Choose life!

"Moses speaks to Israel"
by Paul Hardy

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Deuteronomy 30-31; Psalm 63

TO CHEW ON: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live." Deuteronomy 30:19


The book of Deuteronomy is a series of farewell talks that 120-year-old Moses gave to the Israelites just before they entered Canaan. Our reading today is the end of his third message, where he begs the people to choose God and by choosing Him, choose life.

Look at how he persuades, instructs, and pleads:

1. They can come home (Deuteronomy 30:1-5):
If they've wandered (as he says they will) God's call for them to return is mighty appealing. It's a call from captivity to freedom, from separation to togetherness. It's an invitation to come HOME!

2. God will change them at the deepest level (Deuteronomy 30:6):
How will God keep them from wandering away again? He will circumcise their hearts. We know how male circumcision was a physical sign of God's covenant with the Israelites. Here God promises to carve that same incision of covenant into their hearts. It's a mark that will, like physical circumcision, affect them spiritually at the deepest most private place (their hearts). And like physical circumcision is irreversible, so this heart circumcision will help them stay the course.

3. God is for them (Deuteronomy 30:7, 9):
When they choose God, the tables will be turned on their persecutors while God blesses them in quantifiable ways — more kids, more cows, more carrots!

4. The choice is clear (Deuteronomy 30:11-14):
This is no new, hidden, mysterious, distant or confusing matter. It's a choice they've faced before. It's near them, in them. What is it?
- A choice to love God (Deuteronomy 30:6).
- A choice to obey God (Deuteronomy 30:10).

5. The choice is important (Deuteronomy 30:15-20):
It's important because it's a choice between good and evil, life and death. "Choose life," Moses begs, "so that you and your children will live."

Imagine Moses preaching this sermon in my church or yours. It would be fitting, wouldn't it — his plea for backsliders to return with the assurance that God can permanently change hearts. His confronting us with the challenge to love and obey God in the context of all the things that clamor for our allegiance (worship?). His plea that we make the right decision because it will impact our eternal destiny.

I ask myself have I chosen life? Or have I, in my heart, wandered away, even set up some idolatrous outposts? What about you?

PRAYER: Father God, help me in today's every decision to understand what's at stake and to choose life. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 63

**************
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Seeking shepherd

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 34:1-15


TO CHEW ON: "For thus says the Lord God, 'Indeed, I Myself will search for My Sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they are scattered on a cloudy and dark day." Ezekiel 34:11-12


I think I have these verses underlined in all the Bibles that I use. It first came to my attention when I read it paraphrased  in the prayer for rebellious and prodigal children in Barbara Billett's book Praying With Fire:

"...I thank You Father in the name of Jesus that You will search for ___ (name of child) and seek him/her out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep. I think You Father in the Name of Jesus for seeking out ___ from where he/she has strayed and You are delivering him/her" - excerpt from "Prayer/Confession for a Rebellious Child," Praying With Fire, p. 62.

It reminds me of the story Jesus Himself told about looking for sheep:

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! - Luke 15:4-7 NLT.

How comforting to know that God Himself is concerned and goes after our prodigals.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the picture of You as the seeking shepherd. May I be your instrument of seeking and finding as I love and pray my own and others' prodigals back to You. Amen.


MORE: Prodigal stories

"The Power of Two Praying Sisters and a Faithful God"

Stories at Prodigal Child Ministries

***************
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Party time in heaven

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 15:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "'I say to you, likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'" Luke 15:7, 10


The occasion of someone's repentance may or may not be a reason for a party on earth. If you are celebrating the return of a long-prayed-for-prodigal, it surely would. But in many cases, an individual's moment of turning from a self-directed to God-directed life is a pretty low-key occasion. In some countries, people keep it a secret because the decision to accept Christ is dangerous to life.

But it is cause for celebration in heaven. The angels, aware of the hugeness of what has just happened, throw a party (or however they express their joy) over each individual who repents.

Imagine, such a simple decision on earth, yet it has the power to spark a heavenly celebration. It's cause for angelic joy, and right up there with what the shepherds witnessed at Jesus' birth (Luke 2:13,14), and what John saw in visions of the exaltation of Christ (Revelation 5:9-10), the gathering home of the saints (Revelation 14:1-3), and the triumph of God as King (Revelation 19:6).

