King James Bible devotion

  TWO APOSTLES This weekend we celebrated the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, two men who were called by Christ to go out and bring the Good News to the world. Two very different men, called in different ways. Peter was once a disciple of John the Baptist who was directed by John to follow Jesus. Paul was against this man Jesus who was, in his mind, turning people away from God. Yet we have benefitted from the preaching and teaching of them both. Peter is the "Rock" upon whom Jesus built his church and Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, who might never have heard about Jesus as their Savior. They each had different stories of conversion - Paul's considerably more dramatic! They had different styles, different communities of believers, but they had one purpose - to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Jesus, the Messiah and Lord sent to save the world from death due to sin and to open the gates of heaven to all who would believe. Just before...

  TO LIVE IN CHRIST We know that we who have been baptized have been baptized into his death so that we might rise with him. The words may be a little different from those of Paul, but the message is the same, if we are willing to accept it. By accepting our baptism, we are choosing to live a life of faith, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus. It's a willingness to die to self, not easy. Of course, for Paul the dangers were more immediate, and for many Christians today, that hasn't changed. But some have said that it would be easier to die once for our faith than to have to die every day. I hope I never have to face that possibility, but having just written that, I think I do have to face that and we all do. We all will need to face death one day, whether or not it comes suddenly or after a lingering illness. We will have to face the reality of death. Will we be at peace, even joyous that we will be with our God? Or will we be fearful, our faith tested for a final time? This is ...

  I REMEMBER The exiles in Babylon were being forced to sing "Yahweh's" songs and they were really not happy! Every time they sang of Jerusalem, of God's goodness they were reminded of what they had lost. Music is an interesting force in our lives even if we're not aware of it. Think about when you were first in school, how did you learn the alphabet? I bet you sang the letters. Music can trigger memories either good or not. Why is it that couples have "their" song? And if the couple breaks up, that same song is painful to hear rather than joyous. For the Israelites their liturgical songs, their victory songs, all brought awareness of the fact that they were in exile because they had abandoned their God. This singer vows that he would rather lose his hands -that play the instrument - and his tongue - his ability to sing - than to give in to his captors. The hymns we sing in our churches are prayers. Just as the book of Psalms was and is the hymnal and pr...

  TURN TO ME Again we have a prophet spreading God's message of love, begging the people to admit their wrongdoing, and sincerely repent and turn back to him. When you read the old Testament, you start to wonder if they will ever learn. I wonder what historians one hundred years from now will say about us and our behavior. Will they read the New Testament and find remnants of Christian groups and compare their behavior with the Bible, and find us worthy of the name? I'm not so sure. Not only is there a lot of what I consider very un-Christian behavior by individuals but also by Christian groups towards one another. Perhaps we should reread Joel and the messages given by some of the other prophets and take these messages to heart. God wants us to turn to him. He wants us to take responsibility for our actions, and ask forgiveness so that he can forgive and renew us. God isn't looking for grandiose exhibitions of repentance, but a sincerity of heart. It's how much we are ...

  BY THEIR FRUITS We need to be on the lookout for those who would lead people away from God by pretending that they are leading them to God. We have seen this happen several times in very public and tragic ways, but it can happen in less public ways as well. The world was horrified when they learned of the mass murder/ suicide of over 900 people, one third of them minors in Guyana in 1978, and again of the destruction of the compound in Waco, Texas where over 70 people died. Both of these tragedies occurred because the leaders of the cult claimned to either bea god or be God's messenger or Messiah. There have been many other cults operating with less destructive results. Preying on loners or immigrants, the leaders promise security here and eternal life if only you follow them. They don't say that you are following God, but you are following them because they are the only ones who know the way! By their fruits you will know them. These people ask blind obedience, work to separ...

  WE CHOOSE THE WAY Jesus tells us that the golden rule sums up the law and the prophets. Jesus is also telling us that we shouldn't try to take the easy way out. From the time a two or three year old figures out that disobeying mom or dad brings punishment, he also figures out ways of trying to get away with it. The child will lie or hide or blame a sibling or the family pet! Unless this behavior is caught and the children learn that they can't get away with it, they will continue this pattern. It can be very tempting to take the easy way out. This is not what we are called to do. We are called to take the narrow path, doing the right thing. We all get upset when we hear about hit and run accidents, but it's hard to own up to something if you think you won't be caught, especially when it could be expensive We choOse the easy or the narrow path just about every day. Some decisions are easy, some are not. Do you waste time on the phone or on a computer searching websites...

