Am I better?

August 31, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  Fate of Galileans Reported To Jesus; Luke 13:1-5

Luke 13:4-5 (GOD'S WORD to the Nations)
4 What about those 18 people who died when the tower at Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more sinful than other people living in Jerusalem?
5 No! I can guarantee that they weren't. But if you don't turn to God and change the way you think and act, then you, too, will all die."  

I sometimes wonder if I have put myself up higher than others.  I know I have done that in the past, it is something we all do.  It is a tight line to cross, claiming who we are in Christ, that Jesus was willing to die for us and God thought so much to ask Jesus to do it.  And on the other side of that line thinking I am so much better than others because I know Jesus and they do not.  

So to read this scripture today is important.  I am not better than others. Just like they can die, so can I.  The difference is that I see myself as a son of God and brother to His son Jesus.  We all will die, it is what the life is to be afterward that makes the difference. Our spirits will live on in eternal death or eternal light.  My job is not to show them where they are wrong, my job is to bring them to eternal light.  


Read for next time: Parable of the Fig Tree; Luke 13:6-9
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Settle out of court

August 30, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  More Parables; Luke 12:42-59

Luke 12:58-59 (Bible in Worldwide English)
58 If someone wants to take you to court, make an agreement with him quickly on the way.  If you do not, he will take you to the judge. The judge will give you to the guard, and the guard will put you in prison.
59 I tell you, you will not get out of prison until you have paid up every piece of money.’

While Jesus is clearly talking here about being taken to court for crimes you may or may not have done.  It is clear that the better thing to do is to settle out of court.  If you cannot you will have to pay the crime.

What may not be so clear is that I am heading to a judgement as well as all of those around me.  It is for crimes that I have committed just because I am human.  I live in a body that does not want to do the things that I want it to because it wants its own ways.  So in this case the best thing to do is to settle out of court.  So I went to Jesus and asked Him to represent me, He smiled and said yes.  We worked out the payment for my crimes, He paid for all of them.  Now, I can escape the payment.  Thanks for the help Jesus.  

Read for next time: Fate of Galileans Reported To Jesus; Luke 13:1-5
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Settle out of court

August 30, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  More Parables; Luke 12:42-59

Luke 12:58-59 (Bible in Worldwide English)
58 If someone wants to take you to court, make an agreement with him quickly on the way.  If you do not, he will take you to the judge. The judge will give you to the guard, and the guard will put you in prison.
59 I tell you, you will not get out of prison until you have paid up every piece of money.’

While Jesus is clearly talking here about being taken to court for crimes you may or may not have done.  It is clear that the better thing to do is to settle out of court.  If you cannot you will have to pay the crime.

What may not be so clear is that I am heading to a judgement as well as all of those around me.  It is for crimes that I have committed just because I am human.  I live in a body that does not want to do the things that I want it to because it wants its own ways.  So in this case the best thing to do is to settle out of court.  So I went to Jesus and asked Him to represent me, He smiled and said yes.  We worked out the payment for my crimes, He paid for all of them.  Now, I can escape the payment.  Thanks for the help Jesus.  

Read for next time: Fate of Galileans Reported To Jesus; Luke 13:1-5
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Did you say that to me God?

August 29, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  Peter’s Question; Luke 12:41

Luke 12:41 (Green's Modern King James Version)
41 And Peter said to Him, Lord, do You speak this parable to us or also to all?

Why so often when I hear the word of God do I think it is for someone else?  You know what I mean, the urge to nudge the person next to you when listening to a sermon. The thinking that some person really needs to read this book to get their life right.  It is a habit that I have gotten away from but still sticks its nose up from time to time.

When God speaks to me He speaks to me. God will speak to them in their own time.  I need to listen and do what God speaks to me.


Read for next time: More Parables; Luke 12:42-59
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Where do you keep things?

August 28, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  Parables about being ready; Luke 12:16-40

Luke 12:34 (Bible in Worldwide English)
34 The place where you keep the things you like is where your heart will be also.

Where do you keep what you like? Is it in your job, and the satisfaction that you get from doing things right? Is it in your computer, doing well on the games you play and on the social networks that you participate in? Is it in you children, your sons and daughters?

All are well and good. But each day make sure that you keep in mind the one who gave you things. Make sure that the priorities are right and that should those things be taken from you would you still worship the creator of all those things?

Read for next time: Peter’s Question; Luke 12:41
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Who made Jesus judge?

August 27, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:  Jesus warns about greed; Luke 12:13-15

I have read the story many times. There Jesus is talking. Suddenly a man yells that his brother will not share their father’s estate with him and he wants Jesus to make the brother divide it. Jesus then tells the crowd about greed and how it is not good.  But in my rush to get my reading done I have skipped over one nugget of truth.

