November 11 – Hypocrites

       Matthew 7:3-5: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye', when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

       Have you ever heard the phrase "Put your money where your mouth is"? How about "Put up, or shut up?" They both mean the same thing and are related to the opening scripture. One better walk the talk, or else the talk is meaningless, hollow, and hypocritical. We certainly expect that follow-through from our elected politicians, and from our friends and co-workers who talk like surrogate-politicians. I believe that if one thinks he has the answer to the nations' woes, then he better be doing something already to alleviate or rectify said woes. For example, if I believe that abortion is morally wrong (and I do), then I should be doing something tangible to help that teenager (directly or indirectly) cope with an unwanted pregnancy, and to possibly help her provide for that baby when she has decided to not abort it. There are lots of other topics that also could be mentioned here, especially ones that we think the government should tackle.

       I personally do not know any illegal aliens. However, I might have opinions about illegal aliens in general. I may think that a wall should be built on the southern border to keep out all non-residents of the United States. I don't live near the border, so I personally don't see the issues related to such topics firsthand. All I know is that I don't want crime and drugs to seep into my country. I may also not like it that my tax dollars are being spent on welfare for such people seeping into my country. All of those things can be both personal and political. The answer for how my government is responding to this situation will be argued as long as the nation lasts. But how am I to react to a needy family down the street who is trying to make ends meet? What does Jesus expect me personally to do? After all, he is my Savior and Master, not the government under which I live.

       I live in a kingdom that is not of this world (John 18:36). My Master told me to pray that his kingdom and will would come to this world (Matthew 6:10). I don't think that Jesus was just telling us to hope for the final day when he would set up an earthly kingdom, where all perceived injustices would be eradicated. No, I believe that Jesus wants his kingdom to come to individuals here and now, living in the mess and muddle, of the daily grind, mending the rot that we have built while living in our own wisdom and selfishness. Sometimes, that "coming of the kingdom" means that I get involved in someone's life by meeting their needs (Matthew 25:37-40).

       So the next time that you get on your high horse about how the government should respond to certain situations, ask yourself, "How am I personally involved with the people who are dealing with, or causing, that situation? Can I make a difference? Can I be a part of the solution?" Let's not expect the government or the president to be our savior. Let's be the hands and feet of the one who really is the Savior.

 

November 1 – National Elections

       Daniel 4:25b - "...Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."

       There is always much hype and many conflicting campaign promises surrounding a national election, whether it be for president, prime minister, senators, representatives, and the like. Most folks are opinionated regarding who will be leading their country and who will have the most authority in crafting legislation. After all, things like financial stability, health, morality, freedoms (or the lack of the aforementioned) may be at stake in the outcome of an election. However, the Bible has some different thoughts regarding our elected representatives. The leading scripture above, outright states that God is in control over the authorities of this earth, as most societies had monarchies for the authorities. However, don't think that humanity could outsmart God, by changing their ruling structure to a body of representatives, who sometimes are elected by millions of people voting them into office. He can even use the corporate voice of a nation in his overarching purposes. Psalm 33:10, 11 state that "Yahweh foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of Yahweh stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." Nothing surprises or alarms God when we find that the most ungodly candidate has won the election.

        One has to remember that believers in Jesus are aliens and strangers on this earth (1 Peter 2:11). Our kingdom and citizenship are in another dimension (Philippians 3:20; John 18:36), and we eagerly await our savior (and ultimate leader and ruler) from heaven. Therefore, we should not lose hope whenever "our candidate" is not elected. Psalm 118:8,9 tell us that it is "better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to trust in man....[or] in princes." Jesus knew that political power was not the answer for a better life on earth. He stated in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews." Our fight is not ultimately a political one. Our fight is also "not with flesh and blood, but with....the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. [Ephesians 6:12]).

        On the contrary, we are told to pray for "....all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." God wants "all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:1-4). This requires us to put aside our feelings of disgust to purposefully intercede on behalf of wicked, mean, arrogant, self-seeking, rich politicians, who we sometimes can't stand to look at.

        The biggest fight, Father in heaven, is within our own sinful nature, which does not want to die to its petty selfishness. We need to ask for your intervention in our nation's people and leaders, as individuals who need your light.

March 5 - The Meaning of "Holy" 

Hebrews 7:26 – "Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens."

