Getting Goodness

It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
(Matthew 5:31-32)

We're pretty good at wrongly defining goodness.  We look for ways to get around what is best, what is most honoring to God and others, and try to find a rule that we haven't broken in order to make the things that we do appear to be good.  But that's not how goodness works.  Goodness looks toward improvement.  Goodness looks toward blessing.  Goodness doesn't ask what it can get away with but instead what would be most gracious toward all.  Goodness doesn't take what is a huge thing of great disruptive consequence and make it small because it can do so given some loophole in the law.

Jesus took a look at the marriage situation of His day and saw how people didn't look at this union in at all the right way.  Men loved that they had an out through something Moses had written long ago--something he had written which, Jesus tells us elsewhere, was put down because people's hearts were hard...not because he was rewarding them for understanding God's intentions for husbands and wives.  God in His kindness has always taken care of the woman.  Yes, He has held her responsible for her actions just like He has done with every man, but because there have been men who have always wanted to abuse their strength or authority, He has put protections (like certificates of divorce) in place so that abusers could not continue to merely kick wives that they didn't like out to the curb.  To be fair, these things may have at times protected men also when their wives were found unfaithful, but it seems that Jesus in this case is more upset with the men of his culture who were wrongly understanding Moses' (and God's) intentions.

What Jesus wanted to make clear was that a guy who gave his wife a piece of paper (just because he could) that said something to the effect of, "You can marry somebody else," the slate wasn't clean.  If sexual immorality wasn't part of the equation, the divorced woman was put in the awkward and terrible place of seeking another man to provide for her while, in God's eyes, she still belonged to her first husband.  Any subsequent marriages would be seen as adulterous.

This is such a messy subject in our culture (even church culture) today and everyone has their own story of why their situation ought to be the exception.  And, the reality is, we ALL need buckets of grace to dump on one another no matter who we are or what we've done.  But one of the points that we don't want to miss in looking at passages like this one is that we shouldn't make small things that God says are large and of profound consequence--things like divorce.  If God Himself is our motivation for why we joyfully persevere through life and jobs and child-rearing and marriage, then we will not look to make our own standards of goodness and look for loopholes that help us gratify twisted desires.  We'll instead yearn that His love fill our hearts and our way match the way of Jesus.  We'll take His words and build the structures of our lives on them, setting down anchors deep. 

The Sinking Corner Post

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.  (Matthew 5:27-30)


You know that house that Jesus says we're all building...that one that is either being built on the storm-ready rock or on the shifting sand?  Well, imagine a house that just has one corner set into that mud or sand and the rest on the rock.  What will that mean for the house?  At first, it might be OK.  The strong foundation under most of the house might make the less stable corner pretty inconspicuous.  But then what happens when a big gully-washer comes?  That corner post starts to sink or lean and the strain put upon the rest of the house causes other things to bow or crack.  Or maybe there's not even a big storm that comes through, but you notice that over time that corner ends up receiving the responsibility of a piano placed in it--piano's are heavy but they're not a big deal if everything is solid underneath.  Well, over time, that corner begins to sink, the roof starts to pop, and eventually a supporting beam of the house splits.


What happened?  There was a corner in the wrong place, "doing" the wrong thing, slowly taking the whole house down with it.  What needed to be done?  That corner needed to literally be removed--that's right; no more square house.  Now that process would not be an easy or convenient one.  It would mean setting braces on that rock foundation to hold up the walls attached to that corner.  And it would mean building a new wall with two new corners set on solid ground.  It's going to look funny at first, but over time, as the builder establishes that house in other ways and maybe even constructs an addition on the other side of the home--a side where there's plenty of rock to build out onto--some will begin to look at it and say that it's a work of art and that it's the kind of home they would like to visit and model some of their own construction after.  The owner might take them through and show them the old cracks and strains...the "scars" in the home from when the house had that bad corner so that others could learn from that mistake and see the wisdom in cutting that corner away, challenging as it was at the time to remove it.


Jesus told his listeners that it was better to perform an amputation on one's life than that to let what was damaging set the entire course for one's eternity.  With Jesus, it was always all or nothing.  He pointed to the Word of God, and as He lived it out and filled it in, said, "Going all in with Me is worth the loss of life and limb."  Be careful here...remember that lust or greed or anger are all matters of the heart and don't have to lead to their physical actions of fulfillment like adultery or theft or murder.  The heart is enough to cause that sinking corner that destroys the life.  Wrap the arms of your heart around Jesus.  Set your feet upon His.  Cut away anything that keeps you from doing so.  May He be behind every motivation of your heart today.

Commandment Number 6

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.   (Matthew 5:21-26)

"Commandment number 6 of 10?  Oh, I'm good there.  Finally something easy from Jesus; I don't plan on murdering anyone anytime soon."  I wonder if people of Jesus' day had those similar thoughts because I know they're present day ones.  We all like to know of those areas where we're doing OK on the righteous-ometer.  But then about every time we start to get comfy, Christ takes things and pushes them into us a little further.  He drives what was out in front of us on an ink-stained page right on in to our hearts, telling us that things like anger and insults are murderous as well.  Jesus did this because we needed it done to us.  He didn't come so that we could find out that we were obeying a law or two; He came so that we could have rich and full life in Him which meant pulling out the gunk inside.

Just a moment or two of really thinking about it brings us to that place of listening more intently with the realization that, yes, being stirred up in our hearts with bitterness toward others is poisonous in nature.  It's poison for our own soul and literally hellish in the end.  But then we would have to agree that it's highly impractical as well because holding onto it with some proud and puffed up spirit on the way into a court room may end up being our ticket into a place like prison!  Sometimes Jesus did this with His message; He took the outward consequence of an inward issue to show just how much we needed heart surgery.  The reasoning in this case goes like this: You might go to prison for ever...because you wouldn't humbly make things right with your fellow man...because you have a murderous heart.

But then in the middle of this whole deal Jesus says something to Christians today, ones that might be just like you and I.  He tells us we're not hunky-dory with Him if we're not clean with others.  We can't go about our churchy activities at the "alter" when things are a mess with our neighbor.  Even if there are things hanging there that we don't feel we've done wrong or that we're holding onto stuff against them, He tells us that it's so important we have clean relationships with others that we should approach someone who we sense has something against us--things are to be just that fresh and clear.

So there it is again.  Jesus gives us words for the rock-like foundation we're to build our homes/lives on.  The one who seeks to have God and His way as the motivation for all things in life needs the heart change He calls for and offers through the One preaching this mountain-top sermon.

