Faith in Action 1

Matthew 7:24-27

If you have ever tried to build a house of cards you know that you need a solid foundation on which to build or all of your efforts will be for nothing. The same is true of a house in which you plan to live. You need a firm foundation so the structure can withstand all the wind and rain of nature.

Now we see that the same is true of our faith. We need a firm foundation in our beliefs and in our connection with God before we can face the challenges of living out our faith.

In Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus provides a short parable about two men building houses. Where did the wise man build? What happened when the weather turned bad? Where did the foolish man build? What happened to his house?

Like so many of Jesus’ parables we need to look closely at what is being said so that we can fully understand what is intended by the teaching. If we read this too quickly we come away with the idea that we need Jesus and God as our spiritual foundation so that we can weather the trials and troubles in life. While this is true – we DO need to have a sincere and genuine connection with the Lord to endure life’s challenges – there is more to the story.

In verse 24 Jesus says that those who hear his teaching “and puts them into practice” are like the wise builder. In verse 26 Jesus says that those who “do not put them into practice” are like the foolish builder.

We need to do more than simply have a deep and sincere connection with God. Or we might say that a true connection to the Lord, having Christ as our spiritual foundation, is more than just being loyal to God and spending time in church and prayer and Bible study.

To have a firm foundation of faith requires that we hear the Lord’s teaching and then we put it into practice. We must live out our faith, be active in our loving, in order to have that firm base of faith. I believe the storms of life are never a threat to any believer who is living out faith and sharing love with others.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What does your faith foundation look like?

Bearing Fruit 5

Luke 13:6-9

“Give me patience, Lord – but hurry!” Most of us have heard this humorous saying before. Patience may not be our strong suit. We may have difficulty accepting the fact that it may take time to become a fruitful member of God’s kingdom. We may need to work at learning how to do good things for others, to share God’s love in the way we act.

Jesus follows up some comments (Luke 13:1-5) on repentance and on being holy with this parable of a fig tree planted in a vineyard. It may seem odd that a tree is planted in the midst of a vineyard. But the parable creates a clear image in our mind.

The fig tree towers above the thick grapevines which only grow about chest high. It is something easily seen over the rest of the plants. Yet this tree has no fruit. It may look good. It may appear impressive as it rises above the many vines, but it is not producing fruit.

The owner wants to cut it down. He is frustrated with its lack of fruit. But the man in charge of tending the vineyard asks for one more year to try to get the tree to produce good fruit.

Some people who claim to have great faith, who claim the title of “Christian” and who say they love the Lord may appear to tower over the rest of the believers. Their faith appears tremendous and powerful. But the question is, do they produce fruit?

It is not always the appearance of things that we should look at. We should be examining ourselves and other believers to determine if their faith or our own faith is producing fruit for the kingdom of God. Are we doing good things to share the love of God with others or is what we do simply something that looks good but has no substance?

It may take time for any of us to be able to bear good fruit for God. We must be patient with others and with ourselves. But that patience has its limits. We can feel that we are not bearing fruit yet, but we should be working to develop our ability to share the love of God, to care for others, to bear the fruit of the Lord for the kingdom of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Are you bearing good fruit for God? Are you moving forward in this effort?

Ready the Ground 10

Romans 15:12-13

This past summer we learned about bamboo. Bamboo is a type of grass that grows very quickly. If planted in the ground bamboo can flourish and grow quite tall and become very dense. If not held back bamboo can overtake almost all the other plants around it.

We have been looking at the parable of the sower that Jesus taught. It focuses on the types of soil that might represent how we feel at different times. Sometimes we have a hard heart, a heart that has been trampled under foot by others. When we are like that the seed of God’s love cannot thrive inside us.

Other times life has problems we must confront. We may have shallow faith, and again God’s love cannot take root. Other times the worries of life crowd out God’s love and we lose our spiritual focus.

But God wants us to have hearts that are receptive and open to the love He gives so freely. He wants our faith to grow deep within us. He wants His love to fill us up. The love of God should be given the opportunity to grow as fast and strong and thick as bamboo can grow when it is given an opportunity.

Paul makes reference to Isaiah in his letter to the Romans. Who is the “Root of Jesse” Isaiah speaks of? What does Paul desire for the believers?