There are several words traditionally translated in several different translations of the Bible, whose meanings have always been elusive to me.  They are words that are only used in a religious sense, and have been bandied about, as if all commonsense folk surely knew what they meant.  The word "holy" is one of them, and there are several more that are covered in a different discussion.  Words can be argued about, but meanings carry weight.  So I want to know the full meaning of a word when I read it.  If we don't know the meaning of an English word, we find it in the dictionary to get its definition.  The word "redundant" is a good example of a common word, whose meaning is not what many people believe.  It does not mean "simply repetitive", as it even sounds (even though it can imply repetition).  It's meaning connotes something being not necessary, excessive (which is why repetition is included, since repetition is not always necessary to get one's point across).     

When I found out many years ago, that the Greek word for holy (hagios) meant "different" or "set apart, (for special use)", I started reading that definition into the scriptures as I would read the word "holy".  That definition made perfect sense to me.  In general, one could say that fine china is holy; it is only used on special dining occasions.  Or perhaps that antique tea set.  Or those dress shoes that one only wears to weddings and funerals.  Or those rubber boots one needs for working muddy jobs on the farm.  The list could go on and on.  "Hagios" connotes being "different for God's purposes".  

However, in the title verse above,  the former definition doesn't fit.  If it did, one would be saying "set apart" twice in this verse.  The Greek word here is "hosios", which means "in agreement with divine truth, and therefore deserving respect".  Jesus, our high priest, always walked in agreement with God's truth.  He even said that he IS truth (John 14:6).  Since he never sinned, he is worthy of the highest respect.  Another way of putting it might be that Jesus is the ultimate example of human godliness.  A short definition might be "pious", but then again, that word is also vague and rarely used in modern-day English.  

Strong's Greek concordance records the usage of "hosios" only eight times in the New Testament.  If there are short words or phrases, for which I could substitute for "holy", and understand their meanings properly, I will try it.  And whatever works for you in understanding God, and us, as "holy", please employ it in your reading and thinking.

February 03 – Inherent Morality

Gen 26:5 – "....because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees, and my laws."

           The account of Abraham's life in Genesis is significant for one main reason: He believed God's promises to him; therefore, God counted that faith as righteousness before Him (in other words, being in right-standing before God). The odd thing is that, from Genesis 12 through Genesis 25, we read of God telling Abraham to actually do only a few things. The following is a complete list of those things.                                                                                                                                                                       In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham to leave his country, his people and his father's household to go to a land that God would show him. Abraham obeyed and then wandered around for awhile in Canaan (which was the land that God had promised to give his descendants).                                                        In Genesis 13, God tells Abraham to "walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." So, he moved his tents and dwelt for awhile in Hebron. We get a glimpse of this obedience to God's specific command.                                                                                                                  In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham, confirming that he will have a son, even though he and wife Sarah were old, and Sarah was barren. God tells Abraham to bring him a heifer, a goat, and a ram – each three years old – along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abraham obliges, and we are painted the spooky scene of dreadful darkness, birds of prey, a smoking firepot, and some further details from God about Abraham's descendants. No further commands                                                        In Genesis 17, God speaks to Abraham again with a vague command: "Walk before me and be blameless.....you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for the generations to come....this is my covenant with you....: Every male among you shall be circumcised." On that very day, Abraham had all males in his household circumcised. Later in the chapter, God tells Abraham to call Sarah's yet-to-be-born son, Isaac. When Isaac is born, he is given the same name. Abraham was obedient in those two very specific commands.                                                                                                        In Genesis 21, God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah who wanted to send Hagar and Ishmael away from the household for good. Abraham obeys, and consents, even though he was distressed about it.                                                                                                                                                                                   In Genesis 22, we have the great story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, even though God had told him, that the descendants who would eventually inherit Canaan, would come from Isaac. Abraham obeys to the point of almost murdering his son, when God steps in and stops the test. This is the last direct command that God had given to Abraham. To summarize then, there are seven specific commands from God and one vague command. The latter is what needs some explaining.

