March 31st 2012

During the Passover meal they wouldn’t just use any sort of bread, they would use a special kind of bread called Matzah or unleavened bread was used, but why is this so important?

Read Matthew 26:26 and journal your thoughts

Whenever we read the Scriptures we usually see that yeast is viewed as a bad thing. This raises the question; what is so bad about yeast? Why is it that it is almost always seen as this negative thing? Today when we think about adding yeast to dough we think of opening a small packet and pouring this powder into the batch, but in their time and culture it looked very different. For the ancient Jews, yeast was added by taking a small piece of old bread and adding it to the new bread. Eventually the yeast from the old bread would be mixed throughout the new batch.

Now the ancient Rabbi saw this as a parallel to humanities sin. At one point we were pure, but now there is this old, rotten, nasty piece of us that is passed from generation to generation. While the leavened bread was seen in relation to our sin, unleavened bread was seen as pure, whole, it was seen as the way we should be.

So when Jesus holds up the bread and says “this is my body”, he is making a direct reference to this bread. Jesus is saying that he is like this bread that is untainted by the old, nasty, rotting bread of the past. That he is pure, he is what we should look like.

Today meditate on what it means that Jesus was like the Matzah, and meditate on what it means then when we live like Jesus

**NOTE: All the journals this week were inspired by Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. I cannot recommend this book enough!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AKPFT4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=engedrescen-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002AKPFT4

March 30th 2012

What is it about sitting around the dinner table that is so important in our lives? It’s almost like there is this connection between us when we simply sit and eat. But was there significance to sitting at the table and eating in the Jewish culture?

Read Matthew 26:20-21 and journal your thoughts

Have you ever been in one of those moments where something just wasn’t right? It is not even something you can really put your finger on. There is just a weird vibe and all you know is something’s. Not. Right. No matter which Gospel you read, the Last Supper has this strange sort of vibe to it doesn’t it? We understand this because we know what’s about to happen, but most of us reading this get that this must have been a pretty strange scene.

What makes this scene particularly strange is when we understand the cultural significance of sharing a meal together. For the ancient Jews sharing a meal was a sign of peace, trust, and forgiveness. In fact if two people were fighting they would share a meal as a sign of peace between them (Genesis 31:45-55).

Take a moment and reflect on the implications of sharing a meal in the story of the Prodigal’s Son (Luke 15:11-32).

As sacred as simply sharing a meal was, the Passover meal was especially sacred because they are sharing a lamb that has been sacrificed to God. Traditionally a Passover lamb had to be completely consumed so nothing was left, and usually a lamb could feed at least 15 people. Now if at a traditional meal peace had to exist between everyone at the table, then what does it look like when an animal sacrificed to God is involved? At the Passover meal, peace had to exist between you and everyone else at the table, and between you and everyone at the table and God. Considering Judas’ actions, could this explain the tension at that Passover meal?

What does this understanding of the Passover meal mean for us when we share communion? So often we hear of sharing communion as having peace between us and God. So before communion we have this time of reflection so we can confess our sins before God. But what does this understanding of communion imply? We should also have peace with each other!

As we go into Holy Week, may you discover peace in all your relationships.

**NOTE: All the journals this week were inspired by Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. I cannot recommend this book enough!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AKPFT4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=engedrescen-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002AKPFT4

March 29th 2012

This week, as we go into Holy Week, we are going to look at some of the questions surrounded this whole event.

What is the deal with Mary and the perfume?

Read John 12:1-8 and journal your thoughts.

For most of us whenever we read this passage we tend to read it looking backwards. We know that Jesus is going to die in a week, and Jesus makes this point in verse 7 about being prepared for his burial. So many times we stop there, Mary is just preparing Jesus for his burial. But here’s the problem, Jesus knew it was coming, not Mary. So what is going on here? What is Mary really doing here?

Turn to 1 Kings 1:39 and journal your thoughts

Normally, when you think of the process where someone becomes a king, we usually picture this whole crowning ceremony. I’m sure right now, you can recall endless movie scenes of this very thing. In the Jewish culture their process was different. Instead of having a crowning ceremony they anoint the new king with a strong smelling oil so that he would smell like a king, then they would essentially parade him among his people.

Now re-read John 12:1-8, then check out John 12:12-14 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch it? The very next day was the Triumphant Entry! Mary isn’t planning on his death, that’s the last thing on her mind. Mary recognizes who Jesus is and anoints him as a king! The next day they are going to march him among his people, who would have smelled him and also recognized him as their king.

As you mediate on the events of Holy Week, please note that the fragrance of this perfume/oil would have stayed with Jesus throughout his last week (yes it was that strong).

