Fairness

And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. (Leviticus 12:8 ESV)

Fairness

Justice and fairness are often opposites and enemies.  Last week, I was trying once more to undo some damage done during an identity theft incident.  I was attempting to speak to a representative of the business that has been being difficult.  It actually seemed like I was making progress!  But then the clerk asked to speak to DeAnne… because her name is also on the account.  DeAnne was not available, and suddenly the almost-successful avenue was roadblocked.

I understood the justice.  It, sort of, was protecting me.  But it was not fair. 

The letter of the law, which justice sometimes demands, does not take individual circumstances into account.

But here we see that God, the Master of Justice, also allows for circumstantial awareness.

The woman in question owes God a lamb, sacrificed in Jerusalem.  We might expect that to be the end of the matter.

But God is also kind, understanding, and fair.  And so He offers her a more affordable option.  Turtledoves and pigeons are much cheaper than lambs.

While adhering to justice, regarding His people, (His through the sacrificial purchase of His Son) God is also gracious and merciful. 

God is just… but He is also fair… unlike us, sometimes.

We are peculiar, we are treated justly and fairly by God.

Precious

“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: (Isaiah 44:1,2 ESV)

Precious

Most potluck dinners cause an internal struggle.  While many tasty delights are spread before me, I usually want to eat what WE brought.  Because of the hope presented in these verses.

God promises hope to the Israelites of Isaiah’s day, and that same hope dominos down to His church today.  He will help us.  Which means more than paying bills, finding medication, and improving employment options.  The help God promises is eternal as well as present… it is foundational as well as detailed… it is soul as well as heart, body, and mind.

So what does that have to do with casseroles and banquet bars?

God promises His help because He has chosen His people, and made them.

And the food we bring to the potluck table is just like that.  We chose it, we selected it, we liked it enough to say, “THAT is what we will bring…”  And we made it.  Usually DeAnne, of course… but sometimes I help a little.

The things we chose and made are precious to us.  Even in the midst of exotic, delicious, and fun other foods.

And we, Christians, are precious to God for the same reason.

We are peculiar, we are precious.

Love

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 ESV)

Love

This sentence is active, not passive.  The best love, Jesus says, is dying for someone.  He, of course, is the One who loves the best.  He dies for all of His true friends.

But many folk today have changed the idea of love into the passive tense.  It is more important, we seem to think, to BE loved, than to love.

Perhaps the change began on Valentine’s Day.  In school, we note how many Valentines we receive, not how many Valentines we gave.  When we go to the mailbox today, we wonder how many Valentines we will get in the mail; we do not wonder if we gave enough Valentines.  We feel mushy when someone utters, “I love you…” not when we declare our love.

And I am not merely speaking of romantic love.

The same phenomenon happens around Christmas cards and birthday presents.  We count love by the loves we receive… instead of by the loves we gave.

But Christians can know better.  Christians know that loving is better than being loved, perhaps because we have been loved already by the best.  Christians know that love is a choice, a decision, and an action, perhaps because we remember Christ’s choice before the foundation of the world, His decision in the garden, and His action on the cross and in the empty tomb.

We are peculiar, we can love.

Beauty

And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. (Leviticus 8:6-9 ESV)

Beauty

A sunrise last week took my breath away.  My grandfather carved a strange bird that causes me to want to see more of them.  The Louvre almost glows with beauty, inside and out.  My wife’s face, when I wake up before her, brings glad tears to my eyes. 

Beauty is grand.

When God was instructing the freshly freed Israelites in worship, He emphasized beauty.  Because beauty is part of worship.  Yes, sometimes the externals have been overdone, overemphasized, and over-loved.  And that is idolatry.

But sometimes I wonder if we have swung the pendulum too far the other way.

Beauty is not wasteful, irrelevant, or unnecessary.

And rather than be afraid of beauty, rather than avoid beauty, rather than ignore beauty, God’s people get to embrace beauty… particularly in worship!

We are peculiar… we can enjoy beauty.

Gone

You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them… (Isaiah 41:12 ESV)

Gone

The most frightening part of most scary movies occurs ten minutes before the end of the film.  The bad guy, monster, alien, or enemy has been defeated.  The soft music has started, and everyone starts to feel better… but not me.

Because I know that the villain is never really gone until the credits… or the sequel… or the failure of the film in the box office.

But God’s enemies are more surely dealt with.

Isaiah says that even if we LOOK for them, they are gone.  Even if we continue to fear, and hide in corners, and imagine shadow-dwellers, they are gone.  Even if we think the movie is not quite finished, they are gone.

Who is gone?  Sin’s power and punishment… death’s power and presence… anyone who stands against Jesus.

We are peculiar, the bad guy is gone.

