What matters...

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to record any reflections or comments you may have, for the entries here serve best as the first remarks in a conversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Saturday, June 5, 2010
Devotions: Ps 55, 138, 139:1-17; Eccles 5:8-20; Gal 3:23-4:11; Mt 15:1-20

Lord, hear and answer my prayers! I am deeply troubled, oppressed by the wicked; they bring trouble on me and cherish enmity against me. I would fly away, if I had wings and somewhere to go. But I must shelter in place, Lord, so destroy their plans and interrupt their communications, for I see violence and strife in the city. Oppression and fraud do not depart from its market place. It is not strangers, but former friends who oppress me. I leave them to Your judgment, Lord. I know You will help and deliver me in safety. I cast this burden on YHWH, and He will sustain me. I will trust in You, my God. I bow to You; great is the glory of the Lord! Though high, You regard the lowly. And though low and walking amid trouble, I know You are sustaining my life. I affirm that YHWH will fulfill His purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever; please do not forsake the work of Your hands and heart! For You know me inside and out; You know my every thought, and such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I am hemmed in, truly, by Your Spirit, not by the wicked! You put me together in my mother’s womb, and I am Your workmanship. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance, and all my days are written in Your book. Glory to You, my Lord and my God.

Don’t be amazed or confused when the poor are oppressed and justice and right are violently confiscated. The power structure is corrupt and selfish. Yet, all in all, a godly leader is an advantage to any community. Those who love money are never satisfied, and such greed, though cruel, is also vain. When goods increase, so do the mouths to eat them; their custodian has to keep his eyes on swivels to protect what he has. The worker sleeps well, whether he has much or little to eat; but the rich, though flush with goods, cannot get peaceful rest. This is a grievous evil: people struggling greedily to keep what they cannot hold; worldly riches pass away, leaving one empty-handed. We leave the world with no goods, just as we arrived at birth. All our labors here for worldly gain are dust and wind; we waste our lives in darkness and grief, vexation, illness and resentment. What is best in this mortal world is simply to eat and drink and find enjoyment in the work before us; this is the hand God has dealt us. Wealth and power are also in God’s hands, and He bestows them; if fortunate, the rich and powerful also receive the power to enjoy and accept their lot in life and find enjoyment in their tasks. We will not much remember the days of our lives if God keeps us occupied with joy in our hearts.

The law was a custodian or caretaker for us until salvation by faith was made available when the Messiah came, so that we might be justified by faith in Him. Now He has come, and we are no longer under our caretaker, the law. For in the Messiah Jesus, we are all God’s children, through faith. As many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Thereafter, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female—for we are all one in the Messiah Jesus. If you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s offspring, and heirs according to God’s promise. Consider: an heir, while an infant or child, is no better than a slave, for the child is under the authority of appointed guardians and trustees until a date established by the father. When we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the cosmos. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem all who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as God’s children and heir. Because you are God’s children, He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’ So through God you are no longer a slave but a legitimate child, and therefore an heir!

Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, ‘Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat.’ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother that what they might have gained from their child has instead been devoted to God, then he need not provide honor or substance to his parents.’ For the sake of your tradition, you have voided God’s word. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Then Jesus called the people to Himself and told them, ‘Hear and understand: what defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; what comes out of the mouth defiles the person.’ The disciples came to Jesus and told Him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard You say this?’ Jesus answered, ‘Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads another blind man, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ And Jesus said, ‘Are you also without understanding? Don’t you see: whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and so passes through and is evacuated. But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles a person. From the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. And these are what defile a person, not eating with unwashed hands.’