Just Add Water

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:17-20)

I'm not one to do a lot of cooking.  If it's going to happen, it will probably take place during breakfast since the preparation for that meal tends to take the least time and the fewest brains...or maybe I just do breakfast so that it plays out that way.  Take pancakes for example.  I know you can make them from scratch, but I'm more of a "just add water" kind of a guy.  That's pretty cool.  Somehow everything that pancakes are supposed to have in them (maybe eggs, flour, oil, milk...vitamin B12?) is already in that dry whitish stuff.  The needful materials are there and you wouldn't want to pull any of them out because it was put together to have the water added.  Without it, you're not going to have pancakes.

It's always a little awkward to transition from breakfast foods to the Savior and King of the world but here goes.  Jesus tells us that the law and prophets--all the Old Testament parts of the Bible--are fulfilled or wrapped up in Him.  It's as if everything that was put down on paper was made for Him to step in and give it substance and meaning.  He made it clear that trying to get rid of or pull out any little bit of it was strictly prohibited because in the end it shows us who He is, why He's essential, and just how far we were from being able to do exactly what had to be accomplished for us to have any hope at all.

Now granted, we need to be careful as we think through what exactly Jesus means when He says we're not to relax one iota or dot from the law.  Are we supposed to impose the dietary rules again?  Should we start killing animals at the alter once more?  No, that's what the Pharisees did (and way more!), and Jesus says we've got to be better than them.  What we have to do is to see Jesus in the iota's and the dots, filling them out in the way that water does to pancake mix.  Pulling Jesus (or the water) out of things isn't the way to obey the laws.  Jesus came to be a game-changer, giving meaning and substance, and making perfectly useful the perfect instructions that were written--instructions that were not going to give us what we needed UNTIL He came and gave it the shape and the finalization that was necessary.

Really, this passage makes one of the biggest cases we have for the necessary imputation of Christ's righteousness (I know, now I've gone from pancakes to imputation...bear with me).  Jesus says that we've got to be better than the really, really, tediously "good" Pharisees who had down exceedingly well the fine points of the law stuff.  See, what Jesus is saying here and makes even clearer elsewhere is that if we don't have Him (and His perfection) in us, we don't have what we need.  If God doesn't look at us and see righteous Jesus, we're toast, because what the religious people of the day spent gobs of energy on wasn't enough.  If you don't know Jesus (or have been ignoring His awesomeness lately), just call out in faith, lay down your self-strengthened striving, and watch Him fill out your life and change you like water in pancake mix.

Yes, these are among the mighty words that Jesus says we're wise to build the "houses" of our lives upon.  Make Him your motivation for life today and watch how He gives new meaning and zest to the mix.

Upside Down Batteries

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  (Matthew 5:13-16)

Imagine sitting down to one of those great meat and potato meals--no frills, just wholesome hearty goodness all over your plate.  But as substantial and nourishing as one of those dinners is, it's also one of the first kinds that you're going to smile at (what...so I smile at my meals...sue me!) and reach for the salt to add that flavor that really puts the food right where it needs to be for the overall taste that it's otherwise lacking.  You start sprinkling it on and out comes...sand.  Sad day.  Oh, sad day.  No more smiles.  The salt shaker gave every indication that it was ready to deliver as you picked it up, but no such luck.

Or how about this?  You're on a camping trip trying to navigate your way at night down the trail between the outhouse and your site.  You ask your companion for the flashlight he brought as you lead the way, but upon receiving it, when you try to turn it on, it gives you nothing.  Puzzled, you look to your friend who says, "Oh, it works, I just put the batteries in upside down to save the juice."  Brilliant.  (Then, if it's a mag-light at least, you know where to swing that puppy.)

Unsalty salt and hidden light...that's what Jesus speaks out against as He continues talking to those who have followed Him up the mountain.  He wanted to let them know that it's no good having something wonderfully helpful that you basically treat as worthless.  Nobody benefits because nothing good is spread--this is the tragedy that our lives become if we have the truth of the saving gospel and don't share it or act out from it as it "salts" and lights up our own lives.  If Jesus is our everything, if He is the salt in our shakers, the Energizer batteries charging our lights, and the wind in our sails as we head through our day, that's simply going to change things.  People are going to notice, and when they do, Jesus says that this is such a spectacular thing because more glory ends up being given to the Father.  Loving self-sacrifice becomes our way, the sweet and ripe fruit of the Spirit starts getting enjoyed by those around us as it oozes out of our lives.  Salt and light is spread.

Again, these are among the words that Jesus says, if we keep them, will make us like the wise man who built his house upon the steady, anchoring rock.  So what's coming out of our shakers?  If God is our fuel and motivation, it ought to be the salt that makes the meal.

Funeral Giggles

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:2-3)

Jesus loved to take conventional thought and flip it upside down.  I suppose the abruptness that was often used as He did such was in part for effect--it's a great way to get peoples' attention and He was the best Teacher of all time, after all.  (I've only copied the first couple verses of this section, but you can read verses 2-11 to get the fuller picture by clicking here.)

Each statement begins with a "blessed" and is followed up with a statement of why such an attitude or practice is a blessed one, often by pointing to what such positions yield either in this life or in the life to come.  Verse three is but one example of this.  Jesus says that it's a blessed thing to be poor in spirit.  That seems an odd thing to say because who at any given moment wants to be lowly or the one who feels "underneath" things deep down in their soul and in need of help?  But if you're listening to the Savior say this and looking to Him to be that help, there's exciting news: you get the kingdom of heaven.  That's right; you receive an inheritance in which you will come out light-years ahead of where you dwell on this earth as one "poor in spirit."

Really what Jesus is doing with these verses is building within us a different kind of excitement.  It's one that challenges us to quit striving to be on the top in this world, seeking victory in things that last only for a little while.  He says instead that it is a beautiful and happy and blessed thing for us to live with an anticipatory quietness inside that, even when things are the pits on the outside, still bubbles out to produce that kind of over-the-moon grin that you can't quite wipe down...that kind that creeps up at funeral when you get the inappropriate giggles and just need to look at your feet in hopes that you'll hold it together.

That's where things start with the God motivated spirit.  Those are the words that we need to hear from Jesus, the One who's being and words are the foundation on which we must build our lives if we want to survive the storms.  Meditate on "the blesseds" today.

God Motivation and the Mountain Climber

Jesus was a mountain climber...with a purpose.  He didn't use grappling hooks or get ready for His climbs by doing one-finger pull-ups or even ascribe to Captain Kirk's reason for such ascensions when asked why he climbed ("because it's there") .  He instead gathered a group of unlikely disciples and took a hike with them up a steep hill where He would be in view of a large crowd that was interested in what He had to say.  Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him (Matthew 5:1).  Many have heard of this speech that He gave, this "Sermon on the Mount" as we call it.  It takes up the better part of a few chapters of Matthew's gospel account and includes in it everything from beautiful and comforting words to ideas that rattled the established religion of the day to concepts that still stir up controversy in the church.  It is used to call Christians to an unbelievably high standard of righteousness through phrases like be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (5:48) and is used by some to justify their own sin and get people to leave them alone through the quoting of, judge not, that you be not judged (7:1).