**NOTE: All the journals this week were inspired by Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. I cannot recommend this book enough!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AKPFT4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=engedrescen-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002AKPFT4

March 28th 2012

Part of living a life of humility is living a life of gratitude. Are we truly grateful for the things that God has given us or do we take for granted the gifts we have received?

Read Luke 17:11-19 and journal your thoughts

This is one of those verses that could be misinterpreted if we don’t really understand what’s going on. After a quick reading, it could seem like Jesus just wants credit for what happened. What we have to understand is in their culture the people practiced this act of blessing God for His provisions. For a very devout rabbi, it was not uncommon to bless God over a hundred times a day for the blessings he’s given them. For example, when they woke up they would bless God for allowing their soul to return to their body. When they got dressed they blessed God for providing clothes for the naked. Basically gratitude was deeply woven into their culture. So here, Jesus is not looking for gratitude for himself, but for God (verse 17).

What’s interesting about today’s text is that Jesus heals 10 people, and the only one of them who comes back to offer their gratitude to God is a Samaritan who from a 1st century Jewish perspective was like the lowest of the low. Yet he is the one who gets it, not the other nine. To be fair, the text does not say the other nine are Jewish, but it’s safe to assume that some of them were.

So the question for us is are we thankful for the things God has given us? We live in a culture where it’s hard to show gratitude when someone else always has something better. In fact, part of what fuels are economy is that marketing is driven by our own covetness. We want what others have, plain and simple and Apple keeps putting out new ipads and iphones. Ford puts out newer cars with cool new gadgets. So at what point are we content? At what point can we just be thankful for the blessings God has given us? When was the last time you thanked God for allowing your spirit to return to your body in the morning?

Today take some time to mediate and thank God for all of the little blessings He has given you.

March 27th 2012

How big is your vision for what God wants to do with you?

One of the most amazing aspects of the story of Abraham is where his story begins; as an old man. It is almost like the Disney movie “Up”, where Carl Fredricksen has lived this incredible life with his wife. After taking you through the story of their life, Disney embraces their time honored tradition of killing the female lead (I’m looking at you Bambi, Nemo, and others). Carl then embraces this calling on his life that for one reason or another he has put off. In a similar way, Abraham begins his adventure at a later age and look at what God promises him.

Read Genesis 13:14-16 and journal your thoughts

You would have to think that when Abraham and Sarah (Take that Disney) left, they were not expecting a promise like this. God’s promise would seem extravagant to just about anyone let alone a couple in their retirement years. So often the vision God has for our lives is so much bigger than we could ever imagine. At times this is what makes it so hard to follow God’s calling on our lives; because often it doesn’t seem to make sense. God called Abraham to leave everything he’d ever known at the age of 75.

What does God’s call on your life look like? What is God’s vision for your life? Could it be that even with all the choices you’ve made, and the circumstances of your life, God has some incredible vision for your life?

Today pray that God would show you His vision for your life

March 26th 2012

Maybe you have been journaling about the future, but when you look at what going on today it’s hard for you to see anything good in your future.

Read Jeremiah 29:11 and journal your thoughts

How many times have you read that verse? Let me guess, usually when you are going through a rough time. It’s one of those verses that we tend to use when we are down and need hope, we need to be inspired. But the question we need to ask ourselves is; do you believe that?

As you read this verse you need to remember that it’s being written to a nation in exile. Essentially they were slaves, not a very hopeful way of living. In fact you might say it couldn’t get any worse. And yet God took them at their lowest and gave them exactly what He promised; hope and a future.

Go ahead and journal what sort of things are keeping you from seeing hope in your future right now?

Now read Romans 8:28 and journal your thoughts

God is using all things for the good of those who love Him. Basically God may not like the bad things happening to us, but we can be sure God is going to use those bad things to do something amazing later on in our lives. Remember Daniel had to go into the lion’s den before he could experience the goodness that God had planned for him.

Today pray that God would give you the strength to get through whatever you’re going through, and to remind you of the future He has planned for you.

March 25th 2012

Are you one of those people who always have to be in control of something? Maybe it’s something big? Maybe it’s just some little thing, but it’s your little thing. What’s it like to give up that control? It’s hard, isn’t it? Almost like free falling, you’re letting go of something that made you feel stable and secure. Take some time and journal some of the things that you have control issues with. Could be something big, or maybe something as small as setting the thermostat.

Read Proverbs 27:1 and journal your thoughts

Some may be wondering what this has to do about control, but ask yourself; how can you brag about tomorrow if you’re not in control of tomorrow? As we talk about the future there comes a point where we have to admit that we are not in control. Seriously, we’re not. As much as we want to be, as much as we feel like we are in control of our own destiny, the fact is we’re not. Let’s have psychiatrist moment and ask ourselves; how does that make you feel?

