Let the Children Come to Me

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 18:15-17 The Message

15-17 People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

For Reflection

Children seem to accept the mysteries of life.  Furthermore, children are barely able to be consciously aware of self let alone have a lofty self-concept.  They are bound to their mothers with trust. This child's instinct to trust is humankind's virtue and the key to salvation.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to trust God as a child trusts it's mother.

Forward to a friend

He Healed Them All

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 4:38-44 The Message

He Healed Them All

38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.
40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.
42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.

For Reflection

No rule, no law, no ethical or moral code can ever account for unforeseen circumstances and be administered fairly. Furthermore, regulations and requirements can be applied maliciously. Not only is the comfort of our lives interrupted by laws and enforcers, but discomfort may also arise from our physical frailties.

Christ healed people with physical and mental illnesses. He did not discriminate among the deserving and undeserving.  Christ healed all who called upon his name.  Both sinner and saint will find salvation and redemption in Christ. 

Pray

Pray to thank God for the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Pray so that you will strengthen your resolve to be more like Jesus and provide a conduit to healing for all people with whom you interact.

Forward to a friend

Laws of Confession and Restitution

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Exodus 22:1-4 The Message

22 1-3 “If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt.
3-4 “A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double.

Numbers 5:5-10 The Message

5-10 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin. Full compensation plus twenty percent must be made to whoever was wronged. If the wronged person has no close relative who can receive the compensation, the compensation belongs to God and must be given to the priest, along with the ram by which atonement is made. All the sacred offerings that the People of Israel bring to a priest belong to the priest. Each person’s sacred offerings are his own, but what one gives to the priest stays with the priest.”

For Reflection

Thou shalt not kill another human being nor shall you steal. The admonition is clear. But, is it as clear in practice as it is in rolling off the tongue?

Following the letter of the Mosaic law was difficult in practice. To be sure killing and stealing are clearly wrong but does the circumstance change how the punishment is dealt or the law is interpreted?  In these passages, judgment is made on both the punishment and justification of violating the law.

No human can predict the full consequences of rules. There always seems to be a situation in which one finds extenuating circumstances that create a need to change, codify the intent, and parse the laws to determine and administer appropriate punishments The law, then and now, always requires interpretation. Ultimately, obeying the law seems to end in an "if this then" dilemma.

Committing a violation to other people is also a transgression against God. Without repentance, restitution to the harmed individual is insufficient.

Pray

Pray about the conflicting rules that guide your life.  Pray, and listen to the Holy Spirit comfort you and show you God's mercy as you decide between two undesirable choices. Pray and know that God will always love you and treat you with compassionate restoration.

Forward to a friend

Plea for Understanding and Recognition

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 15:25-32 The Message

25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

For Reflection

Who among us does not want to be recognized and understood?  Is that not the first step to reconciliation? As the father comforted the son, so God comforts us when we feel that we have been ignored or unappreciated.  God entreats us to join in the joy of finding a place of calm and peace.

Pray

Pray so that you will find joy in each other's walk with Christ. Pray so that all will see the rest and peace you have in your relationship with the Creator.

Forward to a friend

Finding the Lost Sheep and Coin

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 15:1-10 The Message (

The Story of the Lost Sheep

15 1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

The Story of the Lost Coin

8-10 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it, you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

For Reflection

I can't imagine that these people gathered around Jesus to hear his promise of life after death.  No, I think what generated such interest was a promise of becoming a transcendent being, escape from the terrible social, economic and spiritual deprivation they were experiencing.  Salvation from their human circumstance in the here and now was the draw.  Christ did not offer a magical elixir or self-help empowerment.  Christ offered them, as he offers today, God-help, a Holy Spirit relationship that restores all of humanity to a right relationship with the Creator and  Creation.

Pray

Pray and gain the wisdom that only a right relationship with God can bring.

Forward to a friend

Calling Sinners to Repentance

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 3:12-13; 5:27-32 The Message

12 Taxmen also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13 He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”

27-28 After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.

29-30 Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?”

31-32 Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”

For Reflection

Taxmen did not sin because they were tax collectors. Their sin was the selfishness, greed, and lack of love for each other that separated them from God and resulted in injustices. In a real sense, the idolatry of worshiping wealth was their sin.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to see each person as a child of God. Pray so that your first interest is the welfare of others.

Forward to a friend

God's Compassion for Straying People

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Hosea 11:1-9 The Message (MSG)

Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods

11 1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
    I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
    he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
    he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
    I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
    never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
    that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
    anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
    and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
    They pray to god Baal for help.
    He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
    How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
    devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
    My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
    I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
    I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.

For Reflection

So there you have it. God does not think or act in human terms. How many times have we asked God to be vengeful on our enemies when we know full well that we are to love our enemies? How many times have we asked God to lift the burden of our human condition rather than raising a finger to collaborate in God's plan for salvation and reconciliation?

When your insides churn with anger, direct your action to create God-centered, mercy-filled solutions to that which has angered you.

Pray

Pray, so that you will see creation with God's eyes. Pray, so that desiring vengeance is never a desirable option.

Forward to a friend