The Root of Jesse is a reference to Jesus Christ. Jesse was the father of David, and David was the great ancestor of Jesus. When Isaiah makes reference to the Root of Jesse he is talking about Jesus Christ as Savior to the nations.

We must make our hearts and souls the good soil that will allow the love of God to take root. When we accept Christ as Savior, when we accept he love of God that He pours out so generously, then we are allowing the Root of Jesse – the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God’s extravagant love – to take root and grow within us.

When we allow Christ to live in us, when we allow God’s love to grow and fill us, then that love – incredible and powerful – can not only sustain us, but it will overflow from us. We will be able to be strong in our faith and confident in our Lord. And we will be able to show God’s love to everyone around us.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you open your heart to Jesus?

Ready the Ground 9

Ephesians 3:16-18

So often the sense of loneliness and emptiness can encroach on our lives. Frequently we can feel that we are all alone. No one seems to care for us. No one seems to want to be our friend.

We begin to believe that we must face all of our troubles and problems on our own. We might feel that we do not have the strength of character or the strength of faith to face difficulties. It is in these times that we have forgotten just how much God loves us.

In the letter to the Ephesians the believers are offered some encouragement. What is prayed for? What desire is expressed for the believer’s heart? What power is desired?

It takes strong faith to face all the trials of life. We must have complete confidence in the presence of God, and that confidence can come from an awareness of how God feels toward us.

When we begin to think that our faith is like the rocky soil from the parable, that our faith simply cannot grow deeper, cannot take good root in our hearts, we need to remember what our relationship with our Savior is. When we worry that life’s troubles will crowd out our ability to love and to hold onto our faith, like thorns that crowd out growing seeds, we must recall that Jesus loves us deeply.

The prayer for the believers in Ephesus is a prayer for all believers. We must remember how deep and wide and broad is the love of Christ for each of us. We can remember how much we are loved when we allow Christ to live in our hearts, when we invite the eternal presence of God to be part of how we think and feel toward life.

With that presence of Christ inside of us we can allow our love and our faith to grow deep. With the presence of Christ we are made into the good soil that allows the seed of God’s grace to take root and flourish.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What can remind you of how much Jesus loves you?

Ready the Ground 8

Romans 12:2

It can be so easy for me to have a bad day. Small things start to go wrong – a broken shoelace, a stubbed toe, a spilled drink – and then suddenly I have a very negative outlook on life. At times like these I have allowed the outside world to crowd in on my inside world.

I have allowed the external and material world to push out the spiritual focus I need to have. When that happens I am distracted and pulled away from my focus on God’s love.

But Paul has guidance for us. What should we NOT do? What should we do? What ability would we then have?

In the parable of the sower some of the seed fell on rocky ground and some fell on ground that had thorns. The rocky ground prevented the seed from taking deep root. The seed that fell among thorns were choked out by the weeds. In each case the situations of life kept the seed from growing strong.

In our own lives we can allow the troubles and challenges in life to prevent our faith and love from growing strong. We allow our fears to crowd in on our faith, and we let our worries fill our hearts and minds so that there is no room for God.

But if we will grow deep in our faith we must hold fast to our faith. We must trust completely in the love and grace of God. When the love of God fills us and when we hold to the strength that God gives us for faith we can grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord.

When we keep our faith and the love of God at the center of who we are then we can resist being transformed by the world around us. We can avoid being derailed, changed, tossed around by the things that surround us. Instead we will be transformed by a new spirit of faith and love.

We will grow deeper in our connection to God and in so doing become better Christians. We will be more connected to God and more able to understand the will of God – that which we should be doing in the kingdom of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can your faith keep you from being influenced by the world around you?

Ready the Ground 7

Isaiah 43:1-2

John Wesley, the man who essentially began the Methodist Church, had a life-changing experience as he sailed to America. During a terrifying storm while aboard the ship crossing the ocean, Wesley feared for his life while other passengers – Moravians – were not at all disturbed by the fierce tempest blowing outside and shaking the ship. They had complete confidence in God, and they knew they were safe in the hands of the Lord.

Sometimes life is frightening. Sometimes difficult times come up and threaten our faith and our happiness. Sometimes worries and fears begin to fill our lives and crowd out God.

