DECEMBER 7, 2021

  “The Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most temporal part of time--for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

DANIEL 9-10

12Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”(10:12-14) 

2 JOHN 

4It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

JOURNAL 

Driving this morning I had a thought...how often do I really just focus on the present? While driving I realized multiple thoughts were processing in my head. From the trivial to the serious, from the funny to the sad, from the complex to simple. None of which were about the moment I was in. This is how I live my life and I daresay most of humanity does the same. Remembering back to Jesus' words he knew this to be a problem. He addressed it many times. Even his model prayer was about the moment..."give us this day our daily bread".  Not a weeks worth, nor a month or a year...just today. 

I wonder how much I really miss of God around me because of all the competing thoughts. How often do I miss clues to his desire for me, opportunities to love to participate in building his kingdom. If I am to walk in obedience to God then I must meet him where he commands me to show up. Right here, right now. 

9“This, then, is how you should pray:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us today our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation,^a

but deliver us from the evil one.^b ’

MATTHEW 6:9-13

DECEMBER 6, 2021

  "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”  

― Blaise Pascal

DANIEL 7-8

1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.(7:1) 

1 JOHN 5

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

JOURNAL 

Scott Peck wrote a book about evil called "People of the Lie". In the book he defines evil...

"Evil people hate the light because it reveals themselves to themselves. They hate goodness because it reveals their badness; they hate love because it reveals their laziness. They will destroy the light, the goodness, the love in order to avoid the pain of such self-awareness."

I confess that I don't like confronting my sin, my failures, my own potential for evil. Yet it absolutely exists and avoiding this reality is dangerous. This is why it is so critical to bind our hearts and minds to scripture. Doing so exposes our sin and humbles us to God. Without this humbling...we are in danger of avoiding the reality of our own sin. In this state it is easy to slip into a place where we avoid relationship with God. When this happens, our motives and intentions can become twisted in ways that actually use scripture and religious conviction in ways that promote fear and hate rather than love. 

The chief task in this life is to live our lives in full unabashed relationship with God.  By doing so we gain a power and an understanding of life that is beyond us. It gives us a love that is beyond the trivial love so often spoken of in our world. To give our lives in obedience to God anchors us psychologically and spiritually to the creator of truth and love.  This rock, this foundation will give stability through the wildest storms, it gives contentment and peace no matter the circumstances.

Yet to reject God and relationship with him will cut us free from the anchor of truth and love and destine us to drift and be pummeled and scattered by every storm. It is not a pretty fate, for it pits us against God himself. 

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2

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