Whatever we do or don't know about Jesus and however familiar we may or may not be with His words, the sermon on the mount should have a profound effect on us.  If it doesn't--if we dismiss them as archaic or scoff with rolling eyes--we will discover in the end that the joke is on us.  My plan in the review of each section will be to hold it up against the very end of Jesus' discourse and ask myself and anyone who might read the post, "What are we building on?"  Jesus ended His sermon in this way: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (7:24-27).  Rest assured, the rains, floods, and winds will come.  Will we stand in the end?  That all depends on the foundation our lives are built upon. 

God Motivation and the Love Slap

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

Just prior to the words here, we're given the second "Jesus is better" lesson--Jesus is better than the mighty angels.  Because this is true, the argument then follows that the message Jesus brought is heftier than everything else in the Old Testament.  It's not that what Jesus taught was in opposition to what was written there; in fact, it carried right along with it and even reinforced all that was before.  It's simply that the whole deal is tied up in Jesus.  He fulfills it, gives it all its intended meaning, and adds a weight to it that makes the truth of the Scriptures that much more substantial, bringing a new hope for a great salvation.

The author was likely writing to people who already had an appreciation for their Bibles.  They took God's Word seriously and saw that to do otherwise was foolishness.  Sin was punished; God was a righteous God of justice.  And then Jesus came and brought before their eyes a new flavor of grace, mercy, and love--things that they didn't have as complete a picture of before.  When He left, His message continued through the apostles, and their words were confirmed through the amazing things God did among them to reveal that they were not acting on their own.

Why then was the author of Hebrews concerned for his readers, giving them a warning not to ignore or drift away from the message of salvation that Jesus brought?  I think the answer is simple--that's what we're tempted to do when we get slapped with grace-filled love.  "Oh, God is no longer into the justice and punishment thing?!  I get it--cool!!"  For whatever reason, what tends to happen once we realize we're a bit "safer" is that we decide it's OK to start ignoring God and arranging our own lives instead of holding on tightly to our magnificent Savior, saying with delighted exuberance, "Just say the word, Jesus, and I'm all over it!"  Somewhere that cry of our heart gets lost.  And somewhere along the way we forget that the big and final Judgement Day really is a coming reality, a prophesy that's as true as all the other ones that have been fulfilled, as true as the ones that told us Jesus was coming in the first place.  As we hear and receive the message of salvation that came through Christ, God should all the more be our motivation for all that we think, do, and say.     

God Motivation and the Prophet Smasher

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
(Hebrews 1:1-3a)

Familiar to those who have read the book of Hebrews is the concept that Jesus is better.  As jobs, functions, or roles and the people or beings that fill them are looked at, the spotlight is shined on Jesus, and the author proves that nobody can hold a candle to Him.  Jesus vs. whoever = Jesus the Victor.  That is what is going on right from the get-go in this letter.

Prophets (like Malachi and a score of others) carried God's message to people who needed challenging, encouragement, rebuke, warning, insight, direction and anything else that God wanted to communicate.  Our Bible is chuck full of information that He delivered to us through the utilization of prophets as His mouthpieces.  Praise God for the prophets!  But then something happened, something that many of the prophets talked about happening: the Father used a different mouthpiece and His name is Jesus, God's Son.  The scorecard for the prophets isn't really given here because it didn't need to be.  They were blades of grass that were born, flourished for a short time, and then returned to dust.  Again, we're thankful for them, but that resume isn't all that impressive.  How about the scorecard of Jesus?  What's so amazing about Him? 

For one, He's got everything.  He's the Son that all things we see (and don't see) belongs to.  God the Father didn't just open the door to the garage and show Him some amazing wheels that were to be His.  He instead pulled back the curtain to the cosmos, said, "Here ya go" and then folded up the curtain and handed that to Jesus as well.  Secondly, Jesus as God's Messenger didn't just walk onto the scene, get invested in by the Almighty for a season and then receive this amazing everything as if it was a surprise barrel of loot.  In the beginning of it all the Son was like the magnificent prism of light that the Father shined His glory through and exploded everything into being.  He sorta didn't really do that with the prophets.  Thirdly, although the prophets (and all of us really) are meant to increasingly show things of the beautiful character and nature of God, Jesus actually was/is Him, reflecting Him perfectly so that we not only got a true message about God when He came to earth, but the embodiment of the message itself.  And finally, it's a teeny little thing, but if Jesus quit thinking about me, this computer, you, or the existence of everything that was, is, or ever will be, it would all immediately come to nothing--it all holds up because of His say-so.

Jesus is better than the prophets and the message that He carries is so much more magnificent for all those reasons.  As the God motivated mind would try to wrap itself around all that, it needs to move itself quickly to the place of worship.  There's nowhere else to go.  Praise God that He provided Jesus, the more excellent Messenger...and so much more.

God Motivation and the Middle Step

“Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
(Malachi 3:13-15)

Though it's a little less conventional than the other exchanges, I nearly forgot about the final question God's people had for Him in the book of Malachi!  The LORD was displeased with their words that testified negatively about His character and ways of operation in the world.  The things that the people were frustrated about are similar in nature to what we may struggle with.  In looking at how events play out around us, in seeing that "doing good" doesn't always yield immediate amazing results and that "doing bad" sometimes seems to advance people, we might wonder about what that says about who God is.  Why doesn't He hand out hugs and spankings in direct accord with the proper and profane?  And if He doesn't do that, what good does it do to be good at all?

What is striking about this exchange is that God does not give a direct answer to those struggling with these things.  After this passage, what we see some of them doing instead is pausing after their wrestling, talking things through with one another, and coming to the conclusion that they needed to take all that God had revealed about Himself during this time of Q&A and run with it in faith.  They had to say, "We don't have every answer to everything we have questions about, but we see how we've been foolish, how God has been wise, and how we must trust Him."  A very interesting thing happened then.  The LORD spoke of these people with great favor and promised that there would come a time where the distinction they sought between the righteous and wicked would be evident once more (3:17-18).  First came the revelation of the character of God, then came the faith of His people, and finally there was a fuller display of God's purposes and ways.  That middle step is the step where God motivation has to show itself--it's where trust in Him must be fleshed out.  It comes by His grace as all good things do, but it's also where the call for self-abandonment rings out, begging for an answer.  Don't trip over the middle step.

