Devotional and Bible

14 March 2004

Patrick’s Letter to Coroticus

I finished reading Patrick’s letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, which was actually a public rebuke of a raider who had taken a whole group of new Christians as slaves. Patrick writes with a kind of poetry that works like copyright protection. The letter was probably meant to be read and recited all over Ireland, and it would have been very difficult to copy incorrectly because the poetry would no longer “work”.

Here’s one section where Patrick defends his calling as a missionary, explaining that He is a slave of the Spirit and yet he does what he does for the wonderful eternal life that he looks forward to (reminds me of Hebrews 12:2). (Patrick was, of course, carried off as a slave to Ireland originally):

Could I have come to Ireland without thought of God, merely in my own interest?
Who was it made me come?
For here I am a ‘prisoner of the Spirit’ (Acts 20:22) so that I may not see any of my family.
Can it be out of the kindness of my heart that I carry out such a labour of mercy on a people
who once captured me
when they wrecked my father’s house and carried off his servants?
For by descent I was a freeman,
born of a decurion [a position of leadership] father;
yet I have sold this nobility of mine,
I am not ashamed, nor do I regret that it might have meant some advantage to others.
In short, I am a slave in Christ to this faraway people for the indescribable glory of ‘everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord’. (Rom 6:23)

For more on Patrick click here. Some of you may recognize this as chiastic poetry.

I used Patrick as an illustration when I spoke this morning in church – he’s kind of the opposite of Jonah, who did everything he could to avoid sharing God’s mercy with his enemies. Patrick, on the other hand, risked his life to share Christ with those who had taken him as a slave in his younger days. That shows what God’s mercy is really all about (see Rom 15:8-9, Luke 6:27-36)

3 February 2004

Heaven

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

It’s really amazing how little the modern Canadian Christian culture seems to think about Heaven. The past couple of Sundays our pastor has been speaking on the topic. We were leading worship on the 25th of January, and you wouldn’t believe what a hard time I had finding current music about Heaven.

It’s amazing too what weird things we tend to believe about Heaven. Our thinking sometimes seems to go like this:

In the beginning, God created everything. He created amazing variety, a world full of wonder and mystery that would still fascinate after thousands of years. He created people, relationships, love.

Then it came time to make Heaven. Unfortunately, He had run out of fun ideas after making earth, so Heaven ended up being pretty boring. He made it as bland as possible, and tried to make sure everyone would be doing the same monotonous things over and over and over. He decided He’d have people worship Him using only music, and only very lukewarm, slow, sleepy music. Harps would be preferred, especially for people who didn’t like harps. Maybe He could give everyone all knowledge about everything instantly, so there would be no surprises or challenges for eternity. Maybe He could make sure no one could have any real relationships in Heaven. Wait – here’s another idea – He could force everyone to go to Heaven, especially the people who didn’t want to go, and who didn’t like Him. Then everyone would be stuck in this peacefully, blissful, yet amazingly boring place forever and ever. Thankfully, His last idea was to do away with time, so we’d never know how long we’d been stuck there.

If you think that’s what Heaven will be like, open up your Bible and check again. Heaven is LIFE – all the wonder and joy and excitement that you may have experienced in life will be there unpolluted by all the garbage that messes it up and brings it to an end. It’s going to be like the best of everything, and yet unlike anything. Look forward to it!

21 December 2003

7 Things you might not have known about Christmas…

Jim Devotional and Bible 1

7 Things you might not have known about Christmas…

Were you born in a barn?

No where in the Bible does it say that Jesus was born in a barn or a stable. In Jesus’ day, it was quite common to have a two story building where the top would be the living area, sometimes rented out as an “inn”. The bottom floor would be where the animals stayed, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to stay on the bottom floor if there wasn’t room upstairs. So it’s quite possible that Jesus was born in this part of a house, and laid to sleep in a manger or feeding trough where he’d be off the floor and comfy.

Silent night

Of course, you can figure this out for yourself. So many carols speak of this sleepy, quiet town of Bethlehem. This wasn’t Sunday morning in a little winter village. This was tax time in a bustling middle eastern town. After all, the inn was full! Not sure how peaceful it would have been!

The 12 Days of Christmas

You’ve heard the story that the song, The 12 Days of Christmas, was written to explain things about the Bible. The Protestants claim that it was written when they were persecuted by the Catholics. The Catholics claim that they wrote it during a time of persecution under the Protestant. Supposedly it was a Bible lesson “in code”, the various gifts representing different points, such as the four Gospels or five books of the Torah. The problem is, there’s no evidence for the story, and it appears that the hidden meanings are actually a modern invention. But as long as we don’t start rewriting history, why not give the words extra meaning?

How many Kings were there?

Ok, you probably know this one. There weren’t three kings – there weren’t any! The Magi from the east, also called wise men, were likely advisers to a king, who among other things watched for omens in the sky. They gave 3 types of gifts, but there’s no reason to believe that there were 3 of them, although it’s possible. But they probably brought a whole caravan with them.
You probably also know that the Magi didn’t arrive on the first night. The Bible indicates that Jesus was no longer a baby but a young child when they arrived. The time frame probably went like this:
* Jesus is born in Bethlehem
* 8 days later He is circumcised
* About a month later, the family goes to Jerusalem, then returns to Bethlehem
* Several months or maybe 1-2 years later, the Magi arrive. Likely Joseph was doing carpentry work in Bethlehem
* The family goes to Egypt (the trip may have been funded by the Magi’s gifts)
* Herod dies and the family returns. It sounds like Joseph would have simply returned to Bethlehem, but hearing that Herod’s son still ruled in Judea (the south) he decided to take the family back to Nazareth. By this time Jesus was probably 2-3 or older.

Joy to the world … when?