It makes me want to pause and reevaluate my priorities. It causes me to ask myself, do I value the things that heaven values? Am I spending time and effort on what will bring joy there?

PRAYER: Dear God, please make me aware of heaven's value system. I want my life to contribute to heaven's joy. Amen.

MORE: Roses on the stage

"There are fifteen roses in the vase this week," said the officiating pastor at the church we were visiting. I was puzzled when his statement sparked a round of applause. Then he explained. Each rose signified that someone had come to Christ through the witness and outreach of that congregation during the preceding week.

What ways have you heard of to celebrate people coming to faith in Christ?

***********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Our terrible freedom

Departure of the Prodigal Son - A. Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 15:11-32

TO CHEW ON: " 'Father, give me…' The younger son journeyed to a far country … 'I will arise and go to my father…' But he was angry and would not go in…" Luke 15:12,13,18, 28.


In her book Prodigals and Those Who Love Them, Ruth Bell Graham relates the following:

"Dad, I'm not at all sure I can follow you any longer in your simple Christian faith," stated the clergyman's son when he returned from the university for the holidays with a fledgling scholar's assured arrogance.

The father's black eyes skewered his young son, who was "lost," as C.S. Lewis put it, "in the invincible ignorance of his intellect."

"Son, the father said, "that is your freedom. Your terrible freedom."

- Told at our supper table by a friend - p. xvii

Our reading today, Jesus' Prodigal Son story, is full of evidences of "terrible freedom" by the many choices made in it:

• The younger son chose to ask for his inheritance early.
• The father chose to give it (to both sons - Luke 15:12).
• The younger son chose to leave home, spend his inheritance on pleasure, then get a job in a piggery.
• From there he chose to come home.
• When he came home, he chose to come with a humble, "I was wrong," attitude.
• The father chose to keep an open heart toward his son.
• He chose to meet him with open arms and throw a party to celebrate his return.
• The older brother chose to stay home.
• He chose to be dutiful and helpful.
• He chose to be bitter about his father's happiness and the party Dad was throwing on his younger brother's return.
• He chose not to attend the party.

And that's where we leave him—still outside the party…another prodigal, really, in his own home.

No matter what our personality or what our life circumstances, we have choices. Choices about what our relationship with the Father will be, how we'll handle our resources, and what sort of attitude we'll have toward others. Let's let this story be a call to examine the multitude of our everyday choices and consider where they may be taking us.


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to make wise choices at each fork in the road, so I don't end up in a place I had never planned to be. Amen.



 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A lost sheep story

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 34:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "For thus says the Lord God: 'Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.'" Ezekiel 34:11-12


Trish told her story from the baptismal tank. After getting involved in drugs, she and her husband had accepted Jesus. They got clean and began attending a church, grew a family, had a house and a business. Then one day they started using again. Soon they were separated, the kids in the care of Social Services, the house gone, business gone. That's the state Trish found herself in one evening in August 2009 when she was wandering the streets of Abbotsford. She had even lost her shoes.

Through a video, James told his part of the story. He had just finished drumming a music set as part of a Christian band and stepped outside for a few minutes before going back into the service. On a short walk he met Trish. He talked to her and, noticing she had no shoes, gave her the extra pair he carried in the trunk of his car. "I prayed for her, wished her well and thought I'd never see her again," he said.

Trish's life continued to go downhill. She got into detox but lasted only a few days. Finally, later in fall, she decided to try detox again. After phoning fifty places, she found two with openings. One was in Surrey. Hope House was in Langley. She opted for the Surrey one, but when the friend who drove her there saw people shooting up right outside but premises, she said, "I'm not leaving you here," and drove her to Hope House.

The first few days were the hardest Trish had ever gone through. She battled constant feelings of wanting to give up and leave. How could she ever tough this out for the time it would take? "Give me a sign," she prayed.

Hope House takes a busload of people to our church for Sunday night Recovery  Church. When she got there she couldn't believe her eyes because there on stage, drumming for the worship band, was James, the guy who had given her his shoes and prayed for her a few months earlier.

That was sign enough for her. She stuck with the program and got baptized in May 2010.