God Motivation and the Toilet Bowl

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
(Malachi 3:7-10)

This is the last of the Q&A time in Malachi.  The pattern has been for the people to hear a statement from the LORD, question it, and then receive an explanation.  This instance is no different.  God issued them a challenge, informing them that there had been a long line of disobedience through an ignoring of His statutes; "return to me" is His command with the promise that He will come to them in the same way if such repentance takes place.  But like we often do, the people of Malachi's day pleaded ignorance, not knowing what it looked like to come back to God.  Perhaps by this time they were beginning to sense that they really did have issues they were needing to work through, but there was still a lack of understanding concerning what was really amiss.  And just as in times past, God clarifies--they had robbed Him of the tithes and offerings they were called to give.  What we can gather from the text as a whole is that people were struggling to make ends meet.  Things with the crops were not going well and the people were not even thinking about giving the required tenth to the LORD.

You can hear in all of this the downward spiraling as disobedience yielded withdrawal of blessing which then yielded further disobedience.  On one level, the people were not willing to see God as their Master to be reverenced and obeyed.  On another level, they were not willing to trust Him as their Provider and Sustainer, essentially failing to see Him as Savior.  So it is all too often with us.  While I'm not going to answer the question here of whether or not the New Testament calls us to give a tithe to God, I am going to speak to the fact that we get ourselves in a tizzy or even harden our hearts against Him when He clearly presents Himself as the only One we need both in this life and in the one to come.  We may in one moment confess Jesus Christ as the Lord with full authority but then deny that we believe such when He calls us to do that which is uncomfortable.  We may pledge our allegiance to Him at one turn but then refuse to trust He will supply us what we need for the battles of life, for the daily bread for our bodies, and for the energy to persevere when the day grows long.  We suddenly start to feel ourselves spinning in the same downward spiral, stuck in the toilet of despair and desperation looking to the refuse for rescue as it too heads in the same direction.

We don't have to be there...not for another instant.  God says, "put me to the test," a statement from Him that we usually observe as something we aren't supposed to do.  But this isn't the kind of test where we push God with our distrusting actions to see if He will come through but rather the kind where we push Him with our faithful obedience to see if He is the God who keeps His promises.  He asks us to make Him our motivation for what we do rather than seeing what we can get away with and still make it out alive.  Put God to the test today; taste and see that He is good.   

God Motivation and the Confusion

You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”  “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
(Malachi 2:17-3:2)

Confused and frustrated.  That's probably not a bad description of the people Malachi was preaching to.  When they were told that they were a people who were wearisome to God, they acted all clueless.  Most of them in all likelihood were not going around and cursing God's name or saying that they didn't believe He existed.  But it becomes clear what it was that they were doing.  They had set their own standards instead of sticking with the Lord's to the point where they were redefining what was good and what was bad.  We are masters at this!  What has always happened is that we look at what does and what does not seem to yield immediate negative consequences and then define on the spot what is good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable.  But then when consequences catch up to us later on, we start to see things breaking down around us, or when we are confronted on some matter by God's way that we have dismissed, we scratch our heads, beat on the table, and say, "What the heck?!"  Now what I don't think that Malachi was saying and what I don't want to say either is that life is hunky-dory when we keep all the rules.  But what is true is that when we're ignoring what God has put in place and are establishing our own measuring rods of what is right and wrong, what glorifies God and what does not, we always end up frustrated and, in the end, proven wrong.

That's where the judgement bit comes in.  People were seeing how life wasn't working out corporately as a nation--they had expectations of better days.  They wanted to know when God was going to clean things up.  When was it that the Promised One was going to come and make things the way they wanted them to be, putting them back up on top of the world as God's covenant people???  Not so fast.  Yes, He (Jesus) would come (announced by the messenger that we recognize today as John the Baptist) and His coming would be a wonderful thing.  But they had to realize that His coming might not be as pleasant for them as they would hope.  He would come as a mighty Purifier and Cleanser, starting with the nation Israel, the nation that He would be born into.  Calling evil good would need to be dealt with.  This purifying and cleansing would yield something wonderful, but it would also be a painful process along the way.  They needed to ask themselves if they were prepared for such.  That was the day for them to seek the Lord and ask Him to refine their hearts according to His standards so that they would be God motivated and not self directed; it was a day for repentance and holy worship.  It was a day with many elements that we should see as perfectly fitting for us today. 

God Motivation and The Professionals

And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
(Malachi 2:13-15)

Yet another question and yet another direct (and somewhat painful) answer.  It is apparent that in the giving of gifts to the LORD upon the alter, God was making it clear that He was not pleased.  It has been established already in Malachi that many of the offerings themselves had been physically tainted--animals that were blind or in some other way inappropriate.  But maybe there were a lot of "good offerings" too.  Maybe some of the priests were holding to the right forms and making sure that they followed the guidelines for the kinds of gifts that were to be given on the alter.  It could be that they had all that down and were saying at the end of a day, "Well, another satisfactory job done.  Offering law number 1?  Check.  Offering law number 2?  Check.  Offering law number 3?..."  You get the picture.  But then God looked and, figuratively speaking, shook His head.  Ouch.  The tears ensued.  "What else do you want God?!"

The Levites were the community's holy men, priests who took care of the people's sacrifices.  That was their job.  But then God did the unthinkable.  He invaded their home lives and asked for purity!  Gasp!  How could He?!  Somewhere along the line everyone came up with the idea that it was OK for priests to be one thing outside of work and another within it.  There was a line drawn in the sand between professional life and personal life.  God had given them wives and children to care for and lead in the ways of godliness, showing the kind of steadfast love that the Lord Himself displays.  But, you know, things weren't working out sometimes on that front and so it became "better for everyone" for the priests to work things out their own way...again, outside of work of course.

Those times really were not so different from some of the core junk we deal with today in the church.  And God's standards haven't changed.  In fact, for followers of Jesus, the bar has been raised and the language inclusive.  ALL such believers are said to a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5).  For Christians, there is no divide between professional and personal or any other sort of divide that we might try to make.  God and His glorification is to be our motivation in all that we do wherever we go--work, home, school, etc.  May He set our hearts (for it is the heart that He has always been after) in such a wholly devoted place today.

God Motivation and My Recycling

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.
(Malachi 1:6-8)

Round 2 of Q&A.  Round 2 of some of the cluelessness that we need to identify with.  Often we're better at knowing how to treat fellow humans in places of authority than we are at knowing how to treat God.  That was the issue with Israel.  They were able to look at father/son relationships and servant/master dynamics and realize where honor ought to be given and reverent fear needed to take place.  They would then, as part of their culture call God "Father" and give Him the title of "Master."  But God's question to them was, "Are you really fearing and honoring Me in the way that servants and sons are called to do so?"  I can identify with the people of that time.  How often it is that I call God the right things, even in prayer to Him, without giving Him the according respect and servitude that I ought.  Worse yet, how many times have I taught or preached about the Lord and used the right words only to turn around and act in opposite ways--failing to trust Him when I've spoken of faith, being loose with my words after talking about guarding our speech, etc.  When it comes to "God wording" with my lips I often do OK; when it comes to God motivation with my heart I often stink.