Luke 12:14 (Bible in Worldwide English)
14 Jesus said, ‘Man, who made me a judge over you or gave me power to divide your things?’

Jesus asked the man who made me judge over you? It is a question that I must answer every day. Who made Jesus judge over me?  Or have I made someone else judge over me?

Growing up I was told by my father that I was an oops. I was not meant to be born.  I made him the judge over me.  Now it was wrong what my father did and as I child I did not know any better so we will not go there.  But as an adult, if I let what anyone says about me be the standard by which I live my life I have let them have control over me.  While their words are powerful and may hurt, they are not me, they are a judgement of me.

The only one that can truly judge me is Jesus. I have made Him my judge when I accepted Him as my savior.  When Jesus asks who made Him judge over me, I can say that I did.

Read for next time: Parables about being ready; Luke 12:16-40
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Toxic thoughts

August 26, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus teaches a great crowd; Luke 12:1-12

Luke 12:6-7 (Twentieth Century New Testament)
6 Are not five sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them has escaped God's notice.
7 No, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

I was listening to a sermon from Lifechurch.tv yesterday.  They talked about Toxic Thoughts.  One of the toxic thoughts  is that we have no value, that God could not really care about me.  It is a problem that I deal with often.  So often I have heard these scriptures when I would begin to think like this.  

Now I am not saying that these scriptures are not true. And I am not saying that we should not quote them, we should.  But if your thinking is like that to start with, then all the positive talking is not going to fix the underlying problem.  If the base of the cake is crooked, it does not matter how much icing you put on top, the cake is going to fall.  

If you are a person who is like this, as I am, continue to tell your self of your worth, but take time to get help to get rid of some of the underlying problems.  

Read for next time: Jesus warns about greed; Luke 12:13-15
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Nothing New

August 25, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus leaves and they plot against Him; Luke 11:53-54

Luke 11:53-54 (English Standard Version)
53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things,
54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

The book of Ecclesiastes says it best, there is nothing new under the sun. Jesus had just told these people that they had built monuments to the prophets that they had killed. Now they were planning on killing another one.

Our world is not much different. You come to them with a message that can heal them, their broken families, their shattered lives, and they reject it as being judgemental.  They will watch for your every mistake and make it news for everyone to hear.  

Or is that me. People try to help me and I try to discredit them as these people did Jesus? I think sometimes I am just as much a plotting person as I am the person who gets plotted against.


Read for next time: Jesus teaches a great crowd; Luke 12:1-12
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Works monuments

August 24, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus pronounces woes on the Lawyers; Luke 11:45 - 52

Luke 11:47-48 (Green's Literal Translation)47 Woe to you! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 So you bear witness and consent to the works of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.

So which is worse?  Is it the sin of killing the ones that God sent?  Or is it admitting that your family did it and building a monument to them. Under Old Testament law, the son could be punished for the crimes of the father.  So in reality, they were admitting that they had sinned.  Yet in building the monument, they hopped that they could cover it up.  

Jesus calls them for what they are. You can not use works to remove the sin. At the least there should have been a blood sacrifice for what happened. But they just try to cover it up and move on by doing works.

Works can not cut it for any sin, only the blood of Jesus can.

Read for next time: Jesus leaves and they plot against Him; Luke 11:53-54
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Forgetting one

August 23, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus pronounces woes on the Pharisees; Luke 11:39 - 44

Luke 11:42 (International Standard Version)
42 “How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

Interesting concept.  God wants us to follow the rules and to show love.  So many times we do not want to do both. We want to tithe and do work in the church to show how good we are, but then come home to the wife or husband and yell at them like they were the enemy. Or maybe as a guy, we marry and stay married only to let our eyes wander.  Maybe as a wife, the same, but we wonder why our lives are not like the romance novels we read.

No, God wants the total package.  He wants us to do the spiritual works, and He wants us to do the right things by the law.  Not too many verses before this, we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus asks the lawyer what is the greatest command. The answer is to love the Lord with all your heart and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Can we really love God and neglect the justice and love of God?


Read for next time: Jesus pronounces woes on the Lawyers; Luke 11:45 - 52
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Washing Hands

August 22, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus does not wash His hands; Luke 11:38

Luke 11:38 (Green's Literal Translation)
38 But watching, the Pharisee marveled that He did not first wash before the dinner.

This same Pharisee who interrupted Jesus in our verse yesterday was now putting Him down because Jesus did not wash His hands.  Was a he a true seeker?  

When we talk to people about Jesus, they will look for the little things in our lives and try to use them against us.  It does not matter how squeaky clean our life is, they will look for some thing to discredit us.  The woman at the well did it with Jesus by trying to change the subject.  Here the Pharisee wants to discredit Jesus because of hand washing.

