DAILY BYTE
When the Apostle Paul speaks about the grace of God in Ephesians 3 he uses the word 'polupoikilos' - which actually means 'many coloured.'
In the context of what he wrote in verse 18-19, he uses an amazing image to speak about God's love. God's grace and love is 'many coloured' in that there is not one situation in our lives, where his love won't be able to match it.
Journey’s almost always entail hardship and tough times. So it is vital for us to remember that God has promised to always journey with us, and that no matter what his love will cover us. If we go through sorrow, his love is able to cover us; if we go through times of joy, then his love is able to match that. Light or dark, sunshine or rain, wind or hail, summer or winter - God's love is adequate!
As you embrace this new day as a gift from God, may you be able to grasp how WIDE, LONG, HIGH and DEEP his love for us actually is. May we all be blessed through God's 'many-coloured' grace.
[Today’s devotions are slightly shorter to give Delme a chance to advertise his new book – see insert below. This book is available to buy in most major Christian bookstores.]
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious God, help to embrace this particular day on my journey as a gift from you. Help to grasp just how wide, long, hid and deep your love is. May I journey in the name and spirit of your ‘man-coloured’ grace. Amen.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:18-19
Friday 31 July 2009
Pressing on towards the Goal
DAILY BYTE
One of the best ways for me to reduce my stress-levels is to exercise. I don’t mind exercise – in fact, I actually thoroughly enjoy it. I think that the most rewarding exercise is playing some kind of sport. I am not one of those ‘gym’ people, so in order for me to get fit I have to be outdoors.
As I have gotten older I have realised that my enthusiasm for exercise needs to have some kind of goal attached to it. Recently I did some training for a few short adventure triathlons, but the only way I could motivate myself to take part, was to register for the event. Once I had paid my money and sent my form in, then I knew that I had to follow through with the commitment!
Perhaps the Apostle Paul understood something of this when he wrote “I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). His goal was not to take part in any sporting event, but he used the analogy as most of his people knew about competing and training for something.
Paul’s goal was the kingdom of God. He longed for the everlasting crown that will be given to us all when we have finished the journey of this life. His goal was in the future, but he lived his life in such a way as to win the ultimate prize – eternal life in the presence of Jesus.
For Paul, the victory of living a life with Christ was much sweeter than receiving a medal after a triathlon. When I had finished my triathlon I was completely exhausted, but I clung onto my medal as if I had just won an Olympic Gold. This was not because the medal was worth Millions of Rands, but rather because of what it represented for me. It was my proof that I had completed in the journey – that I had swum, cycled and run in a sporting event. It was the evidence I needed to show that my straining and effort had been worth something.
As we reflect on the eternal prize, which we are striving towards, think of how much more we will treasure that spiritual reward. It will be God’s gift to us, to prove that we have run the race, completed the journey of our faith and endured to the end.
By the way, there were a number of times during my triathlon when I wanted to give up. My leg’s hurt and my lungs were battling to get enough oxygen to my heart. The finishing line seemed an impossible dream. However, I took Paul’s advice – I forgot what was behind me and strained towards what lay ahead! Every step forward meant that the race was nearer the end. When, at last, I saw the finish line, the relief overwhelmed me and my body co-operated to get me over the line.
Friends, there are going to be many days when you feel you want to give up in your Christian journey. Things will just seem too hard, or painful or confusing. You will wonder why you even started in the first place! You will think the end will never be in sight. If this is how you are feeling today, please don’t quit. Fix your eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, give me the ability to preserve on this Christian journey, even when the goal seems so far away.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Read through Philippians 3 and Hebrews 12: 1-3
One of the best ways for me to reduce my stress-levels is to exercise. I don’t mind exercise – in fact, I actually thoroughly enjoy it. I think that the most rewarding exercise is playing some kind of sport. I am not one of those ‘gym’ people, so in order for me to get fit I have to be outdoors.
As I have gotten older I have realised that my enthusiasm for exercise needs to have some kind of goal attached to it. Recently I did some training for a few short adventure triathlons, but the only way I could motivate myself to take part, was to register for the event. Once I had paid my money and sent my form in, then I knew that I had to follow through with the commitment!
Perhaps the Apostle Paul understood something of this when he wrote “I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). His goal was not to take part in any sporting event, but he used the analogy as most of his people knew about competing and training for something.
Paul’s goal was the kingdom of God. He longed for the everlasting crown that will be given to us all when we have finished the journey of this life. His goal was in the future, but he lived his life in such a way as to win the ultimate prize – eternal life in the presence of Jesus.
For Paul, the victory of living a life with Christ was much sweeter than receiving a medal after a triathlon. When I had finished my triathlon I was completely exhausted, but I clung onto my medal as if I had just won an Olympic Gold. This was not because the medal was worth Millions of Rands, but rather because of what it represented for me. It was my proof that I had completed in the journey – that I had swum, cycled and run in a sporting event. It was the evidence I needed to show that my straining and effort had been worth something.
As we reflect on the eternal prize, which we are striving towards, think of how much more we will treasure that spiritual reward. It will be God’s gift to us, to prove that we have run the race, completed the journey of our faith and endured to the end.
By the way, there were a number of times during my triathlon when I wanted to give up. My leg’s hurt and my lungs were battling to get enough oxygen to my heart. The finishing line seemed an impossible dream. However, I took Paul’s advice – I forgot what was behind me and strained towards what lay ahead! Every step forward meant that the race was nearer the end. When, at last, I saw the finish line, the relief overwhelmed me and my body co-operated to get me over the line.
Friends, there are going to be many days when you feel you want to give up in your Christian journey. Things will just seem too hard, or painful or confusing. You will wonder why you even started in the first place! You will think the end will never be in sight. If this is how you are feeling today, please don’t quit. Fix your eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, give me the ability to preserve on this Christian journey, even when the goal seems so far away.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Read through Philippians 3 and Hebrews 12: 1-3
Light on the Journey
DAILY BYTE
One of my great delights when flying overseas is looking out of the window. Yes, I know, I am quite easy to please! Sure, it is fun to watch the movies on the plane or to eat the food or to listen to the music, but the part I love the most is waiting for the sun to appear at dawn. Sitting by the window waiting for the long night to be over and to see the first glimpse of the sunrise is a magically moment. I guess it speaks to me of the promise of a new day and that finally the long flight is nearly over!
As we briefly mentioned yesterday, sometimes our ‘pilgrimage’ through life can feel as if we are ‘flying in the dark’. Things are going against us, people disappoint us, we don’t have any answers and even God seems deaf to our prayers.
This is indeed how Job felt. He was a godly man and yet it seemed that the Lord was being intentionally silent to his cries for help. Job commented: “My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside” (Job 23:11). Despite all of his best efforts, it seemed as if God had forgotten his telephone number. Without God, Job found that his journey was still extremely lonely and difficult.
Are you perhaps feeling something similar today? Do you feel as if your path is heading up a steep incline and that you are already exhausted? Or do you feel as if you are walking in the dark and you keep stubbing your toes? If this is you then make sure you read on.
Jesus promises us many wonderful things in scripture, but none can be more exciting and hopeful than ‘I am the Light of the world!’ (John 8:12) He tells us that he will usher in the dawn – he will make the light shine in our darkness. And what could be better after enduring a long journey in the dark, than to see the glimmer of light? Jesus is our light and hope and he can turn the darkness into daylight.
The Psalmist also understood this to be true when he wrote ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?’ (Psalm 27) At the end of his many struggles Job was also able to turn around and point out how God had been with him. And what about you and me? These promises are for us too! So even though your journey seems to have taken you into the ‘shadow of death’ remember that shadows can only exist if there is Light somewhere. Jesus offers to be that Light for us. The shadows may linger for a while, but soon they will be overcome by the light of Christ.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, I need to know that you are in control of my life and that you can turn the darkness into light. You have drawn near to many people and healed them, so please pour your Spirit upon me today. Shed your light upon my path so that I may walk in your ways.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Read through Psalm 27 and John 8. See what the Lord says to us about His Light.
One of my great delights when flying overseas is looking out of the window. Yes, I know, I am quite easy to please! Sure, it is fun to watch the movies on the plane or to eat the food or to listen to the music, but the part I love the most is waiting for the sun to appear at dawn. Sitting by the window waiting for the long night to be over and to see the first glimpse of the sunrise is a magically moment. I guess it speaks to me of the promise of a new day and that finally the long flight is nearly over!
As we briefly mentioned yesterday, sometimes our ‘pilgrimage’ through life can feel as if we are ‘flying in the dark’. Things are going against us, people disappoint us, we don’t have any answers and even God seems deaf to our prayers.
This is indeed how Job felt. He was a godly man and yet it seemed that the Lord was being intentionally silent to his cries for help. Job commented: “My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside” (Job 23:11). Despite all of his best efforts, it seemed as if God had forgotten his telephone number. Without God, Job found that his journey was still extremely lonely and difficult.
Are you perhaps feeling something similar today? Do you feel as if your path is heading up a steep incline and that you are already exhausted? Or do you feel as if you are walking in the dark and you keep stubbing your toes? If this is you then make sure you read on.
Jesus promises us many wonderful things in scripture, but none can be more exciting and hopeful than ‘I am the Light of the world!’ (John 8:12) He tells us that he will usher in the dawn – he will make the light shine in our darkness. And what could be better after enduring a long journey in the dark, than to see the glimmer of light? Jesus is our light and hope and he can turn the darkness into daylight.
The Psalmist also understood this to be true when he wrote ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?’ (Psalm 27) At the end of his many struggles Job was also able to turn around and point out how God had been with him. And what about you and me? These promises are for us too! So even though your journey seems to have taken you into the ‘shadow of death’ remember that shadows can only exist if there is Light somewhere. Jesus offers to be that Light for us. The shadows may linger for a while, but soon they will be overcome by the light of Christ.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, I need to know that you are in control of my life and that you can turn the darkness into light. You have drawn near to many people and healed them, so please pour your Spirit upon me today. Shed your light upon my path so that I may walk in your ways.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Read through Psalm 27 and John 8. See what the Lord says to us about His Light.
Pain of the Journey
DAILY BYTE
Life moves on. Yesterday has come and gone – today lies before us. We move from one thing to the next and this all seems a natural part of our daily existence. Even as we discovered yesterday our spiritual heritage seems to be littered with examples of people who embarked upon various journeys. Cain wandered off restlessly, Abram moved to a new land in obedience to God and you and I will struggle to find peace until we rest in God’s grace.
In truth, the land flowing with ‘milk and honey’ will always seem a better option to us than the mundane ‘manna and quail.’ We are often not content with the status quo and our innate restlessness drives on towards new things. One just has to watch enough Television to see how this is played out in our communities on a daily basis.
However, sometimes the journey we go on is not filled with adventure and fun, but with pain, suffering and confusion. The Israelites found themselves at one stage. They had been rescued from the pain and suffering of slavery in Egypt and had been wandering in the desert for a long time. Their journey had already been long and the Promised Land seemed far off. They grew tired, grumpy and disillusioned.
During the Second World War, Elie Weisel found that he was forced to go on a pilgrimage of pain. In his book, ‘Night’ he shares how he and his father were torn away from his mother and three sisters during the war. Some of them were sent to Auschwitz and the others to Buchenwald. He was barely a teenager when this happened and his life was scarred by what he experienced. After his father’s death in Auschwitz he wrote these words – ‘My eyes were open and I was alone – terribly alone in a world without God and without man.’
This is also how Jesus felt when he journeyed towards the cross. He felt alone and abandoned, by those who had walked the past three years with him. Yet, in his time of greatest need, he was left to travel alone. His cry from the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ tells of his incredible pain and anguish as he realises his ‘aloneness.’
Thankfully, we know the ending to this story, otherwise we may end up feeling totally depressed. God rescues his Son and Jesus conquers the cross. In walking the path of suffering he opens up the way for us to have victory over the difficulties we face. Even for the Israelites we see how throughout the whole process God remained close to them and reminded them of his presence. He blessed them with a cloud to guide them in the day and a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21).
In the same way, God wants to protect and guide us day and night. He promises us that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Whatever we are facing in our life’s journey, we need to be reminded that God is with us.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, please continue to walk alongside me today. You are my strength and my salvation. Guide me in my decisions and give me resilience in my difficulties. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Read through Exodus 13 and 14.
Life moves on. Yesterday has come and gone – today lies before us. We move from one thing to the next and this all seems a natural part of our daily existence. Even as we discovered yesterday our spiritual heritage seems to be littered with examples of people who embarked upon various journeys. Cain wandered off restlessly, Abram moved to a new land in obedience to God and you and I will struggle to find peace until we rest in God’s grace.
In truth, the land flowing with ‘milk and honey’ will always seem a better option to us than the mundane ‘manna and quail.’ We are often not content with the status quo and our innate restlessness drives on towards new things. One just has to watch enough Television to see how this is played out in our communities on a daily basis.
However, sometimes the journey we go on is not filled with adventure and fun, but with pain, suffering and confusion. The Israelites found themselves at one stage. They had been rescued from the pain and suffering of slavery in Egypt and had been wandering in the desert for a long time. Their journey had already been long and the Promised Land seemed far off. They grew tired, grumpy and disillusioned.
During the Second World War, Elie Weisel found that he was forced to go on a pilgrimage of pain. In his book, ‘Night’ he shares how he and his father were torn away from his mother and three sisters during the war. Some of them were sent to Auschwitz and the others to Buchenwald. He was barely a teenager when this happened and his life was scarred by what he experienced. After his father’s death in Auschwitz he wrote these words – ‘My eyes were open and I was alone – terribly alone in a world without God and without man.’
This is also how Jesus felt when he journeyed towards the cross. He felt alone and abandoned, by those who had walked the past three years with him. Yet, in his time of greatest need, he was left to travel alone. His cry from the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ tells of his incredible pain and anguish as he realises his ‘aloneness.’
Thankfully, we know the ending to this story, otherwise we may end up feeling totally depressed. God rescues his Son and Jesus conquers the cross. In walking the path of suffering he opens up the way for us to have victory over the difficulties we face. Even for the Israelites we see how throughout the whole process God remained close to them and reminded them of his presence. He blessed them with a cloud to guide them in the day and a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21).
In the same way, God wants to protect and guide us day and night. He promises us that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Whatever we are facing in our life’s journey, we need to be reminded that God is with us.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, please continue to walk alongside me today. You are my strength and my salvation. Guide me in my decisions and give me resilience in my difficulties. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Read through Exodus 13 and 14.
Pilgrim people
DAILY BYTE
[This week’s devotions have been written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author who lives in Pietermaritzburg].
