30 SEP 23 Saturday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 30 SEP 23 Saturday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Wherever your treasure is there is the desires of your heart will also be.  No one can serve two masters.  For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matthew 6: 21, 24

Time and time again, I talk to people talk to me about their next assignment, tour, or what they will do when they leave the military.  I find those conversations to be intriguing and sometimes disheartening.  Change and the unknown can produce anxiety in a person’s life.  All of us are affected by change in different ways.  These seasons of change are actually opportunities for self-reflection and a deeper connection to God.

We will often sit and discuss a potential new job, location for a tour, or new places to see and experience.  We start dreaming or exploring the positives and negatives of the new phase that will be entered.  We actually start to grieve a bit, knowing that we have planted roots,  made friends, and have probably hit a good rhythm in what we do.  Sometimes we don’t want to leave, but we have to.

What about God? Do we ever take the time to ask him, what do you want? Is there a place you have us serve? Do you want to develop us in a place we don’t necessarily want to go? When I ask those questions, people pause and respond; I didn’t think about that.  Well, God desires to be in the kind of relationship that we talk to him about everything.  He is the author and finisher of our faith, so he will orchestrate where we will go, and who we will meet and serve. He will also put before us the challenges of developing our character and the gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus tells his followers to be mindful of where your heart’s desires are placed.  If it is focused on temporal earthly things, you will go astray.  It is a heart check.  If you don’t check yourself, you will wreck yourself.  Our service and lives must be devoted to God, that means laying down our future before him and saying, take it and make it useful to thee.

Where is your life devoted and whom do you serve?

Reading Plan: Psalm 87, 90;  2 Kings. 11:1-20; 1 Cor. 7:10-24; Matt. 6:19-24

28 SEP 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 28 SEP 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“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? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Cor. 6: 19-20

During a training class this week, I heard an interesting quote from Victor Frankl.  He said, “I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”  We like our freedoms in America and people are drawn to this country because of it.  We are also hated for having these freedoms.  The truth is, freedom is never free.  It cost the United States a great deal of blood and sacrifice to achieve it and also to maintain it.  

Those freedoms are limited though.  We are not autonomous and there are responsibilities attached to them.  The Apostle Paul reached a people who were far from God, lost, and slaves to sin.  They had free will, as far as to freely choose any sins they wished, but they were spiritually blind and dead.  When the Gospel was preached to them, the Holy Spirit gave them eyes to see, ears to hear, and a new heart to receive Jesus.

They became free from the bondage of sin and death, but that did not mean they were free to themselves.  God purchased them.  What is described in the verses above is slaves being bought.  The people were not set free to do as they pleased, but free to be all that God had planned for them to be.  Believers have a new Master, which is Christ.  Paul himself states this in many of his greetings to the churches: Paul a slave of Christ.  He understood he was not his own.

The bodies and souls of believers belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirit takes up residence within.  Our solemn duty is to honor God with our body and to live in a manner that glorifies Him.  We have freedom in Christ to do the works that please Him and are given responsibilities that He expects us to upheld.

Are you living like you are free “from” Jesus or free “in”Jesus?

Reading Plan: Psalm 34; 2 Kings. 9:1-16; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; Matt. 6:16-18

26 SEP 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 26 SEP 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28

When I was a boy, I was in the scouts and my Dad used to give me nuggets of wisdom.  When we would go camping or work on merit badges, there were new skills to be learned and cautions that came with them.  Once we set up camp, we would gather wood for the fire.  As a young kid, I was fascinated by fire and the fact that we were going to be taught how to start one.

As the fire got going, we were always tempted to wave a lit branch around or do foolishness with other scouts.  Go figure.  My Dad would calmly tell us, ‘If you play with fire you are going to get burnt’.  Sure enough, someone would not heed the wise words, someone did get burnt.  Someone’s mistake leads to another merit badge, first aid.  Wise words are meant to save ourselves some pain.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, unpacks and expands the spirit of the law. (The Ten Commandments) Our thought life leads to sin, in and of itself can be sin.  He tells us to deal with it harshly or drastically.  If your eye causes you to sin, cut it out.  He is not telling us to perform self-mutilation, but to cut lust and adultery out of our lives.  

