Longing

Tomorrow I will start the New Testament.  I love the Old Testament but year after year I have the same experience.  As the months drag on after Eden, after Noah, Ruth and the Psalms, Isaiah and Jonah I begin to long for Bethlehem, for the ancient story of The Star, of Mary on the long, lonely road to the town of her betrothed’s ancestors, for the water into wine, the restored harlot, the prodigal son.  I long for Jesus, for Him walking on the sea, multiplying the bread and fish, for His broken and willingly dead body.  For Mary Magdalene racing to the empty tomb, Peter diving fully clothed into Galilee and for Jesus floating away on the clouds. 

I will eat these words.  Feast!  And in a few months I will find myself once again longing for Eden.

Giotto, who is renown for advancing the skill of depicting real space, painting of
Christs Ascension

Do You Really Want To Live Under Constructed Reality?

Malachi 4

The end of the Old Testament, thousands of years, thousands of verses, thousands of words all proclaiming,

There is a God, He loves us, and He has made a plan for us to spend eternity with Him. 

The alternative.  You believe whatever.

Now comes 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Enough time for anyone to make a decision on what you’re gonna believe. 

Our brain is a marvelous organ able to construct reality out of anything.  That’s why God never calls us to a “knowing of Him.”  God is too unbelievable for our brains to construct a reality around Him.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8

Salvador Dali's
The Persistence of Memory

For The Love Of God

Malachi 3

I am never as good as I need to be.  I am never as good as I want to be.  But why, in a purely evolutionary sense, am I even concerned with good much less being good.

Be imitators of God, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Ephesians 5:1

I can’t get past the example of God lived out by his Son, Jesus the Christ. 

God who will save me from me who always wants my way?

“And He (Jesus) will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi (remember we are Priests) and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.  Malachi 3:3

I sat a goal for myself to create a work with the theme of "For the Love of God" after Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull.  My work is 10,000 decigrams of sugar cubes overlaid with 24k gold.  The thought is how much pleasure God's invention of sugar brings humans and the value of the gratefullness for that gift of pleasure.

How’s Your Go-Between Working

Malachi 2, I Peter 1-2

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.  You are royal priests…” 1 Peter 2:9a

Who is a priest?  Believers!!! They are intermediaries between humans and God, ministers of God to humans. 

‘And now, this commandment is for you, O priests.  “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessing…For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”’  Malachi 2:2,7a

Priest, see how many people “seek instruction from your mouth” today.

Hannah Presenting Samuel to The Priest Levi
unknown

The “One Among”

Malachi 1

“Oh that there were one among you…” GOD, 1:10a

God, like the Marines, is always looking for one good human being.  Why?  One committed believer can change the world.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Katie Davis.

God looks out over every landscape, yours, mine and Malachi’s, to see if there is “one among” all the others who is completely committed to serving Him. 

Oh sweet God of Heaven, if only I could be the “one among!!!”

Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew

0.0000000000000001% You

Zechariah 14, I Peter 2:18-25, Revelation 2:1-7

I am studying for teaching, preaching and myself

There are great mysteries in all of life. 

The atoms that make up your body are 99.9999999999999999% empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with.

Who and where are you? (thanks Jason)

“Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! And it will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle…And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.”   Zechariah 14:5a-6, 9

Mysteries can produce in us unbelievable gratefulness or cynical unbelief.  Either way there’s God and 0.00000000000000001 you.

Whistling Whistler

Zechariah 9-13

Have you ever been whistled at by a lover?  That melodious song of affection and beauty sounding like “sweeeet-sweeeeeeeeet!!!”

Makes your heart swim like butter in hot syrup.

“And they will drink, and be

         boisterous as with wine;

And they will be filled like a

         sacrificial basin… 9:15

Their heart will rejoice in the

         Lord.

I (God) will whistle for them to

         gather them together… 10:7-8

They will call on My name

And I will answer them;

I will say, ‘They are My

People

And they will say, ‘The Lord

Is my God.’”  12:9

Doesn’t God just love us!!!

James Abbott Whistler's Harmony in Pink and Grey

Obama? Romney?

