Hebrews 4:12-16

“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” vs. 16

Through the centuries humans have come to believe that there will be a final judgment. And though some now disparage that notion, they need to recognize that eliminating judgment will also pretty much do away with any sense of accountability for how we live our lives. In fact the major reason for believing in a Judgment Day is to preserve the conviction that the way we live does make a difference. We should never believe that our words and deeds are without consequence! They have enormous importance, now and forever! The writer of Hebrews believed that our every thought, word, and deed was known to God–there was nothing in our lives that could remain hidden to the Divine Presence–and one day we will be called upon to make an account. But then he surprises us! He doesn’t say we will make our accounting before the throne of judgment, but the throne of grace, and that there is no reason for us to be frightened. Why not? Because the throne is occupied by our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and from him we will receive mercy and find grace. That’s quite an amazing twist, and this promise colors everything we have ever believed about the future. Yes, we are accountable. Yes, there are consequences for our sins. But our judge sits on a throne of grace!

Thought for the Day: How can there be accountability and forgiveness at the same time?

Psalm 90:4-7

“Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” vs. 16

The psalmist is praying that the wondrous work of God would be manifest to all the congregation. There really is nothing better than to be a part of a community that recognizes the goodness of the world, and who are working together to bring healing and restoration to its brokenness. So we like it when our friends can see the fingerprints of God in creation, and we are delighted when they share our faith and join in our mission. The unity is beautiful! But even better than that are those times when our children, instead of going their own ways, begin to see and believe the truth of what we’ve passed on to them. So often we lament the fact that those who come after us show impatience with our ways and discard the faith that we have so carefully placed in their hands. We can even see in their eyes that they have little interest in Jesus, and that they would much rather align themselves with the gods of the culture. They love the pursuit of wealth and pleasure and have little interest in dedicating themselves to service. But not always! The Spirit can work miracles, and occasionally the seeds of faith that we have planted find nourishment and begin to slowly grow and even bear fruit. What is produced may be different from what we’ve experienced, but the core of love is obvious to all. Glory be to God!

Thought for the Day: What signs of faith do I see in children?

Psalm 90:12-14

“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” vs. 14

Some folks awaken in the morning with a song of thanksgiving on their lips. They’ve been refreshed in their sleep and are grateful to have yet another day in which to experience the steadfast love of God. It is really wonderful to be able to welcome another twenty-four hours, because it’s not inevitable. One day we’ll run out of time, so it would be best to count our days and to appreciate the joy of each morning. Some people seem to be better equipped for that kind of living, probably because they know how precious life is. In the context of eternity our lifespan is not even a nanosecond, but for us it’s all the time in the world, our special allotment from our ever-loving God. During the course of our lives, however short or long they may be, we have our only opportunity to drink in the beauty of this good world. What fools we are to waste even a single day! No wonder those who awaken in the joy of the Lord are able to live such beautiful lives. Of course it’s no accident that people live this way. Anchored by their faith, they are dedicated to the balanced use of their allotted hours. Each of their days is filled with deeds of love and mercy, and they delight in their life as a servant!

Thought for the Day: How do I awaken in the morning?

Amos 5: 11-15

“Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.” vs. 11

Amos called out the people living in the prosperous cities of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He knew exactly how they had gained their wealth! They had gotten rich from their relentless taxation and exploitation of the poor. And some would say that this is how most economies still operate. It’s just that in our time exploitation has become more sophisticated. While it’s true that the poor are shielded from income tax, the road out of poverty is excruciatingly difficult. Most of those in need, handicapped with few educational opportunities, spend their lives competing for low paying jobs, struggle to accumulate savings, and often receive inadequate medical care. In the meantime, in this new age of relaxed regulations, bitcoin, hedge funds, and private equity companies, opportunities for unbelievable wealth have proliferated, and often the gains are made at the expense of workers. Where once owners cared about their employees and took pains to be sure they received a fair shake, the attention has shifted to Wall Street, and it’s now the shareholders who get taken care of first. If Amos is right, such callous disregard for the poor has consequences. Of course, most wealthy folks laughed at Amos–it’s likely that this is still the case. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Thought for the Day: Why should anyone pay attention to Amos in 2024?

Amos 5:6-7, 10

“They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.” vs. 10

If Amos could somehow be transported to our time, and given a chance to observe our economic and political practices, he would feel right at home! Behaviors haven’t changed a whit since he marched into the land of Israel to bring a word from the Lord. Liars abound and the economy favors the rich. Money can buy you privilege and position and it’s readily available to anyone able to manipulate rules and regulations to their own advantage. And with the advent of artificial intelligence it’s become virtually impossible to sort out the truth in our media sources. Fake news and outright lies flood the internet and any kind of regulation has been deemed unconstitutional. It doesn’t make any difference whether what is said is a truth or a lie–all that’s important is our right to say it. Of course there are still prophets like Amos in our world, and they aren’t hesitating to lift up their voices in protest. They don’t win popularity contests; in fact they’re pretty much hated by everyone. But that doesn’t stop them from speaking the truth. Like Jesus they know that it’s the truth that sets us free. The problem is that it’s hard to know who they are! Most of us have become so enmeshed in the lies we’ve lost the ability of discernment! Still, it’s good to know the truth-speakers are among us. In them there is hope!

Thought for the Day: How do my prejudices keep me from discerning the truth?

