Holy Rambo

DDG, Unit 20, Session 4, Day 1 – John 1:19-34             Today’s Gospel Project Daily Study makes an incredibly profound point. Once we become acquainted with the basics of Christian doctrine and practice, we often want to move on to the “deeper” things. I think there has been a limitation in the way we have prepared Christians for their walk with Jesus when we can say that we understand the core of Christianity and are ready for “more,” whatever “more” means. One of the most challenging days I had as a believer came when I realized that the deepest truth of Christianity was encapsulated in the words of a hymn we relegate to children. “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” It is one thing to say that we have heard this truth and accepted it. It is something else entirely to say I have experienced it in its fullness and have learned to live it out in all its particulars.       ...

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."                           Matthew 10:16 (NASB)     Pastors generally are a decent group of people who have difficult jobs working with people who are hurting and needy. It breeds a certain special kind of compassion. It also sometimes leaves them open to the occasional scam artist. We generally have the tools to keep ourselves out of trouble with people coming in person (thank you church boards), but it seems like once or twice each year, we get an email from some pastor or another on our district warning us that their email has been hacked and not to respond to requests for financial assistance. Most pastors are not noted for their tech savvy.     As a pastor and an IT professional, I always cringe a little when those emails come. Many of our pastors have the "innocent as doves" part down (med...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 5 – 1 Corinthians 1:1-14             Temptation can be a tricky thing. It often starts off subtle. Something seen out of the corner of your eye, or a thought that pops up out of nowhere. We may even dismiss it out of hand the first time we encounter it. If we’re not careful, though, before long we have pulled that thing out and we’re contemplating it. Toying with it. Play with it too long, and it feels like we simply cannot escape it.             God’s promise in today’s scripture reading says differently. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NASB)         ...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 4 – Mark 1:12-13             “Why?” may actually be a very important question to ask when we face times of difficulty, but it may also be intensely difficult to answer.   If you find yourself in a bad spot because of something you did, you need to address that. Nothing in our walk with Jesus in designed to protect us from the consequences of our own actions. Sometimes life just happens. This is not to suggest that God doesn’t care or is caught unaware, but we are not exempt from the normal ebb and flow of life either. Sometimes, bad things happen. We get sick. Accidents happen. Economies rise and fall. Pandemics happen. And sometimes the path to God’s best for us leads us into unpleasant places. Once we are certain that we have not caused our own problem, I think the question of “why” becomes not so easy or important to answer.             A...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 3 - Luke 4:9-13             “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your.” “Quid pro quo.” Phrases that come and go in the popular parlance, but the principle is the same. Our relationships are often transactional. I come to work for a full work, and I get a paycheck on payday. We pay our taxes and the police come when a crime is committed. I pay for my internet and I get to post these blogs. Business relationships are supposed to be transactional. It is their nature. Some relationships are not supposed to be that way, though. They are to be rooted in love. Family. Church. Friends. Transactional expectations ruin those relationships.             It is that way with God. He loves us. He doesn’t love us because we repented. He doesn’t love us because we gave our lives to Him. He doesn’t love us because we overcome temptation. He loves us because He is God. He blesses us out of His love and wisdom. He do...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 2- Luke 4:5-8      Do you ever feel like God just isn’t working quickly enough? He made promises, and it just seems to take forever. We wonder if He is going to come through at all. Other times, we are looking at a situation where our desired outcome is on the other side of some unpleasantness that we wish could be avoided, if only God would intervene.              Jesus had a short life and a horrible death before Him at this point in Luke’s gospel. He knew He was the rightful ruler of all the earth. Jesus does not challenge Satan’s claim of authority of the earth’s kingdoms, nor does He acknowledge it. He does state emphatically that only God is to be worshiped. Jesus would not be sidetracked from His mission to take a short-cut to what was to be His, on the other side of the cross. You think you have to go through tough times? I doubt there’s a crucifixion in your future. Or, a...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 1- Luke 4:1-4      I noticed specifically something I have tended to read past in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Satan’s first recorded words to Jesus are “If you are the Son of God…” He used food as the “in” to get the conversation started. He came to Jesus when He was hungry. And be certain, He really was hungry. I don’t think the food was the real question. Would this have been an easy thing for Jesus? Of course, it would have. Didn’t He go on to feed thousands on more than one occasion? A little bread for Himself would have been little more than a parlor trick. Satan wanted Jesus to question Himself. He wanted to sow seeds of doubt.       This is like the approach he took with Eve in the garden. “Did God really say…” Never a head on question. Never a straight-forward assertion. An oblique question hinting at something deeper. Always linked to something desirable close at hand. Something that, in and o...