We don’t like to not be in control, we like to have a plan so that we can know what tomorrow is going to bring. But trusting God is about not having control and trusting the One who is in control. Sometimes it’s so easy for us to be so scheduled, so committed to things that it’s easy for us to ignore God’s call for us to do something else. It’s easy to tell God that we don’t have time to help because I’ve got this or that to do. But sometimes God puts people in our paths so that our tomorrow looks nothing like we planned. It looks better.

Today pray that God would help us to give up control of our schedules and to be open to what He is calling us to do.

March 24th 2012

Have you ever found it hard to trust God? I’m not just talking about trusting Him by choosing to follow Him, but to really follow Him with your everyday decisions. I think if we’re honest with ourselves when it comes to applying a lot of what God tells us we should do we start with denial. I mean all that stuff was back then, God doesn’t understand how bills work. They didn’t even have to deal with bills back then, right…?

Read Isaiah 46:10 and write down your initial thoughts

What’s interesting about this verse is the context. Yahweh, the God of Israel is being compared to all the other gods of the nations. Yahweh’s people have chosen to follow other gods along with Him, and that’s just not going to cut it. You see, they served their gods because to them, that was how the world worked. If you want a good harvest you offer a sacrifice to the fertility god, usually Ba’al. Notice in Isaiah 46:1 two gods are mentioned, the first is Bel also called Ba’al. The second is Nebo who is the god of your destiny. . It’s easy for us to look back and wonder how they could follow different gods along with Yahweh, and yet we miss the different gods of our time. They’re the gods who whisper in our ears, “but God doesn’t understand how this works….” Take some time and write down some of the “gods” in our lives who tend to dictate over God what choices we should make.

As you begin to discover your future, may you discover how to trust God in the things that don’t necessarily make sense?

Today pray that God would reveal those gods in your life that are keeping your from abundant life

March 23rd 2012

It is easy to humanize God, to take the things that we do all the time and apply them to God because it seems normal. This isn’t uncommon; all throughout the Scriptures people have taken their understanding of what it means to be human and applied it to God. Even the ancient cultures did the same thing with their understanding of the gods. What are some ways that you’ve humanized God in your life?

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone where you blew it? I mean you totally did something wrong to them, you pushed them too far and their love for you seemed to run out? Or maybe it’s the other way around, you had this friend who kept hurting you, and hurting you, until you just couldn’t take it anymore, and your love for them just seemed to evaporate?

Read Romans 8:38-39 and write down your thoughts

When we examine our past, it is easy to humanize God and worry that eventually He’ll give up on us, just like I did to so-and-so. But God’s nature is not our nature. You see, the Love of God goes beyond anything we can understand. Paul lists off a whole bunch of things that won’t be able to separate us from God’s love, and I’m pretty sure he just ran out of things to say. Basically Paul is saying that there is nothing we can do to make God love us any less. Nothing.

May you begin to see that God doesn’t see you for what you’ve done, but who you are becoming.

March 22nd 2012

“I believe there has never been an ordinary child born on this planet ever.” – Erwin McManus

Read 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 and journal your thoughts

Have you ever just felt ordinary? Just like you’re another part of the crowd, just like everyone else? Or perhaps you feel like a number or a statistic? We ask ourselves, who are we? Or maybe a better question to ask is; Who are we becoming? The problem is when we look at the world we see a lot of people both in the church and out, who live and die very ordinary lives. If we’re not careful, after seeing enough people live ordinary lives, we can fall into the trap of accepting the ordinary as well.

We need to be reminded that while many extraordinary people die ordinary, that is not our standard of life. God has created each one of us to be extraordinary, to do amazing things. He has created us with different gifts and passions. On the surface some of these gifts may even seem ordinary, but when we combine them with the movement of God in our world then amazing things begin to happen.

Today may you see that your gifts and abilities when paired with the work of God become extraordinary

March 21st 2012

We have been looking at forgiveness, but what should our forgiveness look like lived out?

Read Luke 23:34 and journal your thoughts

Take a moment and allow those words to really sink in. While Jesus is being killed, in that same moment, Jesus asks his Father to forgive them. Now Jesus is not just praying this prayer because it is something he has to do as Messiah, but Jesus actually means it. This is the crazy part, Jesus is pleading with his Father to forgive them for the things they are doing right then.