Isaiah offers some hope and assurance. What assurance does God offer? What is our relationship with the Lord? What does God promise us?

This passage from the Old Testament prophet gives us a great deal of confidence. Although life may have terrible things in store for us – troubles and pain and trials to test our very souls – we have a deep root of faith in God. The Lord loves us and has claimed us as His own.

With that confidence and knowledge we can face the challenges and hardships of life. We can prevent the thorns of worry and troubles from crowding out our faith. We can remain deeply rooted in our faith and in the love that God has for us.

As we face troubling times we can trust that we are deeply rooted in the Lord. He is with us if we will allow Him to be by our side. If we can have faith in God then we can face the trials and temptations of life without fear knowing that God will save us from all troubles.

This may not mean that we will be spared the storms of life. We will need to go through the fires and raging waters of problems. But we are not alone.

We must make our hearts and souls like the good soil from the parable. We must welcome the presence of the Lord and allow His love and our own faith to grow deep within us that we might withstand life’s worries.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can your faith grow into something more confident?

Ready the Ground 5

Luke 6:43-45

When I was very young my mother had a small flower garden at the side of our front porch. One spring some showy plants began to sprout and grow, so she tended to them – watering them, fertilizing them and pulling the weeds around them. Soon they grew to be strong and hardy plants towering above all the other flowers in the garden.

Then one day a friend stopped by the house to visit. Since he was good at gardening my mother asked him if he recognized what type of flowers those big plants were. He did. Weeds.

We may consider ourselves to be good people when in fact we may be lacking in our spiritual goodness. We may think that we are good enough – not really bad people – when in fact there is room to improve in our faith.

What does Jesus say about the fruit that different plants produce? What does a good person bring to life? Where does this goodness come from?

It is plain from the parable of the sower and from this statement from Jesus that God desires that we produce goodness in our lives. If we will be good, holy and righteous people then that goodness will be in our hearts. And if there is holy goodness in our hearts, that goodness will flow out from us as the good spiritual fruit we are called to produce.

Goodness and holiness is not always an automatic thing with all people. We may not be aware of what is truly in our hearts. In our heads we may think we are good, but in our hearts we may be lacking the goodness God desires.

To accept the love and grace from God and then have that goodness grow and flow from us, we must tend our spirituality. We must prepare the soil of our souls to receive God’s goodness. And when we receive the goodness from God we must tend it like a garden, growing that goodness, increasing our ability to be holy and caring.

If we can live a life that more closely follows the teaching of Christ we can become the good people we should. And if we become those good people then that goodness will be the good fruit of love for others flowing out from the abundant garden of love within us.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you produce good fruit?

Ready the Ground 4

Matthew 13:8

The first house I bought was across an alley from a family who loved to garden. In their back yard they had a large plot of ground which they tended throughout the year. They spread fertilizer and compost on the ground in the winter. They weeded the garden almost daily in the spring and summer. They cared for the garden by tying up the vining plants and watering the ground whenever it was needed.

The result was a very productive garden year after year. Their garden was so full and thick by late summer that it was sometimes difficult to see the back of their house.

As Jesus concludes his parable of the sower he speaks of the best type of soil. What type of soil is it? What was the result?

If we will be productive children of God we must have good soil in our faith. Our hearts must be attentive to the grace and love of Jesus Christ. And as we receive the love and blessings of God we must allow this gift to grow within us so that we might produce the good fruit of God’s kingdom – care and compassion for others, generous giving, devout worship, and so on.

What is essential is that we prepare our faith to be that good soil mentioned in the parable. Just as our neighbor worked so much to produce a garden that grew a great bounty, we must work within our faith to prepare the soil. We must keep ourselves from growing hard in our emotions – becoming like the path. We must work to bring depth to our faith, to grow closer to God through prayer and study of the Bible. In this way we will nor be spiritually shallow like the rocky ground.

We must learn to trust completely in the Lord. In this way we will prevent the thorns of life from choking out God’s goodness.

Having good faith is more than mere chance or coincidence. It is the result of intentional and fervent efforts on our part to become better Christians.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you make your faith productive?

