The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Month: March, 2015

March 16, 2015

Lent Devotional: Matthew 5:43-48

Matthew 5:43-48 (click here)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Reflection
“But I say to you…”

Jesus is not correcting Scripture…he is correcting misinterpretations of it. Nowhere does the Bible instruct us to hate our enemies, but apparently certain teachers had twisted the text to suit their fancy. Perhaps seeing God pour out his judgment in various narratives, they thought they could share in his righteous wrath.

Whatever the case, Jesus stands in authority over every other teacher of Scripture before him or after him and authoritatively proclaims… “But I say to you!” The Word made flesh is the final authority for interpreting the Word written…and when it comes to our enemies, his word is this… LOVE.

We are to love our enemies! What does that look like? Well…Jesus helps us get started… it looks like praying for them. That is when we prove ourselves to truly be children of God. That is when we give evidence that we belong to Jesus, because like him… we pray, “Father forgive them…they don’t know what they are doing.”

Our heavenly father makes the sun-shine and the rain fall on all people. He expresses love for all people. Yes…in his righteous wrath he can pour out divine justice, but such an ability belongs to God alone. We are not to assume his position as Holy judge.

And…even though he has righteous wrath toward sinners, he also displays merciful love toward sinners. The sun shining and rain failing are just a few daily examples of such love poured out graciously upon all.

We are to be like our Father in this…we are to pour out love like the rain and shine forth love like the sun…even upon those whom we think deserve drought and darkness. If we belong to the Father as sons and daughters and have tasted of his love toward us, even in our sin…then we must likewise express love toward others even in their sin.

God commands us to love our enemies because he did it first…for he loved us (Romans 5:8).

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 15, 2015

Lent Devotional: Jonah 3:5-10

Jonah 3:5-10 (click here)
Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:8b-10)

Reflection
All are called to repent by a God who lovingly relents.

God is not required to forgive us.

Repentance is not a quarter that we insert into the divine vending machine in order to purchase the forgiveness we’d like to receive. That’s not how repentance works.

Repentance does not force God to do anything. It does not earn or purchase our forgiveness from God. No. Repentance is the God given means by which we receive the forgiveness that he has purchased!

God forgives because he is simply that kind of God! He is loving and merciful and kind. He is not required to forgive a sinful people…even if they repent! The fact that he does so just reveals his merciful heart.

Think of all the mercy we see in Jonah 3. God shows mercy to Jonah by giving him a second chance to repent and obey. God shows mercy to Nineveh by sending them a prophetic warning concerning the consequences of their sin (he didn’t even have to do that). God shows mercy again to Nineveh by relenting of his wrath and extending grace!

Mercy upon mercy upon mercy…grace upon grace upon grace. And God is this way toward you and me. It doesn’t matter if you are like Jonah and you have hardened your heart toward the Lord, or if you are like Nineveh, completely unaware of the Lord and just living a life of self-centered, sinful indulgence…either way, Jonah 3 declares to us that God is merciful toward us all!

We are all called to repent…to turn from ourselves and turn to the Lord. Will you repent? I’m not asking if you think it is possible, if you think you need to, or if you think you are too far gone… I’m just asking if you are willing to repent. Do you have a heart that longs to turn from trusting in yourself to trusting in the Lord.

No matter who you are…Nineveh or Jonah…God is a God of grace and will lovingly extend his grace EVEN to me and even to you.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 14, 2015

Lent Devotional: Matthew 5:33-37

Matthew 5:33-37 (click here)
…do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matthew 5:36-37)

Reflection
We like to think we are in control. We like to think we can determine what is going to happen. Yet, we cannot even make one hair on our head white or black (excluding modern dying practices…we’re talking about really changing the color of our hair as it grows…we can’t do that).

Swearing an oath is rooted in the assumption that we can control what is going to happen. Invoking things to guarantee our oaths (like “I swear to God”) actually dares to assert our authority over the things by which we are swearing. It is like we need to add the authority or character of something else to our word because somehow we are not trustworthy without this added authority.

The purpose of Jesus words here in Matthew 5 are not to prevent us from making promises, but to simply be the kind of people who do not need to reinforce their word because we already exude trustworthy character.

So far as it depends upon us, we keep our word. We recognize that we do not have ultimate control, but we mean it when we say “yes” or “no” and we will do all we can to keep our word.

Ultimately, we are a people of our word, because we serve a God who keeps his word. The way to honor the Lord in all our promise making is not be “swearing by him,” but by being faithful to what we say as he is faithful to what he says.

Our God keeps his word. As his people, we are to keep our word in so far as it depends upon us. As a faithful people, we are pointing to our faithful Lord.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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