DECEMBER 5, 2021

  “You cannot talk about grit. You have to embody it.

You cannot talk about faith. You have to live it.
You cannot talk about the desert. You have to cross it.” 
― Dragos Bratasanu, The Pursuit of Dreams

DANIEL 5-6

1It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”(6:1-5) 

1 JOHN 4

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.

13This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because he first loved us. 20Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

JOURNAL 

John makes it very clear...We are to love one another and if we don't, then God is not operating, but something dark and outside of God. He also makes the distinction that there is no fear in love. So if we are operating in fear that means we are operating apart from love and therefore apart from God.

Not long ago I was talking with a friend on how reading the Bible every day can be somewhat discouraging. Reason being is that it exposes how far I constantly stray from God and his love. Even in the midst of life-changing truth, my mind will wander into darkness. Yet here is where the power of God really begins to show up in my life and heart. Because when these moments of darkness enter and I choose love instead of fear and hate, then that is evidence of God. 

Every day there is a choice, trust God or not. Daily there are moments when it feels like the whole world is against me. There are days when things do not go my way. What I do in those moments and on those days really matters. When I don't feel like working and I work anyway, when I don't feel like forgiving and I forgive anyway, when I don't feel like reading the Bible and I do it anyway. This is the evidence of God. It is the confirmation  that despite all the negativity in the world and within my own heart and mind...a light truly exists that shines through the darkness and fills dark hearts with love and joy. 

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. 

1 JOHN 4:7-8

DECEMBER 4, 2021

 “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”

― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

DANIEL 3-4

34At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;

his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

35All the peoples of the earth

are regarded as nothing.

He does as he pleases

with the powers of heaven

and the peoples of the earth.

No one can hold back his hand

or say to him: “What have you done?”

36At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.(4:34-37) 

1 JOHN 3

11This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. 13So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

18Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. 

JOURNAL 

John continues to claim that the evidence of God is love...over and over. He calls into the comparison Cain and Abel and aligns hating our brothers to murder. That's a tough one and yet when I really think about it I realize that there are those times when I felt anger to the point that given the right circumstance it might well have boiled over into violence and death. That's a very sobering realization. I never want to believe that I would be capable of such a thing and yet if I am really honest with myself and trust scripture then the truth is that I am...and so is everyone who walks this earth. 

This is why doing life on my own and without dependence on God's spirit is the height of stupidity. Why would I ever think that I could manage it on my own?? Answer...because that's our human nature. The same wonderful gifts of creativity and intellectual power are also dangerous tools without the love of God. The best I can do is to err in love, not judgement. While as a parent and adult it will be necessary at times to pass judgement, make decisions and enforce consequences the default and the spirit of those actions must be rooted in love...never hate. 

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^e 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^f 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^g There is no commandment greater than these.”

MARK 12:29-31

DECEMBER 3, 2021

 “Love each other dearly always. There is scarcely anything else in the world but that: to love one another.” 

― Victor Hugo

DANIEL 1-2

27Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these: (2:27-28) 

1 JOHN 2

9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^b is still in the darkness. 10Anyone who loves their brother and sister^c lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them...

...15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^d is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

JOURNAL 

So here is the word...John makes a definitive claim...how do we know those who live in the light...it's based on love of our brothers and the deep object of our desires. We are to therefore love our fellow brothers and sisters and not the world. John makes it very clear that this is our test...this is the litmus test for our hearts. This is how we know. 

It is interesting and I think intended to be a personal guide and not one that is used to accuse others...for that in essence would not be loving. This is how we should come before God every morning. We should be asking do I have hate in my heart for anyone and if so I should be seeking forgiveness from God and seeking to make amends. I likewise should be asking if I love this world (possessions, power, position, money) more than God and others. If so...I need to seek forgiveness and give them up in position in my heart. To me I can sum it all up in the question "am I giving love or seeking it?" Whenever I find myself seeking love from anything other than God himself...I am at risk of becoming 

This is a simple but tough call and it really cannot be refuted. This is the essence of believing in Christ. This is the foundation of the faith. To do otherwise is simply a way of using God and scripture for my own selfish purposes. 

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^e 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^f 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^g There is no commandment greater than these.”

MARK 12:29-31

DECEMBER 2, 2021

  “You’ll never know who you are unless you shed who you pretend to be.” 

― Vironika Tugaleva

EZEKIEL 47-48

“And the name of the city from that time on will be:

THE LORD IS THERE.” (48:35) 

1 JOHN 1

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^b sin.

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

JOURNAL 

Humility and Honesty are the foundation of this letter. Here again we have a former disciple of Christ, having walked with Jesus, having experienced the resurrection and here he is writing letters to christians all over Asia Minor. He cautions against claiming something and not living it...which is thereby using Christ and or moral superiority as a means to puff up or disguise one's sin. 

It is interesting that the exact same warnings issued 2000 years ago...apply today. It is not our stuff, our technology, social media etc...the problem is in our hearts. Going back to scripture affirms that God just wants us to surrender to him, be truly grateful for where we are at this moment in time, and follow him in making the most and the best of it. It doesn't matter if it's 2000 years ago, yesterday, today, tomorrow or 2000 years from now...God's message is still the same. 

11The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

ISAIAH 58:11

DECEMBER 1, 2021

 “When an individual is motivated by great and powerful convictions of truth, then he disciplines himself, not because of the demands of the church, but because of the knowledge within his heart” 

― Gordon B. Hinckley

EZEKIEL 45-46

9“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. (44:9) 

2 PETER 3

14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

JOURNAL 

In the end its all about "growing in the grace and knowledge" of Christ. To see that Peter and Paul are of one spirit and one intent and that each of them warn of being deceived.  It is imperative that my own faith journey continue in this vein. It is of paramount importance to keep a discipline of reading scripture, thinking and meditating on it. For this is where God's ultimate truth is found. This is where I gain the knowledge and strength to counter my own misguided emotions and thoughts as well as those of others. 

More and more I realize that we are to love but never to make any human anything other that what they are...broken, sinful but still a child of God. Therefore we are to love, forgive, have grace but trust in God and God alone.

22Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

23They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”

25The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

26it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

LAMENTATIONS 3:22-26