Paid

“Comfort, oh comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear that she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! (Isaiah 40:1,2 The Message)

Paid

I had a recent encounter with a computer hacking identity thief.  Our bank was quickly involved and restored all of the funds that had been taken.  But they added a word on the bank account statement.  The stolen money, a debt, was restored provisionally.

It was in my account, but those funds were not really, really, really there.

But last week I received a letter.  The refunds were no longer provisional.  The debt was absolutely gone. 

When the bank was provisionally giving me credit, I was glad.  But when the payment of that debt became absolute, instead of merely nice of the bank, kind of the bank, understanding of the bank… my heart relaxed.

God does not forgive us provisionally.  He forgives our debt because Jesus paid it for His people.  Our sin debt is not hanging around out there somewhere, waiting to ruin some future day.  Jesus paid it.

We are peculiar, our debt is paid.

Confidence

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.  (Matthew 5:37 NKJV)

Confidence

The most annoying statement from my Garmin is, “recalculating.”  Garmin says it when the data in her brain does not match the perceived situation on the road.  Either I have made a wrong turn, or the road has been altered, or circumstances do not permit me to follow Garmin’s path.

Our society, whether voiced by the news media, by the entertainment industry, by textbook companies, by old men on front porches, or by the supposedly inerrant internet, seems to be in permanent recalculation.  Data appears to be updating faster than we can keep up.  Wrong turns abound.  Life’s roads are usually under construction.  Circumstances alter and shift and slip.

And so the world is unwilling to say simply ‘yes,’ or ‘no.’

But our minds, hearts, and even souls yearn for surety.

And we have it.  Not in our own cleverness, interpretation of experience, or breadth of vision… but in the One who knows all things, because He is creator, upholder, and protector.

Our ‘yes’ can be ‘yes’ when we are lined up with HIS, Jesus’ ‘yes.’  Our ‘no’ can be ‘no’ when we are lined up with HIS, Jesus’ ‘no.’

The rest of the time we get to keep our mouths shut.

We are peculiar, we can have that confidence.

Empowered

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Ephesians 6:10 ESV)

Empowered

Who does not like the idea of becoming empowered?  These days, we hear more and more about how grand it would be if the disenfranchised could become empowered.  And our society looks for ways to provide that!  We attempt to empower through voting, through economic stimulus, through education, through employment, through relationships, through ownership, through military might, and even through diet and exercise.

How are those things working out for you?

Probably not very well.  Because those things bring at best, temporary authority and profit… but not really power.

There is only one source of power.  There is only one way to empowerment.  There is only one way achieve the peace that empowerment offers.

And that way is the Lord Jesus Christ.

All authority on heaven and earth comes only from Him.

If we seek to be strong, Paul writes here, strength comes from the Lord.

Maybe that sounds like religious simplistic idealism.

But it is also the truth.

We are peculiar, we are reliably empowered.

Monument

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8 ESV)

Monument

We build monuments to celebrate ‘firsts.’  The crossing place of the first settlers going across the Mississippi River… the location of the first meeting of the Continental Congress…. the first printing press… the birthplace of the first King of England.

We also build monuments to celebrate ‘lasts.’  The final resting place of a famous general… a book about the “Last of the Mohicans”… retirement parties on the last day of work… the final concert of your favorite band.

But our Lord God is better than those monuments.  As much as we enjoy them, the Lord our God is indescribably better.  He literally IS the first.  He literally IS the last.  Because He is indescribably eternal.

And uniquely, Jesus is the monument to Himself.  A church is not a monument to Jesus, He does not need one.  A statue is not a monument to Jesus, He does not need one.  A holiday is not a monument to Jesus, He does not need one.

Those things might help direct our attention to Him, of course.  But they are not monuments.

That’s why the final words in this verse are, “the Almighty.”

That means He does not need anything else.

But He enjoys our praise, our thanksgiving, our attention, our love, and our worship.

Those things are as close to a monument as we can add.

We are peculiar, we have THE monument.

Priests

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. (Revelation 1:5,6 ESV)

Priests

The Biblical use of the word priest is slightly different than modern usage.  A priest in Scripture is a person set aside by God to represent God’s people to God Himself.  This is why Jesus is the best priest of all.  He speaks on our behalf to God!  In a way that no one else can…

But here at the beginning of the book of Revelation, as the Apostle John is about to see a vision of the future of God’s people, he makes an astonishing pronouncement.  He says we are a kingdom of priests, now.

Because we have an exciting job.  We can speak to God on behalf of God’s people!  We do it when we pray.  We do it when we worship.  We do it when we love each other.

And that also means that each one of God’s individual people has a kingdom of priests speaking to God on our behalf!  There is an army on our side, begging God for help.  There is an army on our side, begging God for mercy and grace.  There is an army on our side, praising God even when we, in our darkest moments, do not have it in us to praise, or thank, or worship.

We are peculiar, God’s people are priests.

