The good treasure and abundance of the heart speak

Morning: Psalm 106:1-18; Hosea 14:1-9; Acts 22:30-23:11

Evening: Psalm 106:19-48; Luke 6:39-49

Deciding to do good is pointless when your heart is not ready. Saying to yourself, “I have to do better” is your head telling you something that will only happen if you want it. Champions shine because, beyond ability or genius, they have heart. For this reason, Jesus teaches his followers that the good treasure and abundance of the heart will lead them to good actions. If your heart is not in something, nothing will come of it. So, first things first! ... Goodness is not a duty; it flows naturally from a treasure-filled heart.

 

Speaking the truth costs less than hiding from it

Morning: Psalm 118; Hosea 13:4-14; I Corinthians 2:6-16

Evening: Psalm 145; Matthew 14:1-12

Truth is scary. Herod hid from it. Speaking the truth about Herod cost John his life. When you hide from, or hide the truth, it hurts you and those around you. Clearly, telling truth is painful. Still, Jesus says the truth makes you free. We hide from things we are ashamed of, and shame is a dark prison. It is freeing to admit - even to ourselves - the things of which we are ashamed. Prison is costly and offers no reward. Freedom is costly, but is its own reward, especially when you pay to gain freedom for someone else.

 

 

St. Francis of Assisi ... the transformed heart

Morning: Psalms 107:33-43, 108; Hosea 11:1-9; Acts 22:17-29

Evening: Psalm 33; Luke 6:27-38

Francis of Assisi (whose day it is today) lives the extravagant lifestyle of a wealthy silk merchant’s son. Later, Francis realizes that the extravagant generosity of God requires him to give it all up and to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Jesus embodies God’s extravagant love and mercy. This is what attracts Francis. Imagine a society in which everyone took seriously Jesus’s call to generosity, love and forgiveness? Jesus does not call us to fulfil a checklist of morally good actions. He wants transformed hearts and attitudes, shaped by devotion to his Way. Goodness flows naturally from transformed hearts.

 

A new nation for a new creation

Morning: Psalm 102; Hosea 10:1-15; Acts 21:37-22:16

Evening: Psalm 107:1-32; Luke 6:12-26

Jesus calls 12 disciples, remembering the 12 tribes of Israel. The significance of this is lost on no-one in that crowd ... A new nation is taking shape, quite unlike the old one. Here, the usual order of things is reversed or overturned. The poor, the hungry, those who weep or suffer persecution find blessing. The rich, the well-fed, those who enjoy happiness in the midst of our present crisis, and those of good reputation experience woe. Jesus turns the old habits of society upside-down, makes things right, ushers in a new creation.

 

What ‘makes sense’ may just be a mistaken opinion

Morning: Psalm 105:1-22; Hosea 5:8-6:6; Acts 21:27-36

Evening: Psalm 105:23-45; Luke 6:1-11

While walking along a country road, I saw a small rock, bearing a freshly painted slogan: “Follow the rules if they make sense.” But what makes something ‘make sense’? Jesus ostensibly ‘broke the rules’ by healing on the sabbath. But he responded to his critics: it is how we interpret the laws that sometimes does not make sense. Jesus affirmed the law. However, he said the sabbath rest should not be slavishly applied to prohibit healing. Sometimes “the law is an ass” but, more often, the donkey is the one who twists the rules to serve his own ends.

 

Jesus defies your expectations

Morning: Psalms 101, 109; Hosea 4:11-19; Acts 21:15-26

Evening: Psalm 119:121-144; Luke 5:27-39

Jesus defies your expectations ... like the mistaken idea that he only associates with ‘good people’. For him, all are good. Yet, none are perfectly good; all need refinement. Jesus is ever new, always bursting containers where you try to confine him. The way you think about Jesus is probably too narrow. He will usually defy your expectations and give you a more complete perspective, if you are ready for it. Like a moving target, when you think you have him in your sights, Jesus moves on unexpectedly to touch the life of another imperfect person, someone like you.

 

Touched by the better angels of our nature

Morning: Psalm 8, 148; Job 38:1-7; Hebrews 1:1-14

Evening: Psalm 104; 2 Kings 6:8-17; Revelation 5:1-14

Today is Michaelmas, the Church’s day to celebrate angels, whom tradition believes are spiritual messengers, or mystic spiritual forces, which act mostly for our good. Yet, one of the 7 archangels (along with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and the rest) is Lucifer, or Venus, the morning star who got too full of himself and was cast down to the depths (Isaiah 14). When Abraham Lincoln hoped, at his inauguration, that Americans might be “touched by the better angels of (their) nature,” he implied our common spiritual battle. May Lincoln’s hope for America be our prayer for ourselves, and our real experience.