Acts 2:29-36

Acts 2:29-36
English Standard Version (ESV)

  On Monday, I was in Austin, visiting some affordable apartments for work.  We're working on refinancing them, and someone decided at the last minute that we needed to see them, so off I went.  While at the last property, I asked where to get some good barbecue, because I felt like good brisket might make up for the fact that I had to set an alarm for 3 am to catch my flight.  They proceeded to tell me about a place downtown where people line up for hours, and they said the only person that's ever been able to cut the line is the president of the United States -- even famous movie actors go to the back of the line.  I guess it would be a good test of how famous you are, to show up and see if you're able.
  There are ranks in our society -- some wield more power than others.  (Some even choose to use this power to better society, which is another conversation for another day.) 
  Here, Peter is proclaiming that even David, a man lauded by people of faith as someone who sought a relationship with God with all of his heart, pales in comparison to Jesus.  We have a hard time understanding just how great Jesus is, because all of our best comparisons fall very short of what a great man he was -- because he's more than a man, Jesus is the Savior of the world.
  So think of the best person in the world, and then realize Jesus is a thousand times better than that -- kinder, more compassionate, more loving, more forgiving.  Our very words fall short when we try and describe just how great Jesus is. 
  And this is the Jesus who loves you and calls you his own.  Give thanks!

Acts 2:22-28

Acts 2:22-28
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Jesus could not be held by death -- He was too strong.  This same Jesus, crucified for wrongs he did not commit, will not abandon his children, and seeks to fill us with gladness through the power of his presence.
  Jesus wants the best for us, and Jesus knows that the only way we reach the abundant life is through finding peace with our Creator, and so Jesus seeks us out and holds tightly to us, calling us into faithfulness.  It is a hard life into which we are called, but the training and consistency strengthen us, encourage us, and we ultimately grow into disciples who draw peace and joy from Jesus.  Maybe you don't feel like you could ever be filled with gladness, and maybe after a week or a year of discipleship you won't be, but faithfully emptying yourself and letting the Holy Spirit fill you will draw you closer to peace and joy, because it will draw you closer to Jesus, the Savior who seeks you and will not let you go, the same Savior who died on the cross and was too strong for death to hold.
  If Jesus is too strong for death, then he is stronger than any opponent we will face, and we can take confidence that we, too, will overcome our enemies through his grace.

Acts 2:17-21

Acts 2:17-21 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Do you ever think ahead? 
  As a society, we're a people focused on the here and now.  You can see this in any city -- everyone's head is down in their own device, focused on their world, on pressing notifications.  We're dealing with the urgent, often just trying to juggle things and make it through the day, somehow hoping that tomorrow will be different.  But we often don't think ahead -- we don't think about how our actions are shaping us into a certain kind of people 10 and 20 years from now.  We often don't save for retirement, because it seems like it's so far away... until suddenly it isn't.  As a culture, we've done a great job of isolating death to a very separate place -- we don't think about, don't look that far ahead.
  But what do you really believe is going to happen?  Do you believe that, one day, God will pour out the Spirit on all flesh, animating us in a sense of spiritual activity?  Do you look for wonders in the heavens above?  Are you ready for what God might do?
  I don't know when and how God will do this, but we can all pray for hearts anticipating the things God might do, both the grand actions and the tiny ways God calls us closer.

Acts 2:1-4

Acts 2:1-4 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I've grown to love Thanksgiving.  It's a time to gather together around the table, to remember all the blessings we have and to spend time in fellowship.  There's no materialism around the table (we save that for Black Friday & Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday), but a wealth of food and a realization that it's the relationships that carry us through the year.  There's something special about gathering together.
  For the disciples, after Jesus ascended into heaven, they continued to gather together.  They wouldn't have known what was going to happen, and I'm sure they spent a lot of time discussing a multitude of options.  They'd seen Jesus do amazing things, including rising from the grave, but I'm sure they didn't have an idea as to what he could do through them.  The power of the Holy Spirit wasn't something they expected to come over them in such a dramatic way, I'm certain of that!
  But they kept gathering together, and sure enough, God showed up in a dramatic way!  The Holy Spirit filled them, then sent them out.  There's certainly no guarantee about how God will act when we gather together as Christian community, but I'm a strong believer that God does show up and works among and between us and encourages us and supports us and strengthens us and gives us a clearer sense of how we are called, together and separately, as Christians to be salt and light in the world.

