Man and Wife

Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh

Genesis 2:24

My wife and I are reading a book about marriage. We are about to go to marriage counseling. It is scary to think about for me because marriage is a gamble, like just about everything else in life. Will it work? What does it mean when it "works"?

Who knows?

I think God does. I think He knows that each of us longs for companionship and support. I think He knows we are all very lonely. Life on this planet (and no doubt sin) made us this way.

But marriage is often not a place of comfort, companionship and support. Often it is just a war with the other person who you really just want to live with in peace and safety.  You desperately trying to get those needs met while trying to fill the other persons needs. It is weird.

And I think one of the most human things we do.

Amen.

FAIL

if you forgive other people their failures

Matthew 6:14

The other day I was upset at my co-workers for not asking me if I wanted anything for lunch. I started to come up with all kinds of paranoid reasons for their actions. Then I happened to read the entire chapter of Matthew 6 in the translation of the Bible we use for bible study.

Part of that chapter includes the Lord's Prayer, and a translation of Sin I had never seen. Instead of SIN the word is simply translated "failures".

That gave me pause, and made me think about how I often fail to do things. It cast sin in a new light, not as some giant scary thing we all do, to a more mundane thing, one of everyday life, and simple failure.

From the terror of ultimate evil to the failure to get the right bread at the grocery store, the failure to fill up the gas tank, or even the failure to ask a co-worker if he wants to order lunch.

And realizing that sin can also be a simple failure to do something, it made it simpler to forgive.

Amen.

Motivation

the truth will set you free

John 8:32

I always thought this was a Truth with a capital "T". About the big things, and after yesterday, I am wondering if it is less about universal truth's and more about the truth about Darrel.

You see, I have been struggling with Job 1 for the last 2 or so months. In that first chapter God tells satan that Job respects him, and Satan counters with the thought that Job only does so because of God's deep care for him. God lets Satan test that hypothesis.

I knew this was something I needed to know, that there was some heart work for me to do. And yesterday after being ignored at work, this verse came to my mind.

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them

Matthew 6:1

God opened my mind to the fact that I was seeking the praise of others: my bosses, my coworkers, my friends. He laid bare my motivations, and they were not pure.

Of course I doubt anyone could have seen this. I don't think my hypocrisy (what Jesus calls those who do the above) was obvious to any of them. But that isn't the point, it was obvious to God, and He made it obvious to me. Like a doctor finding the right diagnosis I could say very confidently: "The symptoms fit the disease!" And I felt the burden of months fall away.

And this should not have surprised me, God isn't so worried about our outward actions, what is important to Him is not so much What we do but Why. Here the word of the Lord:

if I don’t have love, I am nothing ~ 1 Corinthians 13

People are made wrong by what comes from inside them ~ Mark 7:15

The Truth has set me free, and that truth is about me, as horrible as it is.

Amen.

Beneath the Surface

This means that our knowledge of men can no longer be based on their outward lives

2 Corinthians 5:16

There are no ordinary people. ~ CS Lewis

These statements seem quite inclusive, yet in chapter 6 of second Corinthians, Paul tells us to avoid unbelievers, to separate from them, and I have wondered about that statement. 

And the only thing I can really reconcile in my mind is that I have a very limited understanding of what or who is an unbeliever. 

Case in point: I am certain that I read a quote from noted atheist Bill Maher in which he said "I believe in love". Paul says God is Love. Does that make Maher a believer.

I don't know. But what I do know is this: my knowledge of others can no longer be based on their outward lives, I must be willing to see beneath the veneer of the present, and see those around me as God sees them: His children: prodigal and all. 

Amen.

Assuming

Job 3-9

As I am reading this selection of chapters, it seems to me that Job (and his friends) are assuming a lot of things about God, and the way the world works. One friend (Bildad, I think) seems to think that Job is being punished - and his children - because they are wicked.

But the beginning of the book denies that line of thought. God did not punish Job. It wasn't about his sin, or any sin.

How often do we assume things, and how easy is it, especially when in pain, and how much trouble we would avoid, if we just admitted we didn't know, and leave it at that.

Amen.

One

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one

Deuteronomy 6:4

Every day seems to test my love for God. Do I really love him with all my heart and soul and mind? Nope. The setbacks, the loss of friendships, being ignored by others, it all tests whether or not God really is enough. It is hard to realize that he isn't. That most of my life revolves around the things I own, the people I know, and the activities I engage in.

And it is a burning process.

Amen.

Thy Will

nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done

Luke 22:42

It is dawning on me that Christianity isn't so much about doctrines, as it is surrendering what I want, hope for, expect, desire, and letting God show me what He needs done. It seems to me more and more that God isn't kidding when he says "I am the Lord your God." He is a King.

And as an American I hate kings, and yet, I think that if I am ever to see His face, to be honored among people: I must learn to put my will away; to simple be willing to learn, ever to learn.

Amen.