I love stories like this, that remind us of God's creativity in seeking out scattered sheep. Do you have such in your family or among your acquaintances -- prodigals, backsliders, those who have till now resisted His call altogether? Claim his promise for them today: "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick." Ezekiel 34:16a

PRAYER: Dear God, I pray for the scattered sheep in my life (by name______). Please seek them out and deliver them from all the places they are scattered. Amen.

*******
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Choose life!

"Moses speaks to Israel"
by Paul Hardy

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Deuteronomy 30:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live." Deuteronomy 30:19

The book of Deuteronomy is a series of farewell talks that  Moses gave to the Israelites just before they entered Canaan. Our reading today is the end of his third message where he begs the people, who will inevitably wander away from God,  to return to Him and choose life.

Look at how he persuades, instructs, and pleads:

1. They can come home (Deuteronomy 30:1-5):
They will wander. But God's call for them to return is mighty appealing. It's a call from captivity to freedom, from separation to togetherness. It's an invitation to come HOME!

2. God will change them at the deepest level (Deuteronomy 30:6):
How will God keep them from wandering away again? He will circumcise their hearts. We know how male circumcision was a physical sign of God's covenant with the Israelites. Here God promises to carve that same incision of covenant into their hearts. It's a mark that will, like physical circumcision, affect them spiritually at the deepest most private place. And like physical circumcision is irreversible, so this heart circumcision will help them stay the course.

3. God is for them (Deuteronomy 30:7, 9):
When they choose God, the tables will be turned on their persecutors while God blesses them in quantifiable ways—more kids, more cows, more crops!

4. The choice is clear (Deuteronomy:11-14):
This is no new, hidden, mysterious, distant or confusing matter. It's a choice they've faced before. It's near them, in them. What is it?
- A choice to love God (vs. 6).
- A choice to obey God (vs. 10).

5. The choice is important (Deuteronomy 30:15-20):
It's important because it's a choice between good and evil, life and death. "Choose life," Moses begs, "so that you and your children will live."

Imagine Moses preaching this sermon in my church or yours. It would be fitting, wouldn't it — his plea for backsliders to return with the assurance that God can permanently change hearts. His confronting us with the challenge to love and obey God in the context of all the things that clamour for our allegiance. His plea that we make the right decision because it will impact our eternal destiny.

I ask myself have I chosen life? Or have I, in my heart, wandered away, even set up some idolatrous outposts? What about you?

PRAYER: Father God, help me in today's every decision to understand what's at stake and to choose life. Amen.

MORE: The Prodigal Son

Moses' plea for wanderers to come home reminds me of the story of the prodigal son, told with true storytelling skill in this YouTube video: "Jesus of Nazareth: The Prodigal Son."

***********

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

The stay-at-home prodigal

 Prodigal's Brother" - woodcut by
 Johann Christoph Weigel - 1694
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 15:11-32

TO CHEW ON: “’But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.’” Luke 15:30-31

I love this story for its hopefulness about prodigals – both those who leave and those who stay home. Trouble is, I find myself identifying with one of them. Maybe it’s because I too am an oldest child and tend to be duty-driven that I empathize with that older brother.

He was all work and responsibility with, no doubt, a pinch of self-pity and a dash of self-righteousness. He probably resented the fact that he was left at home to work for Dad but may have congratulated himself on his work ethic and moral lifestyle. Perhaps he even dreamed of the day his brother would return and get a tongue-lashing from Dad.

Of course Dad would hold him up as the example to follow. Thus on the day older brother returned from work to find the house alight and vibrating with celebration over the return of the scoundrel, his unmet expectations boiled over in stubborn standoffishness, and then, when Dad begged him to join the party, a heated exchange.

Their little conversation illustrates some things about stay-at-home prodigals, who can be just as distant in their relationship with God as their runaway counterparts.

1. Even though he lived with his father, the older son didn’t really know him. Surely he had seen his dad go out every day to scan the horizon for a sign of the kid returning. Yet that action never registered as yearning father-love, and big bro was surprised by his father’s delight at the prodigal’s return.

2. He didn’t communicate with his father. When he objected to Dad’s lavish celebration with “…you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends,” father replied, “Son, you are always with me.” I read that as, ‘Why didn’t you ask? I was here all the time.’

3. He didn’t know what was at his disposal. He could have had that young goat and much more. “All that I have is yours,” his dad told him.

If we find traces of ourselves in the stay-at-home prodigal, we can change the situation by working on his three areas of lack.