Think about the times in our lives when someone deeply hurts us, how do we naturally react to these situations? Is our first reaction to forgive them or to get them back? If Jesus is reflecting the nature of God, then God’s natural reaction when someone sins against Him is to forgive. If we are to be the people that God is calling us to be, then our natural reaction when people hurt us should be forgiveness, pleading with God to show them mercy for the very things they are doing to us in that moment.

May you learn the power of forgiveness. May you learn to let go of those old grudges that have been holding you down for years. And may you discover the freedom of forgiveness.

March 20th 2012

So far we have looked at some of the benefits of learning how to forgive; today we are going to discover another.

Read James 5:15-16 and journal your thoughts

So it’s through confession and forgiveness that brings healing. Have you ever had one of those moments when someone forgave you of something? How did it feel? Or maybe you did something wrong and felt really guilty about it, and you kept avoiding the chance after chance to confess. Finally that moment came when you had to confess and you instantly felt this weight lift off of you. It’s almost like you are now free from this thing that was holding you back and now you can finally move on.

While being forgiven can bring healing, so can the act of forgiveness bring healing to the forgiver. It’s not something we ever really think about, is it; this idea of forgiving healing the person who forgives? Usually when we forgive someone we view ourselves as allowing some sort of healing to happen to that person, but really when we forgive we are the ones who are healed. Think about it, when there is someone you don’t want to forgive, how does it change the patterns of your life? Do you find yourself not doing certain things to avoid that person? Do you find yourself being negative? When we choose to forgive we give up all of those things that are holding us back from stepping into that life that God is calling us to live.

Today may you experience the freedom that comes from forgiveness.

March 19th 2012

Yesterday we looked at why we need to forgive; today we’re going to look at how far we need to forgive. We are going to look at a parable we looked at yesterday, but today we are going to look a bit deeper into this parable in order to help us understand our desire to forgive.

Read Matthew 18:21-25, focus especially on verse 22 and journal your thoughts

Sometimes forgiveness can be really hard, but what about when the person keeps hurting you. There reaches a point when you just want to yell out “how many times am I supposed to forgive this person!?” Have you ever been in a situation like that?

Now for many of us when we read verse 22, the number 7 jumps out at us. Most Christians will say the number 7 is a “Holy number” or “God’s number”, but we have to remember that Jesus was a 1^st century Jew. For a Jew at this time the number 7 has symbolic meaning. Any good Jew would recognize the number 7 as going back to creation, and along with that is this idea of completion.

The phrase 77 is only used one other time through the Scriptures, so read Genesis 4:24 real quick. Now we don’t know a whole lot about Lamech, but what we do know is that he wanted revenge on someone really badly. If 7 means completeness, then Lamech went above and beyond. Now a good Jew would have recognized the reference to Genesis 4, but what exactly is Jesus saying? What Jesus is saying here is that we should be the opposite of Lamech, for as much as Lamech wanted revenge so we should want to forgive.

Once again, Jesus brings things past legalism (a set amount of times) and focuses on the heart. If we have a heart that is opposite of Lamech’s then our desire is to forgive above and beyond to the point where you cannot place a numeric value on it. We should have an attitude or a passion for forgiveness. Forgiving should just be what we do.

Today pray that God would give you a heart that desires to forgive.

March 18th 2012

Yesterday we looked at Mark 11:25 and talked about why it’s important that we forgive.

Today re-read Mark 11:25 and read Luke 6:37 and Matthew 6:14-15 and journal more about why you think it’s important to forgive.

There seems to be this sort of pattern, isn’t there? There is this cause and effect relationship that we have with God. It’s as if our ability to be forgiven actually depends on our ability to forgive. How does this make you feel? Does this seem rather harsh? Does this seem fair?

Now read Matthew 18:21-35 and journal your thoughts

Does this parable change your initial response to Jesus’ claims on forgiveness? It seems that there is something absolutely crucial to our forgiveness when it comes to our ability to forgive. Notice what Jesus says in verse 35; that the forgiveness has to come from our heart. This is the key, what is the nature of our hearts? Are we the type of person who seeks to restore broken relationships, or do we enjoy having this sort of power over the other person. Do we want to call things square or do we want to get out of the other person everything they “owe” us?

If our hearts line up with the heart of God, then our natural tendency will be to forgive. Not saying that forgiveness is always easy, but we can at least understand that it is the right thing to do, and why it’s the right thing to do.

Yesterday you spent some time thinking about some of those deep wounds from your past. Today pray that God would give you the courage to forgive the ones who caused you so much pain.

March 17th 2012

Not only is it important to ask for forgiveness, but to forgive

Read Mark 11:25 and journal your thoughts

Sometimes this is something easier said than done isn’t it? It’s one thing to forgive someone for spilling your soda (not pop) or something smaller like that. Other times people really hurt us, sometimes the hurt goes deep. Maybe they stood us up at a time when we were scheduled to meet up, maybe they lied to us about something big? What if they’ve betrayed our trust with something that was important? Now these are the things that are harder to forgive.