A few years ago, my wife and I did the whole overseas travel thing. The excitement of travelling was awesome and we have many memories and photo’s to remind us of those days. Since then many close friends and family members have either emigrated or travelled overseas themselves. However, on these occasions we have been the one’s left behind, waving goodbye at the airport. I don’t know how you handle goodbyes, but they are not my favourite pastime. I try to be all macho about them, but in truth, I really struggle.
Before we get into the devotion stop and think of how many of your family and friends are now living away from you. How does this make you feel? Allow these emotions to stir within you as read on.
In doing research for my book Living Oceans Apart it struck me how this ‘modern phenomenon’ of travelling is not so modern at all. In fact, since Biblical times people have been leaving their homes for foreign lands. Many times people moved from place to place as a direct call from God, but other times people uprooted because of adventure, war, famine, the threat of enemies and even to get away from their family.
Take Cain for example. His story is recorded in Genesis 4. After God confronts him about Abel’s death, Cain is banished from his homeland and he cries out “Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth…” So, perhaps we have Cain to thank for our inherent restlessness!
In Genesis 12:1, we read of how God calls Abram to relocate to another land – “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” So in the space of a few chapters we see how the foundation is laid for humanity to become a ‘pilgrim people.’ From that time on we have had the restless desire to move onto new things. This may not imply actually going to other countries or even provinces, but our nomadic tendencies have led us in pursuit of Life. We hunger for more, we long for the ‘next best thing’ and we are not easily satisfied.
As Christians we know that the only person who can sustain us along this journey is Jesus. He is the only one who can truly satisfy our hunger and thirst. Our spiritual wandering can come to an end only when our hearts find their rest in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. As Augustine once said – “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in thee.”
As you go about your activities today reflect on whether you are feeling restless. What is at the root of this? Is it perhaps a call from God to move onto something that he has in store for you (like Abram) or is it perhaps as a result of your decisions that have caught up with you (Cain)?
PRAY AS YOU GO
God I want to find my spiritual rest in the power of your love. I know that I can’t hide from you, so teach me to draw near to you instead of pulling away. Help me to trust in your guidance as I journey through life. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Read through Genesis 4 and 12 to get a better idea of how Cain and Abram’s journey’s started.
[This week’s devotions have been written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author who lives in Pietermaritzburg].
A few years ago, my wife and I did the whole overseas travel thing. The excitement of travelling was awesome and we have many memories and photo’s to remind us of those days. Since then many close friends and family members have either emigrated or travelled overseas themselves. However, on these occasions we have been the one’s left behind, waving goodbye at the airport. I don’t know how you handle goodbyes, but they are not my favourite pastime. I try to be all macho about them, but in truth, I really struggle.
Before we get into the devotion stop and think of how many of your family and friends are now living away from you. How does this make you feel? Allow these emotions to stir within you as read on.
In doing research for my book Living Oceans Apart it struck me how this ‘modern phenomenon’ of travelling is not so modern at all. In fact, since Biblical times people have been leaving their homes for foreign lands. Many times people moved from place to place as a direct call from God, but other times people uprooted because of adventure, war, famine, the threat of enemies and even to get away from their family.
Take Cain for example. His story is recorded in Genesis 4. After God confronts him about Abel’s death, Cain is banished from his homeland and he cries out “Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth…” So, perhaps we have Cain to thank for our inherent restlessness!
In Genesis 12:1, we read of how God calls Abram to relocate to another land – “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” So in the space of a few chapters we see how the foundation is laid for humanity to become a ‘pilgrim people.’ From that time on we have had the restless desire to move onto new things. This may not imply actually going to other countries or even provinces, but our nomadic tendencies have led us in pursuit of Life. We hunger for more, we long for the ‘next best thing’ and we are not easily satisfied.
As Christians we know that the only person who can sustain us along this journey is Jesus. He is the only one who can truly satisfy our hunger and thirst. Our spiritual wandering can come to an end only when our hearts find their rest in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. As Augustine once said – “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in thee.”
As you go about your activities today reflect on whether you are feeling restless. What is at the root of this? Is it perhaps a call from God to move onto something that he has in store for you (like Abram) or is it perhaps as a result of your decisions that have caught up with you (Cain)?
PRAY AS YOU GO
God I want to find my spiritual rest in the power of your love. I know that I can’t hide from you, so teach me to draw near to you instead of pulling away. Help me to trust in your guidance as I journey through life. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Read through Genesis 4 and 12 to get a better idea of how Cain and Abram’s journey’s started.
True Evangelists
DAILY BYTE
Over the last two weeks we’ve been exploring the story of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5. As we bring these devotions to a close, our scripture reading today is the final verses of this remarkable story:
“As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.’ (Mark 5:18-20)
There’s an interesting detail in this story that I truly love, and it is this: in Mark’s gospel this Gerasene demoniac becomes the very first evangelist that Jesus commissions. (An evangelist is simply someone who shares the good news of what God has done.) Earlier in the gospel, Jesus had specifically told the leper he had healed NOT to say anything to anyone (Mk 1:44). But in this story we have the very first instance of Jesus specifically telling someone to go and share the good news of what the Lord had done for him.
The man had wanted to go with Jesus. He was willing to leave his community behind. Maybe after all the time he had spent living in the tombs it felt for him that there wasn’t that much for him to go back to in any case. Maybe he knew that there was the wreckage of broken relationships with family and friends for which he was responsible. Maybe he knew that there would always be the stares, the curious looks, the hushed whispers whenever he walked down the street. “Yes, that’s the one who had the demons that finally killed all those pigs. He used to live among the tombs and howl like a dog, you know.” So it’s not that surprising that he wanted to go with Jesus, especially after what Jesus had done for him.
But Jesus refused. Not because he was being mean, but because there was still a further necessary dimension to the man’s restoration. For Jesus it wasn’t enough that he simply be returned to his right mind. Jesus wanted him returned to his rightful place within his community. And so he speaks these gracious, empowering, hope-filled words to the man, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”
There are three things that Jesus gives this man in this, his very first evangelical commission.
Firstly, he reminds the man that there is a place where he belongs. “Go home,” he says.
Secondly, he reminds the man that there are people to whom he has been given, and who have been given to him. “Go home to your friends.”
Thirdly, he reminds the man that he has a story to tell that can shape the very purpose of his life. “…tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”
So what about you? What place, what people, and what purpose have been given to you? We are mistaken if we think that being a witness to the good news means going to some far-flung place or making a radical change to everything that we do. Sometimes it will mean that. But more often than not Jesus has a vital purpose for us in the very places where we are, and amongst the very people with whom we live and work. At the heart of this purpose is the willingness to simply share our story of what God has done for us and the mercy God has shown us. Doing so gives full expression to the liberation that Jesus brings to us, and makes us his true evangelists.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you Lord God for this remarkable gospel story, and the many and varied ways in which it speaks into our lives. Thank you for your gracious initiative in stepping into our bruised, broken and bound existence with decisive authority and liberating power. Give us the courage, the willingness and the grace to speak and act in ways that bear faithful witness to the mercy that you have shown us. In the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Over the last two weeks we’ve been exploring the story of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5. As we bring these devotions to a close, our scripture reading today is the final verses of this remarkable story:
“As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.’ (Mark 5:18-20)
There’s an interesting detail in this story that I truly love, and it is this: in Mark’s gospel this Gerasene demoniac becomes the very first evangelist that Jesus commissions. (An evangelist is simply someone who shares the good news of what God has done.) Earlier in the gospel, Jesus had specifically told the leper he had healed NOT to say anything to anyone (Mk 1:44). But in this story we have the very first instance of Jesus specifically telling someone to go and share the good news of what the Lord had done for him.
The man had wanted to go with Jesus. He was willing to leave his community behind. Maybe after all the time he had spent living in the tombs it felt for him that there wasn’t that much for him to go back to in any case. Maybe he knew that there was the wreckage of broken relationships with family and friends for which he was responsible. Maybe he knew that there would always be the stares, the curious looks, the hushed whispers whenever he walked down the street. “Yes, that’s the one who had the demons that finally killed all those pigs. He used to live among the tombs and howl like a dog, you know.” So it’s not that surprising that he wanted to go with Jesus, especially after what Jesus had done for him.
But Jesus refused. Not because he was being mean, but because there was still a further necessary dimension to the man’s restoration. For Jesus it wasn’t enough that he simply be returned to his right mind. Jesus wanted him returned to his rightful place within his community. And so he speaks these gracious, empowering, hope-filled words to the man, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”
There are three things that Jesus gives this man in this, his very first evangelical commission.
Firstly, he reminds the man that there is a place where he belongs. “Go home,” he says.
Secondly, he reminds the man that there are people to whom he has been given, and who have been given to him. “Go home to your friends.”
Thirdly, he reminds the man that he has a story to tell that can shape the very purpose of his life. “…tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”
So what about you? What place, what people, and what purpose have been given to you? We are mistaken if we think that being a witness to the good news means going to some far-flung place or making a radical change to everything that we do. Sometimes it will mean that. But more often than not Jesus has a vital purpose for us in the very places where we are, and amongst the very people with whom we live and work. At the heart of this purpose is the willingness to simply share our story of what God has done for us and the mercy God has shown us. Doing so gives full expression to the liberation that Jesus brings to us, and makes us his true evangelists.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you Lord God for this remarkable gospel story, and the many and varied ways in which it speaks into our lives. Thank you for your gracious initiative in stepping into our bruised, broken and bound existence with decisive authority and liberating power. Give us the courage, the willingness and the grace to speak and act in ways that bear faithful witness to the mercy that you have shown us. In the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Thursday 30 July 2009
Good news for all
SCRIPTURE
‘The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.’ (Mk 5:14-17)
DAILY BYTE
The healing of the Gerasene demoniac was not a private affair. While this healing centred on an individual, the implications of his deliverance reverberated outwards in shockwaves that impacted the wider community of which he was a part. Yesterday the point was made that the large herd of pigs that rushed down the hill and were drowned in the sea was a graphic expression that the evil spirits really were gone. But what is more, a herd of about 2000 pigs literally dropping off the landscape was also concrete proof to the community at large that something dramatic had happened.
We read that the news of what had taken place was told “in the city and in the country”, and that people started coming to see for themselves what had happened. Those who came saw with their own eyes the evidence of humanity and dignity restored in the person of the demoniac who was now clothed and in his right mind. They also heard eyewitness accounts from those who had actually witnessed the exorcism. But then we read a curious thing. We read that the people were afraid, and so they begged Jesus to leave.
Elsewhere in the gospel we read of the scores of people who flocked to Jesus because of all that he was doing. In Mk 3:7ff we read, ‘…a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon… for he had cured many.’ This is the sort of response you’d expect to someone with the power to heal and cast out demons.
But not the people of Gerasa. They were afraid and begged Jesus to leave. You’d think that there would have been rejoicing that this member of their community, who must have been someone’s son or brother or cousin, had been restored to his humanity. Maybe there was, but what the story reports is a resistance to Jesus’ presence in their midst.
Which makes me wonder: In what ways are people and communities today resistant to the presence of Christ, and the kind of deliverance that he brings?
When Jesus comes to untie the cords of economic injustice, there are threatening implications for those have too much …
When Jesus comes to restore the humanity of those who have been marginalized and cast aside, there are threatening implications for those who would rather exclude those who are ‘different’ to themselves…
When Jesus comes to cast out the demons of racism, sexism and militarism, there are threatening implications for those who have vested interests in maintaining these dehumanizing attitudes and practices…
When Jesus comes to empower the lowly and raise up the meek, there are threatening implications for those intoxicated with dominating power…
The healing work of Jesus is never just a private affair. There are always wider social, economic and political implications to Jesus’ work, which can be very threatening for those who prefer for things to stay just the same. What the people of Gerasa failed to appreciate, though, was that the liberation that Jesus brought to the demoniac in their midst, was ultimately a liberation in which they all could share. For the good news of Jesus is ultimately good news for all.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that the healing and liberation that you bring changes not just individual lives, but the entire world. You came to bring about a new world order. Forgive me the ways in which I resist the full implications of the gospel, and remind me that no matter how threatening the change that you bring may appear, ultimately it really is good news. Amen.
‘The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.’ (Mk 5:14-17)
DAILY BYTE
The healing of the Gerasene demoniac was not a private affair. While this healing centred on an individual, the implications of his deliverance reverberated outwards in shockwaves that impacted the wider community of which he was a part. Yesterday the point was made that the large herd of pigs that rushed down the hill and were drowned in the sea was a graphic expression that the evil spirits really were gone. But what is more, a herd of about 2000 pigs literally dropping off the landscape was also concrete proof to the community at large that something dramatic had happened.
We read that the news of what had taken place was told “in the city and in the country”, and that people started coming to see for themselves what had happened. Those who came saw with their own eyes the evidence of humanity and dignity restored in the person of the demoniac who was now clothed and in his right mind. They also heard eyewitness accounts from those who had actually witnessed the exorcism. But then we read a curious thing. We read that the people were afraid, and so they begged Jesus to leave.
Elsewhere in the gospel we read of the scores of people who flocked to Jesus because of all that he was doing. In Mk 3:7ff we read, ‘…a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon… for he had cured many.’ This is the sort of response you’d expect to someone with the power to heal and cast out demons.
But not the people of Gerasa. They were afraid and begged Jesus to leave. You’d think that there would have been rejoicing that this member of their community, who must have been someone’s son or brother or cousin, had been restored to his humanity. Maybe there was, but what the story reports is a resistance to Jesus’ presence in their midst.
Which makes me wonder: In what ways are people and communities today resistant to the presence of Christ, and the kind of deliverance that he brings?
When Jesus comes to untie the cords of economic injustice, there are threatening implications for those have too much …
When Jesus comes to restore the humanity of those who have been marginalized and cast aside, there are threatening implications for those who would rather exclude those who are ‘different’ to themselves…
When Jesus comes to cast out the demons of racism, sexism and militarism, there are threatening implications for those who have vested interests in maintaining these dehumanizing attitudes and practices…
When Jesus comes to empower the lowly and raise up the meek, there are threatening implications for those intoxicated with dominating power…
The healing work of Jesus is never just a private affair. There are always wider social, economic and political implications to Jesus’ work, which can be very threatening for those who prefer for things to stay just the same. What the people of Gerasa failed to appreciate, though, was that the liberation that Jesus brought to the demoniac in their midst, was ultimately a liberation in which they all could share. For the good news of Jesus is ultimately good news for all.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that the healing and liberation that you bring changes not just individual lives, but the entire world. You came to bring about a new world order. Forgive me the ways in which I resist the full implications of the gospel, and remind me that no matter how threatening the change that you bring may appear, ultimately it really is good news. Amen.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Wednesday 29th July - Free indeed!
