God Is Serious About Covenants

In Deuteronomy 29, we find Moses and the nation of Israel in the land of Moab, poised to finally enter the land of promise. Some are surprised to learn that God makes another covenant with His people (29:1). Moses rehearses the history of how the Lord freed them from slavery, took care of them through their wilderness wanderings, and helped them defeat their enemies.  They are encouraged to keep the terms of the covenant so that God will establish and bless them.

Interestingly, this covenant not only involved the Israelites presently living but also those yet to come (29:14-15). The temptation to fall into idolatry would remain a reality for them as well.  Sadly, some would choose to give in to the temptation and Moses has strong words of warning concerning the consequences of such a choice: “It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law.” (Deuteronomy 29:19–21).

Covenant keeping is very serious business with God!  We can choose to rebel but there is a high price to pay.  Imagine God not being willing to forgive you.  Imagine bearing the brunt of every curse.  Imagine having your name blotted out.  Imagine being singled out for adversity from God.  Think very carefully before ignoring the terms of any covenant with God.  We may think we can have “peace” in our stubbornness but, in reality, it's only an illusion.

 

God loves you!

Mike 

The Incredible Power Of A Pronoun

“A priest resigned this month after his diocese announced that thousands of baptisms he had performed were invalid because he had changed a single word. He said, "We baptize you... ," instead of "I baptize you..." ...In a letter to his parish, Arango wrote: "It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula. I deeply regret my error and how this has affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere." ...He said he resigned, effective Feb. 1, so he could "dedicate my energy and full time ministry to help remedy this and heal those affected." ...Those who believe they or their children were baptized by Arango can fill out a form online to be properly baptized. Subsequent sacraments, including marriage, may need to be repeated by those who had invalid baptisms performed by Arango, according to the Diocese of Phoenix.”*

            My purpose in sharing segments from the news article referenced above is not to mock any particular religious group.  The Lord knows that my own religious heritage has plenty of its own foibles.  I just use it as one example of how humans have a tendency to “...strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” as Jesus said on one occasion. Sometimes we have trouble getting out of our own way.  May I suggest some things to think about?

            First, baptism is a work of God in which we have the privilege of participation (1 Corinthians 12:13)  The power isn’t in what we do or don’t do.  Second, if the “baptismal formula” shared by the Lord in Matthew 28:19 (“baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”) is the inviolable standard, then Peter himself messed it up on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).  Third, if the words used when baptizing were so important, why is no mention of them made in all the examples of baptism in the book of Acts?

            Just food for thought…

 

God loves you!

Mike

*https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/baptisms-performed-phoenix-priest-invalid-changed-one-word-rcna16268 

God, Do You Know What You're Doing?

“Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name”” (Acts 9:10-14).

Sometimes it's difficult to obey the Lord.  The job God has for Ananias in Acts 9 certainly qualifies as difficult!  To his credit, when Ananias initially receives the vision from the Lord, he responds promptly and willingly.  But as God gets into the details of the mission, Ananias begins to have some reservations.  God wants him to go minister to Saul of Tarsus!  The very one we learned earlier in the chapter who was “...breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1).  Ananias has heard the reports.  At this point in the vision, he begins to back-pedal a bit.  If you read between the lines of his actual words, the sense seems to be: “God, are You sure You know what you are doing here?”

Does God know what He is doing?  Of course.  In a less stressful moment, I’m sure Ananias would readily affirm the same thing.  But when faced with something difficult, it’s easy to begin to second guess the Lord.  It happened to Moses (Exodus 3-4).  It happened to Peter (Acts 10:13-14).  It’s instructive here that God doesn’t reprimand Ananias for his questioning.  But neither does He let him off the hook.  We are to do and trust God for the rest.

 

God loves you!

Mike

Parenting Is Hard

“When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. The more they called them, the more they went from them; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them” (Hosea 11:1-3).

Parenting, especially when done the right way, can be one of the most difficult jobs in the universe.  And as the verses listed above reveal, even the Creator of the universe understands the struggle.  You can hear the pain in the Father’s voice as He recalls His efforts to nurture His children -- the nation of Israel.  His great love for them was evidenced in so many ways.  In their infancy as a nation, He freed them from Egyptian bondage and brought them to Mt. Sinai.  He taught them to walk through giving them laws and statues to guide them as they matured in their faith.

But, sadly, God’s children rejected His benevolent attempts to lovingly parent them.  They rebelled against Him and, to make matters worse, turned to serve other gods.  The Father repeatedly reached out to His wayward children through the prophets, calling them to repentance.  But the call mostly fell on deaf ears.  The harder God worked to reach them, the farther the children went into idolatry.  The Father longed to wrap them in His healing arms but they didn’t know and didn’t care.

