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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
We just had communion Sunday at our church, and after church were on a family drive when Torre piped up in the back, "Daddy, you know that Jesus died for us?"
Matt told him yes, he knew that, and I turned around to ask Torre if he knew why Jesus died for us. Torre nodded solemnly. "Because we eat the bread."
It was a classic adorable kid moment, and I've been turning it over in my mind. I'm not in a panic because Torre doesn't understand what death means yet, so he won't comprehend the miracle of the resurrection, and he doesn't need to grasp the burden of sin before he is able to also grasp its solution. But it reminded me how much I don't want my kid to get messed up spiritually by growing up in church (nobody wants that, right?). I realize it's an ongoing process and not something I can just teach once or put some safeguards and pat myself on the back, but parenting is one of the most challenging forms of discipleship I've experienced, and it forces me to evaluate my own perspective all the time. How can I teach my three year old truth that can grow up with him, not baby him or stifle him?
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
When I came to verses 22 and 23 of Lamentations 3, they stopped me in my tracks with their goodness - an oasis of hope after two and a half chapters of despair. I spent the day humming "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end" and along came this poem as a prayer for God's truth to seep into all the cracks of my soul and become my truth as well.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
But my patience dries up like grass
Turning brittle and sharp
In the heat of late nights and clingy days
Erupting teeth and toys underfoot
I find you at the end of myself.
Like the beach where island meets ocean
Where jagged rocks are worn smooth by endless current
Where the shards of my feelings, broken like bottles
Are disarmed and made safe
And grains of sand remind me of your promise,
The legacy of one soul devoted to you,
The offspring of a thousand generations that you bless
Beyond counting, the weight of Earth
Does not tire you,
As one heavy soul tires me.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
Now at the feast [Pilate] used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (Mark 15:6-15)
Today as this passage was read at our Good Friday service, I was haunted by the contrast between Jesus and the crowd. My own attitude and response to circumstances are so much closer to the fickle crowd, stirred up and impatient for results. Jesus was the Messiah they didn't want, proclaiming a kingdom that is like the grain of a mustard seed, the smallest of all the seeds on the earth (Mark 4:31). The Jews were tired of living off crumbs, under the thumb of violent oppressors, and the people were not interested in a leader who was beaten and spit upon without offering any retaliation. It doesn't seem that anyone was under the impression Barabbas was the Messiah, but at least he was a man of action, someone who was willing to shed blood for the cause of his people.
Jesus had taught his disciples, "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3), but the crowd had lived through Herod's slaughter of the innocents when every baby boy under 2 was killed in Bethlehem and the whole region. Who in their right mind would become like a child to pursue God's kingdom? No, there must be some other way, and the people's rejection of Jesus could buy them time, helping them appear loyal to the Roman empire while they waited for God to send someone to actually deliver them. The high priest advised the people that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. (John 18:14)
So today I was slapped in the face because my response is the same as the crowds: I choose to believe God if I think it will work.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
I've been reading in Galatians and was struck today by 1:10
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul is speaking rhetorically to make his point - obviously he is not seeking human approval by preaching the gospel, and obviously he is not promoting a message in order to win friends. When I read the passage that has this verse I immediately thought of applying it to ministry today: so often it is tempting to make decisions based on pleasing people or keeping people happy, improving numbers for attendance or givings, getting noticed by people in influence so our efforts can be validated. Does this apply to you? Are you so distracted by others' demands that you've forgotten what God asks? I love checking in with Peter's laundry list of qualities to pursue in 2 Peter 1:5-8
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
I have been reading through the book of Hebrews the last little while, and it has been great to remember and reflect on some of the great things I learned when I took a course on this book back in my Tyndale days! Something new stood out to me though, so of course I wanted to share it here.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...
I felt extra inspired and encouraged reading through Hebrews 11 this round. Really reflecting on the faith that has been expressed by a countless number of people who have gone before me, thinking about the stories I do know from the Bible, from history, from life, and then realizing that a bajillion stories of faith (actually a bajillion :P) have been lived but not recorded, or recorded but not made famous, or are famous but I just don't know them yet.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
A friend and I are leading a group at church called Gathering - the point is to gather together and just share how life is going, spend some time in worship and prayer, but most of all encourage one another by sharing how we have seen God moving in our lives. For the last few weeks we have also taken turns preparing a devo to get people's brains going, but then our gathering was turning into more of a Bible study than time of sharing. Isn't it funny how easy it is to slip into a default mode or go on auto-pilot: "we're meeting in a church, so we should talk about the Bible!" Not that scripture isn't foundational to our lives as Christians, but I don't think an in-depth study is necessary to validate every time we get together.
