Category: wrath

Unswervingly Spur

bstuetze

Spur Heb 10I was scanning through my Facebook feed this morning, and as I often do, I checked out my memories function. I found that on this day, on year ago, I posted this scripture, ” Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25

My attention was captured by the words, unswervingly and spur. Not sure why, but these words aren’t common in my daily vocabulary, and they caught my attention. So, I spent some time this morning looking up what the meaning of them are in Greek. What I discovered created a sense of urgency from this passage that I had not grasped before.

Unswervingly, in generic English translation it means to follow a direct path, to never turn aside and to be steadfast and loyal. In Greek, the word is anthistemi, which means to set against or withstand without giving up or letting go.  We are to withstand without giving up on the hope we profess. We cannot turn or be turned aside from that hope. We must hold to it with a single-minded belief that this hope we have in Jesus, that which we profess is based on God’s promises which are unfailing.

How often do we get derailed by the frustrations of life? If any of you are like, me right now you feel like you’re in a batting cage with a rogue pitching machine, no bat, no glove and the door is locked. The fast balls of life are firing you at you, and they keep getting faster and faster and you are getting tired of dodging and swerving and trying to get out of the way, desperately trying to not get hit in the head and knocked out. We are called as Christians to hold fast to the hope of God’s promises without being turned aside, to set against all that life throws at us without giving up or letting go. Easier said than done sometimes…

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

We will face all kinds of trials during our lives in this world, but God has overcome the world. We must stand fast, without giving up or turning aside from the hope we have in Jesus. We have the Full Armor of God, and it can withstand any fastball!

The second word that grabbed me here was, spur. Being from the Old West this word has an entirely different meaning, or so I thought. When I hear or see the word spur I think of an attachment to my boot which is meant to get my horse moving with a bit more urgency… Spur also means to provoke or stir up, to goad in to action or to incite.  It also means to urge or encourage to action, to move in vigorous pursuit of an object, to stimulate, to impel, to drive. We are to spur each other on toward love and good deeds and not to neglect meeting together. Spur does not mean suggest, imply, or consider. It does not mean that we should think about it or wait for the right time or even to hold off till it’s convenient.

The sense of urgency here is clear. We are to stand firm without turning aside, setting ourselves against all that comes at us in the hope of God’s promises. Additionally, we are to drive and incite each other toward love and good deeds. This is action! As I read this scripture with new eyes, I don’t see it as the warm fuzzy that I once did, encouraging me to remember God’s promises and to make sure I continue to meet together with the Body.

This is a call to action. A call for us to stand firm in our beliefs and to encourage one another to act as Christ has taught us. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:29-32

When we are sharing the negativity we hear on the television, radio, internet; are we spuring one another on to love and good works? When we put our wants before the needs of others under the guise of ‘preparing for the future’ are we unswervingly holding to the hope of God’s promises?

What is our witness to the world when we are acting like everyone else? Hoarding material comforts, spreading slander, taking political sides, and ignoring the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world? This is not who Christ called us to be.

Let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, build others up according to their needs (not our circumstances), get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, slander, and every kind of malice. Be kind and compassionate, forgiving as Christ forgave us. This is who we are, this is what we are called to be, this is what the world needs right now.

Together, let’s be unswerving in our hope, and spur each other on toward love and good works.

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change our world!

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Who (or what) is your King?

bstuetze

maxresdefault“So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 1 Samuel 8:4-5

The Israelite’s asked Samuel, the Prophet of God to appoint them a king to lead them, “such as all the other nations have.” They wanted to be like everyone else, like any other nation on earth. The wanted the blessing of being ‘chosen’ but not the responsibility.

“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” Leviticus 20:26

God chose His people, He chose them to be His own. He hand picked this small band of people to be holy and set apart, and what did they do? They rejected Him, over and over, and asked Him to set up a puppet of himself to rule over them. Instead of the Almighty, Sovereign God of the Universe they wanted a visible, worldly, imperfect man to be subject to; they asked God to make an idol of Himself and have it rule over them.

The dictionary defines an idol as, an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship. There is however, a tertiary definition, a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered. Israel wanted someone they could see and touch. Someone they could look up to and revere…but they didn’t want it to be God, they wanted it to be more like them.

When I read this, I couldn’t help but yell, “what are you doing?” Why would you want some guy to rule over you when you have the Sovereign God of the Universe tripping over himself to raise you up and give you everything you could ever want? WHY??? Reading scripture it often feels like Israel spent more time running, disobeying and outright denying God, than they did worshiping, praising and honoring Him.

Why do we, (yes I said we) have such a propensity to ignore, disregard or downplay the eternal in lieu of the immediate, finite and temporal? Why do we chose idols over God? Why do we chose now over forever, even when we know that what we chose now may cost us forever?

Who is your king? Matthew tells us that, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21 Your King is that person, place or thing in which you invest your, time, money and heart. It’s what you revere, worship and place your trust. Does God have that place in our hearts? Is what we chose on a day to day basis going to last us into the eternal Kingdom?

Samuel was rightfully upset when God’s people told him that they wanted a king to rule over them, God’s response was equally upsetting, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.” 1 Samuel 8:7-8

Reading through the Old Testament, God made sure that the people knew and understood his frustration at their behavior. I have been asked so many times recently if all the tragic happenings in the world today are because we have turned our backs on God. I don’t believe it is. I believe we live in a fallen world, where sin is rampant and commonplace. Diseases are everywhere and natural disasters are becoming more the rule than the exception. I believe that we are reaping the consequences of our actions. Disease more easily defeats us because we are unhealthy, as a society we eat what we want, don’t go outside and live as if we’re immortal. The environment is wreaking havoc because we have treated God’s beautiful creation as our trash heap and polluted every part of it as best we can. Sin destroys lives because we allow it (yes I said allow it) to rule and reign in our world.

No this is not God’s wrath, but it is our choice. If we made better ones, if we chose to put God in His rightful place, our world would be better, our lives would be better. Is God causing it, no! If we followed His commands and lived according to His word would it get better, YES!

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