Psalm 119:169-176

Psalm 119:169-176 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Today, many of us will gather around a table with loved ones and express our gratitude for what we have received, either as an unexpected blessing or as the result of hard work.  We'll talk about what we're grateful for and what we're hopeful for, and in this country there is much to put in both categories, while we also should not forget that we still have a long way to go in showing selfless love and seeking ways to serve others. 
  Mostly, I'm grateful for the fact that the God who created me, who knit me together in my mother's womb, who crafted me with a purpose and on purpose, was not satisfied to create me and leave me to figure things out on my own.  Long before I caught breath of this wondrous place, a guiltless Savior ascended the cross and took on my guilt, our guilt, and paid the ultimate price so that I might not be condemned to die due to my sinful choices.  My fate might have been sealed, but it was unsealed and redeemed by the blood of an innocent lamb who felt that no obstacle is too great, no price too high to pay for eternity.  I did not deserve this, and it is wildly unfair in my favor, and I am grateful to have been set free from sin and death by this wild love of God.
  When we talk about what we are grateful for, may we remember the selfless love of God that saw fit to redeem us from sin.  While it is nice to have food on the table and loved ones beside us, the best gift we've received often goes unmentioned as we forget due to the tyranny of the urgent -- there is so much going on that we forget to give thanks for all that we have received through the power of the Holy Spirit.
  Be blessed!

Psalm 119:161-168

Psalm 119:161-168
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Scripture never promises us that we'll escape this life without suffering.  The reality of sin and death assures us suffering -- whether it is our own physical suffering, through sickness or disease, or the suffering of a loved one.  As the church is one body, whenever the church is being persecuted anywhere in the world, we all join together in that suffering, just as whenever I step on a Lego in the basement, my entire body cries out in pain.
  A powerful testimony is the way we endure under suffering.  We can opt for self-pity, or we can choose to endure with faithfulness, demonstrating our trust in God to ultimately redeem us through suffering and bring us into eternal life.  By keeping our eyes fixed on the hills and our hearts filled with joy, we endure and demonstrate our trust in the God who is greater than our suffering, who is able to overcome all of our fears and oppressors and ultimately lead us into a place of triumph over whatever persecutes us. 
  Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil, for God is with us, and we shall emerge into eternal light on the other side.

Psalm 119:153-160

Psalm 119:153-160 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I've been in a courtroom a few times, fortunately never for anything I did or was involved in, and it's intimidating.  It feels tense, and everyone there is serious, because they're dealing with serious things.  The judge wears a robe and presides over the precedings, and it all has the feel of something I would love to never be involved with.
  The Bible uses a lot of legal language to describe our relationship with God, and what can easily happen is that we can then translate that into our relationship with God.  We think that God is a judge who is ready, even eager, to condemn us for the slightest misstep, and so we approach God with fear, or maybe we even avoid approaching God at all, instead opting to avoid God and hope that our sins go unnoticed.
  What we know, thanks to the New Testament, is that God comes to us with grace and love, like a good shepherd tending to the cares of even the most wayward sheep.  While we are guilty and stand under condemnation, that weight has been lifted by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we have life according to God's love.  Salvation is poured out upon us, and we have been redeemed to life. 
  So let go of your fears when it comes to God -- rejoice, give thanks, and sing God's praises, for you have been set free!!