But just like the moments when they forgive you are vital, so are the moments when you forgive them. Just as them forgiving you heal not just each other, but the community, so you forgiving them will heal the community. Sometimes this takes humility because it’s hard to forgive; it’s hard to get past our own hurt pride and to do what God is calling us to do.

Today take some time to mediate on some of the deepest wounds.

March 16th 2012

So once you ask God for forgiveness I’m good, right?

Read Matthew 5:23-24 and journal your thoughts

Chances are whenever we sin against God; we have probably sinned against someone else also. This is a crazy hard thing to do, isn’t it? It is one thing to humble ourselves before God, but humbling ourselves before someone else, ouch.

Sometimes we have a hard time understanding why asking others for forgiveness is so important, after all our relationship with God is the one that really matters right? This is a pretty common way of thinking about forgiveness in our culture. You see, our culture is a product of several different movements in the past; one of which is the Enlightenment which is centralizes the importance of knowledge; secondly our culture is birthed from Existentialism, which is a very individualized way of thinking. It is especially because of the influence of Existentialism that our culture focuses on the individual’s relationship with God as primary, and not the person to person.

We have to remember that all throughout the Scriptures there is this heavy emphasis places on community. It’s not about “me”, but “we”. In the Old Testament it was about the community of the Israelites and in the New Testament it was about the followers of Jesus and the expansion of God’s Kingdom. Over and over through the teaching of Jesus the Kingdom of God seems to be not just about our relationship with God, but with others (See Matthew 25:31-46).

All this to say, when we sin against someone it doesn’t just effect our relationship with God, but their relationship with God and the communities’ relationship with each other. Have you ever been in an awkward situation when 2 people were in a really heated argument? It’s easy to take sides, it’s easy to view one of the people as being at fault, but when we forgive each other, we not only heal that relationship, but the relationship within the whole community.

Take some time and think about the people you’ve sinned against, and pray that God would give you the strength to ask them for forgiveness.

March 15th 2012

As we move from wisdom to humility to forgiveness, we have to begin by seeking forgiveness ourselves.

Read 1 John 1:9 and journal your thoughts

When we embrace both the lifestyle of wisdom and humility our natural reaction is to respond to God by seeking forgiveness. When we look at things through the wisdom of God and humble ourselves not only before others but before Him, then we are confronted with our own short comings. After all, we are not perfect, and in spite of the good and wonderful things we do trying to create the Kingdom of God here on earth, we still have these moments when we fall short.

The question is; what do we do in these moments? Do we blame others? Do we blame circumstance? Do we blame our nature with a sort of ho-hum attitude? Or do we own our choices, do we own our sins, and come before God with a humble heart? It is when we give up the fight for our pride (it’s not my fault) and confess our wrongs and ask for forgiveness, that God comes in and heals us.

Yes it includes you if you already consider yourself to be a follower of Jesus. Sometimes we hold on to a prayer or a commitment we made as a child, consider ourselves “good” before God. But what happens when you sin afterwards? Do we still need to ask for forgiveness? Let’s look at the question this way; if your friend runs over your pet with their car, would you want them to say their sorry? Of course you do, that’s all part of being in a relationship with someone. Same is true with God, when we sin our relationship breaks down a bit, and it is through asking for forgiveness that God once again restores our relationship.

Today meditate on the things you’ve done that has developed into a wall between you and God, and ask God to forgive you for those things.

March 14th 2012

What does it look like to be a humble leader? Don’t just skip this one because you’re so humble you don’t consider yourself a leader, we are all called to be leaders.

Read 1 Peter 5:2-7 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch it? There were actually 6 features of how to be a humble leader. First we need to be a willing shepherd of what God has put us in charge of. So many times it’s easy to look at the “official” church positions, whether it’s pastor, elder, or Sunday School teacher as people who are in charge of things, but what are the things/people in your world what God has put you in charge of? Not only are we called to be shepherd but we are to be willing shepherds. God doesn’t want to force us to follow Him, but that we should want to follow Him from the best situations to the lowest. In our willingness to serve we shouldn’t be greedy but willing to give up anything and everything. In our humility we should be eager to serve God where ever He calls us. In all of this we are to be an example to everyone else, so they know what a leader should look like. Finally, God calls us to not be anxious after all, He is going to supply our needs no matter how big or small they may be.