-=- -=-=

Friday

Nobility

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.  (Acts 17:11 ESV)

Nobility

I have some noble blood.  My great-great great-great-great grandfather was Sir Royal Graham.  I am unsure of how many people are ahead of me in a claim to the throne of Scotland, but there is an actual number.  You might be jealous.  (Unless your number is less than mine…) Because that kind of nobility is unobtainable.   You either have it, or your do not.

But the Bereans in the book of Acts are called noble for a different reason.  They are noble because of something that they did, not merely because of the blood in their veins.

They loved the Word of God.

This is a more noble kind of nobility.  Because God’s Word is more important than throne inheritance.  And because a love of God’s Word is something we can actually choose to have.  We can not choose our blood.  But we can choose to be like the Bereans.

We are peculiar, we can be noble.

Power

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 9 ESV)

Power

I would not be a good bomb disposal officer.  Those moments in films or on tv where the bomb expert is holding a wire-snipper and contemplate either cutting the red wire, the blue wire, or the polka-dot wire would be the worst moments in my day.  I would be insecure in my authority.  I would not believe that I knew enough.  I would be very aware of the consequences of the wrong decision.

Exerting authority, wielding power, or expressing command can be scary things.  Because even the most type-A leaders can know that they might be wrong. 

The archangel Michael had authority and power.  Angels are amazing.  But even Michael knew (and knows) where his authority and power comes from.  In the middle of what might have been the battle of his life, Michael knows he is nothing more than a conduit for Jesus’ power.

The same is true for us.  God’s people have no authority.  So, we do not need to fear being in positions where we have to decide.  The Lord rebukes all of His enemies that trouble us. The Lord rebukes all of His enemies that make decisions difficult.  The Lord rebukes all of His enemies that give us insecurity.  The Lord rebukes all of His enemies.

It is not up to us.

We are peculiar, Jesus is our power.

Purpose

And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14 ESV)

Purpose

Young whippersnappers annoy me with their miss-grammars regarding “on purpose,” and “by accident.”  Commonly, we now hear the prepositions confused.  “I did that on accident,” one might explain incorrectly.  And recently, I even heard a student accuse, “you did that by purpose!”

I scowled, and imagined terrible punishments for abusing the English language. 

But perhaps, while I hate to admit it, the idea of something happening BY purpose should not be so abhorrent to me.

Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, muses in this verse about God’s purpose in Esther’s life.  He is acknowledging that God has a plan, a grand one, a good one… and that even when we do not understand it, His plan is behind every event.

In other words, things happen by purpose.   By God’s purpose.  By God’s loving purpose.

Jesus knew this, dying on the cross.  His death was not by accident.  His death was by necessary purpose.

The Spiritually blind do not comprehend God’s purpose.  And while we might not always comprehend it, either, we trust the planner.

We are peculiar, we know He has a purpose.

Rising and Light

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. (Micah 7:8 ESV)

Rising and Light

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is an idea in Mathematics and Physics that states we are unable to ‘know’ both what something is, and what it is doing.  For example, we cannot study what an automobile IS without stopping it from driving.  And we are unable to know where a car is going while it is stalled in the shop. 

When things are dark and low… we examine our lives sometimes, and despair.  We see our troubles, our pains, and our sorrows.  And we hear Gods enemies laugh.

But Micah reminds us that where we might be at the moment is NOT where we will be!

No matter how truly dark our night, the light is coming! No matter how truly low we have fallen, God will raise us!

Jesus is the ideal example of this.  If you were peaking into that tomb between Good Friday and Easter, things would be dark… and the fate of the universe was low.

But He arose!  Light returned!

Without Christ, dark is dark, and low is low.

But we are peculiar, we will be raised.  We have light.

Requirements

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 ESV)

Requirements

When I was learning how to play chess, my instructor kept changing the rules of the game… or at least that was how it seemed to me.  He kept throwing in new ideas, just when I thought I had it figured out.  Pawns can not move backwards?  You can not move into check? You can trade a pawn for any other piece if it reaches the far side of the board?  And what is castling??

Life sometimes seems like we are learning chess.  And the rules might seem to be changing.  It would be unnerving, difficult, and unfair if the standards for success changed half-way through life.

And it might seem like that to the world.

But God is consistent in His requirements.  He wants to see justice, He wants to see us loving mercy, and He wants us to be humble before Him.

And all of those are really summarized by the idea of putting others before ourselves.

We might not like His standards.  We might find them incredibly difficult to honestly keep.  We might despair of impressing Him.

But He has made His requirements plain to His people.

And even better… He gives us Jesus to keep His requirements on our behalf.  In fact, He is really the only requirement God’s given us.

We are peculiar, we know God’s requirements.