Psalm 119:145-152

Psalm 119:145-152 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  There are usually at least two sides to every story.  Visit Ann Arbor, Michigan and talk about Columbus, Ohio, then do the reverse, and you're likely to get very different perspectives.  Or maybe talk to Republicans and then Democrats about certain proposed laws, and you'll likely get very different understandings.  Talk to a vegetarian and a steak-lover about the most popular steakhouse in town, see what happens.
  There's a few different ways to read this text as well.  Some people rise in the middle of the night and cry out to God as a routine, a pattern of devotion in which the shape of the rhythms of their lives are set by fixed hours of prayer.  Some of these people live in monasteries (some of them have bells that ring at 2.30 in the morning right next to the guest sleeping rooms, as I discovered.  At that point, I may as well go pray, since I wasn't going back to sleep!), and some of them have never darkened the door of a monastery, just creating strong habits that help them grow in faithfulness and dependence on God.  These rhythms help them find strength in times of need.
  Others cry out to God in the middle of the night because that's when they feel threatened and vulnerable.  I don't think I'm the only one that occasionally lies in bed at 3 a.m. wide awake, thinking big things, fearing big fears, asking big questions, crying out to God for comfort, for assurance, for guidance and grace. 
  There are as many reasons to pray as there are prayers, and each of us has the freedom to come to God as we are, covered in Christ and filled with questions and uncertainty and faith and wonder and love.  There is grace enough

Psalm 119:137-144

Psalm 119:137-144 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  This reminds me of the cartoons that show a young predator growling at prey, sending it fleeing, without realizing that the youth's parent was towering behind it, menacing and threatening, the real cause of the terror in the heart of the prey. 
  Here is the Psalmist, small and despised, yet mighty because he is in the hand of the Lord Almighty.  We do not survive on our strength, but rather on the strength of the Lord.  Evil will not shrink back if we call upon our own power, but when we depend on the glory of God, then we have the ability to wade forward through the turmoil that life throws at us.
  So do not despair if you do not feel strong or mighty enough.  You are not.  But the God who cares for the sparrow watches over you, and the Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep will come after you, and in Christ, victory will be ours.

Psalm 119:129-136

Psalm 119:129-136 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Think of the darkest place you've ever been.  Maybe it's in a basement with the lights turned out.  Maybe you hid in a closet during a game of hide-and-seek.  Perhaps you've been out in the wilderness during a new moon, far from any lights.  Sometimes, I'll help out and put Charlotte to bed, and when I walk out of the dark nursery into the light, I blink and blink as my eyes adjust to the kitchen lights.  It's not the most brilliant lighting in the world, but it's still blinding due to the contrast.
  Thinking of that contrast, imagine what it would be like for God's face to shine upon you.  Here we are, surrounded by sin and brokenness, having grown used to our earthly lives.  God's face, the blinding brilliance that we cannot even begin to describe (In 1 Timothy 6 it says that God dwells in unapproachable light), would be a stark contrast -- we'd be unable to see, unable to understand, unable to blink our eyes enough to adjust to the fullness of God's face.
  And so we do not see God's face this side of heaven.  When we die and our baptisms are complete, we are no longer trapped in the sin of this world.  We pass through the veil of death and enter into eternal life, and we have new eyes with which to see, eyes capable of grasping the fullness of God, grace upon grace.
  In the meantime, we pray for the ability to see the world as God sees it.  We pray for the wisdom to see our neighbors and co-workers and friends and enemies the same way that God does, so that we might begin to love them the way that God does.  In so doing, when we act out this love, we give people a glimpse -- we give them tiny windows so they can catch a glimpse of the Gospel love, so they can be compelled forward to discover more about the God who is pure and brilliant, who is so good that we cannot approach him without being first covered by the grace of Jesus Christ, who comes willingly to enable us to be worthy of approaching the throne with confidence because we have been made new in Christ!