Sins of lust and adultery are an epic failure of dishonoring yourself, your neighbor, your community or nation, and God.  Lust is like fire, if you mess with it, you will get burnt. These words while strong are meant to set a plumbline of holiness and godliness, a set of character traits important for everyone.

Are you playing with the fire of lust and adultery?

Reading Plan: Psalm 78:1-39; 2 Kings. 5:19-27; 1 Cor. 5: 1-8; Matt. 5:27-37

27 SEP 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 27 SEP 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.  God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you.’” 1 Cor. 5: 12-13

When I read the news, watch TV, or movies, I can see the brokenness in our world.  There are people engaging in abuse, greed, drunkard and drug use, cheaters, and sexual sin.  Our world is a hot mess.  Every attempt to break free from their brokenness lands them deeper into the same one or they exchange it for another.  Jesus states that the people of the world ‘are’ darkness.

For Christians, we are called to reach this world by being the light exposing their sin and brokenness, and leading them to Jesus.  Paul repeats this in the fifth chapter of First Corinthians.  We are to engage the least, the last, and the lost.  As the church, we must set the plumbline of what right looks like and what is pleasing to God.  We are not to look like the world.  We have been set free from the slave bonds of sin and are now bound to Jesus.  We do not belong to ourselves anymore.

This is where it becomes difficult for many.  They say, why are you judging me? Others? We are God’s holy people and he expects us to be holy.  That is why.  That means we set the plumbline and we hold one another accountable and sometimes there is punishment that comes with that, especially if they are unrepentant.  If a person doesn’t know they cannot grow.  There is no autonomy in life.  You are either bound to sin or bound to God.  When you are called out of death and into life, you have to learn how to live.  None of this comes naturally.  

When I put on the uniform and was commissioned into the military, to some level I belong to the Navy.  I am no longer free to do as I please and I have to learn what it means to be a sailor.  Likewise, as a Christian, I must learn to conform to the image of Jesus and live as He does.  That is the responsibility of other believers to build the new person up in the faith and help them to become all that God wants of them.

Are you growing into the person God desires you to be or are you regressing?

Reading Plan: Psalm 119:97-120; 2 Kings. 6:1-23; 1 Cor. 5:9-6:8; Matt. 5:38-48

25 SEP Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 25 SEP 23 Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder.  If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!”. Matthew 5: 21-22a

I was driving along to work one day and everything was moving smoothly.  Traffic was bad, but at least it was moving.  I had plenty of gas so I wasn’t afraid I would run out.  If you are like me, I sometimes wait until it is a quarter of a tank to fill up again.  Some of you wait until the warning light comes on because you know you have a few more miles until empty.  This drive to work had a different warning light come on, the dreaded engine light.

Warning lights on the dash are there for a reason.  The sensors indicate there is a problem that needs to be looked at soon.  Today’s cars have all kinds of sensors for a myriad of potential issues.  We have those too, really.  Anger is one of those.  Anger can be righteous or sinful, both put off similar indicators.  James says that temptation starts in the mind from our own desires.

Those desires can entice us which in turn become actions.  If the desires are allowed to grow, it travels to the heart and it burns inside us.  Jesus speaks of sinful anger that if stewed on will lead to hate which will lead to actions up to the point of murder.  Our thought life must be captured and controlled for Christ’s sake and ours.  Our thought life is important to God and we will answer for it.  The Holy Spirit will also throw up a warning light and a way to tame or escape it.

You may delay filling up with gas or taking the car to the shop when it needs repair, but eventually, it will lead to greater damage and more cost.  Save yourself some pain and deal with your anger quickly before it turns into something that causes damage and costs you dearly.  Confess it God and ask for help and forgiveness.  Then, make it right with the one you are angry with.

Are you struggling with anger and hatred?

Reading Plan: Psalm 80; 2 Kings. 5:1-19; 1 Cor. 4: 8-21; Matt. 5:21-26