Hey, Hey I'm a Believer! Don't Monkey Around

"You are bigger than everyone else so act like it!" I heard a young coach holler across the soccer field at the bigger than average boy. The coach was reminding the player to use his natural advantages or as some athletes have called it,  God-given abilities to help his team win the game.

I'm still in those "Miscellaneous Laws" in my reading in Deuteronomy. In  Deuteronomy 24:1-8, God tells the Israelites:

that if a man divorces a woman for something indecent, she remarries, is divorced again, not to remarry her;

that a newly married man is not to be sent  to war but is to be given a year to stay home and make his wife happy;

not to take any millstone as a security for a loan;

that kidnapping a fellow Israelite to make a slave or sell as a slave is grounds for the death penalty; and

in cases of a leprous disease to do exactly as the priests instruct.

It seems to me that God is telling the Israelites how to act like Israelites. They belong to the One True God.  He gives some "do's and don'ts". 

Don't  associate with known indecent people. (From verses 1-4, if it's obvious she has not changed from the first time he married her, as she was divorced again, don't get involved.)

Do bring your spouse happiness.  Make your spouse's well being your priority.

Don't take advantage of another's misfortune and prolong it by taking their livelihood.

Do purge evil among the community.

They are Israelites and here is how to live like an Israelite. God tells the Israelites they are blessed with the Promised Land and they are to be caring, honest, upright and pure.  Why?  They have been given a great new life  by a great God so don't taint it with sin. Their sin will reflect upon God's gifts and reputation.

In today's world we try not to judge  people by how they look but rather how they act.  We do form opinions of others by how they behave.  Too many times, I've thought, "Who is that person's mother?  Who raised that person to behave so inappropriately?"  We think we can be free to be and do whatever we wish and we even think we are the only one with consequences.  Yet our family, friends and associates will experience consequence from our personal choices.  Just watch the news. When a politician acts outside the norm of acceptable behavior, his party members are quick to disassociate.

So it matters how I act and live my life.  My life choices will reflect on God's good gifts and reputation.  I'm a believer in God and I've made it public so I do have to live His way.

I'm always frustrated when I hear "the church is full of hypocrites" but I have to admit that  there have been some poor representatives of Christians.

The final "do" in my list of "do's and don'ts" of how to live like a believer is "Do again what God said to do."  In verses 8 and 9 I am reminded that we are human and we will fail to live God's way and we might fail to be a good representative for Him.  There is Good News.

Miriam, Moses' own sister, spoke against Moses and therefore God.  The consequence was she had leprosy which meant she had to leave the community, everyone had to shun her for their own protection.  This was severe consequence for challenging God's chosen leader.  Yet Moses cried out to God and pleaded with God to heal her.  So God instructed them to confine her outside the camp for 7 days.  Then she came back to another opportunity to live like an Israelite and the Israelites waited for her. (Numbers 12)

God loves us so much that when we misbehave, when don't act like a Christian, when we sin, He provides for our forgiveness.  The Israelites were told to go the priests and do what they instructed to be healed.  God has given me Jesus as my advocate and my sacrifice so I can have a second, third, fourth... chance to live like a believer.

I'm comforted by this list so I know how to live.  I'm relieved to know that when I fail, God has a  plan to restore me. He and my community of believers wait for me to get back on the path of living God's way.  Today I'll act like a believer!

 

 

 

 

Weeds of Greed

5 tons of river rock, 50 bags of cedar mulch, three gallons of pre-emergent herbicide and at least 3 trips to the city compost pile. Dick has a new passion in retirement.  He has been fully retired now for about 30 days and he has accepted a new challenge, a new mission, a new enemy to conquer.  He has taken on the landscaping of our yard with the opposition being weeds.  We have not been diligent in our battle against the weeds in the last several years so it appeared the enemy, the weeds,  had already won.  But 30 days later, I see Dick's victory over the weeds on the horizon!

