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)

Tuesday May 19 -WAR

War breaks out often and men compete to end them and keep them going.  Our best experience with good war seems to amount to watching combatants smiling warmly at each other and saying peace never arose. 

Now the dread of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of the lands which were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. (2 Chronicles 17:10)

The neighbouring nations did not KEEP WAGING WAR (LXX επολεμουν). The globe

Faith – war – LIGHT; seeing courage in conflict |

Since all the ancient heroes were expected to believe and consequences other than pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6) have fallen on the unfaithful (and if you don’t believe read what happened to Moses in Numbers 20;12).  The judges were examples of faithful persons who died in faith, and their occupation was warmaking. Four judges are named in Hebrews 11:32 to show they died in faith, ae having pleased God. The writer makes a case that time would fail him to name everyone.

Hope – war – LIGHT;  trusting endurance |

That human beings have a built-in hope to be free from violence and war does not need to be documented. Humanity has tried twice to end all wars and some people pretend that they don’t want war but that’s all they do.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Believers are locked in on believing and abounding in hope.

Love – war – LIGHT; embracing reconciliation |

It should not be strange to us that the New Covenant continues to portray God’s intervention as a war.  I am aware of Christ’s struggle in Gethsemane. We are aware of him doing battle with the Devil and throwing him out of heaven. We have to recognize that for Christ to be called a conqueror he must have been engaged in a struggle, a war.

Death – war – LIGHT; becoming silence after struggle |

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, (2 Corinthians 10:3)

One definitive interaction of the Lord on behalf of his people is pictured as a war, Yahweh fighting against the Egyptians.

3. “The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name. 4. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has thrown into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:3-4)

We confess that same thing about Yeshua, with bloodstained garments.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. (Revelation of John 19:11)

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. (Revelation of John 19:13)

Monday May 18 – NIGHT

Faith – night – LIGHT; seeing lamp in darkness |

The Life and Light factory is in full operation when we get to the most venerable day of the Moon, 14th of Nisan. But it was not a Monday.  There would be no calculation to bring the day Christ died to be a Monday but it was a day of the Moon being full. We have, seriously, erected no monument to Monday and it’s a good thing.

Hope – night – LIGHT; trusting stars |

When life presents challenges people look for and assistance from the realms that give them advantage.  The insect world demonstrates how their number is a reason for success.  God

‘The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. (Deuteronomy 1:10)

When neither sun nor stars are in the sky people lose hope (Acts 27:20) and the moon does not even figure.

Love – night – LIGHT; embracing intimacy |

The rescue of humanity from darkness is a function of love.  It does not arise from God’s law or from the logical need of the lost people.  God’s rescue mission does not come from the presumed desire of humans to be saved.

Death – night – LIGHT; becoming veil of mortality |

Typically people think of God as a bowler who gets only strikes.  This explains the misguided idea that God cannot be a man (John 10:33) or appear as a creature (Genesis 18:1-2) or appear in inanimate objects (Exodus 3:2).  So even in our dark night we are not left to despair. In fact, despair serves to bring people face to face with the probability of light. God makes sure that the spiritually dead person cannot say “What light?” or “I do not know”.  Can the Fire-Rescue worker engage in their work without intimacy with the dangers the victim is experiencing?

Death opening the door to life is scandalous and foolish (1 Corinthians 1:23). The life-and-light cycle is not even controversial.  It is recorded all over the history of humanity and the sacred texts of the Jewish people. Christ’s flesh is a veil that enables the immortal to die.

by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, (Hebrews 10:20)

Life obviously rolls to an end and it is only the Messiah of the Bible who affirms a second birth that follows the natural birth.

yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach– (Colossians 1:22)

Sunday May 17 LIGHT

Faith – day – LIGHT; seeing dawn as resurrection |

The bright lights of human creation are usually multiple lamps or fires.  Their longevity does not match the needs of our feet or our path.  When the tomb is empty faith is seen relieving the women while the men seem to have lost their faith.

Hope – day – LIGHT; trusting illumination |

The arrival of life coincides with the babe of Bethlehem, but it is the death of the Lamb of God that opens the tombs of the sleeping saints.

50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, (Mat 27:50-52)

Love – day – LIGHT; embracing warmth |

A lit lamp changes the environment. Before people realize what the light of each day means and before they can make a plan to make use of the light of day there is a subconscious affirmation of the light.

19. Now when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were together due to fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.” 20. And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)

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

10. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. (Luke 24:10-11)

Who would have thought that life would stream from a dying man, and from a man condemned to die for crimes brought by religious people?  The darkness of the tomb leaps off the page as a perfect partner to light when Sunday arrives.  Christ was hurriedly buried at dusk and as soon as daylight arrived on Sunday the light was too much to believe.

Saturday May 16 CHANGE

Faith – CHANGE-  LIGHT; seeing constancy in transformation |

While it is hard to find people in the Torah exercising faith the search for faith that brings change can be aborted once Israelite resistance to correction surfaces. The light shining in those ancient circumstances exposes and increases the definition of sin.  The transformation is rare and precious.

Hope – CHANGE-  LIGHT; trusting renewal |

The light and life cycle is reliable and people who are soberly aware of who they are know that better can come.  They know that progress satisfies God and humanity.  Hoping to be different is good.  Hoping for better is better.  When we hope for the best we are in the domain of infinite goodness. Hoping does not make anyone godly, godliness is always a transparent confession away.

Love – CHANGE – LIGHT; embracing adaptability |

Concepts like change are hotwired into revelation.  Correction is necessary for everyone. God’s love includes setting the record straight and forgiving human sin.

Death – CHANGE – LIGHT; becoming Sabbath rest

Sabbath, any sabbath,  is and will always be a sign.  The point at which people participate in sabbath, in a perfect scenario, is where they have and use their creative powers for six days. There is no such week in human history.