If we are people of faith, God is our Father and we are His children.  Let’s encourage each other to make His job a delight rather than a difficulty.  Our heavenly Father loves us more than we could ever know.  It breaks His heart when we reject His love and chase after other “gods,” whatever form they take.  Thankfully, He doesn’t give up easily.  He calls us to repentance and longs for us to return His love.  Will we heed His call or will we ignore Him and face His discipline as Israel did?

God loves you!

Mike

There's One Born Every Minute

“In the long history of con artists, George C. Parker holds a special place of dishonor. He is remembered as one of the most successful and daring swindlers in American history. He set up an office in New York City and “sold” some of the city’s most famous attractions to tourists. His favorite was the Brooklyn Bridge, but he also sold the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden, and Grant’s Tomb. He produced elaborately forged documents and deeds to convince his targets that he was the rightful owner of the landmarks he was selling.

“Parker was so persuasive that on more than one occasion, police had to come and explain why the new “owners” of the Brooklyn Bridge couldn’t put up tollbooths to collect money from those who tried to cross. After his third conviction for fraud, Parker was sentenced to life at Sing Sing Prison in New York, where he spent the last eight years of his life. He dishonestly made a fortune preying on people who foolishly believed his empty words. He not only was an expert salesman, but he realized that many people were gullible and he could use that to his advantage” (ministry127.com).

Con artists can even be found in religion (Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:3).  The stakes are even higher here because the deception can have eternal consequences.  Maybe that’s why the Bible has so many warnings about not being gullible.  We need to be grown-ups in our thinking (1 Corinthians 14:20).  We should live wisely (Ephesians 5:15-17).  Why?  Because not everyone who quotes the Bible has our best interests at heart (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).  That’s why each of us needs to study the Scriptures for ourselves and not just trust someone else to have the answers for us (Acts 17:11).  We need to develop the skills to handle the word of truth accurately because not everyone else will (2 Timothy 2:15).  Don’t be a sucker for a religious huckster!  There’s no excuse for it.

God loves you!

Mike

I'm Glad God Is Different

         “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; indeed He will roar and His sons will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD” (Hosea 11:8-11).

         The judgment of the northern kingdom of Israel in Hosea’s day was inevitable.  Due to her sin and rebellion, God was sending the nation into Assyrian captivity.  Enough was enough!  But that doesn’t mean that God enjoyed punishing His people or that He was done with them forever.  The verses from Hosea 11 listed above make that clear. The long-suffering and compassionate heart of God is clearly on display in the text.  You can hear the emotions in the words used.  In spite of all the pain to be experienced in the present, Israel would eventually enjoy God’s renewed blessings.  The day would eventually come when the repentant remnant would be restored.

A phrase in verse 9 stands out to me: “For I am God and not man…”  The contrast in the context is evident.  Likely most of us humans, put in the same situation as God in dealing with Israel, would have written them off for good.  “I don’t have to be treated like this!”  “They don’t deserve another chance!”  “I will show them who they are dealing with.” But God is different.

We are called to be like God in some ways.  But we can also be so thankful that God is not like us in other ways.

God loves you!

Mike

Course Correction

Following the martyrdom of Stephen, a young, ambitious Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus saw a golden opportunity for advancement and seized it.  The Jewish leadership in Jerusalem was anxious to stamp out the fledgling Christian movement and Saul knew he was just the man for the job.  Luke records it this way: “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2).

But something happened on the road between Jerusalem and Damascus, something young Saul could have never imagined.  “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”  And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting…” (Acts 9.3-5).  Saul is confronted by the Risen Lord and from that moment on, his life would never be the same.  The persecutor of Christianity was about to become the promoter of Christianity!

Saul learned many things that day in the dust of the Damascus road.  One big lesson learned was that persecuting the followers of Jesus is the same as persecuting Him.  At another level, the Bible also teaches that to oppose Jesus is to oppose God Himself (Luke 10.16; Matthew 25.40,45).  It’s a package deal.  Saul thought he was serving God by killing and imprisoning Christians and opposing Jesus (Acts 26.9).  Instead, he discovered he was doing the very thing his revered teacher Gamaliel had warned against: fighting against God (Acts 5:38-39).  And that’s a battle no man can win.

To his credit, Saul learned his lessons, corrected his course, and realigned himself with God’s purposes.  Are we willing to do the same when the Lord confronts us?

God loves you!

Mike