In all of these inconsistencies God's argument was that they, specifically the priests, were despising His name.  "What?!  How?!"  Again, God points out their according actions.  They were giving to Him, on the alter, the kinds of gifts that they wouldn't even dream of giving to their governors!  There were specific instructions for the kinds of animal sacrifices that were to be made.  Essentially, they were to be perfect in function and appearance; flaws were unacceptable.  But these guys were giving to God the equivalent of the kinds of stuff you can't get rid of at a garage sale, try to take to Goodwill afterward, and end up finding out that they don't want it either.  Apparently the people were looking through their flocks, finding what they found to no longer be useful, and using the alter as their recycling bin.  Not only was this ridiculously disobedient to God, but it did a terrible job of preparing people for the Messiah, Jesus, would would be the perfect sacrifice, the one and only Son of God, untarnished to the end, who would spill out His blood to cover the sin of multitudes.  Their flippancy was a big deal because the Father is a big deal, because Jesus is a big deal, and because the plan of redemption They designed is a crazy big deal.  What will I give to God today in the presentation of myself and all my activities as that living sacrifice I'm called to be?  My cast-offs?  My recycling?  May better things come...by God's grace at work in me, may better things come.

God Motivation and the Favorite Verses

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”
(Malachi 1:2-5)

These are the most popular verses in all the Bible.  When people sit down and think, "What should I read from God's Word today?," they flip to Malachi 1, cock their heads to one side, smile, and say, "Now isn't that beautiful."  Maybe not.  The problem that many will face in reading this (and probably the tension that everyone should feel) is in accepting the fact that God talks about hating someone...other than the devil, of course.  And though we could try to sort all that out and need to consider it, we don't want to miss the big thing that God was communicating to His people.

This passage contains one of many questions that are asked in the book of Malachi.  The people had heard that God loved them and they wanted proof that such was true.  That's when God gives them the answer that makes Christians cringe, "I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated."  (The first part is looked at by us, and we say, "A+ God...good job!" and the second part we do a read-cough through so that nobody hears clearly what is said.  God, after all, doesn't mind that we take Him off the hook now and then.)  But what we are told here and need to see about God's love is that He has proven it.  He has said to Jacob's heritage, "I chose you.  I looked at you and wanted you before you even had awareness."  If your heart or mine is tender to that kind of statement, we need to know that such love can be ours.  It's not exactly the kind of linear thinking that most of us enjoy operating in, but it's true nonetheless; and, if we are willing to accept it, it's beautiful.

The aim of the prophet Malachi was to get God's people to see how great God's love and might were as He exercised such things on their behalf.  They were to be swept up in humble, jubilant praise as they considered how great God was beyond the border of Israel.  We don't need to run with the "God hates Esau" phrase in some weird, reckless way and end up thinking (like many in Israel did) that the individuals that don't have Hebrew blood in them are outside of God's redemptive plan.  Good grief, there are "pagans" in the lineage of Jesus who came to know the wonders of God and realize His love as they walked with His people.  What we need to know is that God's love is deep and not washed out and takes aim and isn't based on our measuring up.  We need to look at our own state as those not of ethnic Israel and declare, "Great is the LORD beyond the boarders of Israel!"  If God is our motivation for what we say and do instead of something we try to muster up or reason out in ourselves, such will the cry of our hearts.

God Motivation and the Spirit Lamp

The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,
        searching all his innermost parts.
(Proverbs 20:27)

Even though it's not the newest technology out there, I still think that the tools doctors/surgeons have to look into the human body are pretty fascinating.  Tiny lighted cameras traveling down narrow passageways in search for certain problems is just pretty amazing.  But what those in the medical field (or any field) don't have is the ability that is mentioned here--nobody can look that deep.

Think about it for a moment.  God has designed the spiritual core of a human being to shine in such a way that everything about him/her is revealed.  Though it's an inadequate description, I picture a miner who has placed a lantern in the recesses of a hidden cave, who knows just how to walk to it in the dark, and then lights it to reveal to his own eyes everything he's digging out, shaping, reinforcing, preserving, and drawing out for use and display on the outside. 

The fact that God sees me in this way is so encouraging.  There's something in each of us that wants to really be known for who we are, to be fully understood and mapped out so that we don't have any explaining to do or reasons to give for why we're feeling a certain way or need to do certain things.  God's done the mapping and sees all of that with each person.  There's no reason to try and hide anything from Him and there's no sense in worrying about whether or not God will miss something and forget to take care of a need.  I'm so thankful that He does that.  I'm so thankful that He knew my need for Jesus and showed me that need so that my innermost parts could be changed and my "lamp" not condemned when my "cave" crumbles.  I'm so blessed to know a little something of pure God motivation because of the work He's done in me.  And I'm blessed to know that He's not done with the work.

God Motivation and Oxen Pies

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
        but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
(Proverbs 14:4)

I've seen a fair amount of feeding troughs and cow pies since I grew up in an area where there were plenty of pastures that cattle grazed in, but I guess I can't really say that I know what an oxen manger or pies looks like.  Perhaps the latter are a bit like the buffalo chips you see depicted in Westerns--the ones that they use as fuel for their fires??  S'mores anyone?  It sounds like I'm on my way down a rabbit trail, but the first half of this verse really is about the presence or absence of oxen troughs and dung.  But the second part is about what else oxen do: bring in a crop.  The farmer then, as he thinks about how he is going to make ends meet, needs to think about the pros and cons of having oxen.  He realizes that owning one (or many) means that he's going to have to shelter, feed, and clean up after this huge beast.  That's a messy job that includes expenses and daily maintenance.  But then when it's time for field work, that ox is going to be a huge blessing that will save a ton of time and energy, not to mention the yielding of a bigger harvest overall.

So yes, this proverb is speaking of poop and productivity.  But the Proverbs are meant to teach us more than only what the words say; they're about principles we're meant to apply to our daily lives.  In other words, we take a verse like this one and ask ourselves, "What sort of thing(s) is like an ox in my life?  What might I be possessing, or considering possessing, that comes both with significant cost and significant gains?"  For us, it's an extra property that we own.  Not having it would in some ways mean a "cleaner," simpler life.  But possessing it is, when both units are rented out, is an income stream for us.  This is one of those deals that has, for the last year as we've lived nearly 1 1/2 hours away, been such a toss up for us.  There are enough complications in life and things to put energy into right in one's own neighborhood to keep a family busy enough.  But being a single-income household is getting to be more and more of a challenge with each passing day, and that property serves as that other part-time income...when it's working well.