Friday May 15 | MOTHER |

Faith – mother – LIGHT; seeing nurture as promise |

Babies have no challenges with believing that the source of food and warmth will always give.  Mother’s milk and the comforting warmth of her body endure to the end.  A mother will always call her son or daughter her “baby”. Sons and daughters know that their mothers will nurture them on demand and without invitation, even when sons and daughters have their own families.

Hope – mother – LIGHT; trusting gestation |

We can easily underestimate the 9 months between conception and childbirth, especially if we are males, and I am sure that the purveyors of ungodliness have drummed up a gestation period for the realm of spiritual life. That spiritual gestation period is bound to be fantasy and nonsense, because the wind, like God’s Spirit, blows where it wishes and its origin, direction, and destination are unknown. So how, on God’s green earth are illiterate people like most Muslims, most Jews, and most Christians (and even those who see themselves as reformers) of the 19th and 20th centuries going to gain the trust of literate people in the 21st century?

Love – mother – LIGHT; embracing care |

Mothers are where God turns on the megalamp.  You name the mother and a little meditation will bring us to the traffic lights of heaven’s priorities. Do not be deceived by the annual fluff on Mother’s Day. Many people have no recurring or ever-increasing memo of their mothers. Even if the mother child relationship goes south the mother has made her mark by embracing the light of caring.

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

To say that there is a cult of Mary is a moronic giveaway.  Do you think that the companions of Jesus recognized the humanity of Israel’s God without explicit recognition of Mary?  Or do you suppose that the early believers took notice of Jesus’ divinity without explicit recognition of purity?  It has to be said that holiness was housed in a vessel prepared for the purpose.

PREGNANT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (Mat 1:20)

THE CHILD IS LORD (YAHWEH)

for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luk 2:11)

SALVATION IS VISIBLE AND TANGIBLE

For my eyes have seen Your salvation, (Luk 2:30)

Taking the eyewitnesses’ testimony as absolutely reliable the Word of life delivers food and warmth.  The company of the lady Mary is inevitable.  Through her son’s death Mary becomes the mother – grand and great – of every believer. Some Christians dare not call her mother of God because they have dug a ditch and can’t get out of it

Wednesday May 13 – WISDOM

Faith – WISDOM –  LIGHT; seeing reverence |

What could possibly bring a wise person to conclude that wisdom and light are  comparable to foolishness and darkness?  Was that sage seeing what Paul saw arising from his experience, namely, that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. (1 Corinthians 3:19a)?

Then I saw that wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness. (Ecclesiastes 2:13)

We know that the ancients acted like they saw something other than what God predicted. They rebelled against everything except their own pride of pedigree. Men, not just Moses’ contemporaries, do not like the light because it exposes their ungodly deeds.

Hope – WISDOM – LIGHT; trusting unfolding |

Few persons would argue that the helplessness and despair of human life are the bread and butter of advancement and progress. The quickest path to a conclusion about human expectations is for us to ask what was the experience of people to whom faith was the test of the relationship with God.

Love – WISDOM – LIGHT; embracing guidance |

Not even love, on full display, convinces the unteachable.  Look at how Israel turned against Moses, a man who loved the Hebrew people to the extent of offering himself so they can live, when Yahweh was considering destroying the rebellious and faithless people. Guidance is the chosen pathway of God, not compelled obedience.

A scoffer does not love one who rebukes him; He will not go to the wise. (Pro 15:12)

Death – WISDOM –  LIGHT; becoming teacher |

When the Lord Jesus Christ began to talk to people about being born again, and that there is a spiritual component to what he called the kingdom of god, they were shocked; some were completely scandalized.  They stumbled and fell.  The primary interests of God’s kingdom stand up when the spirit brings them to the individual’s attention.

Sin, righteousness, and judgment

“And He [the Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: (Joh 16:8)

If  the sages of the ages could see us now, they would laugh and wonder how could the generation with so much history to help them avoid falling catastrophically into the ditch.

Tuesday May 12 War

Faith – war – LIGHT; seeing courage in conflict |

Not even the armies of the greatest power on earth could be allowed to keep people in bondage when Yahweh orders their release. Moses was in his best form when he said “Chill out and see Yahweh’s salvation”.  How many people do we know who would take no action against an attacking army?  There is Israel’s uncommon courage in the face of existential threat.

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will perform for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again, ever. (Exo 14:13)

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Hope – war – LIGHT; trusting endurance |

The release of Abraham’s descendants, 400 years after the promise to Abraham, is graphic evidence of God’s providence. We do not know what the oral tradition of the promise looked like, but we know that, in the end, God I responded to the cry of his people on the Egyptian oppression.

Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. (Gen 15:13)

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And the Lord said, “I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. (Exo 3:7)

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Love – war – LIGHT; embracing reconciliation |

Love appears in the ancient narrative without mushy love talk, but love’s dimensions are unmistakable.  Reconciliation is never one-sided but needs to end in a new status, not necessarily something one had before.

7. “The Lord did not make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples, 8. but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deu 7:7-8)

The armies of the world fight to make new realities; they contend for territory, for control of people’s lives, and they seek to establish their reputation as supreme, but God swears to liberate people from Egyptian power.  He has shown that he is capable of reducing any superpower to rubble.  Who else can make wars end?

Death – war – LIGHT; becoming silence after struggle |

Which warrior does not go to war in order to win?  Prayer warrior, civil rights warrior, religious reformers,  activists for the rights of freed slaves, all struggle to change the world. The customary follow up to war is partying, parades, and a lot of primping and strutting.  Christ takes the unusual step of sitting down in silence and near perfect rest. If warfare sat at the top of Christ’s agenda then the cross marked the point where the soldier checked out.  Beautiful golden silence.