SCRIPTURE READING
‘When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.’ (Mark 5:6-13)
DAILY BYTE
I remember as a kid reading this story and feeling a bit disturbed about the fate of those poor pigs. One minute they’re feeding in peace and quiet on a hillside, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful view. The next, it’s a mad stampede, and the entire herd is rushing headlong down the steep bank into the sea, to be drowned. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a kid I couldn’t understand why Jesus gave permission to the evil spirits to enter the pigs, but was somewhat comforted by the thought that for their unwitting sacrifice, these pigs received a special place in heaven. (I was pretty sure that heaven was the kind of place where even pigs were welcome.)
To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this aspect of the story. As a Jew well-acquainted with the law, Jesus would have known that pigs were regarded as unclean, but I’m pretty sure that he had nothing personal against them as such. But if I put aside my childhood sensitivities and consider what is going on in this entire encounter, I can see how the pigs’ part fulfills an important and necessary function within the story as a whole.
A man is possessed by a legion of evil spirits. His humanity has been so diminished that he is more like a wild animal than a man. He has been cast out by his community, and lives in anguished isolation amongst the tombs, howling and bruising himself with stones. But then Jesus enters the scene, and a showdown occurs. The evil spirits recognize that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God and has power and authority over them. They are subject to his word and must obey his command. And so Jesus orders them out of the man, to torment him no more.
A key point to the story that we easily miss is that Jesus has the power and authority not simply to cast out demons, but also to consign them to a place where their tormenting influence can be exercised no more. And that’s where the pigs enter the picture.
As the evil spirits enter the pigs and the pigs rush headlong into the sea, it is a dramatic expression of the good news that these evil spirits really are gone. In the thought-world of ancient Israel, the sea was associated with the realm of chaos that was opposed to the creative purposes of God. In other words, the sea was the appropriate symbolic place for the evil spirits to be confined. It’s a graphic demonstration of Jesus’ enduring power over these transient powers.
The point of all of this for us is quite profound. The work of liberation that Jesus performs in our lives is not a light work. It’s not a temporary quick-fix. It’s the real deal. His power and authority is such that he is able to deal decisively with the destructive forces that torment and terrorize us. He is the one who holds those powers at bay. He is the one who is able to sustain our liberation moment by moment, day by day.
As we read elsewhere in the gospels, “If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!”
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the one who sets me free, and the one who keeps me free. Help me more and more to trust not in my own power, but in your power, that brings lasting liberation to my life. Amen
‘When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.’ (Mark 5:6-13)
DAILY BYTE
I remember as a kid reading this story and feeling a bit disturbed about the fate of those poor pigs. One minute they’re feeding in peace and quiet on a hillside, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful view. The next, it’s a mad stampede, and the entire herd is rushing headlong down the steep bank into the sea, to be drowned. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a kid I couldn’t understand why Jesus gave permission to the evil spirits to enter the pigs, but was somewhat comforted by the thought that for their unwitting sacrifice, these pigs received a special place in heaven. (I was pretty sure that heaven was the kind of place where even pigs were welcome.)
To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this aspect of the story. As a Jew well-acquainted with the law, Jesus would have known that pigs were regarded as unclean, but I’m pretty sure that he had nothing personal against them as such. But if I put aside my childhood sensitivities and consider what is going on in this entire encounter, I can see how the pigs’ part fulfills an important and necessary function within the story as a whole.
A man is possessed by a legion of evil spirits. His humanity has been so diminished that he is more like a wild animal than a man. He has been cast out by his community, and lives in anguished isolation amongst the tombs, howling and bruising himself with stones. But then Jesus enters the scene, and a showdown occurs. The evil spirits recognize that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God and has power and authority over them. They are subject to his word and must obey his command. And so Jesus orders them out of the man, to torment him no more.
A key point to the story that we easily miss is that Jesus has the power and authority not simply to cast out demons, but also to consign them to a place where their tormenting influence can be exercised no more. And that’s where the pigs enter the picture.
As the evil spirits enter the pigs and the pigs rush headlong into the sea, it is a dramatic expression of the good news that these evil spirits really are gone. In the thought-world of ancient Israel, the sea was associated with the realm of chaos that was opposed to the creative purposes of God. In other words, the sea was the appropriate symbolic place for the evil spirits to be confined. It’s a graphic demonstration of Jesus’ enduring power over these transient powers.
The point of all of this for us is quite profound. The work of liberation that Jesus performs in our lives is not a light work. It’s not a temporary quick-fix. It’s the real deal. His power and authority is such that he is able to deal decisively with the destructive forces that torment and terrorize us. He is the one who holds those powers at bay. He is the one who is able to sustain our liberation moment by moment, day by day.
As we read elsewhere in the gospels, “If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!”
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the one who sets me free, and the one who keeps me free. Help me more and more to trust not in my own power, but in your power, that brings lasting liberation to my life. Amen
Tuesday 28 July 2009
Tuesday 28th July - What is your name?
DAILY BYTE
We continue with the story in Mark 5:1-20.
In v.9 we read, “Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’”
Yesterday we spoke about the initiative that Jesus takes in coming to us for the purposes of healing and transformation. This loving, decisive initiative is part of the prevenient grace of God, which is at work within our lives long before we even know it. For the truth is that God knows the truth about us. God knows our deepest wounds, our deepest fears and our deepest desires far better than we ourselves do. God knows what we really need, and so comes to offer precisely that. God also knows all about the blockages within us that prevent us from receiving from God what we really need.
Perhaps the biggest blockage of all is our lack of awareness of who we really are and what we really need. God knows us but we do not really know ourselves. Our capacity for self-deception is immense. We are asleep to what is really going on within us. It’s easier to recognize what might be going on in others, but not so much in ourselves. Our lack of presence to our deepest selves is a significant blockage to God’s healing and transforming grace within us. Truly, our self-illusions and self-deceptions bind us.
In our gospel story, a decisive, turning-point moment occurs when Jesus asks the man, ‘What is your name?’ In the thought-world of the Ancient Near East, to know somebody’s name was to have a measure of power over them. In wresting the name of the unclean spirit, Jesus was asserting his power and authority over it. But in doing so he was also empowering the man who had been possessed by this unclean spirit. He was enabling the man to name what had taken hold of him. It was a moment of truth, that ultimately led to the man’s liberation.
A central and essential feature of recovery programmes like that of Alcoholics Anonymous is the necessity to name the truth of your condition. And so the standard way in which those in recovery introduce themselves is to say, ‘Hi. My name is…. I am an alcoholic.’ That kind of honest acknowledgement of who they are becomes the doorway through which the healing and transforming grace of God can flow. And the same is, of course, true for us all.
As Jesus takes the initiative in stepping into our lives, he already knows the truth about us. He knows who we are and what we really need. But still he comes to us with a question, “What is your name?” He’s asking us about who we are, not for his benefit, but for ours. He’s inviting us to consider the truth of our existence and to acknowledge that before him.
So how will you respond? As you reflect on your life right now, what are trying to hide from yourself? What are you unwilling to acknowledge? What pain are you carrying that you would rather deny? What dark secret are you frightened to bring into the light?
Remember, the One who asks, does so with immense compassion. He comes to open your eyes. He comes to set you free. Remember his own words describing his mission, “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Lk 4:18)
‘What is your name?’ May you allow this searching, compassionate question of Jesus examine your life. And may your humble, honest response become the doorway through which his grace may flow deep within you with liberating power.
PRAYER
(Based on Ps 139)
O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know everything I do, and think, and say. You understand the motivations of my heart and the inclinations of my will, much better than I do. There is no dimension of my existence beyond your compassionate embrace. Thank you that in knowing me completely you still love me with an unfailing love. Lead me in the paths of truth that I might see myself as you see me. And may the searching light of your love so illuminate my heart that I may surrender to you more fully all that is within me, trusting in your mercy and wisdom. Amen
We continue with the story in Mark 5:1-20.
In v.9 we read, “Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’”
Yesterday we spoke about the initiative that Jesus takes in coming to us for the purposes of healing and transformation. This loving, decisive initiative is part of the prevenient grace of God, which is at work within our lives long before we even know it. For the truth is that God knows the truth about us. God knows our deepest wounds, our deepest fears and our deepest desires far better than we ourselves do. God knows what we really need, and so comes to offer precisely that. God also knows all about the blockages within us that prevent us from receiving from God what we really need.
Perhaps the biggest blockage of all is our lack of awareness of who we really are and what we really need. God knows us but we do not really know ourselves. Our capacity for self-deception is immense. We are asleep to what is really going on within us. It’s easier to recognize what might be going on in others, but not so much in ourselves. Our lack of presence to our deepest selves is a significant blockage to God’s healing and transforming grace within us. Truly, our self-illusions and self-deceptions bind us.
In our gospel story, a decisive, turning-point moment occurs when Jesus asks the man, ‘What is your name?’ In the thought-world of the Ancient Near East, to know somebody’s name was to have a measure of power over them. In wresting the name of the unclean spirit, Jesus was asserting his power and authority over it. But in doing so he was also empowering the man who had been possessed by this unclean spirit. He was enabling the man to name what had taken hold of him. It was a moment of truth, that ultimately led to the man’s liberation.
A central and essential feature of recovery programmes like that of Alcoholics Anonymous is the necessity to name the truth of your condition. And so the standard way in which those in recovery introduce themselves is to say, ‘Hi. My name is…. I am an alcoholic.’ That kind of honest acknowledgement of who they are becomes the doorway through which the healing and transforming grace of God can flow. And the same is, of course, true for us all.
As Jesus takes the initiative in stepping into our lives, he already knows the truth about us. He knows who we are and what we really need. But still he comes to us with a question, “What is your name?” He’s asking us about who we are, not for his benefit, but for ours. He’s inviting us to consider the truth of our existence and to acknowledge that before him.
So how will you respond? As you reflect on your life right now, what are trying to hide from yourself? What are you unwilling to acknowledge? What pain are you carrying that you would rather deny? What dark secret are you frightened to bring into the light?
Remember, the One who asks, does so with immense compassion. He comes to open your eyes. He comes to set you free. Remember his own words describing his mission, “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Lk 4:18)
‘What is your name?’ May you allow this searching, compassionate question of Jesus examine your life. And may your humble, honest response become the doorway through which his grace may flow deep within you with liberating power.
PRAYER
(Based on Ps 139)
O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know everything I do, and think, and say. You understand the motivations of my heart and the inclinations of my will, much better than I do. There is no dimension of my existence beyond your compassionate embrace. Thank you that in knowing me completely you still love me with an unfailing love. Lead me in the paths of truth that I might see myself as you see me. And may the searching light of your love so illuminate my heart that I may surrender to you more fully all that is within me, trusting in your mercy and wisdom. Amen
Monday 27 July 2009
Monday - 27th July - Prevenient Grace
DAILY BYTE
Last week we started looking at the story of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5:1-20. We spent the entire week exploring the symbolic context of the story and the nature of this wild man’s condition, looking for points of connection with our own lives. This week we turn our focus to the actual healing itself that ensued from this man’s encounter with Jesus, and all that flowed from that.
Today, the section of the story we’re considering is vv.6-8. “When he saw Jesus from a distance he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torture me.” For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’”
In the way in which Mark tells the story, all the action and initiative in his encounter with Jesus appears to come from the demoniac himself. In the space of just a verse or two there are four action verbs closely packed together describing what this man did. We read that “he saw…”, “he ran…”, “[he] bowed down…” and “he shouted…”
However, if we read the text more closely, we discover that all of this action on the part of this demoniac was actually in response to Jesus’ initiative. In v.8 we read, “For he [Jesus] had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’” In other words, Jesus had already addressed the unclean spirit in the man. Remember too that this entire encounter was taking place because of Jesus’ initiative in going across to the other side of the sea (Mk 4:35 & 5:1), and he was the one who had stepped out of the boat in the first place (Mk 5:2).
The point that I want to make arising out of this observation is this: God is an initiative-taking God. When it comes to giving us life, and when it comes to our healing and wholeness, God is always ready, willing and eager to make the first move. In fact, one of the great discoveries in the life of faith is realizing that even long-before we were consciously aware of God, God was already at work within our lives.
In theological language this is called prevenient grace, which literally means ‘the grace that comes before.’ It is a key dimension to the very foundation of the entire gospel story. We see God’s prevenient grace at work in God’s initiative in creating the world in the first place, in establishing a covenant with the people of Israel, and most emphatically in sending Jesus into the world. There’s a beautiful gospel song that says, “You did not wait for me to draw near to you, but you clothed yourself with frail humanity. You did not wait for me to cry out to you, but you let me hear your voice calling me.”
It is that same spirit of prevenient grace that we see here in this story in Mark 5, as Jesus took the decisive initiative in addressing the unclean spirit in this man.
Which is exactly how Jesus comes to us. And while Jesus will never force himself upon us or coerce us in any way, we need to know that there is decisive initiative he takes in coming to us with divine authority, compassion, and merciful grace, to address that which is bound or broken within us with his words of truth and life. This is good news, because it means that the way has already been cleared by Jesus for our healing and transformation. All that remains is for the blockages to wholeness that are in us to be released. That is what we will explore tomorrow.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious God, even before we are aware of you, you are lovingly at work within our lives, blessing us with your goodness and grace. Thank you for the initiative that you take in our lives. Thank you for coming to us, for reaching out to us, for speaking words of liberation and hope into our lives. May we recognize in your coming to us your invitation for us to connect with you and experience the kind of abundant life that you lovingly hold out to us all. Amen.
Last week we started looking at the story of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5:1-20. We spent the entire week exploring the symbolic context of the story and the nature of this wild man’s condition, looking for points of connection with our own lives. This week we turn our focus to the actual healing itself that ensued from this man’s encounter with Jesus, and all that flowed from that.
Today, the section of the story we’re considering is vv.6-8. “When he saw Jesus from a distance he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torture me.” For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’”
In the way in which Mark tells the story, all the action and initiative in his encounter with Jesus appears to come from the demoniac himself. In the space of just a verse or two there are four action verbs closely packed together describing what this man did. We read that “he saw…”, “he ran…”, “[he] bowed down…” and “he shouted…”
However, if we read the text more closely, we discover that all of this action on the part of this demoniac was actually in response to Jesus’ initiative. In v.8 we read, “For he [Jesus] had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’” In other words, Jesus had already addressed the unclean spirit in the man. Remember too that this entire encounter was taking place because of Jesus’ initiative in going across to the other side of the sea (Mk 4:35 & 5:1), and he was the one who had stepped out of the boat in the first place (Mk 5:2).