Whew, that was a lot but nothing really surprising. Most of this stuff is a natural product of what it looks like to be humble. We are called to be willing and eager to shepherd and to be an example while not being greedy or anxious, easy right?

Today pray that God would reveal each one of these things to you in your own lives.

March 13th 2012

What does it look like to be a humble leader? Obviously, to be a humble leader is to be soft spoken until everybody needs you, then you will step up, save the day, and everyone will listen to you from then on, right…?

Read Ecclesiastes 9:14-16 and journal your thoughts

Honestly what were your first thoughts when you read that story? For some of us it is kind of a downer isn’t it? It’s almost like we expect the poor man’s fortunes to turn around, don’t we? Because that’s how the story goes in our culture, the poor man saves the day and becomes a big hero. But that’s not what happens here, because that’s not humility.

Living a life of humility is not the secret to become a big named man/woman of God, but the secret of how to live abundantly here. A truly humble person isn’t humble to gain some sort of advantage, but to embrace the lifestyle of a servant, someone who give themselves away for others. We are not promised fame, or fortune, or even that everything will be easy in our lives if we live humble lives, but we will still live that abundant life. We will still be living that life that God is calling us to live.

Today pray that you would be humble regardless of the benefits

March 12th 2012

Have you ever wondered why God chooses to use this person instead of that person? What sort of person does God choose to use?

Read Numbers 12:3 and journal your thoughts

First of all, as you read this, I hope your translation says “humble” and not “meek”. There is a subtle difference that we’ll talk about later on. Secondly, I hope you understand that God doesn’t only choose to use the humble, He’s God, He can choose to use whoever he wants (See Samson). While God can choose to use anyone He wants there is something about Moses that was different, that He chooses him to lead the Hebrews out of slavery.

What made Moses so different was his humility. For Moses, it’s not that he was humble that made him different, what made him different is that humility was his core characteristic. It’s simply who he was. To really grasp how humble Moses was, we need to look at the context of this statement. Moses isn’t just being humble while he’s in exile, but we are in the book of Numbers. He’s led the Hebrews out of Egypt, he is currently leading them. Not only that, but he’s been speaking to God face to face (Exodus 33:11). That is some bragging rights, right there, but still Moses is humble. Humble enough to be called “more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.”

Today pray that God would help you not only to be humble, but that humility would be a natural part of your life

March 11th 2012

Ever wonder how far should we humble ourselves before others?

Read Matthew 8:5-13 and journal your thoughts

So this story is actually a pretty crazy, here we have a Roman Centurion coming and asking Jesus to heal his servant. First we need to understand that this Centurion is a man coming from a position of power, who was in charge of 100 men. Obviously the Romans were the ones who held the power over the Jews, and thus Jesus. Yet he comes to Jesus asking for help. In this time and culture, this is an incredible act of humility. Almost like an owner kneeling before their servant.

Second, notice who the Centurion is asking Jesus to heal, his servant. Why? It’s not like servants in those days had a special relationship with the ones they worked for. Usually if something like this would have happened the master would send the servant to an infirmary or to a relative’s house, who usually would not have cared for the sick one, or they would not have been able to take care of them. But this Centurion has home, he is serving his servant. This is the context of this Centurion humbling himself before Jesus. This is humility.

Today pray that God would make you aware of those moments when you should humble yourselves to serve someone else.

March 10th 2012

What should our humility look like when we live it out?

Read John 1:19-28 and journal your thoughts

Have you ever been in a position when you could have taken all the credit for something? Did you? For so many of us throughout our lives we are faced with these sort of situations, moments when we have done something big, to give in to our pride. In today’s verses John was probably faced with this same temptation, he could have said, “Yeah I’m Elijah!” or “A prophet? You know it” or “Yes I am your Messiah, now bow down before me! (Cue lightening). Instead John simply keeps denying all their claims and points to Jesus.

John recognizes that he’s not the one doing everything. Yes, he’s making good choices and that deserves credit, but John is acknowledging that something bigger is going on here. Everything that is happening is not by his own hand, because he is working in concert with what God is already doing around him. In the same way, we need to recognize and acknowledge the ways that we are working in concert with God. When we take all the credit for the things that God is doing, when we are proud then God begins to have issues with us (James 4:6).

Today pray that God would help you remain humble in those moments when your pride is the strongest.

BONUS THOUGHT: For John, the reason why he does the things he is doing is because of Jesus and what Jesus is about to do. John was passionate about what Jesus was about to do, and his life was a reflection of that passion. For us, our lives need to point to Jesus in that our lives reflect the very same love and grace he has shown us.

March 9th 2012

How did Jesus teach us to be humble?

