What is normal?
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 3 of “Fan or Follower – Practice Purity” (LISTEN HERE).
What is normal?
Perhaps this is the wrong question to ask.
Normal can change. What was “normal” to wear in the 1980’s would probably be looked at as “abnormal” today – unless it was “80s” theme during Homecoming Week.
Something becomes normal when enough people embrace the activity so that those who do the activity are more than those who don’t, or enough do the activity so that it becomes “normalized,” i.e. accepted as “normal” behavior.
Perhaps a better question is, “What was the original?”
The quick follow-up question is, “Who made the original?”
The term “perversion” has an interesting meaning. Perversion is “the alteration of something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.”
This term is helpful for our reflection on gender, sex and marriage this week. It leads us back to seek the answer to the question, “What was the original?” and “What was first intended?”
For those with a secular humanistic worldview, this question is difficult to answer since there is no origin or originator on these matters. Our culture today is easier to understand when you allow for evolutionary thought to be the “answer” to these questions, it allows for any and every manifestation of gender, sex and marriage. (We must be aware that “evolution” is not just a “theory of origins,” it is indicative of a worldview without a divine creator. The ramifications are legion.)
For those with a biblical worldview, the answer to these questions becomes very concrete.
The originator? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). God is the originator.
What was the original?
In regard to gender…Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Two genders, male and female, were the originals.
In regard to the question of which gender can have children, Genesis 3:16 answers that question, “To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” (Child bearing took on greater difficulty as a result of sin.)
In regard to marriage…Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, ….” One man and one woman committed to the Lord and to each other constituted marriage.
In regard to sex…Again Genesis 2:24 “…and they (a married couple of one man and one woman) will become one flesh.”
This is pretty straight forward and clearly laid out by the Lord.
Gender is not fluid. Marriage is not any combination of genders cohabitating. Sex is not to done for self-gratification with multiple partners.
Does our culture agree? No. Does our culture allow for “perversion” from the original? Yes. While many perversions of the original are legal in our country, as a follower of Jesus, our desire is to experience the blessing of the original.
So where does perversion come from?
1 John 2:16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Like every aspect of life, these issues are at the core a spiritual issue. Will I seek to honor the Lord in regard to gender, sex and marriage, or will I seek to please myself? I pray in all things we will seek to honor the Lord, even when doing so is challenging AND not normal.
Apply: What clarity do you receive when you go back to God’s original on these issues?
Prayer: Lord God, what you created and designed was perfect. Sin has perverted your design in many ways. Forgive us for our role in that perversion. Purify us by your grace and enable us to follow you in purity in regard to gender, sex and marriage. AMEN.
Who will win? Purity vs. Perversion
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 2 of “Fan or Follower – Value Life” (LISTEN HERE).
Good morning and a blessed Monday morning to you all!
Before delving into the devotions for the week, I want to ask us all to lift up the people in south Florida, along with all those dealing with the destruction of Hurricane Ian. My wife and I know a few people that rode out the terrible storm in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. Lives were spared, but stories of water rising, wind churning and waiting the storm out in darkness were challenging to hear, let alone realize the experience. The Lord has his reasons and the road to recovery will be long physically, emotionally but also spiritually. So I invite us to pray this morning:
Lord, you allow the weather to show the immense power of your might. The winds roar and the seas churn and the waters move at your command. We don’t always understand why, but we know the outcome is for all to acknowledge your strength and power and seek you as Savior and Lord. We ask that this catastrophe of property would be a call to us all to prioritize what is important in life, especially our relationship with you. Use all of us as we are able, to bring aid to those who have lost little or much. Let your people rise up to give witness to your love and grace to all hurting from the hurricane. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
This week our weekly matchup pits Purity vs. Perversion. As we delve into the topics of sex, gender, marriage and honoring God with our bodies, the culture around us pulls us in many different directions. The purpose of this week’s devotions is not to lead any of us to look “out there” and notice all the sin of others, but to most importantly look inside to examine our hearts, repent, and invite the Spirit of God to align and strengthen our connection to our Savior and his Word of truth which gives definition, purpose, and blessing to sex, gender and marriage.
