Small Things and Plumb-lines

This morning I was reading out of the book of Zechariah.  I opened to Chapter 4 which has an often quoted verse, Zech 4:6 "... ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty."  I love this verse, as it directs me to pursue relationship with the Holy Spirit.  

This morning I was drawn more to verse 10, which reads, "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel."  Historically, He was rebuilding the temple, and it was a bit pathetic when compared to the original temple.  Many  commentators, talk about how this work was despised by those who knew what the original temple looked like, but that even though it was unimpressive, they were glad, for the temple was being rebuilt.

My reflection has more to do with the building of the Lord's temple within me. (1 Cor 6:19)  I was thinking about my own grandiose plans for my life, and my seemingly inability to enact even small changes in my daily walk.  I was thinking of the many New Year's resolutions to exercise more, eat right, study God's word more, etc.  Sometimes, my eyes are so focused on the big things, that I don't rightly value the small things like daily personal discipline, speaking words of encouragement to those around me, being a witness to my family and friends, etc. 

I recognize that I need to welcome God's plumb-line (direction, correction and encouragement within His Word) which He uses to show me where my life is out of line with His plan and purpose for me.  I imagine that the small things are the individual bricks or blocks which He is using to fulfill His purpose for me. I don't have a proper perspective about what He is building, and with my eyes focused on my own self, I don't easily see when I am starting to get out of line.

Lord, help me to see how You want to use the small things in my life.  I want to be a proper resting place for Your presence!  Help me to welcome Your correction and encouragement, that I might align myself with You.

Be on Guard! Be Alert!

Link to photo

I know the title is a bit aggressive, but it is Jesus speaking in Mark 13:33.  I was reading through Mark 13 last evening before going to sleep and this phrase just stayed with me.  This morning I decided to do a bit more research into this phrase and where else it was used in the New Testament.  (Link here to StudyLight and multiple verses)  There were several places that 'be on guard' was used by Jesus including Matt 16:6 (yeast or teaching of the Pharisees); Mark 13:9, 23, 33 (Trouble during the End-Times) ; Luke 12:15 (Greed).   Paul also used the this phrase in Acts 20:31 (False teaching); 1 Cor 16:13 (Attacks against faith).

I thought it was a good message on which to focus.  Jesus was cautioning His followers to be alert and on guard.  In other words to be prepared for difficulty and attacks as they followed Him.  We would be wise to heed His warnings.  Being prepared and alert will allow us to follow Him unswervingly.  

I was thinking about guard duty and how there are many internal distractions and difficulties one must overcome to be able to be alert and prepared.

1. Complacency - maintaining a level of concern, especially during periods of relative peace
2. Inattentiveness and Sleepiness - it is easy to lose focus and even become sleepy during long periods of waiting
3. Focus on wrong things - distracted by things that don't matter, or less importance
4. Loss of preparedness - being lax in exercise,  lack of equipment
5. Misunderstanding the seriousness of the situation - not giving the proper weight to potential difficulty or attacks

I think that all of these apply to our spiritual lives as well as our physical lives.  It is so easy to lose focus, lose zeal, focus on things that aren't so important, get distracted and lose our edge.  We must work to stay alert and be prepared.  Jesus considered it so important that multiple times He cautioned His followers.  Especially as we enter difficult times, this warning must be taken to heart.  All of the issues Jesus mentioned - religion (teaching of Pharisees), difficulties, greed, and false teachers must be guarded against, for they will all cause us to lose focus and direction.  Our walk must continue to be focused on loving God, loving each other as Christ loved us, and obedience!

Lord help us to stay alert, and be on guard!  We want to hold unswervingly to Your path.  We want to maintain focus and zeal!

No Room

A couple of evenings ago I was reading in John 8 and verse 37 just grabbed my attention.  It reads: "... Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word."  I was struck by this seemingly strange phrase that Jesus spoke.  It is a radical reaction by the Jews, and Jesus explanation of the reason was thought provoking to say the least.  I re-read the previous few chapters, to see what 'word' Jesus was referring to in His statement.  

Jesus has been speaking about coming down from Heaven, of His relationship with the Father, and His knowledge of Him.  To the Jews who were waiting for a king/messiah who was more in line with King David, the thought that Jesus could actually be the Son of God was untenable.  They weren't waiting for God to visit them, they were waiting for a mighty man.  If Jesus were the Son of God, then His words would have the same authority as the Word of God they held so sacred in their scriptures.  The things He was saying should be embraced with equal weight as the Ten Commandments.  This revelation would upset their highly polished religious life, or even their normal every day life.  They were fine with a new leader who would rescue them from the Roman's, but God in their midst was more than they could handle, or wrap their minds around.  So, they decided the easiest thing to do would be to kill Him, rejecting Him and His words.

I was thinking of how crazy that response was when they were face to face with their savior.  As I was thinking this, I felt the Lord shed a little light on my own response to His Words to me.  I realized that I have not always treated His words to me as if they were spoken from God, but rather have thought of them as more like suggestions.  I realized I was deciding, based on the impact His words might have in my life, whether I would respond to them accordingly.  In other words, I wasn't making room for His Word. Ouch! 

Lord, I pray that you will help me to rightly respond to Your Word, and make room for Your Word in my life! 

As we remember Jesus birth, and how there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7) lets set our hearts on making room for Jesus.

