All posts by ljmonson

Devotions, Life

Intention without focus

Matthew 21:12-13 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.  And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves””

Our intent is often lost in the bustle of the usual.  The temple was designed by God to be a place for all to find a place to pray, a place to be forgiven, a place to connect with God.  Yet, there was nothing but confusion.  Confusion from the intended purpose.  Doves, sheep, coins, barter, signs of business attracted the penitent away from their intended purpose. Jesus was not just overturning tables and whipping the merchants, he was overturning the entire religious establishment. The house of God must not be sold by the latest merchandise.  The church, the body of believers to which I belong must not be distracted by the trappings of life and focus on the reason for being there.  We come to worship a God of simplicity and purity.

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Devotions, Ramblings, Worship

Everlasting Love

Jeremiah 31:3 – The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

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The age of Jerimiah was a terrible time. The invasion was inevitable. It was a test of the whole land of the Hebrews.  It was a test of Jerimiah’s home in Judah. It was a test of Jerimiah’s tribe of Levi.  The greatest test was Jerimiah’s test.

All faith and belief are the solitary. I do not live in the times of Jerimiah, but there are still threats to my peace. How am I to find peace in a world that seems to be upside down.  I must find peace based upon something more than a hope of someday. “Hey God, are you up there?”, flashes across my soul. Even though I may not see God’s omnipotent hand reaching down and changing the world around me, I must acknowledge God in my past.  I praise God for all the mercies shown to me.  He has protected me and mine millions of times.  These past mercies are great and warm thoughts.  God gently whispers in my ear, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” In that assurance comes a quietness, a settled peace in the middle of the turmoil

Bible Study, Devotions, Sermon Illustration

1+1=2

Mark 12:42,43 “A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

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Science is not a bad thing.  Being able to prove two plus two is a good understanding when you have to pay for something.  Yet when science tells me the cold clear water coming from a mountain stream which rushes down from the crest of a snowcapped mountain is equal to the tepid liquid coming out of my kitchen faucet, while true, is a little disappointing. In science, the granite gravel in my dad’s driveway is the same as the grand sheer face of Half Dome in Yosemite. There is no wonder in science.  There is no place for miracles. The mystery of the world hides behind the constant scientific explanation and presumption.  The very fabric of our seemingly poor, browbeat days are miracles.  Two small coins became a treasure; a miracle. Each miracle shines brightly, and sometimes we do not notice.

Devotions, Life, Ramblings

Crazy Talk

Matthew 6:25,26  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

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Crazy talk!  Jesus, what are you telling me about how I should live my life? “Do not worry about your life”, sounds like a command. I may not worry as much as others I may know, but there are times when an emotion that could well be characterized as worry does pop its head up in my life. But Jesus, does this mean that when my brakes on my old pickup start to grind and the pedal is as soft as an over-ripe peach, I should not worry about going down the interstate at 70 miles an hour in rush traffic?

Perchance, I think what he is really saying is “Don’t let worry become my response to circumstances out of my control.  I must rely moment by moment on his provision, promises and plan. First, I must realize God is the source of my peace, and second get my brakes fixed.

Devotions, Life, Personal

Miracle

Psalm 139:13-14 “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.”

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You did it God, you founded her.  You took two exceedingly small cells and smashed them together and she became more than the parts. She was knitted together from raw materials and you made her. Science would take this happenstance and say it was only biology and try to take all the wonder out of the miracle of life.  They would say the product of conception is nothing more than a chance of two cells finding each other. But just like God breathing into the nose of Adam in Genesis 2:7, She became a powerful work of God. I am assured, I fully know it was more than biology.  I know it was a miracle of God.

Happy Birthday, my daughter, you are a miracle!

Devotions

Time should heal

Psalm 103:11,12 ”For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

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A high school football coach in the mid-west who, after a loss, would keep the scoreboard lit for the rest of the week reminding the team as they practice of their failure. In football it might be a strategy for improvement, but not in life. If I have fallen short, it does little good to keep it on the scoreboard. A constant reminder of failure is not a good thing. It is difficult enough to get beyond disappointing others and yourself. When forgiveness is asked for and has been given, there is little use to bring it up again and again. Do not beat yourself up over it. Get up and get on with restoration. God’s word is full of admonitions to forgive each other and overlook faults, and that must start with self. With God forgiveness means our sin is out of sight and out of mind. May He give me the grace to extend and accept forgiveness.  Let us take down the scoreboard. I make a choice to be engaged with the present, instead of the past.

Devotions

I still believe in miracles!

Luke 1:35 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

I crave a miracle.  It haunts my soul when I see want.  I cry out to God for a miracle of the health of my loved ones.  I am sorrowful of the current state of the world, knowing the only answer is a miracle. I tell you, my fellow humans, my favorite miracle is God invading humanity in the form of Jesus. Yes, it is a miracle to have a place to live.  It is a miracle to place the stars in the sky.  It is a miracle that the men landed on the mood and took a wondrous picture of my world.  It is a miracle I got out of bed this morning.  It is a miracle to experience friends and life.  It is a miracle to have strength for another day.  But by far the best miracle is God with us. Miracles still happen!

Devotions

I will keep on keeping on

Psalm 9:1-4 “I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High. My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.”

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David wrote these words to be sung somberly and mournfully.  To the tune of “The Death of a Son.” It could have been written in response to the death of his first son by Bathsheba was dead and he had fallen into despair.  These words were sung in response to heavy grief.  Things were not going well.  Times were tough.  There was discord in his Kingdom.  It was not to be a light and airy piece about shouting from the roof tops the praise to God.  Life while comfortable, was full of disappointment and unrealized expectations. To borrow a line from a 60’s TV show, “Gloom, despair, excessive misery, if it were not for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” 2020 and 2021 have not been the best for us all.  Masks, shots, and social distancing seems to have taken the zest from life.

Yet today, I will not be overcome by the dirge of the world and simply “give thanks with all my heart, for all that God has done.  I will sing the praises of God.  I will keep on keeping on; always looking forward and not back. 

Devotions

Two paths

Hillside Thoughts

Matthew 7:13,14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

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The sermon is about over.  Jesus is concluding.  It is a place of determination.  We have a choice.  Each one of us on the grassy hillside listening and make application of the words of the Rabbi, must decide.  Jesus sums it all up with a choice between two gates.  A wide gate leading to destruction or a narrow gate that leads to life. And what strikes me the gate we choose is dependent upon the path we take in our present.  We are all walkers.  We are all on a journey toward a gate.  There are only two gates at the end of our paths. The difficulty of the path determines the number of people taking it. It is best to take the road less traveled by.  Only one of the two gates are worth the journey. God’s choice for us is to take the gate that is small. Narrow or wide is the ultimate choice.

Devotions

Please Sir

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

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Much like the Oliver Twist we state sheepishly to God, “please sir, I need some more.”  We come, we petition, we stand in line with the expectations of another scoop of gruel. The portion allotted to me must get better.  I look toward tomorrow in hope the scoop will be bigger. As I start my day with a cup of coffee in my cave like study, a portion is supplied, each with some pleasure, and some trouble.  Not always in the same proportion.  At issue on the side hill is along with the want of more, comes a specific want. “Tomorrow I want more of the good stuff and much less of the not so good.”

Today is also be supplied with the grace and mercy for today. Enough of God’s provision to overcome the not so good. And not enough to carry over for tomorrow. For today, it is enough, I don’t need some more.