Psalm 119:121-128

Psalm 119:121-128
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Lots of people wonder if there is a God or not.  They look at the world around, which has its fair share of problems, and cannot imagine how God would fit into the picture.  I don't know how many people would say it's a lost cause, but to describe it as a place created by a benevolent God who cares deeply for the world and all who live here and who is planning on coming back to redeem all of Creation, well, it's easy to see how some people would say that might be a stretch.
  Now, I'm not a scholar who can prove the existence of God in a sentence or paragraph.  I'll freely admit that there have been days where I have wondered if God is really there.  There are certainly times when it would be easier to not believe in God.
  But here's the thing -- when I look at the world around me, I see that there are things that are not the way they should be, and they feel wrong to me.  When I read about murders and drugs and exploitation and slavery, there is something within that tells me that such things are wrong, and we as a society agree that such things are wrong.  Where does that come from, if it's not rooted in a deeply personal God who sends the Holy Spirit to plant within us a longing for God's salvation?  We have a sense that things are not as they should be, which means that we have been given a sense for how things should be.  If not for God, how would we know how things should be?  God has planted an ethic within us, and we strive for what is good.  Even people who do not openly serve God can often recognize right and wrong.
  So I long for God's salvation, when all will be set right.  That longing within me supports the other evidence in my life that God is real and God is at work, using me as an agent in the world to serve and proclaim another Kingdom.

Becoming Leonardo

  Quickly, name the three most famous works of Leonardo di Vinci. 
 
  The Mona Lisa would be first, and the Last Supper would probably be next.  After that, probably the Vitruvian Man would be the most recognizable work.  There are a few other paintings that I recognized by name, but I struggle to name too many of his works.  (Truth be told, if you told me I would only do one painting in my life but it would be the Mona Lisa, I'd take that trade.  As it is, my most famous painting is the hand-print turkey I did as a five year old that hangs in my mother's kitchen.) 

  Leonardo wasn't the most prolific painter.  Most of his life seemed caught between various political sponsors and foes, and he doesn't seem driven the way I would have imagined.  Mike Langford's Becoming Leonardo explores the life of Leonardo in a way that goes deeper than the story -- the author tries to help us understand how Leonardo thought, what motivated him, and why he did things.  Leonardo clearly had a brilliant mind, but he was caught up in 16th century Italian politics, and was a captive to the instability that came along with that.  Having a politician who favors you is useful, but what happens when that politician is no longer in power?
 
  Who knows what works Leonardo might have turned out if he was offered stability and a safe place to create?  He might've created countless wonders with amazing productivity.  Or maybe not -- maybe the chaos swirling around him of Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia were catalysts in his creative process, driving him to greater artistic heights.

  It's easy to wish the world were another way.  We look at the lives of others and wonder what we would do in their circumstances, always assuming the best, thinking our problems would be solved if we had the resources that another has.  But that might not be the case -- you'd just have different problems, and there would still be people you'd look at with envy and wish you had their resources.  Don't spend your time wishing your life away -- but focus on being faithful in the midst of your current circumstances.  In some way, your current experience will plant seeds now that will bear fruit later.

Psalm 119:113-120

Psalm 119:113-120 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  If you surround yourself with people who all rise early in the morning to exercise and eat nothing but steamed broccoli and baked chicken, guess what your life will look like in a few years.  Similarly, if your community is filled with people who attend concerts and stay out until 3 a.m. sampling different late-night restaurants, in a few years you'll be well-versed in the best late-night food in town.
  We emulate our communities -- they rub off on us, and after a while, the traits of our lives resemble the traits of the larger community.  If you wisely choose friends who have integrity and pursue God, they'll push you to be a more faithful Christian.  Likewise, if you opt to have people who are double-minded, who pursue evil over selfless service, then there's a chance they'll influence your life in that way.
  So find a community of faith that you trust, that pushes you to grow in faith and challenges you with tough questions.  Ensure they are people of integrity, who pursue the right thing over the easy thing.  Pray for that community, and let them surround you with their prayers, and in the years to come, you'll find yourself growing in faith and integrity as well.