New Wine Needs New Wine Skins

Last night before going to sleep, I was reading Matt 9:17 where Jesus says, " Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."  This morning, I was further researching this and went to Luke 5:39, where one additional statement is added, " And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

I was thinking about these verse as they could be applied to a new move of God in our lives (new wine).  God is constantly at work encouraging us to grow and change, but often we prefer things to stay the same.  We like the way our lives are, preferring the known.  I was thinking about how short sighted that perspective really is - an unwillingness to try something new, because we like the 'taste' of what we already have.  In the wine industry they must constantly produce new wine, for without new wine, they would never have mature wine, they would ultimately run out of the old.  Also, each new years vintage potentially could be the best ever, but one doesn't know for a few years. 

Going back to Jesus' statement, the new wine requires new wineskins because it expands.  Having an inflexible attitude would be the equivalent of old wineskins.  When God wants us to change, He causes things in our lives to stretch us, and we can either go with it and allow ourselves to stretch, or resist.   The results of resisting are that the new wine is lost, and the old wineskin can't hold wine anymore.  In other words it becomes empty and dry, with no refreshing ability.  I know people whose lives are dry and empty, and I think in some ways it might be due to their inability to change, as God desired.  Finally having new wineskins is also about a longer term perspective.  New wine never tastes as good as the old wine initially, but it must be allowed to mature, and in time becomes better tasting.  We need to have flexible attitudes with long-term perspectives to truly have new wineskins.

Lord, I pray that I might have a new wineskin attitude.  Help me to embrace the new wine (change) you pour into my life and help me to trust that this change will bring about maturity and betterment to me.  

Love & Faithfulness

This morning I was reading from Proverbs 3:3-4 and spent some time just thinking about the verses.  They read, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

I imagined that love and faithfulness were like a sign hanging around my neck, the first things that a person would experience when encountering me.  Like the following image:

My prayer is that when a person meets me, they will experience both love, and ultimately faithfulness.  I recognize that so often my heart is not full of love, and instead often full of judgement or a critical spirit.

Lord help me to walk in accordance with Your Word.  Help me to be an example of love and faithfulness in this increasingly unloving and faithless society.

Presents or Presence?

I found myself reading through Jeremiah 50:7 this morning.  It reads, "Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers."  The phrase  'the Lord, their true pasture' really grabbed my attention so I started thinking about what that really meant.  A pasture is a place of rest and provision, or food.    I was reminded of two verses, the first is John 6:35, "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."  The second verse is Matt 11:28,  where Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

I was thinking of how Israel was constantly forgetting that it was God who was responsible for the blessings and miracles they had seen.  In Lev. 26:1-13  God warns them to remember His blessings and be obedient, and He will continue to bless them and walk among them.  In other words, obedience will bring presents and His presence.  Jesus said a very similar thing in John 14:23, "Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."  What an amazing statement - God will actually take up residence with us.  Our obedience to Him is what enables this living situation.  Israel's sin was that they constantly wandered away from God with their hearts.  They enjoyed the gifts, but never fell in love with, or really understood the one who gave the gifts.

I was reminded as I was thinking through all this, of being a child and waiting for my grandparents to come for Christmas.  I was always excited to see them, but in truth, I was probably more excited to see what gift they brought for me. I was more interested in their presents, than in their presence.  Now that they are gone, I wish I would have spent more time with them, getting to know them, for they were the real treasure!  In the same way - God is the treasure!  He is so good and loving that He always brings good things, but we should not become distracted by the presents and miss His presence!

I was wondering how often I have gone to church, and been satisfied with the presents (good worship, or good preaching) and never really focused on His presence!  God help me to have the right perspective this year.

God Loves the Unlovable

I woke up this morning, having dreamed about  a friend from college who was one of the most socially awkward people I have ever met.  In my dream, we were at a camp for youth that I used to run, and he was sitting at a table with me and several of our friends.   He got up to get a drink, and before he returned one of the people sitting at the table with us, suggested we pull a prank on him. I  refused to allow them to pull the prank, because I knew that the reason he was at that camp was due to the fact that he was accepted by us.  His whole life had been one of rejection or being made fun of, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen.  Again, this was a dream and never happened in real life.


I woke directly from that dream, and immediately thought of the leper that Jesus touched in Matt 8:1-4.  Jesus was showing us the ways of the Father (See yesterday's post on God's Ways) through His actions.  He reached out and touched the Leper.  Touching the Leper was supposed to make Jesus unclean, but in the Kingdom of God, when He touches you, you become clean, He doesn't become unclean.   In other words, God is more powerful than any unclean thing!  


Jesus continues to demonstrate this love and acceptance of other outcasts and undesirables, meeting the women at the well, the women caught in adultery, the 10 lepers, the blind beggar, the tax-collectors and other sinners, to name a few.  These were all people that the religious community of the day would have rejected or avoided, and Jesus specifically told the story of the Good Samaritan to show this (See Luke 10:25-37) and to call us to act differently.  


In showing us the Father's heart, Jesus demonstrates the reality that should exist in our lives and in our churches, namely the loving of the outcast and unlovable.  So whether we are the outcast, unlovable or rejected or ashamed, or whether we know someone who fits those categories, God's message is the same - "I love you and accept you". 


Lord help us to clearly demonstrate this to those around us!  Help us to overcome any fear we have of being associated with, or being affected by someone that society rejects.   Help us to live out Your message to us in 1 John 4:4, "...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  Amen.