Being a fan allows us to suggest a call or complain about a bad call. When we are on the field playing, we have to be the ones that understand the situation and make the call that brings victory to our team.
Every aspect of life is a spiritual battle that has at the root of it sin lurking in our own hearts and our Savior who desires and orchestrates the influence over our heart to love him and walk with him above all things.
So every teaching he gives is meant for our learning and blessing. This week’s is no different from Matthew 5:27-32:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
Monday mornings we might need an extra cup of coffee to wake us up. Jesus uses extra hyperbole to wake us up to the importance of this teaching and engaging in the battle against sexual sins. He would rather you lose the parts of your body that cause sin than lose you to the fires of hell. While the sentiment is the same for every sin, his strong words about gouging out an eye or cutting off a hand are not made in regard to stealing or killing, but in regard to sexual sins.
So this is a big deal and important as a follower of Jesus to be prepared for the battle at hand and engage in it with the power and grace the Lord Jesus gives.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Apply: Where is the spiritual battle for you in regard to sexual sins? Ask the Lord for strength to address and overcome.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for making us who we are as male or female, for giving us the gift of sex and providing the institution of marriage in which to enjoy it. Expose the sins of our heart. Heal them with your forgiving love and grace. Empower us to honor you as your followers in all that relates to our gender, sex and marriage. AMEN.
Words value life!
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 2 of “Fan or Follower – Value Life” (LISTEN HERE).
While I can’t remember the specifics, I remember hearing a story of an individual that was planning to commit suicide on a particular day. As he was on the way to end his life, he encountered an individual who asked, “Hi! How are you?” The pause in answering led the person to follow up with, “Are you ok?” The floodgates opened and to a complete stranger, the individual spilled his challenges. For the one ready to end his life, someone who paused to notice, care, and listen saved his life.
Sometimes the simple things we say and the pauses in our life to care for someone are a tremendous way to both express and show that we value the lives of the people around us.
In gradeschool we had a saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” I’ve learned there is nothing further from the truth. Words hurt…a long time…for a lifetime. What people say about us or to us can either lead us to value life more or value it less. The converse is true too. What we say either indicates that we value the person to whom we are speaking to or devaluing the life of the person.
Words matter. Care matters.
God’s Word guides us to value lives around us with the way we talk and interact with people. Consider Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
When we see one another as part of our own body, it seems silly to tear down and degrade a part of our own body. We wouldn’t do that. So, the Spirit of God encourages us to speak truthfully to each other in love, as we would want to be spoken to ourselves.
Words are meant to build up and encourage people. Ephesians 4:29b says “[speak] only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. The words we speak as parents to our children, bosses to our employees, teachers to students, friends to friends, or stranger to stranger all will either value that life and bring encouragement or devalue that life and discourage them. The advice your mother gave you works too, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”
Words have power. Use them to express your value of life. Use them to encourage, build up and affirm the value of the person to whom you are talking.
Consider these thoughts from a blog written by Savannah Lindell from James River Church in Missouri (no affiliation to our church – but the blog post was pertinent)*
Over the years psychologists have studied words and found that they have a profound effect on the human brain. The truth is, words have power. Words can either breath life or death into the soul, build up someone’s spirit or tear it down. They either encourage or discourage – there is no middle ground.
Research has proven that brain function is at its best and quality of life is at its peak when we are processing positive rather than negative words.
In their article, The Most Dangerous Word in the World, researchers Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Waldman state the following:
“If I were to put you into an fMRI scanner – a huge donut-shaped magnet that can take a video of the neural changes happening in your brain – and flash the word “NO” for less than one second, you’d see a sudden release of dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters. These chemicals immediately interrupt the normal functioning of your brain, impairing logic, reason, language processing, and communication.”