The point that I want to make arising out of this observation is this: God is an initiative-taking God. When it comes to giving us life, and when it comes to our healing and wholeness, God is always ready, willing and eager to make the first move. In fact, one of the great discoveries in the life of faith is realizing that even long-before we were consciously aware of God, God was already at work within our lives.
In theological language this is called prevenient grace, which literally means ‘the grace that comes before.’ It is a key dimension to the very foundation of the entire gospel story. We see God’s prevenient grace at work in God’s initiative in creating the world in the first place, in establishing a covenant with the people of Israel, and most emphatically in sending Jesus into the world. There’s a beautiful gospel song that says, “You did not wait for me to draw near to you, but you clothed yourself with frail humanity. You did not wait for me to cry out to you, but you let me hear your voice calling me.”
It is that same spirit of prevenient grace that we see here in this story in Mark 5, as Jesus took the decisive initiative in addressing the unclean spirit in this man.
Which is exactly how Jesus comes to us. And while Jesus will never force himself upon us or coerce us in any way, we need to know that there is decisive initiative he takes in coming to us with divine authority, compassion, and merciful grace, to address that which is bound or broken within us with his words of truth and life. This is good news, because it means that the way has already been cleared by Jesus for our healing and transformation. All that remains is for the blockages to wholeness that are in us to be released. That is what we will explore tomorrow.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious God, even before we are aware of you, you are lovingly at work within our lives, blessing us with your goodness and grace. Thank you for the initiative that you take in our lives. Thank you for coming to us, for reaching out to us, for speaking words of liberation and hope into our lives. May we recognize in your coming to us your invitation for us to connect with you and experience the kind of abundant life that you lovingly hold out to us all. Amen.
Friday 24 July 2009
Sunday 26th July - Greyville Inner City Mission
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
Saturday 25th July - Greyville Inner City Mission
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville Inner City Mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville Inner City Mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Wednesday 22 July - Inner demons
DAILY BYTE
As we continue our reflection on Mark 5:1-20, we read these words once again, “…a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him” (Mark 5:2).
Today, I’d like us to imagine that this man with an unclean spirit is a description, in a symbolic way, of some part of ourselves. Over the next few days I’d like us to examine him more closely to consider how his situation might mirror our own.
The first thing we learn about him is that he had an unclean spirit, or as some translations put it, an evil spirit. Later in the story this unclean spirit is referred to in the plural as demons, and the man is clearly described as being demon-possessed.
At this point in the story there are two dangers that we can fall into. The one is to dismiss the language of demons and demon-possession as outdated, primitive and superstitious, having little relevance for our modern-day experience. Some would even go further and say that this kind of language is both unhelpful and cruel as we seek to understand the complexities of mental illness and how to respond to it with compassion.
The opposite danger is to limit this language to the literal realm of the demonic – which then persuades us that this story cannot possibly be about us. Both of these dangers keep us from recognizing the truth in this story for our own lives.
And the truth is this: There are destructive forces at work in all of our lives that are essentially spiritual in nature. Exactly where they come from or how they arise within us is not readily understood, if at all. There are certainly genetic, psychological, cognitive and environmental factors that contribute to the shaping of these forces within us. But none of these factors on its own, or even all of them together, can fully account for the reality of those forces that manifest in people’s lives in varying degrees of destructiveness.
Whatever language may be used to describe this reality, whether it be the theological language of ‘demon-possession’, or the psychological language of ‘the disintegration of the Self’, it points to an alarmingly common condition that diminishes many people’s personhood and sense of humanness.
As you think about your life, can you identify any destructive forces or impulses that may be at work within you, diminishing your personhood and causing you to live a lesser life? Tomorrow we will reflect on this further and will seek to identify some of the ‘demons’ that may be lurking within us. But for now, draw comfort from the fact that Jesus is not intimidated by the wild destructive forces that rage within us, no matter how intimidating they may appear. For Jesus boldly steps forward with authority, compassion and liberating grace for the purpose of our healing and restoration to full humanity.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, it’s true. There are destructive forces and impulses within me that threaten to wreck my life. I don’t know where these things come from, but they represent a vicious power that I cannot contain. Help me to better understand the part that I play in allowing these forces a free reign in my life. Help me to co-operate with you as you come in all your love, compassion and great strength to deal decisively with these inner demons that can be so terrifying. Amen.
As we continue our reflection on Mark 5:1-20, we read these words once again, “…a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him” (Mark 5:2).
Today, I’d like us to imagine that this man with an unclean spirit is a description, in a symbolic way, of some part of ourselves. Over the next few days I’d like us to examine him more closely to consider how his situation might mirror our own.
The first thing we learn about him is that he had an unclean spirit, or as some translations put it, an evil spirit. Later in the story this unclean spirit is referred to in the plural as demons, and the man is clearly described as being demon-possessed.
At this point in the story there are two dangers that we can fall into. The one is to dismiss the language of demons and demon-possession as outdated, primitive and superstitious, having little relevance for our modern-day experience. Some would even go further and say that this kind of language is both unhelpful and cruel as we seek to understand the complexities of mental illness and how to respond to it with compassion.
The opposite danger is to limit this language to the literal realm of the demonic – which then persuades us that this story cannot possibly be about us. Both of these dangers keep us from recognizing the truth in this story for our own lives.
And the truth is this: There are destructive forces at work in all of our lives that are essentially spiritual in nature. Exactly where they come from or how they arise within us is not readily understood, if at all. There are certainly genetic, psychological, cognitive and environmental factors that contribute to the shaping of these forces within us. But none of these factors on its own, or even all of them together, can fully account for the reality of those forces that manifest in people’s lives in varying degrees of destructiveness.
Whatever language may be used to describe this reality, whether it be the theological language of ‘demon-possession’, or the psychological language of ‘the disintegration of the Self’, it points to an alarmingly common condition that diminishes many people’s personhood and sense of humanness.
As you think about your life, can you identify any destructive forces or impulses that may be at work within you, diminishing your personhood and causing you to live a lesser life? Tomorrow we will reflect on this further and will seek to identify some of the ‘demons’ that may be lurking within us. But for now, draw comfort from the fact that Jesus is not intimidated by the wild destructive forces that rage within us, no matter how intimidating they may appear. For Jesus boldly steps forward with authority, compassion and liberating grace for the purpose of our healing and restoration to full humanity.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, it’s true. There are destructive forces and impulses within me that threaten to wreck my life. I don’t know where these things come from, but they represent a vicious power that I cannot contain. Help me to better understand the part that I play in allowing these forces a free reign in my life. Help me to co-operate with you as you come in all your love, compassion and great strength to deal decisively with these inner demons that can be so terrifying. Amen.
Friday 17 July 2009
Friday 24th July - Living Among the Tombs
DAILY BYTE
We’ve taken almost a week over the first two verses of this passage from Mark 5:1-20. At this rate, we’ll still be busy with this story come Christmas. If progress has felt a little slow, I’d remind you that this week has really been about entering the text and trying to locate ourselves within it in as real a way as possible. Next week we will pick up the pace as we look at the actual healing encounter between Jesus and this demoniac, and all the consequences that flowed from that. But today, as we bring this week’s devotions to a close, I’d like us to reflect further on this demoniac’s condition as we try to recognize our own story mirrored in his.
In verses 3-5 we read these words, “He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
It sounds a bit like a scene out of a horror movie about a graveyard werewolf. The point is clear – this man has been reduced to something sub-human, animal-like. There is something utterly wild about him, so much so that he no longer has a place within the habitations of the living, and so the tombs are his home.
It’s a tragic and graphic picture, stark and arresting. This animal of a man, not quite dead but certainly not alive either, at least in the human sense of the word. Again, we might think that he is far removed from us, but what if this is in fact a graphic portrayal of what happens to us when destructive forces beyond our control take hold of our lives? If that sounds far-fetched let me ask you, “Are there ever times in your life when it feels like you’re not really alive, as you simply go through the motions of eking out a mediocre existence? Does it ever feel like you’re living in the tombs, trapped in a dead-end job, or marriage, or financial hole? Is there ever a part within you that wants to scream out in exasperation, or howl like a rabid dog in sheer desperation or terror for what your life has become? Do you ever wonder if there’s really blood flowing in your veins and not just toxic sludge? Do you ever feel so dehumanized by your behaviour that you’d rather just hide away from the world, no matter how agonizingly lonely that might be?
Maybe this wild man in the tombs is not so far removed from our experience as what we first imagined. Maybe his story echoes the universal story of human brokenness, in which we all have our own chapter. If this seems bleak and hopeless to you, then remember that even this story has good news. For just as Jesus entered this man’s story, so he enters ours too, and that makes all the difference.
Next week, we’ll explore the decisive and dramatic healing encounter that took place between Jesus and this poor, wretched man. As we do we’ll listen for the hope it speaks into our own wild, addicted, tomb-bound lives.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy and Gracious God. You have given to me life, a cherished gift that you ask me to take hold of and experience to the full. But instead of doing so, in many ways my life has become a tomb-like existence. Remind me that any dehumanizing dimension to my living is contrary to your intentions for me, and is not really living at all. Thank you that you hear even the wildest cries of my heart, and with immense love and compassion come to me with the intention to heal and to restore. Do your work in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
We’ve taken almost a week over the first two verses of this passage from Mark 5:1-20. At this rate, we’ll still be busy with this story come Christmas. If progress has felt a little slow, I’d remind you that this week has really been about entering the text and trying to locate ourselves within it in as real a way as possible. Next week we will pick up the pace as we look at the actual healing encounter between Jesus and this demoniac, and all the consequences that flowed from that. But today, as we bring this week’s devotions to a close, I’d like us to reflect further on this demoniac’s condition as we try to recognize our own story mirrored in his.
In verses 3-5 we read these words, “He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
It sounds a bit like a scene out of a horror movie about a graveyard werewolf. The point is clear – this man has been reduced to something sub-human, animal-like. There is something utterly wild about him, so much so that he no longer has a place within the habitations of the living, and so the tombs are his home.
It’s a tragic and graphic picture, stark and arresting. This animal of a man, not quite dead but certainly not alive either, at least in the human sense of the word. Again, we might think that he is far removed from us, but what if this is in fact a graphic portrayal of what happens to us when destructive forces beyond our control take hold of our lives? If that sounds far-fetched let me ask you, “Are there ever times in your life when it feels like you’re not really alive, as you simply go through the motions of eking out a mediocre existence? Does it ever feel like you’re living in the tombs, trapped in a dead-end job, or marriage, or financial hole? Is there ever a part within you that wants to scream out in exasperation, or howl like a rabid dog in sheer desperation or terror for what your life has become? Do you ever wonder if there’s really blood flowing in your veins and not just toxic sludge? Do you ever feel so dehumanized by your behaviour that you’d rather just hide away from the world, no matter how agonizingly lonely that might be?
Maybe this wild man in the tombs is not so far removed from our experience as what we first imagined. Maybe his story echoes the universal story of human brokenness, in which we all have our own chapter. If this seems bleak and hopeless to you, then remember that even this story has good news. For just as Jesus entered this man’s story, so he enters ours too, and that makes all the difference.
Next week, we’ll explore the decisive and dramatic healing encounter that took place between Jesus and this poor, wretched man. As we do we’ll listen for the hope it speaks into our own wild, addicted, tomb-bound lives.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy and Gracious God. You have given to me life, a cherished gift that you ask me to take hold of and experience to the full. But instead of doing so, in many ways my life has become a tomb-like existence. Remind me that any dehumanizing dimension to my living is contrary to your intentions for me, and is not really living at all. Thank you that you hear even the wildest cries of my heart, and with immense love and compassion come to me with the intention to heal and to restore. Do your work in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thursday 23rd July - Addiction
DAILY BYTE
Yesterday we started reflecting on how the demoniac in Mark 5:1-20 can be a helpful, symbolic description of broken parts of our own selves.
The metaphor of demon-possession has been used, in an insightful and helpful way, in talking about the common experience of addiction. Addiction, of course, comes in many forms. It’s not just the more visible addictions of alcohol, drugs and gambling that map out the territory that addiction commonly roams. In many other ways, often very subtly and even beyond our conscious awareness, we fall prey to addictions of many kinds.
We can be addicted to our work, we can be addicted to food, we can be addicted to TV, or the internet, or sexual intimacy, or pornography. We can be addicted to popularity or prestige or dominating power. Some people are addicted to pain. Wealth, consumerism and the lure of eternal youth are common addictions.
As we think about the recent death of Michael Jackson, his musical genius and yet the undeniable tragedy of his life, one cannot but help wonder about the various addictions to which he was especially susceptible. This is in no way to pass condemning judgement on him, but simply to acknowledge the reality of his human frailty and how easily that can become manifest in addictive patterns of behaviour. And this, of course, is true for us all.
One common misunderstanding about the way in which addictions take hold of us is to assume that our addictions are simply the consequence of our lack of will-power. This misunderstanding suggests that all that is needed to overcome an addiction is for the addict to try harder, pull themselves together and sort themselves out. But the experience of countless addicts exposes the lie of this kind of thinking. The first step in the famous Twelve Step Programme of Alcoholics Anonymous requires the alcoholic to acknowledge that he or she is powerless against their addiction.
This is where the metaphor of demon-possession, provocative as it is, can be a helpful one to gain greater insight and compassion into the plight of the addict. Please note, I’m not for a moment suggesting that addicts are literally demon-possessed – that would be a hurtful and false conclusion to draw. But it is a metaphor that points to the fact that a sinister power is at work, with hugely destructive potential, and that the addict needs help from beyond him or herself in order to deal with it. Indeed, it’s a metaphor that suggest that only the Highest Power – God – is able to deal with the demons of addiction that rage within us.
As this demoniac in Mark 5 steps forward, can you recognize in him a reflection of your addicted self that you are powerless to control? May this recognition bring you to your knees before the only One with sufficient grace and power to set you free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, it’s tough to admit it, but there are destructive patterns of thinking and behaving that I continue to return to over and over again. I do not understand why this is so, but I recognize in these repeating patterns the telltale signs of addiction. The further agonizing truth is that try as I might, I am in fact powerless to deal with these things that have me by the throat and are slowly squeezing the life out of me. Help me, please! I need you! Amen.
Yesterday we started reflecting on how the demoniac in Mark 5:1-20 can be a helpful, symbolic description of broken parts of our own selves.
The metaphor of demon-possession has been used, in an insightful and helpful way, in talking about the common experience of addiction. Addiction, of course, comes in many forms. It’s not just the more visible addictions of alcohol, drugs and gambling that map out the territory that addiction commonly roams. In many other ways, often very subtly and even beyond our conscious awareness, we fall prey to addictions of many kinds.