What then are the oxen in our lives?  What, when we weigh the pros and cons, still leave us wondering what to do and which way to go?  What is the God motivated way in this area for the Christ follower?  That is, what direction do we go when we might think of what it looks like to be about kingdom work as we aim at the glory of God being more thoroughly displayed through our lives--does the ox stay or go?  The answers lie with the One who is to be our motivation; seek wisdom from Him today.

God Motivation and the Yeahbut

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."  But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
(Luke 10:25-29)

It seems that the "yeahbut" has been around forever.  We could make all kinds of jokes about how this one came from a lawyer and we would expect such, but the whole deal started well before that.  Remember Adam and Eve after they sinned?  They held a yeahbut rally right there in the garden wearing nothing but fig leaves and frowns.  God asked about their folly of eating the fruit He told them to keep their mouths off of, and their same mouths spouted off something that sounded a lot like the yeahbuts we've been tossing around ever since.  "Yeah, but she handed it to me!"  "Yeah, but the snake tricked me with...well...a yeahbut!"

It's funny to joke about it in that way but it's also a really sad deal when we realize that we're part of that same strain of yeahbut speaking people (and snakes!).  The yeahbut is so rotten because it accepts as true something that God has laid down for our and everyone else's good but then excuses us from being accountable to that truth.  We say that our circumstances are different.  We say that we've tried to walk by that certain instruction and it didn't work out the way we hoped it would.  Really, in our own acrobatic, weaseling ways, we're looking for that opportunity to affirm something we know in our hearts is dangerous to deny without submitting to the life-altering commitment it will impose on us.  In looking at the story at hand, I don't think that the lawyer really thought he was doing anything out of line.  He had a well thought out, well-groomed yeahbut that he probably figured Jesus hadn't thought through just yet.  "Oh Jesus, simple little Jesus, you've forgotten to define the word, 'neighbor.'  Gotcha!"  Jesus, however, had been privy to the yeahbut for a pretty long time and proceeded to tell him the story of what we call, "The Good Samaritan."

When it comes down to it, I need to ask myself a question today concerning what I'm going to do with a command like, "Love God with your all and love your neighbor."  The yeahbuts are going to creep in from every angle today so I need to be aware of them.  I'll have schedules to keep, plans to make, and opportunities I don't want to let slip past.  There are going to be times where I'll want to justify myself against any disruptions by saying that my day has go to a certain way, especially since it's filled up with "good things" already.

"Lord, guard my heart from throwing yeahbuts at You in the hours ahead.  Be my inspiration and motivation in all I do."

God Motivation and the Cold we Accept

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,
        but a good word makes him glad.
(Proverbs 12:25)

Anxiousness is probably a far bigger problem for me than I even realize during a normal day.  Such is the case because, I believe, it has become a habit.  I worry about my family and their safety.  I worry about what our next steps in life will look like and how I'll be spending those 40+ hours a week in the next season.  I worry about money and whether or not certain income streams will remain so that we can pay our mortgages.  Now these worries for me aren't normally crippling.  The combination of them is more like a mild cold you wrestle with all through the winter.  It's hard to know at certain points whether or not your nose is drippy because there's a draft or because you're a little bit sick.  But you live with it because, well, that's just the way it is and probably most other people are battling that "cold" too.  Then there are other times though that you really feel it; it weighs you down, as the verse at hand says.  One or two of those things that you feel it's your responsibility to take care of gets a little shaky and you start to get more flu-ish than just sniffly.  You could use a good word.

Such encouragements can come in different ways.  We might have a friend identify with us or point out the positives in life.  "Look at all the things that are stable and going well," she might say.  Or it might be that a family member gives that reminder that he is here for you as a support.  Those things are helpful.  But then it might be that something you've been hoping for or waiting on finally begins to take shape or come within grasp.  Someone who is sick might take a turn for the better.  That phone call or email comes through like a ray of sunshine to be that "good word that makes [you] glad."

I believe it's OK to be lifted up by such things.  We wouldn't be told in the Scriptures that we're to be good neighbors and tender encouragers if it weren't so.  But we really miss it in life if we don't lay hold of that one good word which promises an eternity of gladness--that good word of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He died and was raised; His blood was poured out for sinners like us and His life restored incorruptible as the prototype for His followers.  Yes, this is that over-arching good word that should guard all disciples from despair.  The God motivated mind and heart says that worry can be set aside; Jesus has removed the weight that otherwise would crush us forever.

God Motivation and the Fair Devil

    May God be gracious to us and bless us
        and make his face to shine upon us,
    that your way may be known on earth,
        your saving power among all nations.
    Let the peoples praise you, O God;
        let all the peoples praise you!
(Psalm 67:1-3)

It makes a lot of sense that we would ask God for things.  In fact, we're told to bring our requests before Him.  We can look through the Bible and see how He's heard people's prayers and responded positively, and maybe we've seen that a good deal in our own lives.  But it's not just that God has a good reputation for being a giving God.  Since He's the God who made it all and has it all, the One who never runs dry and even makes bread and fish in a basket keep filling up from underneath as quickly as someone can grab from the top, we can believe that He's got more than leftovers to offer. 

All those things are true; the Bible attests to them.  There's more to the story, however.  Why should we make requests of God?  What's our end game?  We get a statement on what it's not supposed to be from the book of James when he writes, You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (James 4:3).  So it's wrong if our asking is all about us having more in order for us to run off with what God gives and waste it on the trivial.  Kids show us both the beauty of faith and the folly of that kind of self-absorption all at once.  We saw a bit of the latter at work earlier this summer at the State Fair.  It was a fun day overall, but one of the low points for me was the time around the kid rides or little amusement park that they had set up.  The whole thing is a racket (just let daddy vent a bit here, OK?).  You go in and buy tickets for these rides, paying about $1.50 each.  But, mind you, one ticket will buy you nothing in there...nothing.  Every ride costs at least two tickets.  And from the moment you walk in, the kids are ravenous and cannot get enough.  Their only concern is doing as much as they possibly can, and they become a little bit more engrossed in their little passions with each step through the place.  It's ugly and papa is so glad when it's time to remove ourselves from the clutches of the devil and move on to things like $6 hotdogs.  I digress.  But I say all that to illustrate that the way in which our kids receive and spend their tickets at the fair is not what we want our lives to look like as we would receive and "spend" the gifts we receive from God.

Notice what the psalmist says after he asks for blessings from the Lord.  He essentially says, "Give these, Lord, SO THAT people are going to see how incredible you are as a God who does everything the right way, giving salvation to people as You go.  I want more praise from more people to go to you, God!"  What the writer desired was not for what he received to terminate on himself but on the same God who gave to him.  That's what we need to think about as we ask for God's blessings.  We must be thinking about how we can use what He gives to invest in His glorification and not our glutting.  That's right at the heart of God motivation. 