Additional research done by Newberg and Waldman reveals,
“Positive words, such as “peace” and “love” can alter the expression of genes, strengthening areas in our frontal lobes and promoting the brain’s cognitive functioning. They propel the motivational centers of the brain into action…”
Positive words are difficult to remember. Negative words are difficult to forget.
It’s interesting to note that the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC includes a display of several articles President Abraham Lincoln had with him on the night of his assassinated. One of the articles is a worn-out newspaper clipping which celebrated his accomplishments as president. It reads: “Abe Lincoln is one of the greatest statesmen of all time.”
It is amazing that even the president of the United States needed regular positive reinforcement in his life, if left unchallenged, negativity can permeate and overcome any of us.
The truth is that if you’re living and breathing, you need encouragement! No matter a person’s age, position or stature, as human beings, we are wired with the innate desire and need for encouragement.
An encouraging word spoken at the right time can make all the difference in a person life – just like it did for President Lincoln.
Proverbs 25:11(CEV) says: “The right word at the right time is like precious gold set in silver.”
(https://jamesriver.church/blog/why-encouragement-counts)
Value life with your actions AND your words!
Apply: It’s Friday – everyone needs encouragement on Friday. Engage in random words of encouragement to someone today!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for valuing our life with yours. Grow us to value the lives of people around us in how we treat them and how we speak to them. AMEN.
Decide to protect life!
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 2 of “Fan or Follower – Value Life” (LISTEN HERE).
Decide before hand.
As I write this, Hurricane Ian is making its way toward Florida with intensity of a strong Category 4 hurricane. This is truly a dangerous storm and one that will exhibit the power of God and I pray also the mercy of God.
As the hurricane approached this week, news outlets had images of people lines up to get water, empty shelves of toilet paper, and generators gone. People were trying to prepare and searching for the supplies to do it. Evacuations have been issued and looking at projected flooding from the storm surge, evacuating certain areas was wise.
All of this to protect life.
Property can be replaced, lives can’t.
As Florida faces a strong hurricane, those that decided before this week to do what was necessary to protect their property and lives are much better off. They didn’t have to wait in long lines, they have ample supplies and their house has storm shutters ready to be deployed.
When emergency happens, we react. But if we can decide how we will react and prepare to react that way, life in an emergency is more manageable and calm.
Playing on Team Life as a follower of Jesus takes pre-deciding how we will handle certain circumstances. It means deciding before hand how we will engage with our life and the lives of others. The decisions can be difficult, but better to make them before you have to so when you find yourself in a challenging circumstance, you default to the decision you already made.
So what’s the decision as a player on Team Life? Protect life. Period.
Because we see the intrinsic value of life, we will decide in favor of protecting life.
How?
- We are willing to give up our life for someone else.
1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
How does this play out? Jesus invites me to consider the life of someone else more valuable than my own. So, I decide that if a threat arises to my family or congregation and I am in position to save another person’s life, I am willing to risk my own to save theirs.
2. We do what we can to protect the life of the unborn.
Protecting the life of the unborn is a challenge in our culture where many are fighting for the right to end life in the womb, rename an unborn baby as “tissue,” or denying the reality of the heartbeat heard on sonograms.. Crazy things are being said to ignore the plain facts that a mother is carrying a new life in her womb, not just random tissue of her own body. God designed the womb of a woman to be the perfect place for his knitting project:
Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be
There is no question from the truths of the Scripture and for that matter biology that life begins at conception. A follower of Jesus carries this perspective. The only choice is whether one allows that life to take its course under God’s protection and plan or intervene as a human to take the life of another human being. So, to be blunt, the choice of a woman is to protect the life God is forming or to terminate that life. I know the discussion is complicated, but the decision is simple. A new life begins at conception and has intrinsic, unique and individual value, worth and significance before the Lord. Therefore, life must be protected.
If I may present one more very challenging side of this. When a follower of Jesus decides that life in the womb is indeed life and worth protecting, we will protect life, no matter HOW that life came to be. Much discussion gets made of pregnancies caused by rape or incest and the right to terminate a life brought about by these horrendous sins. I struggle with this logic. The argument is made that if a woman who was raped carries the baby to birth, seeing the child continues to perpetuate the wound of sin that began the pregnancy every time the child is seen. So, the conclusion is that the pain of living with the child is too great and the life is worth terminating to avoid the lifetime of reliving the rape or incest.