              This takes us to the main scripture of today’s devotion. What were the requirements, commands, decrees, and laws that Abraham kept? We are given a hint of an answer to those questions in Genesis 18:19. Abraham is given an indirect response by God to the angels with them. “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of Yahweh, by doing what is right and just, so that Yahweh will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Doing what is right and just?? Is it possible that God has placed within all humans an inherent sense of morality, in other words, a moral law? A law that contains an innate sense of right and wrong related to lying, stealing, adultery, murder, and the like? Before the account of Abraham’s life, we only see a few specific references to God’s commands: 1) no eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (chapter three); 2) the murder of Abel (chapter four); and 3) no eating of raw meat and no murder as commanded to Noah right after the flood (chapter 9). Other than those things, there are only two references of evil to the end of Abraham's life: Gen. 6:5, and Gen. 18:20f, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah's demise from “grievous” sin. Gen 6:5 states “Yahweh saw how great man’s wickedness had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” This is re-iterated after the flood in Gen. 8:21 – “…even though every inclination of [man’s] heart is evil from childhood…” Then Gen. 19:5, 6 states “ '....where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.' Lot went out...and said, 'No, don't do this wicked thing.' “ Notwithstanding that last specific reference, and after the few references mentioned, can we know what were the requirements, commands, decrees, and laws to be kept by Abraham?                          Romans 2:14 unlocks the key to this mystery. “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the [Mosaic] law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the [written] law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing and/or defending them.” This verse packs a punch! This verse states outright, that the written law (given by Moses) was a stating of those requirements that were already inherent in man. Further in this chapter, Paul makes the argument that because of the Jews' inability to keep the very laws in which they prided themselves, that the Gentiles blaspheme God's name because of them. Was this blasphemy only an apparent mockery of the Jew's hypocrisy, or did it also contain an inherent knowledge of the common sense of right behavior, which was inside everyone, no matter in what culture they found themselves?                                                        Of course, another thought emerges, since God supernaturally spoke, and appeared, to Abraham at different times: Did God specifically tell Abraham what the moral law entailed? We will never know this side of heaven. It doesn't even matter, because we all have been given the moral law, an inate sense of right and wrong.

May 3 – What Happens When We Die?

       "We are confident, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 5:8

       " After that, he [Christ] appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep." - 1 Corinthians 15:6

       The New Testament writers and Jesus himself, weave a tapestry of the big picture of what happens when people die. To understand how the people of Jesus' time saw the state of post-death, let's first look at a few Old Covenant writings. David laments in Psalm 6:5 that "No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?" Psalm 30:9; 115;17; and Ecclesiastes 9:10 basically states the same thing. At best, this lends credence to the idea of "soul sleep", in which we are in a state of limbo, sleeping/awaiting the next phase of existence. At worst, it lends credence to the belief that we do not have an eternal spirit that lives beyond death. The latter is basically what the Sadducees of Jesus' time believed (as they did not believe in a resurrection of the dead). This study is not interested in the resurrection of the body, which is a related, but completely separate, topic.

       At another point in time, David seems to contradict himself in Psalm 16:10-11, that "....you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." While this phrase is quoted by Peter in Acts 2 to reference the physical resurrection of Jesus, David must have had something in mind regarding all living humans.

       The ancients certainly had the concept of "Sheol", a Hebrew word that is often translated as "the grave". In modern times, we understand "the grave" as a hole in the ground, where a dead body is laid. But the ancients understood it as the "abode of the dead, of "good" people and "bad" people alike. We now understand it as something like a "holding place" where there were two separate areas for conscious spirits. One was a tormenting fiery place for the ungodly; the other was called Abraham's bosom, a place of bliss for the godly people who had died. None were sleeping, but were quite conscious. Reference the story of Lazarus, told by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31 to get the complete story . There are also two other references of dead persons being quite conscious before the resurrection of Jesus. I Samuel 28 recalls a story of Samuel being "summoned" from "the grave" to speak with King Saul. Matthew 17 tells the story of the transfiguration of Jesus on a high mountain, accompanied by Peter, James, and John. The spirits of Elijah and Moses showed up to talk with Jesus for a brief time. From these references, we get a glimpse that the dead were not "sleeping" but were definitely conscious.

       The story of Lazarus in Luke 16 also fits into the puzzle of what happens now when people die. I am obviously insinuating that there has been a change in the "locations" of some of the dead. 1 Peter 3:19 references Jesus preaching to the ungodly dead, at the time of his death. Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8 give us the picture of Jesus taking the godly dead from the "holding tank" of Abraham's bosom to heaven itself, the abode of the Father. The ungodly, however, are left in Hades, the Greek word that equals Sheol. There they are left in punishment, while still awaiting the final judgment.