Read Philippians 2:3-8 and journal your thoughts

Here Paul begins by talking about how Jesus had the same form/nature as God, and had equality with God and still, being our example, humbled himself to the point of being a servant. Why does Jesus humble himself to be a servant? Seriously, he could have been a king, a ruler, a rich man, but he chooses to become a servant. Why?

The simple truth is that God became a servant because humility is the very nature of God. Jesus is not just making a point, but he is showing us who he is and what God is like. Jesus is showing us what it looks like to live out the Kingdom of God here on earth and as part of that lifestyle we are called to embrace a lifestyle of humility, to live a life of service just like Jesus did.

Today pray that God would show you the areas of your life that you could begin to serve others in.

March 8th 2012

As we wrap up our week of wisdom, we have to ask ourselves where our wisdom comes from. Of course God, right? We just spent a week talking about that, but what drives us to follow what God is telling us to do?

Read Proverbs 11:2 and journal your thoughts

Our wisdom simply comes from our humility. Duh, right? I mean this is a basic church answer; it is when we humble ourselves before God that we become wise. But this is where the difference between wisdom and knowledge comes into play. Wisdom comes when we live out humility. When we humble ourselves before God and acknowledge that we don’t know it all, and then actually live out the things He tells us to do.

Not only are we humbling ourselves before God, but also each other. Whenever you are in a conversation, are you the person who is always talking or do you take the time to really listen to others? Sometimes God is trying to tell us something through the wisdom of other people. There is a rabbinic paraphrase that goes along with today’s verse that may shed help us understand what is being said here; "Lowly souls become full of wisdom as the low place becomes full of water." When we humble ourselves and begin to listen to others we begin to see everyone as someone God may be using to speak to us.

Today pray that you would have the wisdom to know when to simply listen to God and to what God is trying to tell you through others.

March 7th 2012

Sometimes wisdom does not have to be all that wise.

Read Galatians 6:7-10 and journal your thoughts

Today’s Scripture talks about reaping and sowing, basically Paul is telling us we reap what we sow. This is like saying if you plant a tomato seed, then don’t be surprised when you get a tomato. You would not plant a tomato seed and expect a cucumber, that makes no sense. This is simple cause and effect right?

This is the type of wisdom Paul is talking about here. Essentially he is saying you create the type of world you live in. If you live lives of selfishness, destruction, and hatred then do not be surprised when you are met with selfishness, destruction, and hatred.

On the other hand, if you live lives of loving your neighbor, then don’t be surprised if you are met with love in your time of need. If you live out helping others, then don’t be surprised when others help you in your time of need. If you live a life of comforting others, then don’t be surprised when others comfort you when you need it.

Sometimes this seems like common sense stuff, but sometimes we get so consumed with the everyday stuff in our lives that we forget about it. When we live our life in the Spirit, then we will reap the Spirit.

Today take some time and meditate on what it means to live in the Spirit in every part of your life.

March 6th 2012

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you felt completely helpless, you just have no idea what to do next?

Read James 1:5-7 and journal your thoughts

There are these times in our lives, no matter how old we are, or how wise we are, when we enter these situations where we have no idea what to do. Maybe it’s just something we have never had to deal with before. It’s like; you are not wise in this area of life. So pop quiz hot shot, what do you do?

It’s in these moments that we have to learn to humble ourselves, admit that we don’t know everything, and ask God to help. Sometimes it’s hard for us to ask for God’s help and actually expect Him to do something. The question so many of us wrestle with is how does God work? Without going into a ton of details, we should begin by asking ourselves a question; what are we doing to meet God in His work? For example, if we are asking for wisdom are we doing anything to meet God along the path to finding that answer? Or are we simply sitting back and waiting for God to divinely download all this information into our brains? Are you making time or space for God to answer you?

Sometimes we find this space by looking through the Scriptures. Then there are those times when you should go to ask someone for advice, someone who walks closely with God who you can trust. Then there are those times, like we talked about yesterday, when we should take a step back and see what God is doing in other situations around us. Are we aware of how God is speaking to us?

Today pray that God would make you aware of how He is speaking to you

March 5th 2012

Do you ever those moments when you really just want God to make you wise?

Read Luke 2:52 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch that? Even Jesus had to learn how to be wise. Sometimes it is easy for us to just sort of assume that Jesus even as a child knew everything, but if that was true then could he really be an example for us? Could we really model ourselves after someone who has such a big advantage over us? But Jesus didn’t, he had to learn, just like us.

There are times in our lives when we just want to be wise, we want to have it all figured out, but Jesus had to learn. He made the most of opportunities and situations by taking time to learn from them. In the same way, we are called to learn from our situations and to learn from the opportunities that God has given us.

