Indebtedness

Matthew 5:7

"Blessed are those who show mercy. They will be shown mercy. "

(Genesis 14:1-16; Genesis 50:15-21; 1 Corinthians 13)

I believe one of the most challenging aspects of daily living is that of looking past the failures of others. Not the failures that affect their lives, but those that affect mine. More specifically, I am challenged to genuinely accept that the only people who can truly hurt me are those to whom I am the closest. Those individuals are the ones I find it terribly difficult to forgive. I will attempt to foster healthy relationships, but will always be reticent to give fully because of what I have lost previously. Some call that self-preservation and others call it wise living, but I’ll admit to me it’s just fear of losing again.

In the first four beatitudes, Jesus dealt with how a person interacts with God and how she must view Him based on her own situation. However, as Jesus continues to unpack his expectations of a resident of the Kingdom of Heaven, He instructs those listening that their responsibility to others is tied to their citizenship. He calls them to realize that how they treat others, should be a reflection of how they have been treated...by God. My wife and I have four children. We consistently attempt to teach them to treat one another with respect and honor. I realize that for many this may not seem reasonable due to the lack of experience my children possess; however I would argue that even at six or ten years old, each one of them have learned what it means to be completely dependent on someone else, what it means to be hungry and then fed, what it is like to have been sad and then comforted. As such, their limited experience has provided them with an understanding through which all of life can be filtered. I would contend that the same filter exists for me at least it should.

When Jesus calls a person to be merciful, it is because they understand mercy. Mercy is something that is always right on time. Regardless of when it is received, mercy is always more valuable than we understand. It is because when we were in need, someone helped us out. It stems from the fact that in the midst of daily living, someone else reminded us that being alive is more than simply breathing in. To be fully alive, you must eventually exhale and exhaling is always a practice in giving up your breath. In many ways forgiveness is like this, it is the practice of losing something. Forgiveness is the practice of losing your right to be angry or upset. It is the practice of learning to let go of all that binds you to a world that no longer exists and grabbing ahold of the tail of the kite that drags you through this one. Forgiveness, like exhaling, is an exercise in losing something that is required to live, but will prove fatal if you just hold it in.

Do you agree that “forgiveness...is an exercise in losing something that is just as important to find”? Why or Why not?

Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6 includes the statement “Forgive us as we forgive our debtors.” How does knowing that God forgives us as we forgive others affect how you exercise forgiveness?

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Matthew 5:6 (Psalm 34; Psalm 42; Romans 4:13-25)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

When was the last time you were hungry? I don‘t mean that you needed a snack. I mean that you genuinely were starving. When the pain in your stomach was threatening to take over your body and stage a coup until you stopped and nourished it? When was the last time you needed a drink of water desperately?

For many of us, we very rarely get to that point. Unless it is a financial issue, time is typically not an issue for eating and drinking. Why? Some would argue it is because our bodies communicate needs and our mind understands and responds. Others would say that it has to do with our inability to say no to ourselves and much like a garden or lawn, we know what it’s going to take to make sure that we are cared for. I would argue it’s because where our heart is, there our mind will be as well.

In Jesus‘ greatest sermon, he indicated that people were Happy when righteousness was what they craved. But, the craving is not simply a preference or a situational desire. Rather it is quite literally a “hungering and thirsting” for righteousness. Working with the previous beatitudes, Jesus calls attention to the human desire for fulfillment and God’s provision for those desires. This hungering and thirsting for righteousness is both a personal and corporate discipline. It is the hunger for righteousness that fuels a person to throw himself at the feet of Jesus to be filled. In her thirst for that which only God can grant, the follower of Christ simply postures herself to be available for His outpouring of living water.

But that is really the point. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is an intentional pursuit. The picture we have is of a person who is quite literally starving for more of God. It is not that they do not currently possess righteousness or that they are deficient in some way. Rather it is the presence of righteousness within her that pushes her to seek it all the more. It is quite insatiable. They are hungering and thirsting for it because they have tasted the Lord and saw that He is good. And because of their intentional pursuit of his righteousness, He promises to fill them with it. It is their soul or heart that so longs for righteousness and where the heart is the mind will be also.

In what ways does your heart call to be filled with righteousness? (random acts of kindness, intentional pursuit of God through the study of His word, finding a place to serve in a your local church, etc.)

In what ways do you protect yourself from spiritual anemia? Why should you?

Resurrection Day

Lectio Divinia (Sacred Reading)

Psalm 98 (Psalm 93:3-4; Psalm 96:11-13; Psalm 100)

Most of our days are spent fixated on matters of consequence for us. Some days, the issues at hand are quite exhausting, requiring a great deal of focus. Other days, the issues are not near as intense and less attention is needed. However, our real struggle is often discerning which day we are facing. Thankfully, we are not required to simply submit to the day. Instead, each day is called to its own tasks and focus based on what God has done in giving us the day. And rather than seeking to control the output of the day, perhaps we should attempt to work in concert with what is happening around us. What if that is the case and we do not see it due our insatiable need to control it? What if the day as we have it - specifically the natural currents of daily living - has set into motion an attempt to honor God with its activities? What if in the process of our daily tasks, the world around us calls out to us to join in the celebration of what God is doing?

Each Resurrection Day should remind us that all of creation longs to worship God with us. As we gather with other believers to bring worship into the house of God, perhaps it would be permissible to ask all of creation to join us. Perhaps today prior to worship, we should go to the exterior doors of all our buildings in which we worship and open them, welcoming all of creation to participate with us. What if today we hear a song of worship in the chirping of the birds or in the bark of a dog? What if today we were to listen for the power of the wind or clapping of river waters in adoration of the God is never far from us? What if you could hear the sound of praise in the laughter of a child? What then would be our focus our fixation?

What if today when we worshipped God, we asked Him to allow us to work with Him as he continued to facilitate life? What could happen in our lives today if rather than focusing on lunch for the family or the laundry that must get done, we simply asked God to give us a Sabbath day of rest? What might happen in our spirits if today we took a mid-afternoon nap in glory of God rather than an escape from living? What if the dinner we prepare was done as an act of worship for God and what if we prepared a place for him to sit and eat with us? What if today we decided that like creation we could not simply sit by while God worked among us? What if the mere presence of His Spirit among us called for us to give glory and honor to all that he does? What if today, because we have fully experienced the power and presence of the living God, we closed our daily prayer not with Amen, but a more honest expression of our awe and wonder: “God, you’re friggin amazing!”

Go In Peace