Author: faithsweatandtears

Don’t delay

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Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and remembered something that you needed to do, but by the time the morning rolled around, you forgot it again? I tend to be a list maker, and I have been known to send an email to myself, scribble a barely legible to-do note in haste, or leave a voice message on my office phone to remind me of something: “Good morning, Self! Did you add money to the kids’ lunch accounts yet?”

If I don’t leave myself a reminder, then I may drop the ball, miss a deadline, get caught unprepared. Come to think of it, Jesus talked about a similar dilemma in Matthew 25. He told a parable of 10 friends who were tasked with the job of waiting up all night for a groom to arrive to his wedding party. Their job was to light the way for the groom, and they were expected to be prepared when he showed up. They each had an oil lamp, but only five of them thought to bring extra oil.

The groom was really late arriving … like midnight. In the meantime, the 10 friends had dozed off, and when they heard the groom was finally en route, they scrambled to get their lamps ready. Unfortunately, five of them were short on lamp oil and had to leave the reception line to go buy some. When the groom arrived, he invited the other five inside and locked the door. The others returned from the store and asked to be let in to the party but were turned away.

This story may sound like a harsh way for a newlywed to treat his friends, but Jesus is trying to make a point with it. He has already invited us to the party to end all parties – one that lasts through all eternity! – but he asks us to be prepared. Is there something keeping you from being totally committed to Christ? Like the five who forgot their lamp oil, are you hoping to be good enough or perhaps just wait until the eleventh hour to get things right with God? Not everyone has a deathbed on which to make a last-minute confession. Life is short. Be prepared; don’t delay.
(Originally posted April 15, 2012)

Pleasantly surprised (Prayer Devotional for the week of July 5, 2015)

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It sure is nice when things work out the way we’d hoped they would, but sometimes we act surprised about things that we should have expected, all along. I can only speak for myself, but I think I act guarded and reserved in an attempt to keep from feeling disappointed if things don’t work out, after all. I imagine that others react similarly, whether consciously or not.

For example, when I study hard and do the best I can on a school assignment, I probably should expect to get a good grade. Yet, I always wonder what I might have forgotten to include … or if the professor won’t like my word choice or agree with my conclusions. So, I hope for the best and try to expect nothing. That way, if/when I receive an A, I can finally let myself feel confident that I really did do a good job.

I see that same tendency to second-guess myself as I read stories about the disciples in the New Testament. Time and time again, Jesus had to remind them to trust him and not doubt. Whether they were dealing with how to feed the masses (Matthew 14 & again in 15), survive a storm (Luke 8), or cope with Jesus’ death (Mark 16), they fell back into their old ways of trying to figure things out on their own instead of having faith in Christ. Several times in the Gospels, Jesus told his disciples flat-out that they had “little faith.”

It should not surprise us, then, that the disciples doubted the first-hand accounts of those who had seen the risen Christ. Luke 24 tells of several eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after his resurrection, and even though he had personally told the disciples before his death that he would rise again, they still doubted. When he finally appeared to them as a group, they thought he was a ghost (verse 37)!

One statement that I find really amazing in that chapter is verse 45. After going well beyond what should have been necessary to prove to the disciples that he had, indeed, returned from the grave, Jesus opened the disciples’ minds so that they could better understand the Scriptures. He equipped them to do the work that he was entrusting into their hands. Despite our doubt, our faithlessness, our incompetence, Christ calls us to continue his work. Do you trust that what he says is true?
(Originally posted March 18, 2012)