Today pray that God would use the opportunities and situations around you to show you what He is doing and how He works in the world.

March 4th 2012

Yesterday we talked about why we need to be wise, today we are going to ask the question; whose standard of wisdom are we following?

Read 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 and journal your thoughts

If we are really honest with ourselves there are times when we look at the wisdom of the Scriptures and then look around at the world around us and say to ourselves; really? Jesus talks about things like losing your life to find it, loving those who hate you, and giving everything you have. Really Jesus? How do I pay my bills if I give everything away? How do I survive if I love those who hate me? How do I find my life if it’s gone?

These things are the standard of the world; we are dealing with tangible realities, things that make sense to a rational thinking person. This is where things get tricky, because trusting God is not always rational. Stepping out into the river and hoping it’s going to dry up (Joshua 3:14-17) does not make a whole lot of sense, but that is exactly the type of wisdom we are called to show. The type of wisdom that even when things do not make sense we can still trust in the God who is working in everything.

Today pray that you would be able to trust God even when things don’t make much sense

March 3rd 2012

Yesterday we talked about the question; why should we trust the wisdom of this God? Today we’re going to ask the question why we should want to be wise.

Read Matthew 10:16 and journal your thoughts

Does it catch you a bit off guard that Jesus tells us to be like serpents? For us in our time, this saying may seem a bit strange, but to a Jew in the time of Jesus this makes a lot of sense. You see, the phrase innocent as doves but wise as serpents comes from the Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah which is part of the Haggadic midrash. To us, it’s essentially a collection of wisdom of the Rabbi’s.

Basically Jesus is sending his disciples out and gives them this piece of advice, that the very world he is sending them into is going to do everything it can to betray them. So they need to be wise as serpents, which did everything they could to keep themselves out of trouble.

While the disciples faced a very real threat of facing courts and persecution for what they were saying, we more often than not, do not face this type of thing. Generally speaking, we live in a fairly open and free society which exposes us to a lot of things that could pull us away from Christ. So the call for us is the same as the call of the disciples to be wise as serpents to not get lured into the traps of this world while still engaging and restoring it.

Today pray that God would give you the wisdom see the things that would pull you away from Him.

March 2nd 2012

Yesterday we talked about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, but why should we trust the wisdom of God?

Read Psalm 111:10 and journal your thoughts

Notice how the Psalmist begins by talking about “Fear of the Lord” as being the beginning of wisdom. This is a phrase that is used over and over in the Psalms but what exactly does that mean? Now there are two types of fear used within the Scriptures one has to do with a hopeless it’s the end of the line sort of mentality, like the Hebrews having their back against the Red Sea while the Egyptians come bearing down on them (Exodus 14). The other type of fear is very different it has to do with reverence or respect, this one is more like a subject kneeling before a king. The subject respects the king and his decisions.

In today’s passage, “fear” has more to do with the second than the first. There are some in our culture who read into this the type of fear of the Lord, like a tyrannical king who would yell “off with his/her head” at the smallest injustice. But does that really sound like the God of the Scriptures? The difference is like how a wife views her husband after he beats her (Exodus 14 “fear”) and the wife who respects her husband because she knows that she can trust him with her heart and he would never do anything to hurt her (reverence “fear”).

This brings us to the questions why do you follow this God? Do you follow Him because if you don’t the He might just zap you, or because of a level of respect for who He is, because of His love for us, for what He has done, and what He could do? We can trust the wisdom of this God because He is like the husband who we can trust with our hearts.

Today pray that God would help you through whatever struggles you have trusting Him

March 1st 2012

What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom?

Read Matthew 7:24-27 and journal your thoughts

Did you catch it? For so many of us in our culture we seem to equate knowledge with wisdom. It’s not our fault; our culture is heavily influenced by the enlightenment period which put a heavy emphasis on knowing. As long as you knew the right thing then that’s all you really needed. This line of thinking heavily influenced the way we do all kinds of things in our culture including our education system and the way we do church.

Knowledge does not equate wisdom, but knowledge is a part of wisdom, but it is also so much more. According to today’s verse, Jesus equates the person who “hears his words” (translation: knows all the right answers) but does not put them into practice is like the person who builds their house on sand. You see, it is not enough for us to just know all the right answers; we actually have to live out the right answers.

Read 1 John 2:6 and journal your thoughts

We are called to live lives just like Jesus did. This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom; it is the difference between knowing the right answers and doing them. Or to put it another way the difference between knowledge and wisdom is this. Knowledge is the understanding that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is the understanding that you don't put tomatoes in a fruit salad.

Today pray that God would help you to not only know the right answers but to live them out.