God Motivation and Eating Well

    Take my instruction instead of silver,
        and knowledge rather than choice gold,
    for wisdom is better than jewels,
        and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
(Proverbs 8:10-11)

Each day I'm faced with decisions of what I'll run after.  Now, to be sure, nobody is holding up before my nose right now a bag of silver, pot of gold, or chest of jewels.  Whether or not to grab for those exact things has never been a choice I've needed to make.  But there is a certain amount of energy and time that I've been given in each new day.  And there are all around me miniature adventures that I could jump into and explore, opportunities that I might invest in.  Even at this moment, I'm using the internet to type out these thoughts, a world in and of itself that can take me to any and all kinds of places.  And in this city there is merchandise galore.  I could take the day and spend myself entirely on the kind of substances described above, whether in the buying of them, the hungering after them, or engrossing myself in them.  And at the end of the day, I'd be empty, either needing to change course the following day or trying to fill up once again on the same pursuits and investments.  The things representing silver, gold, and jewels don't enrich in the ways that instruction, knowledge, and wisdom do.  The contrast is so great in fact that we're told there isn't even a comparison between what we can conceive in our minds (or desire) and what we can have through wisdom specifically: all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

I think this concept is one of those things like many truths that you either hear and identify with or just entirely disregard.  I don't mean that anyone is practicing the pursuit of the right things perfectly but simply that it clicks in your mind if you've had a taste.  It's a bit like that feeling when you're on a health kick and eating right--you feel good.  But then you eat some garbage that "hits the spot" in the moment but makes you feel like the trash it was later on.  You go to the fridge the next time for a snack and need that morsel that's just right, that thing that's good at the time and doesn't bring regrets later.  That's what getting a taste for instruction, wisdom, and knowledge is like.  It's good...and if you leave it for a season, you're miserable until you come back.  It's good because God made it to be so and those substances lead us to Him since they come from Him.  Pursuing them is part of God motivation.  Eat well today.

God Motivation and My Shine

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:44)

This is a question Jesus had for those who were ticked off at Him for doing good things for people on the Sabbath.  He was speaking to a group that was so tied up with their traditions, their authority among God's people, and their own glory that they had come to the point of being OK with people continuing in their suffering on Saturdays in order to keep their thumb on the Great Physician.  It was tragic in so many ways.  It was tragic for the people that they were supposed to be shepherding because there was no true care going on; to their leaders it was all about control and not about serving.  It was in a sense "tragic" for the ministry of Jesus because of how it would lead to His execution (through which, of course, He ultimately had victory).  But it was tragic also for the religious leaders because their own hearts became hardened to the point of disbelief through the seeking of their own praise and glory.  Misplaced glorification squelches belief.

If you're like me, you don't mind a bit of praise.  That doesn't mean that we want the big spotlight in front of a crowd necessarily; that might terrify us depending on our personality.  But we're alright with having glory terminate on us and having people know that we're tops in this or that little area...that place in which we like to sparkle like a little diamond.  And when that happens, we believe a little less that God is the One who is truly awesome, that He is the One that should completely astonish us.  When you and I start seeking praise for ourselves, we slowly quit seeing our areas of giftedness as gifts from our Dad who made us and instilled those things in us.  Over time then, we start to give our own ideas and words a kind of authority that they weren't ever really meant to have.  We believe God's Word just a little bit less and don't see it as the ultimate trump card that it really is over everything that we think and produce.  Again, belief dies a little bit each time we misplace glory.

We've got to learn the lesson from the lives of the Jewish big shots of Jesus' day.  They bought in to their own philosophies and would rather have people dead than be challenged by the God they said they worshiped.  Everything was turned on its head and their hearts were hardened against belief in their Messiah.  Are we willing to have God call all the shots even for very motives of our hearts in order that those motives might be pure...in order that our words and actions and lives are rightly directed?  God motivation is a guardian of belief.

God Motivation and the Balance Beam

Let your eyes look directly forward,
        and your gaze be straight before you.
    Ponder the path of your feet;
        then all your ways will be sure.
    Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
        turn your foot away from evil.
(Proverbs 4:25-27)

Humanly speaking, we're always about 1/2 step away from making a disaster out of our lives.  Now, I say "humanly speaking" because I know that God is sovereignly ruling, but part of His sovereign rule has been to give us practical words like these.

This world is first of all full of distractions, so part of the way we must keep our bearings is to look ahead to our destination.  Watching young children gives you a picture of what this does not look like.  This is why we hold their hands while walking through a busy parking lot or crossing the street.  They are constantly looking this way and that with their feet following what their eyes see.  While this is part of the natural beauty of a child and his curiosity, it paints a picture of what the unsteadied eyes of one's heart looks like and reminds us of the heavy traffic we could easily throw ourselves into.

We're told also to, in a matter of speaking, "watch your step."  It's not enough to see the goal and head toward it.  Walking through life is like walking through a forest on a path.  There are roots, dens, perhaps even traps that we would not want to put a foot into.  One wrong step can be disastrous.

Finally, life is often like a dark alley that we must walk through with sinister figures leaning up against a building here and sitting in a corner there, each one having something to offer the one who might step aside from his/her course.  As quickly as our eyes light upon them and temptation rise up in our hearts, we must point our foot to pass them.

We must engage life today with God motivation, aiming at His pleasure and not our own.  While we need not fear with the Spirit to guide and Christ as our example, we must also realize that one wrong turn can mean a slow and difficult road to recovery.

God Motivation and the Wind Appointment

When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:8-1).

2:30am...step, step, step, step, shuffle...SNIFF!...1...2...3...4...5...SNIFF!...1...2...3...4...5...SNIFF!  "Titus, if you're going to be in here, you can't keep sniffling," I replied.  He left tearful and still struggling with his allergies.  2:32am, another Jonah moment realized, apology given followed by mucus-loosening back patting for 15 minutes.  For me that sniffing was like the scorching wind that God brought, a wind that was meant to convict and awaken a sense of compassion for others.  I "pitied" the sleep that I had been receiving like Jonah pitied his plant.  My sleep was killed by the worm of footsteps and shuffling in the bedroom; then came the slightly more literal wind of sniffing that kept the sun of wakefulness beating on/in my head.  You see, I don't struggle much with seasonal allergies which means I sometimes lack compassion for the "Ninevites" in my house who do.  I'm annoyed and wallow in self-pity at times like 2:30 in the morning when I just want some sleep.  It doesn't matter that my little boy has been robbed of sleep from the get go through a tickled nose or throat.

