Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Monday, December 6th

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:10
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

Reflection: Nelson Rockefeller, when he was one of the wealthiest men in the world, was asked the simple question: ‘How much money is enough?’  His reply was telling: ‘A little more.’ 

            When money or material possessions – or anything other than God’s will and plan for your life is your goal or the driving force behind your life or your actions you will never be satisfied.  There will always be someone with more money.  There will always be someone with something you don’t have yet.  And even when you have it all, there will be new versions of what you already have. 

            In this season, when we so often get consumed with buying the next big thing, it is important to remember that no material gift – no matter how great, new, fancy or expensive – will ever truly satisfy us or anyone else.  The things we can buy, will not ever lead us to happiness. 

Question: What is the thing that you always want ‘a little more’ of?

How can you take the focus off of ‘how much’ this Christmas?

Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Sunday, December 5th

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Reflection: ‘Money makes the world go round’ is one of those clichéd phrases that is also true.  No matter what we would like to think or pretend, there is just no avoiding the truth that we need money. 

            We need money to provide for our basic necessities: food, clothing, shelter, transportation.  We need money to get many of the things that we want: a (nice) car, entertainment, etc.  If the world of advertizing and our culture are to be believed, we need money – and lots of it – to have friends, have fun and to be happy. 

            But the eternal salvation of Jesus Christ is not something we can buy – or even earn.  The transformed and whole life that is found in relationship with God cannot be bought.  It is, in fact, priceless. 

            God offers to us that which we are incapable of obtaining on our own and something greater and more valuable than all of our possessions put together: a saving connection to and relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Question:  When have you tried to ‘buy’ happiness or fulfillment?  Were you disappointed with the results?  

Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Sunday, December 4th

Scripture: Luke 24:52 

⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Reflection: In the above verse the ‘they’ are the disciples that saw and interacted with Jesus after his resurrection and immediately before his ascension to heaven. 

            What is interesting and important here is that that while the disciples got so many things wrong in their time journeying with Jesus, their response to the resurrected Jesus here is just perfect and it is a model for us.  When you encounter the resurrected Jesus Christ, savior and Lord of all creation the only appropriate response is to worship him.

            The other interesting thing is the affect that worshiping Jesus had on the disciples.  They went back to Jerusalem, where they would share the story of their encounter with the living God with all who would listen, eventually receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. 

            But these misfit fishermen and tax collectors did not go back to Jerusalem lost and fearful.  After worshiping the living God Jesus Christ they were filled with joy.  Joy is happiness that isn’t dependant on circumstances.  Joy is what comes from the worship of God.

Question: Where do you find joy in worship?  Where have you encountered God recently?

Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Friday, December 3rd

Scripture: Psalm 95:6
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker

Reflection: There is a key or central element of worship that we often overlook or ignore, but that is essential to true worship.  To really worship something or someone we must willingly submit to it.  We have to make a choice that says with our words, thoughts, actions and our lives in the words of Jesus: ‘Not my will, Lord, buy yours be done.  We have to make a decision that it is God’s plan and desire for our lives and the world that matters most, not simply what we want or what we think is best. 

            This idea of submission is what so much of what God calls us to is really about.  God doesn’t need our money to somehow ‘make ends meet’, but in submitting to God by returning a portion of what we have been given we recognize that God’s plans and not our own are paramount. 

            When we open ourselves up to be used and directed by the Holy Spirit we enter into a relationship that transforms our lives and allows us to live a whole and full life in the kingdom of God – now and forever.

Question:  Do you find it easy or difficult to submit to God?

What area of your life to you need to submit to God before you can fully worship God? 

Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Thursday, December 2nd

Scripture: Matthew 15:8-9

 ⁸ “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.   ⁹ They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.

Reflection: Sometimes I think it would be easier if there was a simple set of rules from God; do this and don’t do that.  Keep these commandments and you get to go to heaven, mess up and well . . . Of course there was a time when that was the case – and only one person every lived up to the call of the law, and that was Jesus Christ.  The same Jesus, who lived in perfection so that he would be the perfect sacrifice to atone for you and I. 

