Talitha, cumi

I've been reading through Mark recently, and for whatever reason the story where Jesus raises Jairus' daughter (Mark 5) has stood out to me each time through. Matthew Henry's commentary on a specific aspect of the miracle, Jesus' words to the girl, especially hit home:

It was customary with the Jews, when they gave physic to one that was sick, to say Arise from thy disease; meaning, We wish thou mayest arise: but to one that was dead, Christ said, Arise from the dead; meaning, I command that thou arise; nay there is more in it -- the dead have not power to arise, therefore power goes along with the word, to make it effectual...Christ works while he commands, and works by the command, and therefore may command what he pleaseth, even the dead to arise. Such is the gospel call to those that are by nature dead in tresspasses and sins, and can no more rise from that death by their own power, than this child could; and yet that word, Awake, and arise from the dead, is neither vain, nor in vain, when it follows immediately, Christ shall give thee light, Eph 5:14. 

What in your life is dead and has no hope of life outside of Christ? In that area are you fearing or believing? (Mark 5:36b) 

Seeds of Context

As I walked past this bowl of fruit this morning, I was reminded of a quick illustration regarding context, especially with regards to the Scriptures. The thought came from the Life Group curriculum that we're using at ROCKharbor and that was developed by Francis Chan, so the OTHER reason I was reminded of this thought is that I adapted it into the introduction for the Bible study Alicia and I are co-running this semester on Acts. But the bowl was the "reminder of the reminder" this morning, so I'll stick with that!

Chan writes, "When studying Scripture, think apple rather than orange." He explains:

Typically, when you eat an apple, you take a bite out of the whole fruit. When you eat an orange, you break it into isolated pieces and then eat the pieces individually. Whenever we read a verse, we should be mindful that we are taking a thought (a "bite") from a larger story. Always keep in mind that every verse is connected to a chapter, a book, and the entire Bible.

I know I may seem like a broken record here, but to use the potentially easiest example, Jeremiah 29:11 is an amazing and powerful verse. By itself, it's a pretty tasty morsel. Let's remember that it's part of the "apple" of Jeremiah (70 years of captivity, judgement, exile) though :).

God, reveal to me the larger story that your Word paints. Open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things from your Law (Psalm 119:18), because without your Spirit illuminating it I am prone to make mistakes. Thank you for the gift of your Word-may I and others handle it carefully and accurately. 

The Aroma of a Crushed Sacrifice

I've been thinking about trees a lot lately: to be specific, fig trees. The story of Jesus cursing the fig tree in Mark 11 really stood out to me when ROCKharbor went through their series on Mark and I've been occasionally returning to the story and the idea of fruitfulness for the past few weeks.

We have a fig tree in my backyard back at home, so I'm familiar with the taste, smell, look, and feel of figs. It was definitely a recurring Saturday-morning activity at the Ray household for Dad to rouse the troops (all five of us guys-Katie usually helped Mom inside) and set us to work on the various plants that needed trimming, etc. Of everything on that list, the fig tree was always one of my least favorite. Why? To put it simply, because it grew so much and bore so much fruit! The fruit literally coats the ground under the tree and the tree grows enough to constantly need trimming.

A week or so ago I was walking down the street to a friend's house when I stopped dead in my tracks. It was late, so it was dark, and I was either texting or checking something on my phone because I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings, but something wrested me from my relative inattention and turned my thoughts to the present. What stopped me dead in my tracks? The overpowering scent of figs.

As I looked around, I realized that not only was I standing under the largest fig tree I've ever seen aside from the one in my backyard, but that the ground was covered in ripe figs that this tree had dropped. The figs were EVERYWHERE. The grass, the sidewalk, everything was covered with figs, some crushed and others intact. I took a few moments to survey the scene, and as I did everything that I'd been dwelling on the past few weeks came flooding to the forefront of my mind.

What a beautiful picture of our relationship with Christ and the call we have as Branches connected to the Vine! The "problem" with both these two fig trees isn't that they aren't growing or aren't producing fruit, but exactly the opposite! They are producing TOO MUCH! They can't hang onto all the fruit they're making. Furthermore, there is NO mistaking just what exactly they are and what their purpose is!

God, may I glorify you by bearing much fruit and so prove to be your disciple (John 15:8). May my life be "a fragrant offering and sacrifice" to you (Eph. 5:2), having the same effect on others that this tree's crushed fruit had on me. May I have faith in you, God (Mark 11:22).

Lord I give You my life, I give You my all

There is a tension that runs through the narrative of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation: Obedience versus Sacrifice. It's the theme of first and second chances (and third, and fourth, and so on). Read any book in the Bible and the conflict between these two ideas jumps right out at you. It's inescapable.

Out of the two options, God has a preference for which one we give to him. When rebuking Saul's choice to disobey God and not wipe out the Amalekites but spare some of their herds and offer some as burnt offerings, Samuel asks this question: "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD?" (1 Samuel 15:18, NASB). Saul is confused. What did he do wrong? It's not as if he was keeping the flocks for himself-he spared the flocks for a burnt offering, after all! "I did obey the voice of the LORD" (v 19, emphasis mine) he responds. He destroyed the Amalekites to the man and the things that they kept were to be sacrifices to God. Where is the error in that? Samuel's response leaves little doubt as to what Saul's mistake was:

"Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams" (v 22).

