Daily Butter 10/28: Childlike

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/28/11):

 

    Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself
    like a little weaned child with its mother;
    I am like a little child.

    (Psalm 131:2  HCSB)

 

Throughout Scripture we are challenged, to have a childlike quality to our faith. The insight’s of David H Roper in today’s ODB were a great reminder. To view things as a child is not only to understand there are some things we are not “big enough” to handle (v1) but also to understand that there is so much about life and especially spiritual life that I do not and could not possibly understand. I love the imaginative dialog David included in the ODB:

 

I ask, “Why this affliction? Why this anguish?”

The Father answers, “Hush, child. You wouldn’t understand if I explained it to you. Just trust Me!”

 

Faith is trust. While the longing to gain understanding is natural and good, the simplicity of trusting our loving Father that all that we don’t understand is working out for our good (Roman 8:28) is what it means to be His child.

 

Don’t worry about the little stuff.

God is the big stuff.

So the rest is little stuff.

- Andy Jentes

 

Daily Butter 10/27: Reboot

Today’s Our Daily Bread is in Leviticus with the “Thou Shalt Nots.” Those are pretty clear without a lot of additional commentary needed. So for this morning I’m commenting from Psalm 42 as prompted by the “NIV Devotions for Men” from BibleGateway.com that I received a week ago today on my birthday:

As the deer pants for streams of water,

   so my soul pants for you, my God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

   When can I go and meet with God?

 …

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

   Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

   for I will yet praise him,

   my Savior and my God.

(Psalm 42:1-2, 11 NIV)

When we sing the praise and worship chorus that begins with the opening verse of this psalm, there is little connection to the original type of longing while feeling isolated amidst adversity. Like a horse’s head yanked straight by its rider, verse 11 ends up the psalm it seems like a forced refocus. In spite of the fact those around are echoing the question in his mind, “where’s God?” the Psalmist forces his mind to remember the joys of corporate worship (v4) and God’s unchanging faithfulness (v8). The lesson is this: This is a messed up world and we all go through adversity and regardless of what we hear around us or what our emotions are in response to the mess, God’s unfailing love remains unchanged and our hope is secure. Much like a Windows computer, sometimes we must reboot our thinking to cleanup some of the junk that collects through just normal operation in this messy world. The Truth remains the Truth regardless of the situation or the emotions. Sometimes we must just stop and remember.

- Andy Jentes

Daily Butter 10/26: Girl Power

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/26/11):

On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

(Acts 16:13 HCSB)

Growing up it was always a marvel at the observation that women greatly outnumbered men in services no matter which church we attended. Apparently, from this verse, this seems more a gender-trait across time and culture. In comparison with men, women seem “wired” to be more responsive to spiritual matters, or maybe just more likely to pray (i.e. stop pressing on blindly and ask for directions). It certainly seems women more keenly desire to gather as a community of believers than men. While it’s probably all of the above observations to different degrees in different situations, it seems clear to me that women are not only respected by Christians so much more than in other major world religions, their faith is vital to life of the church.

- Andy Jentes

Daily Butter 10/25: Money Talks

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/25/11):

[Haman to Ahasuerus] “If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to the accountants for deposit in the royal treasury."

(Esther 3:9 HCSB)

While there truly is “nothing new under the sun,” (Ecc. 1:9-10) I missed the payoff in the VeggieTales version. Power and money always seem to go hand-in-hand in this world and Haman really didn’t like his power being questioned. The Holman Christian Standard Bible’s converting the original “talents” weight into modern units makes a pretty vivid picture of how badly he wanted revenge for the disrespect of one lowly but (literally) upright guard.

While money talks, one’s attitude toward money speaks volumes.

But godliness with contentment is a great gain.

    For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

    But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

    But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

(1 Timothy 6:6-9 HCSB)

Unfortunately, money is still inextricably intertwined with political power. In the current political climate in this country where money and appearance rule the polls, I am thoroughly convinced that few if any of our great past presidents (I’ll leave that for you to speculate who I place on that list) would ever be elected – either because they couldn’t afford the advertising budget or because they have a good old fashioned “face for radio.”  Money was already mentioned, so for perspective on appearance and popularity:

He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him,
no appearance that we should desire Him.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like one people turned away from;
He was despised, and we didn't value Him.

Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,
and He carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded Him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced because of our transgressions,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on Him,
and we are healed by His wounds.

We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the LORD has punished Him
for the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:2b-6 HCSB)

- Andy Jentes

Daily Butter 10/23: Who I AM

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/23/11):

"I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. I lay down My life for the sheep.”

(John 10:14-15 HCSB)

While I loved the paraphrase of Psalm 23 that David C. McCasland shared in today’s ODB, the word “as” stuck out to me in this verse. While I’m not a scholar of the original Biblical languages, I have yet to find an English translation that does not use the word “as” at/near the beginning of verse 15. Moments later Jesus prompted the religious scholars to grab the stones for the apparent blasphemy when He said that “The Father and I are one” (v30). And while I’m a bit leery of putting this thought out there lest I be risking heresy basing something on one word of an English translation of Christ’s parable, this is a record of my thoughts and not a theological treatise. If I, as one of His sheep, can know Christ just as the Father knows Him and He is one with the Father, I am not just His child here in this place and not just His ambassador here. As part of His body (Romans 12:4-5), I am Christ here.

Trying to really wrap my mind around that thought is as mind-blowing as there being only one Almighty God with three persons or how that infinite God can indwell me, both of which I believe by faith. This new thought for me really highlights the trust God has placed in me to be about His work here where He has positioned me.

But as I get weighed-down by that feeling of responsibility, I remember my professor’s words that the three most important things about Scripture interpretation are context, context and context. This is part of a word picture painted by Christ for those in that time for whom the picture would be much more vivid and readable. The clearest place for me to fit in the parable is one sheep in the care of the Good Shepherd. Before jumping to conclusions about the comparison of that relationship to God the Father’s to God the Son, I’d better stick with understanding what is clear: The Good Shepherd loved me so much He gave His life for me.

For those still reading this, I hope you’ve enjoyed the corkscrew roller-coaster ride that is my “normal” thought process.

- Andy Jentes

Daily Butter 10/22: Hope

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/22/11):

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. …

Therefore encourage [or comfort] one another with these words.

(1 Thessalonians 4:13, 18 [with footnote] HCSB)

A couple days ago, I was flexing my vocabulary and speaking with a coworker about the sudden chill in the air by saying, “It feels autumnal.” In a joking reply about my use of such an uncommon word as if it were inappropriate for the workplace, he reacted with a feigned shock and said with head shaking, “And you kiss your mother with that mouth!?” Memories of mother were brought back to mind that made me miss her anew. Reading these verses and the reminder Jennifer Benson Schuldt wrote in today’s ODB just reminds me to count my blessings. I know my mother’s faith and so I know that though she has been gone from this earth for over a year now, she is not gone. She has simply gone on ahead and we will be together again. Just as our Savior has promised to “prepare a place” for us, I like to think she’s helping with that preparation to crochet some cozy afghans and spectacular doilies to make the place prepared for her dear ones a bit more like home.

While we are separated for now, I do not miss my mother “like the rest,” and the hope Paul wrote about here is not a mere wish. It is a confidence from knowing that Christ has done everything He promised and will continue to do so. Whether what “I like to think” about Mom helping with preparations is true or not, what I know is that I will give my mom a hug (and kiss with a new mouth) again in the proper time.

- Andy Jentes

Daily Butter10/21: Confidence

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (10/21/11):

Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

(Philemon 21 HCSB)

Reading these words from Paul to Philemon reminded me of this co-worker’s confidence in me to not only do my assigned task, but do it with excellence. I got a compliment last night from a coworker who, though she’s worked at the store less than a year in comparison to my nearly three years, was working in the position that oversees customer service staff and has to assign cleaning tasks. She stated that I am one of very few who she can trust will do the task assigned with excellence without question and without repeated reminders. I am not really vocal about my faith “on the clock,” but it is nice to know that my choosing to let my light shine is noticed. I am certain I will have opportunity to explain the reason I’m so different (1 Peter 3:14-15).

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.

(Philippians 2:14-15 HCSB)

- Andy Jentes