We can be addicted to our work, we can be addicted to food, we can be addicted to TV, or the internet, or sexual intimacy, or pornography. We can be addicted to popularity or prestige or dominating power. Some people are addicted to pain. Wealth, consumerism and the lure of eternal youth are common addictions.
As we think about the recent death of Michael Jackson, his musical genius and yet the undeniable tragedy of his life, one cannot but help wonder about the various addictions to which he was especially susceptible. This is in no way to pass condemning judgement on him, but simply to acknowledge the reality of his human frailty and how easily that can become manifest in addictive patterns of behaviour. And this, of course, is true for us all.
One common misunderstanding about the way in which addictions take hold of us is to assume that our addictions are simply the consequence of our lack of will-power. This misunderstanding suggests that all that is needed to overcome an addiction is for the addict to try harder, pull themselves together and sort themselves out. But the experience of countless addicts exposes the lie of this kind of thinking. The first step in the famous Twelve Step Programme of Alcoholics Anonymous requires the alcoholic to acknowledge that he or she is powerless against their addiction.
This is where the metaphor of demon-possession, provocative as it is, can be a helpful one to gain greater insight and compassion into the plight of the addict. Please note, I’m not for a moment suggesting that addicts are literally demon-possessed – that would be a hurtful and false conclusion to draw. But it is a metaphor that points to the fact that a sinister power is at work, with hugely destructive potential, and that the addict needs help from beyond him or herself in order to deal with it. Indeed, it’s a metaphor that suggest that only the Highest Power – God – is able to deal with the demons of addiction that rage within us.
As this demoniac in Mark 5 steps forward, can you recognize in him a reflection of your addicted self that you are powerless to control? May this recognition bring you to your knees before the only One with sufficient grace and power to set you free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, it’s tough to admit it, but there are destructive patterns of thinking and behaving that I continue to return to over and over again. I do not understand why this is so, but I recognize in these repeating patterns the telltale signs of addiction. The further agonizing truth is that try as I might, I am in fact powerless to deal with these things that have me by the throat and are slowly squeezing the life out of me. Help me, please! I need you! Amen.
Tuesday 21st July - Risky Encounters
DAILY BYTE
Over these two weeks we’re looking at the story from Mark 5:1-20 of the healing of the demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs.
The next verse of the story reads, “When Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” (Mark 5:2)
Yesterday, we noted that the very first verse of this passage located this story on the other side of the sea, in Gentile territory. This crossing over to the other side symbolized a movement from what was known, familiar and safe to what was uncertain, unfamiliar and risky. In the very next verse this is underscored. For no sooner does Jesus step out of the boat than he is met by a crazy man who lives amongst the tombs.
Talk about having one’s worst fears and suspicions instantly confirmed. It’s precisely these sorts of uncomfortable encounters that make us reluctant to leave our comfort zones in the first place.
But the inescapable fact of this story is that this is exactly where Jesus goes, and this scary man is who he encounters. Which raises some sharp and challenging questions for those of us who claim to be his disciples: Are we really prepared to follow Jesus wherever he may go? Are we truly committed to staying by Jesus’ side no matter how risky and uncomfortable for us that might be? Are we honestly willing to engage with whoever we might encounter as a consequence?
Think about this is the context of your life right now. Who is it that Jesus may be leading you to that you would rather not engage with right now? Maybe there’s someone in your life with whom you’ve fallen out, and the silence between you is like a festering sore. Maybe that’s precisely the person that Jesus is leading you to, so that you can be reconciled and this wound can begin to heal.
Maybe you know deep down that Jesus is wanting you to engage in a more personal and risky way with the poor and vulnerable. Maybe it’s a particular homeless person you see each day, or a street trader near your work, or a fellow worker who is clearly in a bad way and in need of some basic human kindness.
Maybe there’s an elderly friend or relative who is lonely and aching for some human contact, whom you haven’t visited for far too long. Maybe it’s a surly, angry teenager who lives in your house but seems to inhabit a wholly different and utterly impenetrable world.
The examples could go on and on. Engaging with people like these can feel risky, uncomfortable and even scary. We don’t know what might be required of us. We don’t know if we can handle it. It can seem a bit like facing someone with an unclean spirit from the tombs. But it’s precisely to encounters like these that Jesus draws us, for love’s sake, for them and for us.
So let me ask you boldly and directly: To whom might he be leading you today? If we’ve committed ourselves to following Jesus wherever he may lead, the strong hope and comfort we can draw is that whoever we may encounter as a consequence, we do not encounter them on our own, for Jesus is there!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are far less concerned for my comfort and convenience than you are about the forging of my character. Thank you that it is in the crucible of risky human encounter that I can grow stronger and more Christ-like, if I choose. Today, send across my path someone who will stretch me and deepen my capacity for generosity, kindness and patience, and help me to treat them as you would. Amen.
Over these two weeks we’re looking at the story from Mark 5:1-20 of the healing of the demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs.
The next verse of the story reads, “When Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” (Mark 5:2)
Yesterday, we noted that the very first verse of this passage located this story on the other side of the sea, in Gentile territory. This crossing over to the other side symbolized a movement from what was known, familiar and safe to what was uncertain, unfamiliar and risky. In the very next verse this is underscored. For no sooner does Jesus step out of the boat than he is met by a crazy man who lives amongst the tombs.
Talk about having one’s worst fears and suspicions instantly confirmed. It’s precisely these sorts of uncomfortable encounters that make us reluctant to leave our comfort zones in the first place.
But the inescapable fact of this story is that this is exactly where Jesus goes, and this scary man is who he encounters. Which raises some sharp and challenging questions for those of us who claim to be his disciples: Are we really prepared to follow Jesus wherever he may go? Are we truly committed to staying by Jesus’ side no matter how risky and uncomfortable for us that might be? Are we honestly willing to engage with whoever we might encounter as a consequence?
Think about this is the context of your life right now. Who is it that Jesus may be leading you to that you would rather not engage with right now? Maybe there’s someone in your life with whom you’ve fallen out, and the silence between you is like a festering sore. Maybe that’s precisely the person that Jesus is leading you to, so that you can be reconciled and this wound can begin to heal.
Maybe you know deep down that Jesus is wanting you to engage in a more personal and risky way with the poor and vulnerable. Maybe it’s a particular homeless person you see each day, or a street trader near your work, or a fellow worker who is clearly in a bad way and in need of some basic human kindness.
Maybe there’s an elderly friend or relative who is lonely and aching for some human contact, whom you haven’t visited for far too long. Maybe it’s a surly, angry teenager who lives in your house but seems to inhabit a wholly different and utterly impenetrable world.
The examples could go on and on. Engaging with people like these can feel risky, uncomfortable and even scary. We don’t know what might be required of us. We don’t know if we can handle it. It can seem a bit like facing someone with an unclean spirit from the tombs. But it’s precisely to encounters like these that Jesus draws us, for love’s sake, for them and for us.
So let me ask you boldly and directly: To whom might he be leading you today? If we’ve committed ourselves to following Jesus wherever he may lead, the strong hope and comfort we can draw is that whoever we may encounter as a consequence, we do not encounter them on our own, for Jesus is there!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are far less concerned for my comfort and convenience than you are about the forging of my character. Thank you that it is in the crucible of risky human encounter that I can grow stronger and more Christ-like, if I choose. Today, send across my path someone who will stretch me and deepen my capacity for generosity, kindness and patience, and help me to treat them as you would. Amen.
Monday 20th July - The Other Side
DAILY BYTE
The story of the demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs is one of the longest and most detailed accounts of all of Jesus’ healing miracles. At first glance it seems like quite an archaic story that is pretty far-removed from the gritty realities of our 21st century lives. But like so many of the stories in Scripture, if we approach it with an openness to finding ourselves in it, we will be surprised by its relevance and truth for our lives today.
Over the next two weeks we’ll be exploring this story bit by bit in these BDC devotions, as we consider what it might be saying to us. We’ll be following Mark’s version of the story (Mark 5:1-20) which I encourage you to read in its entirety before we begin.
The story begins with these words, “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:1). This is not simply a verse describing matters geographical, it also has important symbolic meaning. The words “the other side” and “the country of the Gerasenes” locate this story in Gentile territory, away from the culturally familiar context in which all the action of the gospel has taken place thus far. Symbolically, Gentile territory would have been regarded as unclean, and any self-respecting Jew would not willingly venture there. Furthermore, its very unfamiliarity added a dimension of risk, unpredictability and danger to this context.
Now, while we may not be able to identify with the cultural and symbolic sensitivities that this locality would have evoked in the original hearers of the gospel, we can grasp something of what is going here. And so, in the very first verse of this story we are presented with a difficult decision. As we read and interpret this story, will we risk ‘crossing over to the other side’, whatever that means and whatever risky encounters that may bring, or will we prefer to play it safe and stick to territory that is familiar and comfortable for us.
Years back I was traveling overseas as a student, and found myself in a rural part of Kentucky in the USA. I discovered, to my disbelief, that there were many people there who had never been beyond the borders of the state of Kentucky their entire lives, and some had never even ventured outside that particular county. It wasn’t for economic reasons either, but simply because they were quite comfortable where they were and never felt inclined to travel. Now, while I accept that not everyone is necessarily cut out for traveling with the risks and uncertainties that it holds, it still struck me as incredibly sad that many of the rich and exciting discoveries that can only be made when you venture into unknown territory would be forever lost for these folk.
This same principle is true for the life of faith. There are some things in the spiritual life that can only be discovered when we are willing to leave our familiar shores behind, and dare to cross over to ‘the other side’. As we will see in this gospel story, it is on the other side that remarkable encounters of healing and transformation can take place.
Maybe right now it’s hard for you to identify what ‘the other side’ represents in your life. That’s OK. Hopefully, over the next two weeks, as we journey with Jesus to the other side, through this interesting gospel story, we will all come to recognize maybe just one particular place within us where the healing and liberating presence of Christ can be experienced in a wholly new and unfamiliar way.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord, that you are always inviting me to join you in exploring new places of encounter and discovery in the spiritual life. Give me the courage to venture to the other side, even though I’m not too sure exactly what that means, and keep me open to receiving whatever it is that you have in store for me. Amen.
The story of the demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs is one of the longest and most detailed accounts of all of Jesus’ healing miracles. At first glance it seems like quite an archaic story that is pretty far-removed from the gritty realities of our 21st century lives. But like so many of the stories in Scripture, if we approach it with an openness to finding ourselves in it, we will be surprised by its relevance and truth for our lives today.
Over the next two weeks we’ll be exploring this story bit by bit in these BDC devotions, as we consider what it might be saying to us. We’ll be following Mark’s version of the story (Mark 5:1-20) which I encourage you to read in its entirety before we begin.
The story begins with these words, “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:1). This is not simply a verse describing matters geographical, it also has important symbolic meaning. The words “the other side” and “the country of the Gerasenes” locate this story in Gentile territory, away from the culturally familiar context in which all the action of the gospel has taken place thus far. Symbolically, Gentile territory would have been regarded as unclean, and any self-respecting Jew would not willingly venture there. Furthermore, its very unfamiliarity added a dimension of risk, unpredictability and danger to this context.
Now, while we may not be able to identify with the cultural and symbolic sensitivities that this locality would have evoked in the original hearers of the gospel, we can grasp something of what is going here. And so, in the very first verse of this story we are presented with a difficult decision. As we read and interpret this story, will we risk ‘crossing over to the other side’, whatever that means and whatever risky encounters that may bring, or will we prefer to play it safe and stick to territory that is familiar and comfortable for us.
Years back I was traveling overseas as a student, and found myself in a rural part of Kentucky in the USA. I discovered, to my disbelief, that there were many people there who had never been beyond the borders of the state of Kentucky their entire lives, and some had never even ventured outside that particular county. It wasn’t for economic reasons either, but simply because they were quite comfortable where they were and never felt inclined to travel. Now, while I accept that not everyone is necessarily cut out for traveling with the risks and uncertainties that it holds, it still struck me as incredibly sad that many of the rich and exciting discoveries that can only be made when you venture into unknown territory would be forever lost for these folk.
This same principle is true for the life of faith. There are some things in the spiritual life that can only be discovered when we are willing to leave our familiar shores behind, and dare to cross over to ‘the other side’. As we will see in this gospel story, it is on the other side that remarkable encounters of healing and transformation can take place.
Maybe right now it’s hard for you to identify what ‘the other side’ represents in your life. That’s OK. Hopefully, over the next two weeks, as we journey with Jesus to the other side, through this interesting gospel story, we will all come to recognize maybe just one particular place within us where the healing and liberating presence of Christ can be experienced in a wholly new and unfamiliar way.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you, Lord, that you are always inviting me to join you in exploring new places of encounter and discovery in the spiritual life. Give me the courage to venture to the other side, even though I’m not too sure exactly what that means, and keep me open to receiving whatever it is that you have in store for me. Amen.
Sunday 19th July - Udobo
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
Saturday 18th July - Udobo
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
Friday 10 July 2009
Friday 17th July - This is the life!
DAILY BYTE
This week we’ve been reflecting on the broad theme of responding to God’s word without delay. As we bring this week’s devotions to a close, let me pose some pointed questions to you:
As you look around at your life right now, in what ways have you hardened your heart in turning away in deliberate disobedience from what you know God is saying to you? And in what ways have you failed to hear God’s call to live a fuller, freer life, or act upon the call that you have heard?
Think about it - what higher, nobler purpose is God calling you to right now?
In your role as a child or parent or grandparent?
In your role as a husband or wife?
In your role as a friend, colleague, worker or employee?
What is God asking of you, right now?
What surprising gift of generosity could you offer?
What act of reconciliation might you initiate?
What example of integrity and faithfulness might you leave behind?
What sacrifices of love might you be offering to the lost and the lonely within your life?
What higher, nobler purpose is God calling you to right now?
These are just some of the exciting waters we get to explore when we commit ourselves to the life of radical discipleship. But of course, exciting as it is, it isn’t always plain sailing.
The reading from Matthew 8 that we started looking at yesterday goes on to talk about how Jesus got into a boat in order to cross over to the other side and his disciples followed him. Without warning a furious storm broke out that threatened to sink the boat. And the disciples thought they were finished. But what they had forgotten was that their very act of obedience in following Jesus meant that they were not alone. Their very act of obedience in doing what he said and going where he went, meant that they were with him and he was with them in this time and place of crisis and need.
As it turned out it was a time and place of grace – of seeing and experiencing for themselves the power and authority of Christ over the chaos all around them, as he calmed the wind and the waves.
What a powerful story that reminds us of what the life of radical discipleship entails – boldly following Jesus to places (on ‘the other side’) where others normally would not go; facing threatening storms that seem so overwhelming; experiencing the higher authority of Christ before whom no other principality or power can stand.
