Philemon (ESV) by Wordle*

1 Timothy 1 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Philemon 1:1-25; 1 Timothy 1:1-20.

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service…” (1 Timothy 1:12).

I am truly humbled by Paul’s statement here. Paul understood that whatever strength he had wasn’t his own. Therefore, he thanked Jesus for the strength he had.

I rarely thank God for my strength. Rather, I want to come to God and show my strength to Him as if it is something with which He should be impressed. “Hey, God, look at me and my strength. Have you seen everything I’ve done for You. Pretty good, huh?” That wasn’t Paul. No doubt, Paul recognized his own involvement in the work he had done. But he was no fool. Whatever he had accomplished had been by the strength given to Him from Jesus Christ. Without Jesus he could accomplish nothing. Thus, Paul’s strength was not his gift to Jesus. Rather, it was Jesus’ gift to him.

I don’t want to think this way. I want to think that somehow I can be strong and show Jesus how strong I can be. However, when I pursue that course, I always fail. How could I possibly think I can impress Jesus with my strength?

Today, I need to recognize I don’t have any gifts to give Jesus. I need the gifts He has to give me. I just need to turn to Him for that and be thankful.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Click the following link in order to add your input: Post a comment.

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Today’s illustrations are provided by the wordle tool at Wordle.net. You can find my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Matthew 5:1-6:34.

It is tough narrowing down something to write about on today’s reading. After all, I’ve written an entire book on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. But there is one statement that almost always stands out to me as I read this sermon.

Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

That verse simply surprises me. Of course, there are the obvious things not mentioned here. It doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for money, wealth, health, fame, power, influence, pleasure, a good time, happiness…” It says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

However, there are some even more surprising omissions from this verse. Notice that it doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for mercy, forgiveness, grace, heaven.” That surprises me because those are usually the things I hunger for. However, that is not who Jesus claims is really blessed.

What is the real motivation for my action? Is my hunger simply to receive God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness? At times it is. Sadly, when my hunger is to receive God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness, I’m still satisfied with living in my sins. After all, it is my sin that increases God’s mercy and grace. Having sin is not such a bad thing when my motivation is just to receive God’s grace. I can even turn it into this great spiritual thing of “Look at how much I love God because of how much I have to be forgiven” (cf. Luke 7:47). Of course, I know this motivation doesn’t work because Paul said it didn’t in Romans 6:1-2.

Is my real motivation just trying to get to heaven? Sometimes it is. Sadly, when that is my motivation, I usually have a checklist mentality trying to earn something.

Consider the following self-conversation I might go through when my motivation is just trying to get to heaven. “Alright, what have I got to do today so I can go to heaven? Read my Bible; check. Prayed; check. Gone to church; check. Served someone; wait a minute, how much serving do I really have to do? I served someone a few weeks ago, surely that is enough to go to heaven; check. Have I done anything that will keep me out of heaven? Committed adultery; Nope. Committed murder; Nope. Stolen; Nope. Lusted; oops. Guess I better get my prayer of confession out of the way so that one won’t be on my record. Dear God, forgive me for sinning today. Prayer of confession; check. Alright I’m good. Now I can go on with the rest of my life doing what I really want to do.”

Do you see how that probably isn’t the best possible approach to serving God? 

However, what if my motivation were really that I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness? My mourning is not because I’m going to hell, but is because I’m not righteous. I’ve fallen short of God’s glory. Now there’s some real poverty of spirit. My meekness is not merely enough to scrape by so that I can slide into heaven’s gates just before they come crashing closed. No, it is about surrendering to God because I know His way will make me righteous. When I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I’m not interested in checklists or earning anything. I’m not interested in minimum requirements of holiness or maximum allowances for temptation and sin. I’m not trying to figure out how far down a path of immorality I can go before I’m no longer allowed to go to heaven. When I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I’m interested in one thing. 

What does God want me to do next?

That’s it. That’s my only concern. I don’t get bogged down in arguments about have-tos, requirements, proof. I just want to know what is God’s next right thing for me. I won’t ask, “Haven’t I already done enough of that?” I’ll just do whatever is the right thing to do. 

When that is my motivation, so many of the modern religious arguments get flushed down the drain. Suddenly, I no longer have to argue about whether God’s way is the right way. I just do it because I know it is. I know His way will make me righteous.

Finally, when hungering and thirsting for righteousness is my motivation, I no longer compartmentalize my life. With the other motivations, I do. I try to figure out what I have to do to get forgiveness, when that is done, I move on to other things. I try to figure out what I have to do to go to heaven, when I’m done I can move on with the rest of my life. When my hunger is righteousness, it doesn’t end. Even after following God for weeks in His righteousness, I’m still hungry for that and so I’m still asking, “What is the next right thing?”

I have to ask myself, “What am I really hungry for?”

***Question: How do you increase your hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is II John 1-13; III John 1-15.

For years, I’m told preaching was focused so much on obeying and serving the Lord it merely filled folks with fear that they could never actually be saved. Gratefully, preachers, teachers, and Christians in general have begun to recognize the importance of love, grace, and mercy.

However, I fear that in the knee-jerk reaction to the preaching of hellfire and brimstone that caused so many to lose heart and abandon the faith too many are going so far the other way that there are more proclaiming faith, they just don’t have saving faith. Today we hear repeatedly that Christianity is just about love. Sadly, so many act as if this love is just having a warm fuzzy in their heart when Jesus is in the air. As long as they have great feelings about Jesus, they think they are good with God.

II John 6 says, “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”

Love is extremely important. No doubt, love is attitude and feeling. However, we must remember we can’t claim to love God without striving to submit to His commandments. Loving God means walking according to His commandments. 

I hope you have wonderful feelings about God. I hope you have a good attitude about serving God. But remember, loving God means actually doing what He wants not just whatever you want.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?