Obedience is better than sacrifice. Disobedience, even for the sake of sacrifice, is not acceptable. One of the other numerous passages that deal with the tension between these two ideas is found in Jeremiah 7:22-23:

"For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey my voice, and i will be your God, and you will be my people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'"

Obedience predates sacrifice. The first recorded command in the Bible comes in Genesis 2:16-17, where God commands Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The first recorded sacrifice is found in the next chapter, Genesis 3:21- "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." God killed animals and made clothes from the skin for Adam and Eve. Because of Adam's sin, it is impossible for us to fully and completely obey, thus the necessity of sacrifice.

Sacrifice covers the shame that comes from disobedience. In the case of Adam and Eve, the first sacrifice literally covered their shame, their nakedness. In the same way, all future sacrifices served as a temporary covering for shame and sin.

Obedience and sacrifice were finally reconciled on the Cross. Just as Abraham's obedience involved the sacrifice of his son Isaac, Jesus' sacrifice was the ultimate obedience to the Father. Before his sacrifice, we had no hope of measuring up to the Law and obtaining salvation through obedience. Now, however, "[We] have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer [us] who live, but Christ lives in [us]; and the life which [we] live in the flesh [we] live by faith in the Son of god, who loved [us] and gave himself up for [us]" (Galatians 2:20).

We can still fall into the trap of trying to cover our shame and sin ourselves, via sacrifice. The good old Gospel of Works is never far away from our thoughts and attempts to please God. That's why Paul doesn't stop with verse 20 in Galatians 2, but continues: "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (v 21). By reverting to a works-based attempt to save ourselves via our own efforts and sacrifice, we invalidate Christ's sacrifice.

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship" (Romans 12:1). God wants our hearts and our obedience, and through the Cross He's enabled us to give it to him. What's holding you back?

Not Quite A Chiasmus, But Close

Today at the Men of The Beach Barbeque, Mike Hildebrand shared some of his insight and experience with the topic of finances. While I enjoyed everything he had to say on both the specifics of the difference between a 401k and a Roth IRA and more general Biblical principles for handling money, something he said about his attitude and experience fundraising for his upcoming position as head of staff with the Navigators at UCSB really grabbed me.

Mike was quickly explaining why he was rather dressed-up compared to the rest of us: he'd had a funding appointment that morning. Mike lives in Arizona at the moment so he's knocking a veritable flock of birds out of the air with this trip out to California. Like I said, this was just a tangent and not at all a main focus of his talk, a small eddie in the flow of the conversation up to this point. But Mike's comments about the reason he's so dedicated to fundraising just might have been the most impactful thing for me personally as I'm preparing to do EDGE.

Referring to the amount of money he raises, Mike said, "God isn't keeping track of what I get, but He IS keeping track of what they give." Hearing those words, my mind immediately went back to the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, a story that God's been teaching me a lot through recently. Both Lazarus and the Rich Man die, but Lazarus goes to heaven and the Rich Man goes to hell. The biggest lesson I'm learning to understand from this parable right now is something the pastor at Rock Harbor said several weeks ago when they covered this story.

It's true that the poor need the rich. The poor need everything the rich have-money, food, shelter, clothing, access to medical care, etc. It's all too easy to shove this truth to the corner of our minds and just not bother thinking about it, but it doesn't make it any less true. However, it's not the poor that are the only ones that need other people.

The rich need the poor just as much as the poor need the rich. In 1 Timothy 6:9 Paul writes, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." He goes on to call money a root of all kinds of sin and says later in verse 17:

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in god, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

I want to take hold of the life that is truly life AND to help others achieve that. God, in areas where I'm rich, help me to give away freely and generously. In areas that you've given me a responsibility to invite others into a relationship where they can do what you've commanded and give generously like fundraising for next year and EDGE, give me courage and humility to walk forward in Your confidence and grace.

Hope Fulfilled

Less than nine weeks and then I walk across a stage, shake a few hands, and many different things that I've been waiting for move from the "not yet" to the "now." Needless to say, I'm excited! :) This past year has taught me a TON about the nature of waiting and hoping. Psalm 39:7 has become sort of a theme verse for this year: "And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You."

However, days like today remind me that there's much more to learn about the nature of waiting and hoping than I could ever learn in a year. Easter Sunday marks the fulfillment of THOUSANDS of years of waiting and hoping by humankind stretching back all the way to Genesis 3 where God promises Eve a descendant that will crush the serpent underfoot. But even with those millennia to learn, most of the Israelites STILL missed the point.


God, help me to wait on, in, and for You alone and not to miss the point or pass by the fruits of my patience when they come my way.

Philippians 3:17, or Follow My Example

I've found myself reading most of Paul's letters and the book of Acts through my personal devotional time, at Navs, for Sons of Thunder, and the Bible study I'm leading. What's slowly but steadily emerging is an ever-clearer vision and understanding of Paul's heart. There are simply no words that can describe the depth of the desire I have to love Christ even just half as much as Paul did.

In Acts 21 Paul's friends and followers are pleading with him not to continue on to Jerusalem because they're almost certain he'll be arrested or worse. Luke records in verse 12: "When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem." Paul's response in verse 13 to their entreaties almost brings me to tears:

"Then Paul answered 'What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'"

What a heart for Christ! As I've been gaining this insight into Paul's heart and thoughts I've really begun to identify with Paul. More than any other character in the Old or New Testament, I feel a connection with Paul. This is NOT to say that I view myself as a master evangelist or anything. Paul just resonates with me.


Who do you identify with? I have three close friends whose answers would be Jacob, Peter, and David, and I sometimes enjoy viewing them in light of that revelation. What about you-who is it that you can point to and say "That's who I feel most like or closest to"?