• We can get to know God. We see God the Father at work in the Old Testament. Jesus, His Son, lives out God’s father-heart of love in the New. We can get to know Him and His love for us and for everyone, deserving or irresponsible, as we read the Bible.

• We can communicate with Him – in prayer. “You do not have because you do not ask,” James says (James 4:2).

• We can get familiar with our inheritance and begin enjoying all the wonderful things at our disposal as children of God right now.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Thank You for telling this inclusive story. We are all prodigals. Thank You for welcoming us back. Amen.

MORE: Know your inheritance:

The older brother may have saved himself a lot of grief if he had realized his father's generosity with his inheritance even while he (Dad) was still alive. We too have a grand inheritance now:

• We have insight into God’s kingdom - Matthew 13:11
• We have the record of Old and New Testament witnesses to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s plan - Luke 10:23
• Through Jesus we can be right with God and happily exist “in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory”  - Romans 5:2 (latter quote from )Message.
• We have the Holy Spirit who interprets the things of God to us (“dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along” -  1 Corinthians 2:10 (latter quote from Message).
• Out bodies are actually Christ's home - Colossians 1:26-27
• We are anointed by God - 1 John 2:20
•  We still live in a time of opportunity. Even if we've strayed, it’s still possible to return and spend the rest of our days doing things that count in God’s kingdom- Revelation 3:3

Stay-at-home prodigal

"Prodigal's Brother" Woodcut
by Johann Christoph Weigel 1695  
 TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 15:11-32

TO CHEW ON: “’But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.’” Luke 15:30-31

I love this story for its hopefulness about prodigals – both those who leave and those who stay home. Trouble is, I find myself identifying with one of them. Maybe it’s because I too am an oldest child and tend to be duty-driven that I empathize with that older brother.

He was all work and responsibility with, no doubt, a pinch of self-pity and a dash of self-righteousness. He probably resented the fact that he was left at home to work for Dad but may have congratulated himself on his work ethic and moral lifestyle. Perhaps he even dreamed of the day his brother would return and get a tongue-lashing from Dad. Of course Dad would hold him up as the example to follow. Thus on the day older brother returned from work to find the house alight and vibrating with celebration over the return of the scoundrel, his unmet expectations boiled over in stubborn standoffishness, and then, when Dad begged him to join the party, a heated exchange.

Their little conversation illustrates some things about stay-at-home prodigals, who can be just as distant in their relationship with God as their runaway counterparts.

1. Even though he lived with his father, the older son didn’t really know him. Surely he had seen his dad go out every day to scan the horizon for a sign of the kid returning. Yet that action never registered as yearning father-love, and big bro was surprised by his father’s delight at the prodigal’s return.

2. He didn’t communicate with his father. When he objected to Dad’s lavish celebration with “…you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends,” father replied, “Son, you are always with me.” I read that as, ‘Why didn’t you ask? I was here all the time.’

3. He didn’t know what was at his disposal. He could have had that young goat and much more. “All that I have is yours,” his dad told him.

If we find traces of ourselves in the stay-at-home prodigal, we can change the situation by working on his three areas of lack.

• We can get to know God. We see God the Father at work in the Old Testament. Jesus, His Son, lives out God’s father-heart of love in the New. We can get to know Him and His love for us and for everyone, deserving or irresponsible, as we read the Bible.

• We can communicate with Him – in prayer. “You do not have because you do not ask,” James says.

• We can get familiar with our inheritance and begin enjoying all the wonderful things at our disposal as children of God right now.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Thank You for telling this inclusive story. We are all prodigals. Thank You for welcoming us back. Amen.

MORE: Know your inheritance:
The older brother may have saved himself a lot of grief if he had realized his father's generosity with his inheritance even while he (Dad) was still alive. We too have a grand inheritance now:

• We have insight into God’s kingdom. 
• We have the record of Old and New Testament witnesses to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s plan.
• Through Jesus we can be right with God and happily exist “in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory” - Message.
• We have the Holy Spirit who interprets the things of God to us (“dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along” - Message).
• Out bodies are actually Christ's home.
• We are anointed by God. 
• We still live in a time of opportunity. Even if we've strayed, it’s still possible to return and spend the rest of our days doing things that count in God’s kingdom.