The heading some fellow gave Deuteronomy 23:15-25 in my translation is again "Miscellaneous Laws". God warned not to oppress a runaway slave;  Don't be a prostitute nor use a prostitute's wage to pay a vow;  Don't charge your brother interest, a foreigner can pay you interest but not another Israelite; Don't be slow to pay a vow made to God; and Don't harvest the crops of your neighbor.

Yet when I read them this week, I saw a common warning God gave to the Israelites.  I noted that these verses warn about wealth and the source of wealth. God identified the "weeds of greed."

These verses tell me not to benefit from another's misfortune or illegal gain.  These verses remind me to have honor and integrity in my financial matters.  It might appear to be convenient and beneficial to use another's misfortune to benefit my financial state or even to use ill-gotten wealth to give to God.  Yet, these verses warn that God knows the source and our motivation in building our own garden of wealth.

God promised the Israelites that if they would follow His ways  He would bless them in everything they put their hands to in the Promised Land.  God knows our thoughts and our frailties.  He knows we will try to build a garden of wealth for ourselves with our own plan.  He knows that if we allow the "weeds of greed" to convince us that we have a better way, our lives will be more complicated.  We too often choose the scheming and conniving way when God offers us the easiest way- His way, like just do what He says and not think of a "better way".  We are motivated by our calculation of  how much we can gain.  God's ways  promise us everything.

I plan to pull the weeds of greed in my heart and remember God is The giver of great gifts and God alone is the source of my wealth.

Think tall

I  came down the steps from my bedroom and found my mom perched atop a chair in the kitchen.  "What are you doing?" I asked.  "Cleaning the top of the refrigerator."  I asked "Why?" as I didn't recall her doing this before.  "Your grandmother is coming."  "So?" "She's tall enough to see the top of the refrigerator."

My grandmother was a few inches taller than both my mother and me.  She would be able to see the dust atop the frig.  Mother and I never saw the top or the dust but my mother didn't want her mother to see something that would disappoint.

Deuteronomy 23:1-14 details a list of don'ts so the Israelites won't disappoint God.  He instructs who is not allowed in the assembly before Him.  These verses also give instructions for basic sanitation practices.

Whereas, the Ammonites and Moabites are not allowed in the assembly before God, because they opposed God and Israel, the next verses warn that  the point is not that they are outsiders and different.  The Edomites and Egyptians are allowed.  They are relatives and instruments for Israel's deliverance.  I am reminded not to be legalistic but to listen to God's reasons for determining good and evil.

The verses that speak to me today are at the end of this section.  The Lord moves about the camp to protect and deliver you.  The camp must be holy so God won't see anything indecent and turn away.

Today these verses tell me that God moves among the events of my life.  He is available to protect me and deliver me.  I may have enemies that will come against me and God is ready to  protect me.  God is also available to deliver me from those dangerous situations that I may get myself into with my own poor choices.

God doesn't want to see anything from me that would disappoint Him and He is with me, in my daily life to protect and deliver me.

For a while I carried on the tradition of cleaning the top of the refrigerator when my mother visited.  Even though neither of  us could see the top without assistance, it meant that occasionally that part of the house did get cleaned.  I'm putting it on my "to do" list as I can't remember when it was last cleaned and I'm sure the last time it was cleaned, Dick did it! 

Perhaps cleaning where I can't see but God can will make my life safer and less complicated. These verses do tell the Israelites that when (not if) they are encamped against their enemies to keep away from everything impure. So part of fighting evil is to remain pure. In today's world, I occasionally feel that I am encamped against some enemies. I certainly need and want God actively moving, protecting and delivering me.  I need to look at my behavior and confess what may be disappointing to God.  In my life, I don't want to live a moment away from God.

Hidden Things?

"It's the most important thing you'll do."  My quilter friend gives me this advice often.  It's why I clip my threads as I go (because I really hate spending a long period of time clipping at the end of my project) and why I make sure my seams are pressed the right way.  Threads and seams are hidden on the inside but my quilt adviser has taught me that what is hidden will affect the final product.  If I do not adhere to clipping the threads and repairing seams pressed the wrong way there will be consequences in the finished quilt.