This is the kind of life that can be yours and mine. Today!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Our prayer today comes from a song by Dan Wilt:
This is the life, this is our dream
This is the place we want to be
This is your love, this is the healing of our souls
This is the time, this is the place
This is the season of your mercy
This is the hour, this is the day we’ve waited for
This is the life!
Yes, this is the life you have given to us O God. What a gift of abundant and breathtaking grace, that is available to us all right now. Help us Lord to take hold of this gift, through our obedience and trust, and to live to the glory of your name. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 8:23-27
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The disciples were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
This week we’ve been reflecting on the broad theme of responding to God’s word without delay. As we bring this week’s devotions to a close, let me pose some pointed questions to you:
As you look around at your life right now, in what ways have you hardened your heart in turning away in deliberate disobedience from what you know God is saying to you? And in what ways have you failed to hear God’s call to live a fuller, freer life, or act upon the call that you have heard?
Think about it - what higher, nobler purpose is God calling you to right now?
In your role as a child or parent or grandparent?
In your role as a husband or wife?
In your role as a friend, colleague, worker or employee?
What is God asking of you, right now?
What surprising gift of generosity could you offer?
What act of reconciliation might you initiate?
What example of integrity and faithfulness might you leave behind?
What sacrifices of love might you be offering to the lost and the lonely within your life?
What higher, nobler purpose is God calling you to right now?
These are just some of the exciting waters we get to explore when we commit ourselves to the life of radical discipleship. But of course, exciting as it is, it isn’t always plain sailing.
The reading from Matthew 8 that we started looking at yesterday goes on to talk about how Jesus got into a boat in order to cross over to the other side and his disciples followed him. Without warning a furious storm broke out that threatened to sink the boat. And the disciples thought they were finished. But what they had forgotten was that their very act of obedience in following Jesus meant that they were not alone. Their very act of obedience in doing what he said and going where he went, meant that they were with him and he was with them in this time and place of crisis and need.
As it turned out it was a time and place of grace – of seeing and experiencing for themselves the power and authority of Christ over the chaos all around them, as he calmed the wind and the waves.
What a powerful story that reminds us of what the life of radical discipleship entails – boldly following Jesus to places (on ‘the other side’) where others normally would not go; facing threatening storms that seem so overwhelming; experiencing the higher authority of Christ before whom no other principality or power can stand.
This is the kind of life that can be yours and mine. Today!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Our prayer today comes from a song by Dan Wilt:
This is the life, this is our dream
This is the place we want to be
This is your love, this is the healing of our souls
This is the time, this is the place
This is the season of your mercy
This is the hour, this is the day we’ve waited for
This is the life!
Yes, this is the life you have given to us O God. What a gift of abundant and breathtaking grace, that is available to us all right now. Help us Lord to take hold of this gift, through our obedience and trust, and to live to the glory of your name. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 8:23-27
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The disciples were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
Thursday 16th July - Hearing the Call
DAILY BYTE
There’s another way in which we opt for one more night with the frogs. It’s through our failure to prioritize the call of God to give our lives to the greater purposes of God’s Kingdom.
In Matthew 8 we read about a teacher of the law who comes to Jesus and confidently says to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus reminds him that that’s easier said than done.
The passage then moves to other disciples making similar promises of their own, but only after they’ve dealt with other priorities in their lives. “I will follow you Lord, said one, but first let me go and bury my father.” “I will follow you Lord, said another, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.”
Jesus’ replies seem harsh and unsympathetic, as he effectively dismisses these concerns as incidental to the priority of God’s Kingdom. Now of course, Jesus isn’t being anti-family. He’s simply saying that there is no more pressing priority than giving yourself to him in discipleship. And that there is never a reason good enough to delay that from happening.
Remember, when Jesus called his very first disciples, Simon & Andrew, he said to them, ‘Come, follow me.’ And IMMEDIATELY they left what they were doing and followed Jesus. Then Jesus saw James and John. WITHOUT DELAY he called them and IMMEDIATELY they left their father and followed him.
We think that their response is somehow beyond us. But the story challenges our assumptions about what is most important in our lives. Think about it. Why would anyone not want to devote this one chance at life to some magnificent purpose?
Why would we not want these miraculous lives of ours to be offered to some great and glorious end?
What motivation could we possibly have to settle for unimaginative, mediocre, lackluster lives?
Why would we want to spend even one more night with the frogs when Christ calls us to a life that is so much more.
As you think about these questions, reflect further on these beautiful words of a contemporary song written by Gwyn Williams:
Jesus is calling us to a life that’s full that’s free
He calls us out of mediocrity
So let us answer ‘Yes’
We will stand with him
To be the very best that we can be
We’re sons of light
And daughters of the day
Created to live in the light
Sons of light
And daughters of the day
Today, hear Jesus say:
“Walk out into daylight
Walk out from the night
Walk out dressed in faith and love
Walk out! Walk out!”
Walk out to salvation
Walk away from fear
For Jesus Christ has died to give you life
Walk out!
PRAY-AS-YOU-GO
Lord Jesus Christ, in the prayer that you taught us we pray for your Kingdom to come and your will to be done. There can be no greater priority in our lives than that of doing your will, and serving the purposes of your Kingdom – for this is what will bring us and all those around us life in all its fullness. Help us to hear your call, and give us the wisdom and willingness to obey, without delay. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 8:18-27 (incl. Luke 9:61-62)
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
There’s another way in which we opt for one more night with the frogs. It’s through our failure to prioritize the call of God to give our lives to the greater purposes of God’s Kingdom.
In Matthew 8 we read about a teacher of the law who comes to Jesus and confidently says to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus reminds him that that’s easier said than done.
The passage then moves to other disciples making similar promises of their own, but only after they’ve dealt with other priorities in their lives. “I will follow you Lord, said one, but first let me go and bury my father.” “I will follow you Lord, said another, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.”
Jesus’ replies seem harsh and unsympathetic, as he effectively dismisses these concerns as incidental to the priority of God’s Kingdom. Now of course, Jesus isn’t being anti-family. He’s simply saying that there is no more pressing priority than giving yourself to him in discipleship. And that there is never a reason good enough to delay that from happening.
Remember, when Jesus called his very first disciples, Simon & Andrew, he said to them, ‘Come, follow me.’ And IMMEDIATELY they left what they were doing and followed Jesus. Then Jesus saw James and John. WITHOUT DELAY he called them and IMMEDIATELY they left their father and followed him.
We think that their response is somehow beyond us. But the story challenges our assumptions about what is most important in our lives. Think about it. Why would anyone not want to devote this one chance at life to some magnificent purpose?
Why would we not want these miraculous lives of ours to be offered to some great and glorious end?
What motivation could we possibly have to settle for unimaginative, mediocre, lackluster lives?
Why would we want to spend even one more night with the frogs when Christ calls us to a life that is so much more.
As you think about these questions, reflect further on these beautiful words of a contemporary song written by Gwyn Williams:
Jesus is calling us to a life that’s full that’s free
He calls us out of mediocrity
So let us answer ‘Yes’
We will stand with him
To be the very best that we can be
We’re sons of light
And daughters of the day
Created to live in the light
Sons of light
And daughters of the day
Today, hear Jesus say:
“Walk out into daylight
Walk out from the night
Walk out dressed in faith and love
Walk out! Walk out!”
Walk out to salvation
Walk away from fear
For Jesus Christ has died to give you life
Walk out!
PRAY-AS-YOU-GO
Lord Jesus Christ, in the prayer that you taught us we pray for your Kingdom to come and your will to be done. There can be no greater priority in our lives than that of doing your will, and serving the purposes of your Kingdom – for this is what will bring us and all those around us life in all its fullness. Help us to hear your call, and give us the wisdom and willingness to obey, without delay. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 8:18-27 (incl. Luke 9:61-62)
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
Wednesday 15th July - Hardened Hearts
DAILY BYTE
Yesterday we looked at the story of how Pharaoh chose to spend one more night with the frogs. Today and tomorrow we consider two broad ways in which this can be true in our lives as well.
The first is a condition that the bible describes as a hardening of the heart. This was Pharaoh’s big problem. 14 times in the space of just 7 chapters in this section of Exodus we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Quite simply it means that he refused to listen. He refused to respond to God’s word. He refused to change his tune, as he defied the authority of God over his life. His was an arrogant, obstinate, unyielding attitude, even in the face of the overwhelming evidence all around him of the utter chaos that he was bringing upon himself and his land.
The best contemporary example of this must surely be Robert Mugabe, who remained arrogantly and defiantly unmoved while his country plunged deeper and deeper into ruin. Zimbabwe is a tragic illustration of what a hardened heart can produce, written large upon the broad canvas of political history.
But the same tragic story is being written over and over again on the inner canvas of people’s souls because of their hardness of heart. Because of their refusal to listen and to respond to what God says. And make no mistake the chaos and turmoil within them can be every bit as devastating as what we’re seeing in Zimbabwe.
How might this be true for you?
Maybe there’s something going on in your life right now that you know is not what God wants for you. Maybe you can hear the witness of Scripture challenging and convicting some area of your life, but you’re turning a deaf ear.
God’s word says, ‘Forgive and you will be forgiven.’ But maybe you’re reluctant to forgive somebody who hurt you because you actually rather enjoy the little vengeful scenarios you get to play out in your mind.
God’s word says, ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.’ But maybe you’re abusing your body in what you’re eating or the exercise you’re not getting, or the way you’re expressing your sexuality, and you think that it’s OK because there’s time to change.
God’s word says, ‘You cannot serve both God and money.’ But maybe you think that you can, and so you’ve set out making wealth and possessions your goal, just until you’ve got enough to feel secure.
The point is that all of us, in some ways, turn aside from what we know God is saying to us. And so with deafened ears, blinded eyes and yes, hardened hearts, we choose to spend one more night with the frogs. It’s the madness of Pharaoh all over again. And we fail to realize the damage that this way of living causes to our souls.
High up in the mountains a sudden avalanche swept away a young goat, killing it instantly. The body of the goat landed up on a large chunk of ice floating down a river towards a waterfall. A vulture circling high overhead spotted the goat. It landed on the ice floe and started eating the carcass. The roar of the waterfall was getting louder, but still the vulture ate. It thought to itself, ‘There’s still time to eat a bit more, and then I’ll fly away to safety.’ What the vulture did not realize was that its feet had melted the ice where it landed, but this melted ice was busy freezing again. At the last moment, as the ice floe went over the edge of the waterfall, the vulture tried to take off and fly to safety. But it couldn’t. Its feet were already frozen to the ice. It was too late.
That’s a picture of what can happen when we willfully persist in wrongdoing. We continue to nibble away at things that we know are bad for us, and sooner than we even realize we become stuck in the clutches of our indulgent sin. It’s the danger of choosing to spend one more night with the frogs!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me, and soften the hardened places of my heart, that I may be more obedient to all that you ask of me. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 95:7-8
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Yesterday we looked at the story of how Pharaoh chose to spend one more night with the frogs. Today and tomorrow we consider two broad ways in which this can be true in our lives as well.
The first is a condition that the bible describes as a hardening of the heart. This was Pharaoh’s big problem. 14 times in the space of just 7 chapters in this section of Exodus we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Quite simply it means that he refused to listen. He refused to respond to God’s word. He refused to change his tune, as he defied the authority of God over his life. His was an arrogant, obstinate, unyielding attitude, even in the face of the overwhelming evidence all around him of the utter chaos that he was bringing upon himself and his land.
The best contemporary example of this must surely be Robert Mugabe, who remained arrogantly and defiantly unmoved while his country plunged deeper and deeper into ruin. Zimbabwe is a tragic illustration of what a hardened heart can produce, written large upon the broad canvas of political history.
But the same tragic story is being written over and over again on the inner canvas of people’s souls because of their hardness of heart. Because of their refusal to listen and to respond to what God says. And make no mistake the chaos and turmoil within them can be every bit as devastating as what we’re seeing in Zimbabwe.
How might this be true for you?
Maybe there’s something going on in your life right now that you know is not what God wants for you. Maybe you can hear the witness of Scripture challenging and convicting some area of your life, but you’re turning a deaf ear.
God’s word says, ‘Forgive and you will be forgiven.’ But maybe you’re reluctant to forgive somebody who hurt you because you actually rather enjoy the little vengeful scenarios you get to play out in your mind.
God’s word says, ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.’ But maybe you’re abusing your body in what you’re eating or the exercise you’re not getting, or the way you’re expressing your sexuality, and you think that it’s OK because there’s time to change.
God’s word says, ‘You cannot serve both God and money.’ But maybe you think that you can, and so you’ve set out making wealth and possessions your goal, just until you’ve got enough to feel secure.
The point is that all of us, in some ways, turn aside from what we know God is saying to us. And so with deafened ears, blinded eyes and yes, hardened hearts, we choose to spend one more night with the frogs. It’s the madness of Pharaoh all over again. And we fail to realize the damage that this way of living causes to our souls.
High up in the mountains a sudden avalanche swept away a young goat, killing it instantly. The body of the goat landed up on a large chunk of ice floating down a river towards a waterfall. A vulture circling high overhead spotted the goat. It landed on the ice floe and started eating the carcass. The roar of the waterfall was getting louder, but still the vulture ate. It thought to itself, ‘There’s still time to eat a bit more, and then I’ll fly away to safety.’ What the vulture did not realize was that its feet had melted the ice where it landed, but this melted ice was busy freezing again. At the last moment, as the ice floe went over the edge of the waterfall, the vulture tried to take off and fly to safety. But it couldn’t. Its feet were already frozen to the ice. It was too late.
That’s a picture of what can happen when we willfully persist in wrongdoing. We continue to nibble away at things that we know are bad for us, and sooner than we even realize we become stuck in the clutches of our indulgent sin. It’s the danger of choosing to spend one more night with the frogs!
PRAY AS YOU GO
Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me, and soften the hardened places of my heart, that I may be more obedient to all that you ask of me. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 95:7-8
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Tuesday 14th July - One more night with the frogs
DAILY BYTE
The title of today’s devotion is, ‘One more night with the frogs.’ It comes from the story in Exodus 8. God had heard the cries of the Israelite people, who were living in Egypt as slaves under the oppressive hand of Pharaoh. So God sent Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh saying to him, ‘Thus says the LORD. Let my people go. And if you refuse, I will send plagues upon your whole country.’
Sure enough, Pharaoh refused, and so there followed a whole series of plagues.
The second of which was a plague of frogs. We read that the frogs came up out of the rivers and pools of Egypt and covered the whole land. They came into Pharaoh’s palace, they came into his bedchamber and even into his bed. Can you imagine what Mrs Pharaoh had to say about that? The frogs came into the houses of Pharaoh’s officials and all of his people. They even hopped their way into the Egyptians’ ovens and kneading bowls, so that they literally croaked their way onto every menu and into every dish.
