Christianity IS divisive... if Jesus is the reason.

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

Luke 12:51-53

Smug agnostics and unbelievers love to accuse Christianity of being divisive. But the division is created by Christianity's opponents and not us. It is, however, a division that Jesus warned would happen as a result of Him. People are divided over Who Jesus is and what He said and did. Those who know Him as God and Savior are on His side. Those who reject Him are opposed. And painful divisions are thus inevitable.

Jesus got to our most important earthly relationships to explain how deeply the truth will divide people. Even parents and children would find the strain of Christian commitment divisive. The love of Jesus runs deeper than family bonds. It was meant to strengthen them, but human will can choose to reject that. We should not be surprised if faith in Him causes division with non-believing family members. The issue to keep front and center is this: what do we do with the division?

I grew up in a sick fundamentalist legalism that willingly and sinfully cultivated division as a matter of pride. You "separated" from friends or family or acquantances who did not believe the gospel. You didn't smoke or chew or go with girls who do! It was pretty simple, almost binary in its view of the world, and it was infinitely WRONG! How can we believe Jesus saves sinners, is the friend of sinners, yet deliberately and with great smug pomposity remove ourselves from all contact with those who need Jesus most? No. Christians run TO sinners, not away from them. We are gospel light to them... even if they run from us!

If anyone does the separating, it is those who refuse Christ having seen Him in us. Let that be true. And even then, let us reach out to the ones who distance themselves. My heart breaks for those who leave the church in spiritual disillusionment. Even those who say the church makes Jesus unbelievable can still be saved if they repent and believe and trust Jesus and not the church. Let's bring the gospel, even if some divide from us, to those who need it, those with questions, those with accusations... let's love them like Jesus does. He died for His enemies. And Christians... that was us.

desires

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Galatians 5:16-17

I have wrong desires.

Not everything I want to do

is what I should do,

It isn't that it isn't best

but rather that it is wrong from the rest

of what God has for me.

Sinful desires

desires of the flesh

are often my first instincts.

With my salvation

a change of heart was released

so that I can desire to do what God pleased

to make me anew in my Savior His Son

strength to win the race that I run

confident that His Spirit leads me.

So holy desires

desires of God's Spirit

can override my impulses.

Lord, may Your desires

lead me to follow You

through Your Spirit help me do

the things that holiness demands

so rich reward comes from Your hands.

Purge sinful desires

so that I hear "well done"

today, and in my final home.

sustaining hope

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24

Written through an experience of unimagineable loss and pain, Jeremiah's poetic Lamentations at the fall of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem are more than just sad, emotional processing of the plight of the plundered, captive nation. Lamentations contains spiritual insight into the personal response of the righteous person to suffering. As such, it should be understood as a resource for caring for souls in crisis.

First, some clarifying caveats are in order. Jeremiah's thoughts must be understood within their covenantal context. The extreme sufferings that the book details were a curse upon the children of Israel for generations of flagrant disobedience to the covenant of the Law. God warned them it was coming. And Jeremiah's laments process the suffering with this understanding: we know we deserve this. One should thus be careful to weigh the descriptions of suffering in keeping with this understanding. I tend to find the extreme suffering and raw grief the hardest parts of the book to think about... until I place it in context. Then it makes sense as a unique experience for covenantal compliance.

However, the real high points of Lamentations come with the insights into the character and love of God... something you'd think would not be part of a book like this! God shows up even in the suffering. And His goodness is trusted by faith, even as the harsh pain of His judgment is acknowledged. His faithful love and unceasing mercy comes to the repentant heart. He knows the cries of sufferers. He loves them... even those who grieve in their painful loss. God brings new hope in the extreme pain. He is faithful. The soul that believes this by faith can then choose hope as God is the soul's sustaining possession. Faith is all that they have left, and it is a vast resource for all that they need to go on.

prayer for wisdom

Then you will understand righteousness and justice

and equity, every good path;

for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

discretion will watch over you,

understanding will guard you,

Proverbs 2:9-11

Lord,

Every day I need Your wisdom. As I look to Your Word, my hope is that You will provide the kind of insight and powerful truth that leads me to know You and Your wisdom. I am so foolish. I am prone to wander rather aimlessly and always selfishly. I am utterly foolish. I crave Your wisdom to sustain and empower my thoughts, choices, and actions.

I am steeped in sin right to the root of my thoughts, so to know Your righteousness requires committing to what Your Word reveals about You and what You say I should do. I make poor decisions that hurt myself and others. Yet Your wisdom is always just. Help me to be like You as I love and care for justice like You do. You are always right. May I always quickly yield to You so that I too will be right, no matter the outcome. I know You will lead me in a good path. I will follow where You lead, Lord.