Repentance

When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:18 ESV)

Repentance

Fonzie from Happy Days was unable to pronounce the words, “I’m wrong.”  When he occasionally tried, it sounded like, “I-ooom raahunnka…”

Fonzie is a lot like most of the world.  We humans have a hard time admitting we are wrong.  Whether it is pride, insecurity, ignorance, or immaturity, humans imitate Fonzie often.

But some of the richest moments in my life have come when I have realized how deeply wrong I have been.

Christians should be able to admit when we are wrong.  Because while such admission for the world seems like jumping out of a burning building, Christians know that Jesus is the safety net waiting at the bottom. 

In fact, admitting how deeply wrong we are is the first step we consciously make in being a Christian.  Saying, “oh, how I need Jesus,” necessarily comes before, “Jesus I trust You.”

And once we have made that declaration, jumping is easier… and it becomes a pretty good habit.

We are peculiar, we know repentance.

Stable

…and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.  (Isaish 33:5,6 ESV)

Stability

I was pre-training on a yacht, so that if things went well, I would be a deckhand in sailing-ship race.  One of the training exercises involved climbing the mast.  It was a very tall mast.  At the top, or at least as high as I dared climb, I found myself tilting back and forth, swinging through the air.  Looking at the horizon was scary, looking at the yardarms was terrifying, and looking down at the deck was almost enough to make me faint.  I felt unloosed, disconnected, and in danger.

The sailor who was training me gave me good advice.  He told me to look at the place where the mast connected with the deck.  I am sure he told me the exact nautical word, but to me it was simply the one place that did not seem to rock.

It was stable.

Isaiah encourages God’s people to realize that HE is that spot for us. 

Though the world seems to tilt, twirl, and rock… Jesus provides stability. 

He holds the laws of the universe in one hand, and His good plans for your life in the other.

It might seem to be out of control, but look to Him… and you will find that the rocking is not as real as He is.

We are peculiar, we can be stable.

Do Good

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9,10 ESV)

Do Good

I am learning to play the Mandolin.  I practice a little bit, nearly every day.  And honestly, most days I do not see much progress. Some days I seem to lose ground.

But I keep at it.  Because I know that in dues season, I will reap, if I do not give up.

When Paul urges the Galatians to keep doing good things, he was not describing, of course,  the process of salvation.  The entire book of Galatians is making the point that we are saved by grace, not works.

But doing good helps those around us.  Doing good honors God.  Doing good brings Christ’s kingdom into this reality.  Doing good is what we get to do.

Even if we can not see the results right now.

We are peculiar, we can do good.

Angel Faces

And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Acts 6:15 ESV)

Angel Faces

I have performed a lot of weddings.  And something happens while the groom waits for the bride… the bride, walking down the aisle, looks different.  It is not merely the makeup or hairstyle.  It is not merely the dress or the flowers.  It is not merely the excitement of the day.

She usually reflects something.  Maybe it is commitment.  Maybe it is tradition. Maybe it is love.

Perhaps that is similar to what happened to Stephen’s face as he was in the synagogue.

Or perhaps it was something more straightforward.  Stephen, with his heart, mind, soul, strength, body, and emotions focused on Jesus might have somehow reflected Jesus.

It probably was not something you could paint, or photograph, or sculpt.  Medieval artists painted halos on the heads of Christians because they knew that something, perhaps not something visible, but something somehow sense-able was present when Christians were ‘looking’ to Jesus.

Luke called it an angel face.

We are concerned about our physical appearance. 

But we have an appearance even richer.

We can, with our actions, with our words, with our thoughts, with our emotions, with our decisions, with our relationships, with our motivations, with our attention, with our very lives, reflect Jesus, too.

We are peculiar, we can have angel faces.

Words of Life

“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”  And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. (Acts 5:20,21 ESV)

Words of Life

I once had to explain to a group of Board Members that their business was failing.  I once had to tell a teenager that the love of his life was breaking up with him.  I once had to tell a kindly old farmer that I had totally wrecked his pristine automobile.  I once had to tell a landlord that I was breaking our lease, early. 

Those things made me nervous.  Perhaps for good reason.

But Christ’s Apostles had to tell religious leaders that their beliefs were wrong.  Christ’s Apostles had to tell political leaders that we have a higher King.  Christ’s Apostles had to tell arrogant men and women that submission to Jesus was the only way to eternal life.

And they did it.

I do not know if they were nervous, but if they were, they did it anyway.  I do not know if they were gifted speakers, persuaders, or scholars, but if they were not, they did it anyway.  I do not know what their expectations were, but it does not matter.  They spoke the Words of Life.

And we can, too.

No matter how much you lisp or stutter, you can point people to Jesus.  No matter how insecure you are, or nervous, or afraid, you can point people to Jesus.  No matter how much you expect pushback and hostility, you can point people to Jesus.

In fact, when we know how amazingly gracious, merciful, and loving our Jesus is, how can we not?

We are peculiar, we can speak the Words of Life.