Day 109: Godly Teaching

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient."  2 Timothy 2:24

Here's something that gets ignored way too often.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to be teachers of the Gospel.  However, that teaching comes with certain responsibilities - patience and gentleness are just two.  What we might forget with these responsibilities is that we need to have them in order to teach.

Jesus was a very patient teacher and a very gentle one as well.  He allowed for people to come up to him with questions that were set up as traps.  He was willing to teach people from all walks of life.  He was patient with many of his students, even when it seemed that they were never going to learn.

Why is that so important?  How about the notion that God is love.  God loves us so much that God will be patient with us in our learning.  God teaches, corrects, and helps us all the time, and all of these things are done out of a pure love for all of us.  A teacher of the Lord has to be someone who is willing to show what the Lord has done for her to all of her students.  She has to live the Gospel that she teaches.  Jesus did that, and we must follow.

Jesus accomplished a great deal of teaching because he did not push away students.  He achieved this through his welcoming teaching.  He calls people to come to him.  He calls all of us to listen to every word he says.  If we do the same, perhaps we can maintain a full classroom.  If we teach the way that Jesus has taught us, then we will walk with our students closer to God.

Day 024: Magnified in the Name

"Some glory in chariots, some in horses, but in the name of the Lord our God we shall be magnified." Psalm 19:8 (20:7)

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what it means to be a Christian.  What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  What separates my theology from that of other religions?  On top of all that, what does it mean to believe in the name of the Lord?

I don't think I will ever come to a definite answer, but my journey in this quest is very inspiring.  I enjoy seeing parallels with other religions and other denominations than my own.  Ultimately, though, I must say that verses like the one above speak lots to me.

Jesus revealed himself in the form of a man who used very challenging words.  I also like to believe that Jesus is all the wisdom that comes down to us from all of the Old Testament.  With that, I can start to understand more about my own beliefs: that the name of Jesus encompasses all of the wisdom and knowledge of the world.

I love knowledge and wisdom.  I love to read these challenging passages.  I also love to read these verses that reaffirm my faith, for they say that there is no other name that will magnify us.  And it is so true!  By taking time to read the Bible, to meditate on the word, to pray and listen, and to observe how others are communicating with God, we all learn more about ourselves.  We can find peace in a world that doesn't want us to have it.  We can find joy in a world that doesn't have it.  We can improve ourselves in a world that wants us only to fail.

We need the strong arms of God to lift us up and carry us along.  When we rely on the treasures of this world, the horses (or things that give us horsepower) or the chariots, all the riches that the world wants us to believe we could have, we fall.  However, when we take the challenge and reach for God who is already reaching for us, we will find ourselves growing and going in so many different directions.

Day 013: The Harvest, The Goal

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”       Matthew 9:37-38

 Here is a place where Jesus gives us a prayer to say.  What better way to pray than to pray the way Jesus did?

This specific passage is one that usually rings with the message that Jesus is calling for us to go out and do the work of God.  Indeed, there are so many people out there who are hungry for the Gospel.  But, at the same time, we are all weary from the troubles of this rude world.  We need to pray for Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, to send out his laborers our way.

These days, I had been getting into a sort of rut.  I graduated with my master's degree, but then I didn't know what to do next.  I got turned down in four auditions as I was preparing to graduate, and then I hadn't really picked myself back up from that.  I feel pretty broken in that respect.  However, now that I have plans to perform more this year, I am starting to feel ready to face challenges anew.  It was because I set tangible goals that I am ready to pick myself back up.

When I think about my current situation and story, I can't help but think about how God's chosen people were when Jesus came into the scene.  People were pretty set in their ways of interpretations of the Scriptures and had lots of constructs set in place for their society.  They found a passable way of living under oppression.  But, when Jesus came to the world, he challenged everybody to think about everything in new ways.  How can you spread the Gospel to the other nations?  How do you treat these new people?  How do you receive the love of God?  What is going wrong with your customs?