Mark 10:13-16

“People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.” vs. 13

It’s hard to know what the disciples were thinking. We do know that Jesus was heavily involved in teaching and perhaps they considered the children to be a distraction. Perhaps they were like ushers in our worship services who advise mothers to take their crying babies to the nursery so the preacher’s every word can be heard easily by all. But we do know that Jesus was horrified. He wanted the children to be there so that he could use them as living object lessons for one of his most important lessons. It’s not the learned elders or the wise pastors who are the best models for kingdom living, it’s the children. They know what it is to trust implicitly because they do it all the time! They don’t question God’s existence. For them it’s the most natural truth of all! They don’t argue theology, they just believe the gospel. And they love to sit on the lap of Jesus and soak it all in. When Grandma or Grandpa dies and they’re told they’ve gone to be with Jesus, they just say, “Wonderful! Then why are you crying?” Sometimes in the course of growing up or going through adolescence we give up those trusting ways and that childlike faith. How wonderful it is then to arrive in old age and find ourselves returning to that old way of believing, and making it our own once more.

Thought for the Day: What happened to my childlike faith?

Mark 10:2-12

“Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” vs. 9

The Pharisees regularly accused Jesus of being lax about matters of the law, but Jesus wasn’t really lax about anything. Of course he thought their rules about healing on the sabbath were malarkey, but he maintained that the law itself was corrupt. In the case of marriage Deuteronomy allowed a man to divorce his wife if he found something objectionable about her. Jesus told the Pharisees that was ridiculous, a total accommodation to the base desires of men. He told them that marriage was inviolable from the beginning, implying that it is the basic building block of community. The disciples were startled by his words, as are most of us! We too have become accustomed to divorce in our communities, and have learned to make accommodation for it. Divorced persons are seldom stigmatized, and long-lasting marriages have almost become a rarity. But our acceptance of divorce’s reality does little to mitigate its pain and long-term effects. While in some circumstances children are blessed by a divorce, more often the breakup is devastating and damaging. At the very least it leads to family instability. How much better it would be if we continued to do the work that leads to strong marriages! And probably the best thing anyone could do is to be wise about marriage partners. If a woman marries a jerk, she should know that Prince Charming is never going to magically show up! What we see is what we get!

Thought for the Day: How has divorce impacted my family?

Hebrews 2:5-12

“It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” vs. 10

The many references to suffering in our scriptures reflects its universal presence in the human community. Every generation has struggled with both personal and communal encounters with violence, injustice, oppression, and torture, and those concerns are lifted up in all parts of the bible. The writers were very aware of the pain that comes with suffering, and often reflected on its purpose, particularly when it was so often undeserved. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, his followers pored over the Hebrew scriptures and came to realize that it was possible for suffering to be redemptive. The writer of Hebrews began to teach that it was through his sufferings that Jesus had been made perfect, thereby becoming the pioneer of salvation for all God’s children. This understanding resonates with some folks who have experienced suffering. Just as the finest steel is tempered and toughened by exposure to flame, they believe that suffering brings out their best. For them, the periods of suffering in their lives have strengthened faith and exposed compassion. Of course that’s not always true. Sometimes suffering is the death of people. But for people of faith, suffering is never the end of the story. For them, as for Paul in Romans 5, it leads through endurance to character and finally to hope! And that’s what keeps us going!

Thought for the Day: What have I learned from suffering?

Hebrews 1:1-4

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” vss. 1-4

After Jesus’ death and resurrection it took a couple of generations for his followers to sort out their differences and arrive at some sort of common understanding of his significance. Initially the greatest conflict was between his Jewish disciples and the Gentiles who had been brought into the community through the work of the Holy Spirit. Occasionally these debates ended in separation–the two groups could not be reconciled. The writer of Hebrews aimed to bring healing to this brokenness by showing exactly how the mission of Jesus could be reconciled with the Hebrew scriptures. He begins his treatise by acknowledging the validity of the ancient prophetic witness, and then tells his readers that the same God who spoke through the prophets also spoke through Jesus. He goes on then to make the further claim that all things had been created through Jesus, a teaching not dissimilar to the prologue to the gospel of John. In other words, the good news spoken through Jesus was no new invention, but was actually as old as the universe. That’s an important linkage! And as modern Christians it’s important for us to remember that the truths we hold so dear have been around from the very beginning, and will remain true until the end of time.

Thought for the Day: Why are people always looking for something new?

Psalm 8

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” vss. 3-4

The psalmist hadn’t needed images from the James Webb Space Telescope to figure out that this universe is awe-inspiring and more magnificent than we can even imagine. He’d come to that conclusion using his own eyes in those days when light pollution was non-existent and nights were spectacular. And what brought him to his knees was the sense that everything in all creation was exactly what human beings needed to flourish. How he knew that we don’t know, but he was exactly right. The earth’s environment is precisely calibrated to ensure our survival and prosperity. It could not be any better, and it is a pure gift! Sadly, the psalmist’s worldview has fallen out of fashion, and many have begun to operate with a sense of entitlement coupled with minimal gratitude or responsibility. Such persons have little regard for the welfare of our cohabitants or to future generations. We can only pray that the Immortal, Invisible, Only-Wise God, who brought all things into existence, has made provision for our foolishness. In the meantime, perhaps we still have time to reorder our priorities, and live as grateful servants. We can only hope!

Thought for the Day: What kind of life will my great-grandchildren have?