I Peter 2:11-17

I have a ritual every Saturday morning.  I study my bible and then I watch an old western on TV, “The Son’s of Katie Elder” this morning.  My mom once asked me why I always watch cowboys?  My answer was quick and sure, “because the good guy always wins unlike life when often the bad guy wins.”  Simple!!! That’s why I love God so much.  He’s simple; good always wins. 

In this political season someone will win but as believers we must always keep this in mind

“A Christian Caesar may put the force of the empire behind the Christian movement, but the inevitable secularization of the church and the gradual absorption of the prevailing standards may in the end prove harmful to the unique and independent nature of Christianity.  A church which has become a phase of secular culture gradually loses its religious substance.”

                                             Elmer G. Homrighausen

The good guy in this election or any other is not a democrat or republican.  He is The King of Kings.

The Most Valuable Object On Earth

Zechariah 4-8

Flying scrolls, bronze mountains, angels of the Lord, colored horses patrolling the earth and more create images and passages hard to understand.  But there’s something harder than vision here,

“And they made their hearts like flint so they could not hear…” 7:12

The bible is the most valuable physical object on earth.  It is the Word Of God.  How much would you pay if you believed It to be what It claims to be?

Think of it this way.  What if we found a book written by Adam and Eve?  Christies couldn’t auction it off.  We would build a mansion to hold it, display it behind armed guards, security camera’s, and in a armored display case and sell tickets to the throngs that would come to see it. 

The difference.  The Word of God is lying in your home and was written to be read not seen.

Lindau Bible

An Eyelash In A Hurricane

Zechariah 1-3

Zechariah is full of visions swirling through our heads like so much snow in a shaken globe.  What are we to make of it?  God’s great mysteries are centered in the Jews and spiral outward in a great galaxy of Christ followers.  Times are destined, signs come true and the steps of all humans are ordered to plan.  It’s like a humming bird, an ecstasy of emerald green fleeting as an eyelash in a hurricane.  

National Debt $16,027,054,883,190.97 + 3,860,000,000.00 Today

Haggai

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” 

1 Corinthians 6:19

The prophet Haggai has one message; God reduces your economic resources because your focus is on self instead of the Temple. 

If God did a sincere and honest evaluation of our own temple what would He do with our 401K? 

Jaws

Zephaniah

There is a great work of contemporary art.  It’s titled “The Physical Improbability of Death To The Mind of Someone Living.”  It is a great white shark, razor teeth extended for the kill, dead and preserved floating in formaldehyde.  It is so true.  The insidious evil of death lurks razor thin at ever human’s door but we live like it’s a benign object floating harmless in unconsciousness.   

The same can be said of Gods judgment on His people.  Zephaniah 1:14-18 forces us to face the absolute truth that God will judge the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of His people.   We have an uncanny willingness to ignore the absolute call of Christ’s ownership over all we are, have and do for a “go to church religion” of self-righteousness.   God will not be mocked!

“Near is the great day of the

         Lord,

Near and coming quickly…” 1:14

But never close the book without reading the whole story.  Judgments coming, it’s not a dead promise floating in the preservation of the Bible.  But restoration is always the aim of our Father.

Read the last eleven verses of the last chapter, the last room in the museum.  

Can You Hear The 2700 Year Old Whisper? LISTEN

Habakkuk

Written, 600 BC

We love Habakkuk because he feels like we feel.  He looks out over the national landscape and cries out to God, WHY?  God responds but not in a way that appeases Habakkuk so Habakkuk asks again this time with a declarative statement to plant himself and wait on God’s answer.

Gods answer?  “But the righteous will live by his faith.” 2:4b

Can we accept that answer being whispered across two thousand seven hundred years of history?   Just looking out over the globe today makes it not only hard to hear but harder to swallow. 

Habakkuk is the best preserved of all the Old Testament books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Why?

Read chapter 3!  One of the most beautiful passages ever penned and there we find the key that holds us in Him no matter the global landscape. 

You’re Only As Good As Your Last Success

Nahum

You’re Only As Good As Your Last Success

You’re Only As Restored As Your Last Repentance

Wait a minute, wasn't Nineveh forgiven by God and restored under their repentance in Jonah?  Here they are two books later and paying Hades to boot.

“Behold, I am against you,”

         declares the Lord of

         hosts;

“And I will lift up your skirts

         over your face

And show to the nations

         your nakedness

And to the kingdoms your

         disgrace.