In Deuteronomy 22: 13-30 God gives the Israelites His expectations for intimate matters.   There are several scenarios:  a man may not be satisfied with his wife and think by slandering her he can get rid of her; a woman might be found to be impure and think she can hide it but there are serious consequences for infidelity; a man and woman married to another may be found sleeping together and both must die; a man might think since he is in another town he could sleep with an engaged woman but he will face the sentence of death and she will too if she consented; a man may take advantage of a girl who is not engaged to be married but he will end up paying 50 silver shekels and have her as his wife for life; a man can not marry his father's wife.

Today's society teaches us that we have freedom in our private and personal lives.  Yet these verses teach that even in the most intimate relationships purity is what God expects.  What we do in our private and personal life will affect our relationships with others and our relationship with God.

God has a high standard for purity.  These verses detail several situations and the consequences. At first read I think the situations sound like a soap opera.  Sadly, if I think, I probably can recall real people that have gotten themselves into similar situations.

These verses do not give the loopholes our society tries to manufacture.  God gives serious and often deadly consequences for these situations and some of them are public, with the town elders and community administering the  penalty.  There is a recurring statement, "You must purge the evil from among you."

In today's world, impurity is too often treated as common place.  Yet God expects us to be  pure, especially in our most intimate matters.  These verses remind me that what I do in private will affect my public life as well as those in my family and the community.  What is hidden does matter to the community.

Today I am grateful that God gives and expects the best from me.  He also knows me and knows I might  fail in my efforts to be pure.  He loves me and gave His own Son to be the sacrifice so I could have forgiveness.

Just as I rip open a seam that goes the wrong way and make it right, I go to God when I know I've gone the wrong way and His forgiveness will make it right with our relationship.

The Every Day Blue Cord

Be careful who you lend your car.... Go to Church...Drink plenty of water...Go to Church...Do your laundry...Go to Church...Be careful who you party with...Go to church...

When my son was headed off to college, the "momisms" popped up in our daily conversation.  Often these tidbits came at the most random moments.

When I read Deuteronomy 22:1-12, I had the same feel of random advice.  Even the fellow who added the headings in Deuteronomy centuries later felt the disjointedness.  The heading in my translation is the catchy "Various Laws".

I tried to make a short phrase of teaching for each one to see if there was a theme. 

Some of the laws seemed to be simple teaching on agriculture.  Leave some animals to breed for future food (verses 6-7).  Don't plant 2 kinds of seeds, who knows what fruit will grow (verse 9).

Some of the laws tell the Israelites not to make life more complicated than it needs to be.  Avoid trying to look like someone you are not (verses 1-4).  Don't plow with an ox and a donkey (verse 10).  This one makes think of trying to walk in two different height shoes,  really awkward!  Don't weave wool and linen together (verse 11).  This is a classic quilt rule.  Keep your fabric content consistent because different fabrics wash and shrink differently.

The final verse in this section made me think.  Verse 12 simply tells the Israelites to make tassels for the four corners of their garment.  Fortunately the margin in my Bible  cross referenced Numbers 15:37-41.  The use and purpose of tassels is better explained. 

God knows we need tangible reminders.  He instructed them to make tassels with a blue cord to wear on their everyday clothes to remind them of God's commands.  The single blue cord in the tassel was the reminder of God and following His ways.

The tassels with the blue cord was the reminder to remember all the commands and to obey them, to avoid following selfish desires.  The blue cord reminded them not to follow the lust of the heart and eyes and to obey all God's commands.

What tangible reminders do I have in my daily life to remember to follow God's commands? 

My Bible and journal sit in a basket on the end table.  I rarely "put them away."  I want to have them in my field of vision to keep me accountable and without excuse to open them up. 

I  have a little rock on my desk to hold down my phone list.  One side says "Be still..."  and the flip side "Pray..."  I spend quite a bit of my time on the phone and refer to the list several times a day.  I often need the advice of my rock.