God is so good to bring worms and wind into my life to keep me from putting my hope and ultimate joy in the refreshing plants He provides (instead of in Him as the Giver).  It's impossible to even imagine the amount of patience that He has with children like me who can't make it five minutes into the day without messing things up and acting as if life is all about who I see in the mirror--it's a good thing that my salvation comes by my Savior's righteousness and not by mine.  But what needs to happen for my growth and what I keep praying for each morning is that God would give me a heart that is less like Jonah's heart and more like that of Jesus.  I need a heart motivated toward and by God the Father; that's the kind of pure motivation that produces the righteousness and holiness that He calls for...the same kind that Jesus walked in each and every moment while He was here.

God Motivation and the Worm Appointment

But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered (Jonah 4:7).  I don't think it's accurate to say that God teases people, but in this instance it almost sounds like He was.  He had appointed a great fish for Jonah's rescue after a bout of serious disobedience.  He graciously later appointed a nice shade plant following some intensely hateful words from Jonah.  And here he appoints a little worm to kill the plant Jonah was so enjoying.

I wonder if Jonah thought that the story was pretty much over after his preaching was done and he had his own pleasant little resting spot on a hill outside the city.  He had tried to run from God in the beginning only to realized that such wasn't a good idea.  Then he got all up in arms over the fact that the Ninevites actually listened to his preaching; this yielded a bit of firm questioning from God.  So then when the plant came, maybe Jonah thought that the Lord was finally back to smiling on him, the nice Israelite boy that had God's favor coming to him.  Perhaps he thought that what would show up next was a fun little glass of tastiness with a plastic umbrella on top.  Instead...a worm, and no more umbrella shade at all.  What Jonah didn't realize is that the Ninevite's story was over for the day.  They had repented and were now trusting in the Almighty for their salvation.  What Jonah also didn't realize is that his story was not over for the day.  God gave him a worm to show him just that.  Jonah needed a bit of destruction in his life--he needed a plant destined to be destroyed by a parasite so that he could be further drawn out of himself. 

Sometimes I need "a worm."  I need things taken from me so that I'm reminded that this story is not about my comfort but about God's glory and Kingdom establishment.  I think I deserve lovely shade plants because I'm one of the King's kids when really I need a worm to attack my little self-made crown.  I need this for the turning of my heart from a self-seeking, self motivation to a Christ exalting God motivation in my actions, words, and thoughts.

God Motivation and the Plant Appointment

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant (Jonah 4:5-6).  From exceedingly angry to exceedingly glad to exceedingly...well, that's for next time, but I'm guessing you've got a good idea of what comes next.  The whole deal is really pretty sick, but it turns my stomach in large part because I can see my own tendencies mirrored here.  What first made Jonah hot with anger?  God spared a city of 120,000 people that would have met their demise apart from repentance.  And now why is he suddenly giddy?  God made a nice shade plant for him outside the city of Nineveh.  I'm like that sometimes.  No, I don't have a city I'd like to see zapped by God, but I do like the idea sometimes of bad people "getting what's coming to them" and don't like it when they instead seem to enjoy extra grace from God.  Actually, it can kinda make me mad.  "Why don't You act in a way that makes people take you more seriously, God?!"  I shudder a bit even as I type that--such an attitude shows that I don't get the concept of grace at all in those moments.  And then what happens sometimes later in the day?  God sends a nice little bonus of some kind...maybe like the bit of rain that we got last night after a dry spell.  "Oooo, that's nice," I say.  There's nothing wrong with enjoying the rain; it's just that earlier in the day there was a certain group of shady businessmen I heard about that I wouldn't have minded seeing thrown off a cliff--shady businessmen who won their stinking case in court against "the good guys" who might have otherwise been a blessing to my family and many others.  Jonah may as well be my middle name.

What's the solution?  Is it OK to desire justice?  Sure.  Is it OK to rejoice in the little, refreshing mercies of God?  Absolutely.  But what we often need a better understanding of is where justice is ultimately met: on the cross of Christ.  Instead of wanting to see the Smiter smite our enemies, we should pray that they would turn to see what Jesus has done on the cross in already taking punishment for sin.  If God wants to use a legal system as part of that process, great.  Putting a stop to harmful and evil practices is a good thing in and of itself--God appoints people (just like He appoints fish and plants) to keep such order here on earth.  But the bigger issue at hand is that souls without a Savior are condemned souls; we should want to see that turned around in each lost person.

It's a downright sick thing to hope against grace in people's lives and then grin like a schmuck over a sweet piece of candy.  The God motivated spirit says, "I want the world to know the joy of glorifying God through exalting Christ as saving King."  So let the next "plant" that He appoints to shade our heads humble our hearts and spur us on to see more justice realized at Calvary. 

God Motivation and the Fish Appointment

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).  If bad fish to us tastes fishy, I can only imagine what Jonah must have tasted like to that fish...sour perhaps?  There's a really awful, dry joke in there somewhere, but I'm not going to fish it out.  At any rate, this is the first of four appointments that God brings into Jonah's life.  Simply to refresh us on the story, Jonah had received a direct call from God to head to the wicked city of Nineveh to preach truth to them.  Jonah's response was to run from God by getting on a boat headed in the opposite direction, a boat that met a terrible storm with a crew that had to unload Jonah for it to quit...really, for their own rescuing.  But the running prophet still had a job to do and God intended for Jonah to do it.

It's true that often times God gives us jobs to do that we run away from--jobs that He then gives to someone else.  But as much as Jonah might have thought that he had gotten off scot-free, that he would simply meet his demise in the swirling ocean, God had another plan and it was a wild one.  He appointed a fish to swallow Jonah, carry him around for three dark days, and then toss its cookies (and its man) onto the shore.  That's one heck of a divine appointment and it came as a multi-layered rescue--a rescue for Jonah, a rescue for the people of Nineveh, and a rescue for you and I if we're willing to accept it.  It was obviously a rescue for Jonah since he went from being dead in a stormy, breathless sea to alive in the air pocket of a fish stomach.  It was a rescue for the people of Nineveh because God used Jonah's words to them later to bring repentance into their hearts instead of instant flames to their city and souls.  The appointed fish is a rescue for us if we hear in the story that running from God is fruitless and that no moment is too late to experience His saving grace.  It's furthermore a rescue for us if we hear Jesus' words in connection to this historical event: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here (Matthew 12:40-41).  Do you hear the significance of the story in the words of the Savior of the world?  A rescuing fish was appointed ultimately to turn our attention to the saving power of Jesus who was "swallowed up" by the earth for the saving of the people above (like Jonah's crew) and then delivered out of it in life so that wicked "Ninevites" like you and I could hear the message of truth and turn to the Author of it.  Don't miss it.  The God motivated heart is the one that hears the message of the appointed fish and runs with humble joy to the One who appointed it.