APRIL 6, 2017

“God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.” 
― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

JUDGES 18-19

1In those days Israel had no king.

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”(18:1-2)

LUKE 10:25-42

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^c ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^d ”

28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii^eand gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

JOURNAL 

Some of the stories in Judges are really strange. I often wonder why they are in the Bible...yet it is in these moments that I realize that one of the reasons is that they are true. Truth often is messy and doesn't fit neatly into my preconceived notions of how life should go. As a result it is sometimes difficult to see and accept the truth of my own life. Just as it is difficult to accept the truth and reality of someone else's life. 

This is the beauty of the story of the good samaritan that Jesus tells to the "expert in the law". He described a scenario that socially was taboo but yet framed it in a way that made the point that all humanity and everyone who is hurting and in need is our "neighbor". Our lives are to be lived in service and sacrifice and often that will mean clashing with socially accepted norms. 

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 JOHN 4:7-12

APRIL 5, 2017

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” 
― Warren Buffett

JUDGES 15-17

15Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

17So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^c And his strength left him.(16:15-19)

LUKE 10:1-24

1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^a others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

JOURNAL 

Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples ahead of him to help prepare the people for his visit. This is really fascinating to think about. They are the first missionaries of the kingdom. Going out into hostile territory. They are to work for what they get as evidenced by the phrase "for the worker deserves his wages". I wonder exactly what they were sent to do? No matter the details...they were sent and were definitely accompanied by the spirit of God, for upon their return they state that "even the demons submit to us in your name".

Thinking about this juxtaposed with the story of Samson gives a very clear picture that the spirit of God was actively working in peoples lives before pentecost. To follow a mission from God must be done with his spirit or it is doomed to fail.

23Sing to the Lord, all the earth;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

24Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

1 CHRONICLES 16:23-24

APRIL 4, 2017

“God repeatedly uses the least-likely and least-prepared individuals (ourselves included) to make the deepest impact on our world.” 
― Dillon Burroughs, Activist Faith: From Him and For Him

JUDGES 12-14

2A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”(13:2-5)

LUKE 9:37-62

46An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

JOURNAL 

God seems to work in ways that defy conventional wisdom. We assume that the strongest, smartest, most blessed are who God favors and yet scripture gives us a very different picture. Scripture continually shows us that God takes the least likely and does great things through them. This is a lesson in perseverance and in judging ourselves, others and circumstances. We never really know what God is up to and often it is the opposite of what we would predict. Just as Jesus says "For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest."

26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^d

1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-31

APRIL 3, 2017

“Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.” 
― Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy

JUDGES 10-11

29Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

32Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

34When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

36“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

38“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition 40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.(11:29-40)

LUKE 9:1-36

23Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

JOURNAL 

There are some verses and stories in the Bible that truly are troubling and seem to contradict themselves. The story of Jephthah and his daughter is one of them. It seems inconceivable to me and just simply wrong. How does a man because of a senseless oath that he made with God, kill his own daughter? How does this honor God? I guess when I really research it...Jephthah had embraced canaanite practices even though God used him and he was committed to God. 

Just because we may dedicate our lives to God, it doesn't prevent us from doing foolish things and making foolish promises etc. Jephthah was bargaining with God and didnt trust God to deliver victory as God had promised. So he made a foolish vow...he tried to control God and therefore cost his daughter her life.

This goes hand in hand with the verse from Luke, being willing to abandon my own agenda and surrender to God means accepting whatever may happen as I serve and obey God. It means I don't bargain or try to manipulate...it simply means I trust and obey. 

13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^a ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^b 15If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

GALATIANS 5:13-15

APRIL 1, 2017

“Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.” 
― Philip Yancey

JUDGES 6-7

11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”(6:11-16)

LUKE 8:1-21

11“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

JOURNAL 

I absolutely love the story of Gideon...he is a nobody and yet God uses him, chooses him to lead a band of just 300 men to overcome tens of thousands. I love that our God is a God of underdogs, I love that he continually uses the least to accomplish the greatest feats. Jesus confirms that it is the heart that really matters. Not the strongest or the one who has the most but those whose hearts are noble and good and that hear the word, retain it and produce a crop. 

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

GALATIANS 5:22-26