I have a Nativity set in my kitchen window year round, it never gets put away.  Christmas may be once a year but the gifts Jesus brought and brings to my life are daily blessings.  The Nativity makes me smile and rejoice whenever my eye lands on it.

God knows we need tangible reminders to follow His way, to follow the Best.  Maybe I need to add a few more in my everyday life.

A Fashion Statement

I wear yellow post it notes.  I know.  They were created to be worn by file folders, envelopes, letters, boxes and refrigerators but I'm a bit like Uncle Billy in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  He tied string to his fingers to remind him.  I work in a world without string!  If I'm told to do something on the third floor I worry that I'll forgot when I return to my second floor office.  I like the fact that I actually have words written down so I don't have to have a string to remember what a string meant.

I have also used my bathroom mirror to tack up notes to remind me how to handle the day.  They are bits of scriptures, sermons or words I've heard from the Spirit that remind me of my purpose and position.

When I read Deuteronomy 21:22-23, I felt like these verses were a "post it note" from God to the Israelites.  The verses tell them not to keep the dead body of an executed criminal hanging overnight. They were reminded to bury it  the same day because the cursed body would desecrate God's gift of the Promised Land.

Today's television schedule is full of crime dramas. Too many are too full of gory and shocking details. The newspapers include more and more of the disgusting details  of violent crimes.  Our society has a lust for bad news and its gory details.

Today's verses remind me not to dwell on the details of the crime and the sin.  The verses remind me to dwell on God, dwell on His Honor as the Author and Source of  justice and that my honor belongs to Him, not the sin, other's sin or mine.

Full vs Futile

Resistance is futile!" It's a line from a science fiction movie.  The aliens say it just before the captive is absorbed into the community.

"Resistance is futile" is also the theme of the last four days of walks with the puppies.  Mickey and Molly are now one year old and a  lot bigger  than we expected.  Our  daily walks were typically jerk and pulls.  I expend plenty of upper body strength.  Mickey sounded like Darth Vader as he strains and pulls at the  leash to smell more and go farther than Molly.  Passing walkers would tell me I "had my hands full".

I'd had enough.  We need to make a change in their behavior.

"Resistance is futile" was also written in the margin of my journal for Deuteronomy 21:15-21.  These verses are telling the Israelite parents what to do when their son became stubborn, rebellious, a glutton and a drunkard.  Perhaps the parents were far  too lenient with their son and created the situation.  Perhaps the son made poor choices as an adult-- sometimes we can't just blame the parents. It's a sad story far too prevalent in today's world. 

These verses remind me that rebellion is contagious.  When one puppy sees a rabbit the adrenaline streams through them.  The other one picks up on the excitement and all sense, and obedience, leaves their consciousness.  My job is to teach them to obey in spite of the distraction.

Obedience is not a private matter.  One annoying, disobedient dog could be banished to the yard when we have guests.  But three annoying dogs make it chaos. It is my responsibility to teach the dogs to behave in society.  When reading these verses we may focus on the instruction for family issues but these verses also remind me that evil is contagious and dangerous to the community.

What have I learned the last four days walking the dogs?  "WHY did I wait so long to make them walk correctly on the leash?"  The first  day I saw Molly glance up at me to see where I was leading her.  It dawned on me.  They know how to behave but I haven't  required it.

On Day 2 Dick took Mickey alone and by the end of the route, Mickey was prancing like a race horse, tail feathered up and head held high. When I came in the door on day 3,  I pronounced it was "the best walk ever."

These verses in Deuteronomy, and the puppies, teach me that resistance to God's way makes my life futile.   I don't want my life to be futile, to just be a quest for self satisfaction.  I want my life to be fruitful and be a productive member of my community.  My adherence to God's plan for my life will be a testimony to others of His glory and love. 

My way is futile.  His way is full and free.  Freer from strife, drama and tragedy. Fuller of joy and excitement. Free because God gave me the opportunity through Jesus' sacrifice, even when I certainly had not earned it nor deserved it.  Full because God expects and gives me the best.