Intentional Faith

Thoughts on Today’s Text

God’s providential rescue of Moses as an infant eighty years before (Exodus 2:1-10) preceded his commission. God likewise refers here to Jeremiah’s prenatal calling (Jeremiah 1:5; see Psalm 71:5-6). Like Moses, whose many objections include his own ineloquence (Exodus 4:10), Jeremiah protests that he does not know how to speak (Jeremiah 1:6).

As with Moses, God does most of the talking, describing sending Jeremiah and giving him words to speak, though not yet mentioning that, like Moses, Jeremiah would be addressing rulers. Like Moses, Jeremiah is appointed the task of nation building (4:10). Like Moses, he is given a preview of the rough path ahead. As with Moses, a foreign oppressor will figure prominently in the story. But whereas Moses’ God fought the Egyptians to free the Israelites, in Jeremiah’s time God will use the Babylonians as tools in a conflict with the Israelites themselves. Ultimately, though, Jeremiah’s calling, like Moses’, serves to bring the nation to a better place.

Today’s Text

Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NIV)
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Augustine

Today’s Devotional

2 Chronicles 34:1-7

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.”

Matthew Laney

This morning I asked my eight-year-old what he would do if he were king. He said, “Make a law that says people have to eat pancakes every day!” (he was eating pancakes at the time) and “use the iPad whenever I want.” (He had just been barred from iPad usage to atone for a recent transgression).

What, if anything, can we deduce from this research sample? For one thing, putting absolute power and celebrity into the hands of one so young is a daring proposition. And how many child celebrities end up in free-fall as teens or young adults after rocketing to the A-list too fast too soon?

Not so with Josiah. His star continued to rise, at least in the memory of his sympathetic and admiring biographer. The secret of Josiah’s success was a sure and steady awareness that God was the true king.

We could all take a note.

We all need to surrender the throne to its proper occupant.

At first that looks terrifying until we realize there is nothing more liberating than letting God be God and nothing more terrifying than thinking we are up for the job. Giving up control looks scary until we admit we’ve never been in control for a day in our lives.

I used to recoil at the suggestion that Christ saves me from hell. But then I learned hell is little more than being my own King and getting my own way forever.

Prayer

Christ my King, help me to admit that without you, life is meaningless and unmanageable. Grant me nothing more than the faith to surrender everything to you.

Today’s Prayer

Lord, I thank you for the many times you gave me help,
always listening when I called.

In my darkest moments,
when all seemed to be lost,
there you were, at my side.

The Lord always listens and has pity;
the Lord always comes to our help.

Our mourning you change into dancing;
you always clothe us with joy. Psalm 30

Thoughts on Today’s Text

Paul makes effective use of one more rhetorical device in the imaginative conversation of talking body parts. The dialog underscores the absurdity of a body in which each of the parts were to go it alone, ignoring the importance of the body’s functioning as a unit or whole.

But then in an important move, “but as it is…” (12:18), Paul both brings us back to reality and develops the argument in a novel and compelling way. The arrangement of the one body with its many members is not simply an accident to be observed but has a divine origin and purpose. Here we meet a distinctive treatment of the body metaphor that is quite different in character and purpose from the elsewhere familiar “Christ as head” and “we as body” image of Ephesians.

Here instead a different point is being made by the focus on the conviction that “God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose.” The implications of this conviction are asserted finally in the key culminating insight belonging the gift of oneness of the Christian community: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26).

In order to stress this reality in community, Paul reinforces the three key words, “arrange” (12:24), “suffer,” and “rejoice” (12:26) by incorporating in them a typical and beloved unique Pauline prefix. The Greek preposition syn (meaning “with” or “together,” as in the words “symbiosis” or “symphony”) is prefixed to each of these key verbs. It is as if to underscore the assertion that our oneness is a matter of God’s design. From creation God has “mixed us all together,” that we might suffer and rejoice together in a mutual harmony.

Today’s Text

1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (NIV)
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.

Family Devotional

Decisions, Decisions

• Who’s the first person you turn to when you don’t know what to do?

• How do you know when you’ve made a wrong decision?

We live in a complicated world. We will face complicated decisions. Fortunately for us, we have a resource we can use. God, the source of all wisdom, invites us to share our dilemmas with him. He makes his wisdom available to us.

In order to take full advantage of the opportunity, though, we first need to empty ourselves of our own “wisdom.” Sometimes when we ask for advice, we have already made up our minds, and we’re just looking for someone to agree with us. That might work with friends, but not with God. If we’re going to tap into his wisdom, we need to forget about what we want or what we think should happen. We need to let him guide us.

If you’re not sure how to recognize God’s voice, try talking to him from different perspectives about the situation you’re facing. Talk about the pros, the reasons you should do something. Then talk about the cons, the reasons you shouldn’t do it. Let him work in your heart and mind to help you realize which direction is best.

If you really want God’s wisdom, just ask him for it.

Dear God, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. Never let us forget that your help is available whenever we need it. Amen.

Thoughts on Today’s Text

We live in uncertain economic times. Since 2008 it seems as though the whole world has been teetering on the brink of economic collapse. Governments at all levels have increased their debts as unemployment has risen. Economists argue about the appropriate course to take while interest rates are at historic lows. Perhaps we feel some nostalgia for former days when our economic future and our savings seemed more secure.

In Philippians 3, Paul says that we should not rest on our laurels; we should not assume that what we have done in the past will bring a reward. We must continue to strive toward the perfection found in Christ Jesus. Our human nature tends to want ritual and structure in religion to make us feel safe and secure, but Paul says that is not enough. We must never assume that religion (or financial security) is enough; we must “press on toward the goal.”

Churches that are open to the leading of the Spirit often do not settle into comfortable ways of doing things. They are frequently challenged by new people and new ideas. They are willing to forget what they once were as they strive toward their goal of being open to God’s message. This is not easy for those of us who like stability.