Finally, Pharaoh couldn’t take it any more. He called Moses & Aaron and said to them, “Please, I’m begging you. Pray to the LORD to take these....$@%! frogs away!”
And Moses said to him, “Sure. Just tell me WHEN I am to pray for you and your officials and your people, that the frogs may be removed from you.”
And Pharaoh said...... TOMORROW!
Tomorrow? TOMORROW? The frogs are everywhere. They’re driving you crazy Pharaoh. What about today? What about right now? You know that they’ve got to go. So why wait? Why delay? Surely, surely, you would want this dealt with right away?
But Pharaoh says, “No thanks. Tomorrow is fine. I think I’ll have one more night with the frogs.”
It’s ridiculous. And we can laugh at Pharaoh’s stupidity. But before we laugh too loud, we would do well to recognise that in many ways we are just like Pharaoh. For we too often choose to spend one more night with the frogs.
Let me explain:
The frogs in the story could represent for us the things in our lives that are out of sync, out of kilter because of our resistance to what God requires of us. And even though we hear God’s word, and even though we know what God wants. Even though we feel the intense discomfort and distress from continuing in ways that are opposed to the ways of God. Even when we toss and turn in the middle of the night, unable to sleep for conscience’s sake - constantly hearing in our ears the croaking of our disobedience. Even when we know that this cannot continue and that something simply has to change. Yet, just like Pharaoh, there is a strange reluctance within us to deal with these things, to face the source of our anxiety and stress. And so, just like Pharaoh, we choose to spend one more night with the frogs.
Over the next couple of days we will look at two broad ways in which this can be true for our lives.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Forgive us Lord for growing comfortable with mediocrity, complacent about dealing with what is wrong in our lives, and resistant to life-giving change. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Exodus 8:1ff
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls….
So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Pray to the LORD to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD." Moses said to Pharaoh, "Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile."
And Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." And Moses said, "As you say!”
The title of today’s devotion is, ‘One more night with the frogs.’ It comes from the story in Exodus 8. God had heard the cries of the Israelite people, who were living in Egypt as slaves under the oppressive hand of Pharaoh. So God sent Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh saying to him, ‘Thus says the LORD. Let my people go. And if you refuse, I will send plagues upon your whole country.’
Sure enough, Pharaoh refused, and so there followed a whole series of plagues.
The second of which was a plague of frogs. We read that the frogs came up out of the rivers and pools of Egypt and covered the whole land. They came into Pharaoh’s palace, they came into his bedchamber and even into his bed. Can you imagine what Mrs Pharaoh had to say about that? The frogs came into the houses of Pharaoh’s officials and all of his people. They even hopped their way into the Egyptians’ ovens and kneading bowls, so that they literally croaked their way onto every menu and into every dish.
Finally, Pharaoh couldn’t take it any more. He called Moses & Aaron and said to them, “Please, I’m begging you. Pray to the LORD to take these....$@%! frogs away!”
And Moses said to him, “Sure. Just tell me WHEN I am to pray for you and your officials and your people, that the frogs may be removed from you.”
And Pharaoh said...... TOMORROW!
Tomorrow? TOMORROW? The frogs are everywhere. They’re driving you crazy Pharaoh. What about today? What about right now? You know that they’ve got to go. So why wait? Why delay? Surely, surely, you would want this dealt with right away?
But Pharaoh says, “No thanks. Tomorrow is fine. I think I’ll have one more night with the frogs.”
It’s ridiculous. And we can laugh at Pharaoh’s stupidity. But before we laugh too loud, we would do well to recognise that in many ways we are just like Pharaoh. For we too often choose to spend one more night with the frogs.
Let me explain:
The frogs in the story could represent for us the things in our lives that are out of sync, out of kilter because of our resistance to what God requires of us. And even though we hear God’s word, and even though we know what God wants. Even though we feel the intense discomfort and distress from continuing in ways that are opposed to the ways of God. Even when we toss and turn in the middle of the night, unable to sleep for conscience’s sake - constantly hearing in our ears the croaking of our disobedience. Even when we know that this cannot continue and that something simply has to change. Yet, just like Pharaoh, there is a strange reluctance within us to deal with these things, to face the source of our anxiety and stress. And so, just like Pharaoh, we choose to spend one more night with the frogs.
Over the next couple of days we will look at two broad ways in which this can be true for our lives.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Forgive us Lord for growing comfortable with mediocrity, complacent about dealing with what is wrong in our lives, and resistant to life-giving change. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Exodus 8:1ff
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls….
So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Pray to the LORD to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD." Moses said to Pharaoh, "Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile."
And Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." And Moses said, "As you say!”
Monday 13th July - Now is the time
DAILY BYTE
A CEO went on a business management course, and was deeply challenged about the amount of time wasted in his company through procrastination. Wanting to inspire his employees to make the most of every moment he had a whole lot of signs printed and put up throughout the company. The signs simply said, ‘Do it now!’
The message really got through, because the very next week his secretary asked for a raise, his accountant disappeared with millions he had embezzled, and the Board of Directors asked for his resignation!
This week we will be reflecting on the importance of taking hold of the present moment, and not delaying in turning our lives to God. Sadly, many people suffer from the condition of spiritual procrastination. They have the sense that there’s really nothing that urgent or pressing about the spiritual life, so long as they get around to it sooner or later.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Because the decision to put off what is truly important for sometime later, is usually the decision to put off what is truly important for ever. Richard Rohr says, ‘How you do it now, is how you do it.’ It’s the present moment that reveals our true nature. Our priorities RIGHT NOW, by and large, reflect our priorities – period!
So if we’re serious about living a new life, then there’s no better time than the present to begin. In fact, there’s no other time for it ever to begin.
On this the scriptures are clear. In 2 Corinthians 6:2 we read, “NOW is the time of God’s favour. TODAY is the day of salvation.” It is in this present moment that God can be encountered and known.
Here’s a poem by Helen Mallicoat that reflects on what it means that God’s name is ‘I AM’. (There may be some biblical scholars who would differ with some technical aspects of this interpretation of God’s being, but the underlying sentiment of the poem conveys a profound truth.)
I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly, my Lord was speaking.
"My name is I Am"
He paused. I waited. He continued.
"When you live in the past,
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not 'I was'.
When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not 'I will be'.
When you live in this moment
it is not hard. I am here.
My name is 'I AM'.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord God, it’s so easy to put off until later things that really matter. And as a result our lives become a sad array of good intentions that were never translated into present reality. But thank you that your very being is PRESENCE – you come to us here and now in all your glory, and you invite us to take hold of you. Help us today, and each day, to be present to your presence in our lives. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Exodus 3:7-15
The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering…. The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
And God said, "I will be with you…”
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am .This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
A CEO went on a business management course, and was deeply challenged about the amount of time wasted in his company through procrastination. Wanting to inspire his employees to make the most of every moment he had a whole lot of signs printed and put up throughout the company. The signs simply said, ‘Do it now!’
The message really got through, because the very next week his secretary asked for a raise, his accountant disappeared with millions he had embezzled, and the Board of Directors asked for his resignation!
This week we will be reflecting on the importance of taking hold of the present moment, and not delaying in turning our lives to God. Sadly, many people suffer from the condition of spiritual procrastination. They have the sense that there’s really nothing that urgent or pressing about the spiritual life, so long as they get around to it sooner or later.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Because the decision to put off what is truly important for sometime later, is usually the decision to put off what is truly important for ever. Richard Rohr says, ‘How you do it now, is how you do it.’ It’s the present moment that reveals our true nature. Our priorities RIGHT NOW, by and large, reflect our priorities – period!
So if we’re serious about living a new life, then there’s no better time than the present to begin. In fact, there’s no other time for it ever to begin.
On this the scriptures are clear. In 2 Corinthians 6:2 we read, “NOW is the time of God’s favour. TODAY is the day of salvation.” It is in this present moment that God can be encountered and known.
Here’s a poem by Helen Mallicoat that reflects on what it means that God’s name is ‘I AM’. (There may be some biblical scholars who would differ with some technical aspects of this interpretation of God’s being, but the underlying sentiment of the poem conveys a profound truth.)
I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly, my Lord was speaking.
"My name is I Am"
He paused. I waited. He continued.
"When you live in the past,
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not 'I was'.
When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not 'I will be'.
When you live in this moment
it is not hard. I am here.
My name is 'I AM'.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord God, it’s so easy to put off until later things that really matter. And as a result our lives become a sad array of good intentions that were never translated into present reality. But thank you that your very being is PRESENCE – you come to us here and now in all your glory, and you invite us to take hold of you. Help us today, and each day, to be present to your presence in our lives. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Exodus 3:7-15
The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering…. The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
And God said, "I will be with you…”
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am .This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
Sunday 12th July - Makabongwe
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School had small beginnings with children sitting on cardboard in Grey Street, Durban. It was the initiative of a group of Christian women who felt that no child should be illiterate.
Today that initiative has grown into a bright, sunny pre-school with premises in Alice Street. Seventy children drawn primarily from the street vendors in the area now have a safe environment to learn play and grow as God intended. These disadvantaged children are given a good grade R education following the National Education Syllabus.
Makabongwe means “Let Him be praised” and we do praise Him for He has indeed blessed this little school.
You can help make a difference by sponsoring a child monthly or a once off donation, thus ensuring a brighter future for the children.
Contact:
Colleen 084209409.
Manning Road Methodist Church 031 202 8262.
Bank details:
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School
FNB
Account - 50710017936
Branch - 223526
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School had small beginnings with children sitting on cardboard in Grey Street, Durban. It was the initiative of a group of Christian women who felt that no child should be illiterate.
Today that initiative has grown into a bright, sunny pre-school with premises in Alice Street. Seventy children drawn primarily from the street vendors in the area now have a safe environment to learn play and grow as God intended. These disadvantaged children are given a good grade R education following the National Education Syllabus.
Makabongwe means “Let Him be praised” and we do praise Him for He has indeed blessed this little school.
You can help make a difference by sponsoring a child monthly or a once off donation, thus ensuring a brighter future for the children.
Contact:
Colleen 084209409.
Manning Road Methodist Church 031 202 8262.
Bank details:
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School
FNB
Account - 50710017936
Branch - 223526
Saturday 11th July - Makabongwe
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School had small beginnings with children sitting on cardboard in Grey Street, Durban. It was the initiative of a group of Christian women who felt that no child should be illiterate.
Today that initiative has grown into a bright, sunny pre-school with premises in Alice Street. Seventy children drawn primarily from the street vendors in the area now have a safe environment to learn play and grow as God intended. These disadvantaged children are given a good grade R education following the National Education Syllabus.
Makabongwe means “Let Him be praised” and we do praise Him for He has indeed blessed this little school.
You can help make a difference by sponsoring a child monthly or a once off donation, thus ensuring a brighter future for the children.
Contact:
Colleen 084209409.
Manning Road Methodist Church 031 202 8262.
Bank details:
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School
FNB
Account - 50710017936
Branch - 223526
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School had small beginnings with children sitting on cardboard in Grey Street, Durban. It was the initiative of a group of Christian women who felt that no child should be illiterate.
Today that initiative has grown into a bright, sunny pre-school with premises in Alice Street. Seventy children drawn primarily from the street vendors in the area now have a safe environment to learn play and grow as God intended. These disadvantaged children are given a good grade R education following the National Education Syllabus.
Makabongwe means “Let Him be praised” and we do praise Him for He has indeed blessed this little school.
You can help make a difference by sponsoring a child monthly or a once off donation, thus ensuring a brighter future for the children.
Contact:
Colleen 084209409.
Manning Road Methodist Church 031 202 8262.
Bank details:
Makabongwe Methodist Pre-School
FNB
Account - 50710017936
Branch - 223526
Friday 3 July 2009
Friday 10th July - Prodigal Praise
DAILY BYTE
As we conclude this week’s devotions, I’d like to share a personal experience where slowing down and becoming more attuned to God’s presence brought an experience of deep gratitude and joy.
Some time back I was sitting in the Botanical Gardens in the midst of a massive wind storm that swept through Durban. It was exhilarating. This incredibly powerful wind, suddenly gusting with full voice, then fading momentarily to a mere murmur, before bellowing forth unashamedly once more. As I sat there listening attentively to all this, conscious of God’s majestic presence, I suddenly realized that the very trees around and above me were singing.
I could hear unmistakable percussive sounds marking out a rhythmic beat. There were lilting harmonies, great guttural expulsions of noise, sudden startling crashes (which were branches falling around me), and gentle whisperings. As the tree above me caught the wind it would swell into a deep resonant baritone, and then wait while other trees nearby answered back. It was a great chorus of voices, more than I could count, making magnificent music together.
At times it sounded like the ebb and flow of the ocean. At times it was like the gurgling of a mountain stream. At times I could hear what sounded like thunder, or maybe the galloping of wild horses, and hidden almost imperceptibly in this great cacophony, in the rustling of the trees was the sound of birds singing.
One biblical scholar has suggested that God sang creation into being, declaring that it was very good. If that is true, then what I heard that day sounded like a little piece of creation singing back joyously, ‘Yes. It is very good indeed.’
Of course, it’s not just the trees in the Durban Botanical Gardens on a windy day that sing out in beauty and love. Everything with the breath of life within it seems peculiarly shaped to be an instrument of praise.
The biologist Lewis Thomas tells us that termites make percussive sounds that play a significant part in their social cohesion. The trumpeting of elephants is certainly not just a figure of speech. Right now, massive humpback whales are singing long and complex and beautiful songs under the ocean that can be heard for hundreds of kilometers all around. And even in the most distant reaches of the universe, the scientists tell us, stars are bursting into existence, releasing radio waves and other forms of multi-frequency energy that if we could hear, would fill our ears with every conceivable note and tone. When the scriptures speak of the morning stars singing together, maybe it’s not just beautiful poetry. Maybe it’s expressing what God actually hears.
The point of all this is that we live in a world where the praises of God are already being offered in glorious and exuberant profusion. We live in a world of prodigal praise. Indeed, the prodigal praise of all creation points us to our life’s deepest purpose, that we too have been created to praise. All around us there is a cadence of grace, enfolding us and holding us. Which means that the reorienting of our lives towards God is never any further away than a single breath, if we allow that breath to join in the worship of God that constantly rises all around us.