Psalm 119:105-112

Psalm 119:105-112 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 I still remember printing out the directions for our trip to Europe.  We went not long after we were married, and would be driving a rental car around northern France for several weeks.  This was long before we had any smartphones, so I went and printed out weeks' worth of turn-by-turn directions, hoping that we wouldn't deviate too severely from them, trusting our map-reading skills if we did go astray.  In our entire trip, we only got lost once!
  Now that smartphones have thoroughly inundated our culture, there are stories wondering if they are harming our ability to navigate.  While that's a debate for another day (and perhaps another blog), what's important is that we spend some time thinking about what is guiding our feet.  As the old saying goes, if you don't know where you're going, any road will do.
  What's the guiding principle by which you make decisions?  How do you decide what to do if you're torn between two choices?  Do you pick what makes you happier?  Do you flip a coin?  Perhaps you sleep on it. 
  What the Psalmist is saying is that the Word of God is the light by which he goes forward.  The rules of God are the map for his life, and trusting that this is the best path forward, the Psalmist has peace in his soul as he relies upon the Truth of God's Word.
  For the decisions we often face in the world, finding a verse in the Bible that directly guides us can be tough, but the ethics laid down by Jesus can always guide our ways.  Choosing what is selfless and what lifts up the other, choosing what honors God and builds up community -- when we make these choices, we opt for the path of faithfulness and glorify God, bringing peace to our restless hearts as well.

Psalm 119:97-104

Psalm 119:97-104 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 School can be a slow accumulation of knowledge.  At the beginning of the school year, it may not seem like you're learning much, and the year can drag in such a way that there may be days when you wonder what you are learning.  By the end of the year, however, you look back and realize how much you've learned, how much you've grown.  It's similar to having children -- they don't change much from day to day, but I now have a seven year old where a toddler once toddled, and a five year old where a newborn once slept.  Life moves along.
  In the same way, we accumulate wisdom as we follow God.  Little by little, day by day, the faithful life unfolds and the Holy Spirit builds us up, maturing us as Christ-followers.  It's not always apparent in the day-to-day, but the little habits of Scripture reading and prayer build up and transform us into a people that depend upon God for the very breath in our lungs.  We are shaped, molded like a river carves a canyon, into the people of God. 
  So take the little steps today, and then again tomorrow, and trust in the God who is molding us into a people covered in grace and invited into the abundant life.

Psalm 119:89-96

Psalm 119:89-96 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 I've spent a decent amount of time sailing with my dad, and so we've talked a lot about anchoring.  We've tried anchoring in rough seas near other boats, and we've done it in isolated places with no one else around.  One thing we've discussed, which I might not have considered, is what the bottom of the lake/sea is like.  Is it sandy?  Is it rocky?  You have to understand the bottom before you attempt to anchor, because it can make the difference between dragging anchor until you ram into another boat or having a secure anchorage that lets you rest easy.
  When we anchor in the Lord, we find a secure anchorage.  We find a God who is strong and faithful, a God whose Word is fixed in the heavens and who has established the earth.  We anchor in the Lord who predicts his own death and resurrection, and we anchor in the Lord who establishes his power over sin and death by rising from the grave, exactly as he said he would.  He stands fast, and we are secure in God.
  So decide whom you shall serve.  Will you serve money and power, who are all the rage today but cannot survive the test of time?  Or will you opt to serve the eternal God?  The eternal God might not offer the same easy life, but God has promised that over time you will discover the abundant life that leads to salvation, that leads to joy and peace, and you shall be fulfilled.  That is surely the better anchorage, in which we can rest secure and trust fully in God.

