question snidely or in shock, but to illustrate that in addition to the teacher – disciple relationship, Philip and Jesus were friends as well. The relationship had become a friendship and the two men shared the intimacy associated with that friendship.

                This is the relationship we should strive for with Christ as well. Once we are intimate with Him, we are never lacking. The empty times that God provides us become opportunities to come to know Christ through quiet meditation with Him. In intimacy with Christ the impression that we leave on others and in this world is unmistakable.

                How fortunate we are that our God wants to have such a close relationship with His creation. His will is not that of a tyrant or a despot. He does not demand our submission or servitude. Rather He asks us to choose Him. He gives us the choice of submission and servitude, and in Him, even these ordinarily negative concepts gain fullness and life.

January 6

‘Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.’ – Oswald chambers

(I apologize for the lack of posting yesterday. As always, if someone would like to comment on the devotional from January 5, please feel free to do so.)

                One of my wife’s favorite shows on television is Hoarders. If you’ve seen it, you would be hard pressed to state that it isn’t an interesting show. If you are unfamiliar with it, here’s a brief synopsis: An individual is identified as having hoarded all manner of physical items over a number of years until they are now at a point where their home is unlivable and often their health, both mental and physical is in danger. A cleanup crew and a psychologist are dispatched to attempt to help the hoarder clean up and then get treatment in the hope of sustained non-hoarding.

                The old adage that ‘the stuff you own ends up owning you’ is very fitting for many of these cases. The hoarder has accumulated so many items that they place value on, that the items have become a burden and consumed their entire lives.

                There is a psychological aspect to all of this of course, which is where the problem begins. The individual with this illness has exhibited a refusal or inability to let go of their emotions or experiences. They have mentally hoarded first, which then is manifest in material.

                Property ownership really is a blessing. In many parts of the world, people do not have the means to own anything other than their own survival. However, we are not meant to keep that which is given. We should pass on that which we feel holds value to those we love, thus making room for new things which we might love in the future. If we are only consuming, without giving, then we quickly become bloated and dysfunctional.

                The case of the material hoarder is analogous to what happens to the Christian spiritually if blessings are hoarded. Our blessings rot and get in the way of our relationship with God and with our fellow human beings if they are accumulated. Instead, we are to give our blessings back to God in the form of praise, so that others might see what the Lord has done for us.

                We must understand that our blessings are not our own. Without God, no blessings could be given; hence it is not of our own volition that they are received. A life constantly taking in of blessings without reciprocal praise quickly becomes just as dysfunctional as that of the material hoarder. We begin to value our blessings more than we value from whence they were given. Even worse, we begin to buy into the lie that we are responsible solely for our blessings, taking God entirely out of the equation.

January 4

‘Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now?’ – John 13:37

                I am an impatient being. Like most people, I see what I want and do whatever I can to get it at the soonest possible moment. An example of this occurred just two days ago.            

I was at a gas station counter, impatiently waiting for a man to check his two dozen scratch tickets. At the beginning of my wait, I stayed calm. However, as the line began to form behind me, I felt obligated to express my displeasure at waiting through the occasional over-stated groan or the constant weight shifting (arms folded for emphasis), as if to say ‘Hey guys, it’s not MY fault you’re stuck here!’.                

After the man finished   checking his tickets, I got pretty stoked. It was almost my turn! There was just one more guy in front of me…that’s about the time that he pulled out another dozen scratch tickets to be checked. I lost whatever cool I had, muttered something under my breath, and headed for the door.  As I sat in my truck in the parking lot, I looked in through the window. All the people behind me were still in line, some of them had even started a conversation. No one else seemed to be irritated as I was. I began to realize that not only did I not get the item that I went to the store for in the first place, I made a perfect ass of myself instead.  Thanks for the lesson God.

God gives us empty spaces (waiting in line, waiting for a letter, waiting at the doctor’s office, waiting on promotion etc.) all the time. It is during these times that God teaches us to know ourselves. We learn about service or patience or, maybe we simply aren’t sanctified to move on to our next stage of spiritual development. If we are not patient through the empty times, we will never know.