By slowing down, listening, looking, we come to experience things of God that we otherwise would simply miss. It’s the simple invitation of grace that lies open and accessible to us all – in every moment of every day in every place.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, I was made to be an instrument of worship that would resound with prodigal praise to the glory of your name. Help me to rest more in you, and so allow your hands to hold me and play me, that my very life would add to the magnificent music of creation that echoes all around. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 146:1-2
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
As we conclude this week’s devotions, I’d like to share a personal experience where slowing down and becoming more attuned to God’s presence brought an experience of deep gratitude and joy.
Some time back I was sitting in the Botanical Gardens in the midst of a massive wind storm that swept through Durban. It was exhilarating. This incredibly powerful wind, suddenly gusting with full voice, then fading momentarily to a mere murmur, before bellowing forth unashamedly once more. As I sat there listening attentively to all this, conscious of God’s majestic presence, I suddenly realized that the very trees around and above me were singing.
I could hear unmistakable percussive sounds marking out a rhythmic beat. There were lilting harmonies, great guttural expulsions of noise, sudden startling crashes (which were branches falling around me), and gentle whisperings. As the tree above me caught the wind it would swell into a deep resonant baritone, and then wait while other trees nearby answered back. It was a great chorus of voices, more than I could count, making magnificent music together.
At times it sounded like the ebb and flow of the ocean. At times it was like the gurgling of a mountain stream. At times I could hear what sounded like thunder, or maybe the galloping of wild horses, and hidden almost imperceptibly in this great cacophony, in the rustling of the trees was the sound of birds singing.
One biblical scholar has suggested that God sang creation into being, declaring that it was very good. If that is true, then what I heard that day sounded like a little piece of creation singing back joyously, ‘Yes. It is very good indeed.’
Of course, it’s not just the trees in the Durban Botanical Gardens on a windy day that sing out in beauty and love. Everything with the breath of life within it seems peculiarly shaped to be an instrument of praise.
The biologist Lewis Thomas tells us that termites make percussive sounds that play a significant part in their social cohesion. The trumpeting of elephants is certainly not just a figure of speech. Right now, massive humpback whales are singing long and complex and beautiful songs under the ocean that can be heard for hundreds of kilometers all around. And even in the most distant reaches of the universe, the scientists tell us, stars are bursting into existence, releasing radio waves and other forms of multi-frequency energy that if we could hear, would fill our ears with every conceivable note and tone. When the scriptures speak of the morning stars singing together, maybe it’s not just beautiful poetry. Maybe it’s expressing what God actually hears.
The point of all this is that we live in a world where the praises of God are already being offered in glorious and exuberant profusion. We live in a world of prodigal praise. Indeed, the prodigal praise of all creation points us to our life’s deepest purpose, that we too have been created to praise. All around us there is a cadence of grace, enfolding us and holding us. Which means that the reorienting of our lives towards God is never any further away than a single breath, if we allow that breath to join in the worship of God that constantly rises all around us.
By slowing down, listening, looking, we come to experience things of God that we otherwise would simply miss. It’s the simple invitation of grace that lies open and accessible to us all – in every moment of every day in every place.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, I was made to be an instrument of worship that would resound with prodigal praise to the glory of your name. Help me to rest more in you, and so allow your hands to hold me and play me, that my very life would add to the magnificent music of creation that echoes all around. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 146:1-2
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Thursday 9th July - Paths & Roads
DAILY BYTE
Today, in continuing the thought begun yesterday, I’ll be leaning on the reflections of two other writers I’ve already made reference to this week.
First, a short anecdote from Tom Smith. He writes:
“At least once a year I take a group of men into the wilderness spaces of South Africa - mostly the Drakensberg. It is always a fascinating experience. When we leave Johannesburg, we leave the city by way of the highway called the N3. As we travel on it the highway makes way for country roads. Country roads make way for dirt roads. When we start our hike, these dirt roads that vehicles can use make way for roads that are only fit for off-road vehicles. These then make way for roads that can only be accessed by foot and then when we get into the deep alpine wilderness, the path disappears all together.
When we leave the city it always strikes me how the conversations and attention level of the group is affected by the medium we use to travel. In the vehicle on the highway the chatter is usually incessant. As we transition onto the smaller roads and open the windows, it is as if we emerge out of a city hibernation and start to notice again. Once we’re in the wilderness our verbosity comes to a screeching halt, for it is mostly inadequate to describe the grandeur and magnificence of what is around us.”
Secondly, I’d like to share this insightful piece by Wendell Berry, as he reflects on the difference between a path and a road.
“The difference between a path and a road is not only the obvious one. A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. It is a sort of ritual familiarity. As a form, it is a form of contact with a known landscape. It is not destructive. It is the perfect adaptation, through experience and familiarity, of movement to place; it obeys the natural contours; such obstacles as it meets it goes around.
A road, on the other hand, even the most primitive road, embodies a resistance against the landscape. Its reason is not simply the necessity for movement, but haste. Its wish is to avoid contact with the landscape; it seeks so far as possible to go over the country, rather than through it; its aspiration, as we see clearly in the example of our modern freeways, is to be a bridge; its tendency is to translate place into space in order to traverse it with the least effort. It is destructive, seeking to remove or destroy all obstacles in its way. The primitive road advanced by the destruction of the forest; modern roads advance by the destruction of topography….
I only want to observe that [the road] bears no relation whatever to the country it passes through. It was built, not according to the lay of the land, but according to a blueprint. Such homes and farmlands and woodlands as happened to be in its way are now buried under it…. Its form is the form of speed, dissatisfaction, and anxiety. It represents the ultimate in engineering sophistication, but the crudest possible valuation of life in this world.”
In the light of these reflections we could say that the way of Jesus is much more like a path than a road. Which means that it’s a journey that isn’t focused on speed, comfort and convenience – as if its only objective were to get us to some destination (heaven perhaps?) as quickly as possible. Rather, the journey that Jesus calls us to is long and winding and sometimes tough going. It’s a journey that recognizes the varying contours of this life, with all its ups and downs, and is resolutely committed to going wherever life’s path may take us, confident that this is where God can be found.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you Lord that while the way of Jesus is not always easy, comfortable or convenient, it is always good. Thank you that I do not have to follow this path alone, but that in Jesus I have a friend, a traveling companion and a guide. Amen
SCRIPTURE READING
John 14:6
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Today, in continuing the thought begun yesterday, I’ll be leaning on the reflections of two other writers I’ve already made reference to this week.
First, a short anecdote from Tom Smith. He writes:
“At least once a year I take a group of men into the wilderness spaces of South Africa - mostly the Drakensberg. It is always a fascinating experience. When we leave Johannesburg, we leave the city by way of the highway called the N3. As we travel on it the highway makes way for country roads. Country roads make way for dirt roads. When we start our hike, these dirt roads that vehicles can use make way for roads that are only fit for off-road vehicles. These then make way for roads that can only be accessed by foot and then when we get into the deep alpine wilderness, the path disappears all together.
When we leave the city it always strikes me how the conversations and attention level of the group is affected by the medium we use to travel. In the vehicle on the highway the chatter is usually incessant. As we transition onto the smaller roads and open the windows, it is as if we emerge out of a city hibernation and start to notice again. Once we’re in the wilderness our verbosity comes to a screeching halt, for it is mostly inadequate to describe the grandeur and magnificence of what is around us.”
Secondly, I’d like to share this insightful piece by Wendell Berry, as he reflects on the difference between a path and a road.
“The difference between a path and a road is not only the obvious one. A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. It is a sort of ritual familiarity. As a form, it is a form of contact with a known landscape. It is not destructive. It is the perfect adaptation, through experience and familiarity, of movement to place; it obeys the natural contours; such obstacles as it meets it goes around.
A road, on the other hand, even the most primitive road, embodies a resistance against the landscape. Its reason is not simply the necessity for movement, but haste. Its wish is to avoid contact with the landscape; it seeks so far as possible to go over the country, rather than through it; its aspiration, as we see clearly in the example of our modern freeways, is to be a bridge; its tendency is to translate place into space in order to traverse it with the least effort. It is destructive, seeking to remove or destroy all obstacles in its way. The primitive road advanced by the destruction of the forest; modern roads advance by the destruction of topography….
I only want to observe that [the road] bears no relation whatever to the country it passes through. It was built, not according to the lay of the land, but according to a blueprint. Such homes and farmlands and woodlands as happened to be in its way are now buried under it…. Its form is the form of speed, dissatisfaction, and anxiety. It represents the ultimate in engineering sophistication, but the crudest possible valuation of life in this world.”
In the light of these reflections we could say that the way of Jesus is much more like a path than a road. Which means that it’s a journey that isn’t focused on speed, comfort and convenience – as if its only objective were to get us to some destination (heaven perhaps?) as quickly as possible. Rather, the journey that Jesus calls us to is long and winding and sometimes tough going. It’s a journey that recognizes the varying contours of this life, with all its ups and downs, and is resolutely committed to going wherever life’s path may take us, confident that this is where God can be found.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Thank you Lord that while the way of Jesus is not always easy, comfortable or convenient, it is always good. Thank you that I do not have to follow this path alone, but that in Jesus I have a friend, a traveling companion and a guide. Amen
SCRIPTURE READING
John 14:6
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Wednesday 8th July - Footpath Faith
DAILY BYTE
I must acknowledge that the core idea for today’s devotion arose from a reflection written by Tom Smith. In his reflection, Tom suggests that the medium with which we travel will determine to a large extent our experience and appreciation of our surroundings, and that this has tremendous implications for the way in which we undertake the journey of faith.
Let me try to illustrate the point. Imagine you’re driving along a road through the Kruger National Park like a real Park Mamparra, speeding along at 100 km/h. What are you going to see? Or more importantly, what will you fail to see - not because it isn’t there, but because the way in which you’re traveling makes it virtually impossible to notice? A magnificent elephant would be little more than a blur of colour, and even if you caught a glimpse of it, what chance would there be to experience and appreciate what an elephant is really like?
Now imagine you’re walking through the same Park along a bush path (hopefully with an authorized guide). And suddenly, up ahead in a clearing you spotted an elephant. How would your experience of the elephant be different? To what extent does the medium with which you are traveling – a footpath – influence the nature of your encounter?
Many people are eager to encounter an elephant, but only from the relative safety of a car, with an open road behind and in front of them to speed away, if things get a little too close for comfort. The medium with which they are traveling gives them a greater measure of control in the manner in which the encounter will unfold.
In a similar way, the medium we use to undertake the journey of faith will determine to a large extent the nature of our encounter with the holy. What do I mean by this? Well, many people make sporadic forays into the territory of the Spirit – perhaps by going to church on a Sunday, or attending a small group meeting, or maybe by reading these Barking Dog-Collar devotions. These sorts of activities are good, and the extent to which they enable us to slow down and take the time to become aware of God’s awesome presence all around us, make them an important part of the life of faith. But all too often ‘spiritual’ activities like these are little more than a momentary slowing down to see what there is to see of God, before putting the foot on the accelerator again and returning to the breakneck pace of life in which the beauty of God’s presence all around becomes nothing more than an indistinct blur.
In contrast to this, Jesus calls us to follow him, as he makes his own wandering way through the world. It’s really a call to a footpath kind of faith, in which the totality of our lives becomes the territory in which God can be encountered. There is something unpredictable, engaging and risky about traveling in this way. It brings a greater openness to being surprised by breathtaking beauty, or indeed terrified by the immensity of holy mysteries that we stumble upon so unexpectedly. As we follow a footpath faith we gradually become aware that everything around us is filled with the presence of God, and every moment in our often full and demanding lives is a precious opportunity for God to be known. Maybe then we’ll be less anxious to rush on to the next thing, and can become more present to God’s Presence in our midst.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, forgive me for the times when I rush on by without noticing you in the midst of my life. Forgive me for thinking that I can encounter you on my own terms, and for trying to limit you to what I can manage or control. Help me to step out on a footpath kind of faith that is willing to follow Jesus wherever he might wander, and lead me along the contours of grace that traverse every part of my life. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 4:21-22
Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James & John, in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
I must acknowledge that the core idea for today’s devotion arose from a reflection written by Tom Smith. In his reflection, Tom suggests that the medium with which we travel will determine to a large extent our experience and appreciation of our surroundings, and that this has tremendous implications for the way in which we undertake the journey of faith.
Let me try to illustrate the point. Imagine you’re driving along a road through the Kruger National Park like a real Park Mamparra, speeding along at 100 km/h. What are you going to see? Or more importantly, what will you fail to see - not because it isn’t there, but because the way in which you’re traveling makes it virtually impossible to notice? A magnificent elephant would be little more than a blur of colour, and even if you caught a glimpse of it, what chance would there be to experience and appreciate what an elephant is really like?
Now imagine you’re walking through the same Park along a bush path (hopefully with an authorized guide). And suddenly, up ahead in a clearing you spotted an elephant. How would your experience of the elephant be different? To what extent does the medium with which you are traveling – a footpath – influence the nature of your encounter?
Many people are eager to encounter an elephant, but only from the relative safety of a car, with an open road behind and in front of them to speed away, if things get a little too close for comfort. The medium with which they are traveling gives them a greater measure of control in the manner in which the encounter will unfold.
In a similar way, the medium we use to undertake the journey of faith will determine to a large extent the nature of our encounter with the holy. What do I mean by this? Well, many people make sporadic forays into the territory of the Spirit – perhaps by going to church on a Sunday, or attending a small group meeting, or maybe by reading these Barking Dog-Collar devotions. These sorts of activities are good, and the extent to which they enable us to slow down and take the time to become aware of God’s awesome presence all around us, make them an important part of the life of faith. But all too often ‘spiritual’ activities like these are little more than a momentary slowing down to see what there is to see of God, before putting the foot on the accelerator again and returning to the breakneck pace of life in which the beauty of God’s presence all around becomes nothing more than an indistinct blur.
In contrast to this, Jesus calls us to follow him, as he makes his own wandering way through the world. It’s really a call to a footpath kind of faith, in which the totality of our lives becomes the territory in which God can be encountered. There is something unpredictable, engaging and risky about traveling in this way. It brings a greater openness to being surprised by breathtaking beauty, or indeed terrified by the immensity of holy mysteries that we stumble upon so unexpectedly. As we follow a footpath faith we gradually become aware that everything around us is filled with the presence of God, and every moment in our often full and demanding lives is a precious opportunity for God to be known. Maybe then we’ll be less anxious to rush on to the next thing, and can become more present to God’s Presence in our midst.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, forgive me for the times when I rush on by without noticing you in the midst of my life. Forgive me for thinking that I can encounter you on my own terms, and for trying to limit you to what I can manage or control. Help me to step out on a footpath kind of faith that is willing to follow Jesus wherever he might wander, and lead me along the contours of grace that traverse every part of my life. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 4:21-22
Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James & John, in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)