“I will throw filth on you

And make you vile

And set you up as a

         spectacle

“And it will come about that all

         who see you

Will shrink from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated!

Who will grieve for her?”  3:5-7a

A great Biblical truth; we’re only as restored, protected and under the Umbrella Of Grace (God) as our last repentance.  

Guercino's
The Prodigal Son
the best example of repentance, "When he came to his senses..."

Dead Dads, Saunas and Make Overs

I Peter 2:1-10

Before my dad died I use to sit in the sauna with him and talk, very honest and sweet times.  As he would talk I would find myself looking at his body and think how old it looked.  It was meaningful because his words were like fresh and sweet living water flowing forth from and a body ravaged and ragged from 40 years of cancer. 

I now wear my dad’s body.  Fat cells have replaced young muscle; blemishes and dark spots now replace good skin.  I’m getting old. 

I was reading I Peter 2:1-10 this morning, teaching it tomorrow, and it made me think of all this.  There’s nothing I can do for my body.  It will continually march toward worn out culminating in disposal.  But the real me, the me that God is taking care of, can daily be renewed, be made perfect, without age spot or sagging skin.  Christ offers that to me and to you.

“…you yourselves, as living stone, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession”

1Peter 2:5-9

Do you ever wonder what you really look like to other people?  The great miracle of God is that in Him through Christ when people see you they can see, God Almighty.  Whatta Deal!!!!!

El Greco's Burial of Count Orgaz
If you look you can see the Count looking toward heaven in the ceter, him being held into death in the center/left by the church, Death, standing to the Right and then in the upper half, he is being presented to Christ as Mary and Peter, holding the keys, look on.

Sweet Drowning Out Contemporary Culture

Micah 3-7

It’s dark in the woods, the soft chorus of crickets hold close to night.   An occasional acorn falls.  Way off, in the deep dark trunks a sweet bird’s song begins.  I can feel my heart.  The bird’s song is the underline on many of the verses this morning.  

In a world of dark, wickedness slithers around, cultures light funeral pyre’s to encircle governments and evil is so bad that they cast themselves upon one another; a Still, Sweet Voice sings softly to the ears of those that will hear underlining His message,

“With what shall I come to the

         Lord

And bow myself before the

         God on high?

Shall I come to Him with

         burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

Does the Lord take

         delight in thousands of

         rams,

In ten thousand rivers of

         oil?

Shall I present my first-born for

         my rebellious acts,

The fruit of my body for the

         sin of my soul?

He has told you, O man,

         what is good;

And what does the Lord

         require of you

But to do justice, to

         love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your

         God?”  6:6-8

Don’t you just love sweet birds in the dark of morning!!!

STONED; The Pigpen’s A Palace

Micah1-2

Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“Behold, I am planning against

         this family a calamity

From which you cannot remove

         your necks;

And you will not walk haughtily,

For it will be an evil time

“On that day they will

         take up against you a

         taunt

And utter bitter

         lamentations and say

‘We are completely

         destroyed!”  2:3-4

Micah is another ancient prophet speaking for God to a culture who has rejected Him and His ways.  A people drunk on affluence, tickle happy with their skirts pulled up and their pants pulled down listening to fools celebrate their heinous freedoms as they wallow in the squalor of lies, sex, power and the pursuit of happiness.  Complete freedom of all their whims, lead by those stoned on self.

Sometimes when everyone is in the pigpen there’s a collective consciousness that we inhabit a palace.

Tracy Emin's My Bed.  She is one of the most
tragic artist's of our day.  My heart breaks for her as she plays out in her work
the heart of a human longing for relevancy and love in a world deeply
mired in the shallow pursuit of happiness.

BFF

Jonah

This book is the most magical book in the Bible.  God gives a command, God causes a storm, God provides a great fish to swallow Jonah and three days later directs the fish to vomit Jonah on a beach.  God spares a great kingdom, causes a plant to grow, guides a worm and the book ends as it begins with a face to face with Jonah.  The most amazing story.  It’s so amazing that Jesus refers to it twice in His ministry. 

The most magical though is not in the fish or the face to face,

“…for I (Jonah) knew that Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”  Jonah 4:2b

It’s that God loves all people and longs to have a personal relationship with each one.   Whatta magical offer, a personal friendship with the Maker of all that is.  Don’t you just love God!!!