Ready the Ground 3

Matthew 13:7

Although it is important to us to have a nice flower garden in the front of our house we have found that we are far too busy to maintain it. About once a year in the summer we will all go out to the front garden and attack the weeds. They usually grow very tall and thick and it takes a great deal of effort to pull them all out so the flowers can be revealed.

Such can be our spiritual life if we allow it. As Jesus continued with the parable of the farmer sowing seeds, what is the third type of ground that the seeds fall on? What did the thorns do?

Keeping in mind that the farmer represents God and the seed is the generous grace of God, we see that sometimes the soil of our faith is filled with thorns and weeds. These thorns represent all the cares and worries of our life. They represent all the temptations and sins we face each day.

In the parable the thorns grew up and choked out the good seed that was sown. Just as our life may be blessed by the good things God gives us – His presence, His love – we sometimes allow the worries of life to choke this goodness. We claim to have faith in God but we have trouble handing over all of our fears and concerns. We believe in God, but often we are weak in our faith and fall prey to the lures of temptation.

When we let worries control us, when we let the temporary, earthly pleasures fill our minds and draw us in, then we are allowing God’s goodness to be limited in us. We let the troubles and pain, the sin of life to crowd out the grace of God. God’s love has no opportunity to grow in us. We fail to make the blessings of God and the love of God part of who we are.

We must tend the ground of our faith. We must care for the garden of our spirituality. It is up to us to pull out the weeds of faith – those earthly fears and desires – that push out God. If we can remove the tendency to worry, if we can learn to trust God, if we can learn to rely on the Lord’s strength, we can keep out those things that block the Lord’s blessings. We can allow God’s love to grow in the soil of our faith.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you pull the weeds of faith in your heart?

Ready the Ground 2

Matthew 13:5-6

In my years of performing in college plays I was always intrigued by the illusion that a good stage set can present. From the audience it may appear that there is an entire house on the stage. But from behind the scenes you can clearly see that there is no depth to the structures. There is nothing behind what you see from the front.

Jesus continues in his parable about a farmer (God) sowing seed (love). What is the second type of soil mentioned in verse 5? What happens with the seed? What happens to the plant? Why did it fail?

At first glance there seems to be a success story going on here. The seed has found some soil in which to grow. Despite the rocks there is enough dirt that the seeds grow into plants. Success!

But then the sun comes out and burns very bright. The weather heats up. The environment becomes harsh and the plant cannot survive. It withers and dies.

The reason the plant cannot sustain itself is because it has no depth. The root system has not developed to give the plant the strength to endure the harsh environment.

And this is all due to the soil. Because the ground is rocky the dirt is shallow. It has no depth and therefore cannot allow the plant to have depth.

How is this soil like the human heart? Some people get very excited about the good news of God’s love. They may appear to become very devoted believers. However, for many people they have not allowed God’s message to take firm root in their hearts. Their beliefs are shallow and not at all developed.

When the harsh reality of life strikes, when there is temptation and trial, their faith cannot withstand it all. They are swept away by the problems they must confront.

If we will be strong in our faith we must prepare our hearts to receive God’s message of love. We must allow the time for our faith to grow strong. We must make our faith a deep part of who we are and how we behave. Then we can have strong faith in God’s grace and we can remain faithful even in the hardest of circumstances.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can your faith grow deep and strong?

Ready the Ground 1

Matthew 13:3-4

There have been several occasions when Peggy and I have attended a banquet or reception where there is a great deal of nice food. Often I will return to the table with a plate of food only to discover my wife has something really delicious on her plate, something I did not get. In these cases I will ask where those particular items were and she points them out, but by the time I get up to the serving table the good stuff is all gone.

It can be very frustrating to miss out on something really good. And what makes it worse is the fact that I just wasn’t attentive enough to see the good stuff.

Today’s passage is the beginning of a parable from Jesus. What is happening in the story? Where does some of the seed fall? What happens to it?

Often times when this parable is preached the focus seems to be on the seed and the farmer. But it has been pointed out that the focus of the parable is neither the farmer nor the seed. The focus is on the ground.

In the parable God is the farmer scattering the seed of love and grace. We are the ground. And so, the question arises, what type of ground are we?

The first ground presented in the parable is the ground of a path. It is hard ground, dirt which has been trampled under foot and walked all over. Because of this nothing can easily penetrate the surface, and thus the seeds of love are taken away.