            Jesus did this, not so that we could have another chance at following the rules.  The rules are not the end goal with God.  Jesus wants our hearts.  Jesus tells the disciples & all that will listen that even following the rules is worthless unless that rule following comes from the heart. 

If the heart is focused on God following God’s rule will be a natural and organic outcome of the heart’s leading.

Question: Are you worshiping God with your heart or are you just following the rules?

What is competing with God for your hearts attention?

Bible Mad Libs and fun with verbs

This is a lectionary post, kind of.  Yesterday, one of the lectionary Psalms - I don't remember which one, and it doesn't actually matter for the point I am making - began with the phrase: 'Rejoice in the Lord'.  
And as I was thinking about the lectionary post I never got to all day, that phrase kept bouncing around in my head.  And it hit me, have you ever rejoiced in the Lord?  Hopefully you can think of at least one time or another - a mountaintop experience, if you will - where you have done something that might constitute 'rejoicing in the Lord'.  But the Psalm wasn't talking about a mountaintop experience, it was talking about a way of being in the world and a regular or normal activity. Lets look at that a little more.
First, what does it mean?  Rejoicing is literally to 'take joy or to delight', but the root of the word (I know, I know you are nodding off already, but stay with me) is re - or to or again, and joice or joy.  To have joy or to have joy again.  And I think this is really important in the context of rejoicing in the Lord.  When we rejoice in the Lord we are simply remembering, holding onto or sharing in the joy that we have in and through Jesus Christ and that Holy Spirit.  
We have joy - and the ability to rejoice - because of the presence of God in our lives.  Joy is a lot like happiness, but where happiness is entirely based on circumstances joy can only come through relationship.  I believe real joy only comes through a relationship with God or relationships where God is a part.  God is at the center of all of our joy, God gives us joy and God wants us to rejoice in Him - or to share in that joy and share it with others.  
That all sounds great, but lets get to the Mad Lib section of the post.  Fill in the blank with a verb, ______ in the Lord.  
What are you putting in there?  Trust, maybe.  Hope, maybe.  Rest (barely a verb, but okay), maybe.  But where does rejoicing come in to the equation?  What if we took out the restriction that it had to be a verb, does that make it any easier?  
I don't know what word you think of first when you think about your relationship with God.  To be honest, I am not even sure off the top of my head, what word I would use.  But I think you are probably like me and so I am going to take some guesses.  
When I think of my relationship with God, I sometimes think of responsibility, what I need to do.   I think about rules I am to follow or the things that I am supposed to live up to.  
This is not what God desires for us, and we are missing the point if that is how we view our relationship with God.  God desires a relationship with us and sent his son to live among us so that we might 'have life and have it to the full'.  That is something worth celebrating.  That is something worth rejoicing in and in fact that is the very source of all of our joy!  
So, sometime between now and Christmas - a time when we are supposed to be preparing for the coming of our joy as God draws near to us - make a conscious effort to rejoice in the Lord and see how it effects your life and how it (maybe) changes your perspective.  
Let us rejoice!

Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Wednesday, December 1st

Scripture: Daniel 3:28
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

Reflection: We are blessed to live in a country that values religious freedom.  Most of us can have no real idea of what it is like to have to pay a price for choosing to worship. 

            Most of us can’t imagine choosing to come together to worship God, when simply doing so could bring about our death.  Most of us can’t imagine refusing to worship what was culturally, socially or governmentally mandated. 

            But the Bible is full of stories of those, like Shadrach & friends; like Daniel; like Stephen and others that refused to abandon true worship of the one true and living God for the false and created idols of culture, government or superstition.  These stories should be a shining witness to us of the commitment God asks from us and of the lengths God goes to honor that kind of worship. 

Question:  What do you have to give, risk or sacrifice to worship?

What would you be willing to risk or sacrifice to worship God?