Not everyone likes discipline but we all need it

Morning: Psalm 69:1-23; Genesis 24:1-27; Hebrews 12:3-11

Evening: Psalm 73; John 7:1-13

Disciples are those who live under discipline; they guide one another in living well. We do not always respond kindly to discipline. That requires humility and the willingness to accept correction. We may tend to avoid discipline. But the Letter to the Hebrews affirms: As a child needs discipline for a while from parents, so we all need discipline for the rest of our lives within an accepted sphere of accountability. A community that lives for Love is a good place to belong and to hold one another accountable. This is the kind of community Jesus encourages us to fashion.

The right way is not necessarily the most popular one

Morning: Psalms 70, 71; Genesis 23:1-20; Hebrews 11:32-12:2

Evening: Psalm 74; John 6:60-71

Many disciples turn away from Jesus - they don’t believe, or they fear the consequences of following him. The Letter to the Hebrews admits that Jesus’ Way is hard … but many, by following it, find life. Perhaps they suffer for their faith, but they keep on, believing in this good path. The right way in life is not necessarily the most popular one. The danger is that, instead of choosing a way that is vital and real, but risky, we choose nothing and safety. Ships are safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for … nor people.

Faith … life is unimaginable without God

Morning: Psalm 72; Genesis 22:1-18; Hebrews 11:23-31

Evening: Psalm 119:73-96; John 6:52-59

Often, people of faith, especially in crisis, wonder, “What would I do without faith?” God is central to their understanding of life. Other people who declare, “I am an atheist,” never wonder, “What would life be like if I believed in God?” Strange … believers imagine un-faith, but non-believers do not imagine a life of faith! How is it that atheists can say that believers are just imagining things, if they themselves have not imagined life with God? … Hmmm? Makes your head spin! Does this mean life is actually unimaginable without God? Many have found it so.

True bread … food for a life that will endure

Morning: Psalms 61, 62; Genesis 21:1-21; Hebrews 11:13-22

Evening: Psalm 68; John 6:41-51

There really is nothing like bread! Jesus says he is ‘living bread .. from heaven’. Of course, Jesus never intended this literally. So, what is the ‘living bread’ in him that he says we should eat? It must be life-giving. There is a feast of good things in Jesus - like Love, Grace, Gentleness, Justice, Peace, Compassion, and Wisdom. If you ‘eat’ this feast, enjoy it like bread, you will step into a quality of life that God intends for everyone, from now on. You may die, but this quality of life that you are living will endure.

Work for ‘food’ that lasts

Morning: Psalms 56, 57, 58; Genesis 19:1-29; Hebrews 11:1-12

Evening: Psalms 64, 65; John 6:27-40

What are you working for? If your work pays the grocery bills and also satisfies your soul, you are fortunate that you found both in one job. But some take a dreary job and make it satisfying too. I worked engine-assembly at General Motors, soul-destroying work, to get me through school. But Ronnie, the 50-something guy next to me on the line, took interest in people, and in me. I looked forward to my days with him. Perhaps that is part of what Jesus meant when he said, “Work for food that lasts.” Thinking of Ronnie still makes me smile.

Jesus: the path to freedom

Morning: Psalms 42, 43; I Samuel 2:1-10; John 8:31-36

Evening: Psalms 48, 87; I John 3:1-8

They presented the infant Jesus in the Temple as a sign that the old Temple system - buying forgiveness through animal sacrifices - was over. People so frequently hurt themselves, others and the creation that, under that system, they needed to keep returning with new sacrifices! Jesus - as Christians understand his work - sacrifices his life to show that God does not need to be appeased by repeated sacrifices. The Love of Jesus’s self-sacrifice is the true and lasting source of our freedom. And self-sacrificing love will from now on always mark the path to human freedom.

The hope of freedom for the creation

Morning: Psalm 55; Genesis 18:1-16; Hebrews 10:26-39
Evening: Psalms 113, 122; I Samuel 1:20-28a; Romans 8:14-21

My son thinks there’s a trend in youth culture towards ‘embracing the dark side’. Maybe this reflects a healthy human need to acknowledge the shadowy aspects of life? But you can get lost in the shadows. St. Paul believes we humans long to truly live and to be free instead of being stuck in a rut until we die. The hope of freedom for the creation is to find ourselves delivered from the shadows by realizing that we are children of a Love that is greater than the little ‘gods’ we may have unconsciously served until now.