Jesus for President

Judges 8: 23 "But Gideon replied, 'I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you!'"

Gideon has proven himself to be a very capable leader. As Israel's judge, he routs the Midianites and makes a name for himself. After his victories, the Israelites plead with him to be their "ruler." Gideon wants nothing to do with being the king or their ruler. He tells them that God alone will be their ruler. Gideon understands he has a specific purpose and that God alone desires to rule his people.

I have been reading "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne the past few days. It's a great book contrasting "empire" with the kingdom of God. Shane points out that God never intended for the Israelites to have a king or a ruler. God alone wanted to rule his people. God knew what having a king could do to a people. God wanted his people to be special, set apart, holy. By having a human king or ruler they became more empire-like and less God-like. Allegiances and hopes turn towards the king in an empire. Under God's rule, allegiance, faith and hope are given solely to God. I need to remember that my hope, and my allegiance belongs solely to Jesus Christ.

Dear God, help me to follow you alone. Help me to be loyal to you and give you my complete allegiance. Amen.

But a Breath

Psalm 39:5 "You have made my days a mere hand breadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath."

David recognizes one of life's harshest realities. Life is short! They say there are two things in life that are certain; death and taxes. David understood death and the brevity of life. His son Solomon would come to appreciate and love taxes! David understands that our life is but a breath compared to God's timing. We exist for a short time and then we are gone.

I heard the quote "there are no atheists in a foxhole" today. How true! When we are faced with death we are able to see life for what it is. We are able to focus on what matters most in life. In a foxhole or on our deathbeds, we do not concern ourselves with our houses, our cars, or our 401K's-we leave that for our beneficiaries! They can fight over these matters. Life is short and I better focus on what really matters-Christ and his kingdom, God and his people, and my family with whom God has entrusted me with.

Dear Lord, help me to live for what matters! Amen.

Jesus is Lord

1 Cor. 12:3 "...and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

Paul says the ability to say "Jesus is Lord" comes directly from the Holy Spirit. To say "Jesus is Lord" in the first century would be problematic as it was a direct challenge to Rome and the emporer. The emporer was lord, so by Christians saying Jesus is Lord, they were declaring their allegiance not to the emporer but to Christ. Paul says this ability and courage comes from the Holy Spirit.

JJ spoke at HangTime last night and a did a fantastic job. He shared his story and hung out an extra hour and a half to talk with students. Afterwards, his dad Fred told me that JJ believes strongly that God is speaking through him and in fact, JJ will only speak to groups if he totally allows God to speak through him. JJ wants God's words to be spoken, not his own. How often am I speaking my words, or allowing God to speak through me? I need to ask for, and trust God to do the talking and I need to stay out of the way!

Dear Lord, help me to get out of the way, so you are the one speaking. Jesus is Lord! Amen.

Christ in OT

1 Cor. 10:3 "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

Paul is talking about our forefathers-the Israelites. He says they all were fed spiritually by the same rock. And that rock was Jesus. This verse jumped out at me because I do not often associate Jesus with the Old Testament.

I know all about the Trinity and I know Christ was present in the Old Testament. I was taught that my whole life but here it is specifically stated that it was in fact Christ who was present and fed the Israelites. That was interesting to me today.

God, help me to know that Christ is ever present with me and will always feed me.