Jonah by
Bo Bartlett

Works of Redemption

Obadiah

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament written by an ancient unknown.  It tells of the destruction of Edom, the descendants of Esau, Isaac’s son.  The book ends with this verse,

“And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.”  1:21b

There is no part of the universe that God doesn’t look at and rightly declare, “That’s Mine!!!”  Our task as believers is to work toward the redemption of that part of the universe God places us in, in this case, the arts.  The arts need redemption because it and we often wallow in narcissistic self-indulgence or in banal silliness. 

The verse quoted above holds a tremendous guide for us since often we are at a loss of what we are to do.  We are to work in the arts as if employed by the King for the “kingdom.”

Some of the most redeemed work I know is that of
James Turrell.  This is his Quaker Meeting House.
For those unfamiliar with his work it is the framing of natural or artificial light.
I do not know the state of Mr. Turrell's personal redemption.

Check Your Mirror

Amos 8-9

“Behold, days are coming,”

         declares the Lord God,

“When I will send a famine on

         the land

Not a famine for bread or a thirst

         for water,

But rather for hearing the

         words of the Lord.”  8:11

Do you crave The Words of the Lord?

“Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you many grow by it for your salvation.”  1 Peter 2:2

Why the big deal for craving The Words of the Lord?

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praise of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  1 Peter 2:9

We may want to check the mirror before we leave the house this morning.  Make sure we look like Who we represent.   Some of us may look like we dressed in the dark instead of His marvelous light!!!

William de Kooning's
Women V

Singing Into The Hurricane

Amos 4-7

Most of the Bible is written to believers and these stinging indictments are no exception.  America’s churches are so wealthy that there should be no private nursing homes, no poverty in inner cities, and no hospital corporations.  We’re so wealthy there shouldn’t be an orphan or hungry child worldwide; our wealth should be spent on bringing Christ to the entire hurting world. 

In this season of political pandering believers are fawning at the feet of the democrats and republicans as so many lab dogs to the tit of savior’s milk.  We’re singing into the hurricane. 

“I (God) hate, I reject your

         festivals,

nor do I delight in your

         solemn assemblies…

Take away from me the

         Noise of you’re songs;

I will not even listen to the

         Sound of your harps

But let justice roll down like

         waters

And righteousness like an ever-

         flowing stream.”  5:21-24

We’re not democrats or republicans.  We’re followers of Christ the King.  It’s not whom we’ll side with but whom we’ll share with.

Wasted Away Again In Lastjudgmentville

Joel 3- Amos 3

Joel ends declaring God’s judgment and Amos picks up the dirge. 

The culture is awash in affluence, corruption and apathy toward God.  Prophets are a sad exchange for a sweet relationship with God.  One day God will do away with all messengers and each one of us will stand alone before Him to give an account.

“I (God) will gather all the

nations,

And bring them down to the

valley of Jehoshaphat.

Then I will enter into judgment

with them there.  Joel 3:2

Many will be slung away from that meeting with the last line of Jimmy Buffet’s song, Margaritaville, on their lips.

An Old Man’s Morning Dreams

Joel 1-2

An ancient text written by an ancient man.  No one knows who Joel was, where he was from or when he walked on the earth.  All we have is his name, Joel; meaning Yahweh is God, and a few pages of text.  We love an ancient secret like this.  It stirs our imagination and wonder.  What was he like?  Did he know that he was writing something of God, the very words to be recorded for time immortal?  Did he know that countless souls would cling to his verse as a grandfather to his begotten?  I imagine him a rugged man, a loner, a man of the ground who lingered under the sky and could always smell the earth…

“And it will come about after this

That I (God) will pour out My

         Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and daughters

         Will prophesy,

Your old men will dream

         dreams…”   2:28

Poster by Jim LePage

Gold On Blood Red Granite

Hosea 9-14

At times the Words of God are like a veil of purest, fragrant gold sewn to cover our blood red granite hearts.  Such is this mornings words.

Balm for the Morning

“Sow with a view to

         righteousness,

Reap in accordance with

         kindness…

Until He comes to rain

         righteousness on you.     10:12

I (God) led them with cords of a

         man, with bonds of love.

