Reading: Matthew 4:12-17, Acts 5:1-16, Psalm 8, Genesis 21-23

Recall:
Psalm 8:3-5
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
  Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.

Genesis 22:1-2
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”

Acts 5:5
Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it.


Reflect:
So, we're created a little less than the angels and crowned with glory and honor. BUT, you better not screw up or you'll drop dead. OR, God might want to test you and ask you if you're willing to sacrifice your son.

Tough words, challenging words. Why are they here? Both of these passages have always baffled me. That can be good if I take the opportunity to ponder them. I'll have to live with these for a bit today, see what bubbles up.

Respond:
God, you are, in many respects, unknowable. What would cause someone to imagine that you required the sacrifice of his child? Or that someone could drop dead for lying about the price of a field?

I can never stop spending time with scripture, spending time with God.

Reading: Matthew 4:1-11, Acts 4:23-27, Psalm 7, Genesis 18-20

Recall:
Genesis 18:12-15
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Genesis 18:22-23

Genesis 19:16-17 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”

Reflect:
You can't get a much more anthropomorphized God than appears in these stories in Genesis. Sarah laughs at God's words, God shrugs it off and fulfills his promise anyway. Then Abraham bargains with God over the destruction of Sodom. It goes on a long time. I was losing patience. But I guess God didn't. "OK, I'll spare it for 45, 40, 30, 20."

Then there is Lot and his family dawdling before the destruction of the city. God's messengers are saying "C'mon guys." They are still dragging their feet. So the messengers grab them by the hand and drag them out of the city.

Respond:
It's an interesting understanding of God. Somewhat comforting and, yet, somewhat unsettling at that same time--this God that is close enough to bargain with me, that isn't above picking me up and dragging me if he has to.

God, help me take advantage of this aspect of you. You are awesome, more than I can even begin to comprehend. Yet you make yourself close enough and simple enough for me to comprehend and touch. Thank you.

Reading: Matthew 3:13-17, Acts 4:1-22, Psalm 6, Genesis 15-17

Recall:
Matthew 3:17

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Acts 4:7-10, 13-16
When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.....Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.

Reflect:
I always love hearing those words from God at Jesus' baptism. "This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Just because I know, that as a child of God, those are God's words to me.

Acts 4 caught me anew as I read it this morning. Peter and John were arrested for preaching to the crowd that had gathered after they healed the man that was lame. The council they appeared before was puzzled about what to do. They could not argue with the results of their work. The dud was healed--what could they say?
Respond:
Talk is cheap. Ideas and dogma can be argued against and discussed in infinitum. Action, results have to be accepted for what they are. I want my life to be marked by results. I want to be an open channel that God can actually accomplish things through. I don't want to be just a preacher. I want to be a faithful servant of the Kingdom, an effective leader of God's people.

God, continue to fine tune my life. Guide me as I continue to work on the discipline that I need to make space for what You want to do in my life.

Reading: Matthew 3:1-12, Acts 3, Psalm 5, Genesis 12-14

Recall:
Matthew 3:10
Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Acts 3:6
But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”
Reflect:
John the Baptist's words are always disturbing. And, even more disturbing, they seem to be ringing true, at least as far as the church is concerned. It is not mercenary on God's part. Churches themselves are leaping onto the fire.

"...but what I have I give you..." Great words. God does not call me to give to others what I don't have.
Respond:
I can't give what I don't have. It's a positive and a negative. I am not expected to give what I don't have. On the other hand, I need to have something to give. And that I get from my continuing relationship with the Divine.

Reading: Matthew 2:13-23, Acts 2:22-47, Psalm 4, Genesis 9-11

Recall:
Psalm 4:6-8
There are many who say, "O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Reflect:
Really, what more does one need than to have gladness in one's heart and a good night's sleep? If I have that, then everything else is both possible and inconsequential! And that is what a relationship with Jesus brings.

Acts 2:42 is a snapshot of the inner life of the first-century church. They learned, they fellowshiped, they prayed, they shared in rituals. The call for us 20 centuries later is the same.

Respond:
These two short, simple passages alone are enough to send me out to the street for the rest of my life. It is so simple. We are given explicit instructions on how to partake of the Divine, how to make life work, how to have a glad heart and a good night's sleep. It's all right here!

I have a two-fold responsibility. First I need to, as they say, put on my own oxygen mask first--seek Jesus in all that I do. I must intentionally, doggedly make room for Jesus in my life through reading the Bible, praying, and meditating.

And then, just as intentionally, just as doggedly, make the opportunity of a relationship with Jesus available to everyone else around me.