Psalm 119:81-88

Psalm 119:81-88 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Does it get under your skin when the wicked seem to get ahead?  Does seeing the rich and corrupt live glamorous lives while trampling on others make you furious?  Have I got some verses for you!
  Here, the Psalmist is lamenting how his enemies are triumphing over him.  It doesn't seem fair to the Psalmist any more than it seems fair to us.  The Psalmist is being trampled upon and fears that the end is near, and he cries out to God for hope and salvation.  In God, there is always hope.
  When you reach the end of your rope, when it feels like the world is closing in, when all seems lost and the darkness is about to snuff out the light, remember that God never abandons nor forsakes us.  The Savior who reigns in eternal light is the same Savior who climbed into an empty tomb and pulled death over himself like a blanket, only to cast it aside later as a show of power and might.  Death has been defeated, and God has not forgotten you.  In Christ, there is hope and there is life, and your enemies shall not triumph over you!!

Psalm 119:73-80

Psalm 119:73-80 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  To truly understand something, we have to understand the motivations of the one who made it.  If we come across a piece of art, we can interpret it in a number of different ways, but only the one who sculpted the clay or moved the brush can tell us what they were truly thinking about.  Similarly, if we come across a tool, we can find ways to use it, but only the creator can tell us the intent with which it was created.  We can learn a lot, but the creator tells us the full story.
  So if we want to understand ourselves, truly and deeply, we go back to the Creator.  We go back to the God who made us to discern God's intent for us, and only when we have Holy Spirit understanding can we understand ourselves.  Scripture teaches us about the God who made us, about God's endless love for us and God's desire for us to live peaceably and in service to one another.  Scripture also teaches us about how we turned from God in sin, and then it shows us how God pursues us.  This teaches us that we were made to be in communion with God, and when we broke that communion, God took the first step to pursue repairing that relationship. 
  So knowledge of the self and how to live rightly with God gives us the ability to be at peace in the midst of our enemies, in the midst of chaos, because we know that God made us out of love, and that God pursues us when anything threatens our relationship with God.  Be at peace, and know that God is stronger than your enemies.

Psalm 119:65-72

Psalm 119:65-72 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 How many people out there have ever said that it was good that they were afflicted?  I know I'm not raising my hand on that one -- when I feel afflicted, I just want the pain to stop, and when I look back on it, I usually just wish there was another way to learn that lesson.  I understand that there are benefits of the trials of life, and that they build character and teach us things, but I'd much rather learn those things in other ways.
  Then again, without the crucifixion, we don't get the resurrection.  Without the knowledge of how lost we are, we don't have a full grasp of the power of God's grace. 
  I don't know what God is doing in your life.  I'm often unsure of what God is doing in my life.  In the dark nights, I wish I better understood where God was and how God was moving and what the Spirit was preparing me for.  Sometimes I just stare into the darkness and wonder why I can't see any light.  But I also know that God keeps all God's promises, and that one of those promises is to never leave nor forsake us, and also that God has promised to go ahead of us and to prepare a place for us.  So some days, I cling to that promise with all of my heart, hoping that these promises are true for me.  I believe they are true for each of us, that God walks with us in the valley of the shadow of death, and that we learn of God's grace and power and God leads us through adversity to deliver us into eternal life.

Psalm 119:57-64

Psalm 119:57-64 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Caleb has reached a phase in his life where he decides that if I do something he doesn't like, I have to pay him a million dollars.  Given my current level of indebtedness to him, I'm going to have to start using his 529 money to play the Powerball and hope I can win enough to pay him.  If we played by his rules, I'd be very, very poor.  Fortunately, we don't play by his rules.
  Everything depends on who makes the rules.  Humans have set up rules that don't always favor everyone equally.  Often, the rules are weighted in favor of keeping people in power who are currently in power.  Or maybe those who are the richest and most powerful benefit more from rules than the poorest and most downtrodden. 
  Here, we are reminded that God's grace isn't given out according to human rules, but by God's rules.  We receive grace according to God's promise -- this doesn't rely on us.  And we know that God always keeps his promises, and that grace and mercy is promised to all who believe, regardless of our past or our present.  Our futures are safe in God, because we are steadfastly loved.