And I bent down and fed them.      11:4

My heart is turned over

         within Me,

All my compassions are

         kindled.      11:8a

They will come trembling like

         birds from Egypt.         11:11

For there is no savior

         besides Me.          13:4a

Take words with you and

         Return to the Lord.

Say to Him, “Take away all

         iniquity,

And receive us graciously

That we may present

         the fruit of our lips.”           14:2

I will love them freely.         14:4a

Whoever is wise, let him

         understand these things;

Whoever is discerning, let him

         know them.

For the ways of the Lord

         are right,

And the righteous will walk

         in them.”     14:9

Hosea and Gomer
by Cody Miller

I Don’t Need You Anymore

Hosea 4-8

I saw an artwork last night entitled “I Don’t Need You Any More.”  It was a large beautiful blue box with the dismantled parts of a church in it.  Hosea could have made this piece in his day or in ours for that matter.   There is a deeper truth here for believers.  Many of us have replaced a personal relationship with God Almighty with church attendance and activity. 

“For I (God) delight in loyalty

         rather than sacrifice,

And in the knowledge of

         God rather than burnt

         offerings.   6:6

One of the most urgent needs of the “un-dismantled” church today is to “delight in loyalty” to God.

Scott Ingram's
I Don't Need You Anymore

A Bird Sung Chorus

Daniel 12-Hosea 3

There is a lonely sweet bird singing in the forest this morning, a few true notes.  Another one, deeper still, repeats the same song.   They echo the Bible this morning.  Men of old sing in chorus of God’s love for us and His desire for us to be reconciled to Him.  Others hear and repeat the refrain passing it up through the ages to you this morning.  Listen!

“And I (God) will betroth you to Me

         forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me

         in righteousness and in

         justice,

In lovingkindness and in

         Compassion,

And I will betroth you to Me in

         Faithfulness.

Then you will know the

         Lord.”  Hosea 2:19-20

The refrain,

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now I’m found

Was blind but now I see…”

Pompeo Batoni's
Return of the Prodigal Son

Sucking Chaff

Daniel 9-11

There is a divine mystery playing out behind the veil of mist, that mist that often locks us into the silliness of our own reality.  Daniel often lived behind that veil.  It’s where angels and demons lock in mortal combat over our lives and souls.  It’s like a soft rain in the forest where every drop boils with fire and every leaf shields the “Beautiful Land.” 

How do you live behind the veil?

“Then you will call upon me (God) and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:12-13

But most of us sit with grain sacks on our heads gleefully lapping up affluence. 

Rip the grain sack off your head!  You’re sucking chaff!!!

Daniel, Paul Harvey, Crows and Galaxies

Daniel 6-8

Full moon last night and Hurricane Isaac is still moving across the middle of the country bringing much needed rain.  A new or existing president will be elected in a couple of months.  Crows call, wind blows and coffee brews, the earth revolves around the sun, all snuggled into an arm of the Milky Way, floating in time with billions of other known galaxies spread across unfathomable space. 

Daniel sees his own reality in kingdoms.  Kingdoms come and go as will America, as will you and I.  The great line of time.  What does this all mean?

“I (Daniel) kept looking

Until thrones were set up,

And the Ancient of Days took

         His seat…” 7:9a

At some point God will bring it all to conclusion and then,

“The court sat,

And the books were opened.”  7:10b

As Paul Harvey use to say, we had “better settle outta court.”

Daniel's vision, Artist Unknown

Hand Writing On The Wall and Skype

Daniel 4-5

Every time there’s a problem they run and get Daniel.  Why? 

Nebuchadnezzar can answer that question,

“but you (Daniel) are able, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.”  4:18b

Does every time problems arise or times get tough those around you run to you?  Why?

“And I (Jesus) will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor know him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be IN YOU.” John 14:16-17

God in us.  More beautiful than grandbabies on Skype.  

Belshazzars Feast by Rembrandt

True Object of Faith

Daniel 2-3

These chapters tell one of the great stories in the Bible, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego being cast into the fiery furnace.  It also relates a great truth of faith.  When given the ultimatum by King Nebuchadnezzar to either bow down or be cast into the tomb of fire here is their response,

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hands, O king.  But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  3:17-18

One of the greatest truths of faith?  Our faith is not in what God does but in God!!!