Monday May 25 NIGHT

Faith – night – LIGHT; seeing lamps in the darkness |

The fog sets in when faith is the topic.  People square off James vs Paul, Jesus vs Moses and law vs grace without recognizing the difference between work and rest, God and humanity. The lamp in our darkness should be more than a grudging admission of what we were. We are now light, but only in the Lord. Please be sure to separate your thoughts from God’s.  Light and lamp in the darkness is the most iconic instance of the divine brand.

“What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops. (Matthew 10:27)

Hope – night – LIGHT; trusting stars |

One of the more disturbing trends among hope-bearers concerns the incomplete experience with Christ and the absence of growth.  Nothing (or very little) is achieved by faith in Christ in the world where the central provisions of Christ are all future. Most of the stars we admire and look up to are likely to be fallen entities. 

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? (Romans 8:24)

In that world where hope is all future the saved are not saved, the lost are not found, sinners do not become holy, and the outsider becomes family.

Love – night – LIGHT; embracing intimacy |

In our most brilliant moments of enjoying God’s presence – PRESENCE! – there are a dozen impurities brewing in our hearts (Mark 7:21-22). Deny it and you trash Christ. Deeds bubbling beneath the surface eager to come out include:

• evil thoughts
• sexual immorality
• thefts
• murders
• adultery
• greed
• wickedness
• deceit
• indecent behavior
• envy
• pride
• slander
• foolishness

These thirteen defilements are obviously partially defined by the ten commandments.  Not one of the commands in the famous enlarger of sin helps with victory over evil thoughts, pride or foolishness, and the whole package served to identify and magnify sin.

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)

Death – night – LIGHT; becoming mortality’s veil |

As long as people equate moonlight with sunlight we shall have viral confusion and ruthless (they call it principled) demolition  of human integrity and intelligence. They want us to be like 1st century Judeans, who were mostly unlearned and ran to scribes to learn God’s will, and the learned among us deserve to be associated with the 8th century BCE illiterate  scholars.

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: (Isaiah 29:11)

The obsession with authority is old, making its appearance graphically during Moses’ leadership.  The obsession occurs often with challenges to the leaders.  In the church today elected leaders make rules for our governance, but it is an unelected pastor that sits behind a resolute desk to activate both the word of God and the policies of the organization. If people are unwilling to separate the word of God from church policy then the veil that covered Moses’ face is in full effect. 

The mystery of God in human flesh is quickly discarded for all kinds of reform theories. The most laughable reforms include calling people to Sinai when the Scriptures report a different mountain. 

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, (Hebrews 12:18)

22. But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22-23)

The moon will never be the light that encircles the woman’s head. People who turn from Jesus to broken vessels are to be indicted for turning off the city lamp.  Since the mother of the church had the moon under her feet (Revelation 12:1) the reason for elevating something called lesser light is unadulterated corruption. The immortal God came dressed in mortality. The black and white of God and humanity, of mortality and immortality, of Truth and liar (Christ and Satan) is too clear to be mistaken, and we know that the non-elect will never claim to be beyond deception.

Sunday May 24 LIGHT

Faith – day – LIGHT; seeing dawn as resurrection |

Have you ever watched for the morning because the night was unwelcome? Do we not watch for our number or name to be called and  come up Let’s be confident that the dawn is not when the sun goes down.  The current order of night following day is a relic of humanity’s starting blocks.  We feel light on our skin and know it is as real as the mystery of grace gets.  Darkness never wins (John 1:5) and the warmth of the sun reminds us of the divine realities.  In the coming glory there is no night and apostolic wisdom defines us as “day children”  (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).

In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; (Revelation of John 21:25)

And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation of John 22:5)

We can reasonably expect the natural world to have its cycles but we are also assured that darkness and night are banished. Does not the text actually say that the Lord will build new Heaven and the new Earth?

Hope – day – LIGHT; trusting illumination |

We have a dangerous dance with light and darkness that reveals a death hug.  Recall the rejection of Moses, Ezra’s dissolution of mixed marriages, and the Pharisees challenging YAHWEH’S shepherd, salvation, and light. Trust is rare and darkness is deep and popular. Hope is still precious and is more than a thread or rope to what is to come ( 1 Peter 1:13).  Hope can be also completely efficacious.

Love – day – LIGHT embracing warmth |

It can be forgotten that light comes to dispel darkness, not to increase lamps and candles. If the Bible is a lamp then what service do we perform by writing many books? Is that how one spreads the heat? The Sun of righteousness needs no assistance from luminaries.

Death – day – LIGHT; becoming dusk’s paradox |

Make a deal with your adversary!  Death is everybody’s enemy and humanity has not found a way yet to even significantly slow down death’s advance.  LeBron’s serpent in Moses’s experience captures our paradox with high definition. Death’s day came in the middle of an afternoon as a man from Nazareth hung on a cross. Night fell twice as light was bequeathed to the human race.

1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom should I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom should I dread? 2. When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. (Psalms 27:1-2)

Saturday May 23 – CHANGE

Faith – CHANGE – LIGHT; seeing constancy in transformation |

Instead of holding faith with consummation we actually set up roadblocks to the unending growth.  Since the wolves sneaked into the church we have seen people naming Christ as Saviour (and Lord) but resisting the Spirit’s work. If faith does not save – if a person has to wait until the parousia to say “I am saved” we are in stiffneck mode. There is neither life nor light. 