  AND ABRAM WENT I'm not sure that I would have had the courage to do what Abram did. Where did he find the faith to listen to this voice of God and believe? Abram was not a nomad, he lived in a land that he knew. He had a family with responsibilities. But he went, and his nephew went with him and his wife and their animals and herdsmen. They didn't have a clue where they were headed, but believed. They trusted a God they hadn't yet come to know. We have had over 4000 years of Scripture to read and reflect upon, and we still have problems trusting that God knows the path we should be following. We stumble around as in the dark, when we have the light of the Gospel to guide us. Because of Abram's willingness to follow God, he is the Father in Faith for three of the major religions in today's world. God doesn't ask us to venture into the unknown as he did Abram, he has given us a way to follow by sending Jesus to go before us. By following him and living as he liv...

  Who Do You Say That I Am? This is one of my favorite Gospel Passages. It's a question that I have often used for meditation both for myself and for classes I have taught to both teens and adults. It's a question that I think we need to reflect upon often as we can lose sight of the importance of Jesus in our lives. And the answer can change. He might be friend, brother, Lord, Savior, shepherd, leader, companion - or just someone we have heard about. One teen answered the question by saying that Jesus was a nice man. Is that all he is? What about the Son of God - Divine? Does it make a difference in my life if I believe that Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who came to save mne from eternal death by his dying on a cross? Does it make a difference in how I live if I believe that this is not the end? This is a time for getting to know him better so that I can also live eternally in heaven with the Father. I know this because of the resurrection. Yes, Jesus ...

  They Didn't Listen Time and time again, prophets were sent to the leaders of Israel trying to bring them back to God, away from their idols, but they didn't listen. The time described above is not different and the result is not different. The leaders wanted the king to rule in their favor, they wanted power, and whatever else they could get. What they got, however, was the Syrian army that came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people that had gone against God and sent the spoils to Damascus. What did they gain by worshiping idols? What do we gain by ignoring the teachings of Jesus and making idols of money, power, fame, and even ourselves? People with too much money often live in fear that Someone will come and steal it. Notice that the fences and walls of the rich are usually higher than those of the poor. Fame is fleeting and those who have it spend a lot of time worrying about their safety. Power? There's always  Someone who wants to take th...

  Balance This is my favorite Proverb. It talks about two things that are so important to following God's will. Honesty is so necessary in life. The person who lies has two things going against him. The first is kind of obvious. Once you know a person lies or is dishonest in business, how can you trust him or her? Even when the person is telling the truth, you don't believe it. You wonder if you're being cheated in business dealings. But there's another problem for the person  himself. The dishonest person can't trust anyone els either because he or she figure everyone else lies or has an agend that is out to get him or her. Th second half of the prover concerns balance. How much doe any person need? I'm not askin how much a person might want but need. It's hard for the rich t realize their dependence on God This is why Jesus said it was easie for a camel to walk through th eye of the needle than a rich ma to enter the Kingdom of God. An the very poor can be...

NOTHING IS NEW Ecclesiastes is a fun book to read. About the only thing people recognize is in chapter three where we read about a season for everything - a time to live, a time to die, etc. - but we have much to learn from this book. I'm sure you have heard the phrase, "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This brief passage expresses the same idea. Just like the Israelites made the same mistakes over and over again, so do we. Yes, there are inventions today that we take for granted today that would never have entered into the imagination of peoples of earlier times, but they repeated the cycle of obeying God, enjoying prosperity, forgetting about God, doing their own thing, falling into the hands of the enemy, begging God for forgiveness, promising to do better, being forgiven by God and obeying - for a while, and so it went. How many times do we promise God that we will do better. we will treat people better, we will be more honest in our de...

  Don't be a show-off: Many people do good things. The question here is, why? One summer I worked in the office of a major university where I recorded the donations that came in on cards with the name of the donor on them. I came across many names of prominent people who were quite familiar to me, but there was a notation on the top of many of those cards that said "anonymous." Many of these people actually had two cards, one for the public and the other not.  The public one was for far less money. They wanted to support the college, but didn't want credit for their generosity. Obviously, people will be rewarded here for a generosity of spirit, they will be known for performing acts of heroism. We know the names of people who have worked to spread the gospel message and those who work tirelessly for justice. This does not take away from their sacrifice. But, there also are people who want to be known for their good acts and it is these that Jesus warns about. It is on...

  I HAVE HOPE We don't often think about reading the Book of Lamentations. This passage, however, is one that we can all relate to at one time or another. My son died fourteen years ago and his burial plot is a very old one that had been in the family for over 80 years. He is buried in the front row of the cemetery and I drive by it almost every day and often several times a day. It's easy for me to remember the misery, the wormwood and the gall. I miss him and always will, but I have hope as does the writer of Lamentations because of God's loving kindness, and my faith in the promises of Christ that we will be reunited with Christ in eternity. My pain is mine and yours is yours, but there is no escaping suffering in life; and for some, hope is lost. There are those who will turn away from God for a time or permanently because they can't get past the anger, the pain or the hopelessness. The writer or writers of Lamentations knew pain. They had witnessed the destruction ...