I am not saying to live a life that is full of sin, that is no good.  On the other hand, people will find what they want in what you do.  They did it with Jesus and they will do it with you.  Keep yourself emotionally and physically well and keep on going. We will see next time that Jesus has his say about things.


Read for next time: Jesus pronounces woes on the Pharisees; Luke 11:39 - 44
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Listening

August 21, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Lunch with a Pharisee Luke 11:37

The guide that I am using for the life of Jesus is available at www.lifeofchrist.com and was created by Ken Palmer as a series of Sunday school lessons.  I sometimes wonder about the way he did things.  Why, many times, does he pick one scripture as part of the life when it blends in with comes before and after the verses.  Today was one of those.  Why pull this verse out and make it a separate one.  It flows so much with what comes after it.

But when you look at it there is a big statement here.

Luke 11:37 (A Conservative Version)
37 Now as he spoke a certain Pharisee asks him that he might dine with him. And having entered in, he sat down.

Did you see it?  Look at the first four words: ‘Now as he spoke...’  Jesus was speaking! This Pharisee just walks up to Jesus and starts talking.  Invites Jesus to have lunch with him.  As a part time teacher I can tell you that while I am talking I do not care to be interrupted.  It is at times like that I am sure my students are glad that I can not call down fire from heaven.  I would leave a lot of burnt toast behind me.  

Jesus however, goes to lunch with Him.  He took the time to listen to what the man had to say.  In our lives, it is often so easy to get mad when someone interrupts us, especially when we are talking. We need to stop and do what Jesus did. Take some time to listen to what they have to say and respond to that.  We may or may not like what we hear, but we need to listen and not respond before we do.

Read for next time: Jesus does not wash His hands; Luke 11:38
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Building Nests

August 19, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: The Lamp of the Body Luke 11:33 - 36

Luke 11:34 (1770 John Worsley NT)
34 The eye is the candle of the body: therefore when thine eye is clear, thy whole body also is light; but when it is bad, thy body also is dark.

I need every day to watch what I put into my eyes.  As I sit here at my desk I watch a stream of things come through my computer. People want me to join them on Facebook, Twitter passes short nuggets of information from people I know and people I would like to meet.  RSS feeds bring me the news from around the world. I never have to leave my desk.

But not everyone is like me. An innocent link may be something I do not want to see. Or worse, a not so innocent one may try to tempt me to go to a site that will make me want to explore things I should not further.

There is an old saying, you cannot stop a bird from landing in your hair, but you can stop him from building a nest.  I cannot stop some of the stuff I see other than to shut off the computer, hard to do when you fix them.  I can however choose not to put stuff into my eyes.  When I do, I make sure the light gets in them, and my whole body is walking in the light.

Read for next time: Lunch with a Pharisee Luke 11:37
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Jonah Miracles

August 16, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Sign of Jonah; Luke 11:29 - 32

Luke 11:29-30 Message Bible
As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: "The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody's looking for proof, but you're looking for the wrong kind. All you're looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you're going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age.

Am I any different? Do I want God to fix things so that I do not have to? Do I want to get through my problems without pain? I want some miracle in my life so that I do not have to go through the pain. No, like Jonah, I will have to search through the conflicts in my life.  And like the people of Nineveh what God presents to me, that is what I have to do, no matter how much the pain may be.

Read for next time: The Lamp of the Body Luke 11:33 - 36
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

What is blessed?

August 16, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:A Woman Blesses Mary; Luke 11:27-28

Luke 11:27-28 (The Common Edition: New Testament)
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you!"
28 But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

An interesting thought. Someone, I assume a Jewish woman but all we know is it is a woman, cries out to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the woman who gave you birth.” The Greek is better translated extremely blessed. She was putting the mother of Jesus above Jesus Himself.

Now, if she believes as Jesus says that He is the Son of God, then she is literally saying that the woman who gave you birth is more important that you are, and to some degree, than God the Father is Himself.  As a Jewish woman, she spoke against the commandments.  She put someone above God and the commandments clearly say that no one is to come before Him. Jesus however deflected it. He said that those who hear the word of God and keep it are the truly blessed ones.

So now, what does that mean to me today?  What person or thing do I have in front of me each day that I lift up and put it higher than God?  Do I worship the blessings or the one who gave them? Can I be hearing the Word of God and do it?  God give me the strength to focus on these things and keep my eyes in the right place.

Read for next time: Sign of Jonah; Luke 11:19 - 32
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

A Body Divided

August 15, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:Blasphemy and Teaching on Demons; Luke 11:14-26

As I have meditated on the scriptures for today, even the one I chose, I have been drawn in so many directions of where to go.

Luke 11:17 (English Standard Version)
17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.