Hope – CHANGE – LIGHT; trusting renewal |

During the times of the judges – a period of more than 300 years –  people seem to have abandoned hope.  Israelites loved Baal and kept serving Baal instead of Yahweh.

They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. (Judges 2:13)

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. (Judges 10:7)

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. (Judges 13:1)

There is no secret about the demise of Israelite monotheism.  The standard of “no other god”was  abandoned repeatedly.

Love – CHANGE –  LIGHT; embracing adaptability |

We adjust cautiously, and that is seen as wise, but some of life’s critical transitions are useless when drawn out.  Can you imagine Peter and his brother taking a few weeks to decide to follow Jesus?

18. Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 20. Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:18-20)

Death – CHANGE – LIGHT; becoming Sabbath rest |

It might have been a regular occurrence for crucifixion to happen and steps taken to make sure that the corpses do not stay on Cross into the sabbath day or the festival. 

Now then, since it was the day of preparation, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews requested of Pilate that their legs be broken, and the bodies be taken away. (John 19:31)

his body is not to be left overnight on the tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:23)

These same guys had no qualms about going to the Romans to secure the sentence of death against Christ.

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. (John 18:28)

Friday May 2-  MOTHER

Faith – mother – LIGHT; seeing nurture as promise |

How God started the world we know without a mother and then established the starting blocks of the world to come with the agency of our Lady Mary is pure genius and profoundly instructive. When we are asked the question “Can a nursing mother forget her child?” we are tempted to say yes, but when we examine the record of Mary she stood with her child even when he hung on the cross content to die.  She who said at the wedding in Cana “Do what he tells you” must be counted as visionary and faithful to the end.

Hope – mother – LIGHT; trusting gestation |

Thankfully, the nine months of pregnancy contain significant change. Babes, from conception, are in change mode, right up to the gender affirming “It’s a #¢&”.  All the joy at this point gets nudged over by the sobering recollection that the experienced mother alone knows what birth pangs are, and gestation is a lot of time to prepare oneself for  motherhood’s birth event.  Talk about mother’s hope is highly underrated.

Love – mother – LIGHT; embracing care |

The joy of childbirth tends to turn into tender care and total attention to the tiny human, and while the quintessential maternal support seems like the findingthat has come under scrutiny, by no less than His Infinite and Supreme Majesty.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. (Isaiah 49:15)

Death – mother – LIGHT; becoming portal to Immortal’s life |

What does a mother do when she learns that her child is destined to die without being sick or injured?  At first she wondered.  Then she pondered.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? (Luke 1:34)

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

One only has to see Mary at the cross to understand her involvement with God and her  contribution to eternal life.

May 21 | Thu | VOX DEI |

Faith – VOX DEI –  LIGHT; seeing divine word |

Many of the maxims that believers hold closely come from songs. Many favorite Bible verses that stand out, are from songs.  Please let’s not keep making the mistake of treating the content of our favorite songs and sayings as the voice of God because our desires and expectations seem to be addressed. Faith still enables extraordinary sight.

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen. (Hebrews 11:27)

Hope – VOX DEI – LIGHT; trusting utterance |

Sometimes we find that there are hopes that shatter God’s transparent footwork. Most people think that forgetful, sinful, and poorly behaved people do not deserve any favours from God, and they see themselves as always worthy.  

and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. (Exodus 24:10)

For God to accede to some of our petitions he would have to do a whole lot of reshuffling of the events that are in motion for other people’s requests.  Some of the things we say we earnestly hope for would turn God’s sovereign generosity into a gumball machine.

Love – VOX DEI – LIGHT; embracing echo |

Death – VOX DEI – LIGHT; becoming final word |

Job and his comforters searched diligently for the bottom line of their beliefs and assumptions. They probed both mystery and the distinct nature of thunder, and the associated thunder with God’s voice.

There is no surprise to me that people sound like God.

And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. (Revelation of John 14:2)

“God thunders wondrously with His voice, Doing great things which we do not comprehend. (Job 37:5)

“Or do you have an arm like God, And can you thunder with a voice like His? (Job 40:9)

There is no surprise to me either that God is not the voice that says “Oh yes” to every human request. Sometimes I hear his voice saying “Scratch your itch yourself.  Haven’t I dished out enough of my infinite power and authority?” In any case, not many Christians are willing to say that God talks to me, because if you ask what God says to them.  They are likely to read something from the Bible,  and if not,  their brothers and sisters are going to say they’re crazy.

Wednesday May 20 WISDOM

Faith – WISDOM – LIGHT; seeing reverence | ou might say that the most important important lessons come from co

We might say that the most important lessons come from mothers and fathers, but the record is complicated with parents like Adam and Eve,

Hope – WISDOM – LIGHT; trusting unfolding |

Many of our brilliant philosophers and writers offer hope of beginning to understand life’s issues with our wellness as the goal. We enjoy wrapping our minds around problems and feel fulfilment when we discover solutions. Once the knowledge transfer proves efficient we consider ourselves wise, at least possessing wisdom related to.  A carpenter is wise, but what does he know about flying an airplane?

Love – WISDOM – LIGHT; embracing guidance |

How beautifully warming it is to have someone within caring distance who has knowledge, wisdom and understanding!  In the family of God we have the guarantee of wisdom personified in the Light of the world.

What we preach:

but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24)

Death – WISDOM – LIGHT; becoming teacher |

One whose ear listens to a life-giving rebuke Will stay among the wise. (Proverbs 15:31)

The link between wisdom and death can be overlooked. Wisdom died and rose on our behalf.

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God. (Isaiah 58:2)