Psalm 15

Tell me a building you associate with God.

Did you say church? That's not the answer I was looking for, but you won't lose any points if you did. These days, when Christians talk about God and buildings, we get a little mixed up in the lingo. Most of us call the building where Jesus' followers meet to worship Him a church. More accurately, it should be called the church's building because the church is actually the body of believers.

Two thousand years ago, if I had asked you to tell me a building you associate with God, you very likely would have said temple. The temple was uniquely different than a modern church building. When I teach kids, I sometimes say that the temple was kind of like the modern day church building because that is where believers gathered together, but the temple and church buildings have some significant differences. Before Christ died, God resided in the temple, in a portion called the Holy of Holies. (If you'd like more information, a quick internet search will show you facts, descriptions, and renderings of the Temple, including the Holy of Holies.)  Today, God doesn't live in church buildings because He lives in His believers - the church.  You see what the lingo gets so mixed up.

But even before the Temple, there was a tent, known as the tabernacle. The tabernacle didn’t look like the tents we go camping in, but it could be packed up and moved.  We don't have a better modern word in our fixed-structure society, and so we call it a tent. 

David was interested in where God lived. David wanted to build the temple for God, but God had other plans.  (You can read a recent post on the topic: Solomon's Rise and Fall).  More than just curiosity, a person's home says something about them.  In thinking about God's home and who God is, David wrote:

Lord, who can live in your sacred tent? 

Who can stay on your holy mountain?
Anyone who lives without blame
and does what is right.
They speak the truth from their heart.
They don’t tell lies about other people.
They don’t do wrong to their neighbors.
They don’t say anything bad about them.
They hate evil people.
But they honor those who have respect for the Lord.
They keep their promises even when it hurts.
They do not change their mind.
They lend their money to poor people without charging interest.
They don’t accept money to harm those who aren’t guilty.
Anyone who lives like that
will always be secure.
(Psalm 15, NIRV)

When David asked God who could live in His tent, he wasn’t asking if he could go camping with God. David was making a point that God is holy. There's a reason why God's spirit dwelled in the Holy of Holies.  He is perfect, and so only people who are right with God can be near God.

What kind of things does God want us to do to be right with Him? David lists a few of them: We should always tell the truth, and we should never lie. We should treat our neighbors and friends well. We should always keep our promises, even when it is hard. Actually, all those things can be hard!  When the right thing is hard to do, God will help us do it. In my recent post, PSALM 13, I wrote briefly that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to be with us forever. In John 14:26 Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Helper.” Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them what they needed to know. The Holy Spirit would help them remember what Jesus said. So, too, the Holy Spirit helps us to do what’s right.  But to limit closeness to God to only those who do what's right would oversimplify the situation. It's what the Pharisees were often chastised by Jesus for. (My recent post MERCY explores this idea further.) Because of the Holy Spirit we don’t have to go to a tent, a temple, a church, or any other building to be close to God. God doesn’t live in a building. God lives in us!

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 

This series on the Psalms is actually modified from lessons I've been writing as children's curriculum. As I began writing for kids, I realized there was too much good stuff to not write a grown up version as well.  If you have kids, or if you are a kid at heart, you may want to watch my friend deliver this message. And now I must go build a blanket fort...

Impossible

My daily devotional reminded me today that, "We have a God who specializes in impossibilities. His power is greater than our problems, our difficulties, our crises, our emergencies, our reverses" (Mendell Taylor's Every Day with the Psalms).

Today feels like a day of impossibility, and so I must proclaim that I need God.

Today may be a day of impossibility for you, so I must write about it.

When I was a child, I loved riddles.  We'd ask question like this paradox: Can God make a rock so big that He can't move it? It turns out plenty of people are still discussing this question and others like it. The question doesn't really have anything to do with God; He just happens to be the subject.  Instead, we seem to love thinking about what is possible and what is impossible.  As if we know.

A friend once explained knowledge to me this way: Imagine a small circle.  The area (the interior of the circle) represents everything you know. Everything you don't know is outside the circle.  The circumference (the line making the "outside" of the circle) represents the meeting of what you know and what you don't know. It is what you know you don't know, the tip of the iceberg so to speak.  If you were to next draw a large circle, the area (your knowledge) would increase significantly but so would the circumference (what you know you don't know).  Therefore, the more you know, the more you know you don't know. There are a lot of things I don't know.  I hope that means that I am growing in knowledge.

Today is the second week of my second year of college.  It's the second time in my life that I've been able to say that. Almost two decades ago I attended two years of university.  My life experiences have taught me a few things since then, but there is really only one fundamental difference this time: when I don't know something, I want to know. It's why my Goodreads' Read list includes books I wouldn't have picked up before. I actually read books on the subject I am studying that aren't assigned by my teacher.  My eighteen year old self would wonder who I've become.

I learned to read unassigned books during the years I wasn't in college.  It's how I compensated for what I felt was a failure. I thought it was impossible to correct the mistakes I had made.  I just didn't get it.

So, what's impossible today? I'd rather not talk about it, if you'll give me that grace.  But, I think of the words that I have struggled to believe for years:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13, NASB)

I hear this verse thrown around like it's a lotto ticket. Well, that's a terrible simile because I would never throw around a lotto ticket, at least not a winning one. I would hold it close and guard it until I could cash it in. No, this verse is the battle cry of those who preach the prosperity gospel. Do you think a Ferrari would further your ministry? Believe in Him to give you a Ferrari. The truth is, I don't want a Ferrari. I told my husband he could never buy me a car with more than 6 cylinders, or else he'd have to get a second job to pay for all the speeding tickets.