In Paul's writings, we are also given clues to our state of being when we die. In 2 Corinthians 5:8,9 as referenced in the title verses, to be away from the body, is to be present with our Master. This clearly indicates that our spirits depart the body, and are conscious with Jesus in heaven. He basically states the same thing in Philippians 1:23. If Jesus led the Old Covenant godly persons to heaven as conscious beings, why would he leave us now to wait in "soul sleep"? No, he takes us as conscious beings into his heavenly presence as soon as we die. If David could envision eternal pleasures with his limited understanding of the revelation given to him, then how much greater those pleasures must be in the loving presence of our Savior.

March 21 - Spooky Shadows

Psalm 23:4 – "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I will not fear any disaster, because you [God] are at my side...."

       As I was reading Psalm 23 in my Spanish NVI, verse 4 was translated with the Spanish word "tenebrosos", which can mean spooky or eerie. I laughed when I read that definition. I had never read the word "spooky" in my Bible. Spookiness connotes that weird feeling of the unknown, when one is in a dark strange place, where the bogeyman or Bigfoot, is just one step behind us, waiting to pounce at the height of our mind running amok in fear. That kind of fear is just one's imagination. The greater, and real, kind of fear is when one sees the threat of real death coming near to one's own life.

       This was written during the great "panicdemic" of March 2020, when the "civilized" world took extreme caution in trying to prevent a widespread pandemic of a strain of the flu virus – COVID19. Public/social gatherings were banned and/or highly discouraged, by all levels of government, in order to stem the spread of a quasi-dangerous contagious disease. (Never mind that there still exist many more of the same types of diseases that we all IGNORE all the time, simply because they are commonplace and treatable, notwithstanding the fact that they can still be deadly to older folks and people who already have other serious health issues.) International commerce was affected; office workers were told to work from home; restaurants were closed for in-house eating; even church gatherings were highly curtailed, because the authorities wanted to minimize the chance of people spreading the virus to others.

       The key word here is "minimize", which goes along with the concept of caution. Prevention of getting a disease is what we all should practice in our everyday lives, but only as something commonplace, as we actually live our normal everyday lives. Paranoia kicks in, when we allow the thoughts of "what if" to creep in and paralyze our freedom in living. What if I am unknowingly a carrier of any virus, and I go to visit my 80-year old grandmother? I could be bringing the death sentence to her! At this stage of her game, any sickness or accident could be the death of her! Every day, we drive heavy machines on roads at high speeds - machines that could kill us in an instant. Yet, we do so in commonplace fashion, even though the odds are not in favor of us never getting into an accident. Every time we get behind the wheel of a car, we are taking chances. So, why should we go to extremes to curtail normal living in freedom?

       At my workplace, some of the previously-mentioned extreme measures have already been put in place. However, it could be too late. I have already been breathing the same air as my one hundred co-workers; already have shared common colds with them; already have touched their computer equipment, door knobs, etc. All of that activity and more happens on a normal basis every day and every year. Then I have to go to the grocery store to buy food. So I breath the same air as a thousand other persons do. If I curtail those activities and more, I will have minimized the "chances", the "odds", of getting a disease. However, it only takes one person in a million to spread a virus to another person. The only way that I can truly keep myself from ever getting any disease, or giving a disease, is to stay at my house, without ever coming into contact with any other human being. That is not living! That is being stranded by yourself on an uncharted island! I have never seen the overblown reactions to the "possibility" of widespread contagion, as those that are happening now.

       I believe that the main reason for the widespread fear and paranoia is that the majority of the world has no hope or concept of what is beyond death. Since the western world has largely dismissed the concept of a real God, the only thing worth living for is the continuance of this physical life on earth. After death, we cease to exist; therefore, life itself must be prolonged at all costs, in order to even have the slightest chance for happiness. What a sad state of mind!

       We hear the words of Psalm 23 at most funerals in America. Do we really believe them?  Is there really a God who exists, who cares about us, who CAN comfort us in death, or in the threat of death, or in paranoia of death, or in the pre-mature coming of death? Death is coming to all of us!! It is unavoidable!  Should we not be seeking to find the real meaning of life, God, truth, and the meaning of existence?

       The whole of Psalm 23 has to become a reality in our lives, and not just poetic beauty to deal with the loss of loved ones. 1 Peter 5:4 states, "Cast all your anxiety on [God], for he cares for you." Psalm 55:22 also states, "Cast your cares on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken." We should also take great encouragement from 2 Timothy 4:18: "Yahweh will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to this heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever."

       There is a wonderful future for all of us adopted children of God, even though we may have to get to that kingdom by walking through some spooky places.