Your knowledge will satisfy me. As I desire You and Your wisdom, my soul will be at its happiest. Forgive me for thinking anything else will truly satisfy my soul. You and the gifts that You give are more than enough for my ultimate joy.

And when I apply Your wisdom, the discretion and truth that You show me will keep me safe. You will guard me from sinful, destructive outcomes. You will keep me close to You. I wait and trust in Your wisdom, my Lord.

Amen

God's heart for the neediest

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God settles the solitary in a home;

he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Psalm 68:5-6

There are five groups of people mentioned in these two verses. Four of them are cared for by God's favor. One group is dealt God's justice. The four groups that find God's care are the lowest on the social struggle structure. Widows, orphans, homeless, and prisoners are all poetically pictured as cared for by a merciful God.

God is a Father to the fatherless. And He still is. I grew up in an inner-city church where fatherlessness was a common experience. I knew kids from what we used to call "broken homes" but now rather euphemistically refer to as "single parent families". I have seen God do just this sort of thing. Some of the kids in my church youth group who thrived the most spiritually were "fatherless". And even for a period of time in my own life I trusted in this promise. Absent dads, for any reason, leave a void that only God in His mercies and through the connections in the local church will fill. It is a wonderful expression of God's grace.

God is a protector of the widows. He provides for people in their losses, whether a widow by death, divorce, or desertion. Again, the early church quickly responded to the social tragedy of starving widows. And God still cares for those who lose their spouses. He longs to protect, strengthen, heal, and help them. The church should do this. God is closer to the widow then their spouse ever was.

God cares for those on the fringes. The Old Testament shows this as many of the social reminders of the Law were to protect and help those on the outskirts of society: the widow, orphan, homeless, sojourner, refugee, or prisoner. God is a home for the homeless. He wants to return prisoners to prosperity. And His heart should lead us to truly care for the neediest among us.

Those who defy God, however, will find His judgment. The one group not helped by God in this Psalm are the rebellious who turn from God. They may find there is an end to His mercy with them. But any poor and needy, broken and lost soul who truly seeks the Lord will not be turned away!

failed covenant

Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

1 Kings 6:11-13

This episode has always intrigued me as a unique opportunity in the life of Solomon. God was making a conditional covenant with the king. It is a covenant with bits of the Davidic covenant implied, but much like the Mosaic covenant, it is tied to an enormously difficult set of conditions. Solomon must obey the Law to its fullest. But if he was careful to seek God and do so with integrity according to the Law, God promised to abide with His people Israel in the new temple that king Solomon was building.

Of course, it did not take Solomon long to fail at the terms. By the time the temple was complete, he was already preoccupied with fame, wealth, sex, and idolatry. And so I have often wondered if God made this small covenant with Solomon as a way to warn the king. God was certainly within this covenantal frame when He so quickly judged the nation after Solomon's death. We have the clear understanding by reading the text... just so we could know that God was justified, even when His people were unfaithful.

Solomon (and the nation under him) failed at keeping this temple covenant. Yes, it was really a subset of the David and Mosaic covenants, but God was faithful the entire time, even as His people were not. By rights, He could have judged the nation with division during the latter part of Solomon's reign. Yet grace kept Him from doing so, even as Solomon and the nation became more tolerant and enamored with the worship of false gods. So this really is a lesson in the faithfulness and truthfulness of God to His Word and His grace.

ending in worship

Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest.

Exodus 40:12-13

The book of Exodus begins with the children of Israel suffering in slavery in Egypt seemingly forgotten by God. It ends with the glory of God filling the Tabernacle and Aaron and his sons beginning the ministry of the priesthood as all of Israel joins in covenantal worship of God. The journey that the Lord took them to in order to get them to this point was a lesson in leadership for Moses, and submission to God for the nation. And we find points of identity along the way.

Like newly freed slaves unsure of anything, we are insecure in life outside of what we once knew. We forget the pains of our past slavery to sin when we long for the food of our slave days. Even as God supplies for us, we may forget He is doing that. We may grumble against His leadership. We may turn to idols we have made rather than follow His Word. But in it all, God remains sovereign, loving, corrective, and amazing. It always astounds me when reading Exodus that as much as Israel fearfully grumbled and wavered in faith, God patiently kept providing for their every need, both in Egypt and in the desert.

And it all led to worship. That is how the book ends. The priests are anointed and clothed in holy garments. The tabernacle and its furnishings are prepared and engaged in the worship practices. God is front and center in Israel's camp and as they follow His Law, His glory fills their worship in the Tent of Meeting. It took the miracle of the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the drowning of Egypt's army, the giving of the Law, several failures including the golden calf debacle, and the appointment of the Aaronic priesthood to get them there. But in the end they worshiped.