Can I offer a different course of action to be considered by God’s people? What happens when I trust that life is a gift of God and is in his realm to allow or terminate? I must conclude that even though sin (rape, incest, sex outside of marriage, etc.) brought the life into existence, doesn’t automatically negate the fact that a life was created. What happens when I trust that God just might have allowed that life for a purpose in his eternal plan while that life engages on this earth? Think of the offspring of Bathsheba…raped by King David (2 Samuel 11-12). Think of Moab, the son of incest of Lot and his daughter (Genesis 19:36-38). Both of these relationships ended with a child being used in God’s plan of bringing Jesus into the world (Solomon & King David). God can use a child conceived in sin, to be a blessing to his kingdom. What happens if I view the perpetrator through the lens of grace and forgiveness (I may never trust or interact with them)? Do I see the child as a reminder of the horrible sin or see the child as God bringing some good out of a very horrible situation?
I invite your reflections. I pray for the strength to engage in these decisions if and when the situation arises. Life is worth protecting no matter who it is and how their life began.
Make the decision today to protect life.
Apply: What is one thing you can do today to value life and protect it?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for bringing me into this world. Strengthen me for the work and challenge to protect the lives you have created, knit together, and for which you determined purpose.
Raca! You fool!
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 2 of “Fan or Follower – Value Life” (LISTEN HERE).
Ever called someone “Raca”?
Ever told someone, “You fool!”
Ever think doing this could put you before a court or land you in the fires of hell?
Jesus gets us thinking about what we are saying.
Matthew 5:22 Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
At first read, we maybe dismiss Jesus’ words and say, “He’s exaggerating.” But they are shocking in their sternness which must lead us to pause and understand what would be the connection between calling a brother, “Raca” or telling someone, “You fool.”
First, these aren’t joking words. These are insults.
“Raca” has the connotation of “blockhead.” Someone who is brainless, stupid, and incapable congruent thought. The word maybe seems silly to us, but it would indicate anger or hatred brewing in the heart. Perhaps we might call it today, “hate speech” which could end up with us being dismissed from our job or even brought on charges before a court. It was serious because it was used in Jesus day as an expression of anger or hatred toward another person’s life.
Similar with “You fool.” The Psalms call a person a “fool” who believes there is no God. The Greek term translated fool is “moron.” Again not only an attack on one’s intellect, but also on their character. It indicated they were not a person of integrity, faith grounding, or moral compass. Again, words that came from a heart of hatred and bitterness.
Bottom line, it’s just not loving, uplifting, or expressing value and appreciation for the other person’s life. And if it’s not love, comes from a heart of hate, and devalues the life of another, it is murder. And no one who continues in murderous activity or thought, will enter eternal life. So, Jesus words are accurate. A heart full of hate is a heart headed to hell.
1 John 3:14-15 Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Tough teaching for us today, but the reason Jesus gives it to us is because he loves us like he loved Cain. “Sin is crouching at your door. Watch out or it will master you.” Anyone who loves us is willing to warn us. Jesus does both. Because he desires the Spirit of God to master your heart and drive out any bitterness, rage or anger, that may not lead to physical murder, but certainly have murdered a person in our mind.
Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ultimately, Jesus exposes sin in our heart to bring healing to our heart. When we struggle to love, we have Jesus who loved us and loved perfectly for us. He spoke from the cross words of forgiveness and love to those he had every right to call “Raca” or “You Fool” but instead said, “You’re forgiven.”
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
He does the same for you.
Apply: What relationships tempt your heart to fire off insults? What happens when you view that person through the lens of Christ’s love and forgiveness?
Prayer: Father, thank you for affirming your love for us when you have every right to call us “Raca” and “You fool.” Move us with your love to do the same for those around us. AMEN.