Wow, there are about a half dozen sermons there. But God impressed on me something that I did not want to write about.  Though I write these for myself, I know a few people read them on my Blog and a few other places. I also email them out through Google groups to a few people.  While I am not sure how many actually read them, I know there are some.  And in writing them I have to expose some things about me. Not anything bad, just things.

A few months ago, this devotional took a break from things.  It was not intentional, I was overwhelmed with a new position at work, working three jobs, and a few other things.  I just got to the point where I either did not have time for it or just could not muster up the spiritual strength to write anything.  It had become just works. One of the reasons was that I would sit down, pick a verse and write.  I would not meditate on the scripture, I would just put it out there.

The about a month and a half ago, I had some real personal problems. I am still not out of them, and it will take some time, but God did speak to me about some things.  In my life I have not been what people would call a positive thinker.  And that is what God spoke to me about.  My house, my body, had become a house divided, and it had fallen, now it was time to put it back together again.  God told me to start this up again.  I argued with Him that I was not good enough, but He had a purpose in mind.  One thing He told me was to pick out a scripture for the next day and meditate on it every free moment I had.  What I learned from this may sound strange. When I got my negative thoughts about myself, God would speak and say, ‘meditate on that scripture.’  Doing so would not allow me to meditate on the negative aspects I tended to.

Have I gotten over it?  Nope, the thoughts still creep in from time to time. I still have a tendency to see the negative.  But as I stay in the scriptures, my negative thoughts are not as much.  My body house is not as divided as it was before.

What about your body house?  

Read for next time: A Woman Blesses Mary; Luke 11:27-28
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Faith for everything

August 15, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:Jesus Teaches the Disciples How To Pray; Luke 11:1-13

When you read all of the verses today, they seem to support that group of the ‘faith’ Gospel people that I refer to as the ‘Name it and claim it’ bunch.  I mean, Jesus says that what ever we ask for we will get and backs it up with a parable about a man who persistently knocks on the door to get what he wants by wearing the man down.

But Jesus then says some interesting things.  He talks about how parents will not give their children bad things.  

Luke 11:13 (Revised King James New Testament)
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

So we have conflict here. On one hand we have verses that say we can have what we want even if it is not good for us, and then Jesus says that even good parents will not give something bad to their children.  

So we are faced with the decision. Can we have what ever we want?  I say no.  God can not give us what is not good for us.  That is not to say that we cannot reach out and grab it if it is dangling in front of us.  That is also not to say that after grabbing it, that some good can come out of it. But God will not give it to us.

So, in short, be careful what you pray for, the devil is listening also and can dangle something out in front of you that you should not have.


Read for next time: Blasphemy and Teaching on Demons; Luke 11:14-26
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Guest Preaching

August 14, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:Martha Prepares while Mary listens; Luke 10:38 - 42

If someone came to visit you at your house would  you expect to have them preach to you?  Why not?

Luke 10:38-39 (Weymouth NT (1912))
38 As they pursued their journey He came to a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.

Jesus went to the house of Martha and Mary.  From verse 39 we can assume it was Martha’s house and most likely she was a widow.  Martha welcomed Jesus to the house and then set about doing the work to make Him welcomed.  Like so many of us, we welcome Jesus into our lives and then set about trying to do works to gain His approval.  As we can see, it is not the best way to do things.

But notice with verse 39, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while He preached.  Somehow, I cannot imagine any one I know being invited into someones house and then break out into preaching to them.  While I can, but those are usually the fanatics that do not get invited to anyplace too much after that.

Yet Jesus preaches to them.  Is this something that He could do because He was Jesus?  Was it something in Him that drew people to Him.  While I am sure that is part of it, I wonder if it is something that we can recreate today.  Is it possible to talk to someone about Jesus and minister without it coming off as preachy and pushy?  While Jesus was pushy at times, I wonder if this was just a normal discussion that He was able to sneak in some truths into.

Your thoughts?

Read for next time: Jesus Teaches the Disciples How To Pray; Luke 11:1-13
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list

Do I have to?

August 12, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today:Parable of the Good Samaritan; Luke 10:29 - 37
You know, there are some verses in the Bible that I would like to just tear out and pretend that were not there. I know that no one else is like that, I must be the only one.  

Luke 10:37 (American King James Version)
37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus to him, Go, and do you likewise.

Ouch!  Is there any way that we can say this differently folks. I looked at a few different translations and they all say about the same.  Even the wordy Amplified says it about the same.  

I mean, do I have to do this God?  Do I have to forgive those who want to push my buttons and get me angry (even if I do not get angry)?  Do I have to love those who do not want to love me and in fact will try to use me?  

Yes, God says, you do.  You have to show mercy on those who are unlovable.

Read for next time: Martha Prepares while Mary listens; Luke 10:38 - 42
Visit http://dailydevotionbob.blogspot.com/ for more tools and sign up for mailing list