If you’ve ever read or sung the words to Joy to the World, you’ve probably noticed it’s not talking about Christmas at all. The time when Jesus will rule as a King in righteousness is His second coming, not His first coming that we celebrate at Christmas.

No sing, no fly zone…

If you’ve learned the Christmas story from carols alone, you may envision a huge choir of angels filling the sky, singing the first Christmas songs. But if you read the story in the Bible, you’ll make the shocking discovery that it doesn’t say anything about singing at all. The angels spoke the good news…if they sang, the Bible doesn’t tell us. The first angel was standing, not flying around, and the Bible says that the big crowd of angels joined the first one. So it sounds likely that this huge crowd was standing there in front of the shepherds, light shining all around, as they talked about the wonderful things God had done.
Note: Bible versions vary on how they describe the other angels. Some say that they were in the sky, but most translate the word “heavenly” or “coming down from heaven”. So maybe they were in the sky…at least part of the time!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!

17 June 2003

Hey – God must be listening to your prayers!

Jim Devotional and Bible, Family 0

Guess what? Somebody must be praying and God must be listening to your prayers!

I’m mainly referring to my last entry about Hannah, who was having a pretty rough time with her two year molars. Soon after I wrote that, she began feeling a lot better. It’s funny because her molars are still coming in now, a couple of weeks later, but ever since then she’s been in a much better mood. So praise the Lord! What an answer to prayer!

We are home again now; I haven’t written much more about our trip here because soon after we got home I updated our Family News page and prayer requests, so if you’re reading this in the next few days you should still be able to see a summary of our trip (which went very well) there. Thanks so much for your prayers and gifts that made the ministry in Central Saskatchewan possible!

And now, back to the topic of health. 🙂 I myself have been the sickest one for the last couple of weeks; we try to rotate as much as possible. 😉

Seriously though, please do pray for my health, which has been rather frustrating. I’ve been to a doctor 3 times since returning from our trip, and expect at least a couple more visits in the next couple of weeks. I won’t list all the problems I’m having, but let’s just say I’m not feeling the greatest from the waist up!

I have to say that God really has been teaching me throughout this time. I often think of a song (by Twila Paris) about how God teaches us through the “thorns” in our lives. He exposes the selfishness and pride in our lives, and teaches us how to rely on Him. I found the lyrics online, so rather than typing them out, I direct you to click on this link to read the lyrics for yourself. It starts:

Thank you for this thorn, embedded in my flesh
I can feel the mystery – my spirit is made fresh . . .

So praise the Lord for all He can teach us through pain! Do continue to pray for us. For healing, yes. But also for the more important things – humility, love, joy.

Isn’t it interesting that these things in themselves are often taught to us in times of pain, but these things often actually improve our health? I always remember what a friend of mine, Bruce used to say. He said that he didn’t mind a little pain or discomfort now if it helped him avoid something worse later. Simple principle, right? God so often allows hardship in our lives to teach us lessons of character, so that we can avoid a bad spiritual fall in the future. I can only hope and pray that I will be a willing student!

23 March 2003

Smoke detectors and the Source

Jim Devotional and Bible, Family 0

A few months ago, a nice man came to our apartment to check our smoke detector to make sure everything was in order. It’s so nice to be in an apartment where people pay attention to important details like that. After all, a smoke detector is a rather important thing!

A few days ago we got a notice that it was now our responsibility to replace the batteries in our own smoke detectors. No problem. Every 6 months, right? (Have you checked yours lately?) So after forgetting about it for a couple days, I went to check. Guess what? Our smoke detector has no battery! This type doesn’t work very well without a battery. 😉

I was a little shocked. I imagine that nice man who came to check our smoke detector took out the old battery and then forgot to come back with a new one!

Shari made a comment that put it all in perspective. She said something about how it’s a good thing that we rely on God to protect us, and not our smoke detector! And you know what? She’s right. After all, there are so many things in life that we rely on. We think they’re so stable and so reliable. In the end, they’re a lot more flimsy than we think. I’m so glad we have something solid to rely on!

The moral of the story is? Trust God, and replace the battery.

4 March 2003

Letting go or grabbing on?

Jim Devotional and Bible, Family 1

Ok, I have a theory. Tell me what you think. We’re back on the topic of evangelism here.

I’m wondering if the hardest thing for us humans is to let go of what we’re holding on to, rather than to grab hold of Jesus. In other words, I think that the thing that more often blocks our way is not that we have trouble trusting Jesus, but that we don’t want to let go of what we’re already trusting in.

Think for example of the poor person who thinks he/she is going to make it to heaven somehow because of the good life they’ve lived. Carefully they pile up the good deeds. They go to church, give to the poor, visit people in the hospital. They read their Bible and pray. Then someone comes up to them and says,”Too bad – all your life’s work was for nothing! All you need to do is trust Christ!” Ouch

Think of the rich young ruler. Successful young man, has been strictly obeying what he understands to be God’s law. Jesus knows that this man is holding onto wealth and works, so He suggests that the man give up everything to the poor, and then follow Him. Jesus wasn’t suggesting that he would be saved by a little tax-deductible donation. He was showing the man that he was trusting in the wrong thing. This man had nothing against Jesus, but he did not want to give up his bank account to become a disciple. Perhaps even more than that, he didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t good enough for eternal life.

Wealth, works, whatever it might be, it’s hard to let go, whether you already know the Lord or not. How should this effect the way we share the Gospel? I think it may be that we should not only clearly present who Jesus is, but also gently point out the weaknesses in trusting other things. Maybe we need a little humility and understanding as well. It’s hard to let go, even if what we’re holding onto is killing us. If we look closely enough, we’ll realize we’ve all been there.

(For the story of the Rich Young Ruler, see Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18)

«‹ 68 69 70 71