Well, with that said, I was responsible for planning the devo last week and wanted to look at the text where Jesus says, "Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."
That passage is Matthew 18, and the specific verse (20) comes after instructions for resolving conflicts between Christians. Awkward, since I was just looking for feel-good general niceness so we could talk about how great it is to gather in Jesus name. Instead I was stuck with taking the verse out of context (boo) or leading a study on conflict resolution.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
As I mentioned before, I have been loving the book of Zephaniah. So far, it has challenged my concept of a Sunday school story I grew up with, it has opened up my concept of discerning God's will, and it is expanding my concept of God's grace. I love this, because grace can be hard to see in the Old Testament sometimes; it is much easier to hang out in the New Testament where there are plenty of feel-good verses about being saved and way less prophets of doom spelling out God's impending judgment. Isn't it nice to live in an age where we've realized God isn't so mean after all?
There is a downside to the perspective we have, however, this age where beautiful promises of Scripture can be plucked up and planted on sweet backgrounds with a cute font and posted on facebook for tough times.
Don't get me wrong, I love Zephaniah 3:17. This is one of my friends' favourite verses in the whole Bible, and it is a beautiful statement of God's strength and love. In fact, the whole second half of Zephaniah 3 is a beautiful portrait of grace, forgiveness and redemption. God doesn't say "at that time you will get your act together and I will love you again." No, he promises to "change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech," "remove the proudly exultant ones," and "take away the judgments against you," all actions of God to make his people holy. My problem with cutesy Bible verses out of context is that it takes God's grace out of context and makes it cutesy too.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
One of the most encouraging things I take out of the story of King Josiah is not only that bad legacies can be changed for the better, but that God's will doesn't have to be perfectly clear all at once in order to be found. I was struck by this because the whole spiritual revolution of Judah and restoration of the people to obeying God actually started as a much smaller step of faith: Josiah's decision to fix up the temple.
Kings and Chronicles tell Josiah's story a little differently - in Kings, nothing is said about his reign until the 18th year, while Chronicles tells us "in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images... Now in the eighteenth year of his reign... [he sent people] to repair the house of the Lord his God." (2 Chron 34:3, 8, emphasis mine) Either way, what we see in Josiah's reign is a journey towards obedience and submission to God, not someone who pulled it all together all at once. He began in the right direction, and as he did what was right, more and more became clear.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
I have been loving the book of Zephaniah lately, and it has led me to look at the story of King Josiah differently than ever before because Zephaniah prophesied during his rule. Josiah is one of the better known Old Testament kings of Judah, famous for taking the throne at the age of 8 and of being an exceptionally righteous king in a long line of bad apples. His story is found in 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chronicles 34-35, although those stories paint a very different portrait of the situation than the book of Zephaniah. Two and a half of the three chapters are warnings of judgment and condemnation for arrogance and sin. Judah is front and center in this critique, although the surrounding nations are also condemned. I was confused when I read this because we taught the story of Josiah at our church VBS last week, and he is known as the boy king who got rid of all the idols.
Here's the thing about the story of Josiah - the reforms he's so famous for took place beginning in the eighteenth year of his reign. It started as a project to revitalize the temple, during which the book of the Law was found, and everyone realized they had gone way off track in terms of obeying God. There were high places and idols all over the city, Asherah (idols) in the very temple, and male cult prostitutes operating out of the temple as well.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
Matt was home a bit longer than usual this morning, which meant I had time not only to eat breakfast but also to read my Bible! I read the first part of Joshua 8 - God's instructions for the Israelites to ambush a city that had brutally defeated them in Joshua 7. The first time the Israelites attacked the city of Ai, they didn't realize one of the men with them had kept plunder which should have been set apart for God in a previous battle. God didn't help them in this battle and they were forced to a humiliating retreat.