Peter could not follow Jesus because Jesus was the only one worthy of sacrifice, the only unblemished lamb. Moreover, Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him three times. He knew this even before Peter did. Peter did not know himself well enough to even recognize his own inadequacy. So, Jesus made Peter wait. He gave Peter an empty time during which Peter presumably learned to stand steadfast in faith and to not be ashamed of his relationship with Jesus.

We cannot follow Jesus until we know ourselves. We cannot know ourselves until we are still in the quiet places in order to hear what God has to say. If we do not take the opportunity to know ourselves, and thus cannot follow God, our lives are doomed to impulse. We will attempt to anticipate from where our trials will come and which lessons we are to have learned, but they will be false because only in the light of Jesus Christ can these things be known.

To follow impulse is follow our natural devotion. Peter naturally pleaded to lay his life down for Christ. However we know that Peter could not be the sacrifice in Christ’s place. If we are to move away from natural devotion, we must embrace discipleship. We must become the student of Christ and use our gifts for Him at the time which He makes apparent.

January 3

 ‘Clouds and darkness are around about Him.’ – Psalm 97:2

                I’ll admit that the lesson in today’s devotional is difficult to discern. Oswald Chamber’s talks about how simple and familiar the teachings of Jesus are to the unbeliever. At a glance, Jesus’ teachings seem to focus simply on doing good deeds and being a good person. They appear to be a list of guidelines and suggestions which we are to follow, but if this is the case, then why offer the sacrifice of Christ in the first place? Why not just stick with the commandments given to the Moses in the desert?

                When a person takes the first step of faith in Christ, moving away from generalization and toward studious examination of His teachings, the lessons become imperceptible by our own logic and devices.  When the author of the Psalm talks about ‘clouds and darkness’, he is talking about our limited ability to decipher Christ’s complexity. The only way to pierce the darkness is to examine the Bible with the light of God’s truth leading the way. We must place faith in His teaching, and study it without the familiarity of our conditioning.

                Jesus asks that we become empty vessels so that we can contain nothing but His teaching. To hang on to our perceptions, which are based on fallible logic, while studying His living word will result in our misunderstanding of the lessons. Moreover, God is speaking to us through His word. If we are applying our logic to His lesson, we are in essence speaking over Him. If we are to grow in Christ, we must learn to listen openly and study diligently.

January 2

‘He went out, not knowing whither he went.’ – Hebrews 11:8

                A professed faith in God is obviously required of the Christian. However, a faith in mere profession should not be confused with a faith in action. It is easy to say, ‘I trust in the Lord.’ It is far more difficult to actively do so.

                I am called to go out, not knowing where God is leading me.  I am to have faith that God will lead me where He intends for me to go. This is where panic sets in for the young Christian. What about control? What about direction? If I do not perceive the direction in which God is leading me, does this mean I am directionless?

                The answer is ‘No’. God does not lead me into the wilderness to die. He provides direction, even if I find the direction imperceptible. My part in the faith equation is centered on ‘going out’ of my beliefs, conceptions, and convictions. My part is to become dependent on   God to provide newness in me, despite my apprehension at the perceived lack of self control.

                The reward for dependence on God is that I become closer to Him through my actions in faith. I can create no more good in this world through the exertion of my own control than God can create through me. My efforts, sans God will invariably fall short.

January 1

‘My eager desire and hope being that I never feel ashamed, but that now as ever I may do honour to Christ in my own person by fearless courage.’ – Philippians 1:20

                Courage is required to shamelessly live as God intends. To live as a Christian is to deny the world and the old habits that have become distractions from Christ. This life change is so dramatic that it should always be apparent to the non-believer by our action. Such a changed person must be prepared to reject the criticisms of the unbeliever. We as changed people must maintain the life in Christ despite worldly skepticism.  

Life in accordance to His will is markedly different than life spent in our will alone. Rather than be held up in justification of our faith, rest in the will of God. We are accountable only to Him. We must continue to behave in accordance with His law, rejecting our will in favor of His. Do not be bothered by the misperceptions of others. Leave your witness, evident in action and speech, to handle the justification in the eyes of others.