We may find ourselves having a heart as hard as the path in the story. We may feel that life has walked all over us, or other people have walked all over us, taking advantage and using us. We have been hurt. We become hard. We refuse to allow anything to penetrate our hard, outer shell.

But when we do that we are missing out on the blessings of God. If we go through life with arms crossed and ears stopped up so that we don’t have to listen to what is being said, we miss out on the generous love God sows for us.

Is your heart like the hard path? If you have been hurt or you feel that you must protect yourself from further hurt, you may need to soften your heart, open your soul and your mind to the blessings God offers.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you soften your heart so that it is ready to receive God’s grace?

View of the Cross - Centurion 5

Luke 12:16-21

It has often been said that no one has seen a tombstone which read, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” But there is also a saying that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, while all play and no work makes Jack a duller boy. What do these two thoughts have in common? Their point is that we cannot invest ourselves in one thing or another so completely that we miss what is important.

To teach that lesson Jesus presents a parable about a successful farmer. What is the man planning to do? What will his attitude be (verse 19)? What is Jesus’ comment in verse 21?

It would be easy to talk about the evil of riches and greed in reference to this parable. The man thinks he is secure because he can expand his barns, but in fact he will die. Then what is the purpose to all of his work?

But I am not certain this parable is as simple as that. The ground of the rich man produced a good crop. He had a good year and saw a profit; so what? Good for him. What is important is his attitude.

He will say to himself, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” There is no indication that his focus was entirely on wealth until that point. Now, he is distracted from living a good life by living “the good life.” He has allowed his wealth and a life of leisure to distract him from what is more important.

And Jesus comments that this is how things will be for “anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” We can store up “things” for ourselves without storing up riches for ourselves. We can fill our lives with so many things that are important to us that they distract us from experiencing Jesus in our lives.

If we allow ourselves to be distracted by other interests – money, work, sports, hobbies – we are failing to be rich toward God. We are failing to focus on the goodness we should be doing, the service to God and fellow man, to mercy and compassion. We fail to experience Christ because we have been distracted.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What can you do to be rich toward God?

Teacher 4

Matthew 13:10-13

When I worked at a local newspaper we had a language that was all our own. Terms like “kicker,” “cut-line,” “drop head,” “pull quote,” “grin and grab,” and “slug” were tossed around daily. To anyone not part of the staff it would seem as if we were speaking a secret code, and in many ways we were. Our terminology made work more efficient to those who understood it.

For the first few days the terms baffled me, but eventually I picked up on the jargon. It took some time and a little effort on my part. The words were not meant for everyone to understand, only those who needed to and who were able to learn.

Jesus confounded some of his listeners by the way he taught. He used parables, and to many of us today the short, familiar lessons make a great deal of sense. But at the time they were challenging.

What do the disciples ask? Who has been given the knowledge? What contrast is made between those who have understanding and those who do not?

This passage has been a source of mental wrangling in the past. How could anyone be confused by the parables when they seem quite plain? How could anyone not understand? Why does it seem here that Jesus is intentionally vague?

After reading in the book The Misunderstood Jew - The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, by Amy-Jill Levine (Harper One), I have had a glimmer of enlightenment. To the Jewish listeners these parables could indeed be a source of confusion because the examples used and the characters in the parables carried a different meaning than they do to Christians today. One example is the parable of the yeast. To us, yeast simply makes bread rise; but to the Jew at the time of Christ, yeast not only worked in flour but also implied secretive work.

To hear the parables at the time of Christ meant to be confronted with ideas that were contrary to common beliefs. The usual way of thinking did not apply to the parables, or at least seemed contrary to the message Jesus was giving.

Why did he do that? Jesus’ response implies that to understand his teaching you had to accept a new way of thinking. You had to apply some effort in understanding. And if you were able to take on a new way of thinking more would be added to the richness of your life.

The teachings of Christ were not simple but asked for effort on the listener’s part. Those who hear the teachings of Jesus must invest themselves in understanding, just as we must invest ourselves in being part of the kingdom of God. At times we need to change our own way of understanding so that we may better understand our God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Can you hear the teachings of Jesus with a new attitude?