This verse is not a name-it-and-claim-it verse.  It's a testament to the power of Christ.  The verse literally says: For each thing, I have the strength of the one strengthening me.  However, we read translations, not transliterations, and so we end up with the words we are more familiar with.  The difference here is slight, but I believe the transliteration makes the verse harder to pluck out in singularity.  Alone, it begs the reader to ask: what things?  The answer is in verse 12.  Poverty. Wealth. Hunger. Contentment. Abundance. Lack.  In that context, it's hard to think of this verse as access to anything you want.  The verse is not about the ability to have anything as much as it's about the ability to have faith. So, today, on a day that seems impossible, I can have faith because Christ is strengthening me.

Love is...

See that picture frame?
It's actually a fish tank mounted in the master closet.
Are you asking why? So are we.

Growing up, my parents hung a felt banner in our living room that said “Love Is A Decision.” As I recall, they (and by “they” I mean, probably, my mom with my dad sitting nearby) made it at a marriage retreat they attended long before I was born. As the third child, there were many things that occurred long before I was born, but I digress.

When I hear “Love is...” I think of Kim Casali’s comic strip by the same name. The simplicity of her drawings and her ability to capture every day moments has allowed her work to remain popular over the years. According to her website, these started "back in the late 1960s when she drew the little pictures as love notes for her husband-to-be."  If you are unfamiliar, you can see a collection of her drawings on the website, loveiscomix.com.

Indeed, love is a decision.

That seems to be the heart of this verse, in one of the most famous passages on love ever written. When we think of 1 Corinthians 13, most think of the author's description of what love is, but consider these often glossed over verses:

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

(1 Corinthians 13:2-3, NIV)

In many ways, we can't help what gifts and talents we have.  The pianist cannot create what the sculptor can, but both can love. The prince and the pauper have the same ability to love, though they may not have the same access to any other thing in life. I love the way The Message paraphrases the above verse, "So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love." Love may be the only thing that we can always control.  We can always choose to act lovingly. A genuine act of love is never wrong.

So how about you? If you were going to draw a "Love Is..." style comic strip, what would it show? In mine, you would see a couple eating burritos in bed because:

Thanks to my husband for showing me this act of love this week. No shame here; I love breakfast burritos!

Read my other posts on LOVE.

Seeking Peach Cobbler

It turns out that there is no sexy way to take a picture of peach cobbler.

I bet those aren't words you expected to read today, but it's the truth, at least for this novice photographer. I love peach cobbler, but I almost never eat it.  The reasons abound, the least of which are the dessert's talents as a model.

My husband doesn't like peaches, and I don't really care for them.  Except in cobbler. It's hard to make a cobbler for one, so I don't make it at home.  I don't know of any restaurants that sell it near my home. Last month a local restaurant put up signs advertising "Peach Season." I thought for sure that this would be it; if only seasonally, I'd be able to get peach cobbler lovingly made by a trained professional.  They only offered peach pie.  How unfortunate.  Cobbler beats pie any day.

About two years ago my friend and I volunteered at an event hosted by a semi-local mega church.  We did some work for them, and they allowed us to attend their conference for free. It was a great trade off.  Since this church was about an hour from our homes, we decided to have dinner together on the last night before we left. We had a fine meal, but the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about two words that I had seen written on their menu: Peach Cobbler.  I decided to buy one to go.  That night, I sent my friend one of the most disappointing texts I have ever sent: This isn't cobbler. It a crisp.

There's nothing wrong with a crisp, or even a crumble, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I was seeking something very specific, and nothing else would satisfy me.  Similarly, the Bible is filled with instruction to seek God, to look for Him with the same passionate effort I seek peach cobbler:

• But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29)
• If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
• Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
• But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
• God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:27)

I have tasted peach cobbler in the past, so I desire it when I am away from it too long.  It is the same with God.  But what about those who have never tasted?  Romans 10:14 asks the same question this way, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" We, who have tasted, are called to share with those who have not. That's what I'm doing here. I hope you find your own way.

*If you, like most, are confused by the difference between a cobbler, a crisp, and a crumble, HERE is a great explanation.

FMF: Loud

When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.

(Joshua 6:5, NIV)

It very well may be the strangest battle strategy of all time: Walk around the city for seven days. On the seventh day, walk around the city seven times, then shout. LOUD.

I find that when God asks me to do things that don't make sense there is usually one reason: it shows that I trust Him.  The faith of these believers was not in their weapons or their leaders' skills as warriors.  It was in God. It's not only about others; it stops me from thinking that I am more than I am.  Sure there would be a celebration that night.  For years when someone pulled out the trumpets they'd remember that time that God did what He did.  They were not boasting in themselves, they were trusting in God.

I feel like I'm walking around a city right now.  I don't know what's inside, but I know this is what God has told me to do.  With nervous excitement, I look forward to the day that God asks me to do something unlike what I've ever done before. On that day, I will walk around the city seven times and give a loud shout.  It won't be a scream of terror, but a proclamation like Philippians 1:6, that God is finishing the work He has begun in me.

This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.