Jesus means change.  Jesus means change in the lives of the Jews in the past, and Jesus means change in my life today.  Jesus, for me, is the Lord of the goal.  I have trouble whenever I wander around, as a sheep without a shepherd, and it is only whenever I pray to the Lord of my goals, the Lord of my success, the Lord of all that is good in the universe, the Lord of mercy, the Lord of compassion that I can continue down the way.  Life is never going to be easy, and Jesus' life is the prime example of that, but the outcome will sure be worth it.

Today's readings:
Genesis 25-26
Psalm 10 (11)
Proverbs 6:26-40
Matthew 9:32-10:15
Acts 13

Day 009: Divine Command

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel." Acts 9:15

Go.
This is a recurring command in the Bible, and it usually means to leave one's comfort zone.  God told Abraham to go from his home.  Jesus commanded the disciples to go and preach.  Here, Jesus commands Ananias to go and finish a conversion of one of the most terrifying men in the early church: Saul/Paul.

Now, the Bible is also quite clear that many who are called will talk back to God, will have some sort of resistance.  Ananias, though, makes an argument that sounds quite weak, for he says "I have heard about that man."  Hearsay.  That's a very troubling thing that we as humans like to rely on.  We love to add fuel to our judging engines whenever we can.  Despite the fact that there are records of all the trouble Paul had done, Ananias says that he relied on what he heard.  I find this as an opportunity for us to learn to trust in God.

If we are to assume that God is our Father, then how should we treat God?  Shouldn't we obey?  I'm sure many of you have experienced the chastising from your parents, whether physical or verbal or both.  Eventually, we children learn to obey without talking back.  And, most of the time, things go the way they are supposed to when we listen and obey.  Doing that homework assignment got us through school well; not eating too much candy helped us feel better in the long run; sleeping on time for school made it that much better for us.  If that's how our relationships with our parents are, how much better would God's plans be for us?  Why must we talk back to God?

God has a history of challenging us, and that only makes us better people.  God challenged Abraham and Sarah to have faith in their future progeny.  God challenged many scholars to devote themselves to wisdom.  God challenged Joseph and Mary to accept the gift of bringing up Jesus, the Christ.  God challenged Ananias essentially to walk into the den of lions so that the church may grow in an unimaginable way.

How is God challenging us today?

Weep

Today's gospel is one of my favorites for two reasons.  The lesser reason is because Jesus uses a lovely passive aggressive technique in front of the Pharisees, which makes me think that Jesus had quite the sense of humor and a wit about Him.  The greater reason is because Jesus did not hesitate about the woman who came to Him.  Now, many other times in the gospel we see that Jesus forgives people's sins and then they're off on their merry way.  This instance, however, shows us an example of what we are to be.  Aside from the row between the Pharisees and Jesus, the woman comes to Jesus, weeping (Luke 7:38).
Weeping!
She took off her stern mask and began to give herself completely to Jesus.  She broke a jar of ointment on His feet.  She gave Him her all.
Let's take our time to take off our wig, wipe down our glitter and eye shadow, and surrender ourselves to God.  For when the situation gets tough, and you face persecution from the highest religious leaders, Jesus will fight for you.  Jesus will exalt you and send you off on your way, for He forgives sins and blesses you!

The Lord's Day

Today's gospel talks about Jesus and about the Sabbath.  In the end, we learn that God is Lord of the Sabbath, and that our human ways impede on God's will.  The Pharisees had the Jewish thing down to a science: eat this, not that; talk to this person, not that; say this prayer, not that.  Of course their ways were highly questionable, as Jesus pointed out.  Now look at us today.  Look at our community! A gay man must weigh this much.  A lesbian must dress with these clothes.  How about we let God into our lives so that we can have everything sorted out? How about we let the Lord rule over us on today, the days after we have witnessed Jesus Christ, the days we have witnessed the Holy Spirit?